1. INSIGHTS INTO
HYDORCARBON VALUE
CHAIN OPTIMIZATION
KARTHICK R
SENIOR ENGINEER, ONGC-MRPL
1
13-11-2014

2. INTRODUCTION
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 Refinery products are a result of value addition through series of
process units.
 Refinery has to continually work upon the various options for
Hydrocarbon value addition considering the routing flexibility to feed
either to upgradation unit or blend to make marketable product/s
 The challenge for refiners is to devise the long term strategies for
upgrading the low value streams particularly the black oil.
 With the shrinking market for black oil, proposed stringent
specifications for bunker fuel and declining margins are expected to
pose a big challenge for refiners to handle the bottom of the barrel

3. INTRODUCTION
3
 Following routes to produce polyolefins from short residue in
comparison to production from light hydrocarbons is presented.
 Polypropylene via residue delayed coking & deep catalytic
cracking
 Short residue up-gradation to polyolefin’s via petcoke gasification
 Factors that may influence the economics of hydrocarbon value chain,
location, market, economy of scale etc.

4. BLACK OIL VALUE ROUTE – OTPION 1
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HCGO
OFF GAS
PET
COKE
H2
SR
DCU
Hydro treated VGO/
UCO from HCU
VDU PPU
POLY
PROPYLENE
CARRIER
GAS
PRU
PROPYLENE
PFCC
OFF
GASES
LPG
GASOLINE
LCO
LPGNAPHTHA
LCGO
HCGO HDT
ETHYLENE
RECOVERY

5. INSIGHTS: DISCUSSION (1/2)
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 HCGO yield is ~ 22 % on feed & VGO boiling range material.
 Quality of HCGO is much inferior compared to VGO (S, N, metals etc
& needs hydrotreatment.
 The product after hydrotreatment considered as feed to PFCC (Deep
catalytic cracking unit).
 Typical polymer grade propylene yield from PFCC unit is about 20 wt
% on feed.
 Propylene can be polymerized to high value polypropylene.
 Option to produce random co-polymer with the ethylene recovered
from the PFCC unit off gas.

6. INSIGHTS: DISCUSSION (1/2)
6
 About 3.5 wt % of Short residue and about 16 wt% of VGO gets
upgraded to polypropylene by this route and this is about 100 KTPA
of Polypropylene for a refinery processing 15 MMTPA of crude with
VGO yield of 26 wt % and SR yield of 28 wt %
 On an overall, the incremental margin improves by about 0.5 – 1.0 $
/ bbl relative to other upgrader routes.
 PFCC Unit also produces high aromatic naphtha; good feed stock for
aromatic complex.
 PFCC Unit severity can be altered to meet the product profile based
on market demand.

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HCGO
LPG
NAPHTHA
LCGO
ETHYLENE TO
1-BUTENE
1-BUTENE ~91.2%
ASU
O2
OFF GAS
PET COKE
COKE
GASIFIER
DCU
SR
VDU
FLUXANT
DRY SYN
GAS
~92%
METHANOL
~37%
METHANOL TO OLEFINS
ETHYLENE ~38% PROPYLENE ~48%
MGU
PP
LLDPE
HDPE
PPU
LLDPE <99.5%
HDPE <99.5%
BLACK OIL VALUE ROUTE – OTPION 2

8. INSIGHTS: DISCUSSION (1/2)
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 Residue cracker technologies, on an average is relatively capex intensive
than naphtha cracker by 1.35-1.45 times
 Naphtha cracker payback economics depends on the product crack
between polyolefin product slate and naphtha product.
 For a Petcoke gasifier route, the payback economics is based on the
value differential between polyolefin product slate and short residue.
Cracker Relative Investment
Naphtha 1.00
Atmospheric gas oil 1.10-1.20
Vacuum gas oil 1.25-1.35
Short residue 1.35-1.45

9. INSIGHTS: DISCUSSION (2/2)
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 The Petcoke gasifer route is lucrative than a naphtha cracker if the
Economic value (polyolefin product slate - short residue) > 1.3-1.45
times Economic value (Polyolefin product slate - naphtha product)
 The ratio can vary between 1.2 to 1.7 depending on the other factors
like
 market conditions,
 location of the complex and polyolefin product slate etc.
 Upgrading short residue route offers the refiner the luxury of
generating value rich polymers without sacrificing the existing naphtha
or MS make

10. CONFIGURATION STUDY: OTHER FACTORS
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Other factors to be carefully considered during configuration study are:
 Overall demand opportunity of the product
 Access to technology
 Supply-demand gap and competition threat by virtue of import from
global manufacturing hubs
 Competitive advantage: Access to cheaper captive raw material of
petcoke is cheaper for an integrated refinery and petrochemical
product than that of a standalone petrochemical player

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 Economy of scale: World scale plants – competitive . Manufacturing
cost/unit cheaper than smaller plants. Less vulnerable to revision in
local government subsidies or policies
 Location of the market: Proximity to demand locations, strategic
location between raw material and market, competitive edge in
logistics by virtue of location etc. are always advantageous.
CONFIGURATION STUDY: OTHER FACTORS

12. SUMMARY
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 Value added polymers generation from black oil / bottom of the barrel route
has the potential to boost refining margins.
 This route gives the luxury to generate value added products & value
addition without compromising the primary objective of a petroleum
refinery i.e. production of refined fuel
 Other main factors that influence the economics of hydrocarbon value chain
optimization, specific to a petroleum refinery such as configuration, location,
market, economy of scale etc. needs to be carefully evaluated

13. THANK YOU
13