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Engineering & Design

Simulation model of a vacuum heater transfer line

C&I Engineering: Williams, R. H.

The vacuum tower is a critical part of many crude distillation units, and the vacuum heater transfer line is a critical part of vacuum tower operation.

Flexibility in desalting operations for opportunity crudes

Forum Process Technologies: Mejias, I.  |  Liu, Y.  |  Boul, J.  |  Collins, T.

Typically, opportunity crudes require more rigorous desalting to yield high-quality products due to high levels of naphthenic acids, basic sediment and water (BS&W) and filterable solids, among others.

Upgrading the bottom of the barrel

Energy Systems Engineering: Elshout, R.
Consultant: Bailey, J.  |  Brown, L.  |  Nick, P.

In the past few decades, new technologies, including both carbon rejection methods and catalytic conversion methods, have emerged.

Metallurgy solution to prevent polythionic acid stress corrosion cracking in hydroprocessing

Honeywell UOP: Hoehn, R. K.  |  Bradley, S. A.  |  Mucek, M. W.
Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corp.: Anada, H.  |  Osuki, T.

Hydrotreating is a staple process found in nearly every refinery. The process removes undesirable feed contaminants, such as sulfur, nitrogen and metals, and saturates olefins and/or aromatics to produce high-quality products.

Editorial Comment: It’s all in the makeup of things

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

This issue of <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> features a topic that has been addressed in sections of the magazine for several decades, but has never been a focal point of the publication. That topic is materials manufacturing.

Evaluate structural stiffness for piping stress analysis

Reliance Engineering Group (REG): Choudhury, M. G.  |  Tripathi, R.

Hydrocarbon plants use a system of pipes of various sizes, pressures and temperatures. Sometimes these pipes have pulsating flows that result in piping system vibration. These piping systems must be designed for a high degree of reliability, which requires a comprehensive piping stress analysis for thermal, sustained, occasional and dynamic loading conditions.

Consider pitot tube pumps for low-flow, high-head applications

Saudi Aramco: Alshaye, A.

Low-flow, high-head pumping requirements in refining and petrochemical plants make up less than 2% of the total pump population. This minor percentage is creating significant reliability concerns, which result in low mean-time between failures (MTBF), as well as high maintenance costs.

Borealis awards Jacobs FEED contract for PDH plant in Belgium

DALLAS — Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has been awarded a contract to complete a front end engineering design (FEED) study for a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant located at the existing Borealis production site in Kallo, Belgium.

Curacao nixes refinery operation deal with China firm

(Reuters) — The government of Curacao has scrapped a preliminary agreement with China’s Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) to operate the island's aging Isla refinery, saying the company misrepresented itself and was unable to take on such a large endeavor.

Chevron Phillips ethane cracker at Cedar Bayou hits milestone

​Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP announced that its world-scale ethane cracker at Cedar Bayou in Baytown, Texas successfully achieved the major milestone of mechanical completion.