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

Equipment

Industry Perspectives: The Main Column podcast: Crucial topics shaping the industry

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

In the February issue of Hydrocarbon Processing, the editors asked our global readership what topics they would like to hear on the publication’s new podcast series: The Main Column.

Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Porvair Filtration Group has further expanded its range of microfiltration products by launching seven new metallic Compfil™ filters (FIG. 1) for use within process air and gas applications.

Safety: Where foresight replaces hindsight: How AI impacts the future of oil and gas safety

Advisian Digital, part of the Worley Group: Stewart, H.
SaltGrid: Aitken, C.

According to the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), there were 31 fatal incidents across the industry in 2018.

Demineralized water system design: Considerations for the petrochemical industry—Part 1

Advisian, a Worley Company: Fan, J.  |  Ananthanarayan, S.  |  Hodgkinson, A.

Site utility leads, engineers and other professionals in the hydrocarbon/chemical processing industries (HPI/CPI) are facing a perfect storm of increasing demineralized water demand, end of life of existing demineralized water plant equipment, changing source water quality, corporate directives to diversify water sources, and pressure from regulators and community stakeholders to minimize the volume of waste generated from water treatment.

Improving plant operations with control valve simulations

Emerson Automation Solutions: Novak, L.  |  Youngdahl, R.

In today’s business climate, where project budgets and schedules are under cost and time pressures (and where installed valve applications must perform reliably under increasingly severe conditions), valve simulations are enabling new capabilities.

Design of very-high-flow coefficient centrifugal compressor stages

Elliott Group: Jariwala, V.

Centrifugal compressors are widely used in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, with more than 15,000 operating in the U.S. alone.

Optimization: Plan before main air blower disaster strikes

Aggreko: Chauvin, J.  |  Fischbach, A.

Weeks before a planned overhaul of its coker unit, a synthetic crude plant’s main air blower for the furnace failed, throwing the engineers’ plans into disarray.

The importance of engineering and construction alignment throughout the project lifecycle

Fluor: Payami, H.

Construction is where the rubber meets the road. This phase historically is the most challenging time of the project, often characterized by problems with high levels of urgency and difficulty.

Effectively clean air fan coolers with water and steam

SK Energy: Byung-Moon, J.  |  Seok-Ryong, J.  |  Sang-Gyu, K.

In many refineries and petrochemical plants, air fan coolers (AFCs) become a major bottleneck to increasing plant capacity. Many plants suffer from lower heat duty than designed, especially during the summer months, which can lead to lower plant capacity.

Leveraging modern flow technologies to improve safety in refineries

Emerson: Jha, M.  |  Valentine, J.

The refining industry is facing increased pressures, such as crude oil supply changes, changing product distributions and increasing regulations. These pressure points create a highly competitive market where refiners are looking for options that include digitally transforming operations and adapting new technologies to enhance safety and improve uptime, flexibility and efficiency, while securing their competitive position in a dynamic market. Improving personnel and process safety remains a top focus area for refiners.