Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Special Focus: Maintenance and Reliability

How companies can take advantage of APM solutions to reduce planned maintenance
AspenTech: Brooks, M.

According to Löfsten, “the costs of maintenance are estimated to be between 15% and 40% of production costs.” Consequently, efforts to reduce such costs without compromising risk to equipment, personnel safety and environmental integrity are welcomed.

Advanced compressor control and monitoring systems
Elliott Group: Brun, K.  |  Omatick, T.
Tri-Sen Turbomachinery Controls: Jacoby, J.

Modern advanced control and monitoring systems for centrifugal compressors support compression plant operation at the highest possible efficiency, availability and reliability.

Steam-surface condensers: Lessons from the field
Graham Corp.: Lines, J. R.

Steam-surface condensers are used throughout the refining, petrochemical and chemical industries.

Process Optimization

Select the right capacity control technique for centrifugal compressors: Refinery case studies
Avantium: Pongboot, N.
Global R&D: Boonwong, K.
PetroQuantum: Dyke, S.

The centrifugal compressor has been the workhorse of the oil and gas industry for decades.

Digital Technologies

Maximizing profitability by operationalizing performance criteria
Seeq: Parbhoo, R.

In the hydrocarbon and other process industries, engineering and operations teams have a fundamental responsibility to maximize asset profitability.

Environment and Safety

VOC reduction at Raffineria di Milazzo’s SRU complex—Part 2
Raffineria di Milazzo: Falzone, S.  |  Licandro, G.  |  Lagana, F.  |  Tarantino, M.  |  Arces, I.  |  Grillo, R.

Based on new environmental regulations focusing on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the emissions point of a refinery’s sulfur recovery unit (SRU), Raffineria di Milazzo—a JV between Eni and Kuwait Petroleum Italia—carried out troubleshooting activities to identify and implement suitable actions to minimize the concentration of VOCs at the emissions point of the SRU complex.

Process Controls, Instrumentation, and Automation

How Bluetooth® technology extends the capabilities and connectivity of wired instrumentation
Emerson: Wiens, M.

One day at a refinery, operators call an instrument tech to the control room and point to the screen.

Terminals and Storage

Variable-speed pumps and minimum flow control valves: Design and implementation
Dialog E&C Sdn Bhd: Lemmers, S. P. B.  |  Hau, Y. F.  |  Tan, P. C.

Within hydrocarbon storage terminals, product pumps are the most vital rotating equipment for terminal operations and maintenance.

Columns

Editorial Comment
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Maintenance is an integral part of refining and petrochemical plant operations.

Automation: Overhead automation and analytics lead to improved optimization of production and reliability
Veolia Water Technologies & Solutions: Choueri, W.

The efficient operation of crude oil distillation units (CDUs) improves profits and distillate yield while optimizing production costs and reliability.

Valves, Pumps and Turbomachinery: Calculate flowrate through valves, fittings and pipe under a laminar flow regime
University of Cienfuegos: Garcia, I.
Kuraray America Inc. EVAL Plant: Garcia, A.

Calculating flowrate through long, straight pipe under laminar flow regime is easy using standard equations of fluid mechanics.

Digital Technologies: Do not just monitor bad actor machines: Start when they are healthy
ITT Goulds Pumps: Divita, R.

Often, facilities hesitate to invest in monitoring rotating equipment until the machine fails. By that time, there is no background information, such as vibration or temperature data, to help site engineers diagnose the machine’s failure. However, by implementing a remote monitoring solution on healthy equipment, users can set a baseline of machine health to gain essential insights when the machine begins to fail.

Maintenance and Reliability: Non-standard flanges for catalytic cracking units
Garlock: Knauf, M.

In more complex petroleum refineries, a secondary processing step may be implemented in more complex petroleum refineries to produce more usable end products.

Business Trends: Optimize pump systems to save electrical energy
British Pump Manufacturer’s Association Ltd. (BPMA): Schofield, S.

Given the global rise in energy costs, there has never been a better time to review and assess the efficiency of pumping systems—whatever their size, complexity or sphere of operation.

People
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

WIKA appoints Vikram Dhingra as Associate Vice President, Sales