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

Management

Viewpoint: An engineer’s guide to networking

ShureLine Construction: Shahani, G.

Innumerable articles and training programs have been written on the subject of networking.

People

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Courtney McShane has joined Willbros Group Inc. as director of business development for the Marcellus Shale region and Eastern Seaboard.

Implement a competency management system for process safety

Primatech, Inc.: Baybutt, P.

Managing the competency of company personnel is a critical aspect of process safety.

Teaching an old plant new tricks: The rise of the methanol plant revamp

Jacobs Consultancy: Stanbridge, S.

The last time we saw such marked activity in the methanol industry was back in the 1990s and early 2000s, when methanol production in North America plummeted by almost two-thirds.

People

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Dr. Alexander Horch has been named as the new head of development at HIMA Paul Hildebrandt GmbH.

Engineering Case Histories: Case 91: Helping those interested in a technical career

Consulting Engineer: Sofronas, A.

As engineers and managers, we are often approached by parents or friends interested in a technical career for their children or others.

Reliability: Machinery quality assessment on twin-screw compressors

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Machinery quality assessment (MQA) is similar to bid conditioning, and both relate to structured efforts.

Reliability: Overcome biases and challenges facing industry

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

When asked about the challenges facing the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI), our answer was swift and direct: The trials we face are bundled, or can be found, in lessons some of us learned decades ago. However, lessons learned and explained decades ago were often disregarded by managers with a short-range focus.

Catalyst replacement strategy for a hydrocracking unit at a Middle East refinery

A Saudi Aramco refinery operates a series-flow, single-stage hydrocracking unit (HU) in a recycle high-conversion mode. The HU has been in operation for over 35 years and is being debottlenecked to increase its throughput by 20%.

Utilize an optimizer to blend gasoline directly to ships

Valero Energy Corp.: Scriven, W.  |  Martin, A.  |  Seiver, D. S.

A new control system and single-blend optimization system make it possible to blend gasoline directly into tanker ships for delivery, rather than only into tanks, thereby saving millions in capital and reducing product giveaway.