ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 summarizes the main conclusions from the economic and technical analysis of the current status of the petroleum refining and petrochemical industry and their future trends. Technology advancements like the Industrial Internet of Things, big data analytics, or better process simulation tools will support organizations in the integration of the two businesses and in overcoming the challenges of the increased complexity of problems to be solved. Improvements in processing technologies like oxidative dehydrogenation, gasification or catalytic pyrolysis of biomass, dehydrocyclodimerization of LPG, shock wave pyrolysis, or methanol to aromatics will make the integrated complex even more competitive and successful.
