Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and

Environmental Effects

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Process design Optimisation, heat integration, and

techno-economic analysis of oil refinery: A case
study

Khalaf J. Jabbar, Sharif H. Zein, Abbas H. Hasan, Usama Ahmed & A. A. Jalil

To cite this article: Khalaf J. Jabbar, Sharif H. Zein, Abbas H. Hasan, Usama Ahmed & A. A. Jalil
(2023) Process design Optimisation, heat integration, and techno-economic analysis of oil
refinery: A case study, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects,
45:2, 4931-4947, DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2023.2205365

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ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
2023, VOL. 45, NO. 2, 4931–4947
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2023.2205365

Process design Optimisation, heat integration, and

techno-economic analysis of oil refinery: A case study
Khalaf J. Jabbara, Sharif H. Zein a
, Abbas H. Hasana, Usama Ahmed b,c
, and A. A. Jalild,e
a
School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Hull, UK;
b
Chemical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia;
c
Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals,
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; dCenter of Hydrogen Energy, Institute of Future Energy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor
Bahru, Malaysia; eFaculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor,
Malaysia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This paper outlines a comprehensive analysis of the optimal design and Received 10 November 2022
simulation of a crude oil distillation system within a refinery process, including Revised 10 April 2023
pre-treatment and blending of two crude oils to increase the refinery’s annual Accepted 11 April 2023
profit. This distillation process is currently in operation, and the desired amount KEYWORDS
of feedstock is obtained from Iraqi Basra light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oil. Oil refinery, Design
To improve the energy efficiency of the utilization rate of crude oil, an atmo­ Optimization; Heat
spheric distillation process unit in this refinery with a capacity of 150,000 integration; Techno-
barrels per day (bpd) is considered. Aspen HYSYS simulation is used to opti­ economic analysis;
mize the distillation unit configuration and its operating performance. This Atmospheric distillation
paper also deals with three scenarios by comparing the feedstock composi­
tions to the distillation process and the produced product compositions to
minimize utility consumption. A heat integration approach was applied to the
3rd scenario by recycling hot outlet streams to the heat exchangers to increase
the temperature of the inlet stream of the distillation column. Results indicated
that about £2.29 million per year (Mpy) could be saved from the heat integra­
tion systems. Economic analysis and cut yields were carried out for each
scenario to investigate the cost-effective and economically viable. Based on
the economic analysis, scenario three showed better performance with
a comparatively high cumulative cash flow of £31,886 M.

Introduction
Crude oil refineries continue to rule our lives for at least another two decades by providing global
energy demand for transportation, heating, and electricity generation applications (Nalinakshan et al.
2019). The price and composition of crude oil are considered the largest contributors to refinery
operating costs nowadays (Kumar, Voolapalli, and Upadhyayula 2018). Crude oils are a complex
mixture of hundreds of different volatile hydrocarbon molecules and organic materials in the liquid
phase accompanied by elemental compounds and contaminants (such as sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen,
chromium, vanadium, and metal contents) (Al-Khafaji, Hakimi, and Najaf 2018). The amount of these
elements present in crude oil significantly influences the characteristics and unique composition of
that crude oil. Therefore, the nature of crude oil and its composition determine the price and refining
ability to create a special design and operating condition to treat a unique crude oil with certain
properties (Naji, Ateeq, and Al-Mayyah2021).

CONTACT Sharif H. Zein s.h.zein@hull.ac.uk School of Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science and
Engineering, University of Hull, Kingston Upon Hull HU6 7RX, Hull, UK
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2023.2205365.
© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this
article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
4932 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

In the last six decades, it has been common practice for most refineries to deal with more different
types of crude oil to ensure that an optimum mixture of crude oil can be achieved at minimum cost
(Demibras and Bamufleh 2017). Most oil refiners use this strategy to maximize profits by purchasing
lower-cost crude oils with high viscosity and high amounts of sulfur (Nalinakshan et al. 2019). It is
essential for refiners to decide to purchase these kinds of crude oils for upgrading by mixing or
blending them with lighter crude oils with lower viscosity to become blending crude oil with higher
value. This blending process saves more money than the normal processing cost. A higher yield
product from the atmospheric and vacuum distillation units could be produced (1–5%) when the
refiners blend crude oils (Li et al. 2007). Production and synthetic crude oils reached almost
three million barrels per day in 2015. Demand for petrochemical feedstocks across the world is
continuously increasing, at a rate of about 1.5% per year, alongside the growing world population
and consuming crude oil production (Gary, Visnja, and Tim 2015). Therefore, modifying a crude oil
refining configuration and its operating condition to deal with different or blended crude oils may be
applicable if new crude oils have reasonable or close similarity properties such as percentage of sulfur
content and specific gravity compared to the original crude oils. If the new blended crude oil does not
meet the sulfur content standard requirement, the sulfur removal process will be involved in the
process (Naji, Ateeq, and Al-Mayyah2021).
In general, crude oils are classified based on several factors such as the type of hydrocarbons,
specific gravity, and amount of sulfur content. The Watson K characterization factor, also known as
the universal oil product characterization factor in Equation 1 (Modarress et al., Modarress and Vakili-
Nezhaad2002), is used to recognize the types of crude oil according to the hydrocarbons forming.
According to the Watson K method, the whole crude oils are arranged between 10 and 12.9 Kw
(Modarress and Vakili-Nezhaad2002).

KW ¼ T1=3= SG (1)

where T represents the normal boiling point of crude oils, and SG represents the specific gravity of
crude oil at 60°F.
Crude oil with lower than 10 Kw is recognized as a highly aromatic hydrocarbon. The Kw for
naphthenic hydrocarbons is arranged between 10 and 11, while the Kw for paraffinic hydrocarbons
starts from 11 to 12.9. Crude oils are also categorized based on their API gravity (known as specific
gravity) using Equation 2 (Fahim, Al-Sahhaf, and Elkilani 2010). Robinson (2006) stated that this
method measures crude oil density compared to water density at 15.6°C and arranges crude oils
between 10 and 40 degrees. In this arrangement, crude oil with 30 degrees or higher of API gravity is
considered a light hydrocarbon. The API of crude oil arranged between 22 and 29.9 degrees is known
as a medium hydrocarbon. Crude oil with API gravity between 10.0 and 22.3 degrees is a heavy
hydrocarbon, while less than 10.0 degrees is considered an extra heavy hydrocarbon with higher
kinematic viscosity and density.

