Americas
Hydrogen perspectives for 21st century refineries—Part 2
H2 is the lifeblood of 21st century refineries. The application of various technological advancements and core developments has been raising the bar in the design, build, operations and maintenance of H2 facilities.
Case history: Innovative resid-cracking catalyst debottlenecks FCC unit
Tamoil is a major operator in the oil and energy industry with operating refineries in Hamburg, Germany, and Collombey, Switzerland, in addition to distribution networks in Italy, Germany, Switzerland..
Consider the pros and cons when importing heavy oil for cokers
The recent shift to lighter crudes has starved many US heavy oil units of feed. Maximizing asset use makes importing heavy oil for vacuum distillation and delayed coking attractive.
FCC 101: How to estimate product yields cost-effectively and improve operations
The feed to fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) is the most important process variable. FCCU feed has the greatest impact on operating conditions, yield and product quality. A typical FCCU feed consi..
What are the possible impacts on US refineries processing shale oils?
No singular event has had as significant an impact on the quality of refinery feedstocks as the shale revolution. Not only are shale crudes, such as Eagle Ford and Bakken, generally lighter than other..
Maximize precious metals returns from spent process catalysts
What you think you know, what you do not know, and what you should know about precious metal recovery of spent catalysts can impact your refinery’s profitability. Most hydrocarbon, petrochemical ..
Consider new online analyzers to optimize FCC operations
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and near infrared (NIR) process analyzers are highly effective in quantifying physical properties in hydrocarbons, especially where the feedstock, intermediate and final product streams are all interlinked.
HP Editorial Comment: Take a moment and breathe
“Don’t panic” is probably the best advice for the downstream industry regarding oil prices. The upstream fully recognizes the present and short-term conditions for its business.
HP Reliability: Does Pareto’s 80/20 rule apply to reliability engineers?
In the 1970s, an oil refinery discovered that 7% of its 3,200 process pumps experienced a disproportionate share of the facility’s yearly pump outage events. Slightly over 60% of the money spent ..
HP Boxscore Construction Analysis: Will British Columbia build the greenest refineries in the world?
In our latest Boxscore Construction Analysis, we examine proposals by Kitimat Clean and Pacific Future Energy to process bitumen first and then ship those fuels to market.
- BASF’s Intermediates division produces entire portfolio of acid chlorides and chloroformates at its Ludwigshafen site using renewable electricity credits 3/23
- LG Chem shuts down 800,000-tpy Yeosu naphtha cracker 3/23
- Refiners in India, elsewhere in Asia look to buy Iranian oil after U.S. waives sanctions 3/23
- China's Sinopec will not buy Iranian oil, wants to tap state reserves 3/23
- ANDRITZ to supply refining technology for cellulosic ethanol pilot plant in the U.S. 3/22
- Brazilian city trials new biofuel aimed at replacing diesel entirely 3/22

