August 2012

Each pipe or control line should be traced to its origin, the design intent must be well understood, and all owner-purchaser questions answered by the vendor-manufacturer.

Grooved mechanical piping can offer improved constructability, speedy expansion, retrofit and turnaround, and also reduce safety risks. It is a quality pipe-joining method.

New challenges, recent developments, the latest mechanical issues and main reliability factors for large variable-speed electric motor drivers in HPI plants are presented here.

This case study documents the performance variables to consider and apply when monitoring and tracking the efficiency deterioration for a steam turbine using DSs in a PI process book.

This case examines the mechanical distress and performance deterioration of a critical refrigeration compressor that was installed at a world-scale petrochemicals complex.

The writer calls on design and process engineers to take extra precautions when selecting and sizing their reciprocating compressors for low-temperature gas service.

The work performed for the project shows that dynamic simulation can be an excellent tool for the support and verification of process design during the engineering, procurement and plant construction (EPC) stages.

The PERU LNG project includes a liquefaction plant, marine export facilities with an island breakwater, and a 408-km pipeline that connects to an existing pipeline in the Ayacucho mountains. Hunt Oil Co. is the operator.

The premier event for the global natural gas industry

As summer takes hold in the Northern Hemisphere, demand for energy in various forms increases. In looking back over the past 90 years, energy demand and pricing cycle through high and low points. In 2..

Last month’s column explained that all hydrocarbon processing (HP) facilities use machinery, and these machines require lubrication. Periodically auditing one’s lubrication practices is part..

Globally, the process industries lose the equivalent of 5% of production annually because of unscheduled downtime and poor product quality. ARC Advisory Group estimates that almost 80% of these losses..

Consider the view looking back from 2020. Will the current decade be the decade of process automation? This may seem a puzzling way to frame the question. We have been automating for several decades. ..

TWD Technologies has been selected by Great Lakes Biodiesel to build what is said to be Canada’s largest biodiesel plant. It is scheduled to be operational by the autumn of 2012.TWD is providing ..

Shanghai-based Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of the Wison Group, has a contract from Exmar Group for engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) of what..

Haldor Topsøe has selected UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, to provide technology to purify hydrogen from a steam-reforming unit to be installed at the Antipinsky refinery in Tyumen, Russia. Honeywe..

Naftec SpA, a subsidiary of Sonatrach, is reported to be nearing mechanical completion of a new paraxylene production plant in Skikda, Algeria. Anticipated to be fully operational later this year, the..

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has a design contract from Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co., an affiliate of Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), to develop a process design package (PDP) and front-end en..

Alfa Laval has an order from a Technip Samsung Consortium (TSC) to supply equipment to Shell’s Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility. The Alfa Laval equipment consists of desalin..

The Gate megaproject is one of Europe's largest LNG terminals. With two jetties, it can unload simultaneously two vessels of the Q-Max type, the world's biggest LNG carriers.

Production of oil, other liquids, to increase in USThe US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently released its 2012 annual energy outlook. The EIA projects US domestic production of petroleum..

The biofuels industry claims its fuel is unfairly singled out by potential regulatory policies that focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with land use change. It argues that petroleum al..

The World Steel Association recently published the 2012 edition of “World Steel in Figures.” This study provides essential facts and statistics about the global steel industry, including inf..

European Union (EU) chemicals production recorded a 1.9% decrease in the first four months of 2012 compared with the same period in 2011, according to the latest Cefic Chemicals Trends Report. Monthly..

PCHEs boost power from waste heatHeatric recently supplied Echogen Power Systems Inc. with Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHEs) for Echogen’s Supercritical CO2 (ScCO2) power generation cycle. ..

Film on efficient biogas treatment BASF’s new film on “Clean Gas from Waste” looks at biogas and its role as a major energy mix resource. In about four minutes, the film describes the i..

Equipment filters diesel fuel to meet OEM cleanliness specs  A line of fuel-filtration and fuel-coalescer equipment is available to remove particulate and water contamination from No. 2 diesel an..

After the 2009 accident at Indian Oil's lubricants terminal, new safety standards were developed to help avoid future tragedies. The focus is as it should be, on people, process and technology.

Safety awards presented at ILTAThe International Liquid Terminals Association (ILTA) held its 32nd Annual International Operating Conference and Trade Show from May 21–23, in Houston, Texas. More..