API Gravity ¼ 141:5=SG 131: (2)

Crude oils are also defined and categorized according to the percentage of sulfur contents. Crude oil is
considered sweet if it has less than 0.5% sulfur, and crude oil with more than 0.5% of sulfur content is
considered sour (Fahim, Al-Sahhaf, and Elkilani 2010). The composition of typical Iraqi crude oil’s
molecular compounds varies from one formation to another. The proportion of chemical elements is
indicated as carbon (85–90%), nitrogen (0.1% to 2%), sulfur (0.%−2%), and oxygen (1%−1.5%) (Ali
and Khathi 2019). High sulfur and a trace amount of metal, such as V, Ni, and Cu, characterize the
type of crude oil (Al-Khafaji, Hakimi, and Najaf 2018).
In the past years, separation processes in chemical industries are facing a series of challenges due to
environmental regulations to reduce CO2 emissions while balancing their annual profits. Crude oil
refineries require a large amount of energy to operate. Process heat and heat integration systems have
been the most considerable technologies in chemical plants and crude oil refineries in the past three
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4933

decades, with significant advances in that area (Vasiliev, Ulyev, and Boldyryev 2018). Many techniques
and methods have been tried to obtain more efficient energy management, and optimal energy
consumption has been extensively investigated (Mehdizadeh-Fard and Pourfayaz, 2019). The distilla­
tion column requires a large amount of energy equivalent to 1–2% of its products alone (Gu et al.
2015). In general, crude oil distillation is one of the most complex processes consisting of lots of utility
systems and process systems. An approach to address the integration of the utility system and process
system to achieve better energy consumption was investigated by Zhang and Hua (2007). This
investigation presented a multi-period planning mathematical model with the process unit energy
consumed model embedded in the plant-wide model to achieve better energy efficiency and overall
optimization. Gu et al. (2015) performed an integrated design system to decompose the main
distillation column into several series of simple columns to be optimized. Then, simple columns
were merged into a single complex design. Sabiria, Mustapha, and Fatima (2007) investigated the
change in separation method by introducing the thermodynamic concept of energy through exergetic
efficiency of the vessel. The results revealed that the produced irreversibility fluxes are distributed
throughout the whole process and the exergetic output is low. Ledesma-Martínez, Jobson, and Smith
(2018) suggested that preflash units be used to facilitate heat recovery in energy-intensive distillation
systems before the distillation unit. However, all the studies mentioned above did not state the
important role of heat exchanger networks in facilitating heat recovery within the distillation system
to reduce energy demand for preheaters or fired heaters to increase the inlet stream temperature.
Due to the importance of crude oil blending method and achieving better advantages in maximiz­
ing the quality and refineries’ annual profits, various academic researchers have performed a huge
number of scientific optimization research. Li et al. (2007) monitored the blending optimization of two
different crude oils to indicate consistent and optimal feedstocks for a certain distillation operation.
The obtained distillation yields at 520°C were successfully investigated by the equilibrium flash
vaporization (EFV) technique. The achieved result data reveal that the optimal blending of maxilla
and cabinda crude oils on 3:7 ratio increased the atmospheric distillation yield by 3.02% more than the
original individual yields. This yield could be increased more by supplying more heat into the column.
Shaoping et al. (2011) Investigated the blending of crude oil distillation yields and products. The
results revealed that at the optimal blending ratio of Iran and Saudi 9:1, the highest total distillation
yield is 67.20%, which is 1.47% higher than the theoretical distillation yield. In another investigation
work, a model for optimizing and predicting properties for blended is established. The blended crude
oil comprised six different types of crude oils from different oil wells in the Shanbei district. The basic
properties of each crude oil, such as density, dynamic viscosity, the four components, and the
compatibility index, were measured. This study aimed to improve and obtain a better yield of fractions
and reduce the blended crude oil viscosity. Blended crude oil of two crude oils was prepared to see if
the model could be validated. The objectives of the model indicated that the dynamic viscosity of
blended crude oil would be as low as possible, the obtained yield (≤350°C) of the blended crude oil
would be as big as possible, and the compatibility index would be below 0.35 (Hou, Li, and Sui 2015).
The physicochemical properties of blended crude oils from six different wells in the sedimentary basin
of the Brazilian coast were collected and monitored during the production stages by Sad et al. (2019).
The data on the properties of the blended crude oils were then taken by laboratory characterization for
analysis by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). They easily
identified the blend’s quality. The results showed that the profiles of the crude oil blends could be
modified if any fraction contributed different crude oils from different wells.
The aim of this study is to develop a rigorous distillation process model for the Basrah Light Oil
followed by the optimization of the crude oil atmospheric distillation units. As a new contribution
which would be of great benefit to petroleum industry, this paper investigates the best predictive
scenario, cost-effective, and energy efficient to maximize the quality and quantity of the production
rate, as well as increase the refining annual margins by upgrading and blending two different types of
Iraqi crude oils to maximize the refining annual margins as well as final products. We believe that the
proposed method will reduce energy consumption and thus offer a marketable product of
4934 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

considerable value in future. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, blending, heat integration,
upgrading crude oils, and economic analysis to maximize the refining annual margins and final
products have not yet been investigated. For this purpose, crude oil blends were prepared from the
Iraqi Basrah light-2015 from the southern part of Iraq and Kirkuk-2011 from the North of Iraq with
two different API gravities, bulk sulfur contents and properties, and kinematic viscosity at 20°C.
However, no work currently exists about blending these two crude oils. The blending process needs to
be performed through very powerful simulation and optimization tools. Simulation models in Aspen
HYSYS v12.1 were used to obtain the design methodology for this work. Finally, the blended crude oil
composition as the optimal feed stream and suitable operating variables within the Aspen HYSYS
model are presented according to the specific design of each crude oil distillation unit. Finally, the
economic analysis identifies favorable scenarios in the distillation process calculating annual costs
consisting of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operation expenditure (OPEX).

