July 2001

A simple equation and graphic procedure give better results

Benefits include higher efficiency and lower capital and installation costs

Use these guidelines for best performance

Understand these factors to improve operation

Using field pressure data, a refiner made a low-capital modification on a crude distillation column to increase throughput without a shutdown

Revamp work is achieved both cost-effectively and safely

Project manager discusses vital design features

Features include faster installation, improved corrosion resistance and lower vibration levels

I often read technical and business articles that cry out for a method to more accurately quantify the financial value of dynamic system performance improvements. Such a method has been..

Fig. 1 shows an example of the influence of contamination on bearing life in general terms. A "real life example" best illustrates the various aspects of bearing life calculations. It s..

I have come to the conclusion that it is hard to maintain a good safety record in the HPI. I have met many topnotch control engineers with good safety orientation. They seem to be doing..

Several industrial guidelines address the quality of boiler water and steam. These standards were developed to provide guidance to designers and operators of steam-generating equipment...

Catalysis is a highly technical, complex process. Its products and markets are large and diverse. Moreover, catalysts themselves are important materials of commerce: their applications affect the manu..

Industry representatives from the owner, operator, engineering, contracting and IT supplier communities participated in launching the Capital Facilities Technology Roadmap Initiative at a recent FIATE..

Suppose you need a birthday gift. Traditionally, you would have driven to a store to make the purchase. Today, you may log on to the Internet and browse your favorite online retailers. When the time c..

ABB and Dow Chemical Co. (Dow) have signed a 10-yr global strategic agreement to upgrade Dow's plants with a new generation of ABB Industrial IT technology to link operations and improve productivity...

Aspen Technology, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, has announced that Petro-Canada will use Aspen Retail e-business supply chain solutions to manage the delivery of fuel to its retail and wholesale cus..

Shell-and-tube heat exchanger design, simulationTASC5, from Hyprotech's HTFS suite of thermal design and simulationsoftware, is a fully integrated software tool for thermal andmechanical design of she..

Atak Petrochemical to expand Iranian plant Atak Petrochemical Co. has awarded Technip a contract to expand the olefins plant in Atak, Iran. Under the project, the ethylene production capacity will be ..

Remote interface for fieldbusWieland Electric Inc.'s easy-to-use guide outlines its expanding ricos line of remote I/O systems for fieldbus interface applications. The detailed brochure gives an overv..

Asia to purchase 29% of the world's air pollution control equipment. In 2001, worldwide orders for air pollution equipment will reach $30 billion; $8.7 billion of this will be slated for Asian countri..

Using plastics parts to reduce the weight of motor vehicles sold last year in the U.S. could save approximately four billion gallons of gasoline over the life of those vehicles. That's one of the find..

Diesel supply. Could tougher specifications affect diesel supply? According to CONCAWE, evaluating the impact of various measures on the EU refining industry is generally based on the assumption that ..

The focus of manufacturers on Y2K and e-business shut off many capital investments for valve automation, according to an analysis from ARC Advisory Group (www.arcweb.com). The past two years have been..

"Lean Construction" is a production management-based approach to project delivery - a way to design and build capital facilities. Lean production management is claimed to be causing a revolution in ma..

Process control The article "Process controller performance assessment" (April, p. 85) promotes some misconceptions regarding both absolute and relative performance of feedback controllers. Minimum va..

Bill Crowley, Contributing Editor       Comments? Write: editorial@HydrocarbonProcessing.com Many folks know tha..

Well, we are halfway through 2001, and it has been an interesting time. This year began with record-high prices for crude oils and natural gas that apparently put the brakes on the HPI'..

To meet rising demand, producers seek methods to conserve energy and increase plant efficiencies

Fig. 1. Typical ammonia process flow sheet for a gas-reforming unit. ..