FIT Service Specialty: Auditing Gasoline and Distillate Blending and Compliance

FIT provides consulting services to review and audit gasoline and distillate blending and compliance operations to maximize blending efficiency, to minimize critical gasoline property giveaway, and to assure that regulatory agency compliance requirements are being achieved. These services are valuable for clients wishing to assess their overall capabilities in efficient, effective and compliant gasoline blending in support of refinery operational and financial targets. FIT audits target maximization of the use of modern on-line and off-line laboratory instrumentation to monitor and support efficient gasoline blending. The primary objective of FIT’s Gasoline and Distillate Blending Audit service is to identify areas for improvement in existing blending operations. This will include identifying particular applications where the use of new analytical testing and control technology, along with improved quality assurance systems such as statistical process control (SPC), will provide improved gasoline blending capability and blending performance.

Gasoline blending is an integral and financially important part of refinery operations. Management can quickly calculate refinery margin increase, given a reduction in the percentage of reblends or can rapidly see the benefit in customer satisfaction when all gasoline blends shipped meet identified customer specifications and regulatory requirements. Management also knows the value of minimizing giveaway of critical gasoline properties such as octane quality and volatility, providing a positive impact on refinery profits. FIT’s audit will take a ‘fresh’ look at these areas to determine realistic step changes for increased blending proficiency and associated profitability. Maintaining a minimum storage volume of blending components and product waiting for certification is a goal for all refineries. Efficient operation in the blending areas has a big impact on this lost opportunity issue, but ultimately an integrated refinery model is needed to balance production and the available markets.

FIT Consultants will assist clients by providing a comprehensive gasoline and distillate blending review and audit, which includes evaluations of:

• Octane targets relative to specifications. For gasoline, this will include such things as reformer octane targets for short term control and catalytic cracking catalyst selection for longer term; for distillates, we will look at cut point control of gasoils for blend stocks, as an example.
• Vapor pressure targets relative to specifications.
• Regulated component concentration relative to EPA requirements:
• Benzene
• Total aromatics
• Total olefins
• Total sulfur.
• Distillation profile targets relative to specifications.
• Compliance with regulatory blending requirements.
• Frequency of re-blends and associated causes.
• Use of Statistical Process Control to:
• Minimize re-blends required.
• Minimize key property giveaway by blending too far from specifications.
• Laboratory test data consistency and reliability relative to gasoline blending operations.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) used for gasoline blending.

As an option, an FIT control specialist will audit the basic instrumentation (measurements, control elements, storage, pumps, and maintenance) and the regulatory controls available to the operators and the interface to the operators, engineers, and management. The goal is to assure that the on-line blending programs are supported by reliable instrumentation and that everyone has the information they need in a timely manner.

Discussions will be held with key blending process operations and engineering support personnel to understand the nature, accuracy and precision of current blending practices. FIT will give particular focus to which properties of the varying refinery blending components are being measured and will assess the potential (vs. cost) for gaining tighter control of blending process variables.

To evaluate typical refinery gasoline blending operations, FIT will carry out a detailed review of gasoline blending operations including:

• Overall blending procedures used (batch blending to tanks or in-line blending directly to the product pipeline).
• The typical size (volume) of gasoline blends.
• The gasoline blend customer base.
• Typical customer blend composition requirements.
• Expertise of blending operators and technical support personnel.
• Laboratory / blending operations interface structure.
• Frequency of laboratory testing of critical properties to guide blend preparation.
• On-line analyzers to support the blending operation (i.e. - octane engines, RVP analyzers, simulated distillation analyzers, sulfur analyzers).
• Quality Assurance procedures used to assure blend composition is accurate.
• Procedures used for release of finished blends to customers.
• Procedures used to assure that all regulatory requirements have been met before release of finished blends.

In addition, all existing analyzers used to support gasoline blending installed in the laboratory and installed on-line at the blender will be evaluated for operational effectiveness, including the accuracy, precision and reliability of test results produced.

explicate purpose of this review of blending operations, laboratory operations, the blending / laboratory interface, laboratory analyzers and on-line analyzers at the blender is to identify opportunities for improvements in blending operational efficiency and effectiveness in supporting refinery targets, to identify opportunities for replacement of blending related analyzers, and/or to recommend positive changes in the use of current blending related analyzers. Positive improvements in gasoline blending and related laboratory support should provide an overall increase in refinery profits by reducing giveaway of key blend properties relative to specifications and regulatory requirements. Having high quality instrumentation and controls in place and trusted will minimize the banking of costly products in tanks. The achieving of effective product blending is a key step toward the total refinery optimization and achieving maximum profitability from the plant assets.

eview of all test methods required by regulatory agencies (i.e. – gasoline testing as required by the California Air Resource Board (CARB) or federal or local EPA) will be done to assure that the methods as practiced in the refinery laboratory meet agency requirements, including required QA support for these test methods. The use of improper methods for measuring regulated properties of fuels can result in substantial fines for the refinery should the EPA challenge laboratory test results and the method used. This review will assure that all regulatory testing requirements are being met.

m the information gathered in the activities outlined above, FIT will provide a working model to improve gasoline and distillate blending operations to support the refinery business plan and to upgrade existing, or procure new, control instrumentation, blending-related laboratory analyzers, and on-line analyzers, if deemed necessary. In addition, FIT will provide recommendations to refine gasoline blending systems used to reduce the number of re-blends, to minimize giveaway of key gasoline properties relative to blend requirements and to assure that refinery customers for gasoline blends are provided with blends that always meets their requirements. From a detailed review and discussion of this model, FIT will identify and recommend opportunities for directly improving gasoline blending performance and efficiency.

personnel involved in gasoline blending operational and compliance reviews and audits look forward to the opportunity to assist your organization in achieving improved gasoline blending operational efficiencies and effectiveness that mesh well with the refinery business plan.