Simulation tool and research methodologies

To obtain proper operating conditions and examine the production equipment and processing units
without costing much money in advance, a simulation of Aspen HYSYS software is employed (Hanyak
and Michael 2020). The process simulation of Aspen HYSYS software is one of the most important
tools extensively used nowadays to design optimization, evaluate petroleum product efficiency, and
improve process performance by optimization operating parameters and best finding the best process
(Ledesma-Martínez, Jobson, and Smith (2018). It is an essential tool that will provide sufficient
assistance in understanding what happens in a chemical process unit (Sotelo et al. 2017). This
computer program is used at the conceptual design level, at an actual plant or in academic education
centers, and during the entire plant process life cycle. Therefore, three different scenarios or petroleum
assays for the distillation unit for the Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oil and their blends are
performed and characterized to choose the best optimization process by using the Aspen HYSYS
database.
In this study, the tree method is utilized to find a suitable thermodynamic fluid package for the
process after presenting the hypothetical component group, water, and light-end hydrocarbons to the
Aspen HYSYS simulation. Selecting a correct fluid package is essential to determine the physical
characteristics of the compounds and fluid mixture involved in the process (Khalaf 2018). These
physical characteristics need to be determined and consist of fluid density, polarity, electrolyte
entropy, pressure, and vapor–liquid equilibrium (Hamid 2010). In this study, Peng-Robinson (PR)
model has been selected for this process because most of the components are nonpolar. It is also the
ideal fluid package that can be used to calculate vapor–liquid equilibrium for most petrochemical
applications when the temperature is arranged between (−271°C to 900°C) and pressure is less than
100,000 kPa (Hanyak and Michael 2020). This model is also considered the most optimum fluid
package in petrochemical processes as it performs reliable stability and great efficiency in the simula­
tion of crude oil atmospheric distillation column and other separation units used for light gases.

Importing crude oil assay

In this section, the characterization of Iraqi Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oils and input
data need to be installed on the Aspen HYSYS simulation. Crude oil refineries use blended crude oils
from a multiplicity of crude oils due to operational conditions and feed availability. Crude oil assay is
combination data of physical and chemical properties used to describe and determine the suitability
and behavior of crude oil under specific conditions to evaluate the yield and quality of the product.
The crude oil assay also gives the required information to refiners to make a decision in the areas of
crude selection, scheduling, and planning. It is also used in the optimization of various petrochemical
processes. Typical crude oil assay contains most of the important bulk specifications including
viscosity, characterization factor, amount of sulfur content, and API gravity at two different
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4935

Table 1. Bulk properties of both Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oil (Hamid
2010).
Parameter Basrah light-2015 Kirkuk-2011
API Gravity (0) 34 34.50
Bulk Sulphur content (wt%) 1.90 2.28
Kinematic Viscosity at 20°C (cSt) 10.96 8.60
Water content (v/v%) Nil Nil

temperatures. Petroleum assay also has other important specifications, such as the composition of
light ends by mass%, which is represented by the following chemical compounds: methane, ethane,
propane, i-butane, n-butane, iso-pentane, and n-pentane, cuts density curve value for two tempera­
tures, cuts molecular weight, cuts boiling points and their cumulative base on weight mass%, and
cumulative sulfur content by mass%. In this paper, two different crude oils were used for the
distillation process, and their specifications and characteristics are tabulated in Table 1 (Hamid 2010).

Blending process
Due to the continuous shortage of crude oils as raw materials to provide petroleum products in the
domestic market and the availability of different types of crude oils in the world, most of the refiners
are considering using the principle of blending distillation process for various crude types (Li et al.
2007). Therefore, crude oil blending processes become ordinary operations applied by refiners to
upgrade crude oils to increase refining profits. This upgrading is proceeded in two alternative
technologies: using a blender in-tank or in-line blending (Demibras and Bamufleh 2017). In In-tank
method, specific volumes of two or more different types of crude oil are loaded into a mechanically
stirred blending tank for mixing. Samples are taken to determine whether the blended crude oil
reaches a homogeneous composition and meets the required specifications. In contrast, in-line
blending method is continuously performed by sending different types of crude oil flows from separate
tanks into an online mixing continuously to obtain the feedstock before arriving at the crude
distillation units (CDUs) (PNA 2022). The schematic diagram of the blending process is shown in
Figure 1. If the crude oil feeding is made of two different types of crude oil, a blender unit must be
added to the process. Otherwise, the refinery process does not require a blender for a single crude oil.
In the first scenario, 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the Iraqi Basrah light-2015 crude oil is used for

Figure 1. Blending Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oils.

4936 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

Figure 2. Simulation flowsheet of distillation process without using integration technique for blended Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-
2011 crude oil.

refining, and the simulation flowsheet for this scenariois shown in Figure A1 in the supplemental
section. In the second scenario, only 150,000 bpd from Kirkuk-2011 crude oil is used for refining, and
a simulation flowsheet for this process is shown in Figure A2 in the supplemental section. In the third
scenario, both crude oils are blended on a scale of 50:50 to obtain 150,000 bpd. The simulation
flowsheet for the third scenario is shown in Figure 2. The total annual production price for scenarios 1,
2, and 3 calculated in Table 6 as £4,548.50, £4,560.35, and £4,657.51 million (M) a year, respectively.
Scenario three has better optimization production method, upgraded by blending Iraqi Basrah light-
2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oil.

