Document Responsibility: P&CSD/Energy Systems Division SABP-A-004

Issue date: 11 August 2012

Next Update: TBD Energy Performance Indices

1 Introduction

Energy is a significant operating cost parameter for Saudi Aramco, and one that is

the Energy Management Steering Committee (EMSC), which determined that the
y (i.e., to halve its energy
consumption index) in the major industrial manufacturing plants. One of the key

Performance Indices (EPIs), and to report the results regularly.

After conducting an exhaustive survey of industry practice, it was determined that while
the indices in common industrial use were indeed of some value for competitive
benchmarking, they are lacking in other important capabilities, chiefly:
Monitoring trends in energy efficiency by product, by process unit, and by major
equipment.
Serving as a diagnostic tool for process troubleshooting and operational efficiency
improvement.

Ideally, the EPIs should also screen out the effect of variations in uncontrollable external
factors such as feed rate, feed composition, product mix, and ambient conditions.

This manual is an explanation of the methodology for calculating the new EPIs that

1.1 Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this document is to describe proven Best Practices, consistent

Committee (EMSC), in developing and deploying an integrated system of EPIs.

This Manual provides the theoretical basis for developing EPIs, the
methodology for calculating them, and examples of final output. It is intended
as an aid to engineers working in Saudi Aramco plants who are responsible for
maintaining and reporting the departmental EPIs.

It is important to also understand what this manual is not. It is not intended to

provide a comprehensive review of all current or past practices only to
describe the best ones. It focuses on practices that have been proven to be useful
in the field, not on the theoretical ideal way of doing things. The Best Practices
therefore incorporate necessary compromises that invariably must be made to
adjust to the reality of existing instrumentation, raw data quality, available
software, limited manpower resources, etc. Finally, despite the high level of
detail in some sections, the manual is not intended to be a cookbook giving step

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Document Responsibility: P&CSD/Energy Systems Division SABP-A-004
Issue date: 11 August 2012
Next Update: TBD Energy Performance Indices

3 Equipment EPIs

Equipment EPIs are the first level of indices, and the simplest to implement. They are
required for only the major energy consuming or conversion equipment within each
process area. These EPIs are most conveniently expressed as equipment efficiencies
thermodynamic or mechanical. The equipment for which energy efficiency is important
can be divided into two categories:
Energy consumers e.g., pumps, compressors, furnaces, lighting, distillation columns
Energy converters e.g., boilers, turbines, electric motors, generators

EPIs are generally recommended only for major energy consumers, i.e., power > 2 MW,
or fuel > 15 MMBtu/h. The definitions of efficiency for these two categories are
correspondingly different. For consumers, energy efficiency = useful work
accomplished on the process divided by the energy that must be supplied.
For converters, energy efficiency = useful energy output divided by energy input.

Exhibit 3-1: Definitions of Equipment Energy Efficiency

Equipment Type Input (Denominator) Output (Numerator)

Pump Mechanical shaftwork Liquid kinetic energy
Compressor Mechanical shaftwork Vapor/gas pressure energy
Fired process heater Chemical (fuel) energy Process enthalpy
Distillation column Thermal energy Chemical separation of mixture
Electric motor Electrical power Mechanical shaftwork
Generator Mechanical shaftwork Electrical power
Steam Turbine Steam kinetic energy Mechanical shaftwork
Boiler Chemical (fuel) energy Thermal energy (as steam)

Nowhere does a capacity term appear in the calculation of energy efficiency.

One common mistake worth mentioning is that some people refer to condensing steam
back-pressure steam turbines because they
generally produce more shaftwork (kwh) per lb of steam; this is inconsistent with
kwh/lb of steam
perhaps be considered an indicator of generating capacity, but certainly not of energy
efficiency.

3.1 Pumps

The mechanical efficiency of a centrifugal pump is given by

Eff (fractional) = Flow x P2 - P1 / HP / 1715

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Document Responsibility: P&CSD/Energy Systems Division SABP-A-004
Issue date: 11 August 2012
Next Update: TBD Energy Performance Indices

For fired heaters that are supplying sensible heat to the process, the fuel
efficiency is most simply calculated by the heat balance method, also known as

W .Cp.(T2 T1 )
F .HHV
where W = mass flow rate of process fluid, lb/h
Cp = average specific heat, Btu/lb°F (varies with composition and
temperature)
T1, T2 = inlet and outlet process temperatures, °F
F = fuel gas flow rate, scfm
HHV = higher heating value, about 1050 Btu/scf on average (spec is
1080). If the lower heating value (LHV) used instead of HHV,
is called thermal efficiency instead of fuel efficiency.
If the process stream being heated is undergoing both sensible heating and
evaporation, the equation becomes:

W .( H 2 h1 )
F .HHV
where h1, H2 = inlet and outlet enthalpies of the process stream, Btu/lb.
While simple is theory, the heat balance method has a major deficiency it
gives accurate results only when the data quality is extremely good (generally
less than 1% error), which is hardly ever the case. A more accurate estimate of
furnace efficiency can be obtained by the heat loss method (also known as the
method) as follows:

Absorbed duty F .HHV Losses

or alternatively
Absorbed duty Losses F .HHV

Choose the formulation according which measured value (absorbed duty of fuel
input) is likely to be more accurate.

A spreadsheet template for calculating furnace/heater efficiency is shown in

Exhibit 3-5, with provision for calculating the efficiency for both gaseous and
liquid fuels. It also has the option to calculate either single-phase or two-phase
process heating duty.

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