Saudi Aramco: Implementing energy technology as an "additional" conservative emission reduction

Saudi Aramco believes that for a long time to come, oil and gas will remain the main energy source, and the oil and gas industry will still have strong vitality.

Author: Wang Lu

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Following the general trend of international emission reductions, Saudi Aramco, the world's most profitable oil company, has also implemented a new strategy for its refining business, but it tends to be conservative.

Ranked among the companies with the lowest carbon footprint in the oil and gas industry

Saudi Aramco is the world's largest oil production company and the sixth largest oil refiner.

Due to its advantageous geographical location, Saudi Aramco has abundant oil and gas resources and has been committed to implementing major exploration and production projects to consolidate its position in the oil and gas industry.

Saudi Aramco uses advanced technology to convert the captured carbon dioxide into practical industrial products and raw materials for manufacturing.

The world’s largest ethylene production capacity, with chemical operations in more than 50 countries

With its obvious upstream resource advantages, Saudi Aramco is gradually improving its downstream business capabilities, and its downstream business is the largest customer in the upstream sector.

The chemical business of the downstream division of Saudi Aramco covers the production of basic chemicals to fine chemical products.

Emissions of 67 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2020

In 2020, Saudi Aramco's oil and gas production was 12.

Saudi Aramco carried out large-scale expansion of its chemical business from December 2018 to 2020, and the total chemical production capacity increased significantly.

As Saudi Aramco has been committed to the development of upstream business, most of the carbon emissions of its downstream business come from the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation that it acquired, and the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions has also been declining year by year.

Take advantage of crude oil resources to expand the scope of chemical business

Saudi Aramco believes that for a long period of time in the future, oil and gas will still be the main energy source, and the oil and gas industry will still have strong vitality.

Follow the trend of international emission reduction and stick to its leading position in oil and gas

Oil and gas fields are Saudi Aramco's core assets and the cornerstone of its competitiveness and internationalization.

Saudi Aramco believes that even in a scenario where climate warming is controlled within two degrees Celsius, oil and gas are still an important energy source, and natural gas will play a key role in hydrogen production.

　　In 2021, Saudi Aramco has discovered 4 new oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabia, 3 of which have abundant natural gas production.

　　In 1975, Saudi Aramco designed, developed and operated a natural gas dry gas system, which has now been applied to all Saudi Aramco's natural gas projects in Saudi Arabia.

　　Layout the development route of chemical industry and new energy

　　In April of this year, Saudi Aramco reached an agreement with an international consortium headed by the US investment company EIG and Mubadala Development Company to sell the oil pipeline business worth US$12.

　　Saudi Aramco has developed three direct crude oil-based chemicals technologies, namely, fully integrated crude oil-based chemicals (COTC), thermal crude oil-based chemicals (TCTC), and catalytic crude oil-based chemicals (CCTC).

　　COTC technology can bypass the main refining process and send the crude oil directly to the hydrocracking unit.
The lighter components are separated by desulfurization first, and then sent to the traditional steam cracking unit for cracking, while the heavier components are sent to the hydrocracking unit.
The deep catalytic cracking unit maximizes the production of olefins while greatly reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases in the refining process.
In 2018, Saudi Aramco and U.
K.
Wood Group signed a contract to invest US$20 billion to build a COTC device in Saudi Arabia.
The project can achieve a direct conversion rate from crude oil to nearly 50% of chemicals, maximize the yield of chemicals, recover by-products, optimize resources and increase scale efficiency.
The project can process 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produce about 9 million tons of chemicals and base oils per year.
It is expected to be put into operation in 2025.
It also includes two ethylene production lines with a total capacity of 3 million tons per year.

　　Saudi Aramco is working with engineering and process technology companies McDermott and Chevron Lums to develop TCTC technology globally.
The technical route is divided into two steps: one is the crude oil treatment stage, the crude oil is sent to the hydrotreating plant for hydrorefining and hydrocracking; the second is the hydrotreated crude oil is sent to the steam cracking unit to produce petrochemical products.
The conversion rate of TCTC technology from crude oil to chemicals is as high as 70%, which can reduce capital expenditure by 30%.
The technology will be used to build a world-class cracker with a production capacity of 1.
5 million tons/year of ethylene, which can process 6 million tons of crude oil per year and reduce carbon emissions by about 4 million tons.