Heat integration and sequential heat exchangers

Heat integration is a formal method applied to minimize energy consumption in the large application of
an industrial process (Hlavačka 1988). Heat exchangers could be the most effective equipment for
facilitating heat recovery within the distillation system to reduce energy demand for preheaters or
fired heaters to increase the inlet stream temperature (Liu, Luo, and Kabelac 2016). Increasing tempera­
ture allows a sufficient amount of the feed to be vaporized to make the vapor flow before arriving in the
distillation unit. In crude oil refineries, the heat integration process is crucial to optimize the energy-
efficient operation of the whole system (Ledesma-Martínez, Jobson, and Smith 2018). Therefore, to
reduce the hot and cold utilities, heat exchangers are essential to be installed to achieve heat from streams
requiring cooling to give streams requiring heating. In this system, the heat exchangers have two aims: (i)
to minimize the boiling point temperature and the overall rate of entropy of the outlet product streams
from the distillation tower to around 35� C and (ii) to maximize the temperature of the inlet crude oil feed
streams from ambient conditions to the required operating temperature before it enters the atmospheric
distillation column. In both ways, connected heat exchangers reduce operational expenditure. In this
distillation process, five heat exchangers have been added. Defining each process unit’s enthalpies and
entropies, all the important parameters, such as temperature, pressure, and mass or mole flow rate for
inlet streams and outlet streams, were studied and calculated precisely, including pump-around circuits.
This can be used to analyze thermodynamics to determine the effect of energy and exergy efficiency rates
on individual components and the entire process (AIChE 2015).
In scenario 3, shell and tube heat exchangers with counterflow systems are utilized to improve
thermal energy efficiency and transfer heat from one medium to another. Sequential strategy is a great
method to optimize the heat integration process. In scenario 3, inclusion of heat exchangers renders
the process more economically viable due to the £2.3 million per year (Mpy) reduction in the cost of
petroleum products. In Figure 2, the process displays scenario 3 without a heat exchanger and the
utility cost calculated by Aspen HYSYS as £19.82 Mpy. However, by recycling the hot outlet streams
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4937

Figure 3. Simulation flowsheet of distillation process with heat exchangers to recycle back energy for blended Basrah light-2015 and
Kirkuk-2011 crude oil.

Table 2. Capital and utility costs for scenario three Baiji crude oil refinery scenarios.
Scenario Numbers Capital Costs (£) M Utility Costs M £/year)
Scenario 1 27.21 19.87
Scenario 2 28.87 19.96
Scenario 3 29.25 19.82
Scenario 3 with heat exchanger 30.94 17.52

from the distillation column, the total utility energy consumption was calculated and shown in Figure
3. It is reduced to £17.52 Mpy after heat integration for the same process, as shown in Table 2.

Desalting process
The desalting process is the essential separation stage that must be completed at the beginning of
a refining process. In this desalting process unit, most of the primary foreign substances are separated
to avoid and at least minimize the corrosion and fouling of downstream lines and other unit
operations during consumption by the oil’s salt content as shown in Table 3. Desalting is not
a separate unit. It is considered an initial part of the distillation unit since the heat from some of the
streams in the atmospheric distillation is obtained for heat exchangers to increase the crude oil stream
temperature in the desalting process (Fahim, Al-Sahhaf, and Elkilani 2010). Most oil’s salt content as
foreign particles, including sodium (NaCl ~70 to 80 wt.%), magnesium chlorides (MgCl2 ~10 to 20 wt
%), and calcium (CaCl2 ~10 wt%), which are in the form of crystals or ionized in the water present in
the crude. If salt is not removed, the high temperatures present during crude oil refining could cause
water hydrolysis, which is the formation of hydrochloric acid (HCl) that causes severe damage and
corrosion problems on the equipment surfaces (Leffler 2020).

Atmospheric Distillation Unit (ADU)

Distillation is one of the most common and oldest predominate separation methods used in crude
oil refineries to separate the components or substances, such as hydrocarbon fractions, from
a liquid mixture based on their volatile or boiling temperature (Muslim 2005). The operation of
the tower here is purely physical (not chemical reaction) to manage the quality and boiling range
of feedstock fractions to find a suitable required separation process for the distillation unit. To
operate a typical crude oil distillation process environmentally and economically, 1–2% of its
products are required to be consumed again (Gu et al. 2015). Crude oil distillation unit is the next
unit that comes after the desalting process. It is an essential long horizontal column consisting of
several trays set above each other for interacting hydrocarbon gases and liquids by using selective
4938 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

Table 3. Distillation unit products, structures, boiling points, and usage (Leffler 2020; Brown, 2022).
Number Boiling
Product of point
name Carbons (oC) Uses Viscosity Flammability
Off-Gases 1–4 <30 Bottle and natural gas Low-easy flows (as gas or High (ignites and burns
runny liquid) easily)
Gasoline 5–8 30–110 Car fuel
(petrol)

Viscosity increases Flammability decreases

Naphtha 8–10 110–180 Plastics

kerosene 10–16 180–260 Kerosene for home heaters
and jet fuels.
Diesel/Gas 16–20 260–320 Diesel fuel feedstock for
oil cracking
Fuel oil 20–50 320–400 Candles, fuel oil for ships
and power stations plant
Residue >50 400–700 Roofing and road tar High (does not flow easily or Low (does not ignite or burn
thick sticky consistency) easily with sooty flame)

