Decarbonisation and Innovation: Highlights from the 8th Petrochemical and Refining Congress

Climate change casts a long shadow over the planet, and the urgency of decarbonisation is undeniable. This May, at the 8th edition of the Petrochemical and Refining Congress: Europe, more than 400 industry experts from over 200 companies convened in Amsterdam to discuss strategies and share cutting-edge technological insights driving the future of downstream transformation.

A highlight of the agenda was a Senior Vice President panel (SVP panel) discussion on pathways to decarbonisation and visible results. BGS team highly appreciates all the speakers for their insightful presentations and would like to share key takeaways from this productive session:

?? Christian G?rtner from MIYAWAKI GmbH explained that poor steam network design usually results from common mistakes, such as specification and installation errors, heat exchanger errors and lack of knowledge. To overcome these issues companies should reduce steam usage and loss, revise mistakes in network design, train personnel, shift focus from emissions to costs and establish active steam network management.

?? Philipp Hugelmann from HOERBIGER Wien GmbH focused on advancements in compressor technology and operational practices that can lead to achieving net zero operations. He explained that there are three main components helping to achieve this goal: awareness, action plan and emissions reduction itself (involving equipment installation and commissioning, preparing emission certificates and emission reduction reports).

?? Dr. Norbert Kamp and Prof. Dr. Dobrin Toporov from Gidara Energy have proved that it’s possible to enable sustainable fuels and chemicals production while decarbonising hard-to-abate industries. The experts presented the High-Temperature Winkler (HTW)? technology, which transforms waste streams into usable feedstocks for fuels and chemicals production.

?? Massimo Cristiani from Saipem explored the topic of reducing carbon emissions and shared a new story of integration - Livorno Eni Green Refinery. This project is based on UOP Ecofining Technology and includes integration of existing refinery to produce innovative and high-quality biofuels from vegetable oils, animal fats and used cooking oils.

?? Enrico Giglioli from Saras S.p.A. shared the company’s approach on biofuels, providing a gradual move: co-processing on hydrotreating and mild hydrocracking units, renewable diesel purity pilot on hydrotreating unit, FCC co-processing and more.

?? Fabio Assandri from Versalis unveiled Versalis Hoop? technology - a platform for advanced plastic chemical recycling which transforms non-mechanically-recyclable mixed plastic waste into a raw material to produce new plastics.

?? Daniel Roser from BASF encouraged the audience to accelerate transformation and make climate protection a competitive business case and highlighted that transformation in the refinery industry provides several collaboration opportunities with the chemical industry, including entry points for the upstream and downstream.

PRC Europe 2024 has illuminated the path forward for the oil and gas industry, demonstrating that through innovation and commitment to sustainability the downstream sector can achieve a more resilient future. We want to extend our sincere thanks to all the valued speakers and participants who helped us to prove once again - when industry professionals come together, the possibilities for progress and transformation are limitless.

Join PRC Europe community of industry leaders and stay connected with the latest advancements in the oil & gas industry! The registration for the next edition of PRC Europe is already open. The Congress is going to take place on 19-20 May 2025 in Milan, Italy.

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