Synthesis, evaluation and optimisation of primary petroleum plant configurations

• Grant number: 15/09151-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2016
• End date: July 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Thermal Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Silvio de Oliveira Junior
• Grantee: Tuong-Van Nguyen
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research presented in this application for a post-doctoral fellowship has, as main objective, the development and application of a generic methodology for designing sustainable configurations of primary petroleum processing plants. The previous works conducted by the research group focused on the analysis of existing offshore plants, located in Brazil and Norway, and on the ways to improve their performance with as few modifications as possible. They showed that there are significant potentials for decreasing the energy intensity and environmental impact of these facilities, but that energy efficiency efforts would be more effective if taken in consideration up-front, from the early stage of the design process. Based on these findings, it is proposed, in a first step, to develop a systematic methodology that would help (i) identifying (ii) evaluating, and (iii) optimising possible configurations of primary petroleum plants, with respect to multiple criteria (e.g. process, thermodynamic, environmental) and under different conditions (e.g. production profiles and field properties). In a second step, this methodology would be applied to several case studies that differ by e.g. the petroleum composition and export conditions. The results obtained by this systematic framework would be used to determine and compare the most optimum configurations of primary petroleum processing plants for different scenarios.