Draft:Research Association of Refinery Integration for Group-Operation

The Research Association of Refinery Integration for Group-Operation (RING) is a R&D organization that conducts research and development, social implementation and evaluation of technologies related to the  refinery and petrochemical complexes in Japan.

Organization
RING was established in May 2000 as a technology research association authorized by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) based on Japan Act on Research and Development Partnership concerning Mining and Manufacturing Technology. It aims at research and development, practical application, and technical improvement of members regarding integrated operation technology for refining and petrochemical complexes. The headquarters is located in Tokyo, and when implementing individual regional projects, a regional business group will be organized for each region to manage the project.

Outline
In the late 1990s, the integration of refineries and petrochemical operations became a key issue for Japanese petrochemical complexes. Since the 1950s, complex facilities have been built as clusters of companies in different fields. Although the formation of multiple companies was a unique feature, it became a barrier to corporate collaboration and evolution, and in the 1990s, Japanese refineries has started to cooperate "over the fence" to achieve further efficiency by generating synergy with nearby plant. Ultimately, in 2000, 20 companies in the Japanese petroleum and chemical industry, which aimed for more advanced integrated management, established RING. With the support of METI, RING started "Petrochemical Complex Renaissance Program (RING Program)" and this technology development program was implemented in three stages from RING-I to RING-III until 2009. Since then, RING has worked on the projects for the stable supply of petroleum products, and since 2014 the projects for structure improvement of petroleum industry. In parallel with the above program, RING also started research and evaluation of petroleum complex technologies, investigated the trends and strategies of each country, analyzed international competitiveness of petrochemical complexes, and evaluated the supply and demand balance of petroleum and petrochemical products. Since 2020, based on these results, RING conducted an analytical survey on strengthening and revitalizing petroleum complexes toward 2050.

R&D projects
The RING project started with the joint operation of facilities and the optimal interchange of raw materials, shifted to efficient energy conservation and environmental load reduction, and evolved into the development of functional fusion technology, such as a hydrogen supply operation management system, which is the basis for building a carbon-neutral industrial complex.

RING-I - Project for R&D of advanced Integrated operations
Period: 3 years from 2000 to 2002 Themes: information sharing and production management, optimal flexibility of products and raw materials, and integrated operation of plant facilities. Areas: Kashima, Kawasaki, Mizushima, Tokuyama, Setouchi.

RING-II - Development of advanced integrated technologies for reducing environmental burdens
Period: 3 years from 2003 to 2005 Theme: Advanced use of by-products, effective use of regional energy, new measures to reduce environmental impact. Areas: Kashima, Chiba, Sakai/Semboku, Mizushima, Shunan.

RING-III - Development of advanced functional integration technologies for petroleum refining
Period: 4 years from 2006 to 2009 Theme: Development of advanced functional integration technology such as high-efficiency production technology and value-added material production technology. Areas: Kashima, Chiba, Mizushima.

Projects for the stable supply of petrochemical products
Period: 5 years from 2009 to 2013 Theme: Promotion of expansion and integration through effective installation of collaborative facilities inside and outside the region centered on the oil refining industry. Effective use of petroleum resources, reduction of crude oil processing volume, ensuring energy security. Areas: Chiba, Chita, Yokkaichi, Mizushima.

Projects for structure improvement of petrochemical industry
Period: 2014 - Present Theme: Sharing, strengthening, and consolidation of high-value-added petroleum refining and petrochemical facilities through integrated operation of multiple refineries inside and outside the region, and disposal of inefficient facilities. Promoting optimization of plant facilities at Japanese petroleum refining and petrochemical complexes

Research and evaluation of petroleum complex technologies
Conducting several research projects together with technology development, RING started research and evaluation of petroleum complex technology, and made several proposals regarding the direction and solutions for petroleum complexes in Japan.

International competitiveness evaluation and analysis of domestic petrochemical complexes
For petroleum complexes around the world, the RING has set indices for evaluating international competitiveness and has adopted the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) as the evaluation method to conduct comparative analysis.

Analytical survey of global petrochemical complexes
RING investigated the trends and strategies of each country based on literature and interviews with experts, and extracted short- and medium-term issues.

Analytical survey on the supply and demand balance of petroleum and petrochemical products
By using Linear Programming (LP), RING has developed an advanced LP model that quantitatively shows the petroleum imbalance between demand forecast and facility capacity at the national level. RING further expanded it into the chemical field as an integrated petrochemical model, consisting of LP model for the refining sector and petrochemical balance model for the petrochemical sector. Using this model, RING quantitatively analyzes and examines issues related to future fluctuations in the supply and demand balance of petroleum and petrochemical products.

Analytical survey toward 2050
Since 2020, based on the above survey results, RING conducted analytical research on strengthening and revitalizing petroleum complexes toward 2050.

Analytical survey on low-carbon industrial complex
Based on the proposal at the World Economic Forum in 2019, RING started to consider the supply and demand balance of CO2 as affordable resource for multiple uses between industrial complexes. Since 2022, RING has started to analyze the ideal form of a low-carbon industrial complexes and the strengths and weaknesses of each complex. Based on the results of this analysis, RING began selecting solutions for carbon neutrality, calculating the amount of CO2 reduction, identifying issues, and evaluating roadmaps for each district industrial complex.