The economics of the project are driven by the high cost of blending refinery vacuum tower bottoms (vtb’s) and pitch coming from the SDA in the refineries (SDA Pitch) with distillate cutter stocks to achieve the merchantable fuel oil viscosity specifications. It is a low risk and fast Return On Investment (ROI) project.

Refineries will benefit from this project because they can sell their extra heavy residue and Highly Viscous Pitch at a better “value” than using it as raw material to prepare HFO.

Will enhance refinery margins by liberating high value distillates used for HFO manufacture. Refiners especially those that produce large volumes of fuel oil are facing stark choices of investing in multi-billion dollar coker projects or facing continued depreciating fuel oil cracks jeopardizing profitability.  EFO Project can provide a low cost alternative and can be seen as a “Virtual Coker” to dispose the low value streams.

• Increase conversion factor from 67%  to 80% (Virtual Coker)

• No investment

• Neither incremental O&M costs nor marketing and sale risks

Customers will benefit because they can be more competitive in the electricity generating market. Lower fuel price will allow customers to present competitive bids and will increase its potential to win the bids for new generation. Also will enhance its position in the dispatch merit order in the market. Consistent product quality and reduction of gaseous emissions, (particulates and NOx) 

EMULSIFIED FUEL OIL CONCEPT (EFO)

Energy & Petroleum Consultants Ltd. (E&PC) have developed the knowledge and acquired the expertise through years of work in the development of ORIMULSION®. Orimulsion was a natural bitumen/water emulsions developed in Venezuela in the late 80’s for use as fuel in steam power plants, furnaces, cement kilns and internal combustion engines (Diesel Engines). ORIMULSION® has proved to be a very good fuel for power plants; however the Venezuelan Government decided in year 2005 to withdraw ORIMULSION® from the market. As a result, we have developed an energy solution as an alternative to ORIMULSION® once it was withdrawn from the market.

This knowledge and expertise has allowed E&PC to develop means to use low value, difficult to handle and dispose heavy crude oils, and bitumen (such as refinery bottoms, from 5° to 12° API) and transform them into valuable, easy to handle Emulsified Fuel Oil (EFO) to be used in a range of applications.

EFO is and Oil-in-Water low viscosity emulsion with high Hydrocarbon content of 75 % and 25% water. It has been formulated and is manufactured under patented process in order to maintain its stability and can be stored and handled at ambient conditions.  The technology has been proved through tests using different sources of pitch and in Medium Speed Diesel engines.

Heavy Residue streams produced from the Vacuum Tower, Visbreaker units or Solvent De-asphalting Units (SDU) from any refinery can be used as raw material for manufacturing EFO. A discrete portion of the heavy residue can be taken from the refinery to manufacture EFO suitable to use in the steam generation boilers, diesel engines and other facilities as already mentioned.

Even though the characteristic of any oil/water emulsion fuel will depend on the particular characteristics of the crude oil or bitumen/Pitch used as basis for the emulsion, they all share the general advantages of exhibit a clean burning, low particulate, CO and NOX emissions, and ease of handling, storage and transportation.

Also combustion efficiencies higher than 99% can be achieved independently of the hydrocarbon used as base for the emulsion. This is due to the small drop size and consistent drops size distribution that can be achieved. Also very low excess oxygen is required for efficient combustion.

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• PREATOMIZED FUEL 

• SECONDARY ATOMIZATION EFFECT AND INCREASED     TURBULENCE DUE TO SUDDEN WATER EVAPORATION

The core process includes the usage of raw material supplied by selected Refineries, specifically high viscosity heavy bottoms streams from the refining process of crude oil. Such residues (minimum 8,700 barrels/day) will processed through treatment and emulsification in water with a package of emulsifiers, in order to produce at least 11,600 barrels per day of emulsion of high caloric value and low viscosity, ideal to be used as fuel at thermal power plants. The process involves: the treatment of the raw material or residue, emulsifying the residue, storage and transportation from the plant to the export terminal. Within the core process, there are commercial procedures through the follow-up of official and certified measurement and controls for product delivery.

EFO is a fuel manufactured under multiple quality controls, its characteristics are invariable, thus offering a competitive edge regarding traditional fuels that may present slight quality variations which need continuous operational modifications during their consumption, and strict quality controls at the customer's facilities. Furthermore, we offer a competitive discount when compared to the cost of traditional fuels, which translates into substantial savings for the generator.