boiling and condensation temperature (Górak and Schoenmakers 2014). The distillation unit is
divided into five main sections: the reaction section (located between the 7th and 14th internal
trays), rectifying, stripping, and reboiler sections. The simulation of the developed distillation
column employed for this process was made of 29 trays of separation, condenser, and reboiler.
Each tray holds a number of bubble caps to pass through hydrocarbon vapors in the active tray
area. The hydrocarbon mixture is continuously fed into the distillation tower in a tray above the
bottom of the so-called flash zone, such as a tray column or packed column. The inlet feed crude
oil temperature is increased by up to between 750°F and 800°F (Muslim 2005) before entering the
atmospheric unit (ADU). Each crude oil has its specification and operating conditions. For
instance, in scenario one, Basrah light-2015 crude oil is entered at a temperature of 700.0ºF,
under 52 psia, on a mass flow rate of 881,200 kg/h. In scenario two, Kirkuk-2011 entered the
distillation tower at a temperature of 710ºF under a pressure of 44.1 psia and a mass flow rate of
857,800 kg/h. In the third scenario, the blended crude oil entered at 730°F under 53 psia and
a mass flow rate of 468,400 kg/h.
The developed atmospheric distillation column has four feed streams, and the column operating
conditions for scenarios one and two are quite similar. The first stream (warm crude oil) enters the
column at tray number 28 to improve the distillation efficiency. This stream enters at a significantly
high temperature of 710°F, under 37 psia, with a mass flow rate of 1.943e + 006 lb/h. The second
stream is the main stream and enters the column at tray number 29 at a temperature of 358.7°F under
150 psia at a mass flow rate of 6,000 lb/h. The third and fourth streams are diesel and Ago streams,
introduced to the bottom of CDU (at the same temperature, pressure, and mass flow rate of 358.70°F,
150 psia, and 2000 lb/h, respectively). These streams reduce the partial pressure in the column and
thus enhance the vaporization and separation of the crude oil. The simulation results for both crude oil
properties are compared and stated in Table 1.
In the atmospheric tower, the temperature at the bottom is at the highest and lowest at the top.
Therefore, the heating process vaporizes (in the vaporization process) the majority of the components
with more volatility within the crude oil. The vaporized components are raised to the top alongside the
atmospheric distillation tower, where the temperature gradually decreases. As the temperature
decreases, the component with lower volatility becomes liquid in the condensation process. The
lighter components flash and rise to the next trays throughout the bubble cap on the trays. The liquid
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4939

components were then collected within trays fitted within the tower. The individual hydrocarbon
components have distinct boiling points and condense the temperature gradient between the bottom
and top trays, as shown in Table 2. The condensed liquid components with higher volatility rise
through the liquid pool in the next stage above and then overflow. The overflow enters the stage from
a down-comer above and leaves via a down-corner below. The uncondensed vapors containing lighter
gas flew out for further processing. The components with high extremity volatility remain at the
bottom of the column and are recycled by a column reboiler to vaporize more components still in the
mixture. The liquid residue containing components with a high boiling point is sent to the vacuum
distillation unit for further separation. Side cuts or feedstocks from a typical crude oil distillation are
designated in the following list (Muslim 2005).

Debutanizer Column (DU)

The debutanizer column is another crucial unit used in industrial crude oil refining for further
separation. In this process, the light naphtha stream is obtained from the atmospheric distillation
column as a non-stabilized product and requires a further separation process to remove lighter
components with higher volatility. To improve its products quality and stabilized condition, LPGs
are separated from the incoming naphtha stream. The whole process starts by utilizing the naphtha
stream with a higher temperature of 129.4°C by passing through a debutanizer heat exchanger and
heater. The stream pressure is also increased to 265 Pisa by using a centrifugal pump with a similar
continuous mass flow rate of 196,600 kg/h for scenario one, 223,800 kg/h for scenario two, and
130,900 kg/h for scenario three. The products obtained from the top part of the column are C2 and
lighter gases for fuel gas, and then this gas is compressed to be liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The
products obtained from the bottom section of the column are gasoline or stabilized naphtha and sent
to their respective storage system. A simplified simulation of Aspen HYSYS for each scenario was
designated in the section of the simulation flowsheet of the distillation process (Hamid 2010).

Economic analysis
The economic analysis identifies favorable process scenarios (Waudby and Zein 2021). This section
calculates annual costs of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operation expenditure (OPEX). Crude oil
as a raw material does not have that great value in its original raw state, and it cannot be used in most
daily practical applications and energy requirements (Muslim 2005). However, in petroleum refinery
plants, crude oil is separated or transformed into a wide range of valuable tasks and most usable
petroleum component parts such as diesel, gasoline, and heating oils. A typical oil refinery consists of
many physiochemical operational units, heating and cooling systems, waste treatment systems,
loading and unloading machines, and other industrial facilities on a large-scale planet. To make
more profits, refineries push to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of each process (Howden
2021). Table 4 contains this project’s main crucial information applied for economic analysis.

Raw material costings

Production capacity of the Baiji refinery has recently increased production of oil derivatives from
70,000 to 150,000 bpd (Xinhuanet 2022), due to the increasing demand for energy production in the
world. The prices of crude oils,of Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 used in this process, either
individually or blended, vary from time to time. The historical data and prices designated as the
supplied crude oil in this refinery are hugely different and recorded as $66.83 for Basrah light-2015 and
$99.56 for Kirkuk-2011 (Oil price.com 2022).
4940 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

Table 4. Costs used in economic analysis.

$66.83 for Basrah light-2015
$99.56 for Kirkuk-2011
Crude Oil (Oil price.com 2022; Xinhuanet 2022).
Plant Life (Years) 20
Discount rate 0.18
Labour Cost Person/year $50,000
Daily Number of Shifts 3
ISBL 292.59 M US Dollars
Location factor 1.07
Inflation rate 3.1% from a 2006 basis to a 2003 basis
Inflation rate 2.9% from a 2003 basis to a 2022 basis
Exchange currency (USD$ to UK£) 0.77
LPGs £1.40 per kg (GlobalPetrolPrices.com, 2021)
Naphtha £0.70 per kg (Trading Economics 2021)
Kerosene £0.78 per kg (Boiler Juice.com 2022).
Diesel £0.90 per kg (European Commission, 2021)
Ago £1.12 per kg (globalpetrolprices.com, 2021).
Residue Fuel Oil £0.38 per kg (Eia, 2022)

Estimated Capital Cost (CAPEX)

Capital expenditure can be the most important part of each petrochemical refinery to decide on the
overall economic analysis and visibility. The total cost required by a company must fund designing
major physical assets such as construction, technology equipment, property, building modifications,
and working capital investment (WCI) to expand the company over a year. The capital cost (CAPEX)
can be comprised of the following two sections:

Fixed Capital Investment (FCI)

