Quantification and mitigation of carbon footprint in petroleum refinery process through simulation software

Abstract. Petroleum refineries play a crucial role in producing various petroleum products through processes such as distillation, redistillation, cracking, and reforming. As the second-largest consumer of energy among industries, petroleum refineries significantly contribute to GHG emissions, particularly through combustion-related sources like process heaters and boilers. Therefore, it is crucial to adopt sustainable approaches to control and reduce these emissions. Simulation software like Aspen Plus/Symmetry can be utilized to quantify greenhouse gas emissions in petroleum refineries. This software allows for the selection of appropriate utility sources and energy strategies, ensuring compliance with sustainability regulations and facilitating the improvement of the refinery's carbon footprint in the future. Hence, this paper focuses to the quantification and mitigation of carbon footprints in petroleum refinery processes, with specific emphasis on the application of Aspen HYSYS. The results show 9.12 percentage differences in comparison with the manual calculation. A several mitigation options has been considered for different case and the differences in terms of GHG emissions has been analysed.