Important Things to Know to Make a Refinery Business Profitable

Refineries should make genuine efforts to streamline their activities so that overall efficiency stays at optimal levels. Top refineries conduct RVP giveaway survey to have clear cut idea about the giveaway status. Every refinery should compare this status with top refineries to find out where they actually stand. The survey needs to be conducted using a reputed bunker, diesel and gasoline blending consultant because trusted consultants also offer an in depth report about the giveaway condition and steps to improve.

Best solutions for all RIN issues

Many refineries keep on paying RIN fines every day. This situation makes things really frustrating. You can definitely consider selecting bio-fuels like renewable diesel to reduce the fines and prevent RIN giveaway. Gasoline export is another good option for refineries for bypassing the RIN fine completely. Top diesel, gasoline and bunker blending consultants analyze the existing condition comprehensively and they suggest the best method to stop the RIN giveaway and fines. You can find the best solutions for all RIN issues with the help of a reputable consultant.

Systematic approach to deliver most suitable solutions

Various studies show that around 70% of refineries have to deal with physical octane and RVP giveaway. It is a very serious economic issue that should be addressed immediately. You have to find about whether your methods for property measurement is correct. It must also be noted that whether you are using the most accurate instruments to lower the error. The reliability of the data must be checked. Another important aspect that needs your attention is performance of blend control systems. You should explore the possibility of using an in-line blender as well. If you hire best blending advisory services, you can find out all issues with 100% precision.  Root cause analysis is done in a responsible way and all critical points are analyzed to lower the giveaway.   

Proper analysis, troubleshooting and remedial steps

Another common issue that many refineries have to deal with is blendrecipe giveaway. The gap between the actual and planned creates serious headache. Whenever a refinery has problems that prevent meeting the specifications, it has to seek the help of a diesel, bunker and gasoline blending design consultant. After having analyzed all steps, top consultants troubleshoot the problems and come up with the best solutions. They perform the installation of in-line blender with utmost accuracy and their help can be sought for buying the right components. You can even approach them for attending blending courses. The fact of the matter is that reliable consultants teach you how to make every batch profitable and make large amounts of money continuously with a refinery.

R/A Refinery Automation Institute LLC is a well-known and dependable blending advisory service provider with a big reputation. This company analyzes the underlying issues by conduction an in depth study and put forward the most feasible solutions for each client. You can also attend highly useful blending courses to become a master technician. If you hire this company, you can implement the best processes and practices using advanced components.  

For more info : - Bunker Blending

What is Blending?

Lee E. Curcio

Refinery Automation Institute, LLC

Morristown, NJ USA

No day passes without publications, the blogosphere, and pundits wringing their hands over the concept of fuel Blending.

In the current low priced crude oil market, the fuel blending business gives the blenders a very competitive edge that grows day by day, attracting new customers and potential new producers intrigued by the possibility of making “easy” money.

USA has more than 330 Oil terminals spread across the country, moving more than 2 billion gallons of oil products and “smart” blending adding potentially another $300 to $400 millions in profits. This cash flow tempts people to think it’s a great “get rich quick” scheme for easy cash, encouraging them to ask banks for money to open a new oil terminal. The expectation is that in a few years they can leave the “slaving for a salary” for suntanning in a tropical paradise with plenty of money.

The real question for prospective facility owners pondering to themselves when undertaking this venture should be WHAT IS BLENDING? This question is pondered obviously after the bank already approved the mortgage for a new oil terminal, maybe with a blending facility, so we have the “blind leading the blind” and subsequent disappointment. The motto seems to be “learning after building”, and as we know, we get the Tower of Pisa .

Blending Vs. Cooking

Let’s focus on the answer of the previous question: WHAT IS BLENDING? Blending is like baking a cake or cooking a delicious dish. What you need are the ingredients, and a recipe to decide the amount to pour in a mixing bowl. After mixing you are ready to taste it and decide whether to adjust the taste by putting more of an ingredient or not.

Since the US is a huge daily “drinker” of gasoline (9 million BPD) with over 300 million cars on the roads, the gasoline blending business is huge, worth over $12 trillions/year.

Keeping the analogy with cooking or baking, the gasoline “cooking” (blending) “ingredients” are called Blend Components or Blendstocks.

