India Energy Week: 3 Ways to Improve Energy Efficiency, Reliability and Asset Integrity

For fast-growing markets like India, where utilisation rates are high and new capacity is complex to deliver, improving thermal efficiency and asset performance offers a credible way to reduce fuel use, lower emissions and strengthen operational resilience at the same time.

January 08, 2026. By News Bureau

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articles

Sean Matthew

IGS

Energy efficiency

Reliability and Asset Integrity

India Energy Week 2026

Emissions reduction

High Velocity Thermal Spray

Monitoring Fuel Quality

IGS’s solutions

As discussions at the India Energy Week 2026 focus on balancing energy security, affordability and sustainability, refining efficiency is increasingly being recognised as a practical lever for near-term emissions reduction. Recent global research has shown that refinery-led measures, including improving energy efficiency, optimising heat-intensive processes and upgrading heavy-oil processing units, can meaningfully reduce cumulative CO₂ emissions over this decade, without constraining output or capacity growth.

For fast-growing markets like India, where utilisation rates are high and new capacity is complex to deliver, improving thermal efficiency and asset performance offers a credible way to reduce fuel use, lower emissions, and strengthen operational resilience at the same time.

As policymakers and industry leaders gather at the India Energy Week, the message is increasingly clear: the next phase of progress will be driven not only by new fuels and technologies, but by getting more value and better performance from the assets that already underpin India’s energy system.

Here are three key ways in which refineries can improve energy efficiency, reliability, and asset integrity.

1. Reduce Fuel, Emissions, or Increase Production

Fuel combustion accounts for almost 80 percent of refinery carbon emissions. Furthermore, fired heaters are the largest consumers of fuel in a refinery, emitting an estimated 400 to 500 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) every year. So, even minor improvements in the efficiency of fired heaters can lead to significant savings. To put it into perspective, if any fired heater is 1 or 2 percent inefficient, it can consume an additional USD 1 million in fuel over a year.

There are several solutions available to reduce fired heater fuel consumption and emissions. Integrated Global Services (IGS) offers Cetek ceramic coating applications to improve radiant section efficiency and TubeTech fouling removal services to restore convection section heat transfer efficiency. The combined benefits include:

Up to 15 percent reduction in CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption
Up to 30 percent reduction in NOx emissions

2. Stop Internal Corrosion/Erosion

Internal corrosion/erosion refers to corrosion or erosion occurring on the inside of a process vessel, tower, column, or heat exchanger.

Internal corrosion can lead to:

Reduced Asset Life: corrosion/erosion weakens the structural integrity of mission-critical equipment.
Loss of Efficiency: Corrosion and erosion cause friction, which can lead to increased wear, reduced efficiency of assets, and potential equipment failure.
Contamination: Degradation of base metals can contaminate feedstock as metal particles and other debris accumulate in process fluids, ultimately inhibiting product quality.
Reduced Flow: Corrosion and erosion reduce the internal diameter of tubes, leading to reduced flow rates and increased pressure drop.
Safety Hazards: As structural components are weakened, there is an increased risk of catastrophic failure in pressure vessels, for example.
Environmental: Corrosion and erosion can cause leaks, which can be harmful to the environment and those working with the equipment.

It is crucial to prevent internal corrosion/erosion through appropriate coatings, materials, and maintenance programs.

IGS High Velocity Thermal Spray (HVTS) is a robust solution that extends the life of existing equipment by acting as a corrosion/erosion barrier in mission-critical equipment. It works as a cladding which upgrades existing metallurgy to higher alloys.

3. Maintain Fired Heaters Between Turnarounds

Maintaining fired heaters between turnarounds can be challenging, but there are general steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of unplanned shutdowns and emergency maintenance procedures. Steps include:

Regular Inspections: Identifying issues early can prevent equipment failure. Inspections can be performed visually, by non-destructive testing, or by other techniques to assess the condition of fired heaters. Cetek’s Lancescope™ heater inspection tool has been developed for online fired heater inspection.
Fouling Removal: Removing deposits from heater components will increase heat transfer efficiency and the overall performance of the heater. During planned turnarounds, TubeTech removes over 90 percent of fouling from convection sections using engineered robotic methods. Hot-tek's Hot Convection Cleaning is used between turnarounds to improve convection section performance when fouling would otherwise affect production.
Fouling of radiant section tubes from oxidation/scale formation is eliminated by an application of Cetek’s tube coating, which extends tube life if oxidation losses are a limiting factor.
Monitoring Fuel Quality: Ensuring fuel supplies meet the required standards will help to prevent issues such as corrosion, erosion, and fouling-related instabilities.
Ongoing Monitoring: Keeping records of operating conditions such as stack temperatures, pressure readings, and other key information can help to identify areas of concern by comparing them to design parameters.

Using its online Hot-tek™ service repairs and applied Cetek® high-emissivity coatings, IGS recently supported one of India’s largest private-sector energy operators in achieving major improvements by boosting fired heater performance. The upgrades delivered up to 10 percent productivity gains, a sub-six-month payback and more than USD 4 million in annual energy savings, prompting the operator to expand the programme across additional units. Read more here.

Conclusion

If refineries are to reduce emissions by up to 10 percent between 2020-2030, process optimisations will be critical to ensure that the most appropriate technologies are applied to improve energy efficiency, reliability, and asset integrity.

Partnering with a reliable maintenance provider is often the first step to realising fuel and efficiency-saving potential. Refiners looking to enhance reliability and extend asset life can learn more about IGS’s solutions.

- Sean Matthew, Business Development Manager, IGS