Evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and reduction from the petrochemical industry in Thailand

Figures & data

Table 1. Petrochemical products represented in the study.

Upstream (6 products)	Intermediate (3 products)	Downstream (7 products)
(1) Ethylene (ETH)	(1) VCM	(1) PVC
(2) Propylene (PPL)	(2) PTA	(2) LDPE
(3) p-Xylene (PX)	(3) SM	(3) LLDPE
(4) Benzene (BZ)		(4) HDPE
(5) Mixed C4 (MC4)		(5) Polypropylene (PP)
(6) Toluene (TOL)		(6) PET
		(7) Polystyrene (PS)

Figure 1. EI of petrochemical products.

Figure 2. Ratio of energy consumption separated by energy source.

Figure 3. CI of petrochemical products.

Figure 4. Ratio of GHG emissions separated by sources of GHG emissions.

Table 2. Summary of energy and carbon intensities for the petrochemical industry.

Product	EI (GJ/ton product)			CI (t CO2 eq./ton product)
	BAT (GJ/ton) (IEA, 2009)	BPT (GJ/ton) (Neelis et al., 2002)	This study (2005–2010)	Neelis et al. (2008)	This study (2005–2010)
Upstream
Ethylene	13.00	12.00	20.7–23.9^a	1.73–2.45	1.188
Propylene	13.52	12.00	21.5–24.1^a		1.234
p-Xylene	7.30		5.9–8.7	0.69	0.575
Toluene	2.10		5.1–14.3		0.508
Benzene	12.00		5.6–11.9	0.84	0.776
Intermediate
VCM	3.08	3.10	5.3–6.1	0.614	0.546
PTA	2.91	2.90	4.1–5.6	0.439	0.425
SM	3.64	7.74	9.3–13.9	0.802	1.104
Downstream
HDPE	3.20	1.90	2.6–2.8	0.27	0.375
Polypropylene	1.80	1.00	2.1–2.7	0.298–0.310	0.240
LDPE		1.40	1.8–2.5	0.610–0.787	0.217
LLDPE	3.37	2.00	1.6–2.3	0.27	0.280
Polystyrene	0.91	0.90	0.80–0.94	0.103–0.150	0.100
PVC	2.85	2.30	6.1–6.9	0.290–0.366	0.390
PET	4.75	4.75	3.5–3.9	0.45	0.360

^aDoes not include energy from feedstock.

Figure 5. Energy flow chart of the petrochemical products represented in the study.

Figure 6. GHG emissions flow chart of the petrochemical products represented in the study.

Figure 7. Total energy consumption of the Thailand petrochemical industry.

Figure 8. Total GHG emissions of the Thailand petrochemical industry.

Table 3. Energy conservation measures for representative petrochemical factories.

Petro. group	Electricity-saving approaches	EI reduction (MJ/t)	CI reduction (t CO2 eq./t)	Steam-saving approaches	EI reduction (MJ/t)	CI reduction (t CO2 eq./t)	Fuel-saving approaches	EI reduction (MJ/t)	CI reduction (t CO2 eq./t)
Upstream	Reducing energy consumption of equipment (e.g. air compressor, impeller and propeller)	1.15E+01	1.76E−03	Heat recovery from boiler	9.15E+01	3.18E−02	Controlling excess oxygen of cracking furnace	4.41E+02	2.80E−02
	Controlling the proportion of hydrogen/hydrocarbon	7.07E+00	1.08E−03	Reducing steam consumption	8.09E+01	1.26E−02	Maintaining tools and equipment for longer life	3.27E+02	2.09E−02
	Changing the air condition to split type	5.47E−01	6.38E−05	Reducing heat loss from steam trap	6.27E+01	9.47E−04	Improving furnace efficiency, with a heat exchanger system	1.89E+02	1.20E−02
	Reducing energy consumption in the ethylene input/output system	4.04E−01	4.72E−05				Increasing the temperature at the bottom tower of the quench oil system	1.04E+02	1.62E−02
	Reducing the use of water pumps at low production capacity	1.74E−01	2.66E−05				Controlling the fuel distribution system of the cracking furnace	1.02E+02	1.52E−02
	Others	9.55E−02	6.84E−04				Others	3.09E+02	4.08E−02
	Total	1.98E+01	3.66E−03	Total	2.35E+02	4.53E−02	Total	1.47E+03	1.33E−01
Intermediate	Installation of VSD in equipment	2.84E+01	4.18E−04	Installing steam mixer on the gas expander turbine of the heater	1.54E+02	2.32E−02	Coating insulator on the furnace surface	2.57E−02	1.45E−03
	Coating pump with an insulator to reduce energy loss	2.16E+01	3.42E−03	Inspecting the efficiency of the steam trap	6.79E+01	1.02E−02	Adjusting the optimum control condition for the furnace	1.90E−02	1.11E−03
	Recovery of heat loss from hot gas waste	1.57E+01	2.40E−03	Using steam condensate polishing unit	1.97E+01	2.97E−03	Coating insulator on the hot oil furnace surface	3.40E−03	1.96E−04
	Installing the absorption for cooling system	8.11E+00	1.24E−03
	Reducing load of air compressor using anti-foaming with high efficiency	5.74E+00	8.61E−04
	Others	2.57E+01	3.96E−03	Others	1.44E+01	6.92E−03	Others	1.21E−03	7.03E−05
	Total	1.05E+02	1.23E−02	Total	2.56E+02	4.33E−02	Total	4.93E−02	2.83E−03
Downstream	Reusing heat waste	3.13E+01	4.34E−06	Inspecting the efficiency of the steam trap	1.31E+01	1.94E−05	Improving combustion efficiency through fuel reduction	2.59E+00	1.56E−05
	Changing fan blades in cooling tower	1.68E+01	1.33E−03	Reducing stream to increase the hot water temperature	5.68E+00	6.64E−05	Coating the insulator on equipment	1.04E+00	1.34E−05
	Changing technology of reaction tank	1.43E+01	1.54E−05
	Changing the heat exchanger	1.15E+01	7.68E−06
	Modifying the transformer load to better suit operating conditions	1.13E+01	1.72E−03
	Others	5.94E+01	2.17E−03
	Total	1.45E+02	5.24E−03	Total	1.88E+01	8.58E−05	Total	3.63E+00	2.90E−05

Table 4. Summary of EI and CI reduction measures for the Thailand petrochemical industry.

Petrochemical group		EI (MJ/t)^a	Ratio of energy consumption (%)^b	Source of highest energy consumption	CI (t CO2 eq./t)^a	Ratio of GHG emissions (%)^c	Source of highest GHG emissions	Reduction of energy and GHG emissions from energy conservation measures
								EI reduction (MJ/t)^d	CI reduction (t CO2 eq./t)^d	Highest intensity reduction measure
Upstream	Olefin	20,747–24,814	77	Direct (81%)	1.104–1.‏485	67	Direct (63%)	1754	0.199	Fuel-saving measure
	Aromatic	5074–14,268			0.420–1.125
Intermediate		4108–13,903	14	Indirect (53%)	0.396–1.209	20	Indirect (59%)	335.75	0.059	Steam-saving measure
Downstream		803–3961	9	Indirect (83%)	0.096–0.477	13	Indirect (87%)	167.43	0..005	Electricity-saving measure

^aAvg. data from 2005 to 2010.

^bTotal energy consumption of the Thailand petrochemical industry = 120,000–170,000 TJ/year.

^cTotal GHG emissions of the Thailand petrochemical industry = 10,000–13,000 kt CO₂ eq./yr.

^dTotal reduction in intensity for the three measured groups (electricity, steam and fuel conservation measures).

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