September 2003

Two refiners from different continents strive to meet the challenges of producing lower-sulfur fuels while endeavoring to protect the environment

Capital-free techniques such as catalyst and additive programs are viable options when meeting clean fuel specifications

Due to the ban of blending MTBE into RFG, this company revamped its operation to produce another gasoline component using technology never proven on world-scale levels

Consider these design fundamentals when selecting your storage solution

Retrofitting processing units pose many obstacles. Test-run evaluations uncover limitations from existing infrastructures that can derail project goals

Refiners can update coking units via two methods – recycle or zero-recycle operations. Depending on the capability of downstream units either option can be used as part of clean-fuels program

Sulfur emissions were reduced approximately 250 metric tons per year

Along with providing quality management, certification may be a valuable marketing tool for enhancing customer confidence

Here are the causes and the solution

Poor stripper performance of FCC spent catalyst burns up products and profits. New retrofit methods cut operating cost and increase product yields

The ERTC's annual Computer Conference was held June 23-25 in Milan, Italy. Several papers were presented on advanced control, supply chain management, production planning, training simu..

This column has often mentioned the need for industry to abandon its repair focus and to move toward becoming almost exclusively reliability-focused. There are many ways to reach this g..

Dick Hill, Contributing Editor       Comments? Write: editorial@HydrocarbonProcessing.com ..

Central and Eastern Europe continues to be one of the most interesting regions. Some of the larger companies, such as OMV of Austria, MOL of Hungary and PKN Orlen of Poland, are seeking..

For second-quarter 2003, total production of 18 petrochemicals reported in an NPRA survey was 46.7 billion pounds (Blb). This is an increase of 1% compared with first-quarter 2003. Howe..

The US Senate has passed an energy bill, which sets up an interesting dynamic for merging the differences in the two bills in a House-Senate conference committee. Frank Maisano, directo..

Leading members of the industry who make up the World Economic Forum's Governors for Engineering & Construction (E&C) have established a multinational task force to develop anti-corrupt..

One of the world's largest proficiency testing programs for used oil has achieved a record high level of participation. ASTM's Interlaboratory Crosscheck Program (ILCP) is set up for pa..

Oxidative technology proven to process ULSD UniPure Corp. has successfully produced ultra-low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel in its advanced sulfur removal (ASR) process. The demonstration f..

Experimentation alliance ExxonMobil Corp., Irving, Texas, and Symyx Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, California, have a technology agreement focused on high throughput experimentation (..

Magnet-drive pump handles up to 12,000 gpm Klaus Union has introduced three new magnet-drive hydraulic sizes. These include the SLM NVO 350-300-400 31E, SLM NVO 400-400-400 31E and SLM ..

PetroWorld Ltd., Foster Wheeler Power Systems Inc., Starchem Technologies International Ltd. and Waller Marine Inc. are developing what is claimed to be the world's first floating large..

SimSci-Esscor, an Invensys plc subsidiary, has a two-year contract with Ecopetrol, the state-owned petroleum producing and refining company of Colombia. Contract value is $500,000 and i..

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co. (EMRE) has a contract with S.C. Petrotel-Lukoil, S.A. The agreement is for EMRE's proprietary SCANfining gasoline sulfur reduction process along ..

Technip-Coflexip has a contract with NNPC/Mobil joint venture for the East Area - Additional Oil Recovery project. The contract covers engineering, procurement, fabrication, installatio..

Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil Corp. have contracts for the Qatargas II LNG expansion project. Qatargas II is a joint project between Qatar Petroleum (70%) and ExxonMobil (30%). The ma..

A 342-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant using ChevronTexaco-licensed gasification technology is now operational. The unit is located at Nippon Petroleum Refin..

Automatic self-cleaning water filters Orival, Inc.'s automatic self-cleaning filters are claimed to offer reliable, maintenance-free removal of suspended solids from water in both once-..

  Fresh look at Asia-Pacific demand ..

LNG imports first surged on the US natural gas stage in the late 1990s, before settling at around 230 - 240 billion cubic feet per year (Bcfy) in 2001 - 2002. That amount represented ab..

With China's entry into the WTO, it is making significant policy changes to participate as a major player in the global HPI. Most notably, this nation is opening its borders for trade. ..

Demand in the US for emission control products (components and materials) will increase to $3.9 billion in 2007. Increasingly stringent emission standards set by the EPA and the extensi..

MTBF In reading "HP In Reliability" (June 2003), I am reminded that MTBF cannot be compared from company to company, or even plant to plant within a given company for one basic reason: Ther..