Refinery tower inspections: Discovering problems and preventing malfunctions

is a lead process engineer for the Phillips 66 Westlake Refinery. He has 10 years of experience as a process engineer and has worked as a chemical expert for the federal police in Brazil. Mr. Cardoso holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from Rio de Janeiro Federal University in Brazil and an MS degree from the French Institute of Petroleum in France.

Henry Z. Kister is a Fluor Corp. Senior Fellow and the Director of Fractionation Technology. He has more than 30 yr of experience in design, troubleshooting, revamping, field consulting, control and startup of fractionation processes and equipment. He is the author of three books, the distillation equipment chapter in Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook and more than 120 articles, and has taught the IChemE-sponsored Practical Distillation Technology course more than 500 times in 26 countries. A recipient of several awards, Mr. Kister obtained his BE and ME degrees from the University of New South Wales in Australia. He is a Fellow of IChemE and AIChE, a member of the NAE, and he serves on the Fractionation Research Inc. Technical Advisory and Design Practices Committees.