Recommendations for Emissions Reduction

Petroleum refining and petrochemical industries produce emissions at many stages of the
operations. These emissions can significantly lower the air quality and cause short-term and long-term
health impacts for workers, and people living near the sites and in the same region. The only way the
situation can be improved is to analyze the process and operations in detail and identify areas where
control measures can be taken to reduce these emissions.
For example, proper venting and flaring technologies can reduce losses of natural gas, and this
has been examined and quantified as shown in Table 8 [34].

Emissions from storage can be greatly reduced by employing measures such as vapor recovery
systems, and using double seals in storage tanks. Leaks due to faults or seal failures in equipment are
a common maintenance problem, and periodically checking or maintaining the equipment through
a leak detection and repair program can minimize this. Likewise, fugitive emissions can be reduced
through proper design, procedures, and good maintenance practices. In portions of the processes using
combustion, lower NOx burners are available, and SOx emissions can be minimized by desulfurization
of fuels, or by directing the sulfur-containing fuels to units that are equipped with SOx emission
control technologies [55]. Combustor and furnace efficiency should be improved, as it can also
reduce emissions.
There are some Best Available Techniques (BATs) for the reduction of NO x. They include the usage
of low NOx burners, gaseous fuel usage, selective catalytic reduction, and energy integration [56].
Usage of low NOx burners lowers the flame temperature and reduces NOx generation. A few burners
employ recirculation of flue gas in order to reduce flame temperature. Replacing liquid fuels with
almost N2 free gaseous fuels, also tends to lower NOx. Selective catalytic reduction is another way to
achieve lower emissions, using V2O5/TiO2 catalysts where oxides of nitrogen react to form nitrogen
and water.