In the same way as cooking, we need a recipe to determine the right amount of each ingredient to put in a blend. We can’t afford to make any mistake in our “cooking”, such as pouring more salt or less butter or adding too many eggs, since the result might be inedible. A master chef with the delicate palate could be upset or happy and you could win a cooking contest or not. In contrast, a master blender’s product has to run a car without damaging it or causing undue pollution.

With blending, we are more or less in the same situation, if we add more alkylate or less reformate the quality of the final product may not meet the final specs. This because in the US in order to make sellable gasoline we are obliged to respect regulations, i.e. the octane number has to be more than 87 or the vapor pressure can’t be more than 7 psi (summer), and we have over 28 gasoline specs to meet. This pushes the producers to be very careful on how the blend needs to be made, otherwise isn’t possible to sell the final product and make money of course.

Generally in order to make gasoline which has upward of 28 specifications that need to be met simultaneously, we can have a simple blend recipe with 3 components , or conventional gasolines or complex recipes with about 10 to 20 components for reformulated gasolines..

Keeping the analogy with cooking, if for example the final recipe needs to have 20 grams of fat and 45 grams of carbs, we have to estimate which blend components to blend, i.e. butter (butter-1, butter-2, butter-3) and the number of eggs, and the quantity to meet the final specs.

For example if we choose the butter-1 and 1 egg, we can meet the 20 grams of fat specs of the recipe but we may not meet the amount of carbs (45 grams). On the other way if we choose the butter-1 and 3 eggs we can meet the carbs spec (45) but we may exceed the fat spec (20 grams).

You can understand how beautiful and complicated the blending world is, especially if you have 28+ specs and 4 components.

Arithmetic of Blending

So far we just took into account the final recipe constraints (specs) and the number of blend components (ingredients). But Blending is the arithmetic of properties and prices.

We need to use in blends the cheapest components that allow us to meet specs, because the final goal here is to make money. If the butter-1 is good in terms of properties, may not be good in terms of prices because it’s too expensive.

The basic arithmetic of blending is:

If we use the previous equation, we can go over an “easy” example to calculate the final gasoline blend Octane number and its price:

The goal in the example is to make a 95 RON and to calculate the final blend price.

The example shows how we need to “play” with the recipe, i.e. changing the blend component quantities to meet the final spec on the research octane number (95).

With the same blend equation we can calculate also the prices and understand if there is a profit or not.

The example is applied to one property (Research Octane Number) and uses a linear approximation [1].  The calculation becomes quite complex when we do the same “iteration” for the remaining other 28+ properties.

With Blending we must consider:

· Ingredients (blend components and their properties)

· Recipe (what quantity of each component to blend)

· Inventory (what happens if I need 3 eggs but I have one? Can I still make a blend?)

· Prices (try to make the cheapest blend to have the highest profit)

· Blend sample and analysis (does it meet the final specs? Yes, no? )

· Correcting the blend (If doesn’t meet the final spec, we need to adjust it, maybe adding more butter).

Generally all these factors are taken into account using a special piece of blending calculation software called  a “blend optimizer” [2] that does the calculation for us and selects the most profitable blend recipe.

The previous figure shows the final results of a gasoline blend optimization. In the example we have 4 components (ingredients), we can see the recipe, the final blend specs (final cake or dish), and the profit. The chef makes the cake to sell it, same is for an owner of an oil terminal. Profit is the answer.

Conclusion

Why there is so much interest In Blending?

Because of the enormous economic potential of blending.

With the current oil glut and component availability, buying cheap components around the world and blending them together can potentially give a great profit, even with the transportation costs and contango premiums.

Oil terminals owners, new or old, and with or without experience are in this business to increase profits with minimum effort, and this is where blending comes in.

You need:

· a small facility with 3-4 components; many of them using “anchor” components, i.e. light naphtha, cat gas, and butane because they are cheap, widely available, and have great blending properties to make the final blend.

