Compressors
Optimization: Plan before main air blower disaster strikes
Weeks before a planned overhaul of its coker unit, a synthetic crude plant’s main air blower for the furnace failed, throwing the engineers’ plans into disarray.
Managing dark data and visualizing your digital twin
Today’s tools are often specialized for a certain type of task; however, they often lack the connectivity that would enable the easy comparison and cross-reference of asset information. Engineering tools are well suited for design and build phases, but may be less suited for use in operations and maintenance.
Reliability: Things rarely heard at reliability conferences
We can only guess how many reliability conferences we have attended since accepting job offers in the refining or chemical processing industries. In my case, starting in 1965, it is somewhere between 60 and 80. If, in each of these conferences I listened to six presentations, the number of sessions attended is perhaps 400.
Business Trends: EPC 2030: Five vital characteristics that will define the EPC firm of tomorrow
The state of the global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) industry can accurately be described as “challenging.” Operating in an environment of volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous conditions, EPC firms are facing unsustainable levels of stress.
Improved cooling system performance begins with data
Refineries consume large amounts of energy and water to refine crude oil into products. Up to 10% of crude oil’s energy content is consumed during processing, and it takes 1.5 bbl of water to process one barrel of crude oil. Refining processes also generate large quantities of excess thermal energy that needs to be expelled into the environment using a once-through or recirculating cooling system.
Hydrocarbon Processing Awards
<i>Hydrocarbon Processing,</i> the downstream processing sector’s leading technical publication, has announced the finalists for its third annual awards.
Case study for a high-performing refinery loss control program
Most refineries have some sort of mass balance and loss control program in place for accounting, planning and scheduling, as well as for financial and operational evaluation purposes.
Innovations
Alfa Laval has introduced wide-opening design plates in its Packinox heat exchangers.
Understand net gas compressor control logic from a process engineering standpoint
In a refinery or petrochemical plant, certain equipment can create “gray areas” between process engineers and instrument engineers.
Resolving vibration problems in a crude booster pump
The pumps referred to in this article are 2,600-HP vertical pumps utilized as booster pumps for the shipment of crude oil.
- Honeywell collaborates with SAF One and Tata Projects to enable sustainable aviation fuel production 1/29
- Casale and OMNI Sign MoA to jointly advance waste-to-green methanol and hydrogen technologies 1/29
- GIZ and thyssenkrupp nucera partner to advance green hydrogen and power-to-X markets in India 1/29
- IACS issues new Unified Requirement on ammonia release mitigation systems 1/29
- TotalEnergies and Mozambique announce the full restart of the $20-B Mozambique LNG project 1/29
- CF Industries, POET launch low-carbon fertilizer pilot to cut ethanol production carbon intensity 1/29

