Maintenance & Reliability
Reliability: Reliability engineering on offshore platforms
Offshore platforms have had their fair share of successes and failures over the years, and to say that their reliability experiences contain lessons for all of us is an understatement.
Root cause analysis for low yield of p-diethylbenzene produced by catalytic alkylation
Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) manufactures para-diethylbenzene (PDEB) at one of its plants by alkylation of ethylbenzene (EB) with ethylene, using RIL's own technology and super-selective catalyst.
Industry Perspectives: The Main Column podcast: Crucial topics shaping the industry
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.
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.
Improving plant operations with control valve simulations
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
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.
Case study: Extend tube life in a waste heat boiler
The sulfur recovery unit (SRU) separates sulfur from sulfur compounds.
Reliability: Strainers and thoughtful testing: Piping initiatives worth considering
In two separate cases, foresight in the use of strainers on piping and following proper procedures for hydrostatic testing are recommended to preserve the integrity of offshore platforms.
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.
- Essar launches hydrogen power plant at Stanlow refinery (U.K.) 7/16
- Trelleborg partners with Airbus on hydrogen-powered air travel 7/16
- Neste, Mitsubishi Corporation agree on strategic partnership to develop supply chains for renewable chemicals and plastics 7/16
- Vale, Komatsu and Cummins announce collaboration to develop dual-fuel large trucks, powered by ethanol and diesel 7/16
- Mexico–U.S. energy trade value fell in 2023 on lower fuel prices 7/16
- Belarus' Mozyr oil refinery restoring operations after outage due to storm 7/16
- Digital Exclusive: SPECIAL FOCUS: Digital Technologies—Utilize process simulation digital twin to optimize condensate yield
- Digital Exclusive-Flare system design: Liquid pockets in flare headers
- Hydrogen-rich content gasoline: A new concept for paraffinic gasoline reformulation
- Alarm rationalization at Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) refineries
