February 2012

Simulation models can be effectively used to optimize heat transfer and boost operational performance

Low rare-earth catalysts balance activity and selectivity against cost

Behavioral and organization changes are often needed to effectively maximize operating profits

This refiner wanted to increase ethylbenzene conversion while limiting aromatics losses

New upgrading technologies help meet fuel quality specifications

New pressure control devices improve fluid flow

Service life and cost impact what seals to use on your heavy-duty pump

Turning a challenge into an opportunity

The US does not need to choose between healthy environment and healthy economy when it can have both.

The governance of energy by our federal government is broken, dysfunctional and unfixable in its current form, according to the author.

The region is facing tremendous pressure to develop a radically different energy and power mix.

Operating companies are looking to new technology and innovation to provide practical solutions for meeting market demands and creating shareholder value.

The absorber-stripper configuration is common for gas plants. If we are to apply advanced process control (APC) systems on a gas plant, it better to address the control problem—maximizing recover..

In this issue of HPInsight, the global hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) still battles some very familiar and present day challenges, such as economic cycles, feedstock spikes, government over reg..

Industries across the board are coping with relentless pressure to reduce costs while simultaneously improving product quality. The hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) has an additional challenge in..

We received a nice compliment recently from a reader in South America. He wrote: “I am a mechanical engineer working on power plant designs at a major corporation and admire your work as a writer..

Accelerating energy innovationA three-year study by a team of researchers based at MIT has now identified a suite of policy and investment strategies that could accelerate innovation in the US, helpin..

Sundrop Fuels, Inc., plans to construct and operate its first production facility on about 1,200 acres of land that it has purchased near Alexandria, Louisiana. The inaugural plant will use sustainabl..

Toyo Engineering Corp., in consortium with Y&V Ingeniería y Construcción, C.A., has a project management consultant (PMC) contract for the heavy-oil upgrading project of Petróleos de Ve..

Lummus Technology, a CB&I company, has been awarded a contract by CJSC Vostochnaya Neftechimicheskaya (VNHK), a subsidiary of OJSC Rosneft, for the license and basic engineering of a naphtha steam-cra..

The State of Qatar’s Minister of Energy and Industry, Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, and Shell’s CEO, Peter Voser, have signed an agreement to develop a world-scale petrochemicals complex i..

The Linde Group is set to build and operate a new hydrogen plant in the Jilin Chemical Industrial Park (JCIP) in northeast China. The company will be investing around €42 million in the first pha..

Biofuels and bio-based chemicals have been promoted as a potential solution for dependence on petroleum. They also have favorable greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuels and petrochemicals b..

European oil industry group CONCAWE has collected 40 years of spillage data on European cross-country oil pipelines with particular regard to spillages volume, cleanup and recovery, environmental cons..

AESSEAL wins big at IMechE awards   Fig. 1. Award-winning   AESSEAL offers a wide range   of products. The UK-based mechanical seals manufacturer was nominated for seven out o..

Site aids rupture-disc selection process Oseco’s redesigned website helps both new and experienced users of rupture discs and explosion vents to select the right products for their needs. Th..

New line of welded pipe and tube products Penn Stainless Products’ new Specialty Pipe and Tube Division now offers nonstandard welded tubular items in stainless, duplex, nickel, 6-moly and c..