September 2005

New developments in FCC additives and catalyst management increase C3 make

To process high-sulfur crudes, refiners must retrofit older processing units to capitalize on 'dirty' feedstocks

Effective planning can eliminate surprises during shutdown and construction

The energy market is global and interdependent; thus, all regions are tied together on crude oil and transportation fuels

Heavy oil upgrading could be key in calming the potentially dangerous turbulence generated by the global heavy oil/ light oil imbalance

Advancements in refinery hydrogen management, technology and utility network can optimize existing and new systems

Installing this technology helped a refinery meet its air and particulate emissions

New technology improves FCC performance and operational reliability

New study indicates that optimized pretreatment of FCC streams can yield clean, direct blending streams for gasoline and diesel

Changes to blending specifications will require refiners to use more alkylate to maintain octane levels and driveability indexes

These steps can make the resources more useful

This novel technology can reduce facility NOx emissions

The revisions and how they impact piping system design are highlighted

As you know, Zak Friedman has taken over writing this column. Zak had a column prepared for this issue, but the company he interviewed declined permission to publish it (Zak wouldn't let them make it ..

I have often engaged in litigation support. To me, litigation support is a term meaning one might occasionally choose to work for law firms that pay engineers to relate how and why machines function a..

For the past decade or more, manufacturing has been fixated on three things: reduced costs, reduced headcounts and eliminating poor-performing businesses. No wonder that automation metrics, if availab..

As far as I can see, the G8 Communiqué on Climate Change, Energy and Sustainable Development (the summit was held July 6 – 8 in Perthshire, Scotland) changes just about everything we do. You..

Technology developments continue to redefine state-of-the-art products and processes in the polyolefins industry. Second-generation LLDPE resins represent the greatest challenge for the LDPE industry ..

Suggestions that oil consumption will grow up to 120 million bbl per day by 2020 and that automobile and airline traffic will increase at extraordinary rates are futile and damaging to policy makers. ..

Key environmental strategies with far-reaching implications for the process industries will be unveiled this month after all, according to the European Commission. This means that a clean air and ma..

The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) recently told a US Senate Committee examining the role of the federal government in chemical facility security that it does not oppose reasonab..

In value terms, consumption of specialty plastic additives will grow 4.6%/yr to $6.8 billion. Gains will result from increasing plastics demand, especially polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and an improved ou..

Satellite images streamline large-scale plant projects In 2002, Marathon Oil Company purchased an interest in the Alba field, offshore Equatorial Guinea. The field is estimated to be Equatorial Guin..

Electric failsafe valve actuators Quarter-turn and linear Skilmatic SI electric valve actuators reportedly provide both modulating and two-position control for failsafe o..

CB&I has a lump-sum turnkey EPC contract with Valero Energy Corp. to engineer and construct a new amine regeneration unit (ARU), a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) and a new tail gas treating unit (TGTU) ..

Repsol YPF (RYPF) is selecting UOP LLC technology for a new CCR Platforming unit to be installed at the RYPF Complejo Industrial Ensenada (CIE) in Ensenada, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Included in the ..

Bayer Antwerp N.V. and Shell International Research Maatschappij BV have a licensing agreement. This enables Shell to implement Double Metal Cyanide (DMC) technology to produce polyether polyols using..

Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd. (FWEL), a Foster Wheeler Ltd. subsidiary, has a front-end engineering and project management services contract with Saudi Aramco for the Khurais full-field development in Sa..

Clough Ltd. and its joint venture partners, collectively known as Kellogg Joint Venture – Gorgon, [Kellogg Brown and Root (30%), Clough (20%), JGC (30%) and Hatch (20%)] have signed a front-end e..

ANSI chemical process pumps Dean Pump's pH series, the benchmark used in developing the ANSI/ ASME B73.1 process pump standard in 1958, reportedly continues to meet and e..

  At last: US has energy bill US lawmakers have finally a..

It seems like an oxymoron to argue that high crude prices improve refinery economics. But, this time, it holds true in the framework of a new plateau rather than a cycle. A recent analysis by Fereidun..

Contractual relationships and structures of some modern LNG (liquefied natural gas) supply chains is growing increasingly complex. International oil and gas companies, national oil companies and utili..

WENDY WEIRAUCH, MANAGING EDITOR       Comments? Write: WW@HydrocarbonProcessing.com Turning plants..

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has a contract from La Societe Pakistan Maroc Phosphore, S.A., Morocco, a joint venture between Groupe Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP) and Fauji Group, Pakistan. Th..