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

Corrosion

Design atmospheric aboveground storage tanks for accident prevention

TurboTech Consulting Corp.: Zardynezhad, S.

The design and construction of oil, gas and petrochemical facilities is continuously improving, as increasing compliance with ever-changing codes and standards, such as the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), is resulting in fewer atmospheric above-ground storage tank (AAST) accidents.

Refining: Use of Alloy 400 for hydrofluoric acid corrosion in a refinery alkylation unit

Alkylation units can be based on sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid as a catalyst.

HF alkylation conversion is finally within reach—Part 1

DuPont: Nunez, J.  |  Presley, S.

Because of its clean-fuel properties (paraffinic, high octane, low vapor pressure and very low sulfur), alkylate is considered one of the most desired components in the gasoline pool.

Carburization inspection robots for radiant tubes inside ethylene cracking furnaces

Rayong Engineering & Plant Service Co. Ltd.: Tiyawongsakul, T.

In an olefins plant, the reliability of ethylene cracking furnaces is one of the deciding factors used to indicate whether or not the plant can be operated at its design productivity.

Does your control valve talk?

Palmela: Almas, A.

Pneumatic operated control valves (POCVs) are consistently the most used control final element for process control across most industries—in some cases, they are also part of the safety instrumented systems (SISs) layer.

Revamp fired heaters with a common air-preheating system to increase capacity

Bechtel Corp.: Ahamad, S.  |  Vallavanatt, R.

In any process plant, fired heaters are generally considered to be one of the most optimally designed pieces of equipment.

Enhanced flash zone design for coker fractionators

Bechtel Corp.: Thomas, C.  |  Spalding, M.  |  Patel, D.  |  Varma, H.

Since the flash zone is the first process undergone by the coke drum effluent vapor upon entering the column, the operation of the flash zone is critical to the operation of the entire coker fractionator column.

Industry Perspectives: Hydrocarbon Processing’s IRPC returns to Europe in June

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Founded in 2009, Gulf Publishing Company and Hydrocarbon Processing’s International Refining and Petrochemical Conference (IRPC) provides a series of events for the international downstream industry covering technical innovations, and exploring both the challenges and opportunities found in today’s market.

Continuous corrosion monitoring of crude overhead systems

Permasense: Davies, J.

The growing availability of light tight oils (LTOs) is resulting in a choice for refiners between upgrading metallurgy or chemical inhibition and corrosion monitoring to manage the increased corrosion risk. With tight budgetary constraints in place, many oil companies are opting for chemical inhibition and online corrosion monitoring.

Hybrid technique for electroslag strip cladding of critical process equipment

Lincoln Electric: Chattopadhyay, P.  |  Nateghi, A.

One of the major challenges in the oil and gas processing industry is to strike a balance among handling the changing qualities of petroleum products and byproducts, increasing the productivity and service life of critical components and reducing environmental hazards. As an example, new refineries are moving to applying conversion methods, such as hydrocracking, to increase yields, while also utilizing conventional distillation. This juxtaposition translates into a higher Nelson Index rating. Greater refinery complexity makes processing low-quality crude oil difficult, if not impossible, thereby precluding bottom-of-the-barrel products.