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

People

Engineering Case Histories: Case 109: Catastrophic failures and the human factor

Consulting Engineer: Sofronas, A.

A catastrophic failure is defined (for this article) as a failure where lives have been lost and human causes have been a factor.

Executive Viewpoint: Sustainability: Initiatives, innovation and solutions to crucial challenges

Chevron Phillips Chemical: Becker, J.

<i>Hydrocarbon Processing's</i> Editor-in-Chief/Associate Publisher, Lee Nichols, was pleased to speak with Jim Becker (JB), Vice President, Polymers and Sustainability for Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem).

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.

Project Management: Efficiently expanding a specialty chemical company

COIM USA: Parmar, A.
ShureLine Construction: Shahani, G.

COIM, a specialty chemical company, decided to expand its production capacity in the U.S. to supplement growing market and economy.

Managing dark data and visualizing your digital twin

Siemens: Pawlewitz, J.  |  Doyle, A.

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.

Five key innovation concepts to impact frontline engineers in 2020

KBC, a Yokogawa Company: McIntee, A.
Yokogawa Corp. of America: Finnan, K.

Gas processing, liquefaction, oil refining, bulk petrochemicals and chemicals plants represent a large population of frontline engineers and technical managers. Their professional lives will become increasingly impacted by the growing adoption of disruptive digital technologies and digital platforms.

People

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Motion Industries Inc. has named Chris Pacer as VP of the company’s Central Group. Mr. Pacer has spent the last 22 yr with Motion Industries in various key roles after joining the company as a certified fluid power specialist. He was promoted to Branch Manager of the various markets within Northern Ohio and then joined the company’s corporate accounts team before being promoted to his latest position of Detroit Division VP and General Manager. In that role, Mr. Pacer was responsible for the further development and overall growth of 22 branch operations and one service center.

Executive Viewpoint: Fuels and petrochemicals will continue to help humanity thrive

American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM): Thompson, C.

A 15-yr rise in U.S. exports of refined products continued in 2019 with the nation exporting more than ever, underscoring the importance of these products to fueling a growing world. In the latter half of the last decade, U.S. petrochemical production capacity increased—with more than $20 B invested in domestic petrochemical projects in the last 2 yr alone—and exports of petrochemicals and petrochemical feedstocks rose, as well.

Editorial Comment: Adopting digital technologies to enhance operations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

What is the future of refining and petrochemical operations? One trend that has been the focus of many articles, whitepapers and conference presentations is the digital transformation of the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI).

Inspection: A practical approach to internal inspection of pressure equipment

Contributing Editor: Anwer, A.

Internal inspections of pressure equipment involve a full inspection of the equipment. Inspection engineers and inspectors depend heavily on internal inspections to retrieve useful data, which includes information on active degradation mechanisms, corrosion rates, remaining equipment life, failure occurrences and failure expectations, among other critical details.