· blending software that helps you achieve the goal with low effort

· A few million dollars to invest, with a break even in a couple of months

References

[1] Barsamian, A., Curcio, L.E., Gasoline Blend Optimization via Linear & Non-Linear Programming Optimizers”, April,2016 (http://refautom.com/NewsDB/Gasoline%20Blend%20Optimization.pdf)

[2] Barsamian, A., Curcio, L.E,.” Use of SmartBlend Gasoliner Blend Optimizer to obtain profitable Gasoline”, August 2017 (http://refautom.com/NewsDB/SMART%20BLEND%20OPTIMIZER.pdf) 

Advantages of Choosing Most Efficient Blending Design Companies

Many refineries are searching for the right advice on diesel, bunker and gasoline blending. Innovative methods like in-line blending offer several advantages over conventional methods. In order to employ the most effective techniques and solutions, you must hire a reliable blending solution consultant. Experienced services have the skills and expertise to come up with the best solutions. They design an effective and dependable recipe for making the blending result oriented. When you hire trusted blending companies, you can learn about the best way of squeezinggiveaway on vapor pressure and viscosity.

Leading consultants offer a broad range of highly reliable solutions

No matter whether you want to use sulfur scrubber for reducing SO2 omissions or you need to understand how to rectify the RVP and ON giveaway, you can depend on the professional expertise a reputable blending design and consulting company. Several refineries are facing many difficulties while buying components. This issue can also be solved with the help of experienced professionals. Best services help you choose the right components in a fast manner. They can also guide you properly on addressing all RIN headaches and planning & scheduling giveaway can also be made systematic.

Prominent benefits of hiring best blending design services and consultant companies

In addition to providing best advice for solving blending giveaway, top blending design companies focus on installing in line blenders with optimal efficiency. Blending automation is a complex task and it should always be left to qualified professionals. They teach you how to follow a step by step process and you can expect performance guarantee with their services. Assessing the blending economic performance becomes hassle free and leading blending design companies perform this task in an uninterrupted way. In other words, renowned consultants do not disturb the daily schedule while performing the economic performance evaluation.

Best courses and most effective methods for making money with blending

Do you want to study blending course? Established advisory services conduct diesel, bunker and gasoline blending design courses and you can choose from different options like public, in-house and customized courses. You can also buy up-to-date course materials and highly useful exercises are provided to make the learning extremely effective.  In order to make the most suitable batch, you will be taught how to select the right components. Eventually, blending becomes a highly profitable activity.

Several aspects must be considered properly while selecting a blending design and advisory service provider. The quality of services should always be the topmost priority for you. The price a blending company charges is also a very important aspect. If you want to buy the best blending design and consultancy solutions, you can rely on Refinery Automation Institute, New Jersey. You can hire their valuable services at the most competitive prices available. This company has been offering their services for more than 25 years and it delivers the most reliable blending advice. Blending automation feasibilitystudies are performed to deliver optimal results and you can design in-line blenders in a comfortable way under their guidance.

Benefits of In-Line Blenders Compared to Conventional Sequential Blending

The conventional practice of gasoline blending causes great inconvenience these days. You can find several refineries and oil terminals blending components with the help of a batch blending. It is being done by sequential pumping to a tank. What does it mean? It means that a specific number of components from blend component tanks are pumped in a sequential manner to a final product tank. This type of blending has several disadvantages.    

Major disadvantages of conventional sequential blending

This method of approach leads to increased amount of blending giveaway. In addition to creating high quantities of property giveaway, inventory storage tank get immobilized. This is a very serious disadvantage. Another difficulty is the generation of off-spec non sellable product. The conventional blending can also be described as a lengthy process and it consumes a lot of time. In fact, the blending process may get extended to more than one day. All these disadvantages create a combined negative effect to make sequential blending problematic and inconvenient.    

What is the best alternative?

The best way to address the issues of conventional blending is in-line blending. Several studies show that numerous benefits can be linked with in-line blending methods. The method of sequentially pumping components to a blend tank falls short in ways compared to inline blending. In-line gasoline blending design is capable to lowering the time consumed for blending by 50% which in turn results in the freeing of tanks for other important tasks. You need only reduced amount of inventory when you depend on in-line blending. You don’t have to bother about high octane and vapor pressure property giveaway as well. Another prominent advantage of in-line blending is that it minimizes the costs associated with demurrage and there are no re-blends or off-specifications.  Last but not the least; this type of blending keeps the testing of blend samples at minimal levels.

What do best blending design companies offer?

