Energy management practices of oil refineries; a case study of Tema oil refinery (TOR)

Abstract

AbstractThis paper assesses the environmental impacts of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and assesses the effectiveness of the measures to reduce the environmental footprints of TOR. The study is exploratory with considerations for both qualitative and quantitative research analysis to provide a deeper understanding of how to mitigate the environmental impacts of TOR operations. Fifty respondents were drawn from a target population of 200 staff of the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU), Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), Power House (Utilities), Wastewater Treatment (WWT), and Movement of Products (MOP) Clusters of the refinery. A simple random sampling approach was used to select respondents from each department. Both descriptive and parametric analyses were conducted to rank the means of the major themes of the research, whereas the Pearson chi-square was applied to assess mitigation measures against efficiency in the management of the environmental impacts of the refinery activities. A management effort at sharpening employees’ knowledge base on the environmental impacts of their refinery activities was apt due to the resultant heightened environmental consciousness of the staff. The majority of the mitigation measures adopted by TOR to address the environmental concerns of their work are bright, especially considering the positive effort in the treatment of wastewater.

Keywords

• Environment
• Impacts
• mitigation
• refinery
• management
• effectiveness