Authors: Sofía García-Maza | Ángel Darío González-Delgado
Source: Revista EIA (article, 2025-07-10)
Field: Chemistry — Analytical Chemistry

Environmental Evaluation Using Waste Reduction Algorithm of a Mass and Energy-Integrated Gas Oil Hydrocracking Process Due to increasing environmental regulations, the chemical industry is evolving towards more efficient production, placing the petrochemical sector in a difficult situation due to its economic and environmental effects. In this regard, it is crucial to perform an environmental impact assessment of refinery processes to balance operational needs with environmental concerns. Fuels such as LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), naphtha, diesel, and kerosene, which are obtained by gas oil hydrocracking process on an industrial scale, are highly efficient, but present environmental problems due to emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases. The environmental assessment was carried out to address this challenge, using the Waste Reduction (WAR) algorithm methodology and the WAR GUI® computational tool. Subsequently, the environmental parameters of the chemicals involved in the process were calculated, an environmental impact assessment was performed, and the potential global and category impacts were evaluated, including Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), Global Warming Potential (GWP), Photochemical Oxidation Potential (PCOP), and Acidification Potential (AP) within the atmospheric impacts, and Human Toxicity Potential by Ingestion (HTPI), Human Toxicity Potential by Inhalation or Dermal Exposure (HTPE), Aquatic Toxicity Potential (ATP), and Terrestrial Toxicity Potential (TTP) within the toxicological impacts. In this way, the environmental performance was analyzed focusing on the potential environmental impact (PEI) using the generation rate and output rate of various fuels in an integrated gas oil hydrocracking process, both from the mass and energy perspectives.The results show that the process converts low-PEI feedstocks, such as gas oils, into higher-PEI products, such as kerosene, with significant PEI generation in Cases 2, considering products and waste (516,000 PEI/h) and 4, considering products, energy, and waste (519,000 PEI/h). However, due to the mass integration of wastewater effluents, the contribution of the process stages to PEI was reduced considering waste. On the other hand, the large product flow increased PEI per unit time, but reduced PEI per kilogram of product. Now, ATP (Aquatic Toxicity Potential) had the highest toxicological PEI (500,000 PEI/h); while PCOP (Photochemical Oxidation Potential) had the highest atmospheric PEI (36,300 PEI/h). Additionally, the stage that contributes the most to the production of PEI per hour is the preliminary separation stage, reaching 82.03% considering waste and 58.72% considering energy. On the other hand, natural gas was found to have lower environmental impacts compared to liquid (oil) and solid (coal) energy sources. Additionally, toxicological and atmospheric impacts showed moderate PEI values ​​per category (positive and negative), demonstrating that an integrated gas oil hydrocracking process in terms of mass and energy presents better results in terms of environmental impacts, compared to a conventional gas oil hydrocracking plant, contributing to the sustainability of the process. Finally, when comparing this process with others, the integrated gas oil hydrocracking process in terms of mass and energy is more environmentally acceptable than biohydrogen production (12,000,000 PEI/h). Reduction (mathematics) ; Process (computing) ; Cracking ; Process engineering ; Environmental science ; Waste management ; Fossil fuel ; Energy (signal processing) ; Petroleum engineering ; Algorithm ; Computer science ; Engineering ; Chemistry ; Mathematics ; Organic chemistry ; Statistics Petroleum Processing and Analysis ; Catalysis and Hydrodesulfurization Studies