Top blending services offer a blender that is pre-wired, turnkey blender with a modular drop-In place. They make everything uncomplicated and a concrete pad for the skid needs to be prepared by the user. Installation of top quality components such as spectroscopic multi-properties analyzer, flowmeters and RVP analyzers make the entire process smooth, accurate and fast. Once they are installed, you can start using them for a very long period of time. You can seek the guidance of renowned blending companies to install a sulfur scrubber for reducing SO2 emission. Performance guarantee is ensured by following all the necessary steps and leading companies provide startup assistance after installation. Other services offered by well established refinery automation and blending design companies are training for operator and planner, Full technology transfer to the client, and deigning service and assistance for getting EPA waiver.  

Refinery Automation Institute is a well established and credible blending designer and consultant service provider.  This company has been serving various clients for the past 25 years with their unique and innovative in-line blender design solutions for bunker, diesel and gasoline all around the world.

For more info:- Gasoline Blending Consultant

Learn about Best Blending Solution Concepts

What makes hiring a highly reputed diesel, gasoline and bunker blending company inevitable? Many reasons are there to make the process of identifying an established blending consultant really important. If you want the best blendstock brokering guidance, you have to identify the most reliable companies and advisory services. Offering blending advice involves a lot of technical expertise. Best service providers also offer blending economic assessment and performance study to make the operation result oriented and optimized.

Most beneficial blendstock brokering services

Top gasoline blending companies always believe that blending is the arithmetic of properties and prices. They offer the best assistance and guidance at every stage to purchase the most suitable components so that most profitable batches can be made. This approach makes their truly valuable and beneficial as well. Renowned blending companies have networks worldwide and they utilize these connections to deliver maximum benefits for their clients. Best companies help you identify the best deals while fulfilling all the specifications irrespective of the geographical location of the client.

Blendstock components price is weakness of several people  

For estimating a blendstock price, it is necessary to have subscription to services such as Argus, Platts or Opis. It is an extremely daunting task to identify the blend component price with the properties. What is the most effective step you need to take when you are confronted with such a situation? Leading gasoline design blending and advisory companies put forward best method for predicting blendstock component prices. Since these companies have collaborations and partnerships with most reputed trading companies all around the world, you can expect the best deals under their guidance.

High quality diesel and gasoline blending courses that cover highly relevant topics         

In addition to offering best blending advice and solutions including design in line blenders and sulfur scrubber installations, trustworthy service providers provide diesel and gasoline blending courses for gasoline traders/blenders, sales representatives, blending engineers, middle and senior managers, blend schedulers, planning and economic engineers, inspectors and other similar professionals. The courses offered teach people how to calculate blend profitability with great accuracy and effectiveness. Participants can also get better idea about how to select the best components. High quality courses make people familiarize with the complicated RIN world and they come to know how to use smart blend optimizer in the best possible way. If you visit the website of a reliable blending course provider, you can learn about the topics in a detailed manner. High quality materials and exercises make everything clear to every participant.

If you are looking for the best blending advice, you can rely on Refinery Automation Institute. This company also offers highly beneficial assessment and performance study, design in line blenders, blending brokerage and blending training courses for clients and professionals all around the world. Accomplished professionals of this company are fully dedicated to offering the best solutions and streamline the operations in a perfect way. Their assistance and guidance are offered at every stage and performance guarantee becomes a reality with this service provider.

Get Best Blending Advice and Solutions From Trusted Consultants

What are the services offered by top refinery automation and fuel blending consultants? If you want to streamline the operation and prevent all types of pitfalls, you have to hire a bunker, diesel and gasoline blending design and advisory service. Best companies offer various types of services including blending advice, blending economic performance assessment study, design inline blenders, blending training courses, smart blend optimizer and materials and blending brokerage.

High quality blending advice for clients  

You can hire reliable services for high quality bunker, diesel and gasoline advice. Several refineries and plants have fed up paying RIN fines on a daily basis. There are methods to avoid these types of fines and utilizing alternative bio-fuels like renewable diesel and biodiesel can rectify this problem. Gasoline can be exported to bypass the RIN fine. Best advice can be sought from trusted consultants to avoid the existing problems. You can also learn about the possibilities of using sulfur scrubber solutions to reduce the SO2 levels.

