The Energy and Fuel Volume Flows in a Petroleum Refinery
What are the energy and fuel volume flows to and from a petroleum refinery?
A petroleum refinery processes 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day and operates with an energy efficiency of 90%. The oil and the petroleum products have energy contents of 35 MJ/L. What are the energy and fuel volume flows to and from this refinery, in MJ/day? (One barrel of oil is 159 liters)
Answer:
The energy flow into the refinery is 556,500,000 MJ/day and the energy flow out of the refinery is 500,850,000 MJ/day.
To calculate the energy and fuel volume flows into and out of the refinery, we need to consider the energy efficiency and the energy content of the oil and petroleum products. First, let's calculate the energy flow into the refinery. The crude oil volume flow is 100,000 barrels per day. Since one barrel is 159 liters, the crude oil volume flow is 100,000 * 159 = 15,900,000 liters per day. To convert this volume flow to energy flow, we multiply it by the energy content of the oil and petroleum products, which is 35 MJ/L. So the energy flow into the refinery is 15,900,000 * 35 = 556,500,000 MJ/day. Next, let's calculate the energy flow out of the refinery. Since the refinery operates with an energy efficiency of 90%, we multiply the energy flow into the refinery by 0.9. So the energy flow out of the refinery is 556,500,000 * 0.9 = 500,850,000 MJ/day. Therefore, the energy flow into the refinery is 556,500,000 MJ/day and the energy flow out of the refinery is 500,850,000 MJ/day.