Every week, energy management staff from all departments of the company check the dynamic energy consumption data monitoring platform, compare energy consumption benchmark values of each process section, tap optimization potential from multiple dimensions including low-temperature heat utilization, temperature and pressure reduction adjustment, and distillation parameters, and conduct corresponding analysis. Data with drastic fluctuations shall be monitored dynamically. Meanwhile, the Production Management Department releases a weekly briefing every Monday covering existing problems and highlights of energy-saving work of all units. The company planned to launch 54 energy-saving optimization projects in 2026, and the actual number has exceeded 70 after continuous expansion.
In addition, the Production Management Department enforces the "Three Strictest" work requirements and conducts random inspections on energy-saving work of two units every week. During inspections, auditors also check the training and implementation of energy-saving operation procedures for frontline staff to consolidate the foundation of energy conservation in production and integrate energy-saving concepts into daily operations.
After the technical transformation project for the transformation and upgrading of Luoyang Oil & Refining was completed, the Production Management Department invited third-party institutions to review energy efficiency indicators. The department also systematically diagnosed energy consumption of aging units still operating in the refining zone, identified energy-saving potential points by coordinating old and newly-built facilities, and put forward feasible design optimization and energy-saving technical renovation schemes to realize coordinated operation of old and new equipment, so as to control energy consumption from the source.
Comprehensive refining energy consumption is a core energy-saving assessment indicator supervised by local governments and the group corporation. Exceeding the set threshold will trigger risks of unit shutdown, directly threatening the company’s survival, making it a vital lifeline for the enterprise.
Focusing on core priorities, the Production Management Department adopted multiple measures to guarantee compliance with key energy-saving indicators. Comprehensive refining energy consumption covers all types of energy consumed in refining production. Faced with reduced processing load of refining units, the department launched special research projects for low-load operation, cut circulating feed flow, and even adopted intermittent operation modes for some units to lower energy use.
Intermediate products produced by refining units are sometimes sent to tank farms for mixing and homogenization, requiring pumps for transportation and steam to maintain material temperature. This year, the Second Storage & Transportation Division and Shengli Refinery carried out joint continuous optimization work. They improved the quality of intermediate products, opened up direct material supply pipelines to production units to reduce the volume of materials delivered to tank farms, cut energy consumption and shut down part of storage tanks.
Shengli Refinery set stricter targets for itself, abandoning the past practice of setting energy consumption benchmark values based on historical average data. It revised energy consumption assessment indicators by referencing the best historical performance and strengthened energy-saving management for atmospheric-vacuum distillation units and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units.
In addition to producing gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas, the No.3 FCC unit generates steam. The wax oil hydrogenation unit supplies high-temperature wax oil as feedstock. Since May, the FCC workshop has broken conventional operating modes to maximize the intake of direct-supplied hot wax oil, raising the temperature of feedstock tanks from 123.6°C to 128.7°C. The increased volume of hot feed reduces heat loss of slurry oil used for heating and raises its temperature. After entering the steam generator, an extra 30 to 40 tons of steam is produced per hour, lowering overall energy consumption.
Shengli Refinery spared no effort to capture all possible energy-saving gains. After the anti-freezing and anti-coagulation period ended in April, the factory inspected over 2,000 steam traps for failures, replacing 14 faulty traps and cutting steam waste by 1.4 tons per hour.
In the first five months of this year, the company’s comprehensive refining energy consumption consistently outperformed industrial standards.
Each unit under the chemical division adopts customized optimization solutions based on different production processes and energy-saving potential. The full-density pilot plant circulating water system in the Resin Division suffered from oversized pumps for low load demand, so the division replaced matching pumps in a timely manner. Some storage tanks in the First Storage & Transportation Division lacked tail gas recovery facilities; the division carried out rectification this year and prioritized the use of tanks equipped with tail gas recovery devices to reduce energy consumption.
Steam accounts for around 80% of total energy consumption of the Coal Chemical Division, making steam consumption reduction a key priority for energy-saving research this year.
The Coal Chemical Division made layout preparations for this initiative during last year’s unit overhaul. The CO₂ compressor of the carbon dioxide plant is driven by steam. During maintenance, the steam pipeline of the CO₂ compressor was merged with the steam pipeline of the air separation unit compressor. The integrated pipeline delivers larger flow, higher pressure and temperature, and improved steam quality. At present, the CO₂ compressor saves 1.5 tons of steam per hour.
In March, partial units of the butanol-octanol plant were shut down, generating less wastewater. The Butanol-Octanol Workshop optimized process routes by diverting wastewater to the sewage treatment facility of the isobutyraldehyde unit, which allowed the shutdown of the wastewater stripping tower of the butanol-octanol plant, cutting steam consumption by 3.5 tons per hour and saving over 5 million RMB in steam costs annually. Meanwhile, purified wastewater meets reuse standards and is delivered to the circulating water pipe network, greatly boosting wastewater recycling rate.
The butyraldehyde isomerization tower separates n-butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde. Its reboiler, which heats liquid butyraldehyde into gas phase, runs on low-pressure steam as well as medium-pressure steam after pressure reduction. The Butanol-Octanol Workshop optimized operation by appropriately lowering internal pipe network pressure and increasing the intake of low-pressure steam, reducing the volume of pressure-reduced medium-pressure steam by around 5 tons per hour.
