October 2010

Here’s how to make sure that the planning LPs always match the plant

After the technology was validated, a wireless infrastructure was installed blanketing 80% of a US refinery

Testing MVC performance using a dynamic model offers several benefits

Here are six practical guidelines to consider

Follow these guidelines to ensure success

Use these calculations for low absolute average error

Advantages include higher efficiency and shorter analysis times

What are the sources, impacts and possible solutions to controlling this problem in your hydrotreater?

New monitoring tools help track and control asphaltene levels and solubility issues in resid products

Real-life case studies prove it is possible to make more informed choices that often lead to cost savings

In August 2010, I followed Allan Kern’s “Continuous Improvement or Core-Competency editorial”1 with a review of the purposes of process control and IT in the HPI. After 50 years, it is ..

European refiners are nearing the end of a decade of rapid change—some might say a revolution—in fuel specifications. For road fuels, at least, sulfur levels have gone from being a political..

It all started with a letter we received from a major multinational petrochemical company: A reliability manager related that he had recently asked each maintenance department within the corporation&#..

In Part 2, we will address the slowly developing problems in utility water systems. Too often, water-plant problems evolve slowly. Plant personnel fail to detect the non-conformances and failures occu..

OU’s Biocorrosion CenterThe University of Oklahoma (OU) has joined forces with ConocoPhillips to create a new Biocorrosion Center within the OU Institute for Energy and Environment. The center wi..

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Benham Constructors, LLC, has been awarded two new contracts by a subsidiary of Holly Corp. to provide engineerin..

Air Products has a contract to supply Voronezhsintezkauchuk, part of the petrochemical company SIBUR, with a new on-site air separation unit (ASU). The ASU will have the capacity to produce up to 3,00..

Foster Wheeler AG’S Global Engineering and Construction Group has a contract with Gulf Farabi Petrochemical Co. for the provision of project management consultancy (PMC) services for Gulf Farabi&..

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL) has chosen Axens to supply the technology for its coker gasoil (CGO) hydrotreating unit at its refinery in Haldia, India. With a design capacity of 1.4 million tpy, the new..

The world market for industrial valves will grow from $44 billion this year to $52 billion in 2015. This is according to a recent forecast by the McIlvaine Co. The biggest growth will be in power and ..

The Freedonia Group says that world demand for industrial gases will increase 8% annually to $52 billion in 2014 (Table 1). Volumetric consumption will expand 5% per year to 530 billion cubic meters i..

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is calling for a global taskforce to coordinate technology-based energy efficiency initiatives in an effort to increase coherence and reduce duplica..

Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland has filed a patent for a new biofuel made from whisky byproducts, which it says can be used in ordinary cars, without any special adaption needed.The fuel proce..

The National Petroleum Council (NPC) is a federal advisory committee to the US Secretary of Energy. At its September meeting, the NPC discussed the progress of one of its ongoing studies. The study ex..

Rice’s E&C Forum a well-rounded affairRice University hosted its 13th annual Global Forum for Engineering and Construction last month. The theme of the gathering at Rice’s campus in Houston ..

Platform technology improves cooling system efficiencyGE has introduced a technology platform called TrueSense. This technology gives users previously unavailable tools to optimize productivity and in..

Magmeter meets critical application needs An eight-page full-color brochure from ABB describes the FSM4000 electromagnetic flowmeter, combining AC and DC magnetic-exitation advantages. According ..

Real-time production organizer  The R1.02 upgrade is available for the Real-time Production Organizer (RPO), a suite of manufacturing execution system platform packages, integrating vertical prod..