26-08-2019

KBC and AVGI partnership will help refiners drive profitable petrochemical growth

KBC (A Yokogawa Company) is extending its engineering simulation capabilities through a strategic partnership with AVGI, the leading source of simulation and optimization software for modeling olefin technologies. The software solution will deliver capital efficient plant design and optimization through end-to-end modeling of integrated oil refining, aromatics, and steam cracking complexes.

Petrochemical demand growth is rapidly becoming the largest driver of global oil consumption. The International Energy Agency forecasts that petrochemicals will account for more than a third of the growth in oil demand by 2030, and nearly half by 2050. Yet, most oil refineries only convert c. 5–20% of crude feedstocks into petrochemicals. This creates incentive to optimize and re-configure existing facilities, as well as invest in new capacity to meet the demand.

Using reactor simulations for a broad range of feedstocks, furnace and coil geometries, and operating conditions will optimize yield and energy. Integration and data exchange between Petro-SIM and COILSIM1D will enable integrated refinery-petrochemical complexes to maximize their profitability.

“Integration of COILSIM1D with Petro-SIM will open up a wide range of steady state, online and offline simulation opportunities,” comments Andy Howell, CEO of KBC. “Integrated models supporting dynamic real-time optimization will further mitigate the risk in transitioning to more petrochemicals in the product slate.”

“Through our research capabilities with Ghent University, we are continuing our extensive research into steam cracking technologies. We value this new partnership with KBC for expanding industry access to our know-how and intellectual property,” said Kevin Van Geem, Managing Director of AVGI. “We know a large proportion of the oil refining industry get a lot of benefit from KBC’s Petro-SIM. Its interoperability with COILSIM1D and use in end-to-end simulation for petrochemicals will unlock even more value for them.”