title: Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission intensity of petroleum products at U.S. refineries.
abstract: This paper describes the development of (1) a formula correlating the variation in overall refinery energy efficiency with crude quality, refinery complexity, and product slate; and (2) a methodology for calculating energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensities and processing fuel shares of major U.S. refinery products. Overall refinery energy efficiency is the ratio of the energy present in all product streams divided by the energy in all input streams. Using linear programming (LP) modeling of the various refinery processing units, we analyzed 43 refineries that process 70% of total crude input to U.S. refineries and cover the largest four Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) regions (I, II, III, V). Based on the allocation of process energy among products at the process unit level, the weighted-average product-specific energy efficiencies (and ranges) are estimated to be 88.6% (86.2%-91.2%) for gasoline, 90.9% (84.8%-94.5%) for diesel, 95.3% (93.0%-97.5%) for jet fuel, 94.5% (91.6%-96.2%) for residual fuel oil (RFO), and 90.8% (88.0%-94.3%) for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The corresponding weighted-average, production GHG emission intensities (and ranges) (in grams of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) per megajoule (MJ)) are estimated to be 7.8 (6.2-9.8) for gasoline, 4.9 (2.7-9.9) for diesel, 2.3 (0.9-4.4) for jet fuel, 3.4 (1.5-6.9) for RFO, and 6.6 (4.3-9.2) for LPG. The findings of this study are key components of the life-cycle assessment of GHG emissions associated with various petroleum fuels; such assessment is the centerpiece of legislation developed and promulgated by government agencies in the United States and abroad to reduce GHG emissions and abate global warming.
authors.affiliation: Systems Assessment Group, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory , 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States.
authors.forename: Amgad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elgowainy
authors.forename: Jeongwoo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Grant S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Forman
authors.forename: Vincent B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: DiVita
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis*; D005742:Gasoline / Q000032:analysis; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006859:Hydrogen / Q000032:analysis; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D010578:Petroleum / Q000032:analysis*; D011382:Programming, Linear; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D005742:Gasoline; D010578:Petroleum; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon; D006859:Hydrogen