Real time energy management at Repsol Cartagena refinery Real time energy management at Repsol Cartagena refinery

Abstract The Repsol Cartagena refinery was the first one built on the Iberian Peninsula. It has an annual crude oil distillation capacity of 5.5 million tonnes, consisting of two main areas: one for fuels production and the other for lubes oil, asphalts, paraffinic and aromatic oils production. Repsol Cartagena is currently involved in an ambitious expansion project where 22 new units will be built to double the refining capacity. The energy system is based around five steam pressure levels, with four fired boilers producing high pressure steam, a cogeneration plant producing steam and electricity, and also a set of steam turbo generators producing electricity. Different potential economic trade-offs provide many challenges to operate the site wide energy system at minimum cost. For instance, the trade-offs among electrical power, steam and fuels networks. In addition, Kyoto protocol introduces a new motivation to calculate and reduce CO 2 emissions. This paper describes the tasks performe