Refiners face new challenges in today’s highly volatile energy market. As light sweet crude availability is limited and price impacts the product margins, downstream companies have turned to a variety of feedstocks, including heavier and more sour crude oil, which calls for processing flexibility. At the same time, there are increasingly stringent regulations regarding fuel and product specifications, emissions, and more. In the context of the industry’s decarbonisation pathway, refineries are tasked to reduce their carbon footprint. This includes investments in carbon capture, utilisation and storage infrastructure, electrification of heating processes, utilisation of green or blue hydrogen, plant energy efficiency improvement, biofuel/e-fuel production and avoidance of fugitive emissions.
To remain competitive in today’s market, the industry must optimise their processes, as any inefficiency further shrinks already tight margins. Corrosion, leakage, equipment failures, inadequate process control, and other issues lead to unplanned downtime, lost production, and higher operational costs. In the worst case scenario, process issues can grow into catastrophic incidents that harm people, environment, and assets.
Accurate, smart monitoring for better decision-making
The key to greater safety and efficiency is high-quality measuring instruments. With consistent monitoring and reliable data, refineries can make the types of decisions that:
- Reduce risks
- Minimise operational expenditure
- Extend run lengths
- Prolong catalyst life and furnace tube life
- Maximise production and profitability
WIKA is your trusted partner for pressure, temperature, flow, level, and calibration solutions, as well as products for SF6 gas handling. Our instrumentation solutions are used in numerous refinery processes and units, including:
- Crude units
- Coker units
- Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units
- Alkylation units
- Continuous catalyst regenerative reformers
- Hydrocrackers
- Hydrotreaters
- Isomerisation
- Amine units
- Hydrogen units
- Sulfur recovery unit
- Electric substations
- Flare stacks
