Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

March 2003

Archive

Clean Fuels

Noncapital intensive technologies reduce FCC sulfur content – Part 2
Davison Catalysts: Lesemann, M.  |  Schult, C.

Using novel membrane technology, refiners have new solutions to treat gasoline for sulfur and olefins content

Heat Transfer

Heater combustion air duct design and simulation
Career Institute of Technology & Management: Gill, B. S.
Engineers India Ltd., Research and Development Centre: Banik, S.  |  Biswas, K. P.  |  Malhotra, S.  |  Vohra, A. K.

This method works for box-type and cylindrical furnaces

Columns

HP Control: APC, modeling and optimization insights
Petrocontrol: Friedman, Y. Z.

I have participated in the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) computer conference without fail for over a decade, and have seen it go through the ebb and flow of oil..

HP Reliability: Update your bearing knowledge
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Material and dimensional differences and lubricant properties can have significant effects on bearing suitability for particular services. Proper material selection, dimensional integri..

HPIn Europe: Better times ahead for downstream performance
European Refining & Marketing: Pitt, R.

The refining industry may have to wait until 2005 for a significant improvement in margins, according to Carlos Cabrera, senior vice-president, refining and petrochemicals for UOP LLC. ..

Information Management/Standards

Business-to-manufacturing integration using XML
ABB: Singh, S.

This method has the potential to become the de-facto standard for efficient information exchange throughout the supply chain

Instrumentation/Control

First-principles inference model improves deisobutanizer column control
Petrocontrol: Friedman, Y. Z.  |  Schuler, M.

When the input data are clean, model fidelity is better than that of onstream analyzers

HP Innovations: HPInnovations

Solvent process removes CO2 from natural gas Fluor has developed an improved solvent process to treat lean, high CO2-content natural gas streams. This new technology is estimated to sig..

HPInformer

Company changes name Caloritech Inc. an electrical heating equipment manufacturer is now operating under the CCI Thermal Technologies Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, company name. CCI ..

New Developments

Ultrasonic flowmeter KATflow 160 clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter is built for use in hazardous areas. Fully ATEX Zone 1 and 2 certified, it assists with adherence to the ATEX directive's ..

HP Construction: HPIn Construction
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Jackson, Kim M.

North America Sunoco, Inc., has selected ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co.'s (EMRE) SCANfining gasoline sulfur reduction process. The technology will be applied at Sunoco's Philad..

Free Literature

Laser-welded heat exchangers Alfa Laval's new brochure details the performance of Compabloc, its gasket-free fully welded heat exchanger. It operates in difficult process conditions such as ..

HP In Brief: HPIn Brief
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

  Methanol vs. ethanol debate ..

HP Impact: Poor refining margins in Asia-Pacific at critical ‘turning point’
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Asia-Pacific has been the site of remarkable additions in refining capacity over the past 5 - 6 years; production increased by almost 35%. Most of these additions were in China, India a..

HP Impact: Key US economic index rises
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) is a composite index based on five seasonally adjusted economic indicators. New orders for manufactured goods represent 30% of the index, production ..

HP Impact: Profiting from the sulfur glut
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

To comply with government regulations for cleaner burning fuels, oil and gas companies throughout the world have been reducing the sulfur content of their end products. This helps lower..

HP Impact: Metallocene, polymer market to grow 20%/yr
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

US demand for metallocene and single-site polymers is forecast to expand more than 20%/yr to 4.8 billion pounds (Blb) in 2006. Gains will be driven by the considerable processing and pe..

HP Impact: Hydrogen requirement for industrial use to increase 9.2%/yr
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

The use of hydrogen for petrochemicals, agrochemicals and renewable energy production will make rapid advances in the next five years as even more stringent environmental legislation is..

HP Impact: Process plant operator’s role needs new paradigm

The operator's role is in transition in many process plants worldwide, due in part to the changing global business climate and the accelerating pace of technology developments. The Abno..

HP Impact: F-T liquids add value as steam cracker feedstocks
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Use of low-cost, stranded-gas reserves for producing synthetic fuels (synfuels) and chemicals may become an economic alternative to conventional fuels and chemicals. For chemicals produ..

HP Impact: US gasoline demand expands 2.7% in 2002
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Gasoline was the only major petroleum product to sustain demand growth in 2002, and its strongest showing in four years, according to a year-end review from the American Petroleum Insti..

Rotating Equipment/Reliability

Understand root causes of gearbox failure
United Refining Corp.: Luchetta, S.

Case histories illustrate the importance of preventive maintenance

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor

Optimize surge vessel control The article, "Optimize surge vessel control" (May 2002) describes in detail the different level controller types and their response. The steady level control and..

Misc

The newest commodity product – LNG
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Romanow, Stephany

Energy demand defines prosperity. The global appetite for energy stalled beginning in 2001 and didn't rally throughout 2002. Worldwide consumption of oil was flat in 2001 and 2002, tota..

Inherently safer design
Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University System: Gentile, M.  |  Mannan, M. S.  |  Rogers, W. J.  |  O'Connor, T. M.

Implementation challenges faced by new and existing facilities