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Crude oil

MAA refinery—Bunker fuel oil challenge: Stable and compatible VLSFO production

Kuwait National Petroleum Co.: Matar, M. B.  |  Al-Mane, A.  |  Rajendran, M.

Studies have been conducted on strategies for bunker fuel oil (BFO) production with reduced sulfur and catalytic fines concentration limits.

Online treatment of a slide valve fault in an FCCU

PetroChina Jinzhou Petrochemical Co.: Ruibo, G.
China University of Petroleum: Wei, P.  |  Yansheng, L.

The regeneration slide valve is a key piece of equipment that controls the ratio of catalyst to oil and reaction temperature in FCC units (FCCUs).

Industry Perspectives

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Last month, <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> presented its mid-year market update to a global audience.

Industry Metrics

U.S. Gulf Coast margins increased, supported by unplanned refinery outages that limited a stronger recovery in run rates and kept product outputs relatively supressed.

Reverse refining: A novel approach to the refining process

Heatoil Solutions LLC: Echenagucia, J. E.

The crude oil refining processing sequence is based on the separation of distillate products from heavier ones and concentrating the heavy molecules of the barrel for processing at the end of the refining run.

Editorial Comment: Optimization: Advancing the industry’s evolution and benefits to the masses

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Optimization—the action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource—is not a term that the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) takes lightly: it is a way of life.

Reliability: Exploring better compressor sour seal oil traps

Professional engineer: Bloch, H. P.

An interesting case involving sour seal oil traps in an offshore application recently came to our attention.

Good distributor design for high-velocity feed debottlenecks a crude preflash tower

Bazan Group: Blum, B.
Fluor: Kister, H.
Koch-Glitsch: Tsang, R.

Bazan Group’s crude unit No. 3—not designed by any of the authors’ companies—was bottlenecked by the preflash tower.

Executive Viewpoint: It was the best of times

KBC, a Yokogawa Company: Howell, A.  |  Byfield, R.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”. Fortunately, this opening line from A Tale of Two Cities does not often present itself as an appropriate analogy to the oil and gas industry. Yet, here we are.

Business Trends: The economics of reliability—An interim report on the global refining industry

Pinnacle: Krimmel, J.

What is reliability? Most people think reliability is simply a measure of failure, or lack of failure. If something runs for a longer period without failing, then it is more reliable than something that runs for less time. However, reliability is a measure of how often something performs when you want it to.