• Fixed capital investment is the essential capital outlay for establishing a project. It is the amount of
money needed to be invested for purchasing physical apparatus, installing and controlling industrial
equipment being replaced, and design costs associated with the whole plant. Inside battery limit (ISBL)
has a significant role in determining a project’s economic process. The investment includes a plant’s
direct and indirect field costs. In order to evaluate the ISBL value for this process, Equation 3 (Sinnott
and Towler 2021) is applied as the following steps:

C ¼ α � Sn (3)

where C = ISBL capital cost value (US $ M) on US Gulf Coast Basis (GCB) for the year 2000; α =
Historical cost of a chemical refinery in US $ M and Gulf Cost basis in the year 2006; S = Production
rate or capacity of a chemical plant in US Barrel per day; and n = Extrapolation constant value applied
to evaluate the capital cost.
Sinnott and Towler (2021) provide the values for a and n as 0.151 and 0.6, respectively. These values
are achieved from a crude oil distillation process that is already in operation by D2000 and runs by
TOTAL/Technip. Cost estimation and regulation for a refinery plant needs to be established in Iraq
(the Middle East). Therefore, all the location factors and exchange currency must be considered.

C ¼ ISBL Cost ¼ £249:23ðMÞon a Middle East basis

Once the ISBL value for a typical refinery process is achieved, the estimation values for all the other
components from fixed capital investment, such as OSBL, Contingency cost, and engineering cost are
calculated:
• Outside battery limit (OSBL) investment is calculated with Eq. 4 (Sinnott and Towler 2021), which
compromises all the additional costs of a typical plant that is required for infrastructure.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4941

OSBL Cost ¼ 40% of ðISBLÞ

¼ £99:69 M (4)
• Contingency cost is also calculated using Eq. 5 (Sinnott and Towler 2021), which includes the sum
of all the money needed for unexpected events and insurance.
Contingency Cost ¼ 10% of ðISBL þ OSBLÞ
¼ 34:89 M (5)
• Design and engineering costs are also calculated, including most of the estimation of engineering
costs associated with structures onside or inside a refinery plant. Eq. 6 (Sinnott and Towler 2021) is
applied to find out an estimation of the engineering costs:
Engineering cost ¼ 20% of ðISBL þ OSBLÞ
¼ £69:78 M (6)
To find out all the estimated cost value for fixed capital investments for a typical petrochemical
process, the costing values for ISBL, OSBL, contingency costs, and design and engineering costs are
added to £453.59 M (Sinnott and Towler 2021). The cost estimation and regulation for establishing
a refinery plant in Iraq (the Middle East) must be considered.

Working Capital Investment (WCI)

Working capital investment is also called net working capital. It refers to the deployment of financial
resources in day-to-day business operations. Based on the ISBL value, the working capital (WC) value
is also obtained, as shown in the following Equation7 (Sinnott and Towler 2021):
WCI ¼ 15% of ðISBLþ OSBÞ (7)
= 0.15 × (249.23 + 99.69) = £52.34 M on a Middle East basis.
Therefore, the value for Estimated Capital Cost (CAPEX) = £505.93 M on a Middle East basis.

Operation Expenditure or Cost (OPEX)

Fixed Costs of Productions (FCOP)
The fixed costs of production are defined as the costs that happened independently of chemical plant
output and production rate, some of which are designated in Table 5. In this section, three scenarios
are performed to explore and viability of each distillation feedstock. The fixed production cost rate is
calculated as £22.48 M and remains constant for all the scenarios. All the mathematical steps and
equations applied in this section are derived from (Sinnott and Towler 2021).

Price of products from this distillation. In competitive markets, refined product prices are determined
by supply, demand, and inventory conditions at a given location and time. The most fundamental
economic relationship governing commodities is that quantity demanded is a function of price and

Table 5. Fixed costs of productions and their equations.

Fixed Costs of Production Equations Costs (M)
Labour Cost - £1.15
Building Rent 1% of (ISBL + OSBL) £3.49
Maintenance 3% of ISBL £7.48
Direct salary overhead 40% of Labour £0.46
Environmental charges 1% of (ISBL + OSBL) £3.49
General plant overhead 65% of (Labour + Direct Salary Overhead + Supervision Costs) £1.20
Tax and insurance 2% of ISBL £4.98
Supervision 20% of Labour Costs £0.23
Total - £22.48
4942 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

Table 6. Total annual Product prices for Basrah light-2015, Kirkuk-011, and Blended crude oil.
Blended Crude oil from Basrah
Basrah light-2015 Crude Oil Kirkuk-2011 Crude Oil light-2015 & Kirkuk-2011
Mass Mass Mass
Price Per Flow Price Per Price Per Flow Price Per Price Per Flow Price Per Price Per
Products Mass Rate Time Annual Rate Time Annual Rate Time Annual
List (£/kg) (kg/h) (£/h) (£M/yr) (kg/h) (£/h) (£M/yr) (kg/h) (£/h) (£M/yr)
LPGs 1.40 23,060 32,284 282.81 23,030 32,242 282.44 21,990 30786 269.69
Naphtha 0.70 173,500 121,450 1,064.09 200,700 140,490 1,230.69 108,900 76,230 667.78
Kerosene 0.78 7,798 6,082.44 52.74 19,850 15,483 135.63 2073.7 1,617.49 14.17
Diesel 0.90 138,800 124,920 1,094.30 122,900 110,610 968.94 65,440 58.896 515.93
Ago 1.12 40,650 45,528 398.83 47,360 53,043.20 464.66 24,440 27,372.80 239.79
Residue 0.38 497,400 189,012 1,655.75 444,000 168,720 1,477.99 247,400 74,220 650.17
Fuel Oil
Off Gas 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Total Annual Production Price Total Annual Production Price Total Annual Production Price
(£M/yr) (£M/yr) (£M/yr)
4,548.50 4,560.35 4,657.51

