Gasification in petroleum refinery of 21st century

The worldwide trends in the crude oil supply indicate a continuous increase of the heavy crudes. The increase in the yield of distillation residues is complemented by an increase in their sulfur content. Additional distillates are produced by upgrading the residues. The upgrading step generates final residues, such as visbreaking tar coke and asphalt which are produced by visbreaking, coking avid deasphalting, respectively. The final residues can be converted to usable products such as hydrogen steam, electricity, ammonia and chemicals. For this purpose, gasification has emerged as the technology of choice because of its superior environmental performance when compared with the competing means for residue utilization. Also, refinery sludges can be cogasified with the final residues and as such, be converted to usable products. If integrated with the petroleum refinery, gasification can diminish any environmental problems associated with residue and sludge disposal. The economic indicators of the refinery cart improve as well. The trends in deregulation of the power market enable petroleum refineries to enter this lucrative market either alone or in a partnership with the utilities. The potential of coproduction of chemicals and steam with electricity offers the flexibility to respond to market demands. Gasification technology is commercially proven Among several types, entrained bed gasifiers are the gasifiers of choice. A number of commercial projects in Europe, Asia and United States use a gasifier employing either a slurry feeding system or a dry feeding system.