Best solutions for RVP and Octane giveaway

The physical blending giveaway has grown as a highly disturbing issue for several refineries. This has translated into a serious economic problem as well. Refineries need to measure the properties in the right way. For reducing the error, they have to buy the most accurate instruments. Most suitable blend control systems need to be installed to minimize the errors. You can expect the right solutions for all these problems when you hire a responsible and renowned blending design and advisory service.

Performing root cause analysis and offering the right remedial steps

There are so many other problems that contribute to physical giveaway. All these issues must be studied properly to arrive at the best decisions. Several refineries do not have an in line blender. Top services perform a root-cause analysis and they go through the LP and evaluate all the vital aspects to optimize the giveaway related issues. A blend recipe giveaway is needed to assess the situation correctly. Best consultants and advisory services analyze all the steps and come up with solutions that address the problems in the most efficient way.  

Best advice and guidance on purchasing the right components and blending process training

Purchasing the right components is a very critical aspect when you are making gasoline, diesel and bunker. If you don’t have the expertise, things become highly complicated. Reliable refinery automation services offer the best guidance and you can buy the most suitable parts under their supervision. Best companies also offer advice on ethanol blending and reformer severity and you can learn how to optimize RVP seasonal rollover with right blend planning as well. Additionally, best consultants provide blending process training for the people.  

Refinery Automation Institute LLC is one of most respected and well established fuel blending consulting company in the USA. It offers the best guidance and support for all types of giveaways and other kinds of issues. You can rely on this company to optimize the refinery operation in an affordable way. This consultant also offers gasoline, bunker and diesel blending courses for the interested people. 

Half of the National Oil Consumption is Gasoline

Representing half of national oil utilization, fuel is the biggest single volume refined item sold in the United States. It is an exceptionally various market, with several discount merchants and a large number of retail outlets. Along these lines, it is liable to serious rivalry and value instability. ((The NYMEX Division New York harbor unleaded gas prospects contract and reformulated fuel mix stock for oxygen mixing (RBOB) fates contract exchange units of 42,000 gallons or 1,000 barrels.

They depend on conveyance at oil based commodities terminals in New York harbor, the real east drift exchanging community for imports and residential shipments from refineries in the New York harbor territory or from the Gulf Coast refining focuses. ((The business is moving towards ethanol with the progressing eliminate of the oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). Presently required in numerous regions for controlling emanations that can antagonistically influence air quality, the unleaded fuel contract details adjust to those for oxygenated gas. RBOB adjusts to industry norms for reformulated consistent fuel mix stock. As recorded by the Colonial Pipeline for fungible F review for deals in New York and New Jersey, RBOB is mixed with 10% denatured fuel ethanol (92% virtue).

Prepared for the expansion of 10% ethanol at the truck rack, RBOB is a discount non-oxygentated mix stock exchanged the New York Harbor flatboat advertise. ((The New York Mercantile Exchange keeps up close contact with government and state authorities and keeps on assessing changes in the controls to guarantee that the terms and states of the fuel prospects contract keep on reflecting the money advertise. Contracts give a slate of adaptable, fluid monetary instruments including prospects contracts, alternatives contracts, date-book spread choices contracts, break spread choices contracts, and normal value choices. Fascinating choices contracts are offered too.

The No. 2 fuel oil is warming oil, and records for around 25% of the yield of a barrel of unrefined, the second biggest "cut" after gas. The warming oil prospects contract additionally exchanges units of 42,000 gallons or 1,000 barrels. what's more, depends on conveyance in New York harbor, the essential money advertise exchanging focus. Alternatives on prospects, date-book spread choices contracts, break spread choices contracts, and normal value choices contracts give advertise members considerably more prominent adaptability in overseeing value chance.

The warming oil prospects contract is additionally used to fence diesel fuel and stream fuel, the two of which exchange the money advertise at a regularly stable premium to NYMEX Division New York harbor warming oil fates.

The Exchange additionally records for exchanging on the NYMEX ClearPort® exchanging stage a progression of both gas and warming oil swap fates contracts in light of break spreads and area differentials, including European and normal value choices. Exchanges in these agreements can likewise be culminated off-trade and submitted to the Exchange for clearing through the NYMEX ClearPort® clearing site.

Putting resources into oil and vitality items should be possible through the oil and vitality makers. Triple Diamond Energy Corporation has practical experience in obtaining the most noteworthy quality prime oil and gaseous petrol properties.