　　Saudi Aramco also cooperates with Acsens and TechnipFMC to develop CCTC technology.
The technology is based on Saudi Aramco's success in high-severity fluidized bed catalytic cracking, which produces chemicals by catalytically reacting crude oil in a high-temperature fluidized bed reactor.
The conversion rate of crude oil-to-chemicals of CCTC technology is 60%~80%, while reducing capital expenditure by 30%.
CCTC technology will be used in a unit with a crude oil processing capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, but the product is not only ethylene, but also other olefin products.

　　After Saudi Aramco's acquisition of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, it has also brought new forces in terms of production equipment innovation, chemical production raw material expansion, new product development, and carbon dioxide capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology applications.
In 2021, SABIC, BASF and Linde plan to jointly develop and promote electric heating solutions for steam crackers, aiming to effectively reduce carbon emissions through the electric-driven heating process, which is expected to achieve a 90% reduction ratio.
In addition, Saudi Aramco is also using the technology of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation to expand the source of raw materials, using waste plastics as raw materials to produce chemicals.

　　Saudi Aramco began exploring various methods of capturing carbon dioxide in 2010, including solvent absorption, solid adsorption, cryogenic distillation, membrane separation, and oxy-fuel combustion.
In 2011, the carbon capture system was successfully integrated into a Ford F-250 pickup truck, capturing 10% of carbon dioxide.
In 2013, switching to a liquid solvent (potassium carbonate solution) reduced the entire system to 1/8 of the original size, and integrated most of it under the chassis of the Toyota Camry, increasing the capture performance by 3 times.
When the car is running, the capture rate of carbon dioxide is 30%.
In 2019, Saudi Aramco applied the system to Volvo 8 heavy trucks, integrating a larger system between the cab and the trailer.
In addition, Saudi Aramco has also developed a new amino acid-based solvent system that uses turbo compound technology to recover engine energy.
Test results show that the capture rate of carbon dioxide in truck exhaust reaches 40%.

　　In addition, Saudi Aramco applies carbon capture technology to its oil and gas extraction business.
The carbon dioxide processed by its Hawiyah gas plant will be transported to the Uthmaniyah oil field by pipeline, and injected into the oil reservoir after the oil field's carbon treatment enhanced oil recovery system, which reduces carbon emissions.
, And improve the oil recovery rate.

　　Saudi Aramco also chemically converts the captured carbon dioxide into new chemical products.
For example, using Converge technology, its carbon dioxide copolymer production line can efficiently and cost-effectively convert the recovered carbon dioxide into clean, high value-added products.

　　Saudi Aramco's new energy business focuses on hydrogen production, blue ammonia and renewable energy power generation.
It is currently in its infancy and most of them are developed in cooperation with other companies.

　　In 2019, Saudi Aramco plans to invest US$5 million to increase the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation to 10 GW by 2023.
In terms of hydrogen production, Saudi Arabia has a great cost advantage.
On the one hand, it has abundant oil and gas resources and low production costs; on the other hand, it has abundant sunlight and wind energy resources, as well as vast undeveloped land, and blue hydrogen is cheaper than green hydrogen 2 ~3 times, economically feasible at this stage.

　　In 2020, Saudi Aramco produced 40 tons of blue ammonia and shipped it to Japan, which is the world's first such demonstration project.
Ammonia can be used as a fuel for zero-carbon power generation, that is, it is burned in thermal power plants without carbon emissions.

　　In addition, Saudi Aramco expressed at the China Development High-level Forum held in Beijing this year that it hopes to develop long-term cooperation with China in blue hydrogen, blue ammonia, syngas fuel, and CCUS.

　　In terms of solar energy, in 2011, Saudi Aramco and Showa Shell of Japan jointly invested in the Saudi solar business and built a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 500 kilowatts on Farasan Island in Saudi Arabia.
In the same year, together with Oman Solar, built a solar park with an installed capacity of 3,500 kilowatts near the King Abdullah Petroleum Research Center in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
In 2014, Saudi Aramco plans to invest heavily in the solar energy business, inject capital into the Saudi Atomic Energy and Renewable Energy City project, and build a solar power plant with an installed capacity of 300 MW in the project to reduce diesel consumption and carbon emissions.

