Loss Prevention
Demineralized water system design: Considerations for the petrochemical industry—Part 1
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.
Variable capacity control technology facilitates efficient operation for reciprocating compressors
Reciprocating compressors are used extensively in refinery and petrochemical operations to keep feedstocks and products moving through miles of piping.
Design of very-high-flow coefficient centrifugal compressor stages
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
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
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.
Project Management: Efficiently expanding a specialty chemical company
COIM, a specialty chemical company, decided to expand its production capacity in the U.S. to supplement growing market and economy.
Apply ceramic coatings to extend radiant tube life in process heaters
Process tubes in refining applications are typically steel alloy (ASTM A335 P22, P5 or P9), which contain 2.25%, 5% and 9% Cr, respectively. These grades oxidize at operating temperatures, and scale will grow continuously on the surface, often reaching 2 mm in thickness in higher-temperature/high-heat-flux units. The layers of scale are very insulating and represent a significant barrier to conductive heat transfer to the process.
Effectively clean air fan coolers with water and steam
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
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.
Managing dark data and visualizing your digital twin
Today’s tools are often specialized for a certain type of task; however, they often lack the connectivity that would enable the easy comparison and cross-reference of asset information. Engineering tools are well suited for design and build phases, but may be less suited for use in operations and maintenance.
- ExxonMobil plans 1 Blbs/yr of advanced recycling by 2027 11/22
- Gauging the likely Trump effect on U.S. energy and power sectors 11/22
- Russia's Lukoil restoring cracker at NORSI refinery, gasoline output rising 11/22
- Nigeria's local currency crude sales fall short of target, Dangote refinery says 11/22
- U.S. October gasoline imports hit post-pandemic low on slump in European shipments 11/22
- Clean Hydrogen Works awards McDermott FEED contract for Ascension Clean Energy (ACE) project 11/21