market information, including expectations of future supply and demand, seasonal factors, and
inventory levels. Products obtained from the Iraqi Baiji refinery include off gas, naphtha, heating
oil, kerosene, diesel, and residual fuel oil. To obtain feedstock from the distillation process, parameters,
such as initial molar flow rate, temperature, and pressure values for each stream, are applied to the
Aspen HYSYS simulation. The petroleum assays characterize the Aspen HYSYS database for the first
scenario for Iraq’s Basrah light-2015 crude oil, the second for Kirkuk-2011 crude oil, and the third for
blended crude oil from both. The products obtained from these processes consist of LPG, naphtha,
kerosene, Diesel, ago, heating oil, residue fuel oil, and off-gas. Initially, the mass flow rate and
composition of all the components as kg/h are obtained from the Aspen HYSYS simulation and
displayed as products of the distillation process in Table 6. The obtained mass flow rate (kg/h) and
their prices (£/h) for each component are calculated to find out the prices of the annual product (£/h),
respectively, as shown in Table 6. The total annual production price for scenarios 1, 2, and 3 is
calculated in Table 6 as £4,548.50, £4,560.35, and £4,657.51 M a year, respectively. Crude oil in
scenario three has a better product as it is upgraded by blending Iraqi Basrah light-2015 and
Kirkuk-2011 crude oils

Variable Cost of Products (VCOP) for raw materials. As mentioned above, this paper contains three
different scenarios for investigation. In the first scenario, only 150,000 barrels of Iraqi Basrah Light-
2015 crude oil per day will be sent through the distillation unit. In the second scenario, only 150,000
barrels of Kirkuk crude oil per day is fed to the distillation unit. In the third scenario, 150,000 barrels
per day of blended crude oil from the Iraqi Basrah Light-2015 and Kirkuk is fed to the distillation unit
(Xinhuanet 2022).

Basrah light-2015 crude oil for the distillation process. Based on historical data, the average price for
the Iraqi Basrah light-2015 crude oil purchased for this plant was $66.83 in US dollars per barrel in the
oil market participants in March 2015 (eia 2022). The crude oil supply to this refinery was 150,000
(bpd) (Xinhuanet 2022). As a result, the daily cost of this refinery was $10.02 M US dollars per day. If
this amount is converted into the UK pound Sterling using an exchange rate of 0.66 (Bank of England
2022), the annual cost of raw materials for this distillation process is £2,414.90 M.

Kirkuk-2011 crude oil for the distillation process. Based on historical data, the average price for the
Iraqi Kirkuk crude oil purchased for this plant was $99.56 per barrel in US dollars in the oil market
participants in March 2015 (eia 2022). The amount of crude oil supplied to this refinery was 150,000
bpd (Xinhuanet 2022). As a result, the daily cost of this refinery was $14.93 M US dollars per day. If
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4943

this amount is converted into the UK pound Sterling using an exchange rate of 0.66 (Bank of England
2022), the annual cost of raw materials for this distillation process is £3,597.60 M.

Blended Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oil. This section performs a variable economic
analysis and value method for this process. In this process, a basis of the feedstock mixture of two
different crude oils, equal to 50:50 ratios, is used for the operation. The first half contains 75,000
barrels of Iraqi’s Basrah light-2015 a day, and the second half contains 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk-2011
crude oil daily. The price for Iraqi’s Basrah light crude oil-2015 in is $66.82 per barrel in US currency
2015 (eia 2022). If this value is exchanged into the UK pound Sterling using the current conversion
ratio of 0.77 (Bank of England 2022), the result is £51.45 for each barrel. However, the price for Kirkuk-
2011 crude oil was $99.56 per barrel in US currency in 2011 (Eia 2022). If this value is converted into
the UK pound Sterling using the current exchanging ratio of 0.77 (Bank of England 2022), the results
would be £76.66 for each barrel in 2011. As a result, the total cost is £23,270.94 M.

Revenue and gross profit values calculations. Accurate estimation of the products’ costs and revenues
is essential to determining a project’s required budget and profitability. According to Sinnott and
Towler 2021, profit is the surplus of total revenue that a company earns from purchasing products and
services over the total costs incurred in selling those products and services. Usually, every industrial
plant has a teeth period of 5 years to reach its capacity. Therefore, there are zero revenue and minuses
gross profits for a while, such as the first 2 or 3 years of all new process projects, as they do not produce
products in full of their capacities. This means the revenue and costs concerning trading activities over
the past 2 or 3 years. Therefore, revenue is the money earned from normal industrial operations and
calculated as the price of average sales items times the number of units sold. However, for most new
plants, the revenue and costs will increase annually if everything remains the same, such as govern­
ment rules, exchange currency, and inflation rate (Sinnott and Towler 2021).
In this project, the initial year for all the scenarios is the same, and the cost (cash flow) put in is
calculated as 30% of FCI (Sinnott and Towler 2021), which is equal to £136.08 m. To find out value of
gross profits, the cost values are subtracted from avenues. In the first year, the cash flow was calculated
as 50% of FCI (Sinnott and Towler 2021), estimated at £226.80 M. In the second year, the inlet cash
flow is calculated as 20% of FCI +WCI + FCOP + 30% of VCO) (Sinnott and Towler 2021) which is
equal to £890.01 M. The revenue is calculated as 30% of the design basis (Sinnott and Towler 2021). In
the third year, the inlet cash flow is estimated as 70% of VCOP + FCOP (Sinnott and Towler 2021),
which is equal to £1,712.91 M, and the value of revenue for each scenario is calculated as 70% of the
design basis. For the fourth year, the inlet cash flow is calculated as FCOP + VCOP, equal to £2437.38
M, and the avenue is calculated as 100% of the design basis (Sinnott and Towler 2021). For this project,
assumed from year 4, the cost, revenue, and gross profit will remain quite similar for the next 16 years,
and all the following equations used in Table 7 are derived from (Sinnott and Towler 2021). Table 7
contains start-up schedules for the initial 4 years for Iraqi’s Basrah light-2015, Kirkuk-2011, and
blended crude oil in this plant.
The gross profit for the Iraqi Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oil is used in
Table 7. The values of gross profits from year 4 to year 20 are in Table SA1 in the appendix.
The scrap value is used to obtain the depreciation value. The scrap value is defined as the
worth of a physical asset of each component when the asset itself no longer operates, and the
scrap value is found by Equations 8. Equations 8–Equation 14 (Sinnott and Towler 2021)
calculate taxable income values. Taxes paid, net cash flow, discount factor, discounted cash
flow, and cumulative cash flow for 20 years are tabulated in Tables SA1, SA2, and SA3 for
Basrah light-2015, Kirkuk-2011, and blended Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oils,
respectively, in the appendix. First, the following mathematical steps are applied to determine
depreciation and taxable income values.
4944 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

