An energy-saving project co-funded by the Skolkovo Foundation has been shortlisted for the prestigious IChemE Global Awards for excellence, innovation and achievement in the chemical, process and biochemical industries.
UNIHEAT was created in 2012 by British Petroleum, the Institute of Catalysis in the Russian city of Novosibirsk and Imperial College London on the basis of Skolkovo resident UNICAT. They formed a £9.3 million international consortium to make oil refining in Russia more efficient and environmentally sustainable
The UNIHEAT project is one of more than 100 entrants making the final stages of the awards, which will be doled out in 16 categories including the overall Award for Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering in the British city of Birmingham on November 5.
UNIHEAT faces stiff competition for the Research Project of the Year Award from 12 other projects.
Sandro Macchietto, chair of the UNIHEAT steering committee and joint project director called the project’s shortlisting “splendid recognition of an outstanding effort.”
According to its website, UNIHEAT aims to increase the energy efficiency of several processes in oil refineries in addition to upstream and downstream operations, including oil transportation in pipelines and the production of petrochemicals.
The project also seeks to intensify heat exchange, to increase recovery of low-level heat available in various sections of industrial processes and to improve transport and utilization of heavy oils.
“Oil refining operations consume around 6 percent of the energy contained in each barrel of crude oil processed. Large portions of this energy requirement can be reduced by improved efficiency in heat exchange and catalytic processes,” the website says.
“The outcomes of UNIHEAT will contribute to improving heat exchange equipment design by preventing fouling deposition; pipeline operation by reducing hydraulic drag and petrochemical reactors performance by introducing new catalytic processes,” it adds.
The first IChemE Awards – originally called the Excellence in Safety and Environment Awards – were held in 1994 at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. The IChemE Singapore Awards and IChemE North America Awards were established in 2012, followed by the IChemE Malaysia Awards in 2013. The IChemE Awards were renamed the IChemE Global Awards in 2013 in response to growing international interest.