June 2001

When using LP models, users must be fully aware of what data is important and discard the rest

How failure occurs from blowing and what can be done to prevent it

When troubleshooting, the cause may not be as obvious as it first appears

Here is a tool to estimate maximum concentrations of contaminants in hydrogen-plant condensate

A stochastic model provides optimal results to the advanced control system

To select the best processing configuration and investment decision, this refiner used LP modeling, plant cost estimation and IRR analysis to find the optimum solution

Know the causes of cavitation and flashing and how to prevent them

I rarely search the Internet for process control information. It's just too time-consuming (phoning or e-mailing a friend is much quicker). Enter "process control" into a search on most..

Turboexpanders frequently used in refrigeration processes develop power, but recovery of this power has often been of secondary importance. A number of power absorption methods are dire..

Due to advances in microprocessor technology, the opportunities for process automation have increased dramatically while costs have decreased. Numerous strategies are available to autom..

A new market study I worked on shows that the percentage of SIL3 safety instrumented functions (SIFs) is decreasing. SIFs are getting classified more and more as SIL1 and SIL2. Why is t..

AGA Gas, Cleveland, Ohio, has changed its name to AGA Gas, Inc., a member of the Linde Gas Group. This combines two names in industrial gases, Linde Gas AG of Germany and AGA Gas, Inc. The brand addit..

Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Texas, and RMC plc, Eynsham, UK, have a business partnership to co-host an online conference aimed at the global oil and gas industries. The conferenc..

Cleaning times for process data reducedNew Data Cleaning Tool has reportedly reduced the preprocessingtime needed to ensure plant operational data integrity. Processdata integrity is vital to overall ..

Air Products to build oxygen plant Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, has signed an agreement with Tesoro Northwest Co. for the construction of a 350-tpd-air separation unit..

Integrated process control solutionsNew eight-page brochure from ABB Instrumentation highlights its integrated process control solutions. These include products for integrating operations and informat..

Outlook for global polyethylene (PE) consumption calls for a growth rate averaging 5.7% over the next five years. Year 2000 use increased 4% or 1.9 million tons (MMton), according to a new report from..

Present gasoline pricing has sparked concern to generate a "real" energy policy. A better policy can be conceived and guided to fruition; however, the market and political conditions must be understoo..

Natural gas prices have had a substantial impact on the U.S. methanol industry. Product rationalization and the U.S.'s growing dependence on imports are realities. High natural gas feedstock pricing h..

The technological revolution of single-sited and metallocene catalysts accelerated through the 1990s with increasing patent filings. The revolution continues with the advent of "post-metallocene," sin..

The year 2000 for the polystyrene (PS) industry was one of extremes. It began with a hangover from Y2K. The normal de-stocking that occurs during fourth quarter did not occur in 1999. PS inventories h..

The region has undoubtedly launched itself on the road to recovery. To take full advantage, Asia must face up to some key issues: Sufficient real economic and structural change may not have taken pl..

Western Europe. Although installed production capacity for ethylene in 2000 looked to be more than enough to cope with demand, actual production fell well short. Demand was over 3% more than 1999; how..

Industry experts at the annual DeWitt & Co. World Petrochemical Review presented their market analyses for key industry segments. Naturally, the global economic supply / demand forecast varies for dif..

How to control a deethanizer The article "Increase MPC project efficiency using multivariable closed-loop identification" (March 2001) may have described a method of testing for MPC that improved on e..

  Table 2. Possible refinery configurations       Configurations     Process units   1   2    3   4    5    6   7    8    9    10  ..

Bill Crowley, Contributing Editor       Comments? Write: editorial@HydrocarbonProcessing.com This month we will ..

Sometimes in our haste to emphasize key points and highlight radical new information, we are guilty of overusing descriptive words in articles, press releases, presentations and general..

Updated cost and capacity data facilitate more accurate economic evaluations of HPI enterprises

Use this tutorial to evaluate available control technologies and install exactly what you need for current and future NOx reductions

Using multivariate statistical techniques, this VCM operator raised productivity by more than 10% without revamping cracking furnaces