The intrinsic value of the product for the customer goes beyond the purchase price. Purchase of this product at lower price compared to HFO for power generation, results in the potential increase in customer participation in the electricity market due to lower generation costs. This would improve the Dispatch Merit order of the power plant and would allow greater power delivery while reducing operating costs and strengthening customer presence in the electricity market. Also the fuel is manufactured under a formulation that reduces the levels of NOX and particulate, which results in a significant improvement in the client's image as a generator, with a high commitment to the environment and allowing cost reductions for the treatment of effluents and emissions.

Comparative edge:

The power generation market is competitive, and the rules of market supply and demand govern the price. EFO's competing product is heavy fuel oil (HFO). Basically, competition is based on the final price delivered to the customer so that it can generate electricity more cheaply. Furthermore a lower fuel price will allow customers to present competitive bids for new generation (based on total electricity cost) in comparison with HFO, coal and LNG and will increase its potential to win the bids for new generation.

Where:

CC Gasoil: Combined cycle using gasoil as fuel

HSFO ST: Steam Turbine power plant using HSFO

EFO ST: Steam Turbine power plants using EFO

HSFO Diesel: Diesel engines using HSFO

EFO Diesel: Diesel engines using EFO

CC LNG: Combined cycle power plant using LNG (includes CAPEX for re-gasification plant)

Coal: Coal Power Plant

In the case of the marketing of EFO, in addition to its competitive price, we offer comparable advantages in terms of same quality as the HFO because of its advantages in consistent product quality, which is low for power generation fuels, and the reduction of gaseous emissions. On the other hand, the marketing strategy provides after-sales technical support to customers.

Other emulsion technologies

There are other emulsion technologies available in the market; however those technologies are not the same as our EFO business project. Those emulsions are “water in oil” where the water droplets are dispersed in the oil which is far from ours; EFO consists of an “oil in water” emulsion where the oil droplets are dispersed in the water. The idea behind the emulsion of “water in oil” is to improve the combustion of diesel or fuel oil by the atomization of the water in the oil due to its violent vaporization. This has the additional advantage of reducing NOx and particulate emissions. This process calls for preparing the emulsion just before the injection in the combustion chambers. In our EFO technology the water sudden evaporation has the same effect of improving the combustion and reduce the NOx and particulates emissions but at the same time reduces substantially the fuel viscosity and the fuel can be handled and stored at temperatures as low as 60 Fahrenheit degrees using conventional fuel handling systems.

The basic fundamental differentiation with EFO technology is that we offer an emulsion of low viscosity, highly stable, able to be piped and storage for later use with a price discount vs. Market price for Heavy Fuel Oil. While the offerings of the other technologies are basically “water in oil” prepared just before injecting it into the combustion chamber, it has low stability.

On “water in oil” emulsions the savings for the refinery does not exist neither for the customer nor to the refinery, because its feed is diesel or fuel oil at market price that has already been blended with a high value blending stock. The main purpose of those technologies is to improve the combustion of the fuel and reduce NOx and particulates emissions. Whereas in our case, we are using Pitch or Heavy oil bottoms from refineries as raw material before it is blended with high value cutter-stock. Therefore, it provides incentives to the refineries for “liberating” high value diluents feedstock.

Additionally, those companies marketing offer is to sell equipment and technology (via Royalties) for somebody else to use. The investment and O&M cost have to be borne by the customer. Our business proposal is to make the investment to build the plant, operate the EFO plant and be connected with a refinery in a “win/win” situation thru savings and value added to all parties, while improving the bottom line and the environmental aspects of the product. The refinery will sell the raw material and the customer will receive the EFO. That's why those technologies are not competing with the EFO business project and our marketing offer.

Quality Control:

The production process of emulsions follows a complex system that requires advanced control systems and operating methods which results in a high quality product without variations therein.  

Safety and Spillage:

We have all the knowledge to safely handle and transport the EFO. We also have complete knowledge on how to control any kind of spillage of EFO. We know how EFO behaves in all kind of possible spillage accidents and how to control, the best cleaning techniques and how to recover EFO to avoid any product or environmental damage and contamination.

Product Warranty:

Product warranty is 6 months after the date of shipment. In the unlikely event of any quality problems, E&PC shall provide after-sales service to reconstitute the product characteristics.