Q & A > Question Details
I have been requested to benchmark our estimate of process chemical costs in current refinery project. Refinery configuration with middle-east crudes processing, and bottom upgrading with ARDS and RFCC.
Crude capacity about 250 kbd.
Process chemicals cost include CDU demulsifiers, neutralizing amine, corrosion inhibitors, antifoaming etc, i.e. those used in overall refinery complex.
Can anyone share any similar costs, at least per barrel of crudes processed?
 
Answers
26/04/2017 A: Eric Vetters, ProCorr Consulting Services, ewvetters@yahoo.com
Typical costs I have seen range in the order of $10-20 per 1000 bbl's of crude for the crude unit process chemicals. This does not include corrosion control chemicals or other additives outside the crude unit and does not include the water treating side. It also does not include specialized treatment programs like naphthenic acid corrosion inhibitors or antifoulants. If you are processing really difficult crudes, or using any specialized treatment programs cost can go up substantially beyond this.
26/04/2017 A: Prabhakar Reddy, Suncor Energy, Inc., preddy@suncor.com
Chemical cost for a CDU /VDU processing Canadian bitumen is approximately $6 -7 MM CAD/year for a 160 Kbd unit.
Note: Our bitumen feed has high TAN, high chlorides ~ 10-15 ppm and high BSW content. You can assume this to be the worst case scenario in chemical consumption.