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

Engineering & Design

Use model-based temperature control for fixed-bed reactors

BASF Corp.: Weatherford, D.
MAVERICK Technologies: Ford, J.

A process unit at BASF’s Geismar, Louisiana manufacturing facility contains a series of six packed-bed reactors filled with a proprietary catalyst. This catalyst promotes an exothermic reaction, ..

Overcome barriers to proper planning and scheduling

T.A. Cook Consultants Inc.: Wanichko, J.

Planning and scheduling must work hand-in-hand for a turnaround, outage or shutdown to be executed to budget and schedule. Unless proper diligence is given up-front to planning and scheduling, no amou..

Technip, JGC win engineering work for Yamal LNG venture in Russian Arctic

Technip and JGC Corp. will build a plant of three liquefied natural gas trains with an annual capacity of 16.5 million metric tons. Yamal LNG didn't disclose details of the consortium's winning bid.

Valero awards engineering pact to Foster Wheeler for Pembroke refinery in UK

Foster Wheeler will provide home office front-end engineering design and detailed engineering design services to support new development and modification projects at the Pembroke refinery and other UK facilities. Terms were not disclosed. Valero acquired the Pembroke refinery in 2011.

CB&I wins design work from SK for Korea propane dehydrogenation project

SK gas awarded a contract to CB&I for the license and engineering design of a grassroots propane dehydrogenation unit to be built in Ulsan, Korea. The unit will use the CATOFIN dehydrogenation process from Lummus Technology to produce 600,000 tpy of propylene. Startup will be in 2016.

TAIF awards engineering deal to Toyo for Russian refinery modernization

The modernization project at Nizhnekamsk will be completed in 2016. The upgraded complex will convert the following oil refinery heavy residues: 2,700,000 tpy of vacuum residue and 1 million tpy of vacuum gas oil with a high ratio of conversion to more high-quality oil products.

Jacobs awarded design work on Chinese sulfuric acid regeneration plant

Under the terms of the deal, Jacobs is providing the process design package, detailed design for critical equipment, design and supply of Jacobs' proprietary Chemetics equipment, as well as technical advisory services for construction and commissioning of the plant. Officials did not disclose the contract value.

KBR wins project management work for Azerbaijan gas processing plant

The new SOCAR gas processing plant will be located within the new oil-gas processing and petrochemical complex (OGPC) in Azerbaijan. The gas processing plant FEED completion is expected in October 2013, with the overall complex expected to start up operations in late 2020.

KBR to supply equipment, license technology for Indonesia ammonia project

PT is developing a plant with ammonia capacity of 2,000 tpd. It will be built by Toyo Engineering and designed using KBR’s reforming exchanger system and Purifier technology. KBR says its proprietary technology and equipment has demonstrated higher reliability and efficiency than conventional designs.

Mitigate reactor failures due to graphitization

SABIC Technology Centre: Al-Enazi, S.  |  Al-Meshari, A.  |  Abdelgalil, A.

Graphitization occurs in carbon steel (CS) reactors in high-temperature service (> 455°C). As discussed in this case history, the shell of a methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) reactor became s..