The US election and change in Presidential Administration will most likely bring about unprecedented change in US regulatory statutes. Your guess is as good as mine as to how far regulatory change will go and how long it will take to roll back existing environmental regulations that are seen as a drag on the US economy. One thing is clear. It's going to be messy.Putting the genie back in the bottle may not be easy. Just take a look at US EPA Tier III gasoline standards. By January 2017 refiners will be required to reduce sulfur in gasoline from the tier 2 level of 30ppm to an average of 10ppm. Refiners not in compliance have the option to purchase credits to offset gasoline production that exceeds the 10ppm standard. Non compliant refiners anticipate they'll need to expand hydrotreating processes, especially in naphtha produced in fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) units. They expect to shell out up to $10 billion in upgrades and an additional $2.1 billion per year in operating costs. Overall project duration of 2+ years is expected.
Taking a long term view it appears that economics and market forces, not regulations, will drive industry (as it really has all along). To be sure, there will be regulatory oversight of oil and gas operations and industry in general, but the compelling argument for either monitoring or change to product will be based on financial or liability concerns. There may be a regulation to minimize sulfur, but if there's a contract with a customer for lower sulfur in their feedstock, you can bet the capability to monitor low level sulfur will be essential and sulfur inertness built into critical flowpath surfaces will be the key factor in successful process control.
At this point there will be winners and losers, as there are in any big change, and there will be opportunity. To take advantage of opportunities follow these simple tips:
The Old Sulfur Management Ways Won't Cut It.
Regardless of any potential changes to sulfur regulations, industry continues to move forward. It's more true now than ever, the old sulfur management ways won't cut it. Cost pressures and plant efficiency require reliable efficient process control and sulfur analysis. To achieve better control of your process, stop surface reactions from slowing or distorting analyzer or instrumentation results. Here are a few tips on how to improve the performance and quality of your process monitoring system:
SilcoNert® 2000 and Dursan® are proven to improve sensitivity and response. Making sampling flowpaths inert will assure compliance and allow operators to focus on operations, not troubleshooting an unreliable sampling system.*
Get more tips on how to improve process control and response:
*Data Courtesy of Concoa