Berri Increment Novel Waste Heat Recovery System

Abstract Berri Crude Increment Project (currently in the Execution phase) will install a new oil processing facility. As part of the project, a new thermal hot oil system will be provided to heat the crude oil for the desalting and stabilization process to meet the product specifications. This heating is primarily achieved through three hot oil heaters (furnaces) fueled by natural gas in a closed heating circulation system. The objective is to maximize the energy utilization and efficiency of the oil processing facility by integrating the waste heat of the plant turbines’ exhaust with the plant process heating network. The project added in the scope a waste heat recovery system as part of the hot oil loop to recover the energy and maximize the plant’s efficiency. The waste heat recovery consists of heat exchangers mounted on the plant combustion gas turbines to recover the exhaust heat and supply it to the plant heat demand. These turbines are fueled by natural gas to drive the water injection pumps at the facility. This design enhancement will minimize fuel gas burning in the hot oil heaters to supply the required process heating, and will reduce combustion product emissions from the hot oil heaters’ stacks to atmosphere. The anticipated benefits are as follows:Recover energy of up to 75 MW that represent 50% of the total heating duty.Optimize lifecycle cost through Savings by reducing fuel gas burning by 50%.Reduce greenhouse gases emissions by minimizing the hot oil heaters’ fuel gas consumption.Improve equipment and plant efficiency (10% turndown of process heating can be achieved).Minimize single point of failure through the increase of plant availability with flexible process heating design. This energy integrated design is one of a kind among conventional oil and gas surface facilities with very high energy recovery capability. The facility is expected to recover 50% of its total thermal duty needed by processes through efficient energy utilization. In addition, substantial environmental advantages are foreseen by reducing the plant combustion effluents. This is important for a processing facility located in an area that is considered a hub of several marine and environmental initiatives of Saudi Aramco.