　　In terms of wind energy, Saudi Aramco’s 2013 demonstration and guidance project aims to use its own equipment as an example to introduce feasible energy-saving solutions to other companies and groups.
The project includes six areas of water heaters, lighting, vehicles, heating and ventilation systems and air conditioning systems, self-owned houses, and smart meters.
In 2017, Saudi Aramco and General Electric of the United States completed the construction of the first wind farm in Saudi Arabia, with an installed power generation capacity of 2.
75 MW, which can provide sufficient power for 250 local residents and reduce 699.
86 tons of carbon emissions.

　　In 2014, Saudi Aramco developed the technology to use carbon dioxide in the concrete industry, and cooperated with the Korea Academy of Science and Technology to develop carbon dioxide-cured concrete technology.
At present, the technology is being pilot-tested in a precast concrete plant in Saudi Arabia.
By mixing steam and carbon dioxide to pressurize, 200 kilograms of carbon dioxide can be injected into each ton of concrete.
Compared with traditional concrete products, the produced carbon dioxide-cured concrete has higher mechanical strength, more durability, lower water permeability, stronger resistance to chlorine and sulfate, and higher applicability in offshore or high-humidity construction areas.
If global precast concrete companies adopt this technology, Saudi Aramco will recycle 246 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, which is equivalent to reducing exhaust emissions from 53 million vehicles.

　　In 2018, Saudi Aramco and my country’s Tsinghua University jointly developed a “new generation of fuel-zero-emission high-efficiency internal combustion engines”.
Tsinghua University is responsible for coordinating the upstream and downstream of the engine industry chain through the collaborative optimization of fuel development, advanced combustion modes, engine structure and exhaust aftertreatment systems , To develop an internal combustion engine that meets the 2023 emission regulations of California, the United States.
In addition, the project will use carbon dioxide capture and biomass energy technology to achieve nearly zero carbon emissions from the engine.

　　Accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence and digital low-carbon technology

　　Saudi Aramco is building an industrial park that supports projects in the digital and technological fields, named LAB7 Park.
All projects supported must belong to three main areas, namely energy and sustainable development, advanced manufacturing, and digital transformation.
The LAB7 park is adjacent to the innovation hub of Saudi Arabia-King Abdulaziz World Cultural Center.

　　The neighboring Green Innovation Park will use artificial intelligence and machine learning to demonstrate green technologies that can reduce carbon emissions and tap the potential of renewable energy.
The innovation park display technology includes a new development in the field of biotechnology-carbon capture trees, that is, the ability to use organic algae to simulate trees, which can improve air quality, reduce pollution, and work more efficiently.
In addition, the park is also equipped with artificial trees, equipped with conical wind turbines that simulate leaves, which can capture extremely weak wind for power generation.

　　The Fourth Industrial Revolution Center of Saudi Aramco is an advanced research and operation center, using various digital technologies, receiving more than 5 billion pieces of data from Saudi Aramco’s operations in various parts of the country every day, and accessing millions of projects.
Drawings, as well as inspection and maintenance data.
By combining these operational big data, powerful computing power, the most advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, it can help predict and improve the performance, safety and reliability of Saudi Aramco’s assets.

　　Saudi Aramco has now automated decision-making for electric submersible pumps in oil fields.
Previously, the speed of the pump was manually monitored, and the operator had to go down to the well site and adjust the speed manually.
Now, in the Khurais oil field, the advisory analysis tool will automatically adjust the speed to ensure the best operation.
This method has been extended to more than 400 oil wells on site, which can reduce energy consumption by 20%.
In addition, using machine learning predictive analysis and standardized analysis, Khurais Oilfield has also developed a system to optimize the gas in the boiler.
The system can save a lot of gas every year and reduce carbon emissions by 8%.

　　Saudi Aramco believes that the circular carbon economy is the best system to ensure sustained economic growth while reducing carbon emissions globally.
Saudi Aramco promotes the operation of the carbon circular economy system by deploying new technologies, reducing carbon emissions, improving fuel efficiency, saving water, and developing new green materials.
At the same time, technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data are used to detect enterprise energy consumption and optimize operation plans, improve seismic data processing and analysis capabilities, optimize oil extraction methods, and increase oil well productivity, thereby reducing carbon emissions.