Table 7. Start-up schedules of the initial 4 years for Iraqi’s Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 and blended crude oil in this plant.
Basrah Light-2015 Crude oil Kirkuk-2011 Crude Oil Blended Crude Oil
Equations &Costs Gross Profits Revenues Gross Profits Revenues Gross profits
Year (£ M) Revenues (£ M) (£ M) (£ M) (£ M) (£ M) (£ M)
0 30% of FCI = 136.08 0 Revenue – 0 Revenue – 0 Revenue –
Cost Cost = Cost =
= −136.08 −136.08 −136.08
1st 50% of FCI = 226.80 0 Revenue – 0 Revenue – 0 Revenue –
Cost = Cost = Cost
−226.80 −226.80 = −226.80
2nd (20% of FCI) +(WCI) + 30% of Design Revenue – 30% of Design Revenue – 30% of Design Revenue –
FCOP + (30% of VCOP) = basis = Cost = basis = Cost = basis = Cost
890.01 1,364.55 474.54 1,368.17 478.16 1404.97 = 511.84
3rd (70% of VCOP) + FCOP = 70% of Design Revenue – 70% of Design Revenue – 70% of design Revenue –
1,712.91 basis = Cost = basis = Cost = basis = Cost
3183.95 1471.04 3192.39 1479.48 3,278.26 = 1,556.35
4th FCOP + VCOP = 2,437.38 100% of Revenue – 100% of Revenue – 100% of Revenue –
Design basis = Cost = Design basis = Cost = Design basis = Cost
4,548.50 2,111.12 4,560.56 2,123.18 4,683.23 = 2,245.85
* Design basis = Total value of the products obtained from the refinery operation.

Scrap value ðSVÞ ¼ 5% of ðISBL þ OSBLÞ (8)

= (0.05) × (£249.23 + £99.69) = £17.45 M

Then, the scrap value needs to be used in Equation 9:

FCI Scrap value

Depreciation value at year 2 ¼ (9)
Plant life

And the tax-paid values is calculated using Equation 10 :

Tax paid at year 2 ¼ð20%Þof Taxable income (10)

To find cash flow in the second year of the project (Equation 11) is used:

Cash Flow at year 2 ¼ Gross profit Tax paid (11)

To find out discount factor at all the years, Equation 12 is used (Sinnott and Towler 2021), assuming
the discount rate for the next 20 years of the plant is 18%.
n
Discount factor ¼ ð1 þ iÞ (12)

where i = the interest rate or the discount rate, and n = the year.
Discount factor at year 0 = 1
Discount factor at year 1 = (1 + i)−1 = (1 + 0.18)−1 = 0.85 (without unit)
Moreover, finally, to find out the discounted cash flow value for each year, either Equation 13 or
Equation 14 is used (Sinnott and Towler 2021). Discovering all three scenarios is important to make
comparisons and select a correct and profitable process. As shown in Figure 4, scenarion 3 shows a
better performance with a relatively high cumulative cash flow of £31886 M.

Net present valueðNPVÞat year 2 ¼ Cash flow � Discount factor (13)

Or,
Xn¼t CFn
NPV ¼ (14)
n¼1 ð1 þ iÞn
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 4945

35000

Cumulative Cash Flow (M£) 30000

25000

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

-5000
Project Life (Year)

Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3

Figure 4. Cumulative cash flow (M£) for three different scenarios over 20 years.

Conclusion
This paper presents an optimal design for a crude oil blending and distillation system by conducting
rigorous simulations in Aspen HYSYS dynamic software. A suitable process to determine the product
quality specification, optimal operating conditions, and the distillation configuration for crude oil
separation was easily obtained. The process consists of three main units: a desalter, an atmospheric
distillation column, and a naphtha debutanizer column. This separation process is currently under
operation in the Baiji refinery and has a large separation capacity of 150,000 bpd. As the main feeds,
Basrah light-2015 and Kirkuk-2011 crude oils have been used in the distillation column as three
scenarios. The distillation process started with desalting the crude oil with freshwater and heating it to
100°C–150°C to remove all-forging particles. The distillation column presented in this study involves 30
stages and 3 side strippers attached to the main column. Three different design configurations have been
presented with the same inlet flow rate to perform economic analyses such as the calculation of revenues,
costs, and margins for each route. To improve the energy efficiency of the utilization rate of crude oil, an
atmospheric distillation process unit in this refinery is considered. By comparing the results, it has been
concluded that the blended crude oil scenario is the most profitable feedstock, with the Net Present Value
(NPV) of £6,445.92 M. Despite the promising results discussed above, there are still many challenges to
optimize the whole process and get a more valuable product.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Mr Khalaf J. Jabbar is a PhD student in the School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of
Hull, Hull, UK.
4946 K. J. JABBAR ET AL.

Dr Sharif H. Zein is a Reader in the School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Hull,
UK.
Dr Abbas Hasan is a lecturer in the School of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Hull, Hull,
UK.
Dr Usama Ahmed is an Associate professor at the Chemical Engineering Department at King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Prof. DR. A. A. Jalil is the director of the Centre of Hydrogen Energy, Institute of Future Energy, School of Chemical and
Energy Engineering, Fac. of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.

ORCID
Sharif H. Zein http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8863-1450
Usama Ahmed http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7199-600X

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