Engineering & Design
Global refining: What is the future?
Demand for transportation fuels will continue to increase over the next 15 to 25 years. These fuels will still be primarily based on crude oil. Developing nations are driving growing demand for energy..
Economic drivers point to strong E&C growth
Fundamentals suggest that the industry business climate for most downstream engineering and construction companies (E&C) will remain strong for the foreseeable future.
Update on secondary seals for fluid machines
Elastomer-based O-rings are used as secondary sealing components in millions of fluid machines. Although O-ring seals are primarily intended for fluid containment between different but nonrotating com..
Improve compressor reliability with advanced chemical treatments
Although many olefin plants are making big investments in hardware and metallurgy to improve compressor performance and to extend run lengths, the reliability, efficiency and throughput capacity of the CGC are still key influences on plant profitability.
Triple-offset valves offer advantages in emergency services
Liquid hydrocarbon storage facilities have used triple-offset valves (TOVs) in traditional tank farm applications for decades. Due to more stringent health, safety and environment (HSE) requirements, ..
Case history: Troubleshooting a leaking valve in a hydrogen unit
A Middle East refinery installed a hydrogen plant that was designed to produce 20,000 Nm3/hr of pure hydrogen (H2) to support a diesel hydrotreater. The unit was commissioned in 2006. This H2 plant wa..
Examining the ecological and profitable uses of refinery residues
With prices pressured and stricter environmental legislation being implemented, refineries are being increasingly forced to look at new ways of processing heavy residues.
Innovative modeling of heavy crudes provides competitive advantages
The increase in heavy crude production, together with the diversity of heavy crude characteristics and sources, leads to technical challenges in accurately predicting production and refining process performance.
How are leading organizations implementing operational excellence?
ExxonMobil did not devote four full pages to operational excellence (OE) in its 2012 annual report because they had nothing else to talk about, but rather because they viewed it as one of their five k..
Use information management tools to support best practices and increase reliability
The recently published ISO 55000 series of standards aims to promote best practices in asset management. Other goals of this standard include: achieving tangible benefits through the effective managem..
- Eberhard Bau signs long-term solar diesel offtake agreement with Synhelion 2/3
- Indian refiners await government advice on Russian oil import halt 2/3
- bp's Whiting refinery union workers reject contract extension 2/2
- China's CNPC set to restart Dalian refinery to process Russian oil 2/2
- Dow announces 2029 startup of Phase 1 of its $7.5-B Path2Zero ethylene project 2/2
- ExxonMobil, Chevron see glimmer of Venezuela's potential, especially in refining its crude 2/2
