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

Pumps

Reliability: When slow-rolling machines can cause failures, and how to avoid them

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

All the book learning in the world will fail if we do not use common sense. We could also say that we need to think things through and should recognize that intuitive logic can lead us astray. If that sounds like semantic banter, let us zero in on three practical field examples that illustrate the issues at hand.

Editorial Comment: Honoring the industry’s best … take 2!

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Due to Tropical Storm Imelda, Hydrocarbon Processing issued its first force majeure in postponing the third annual HP Awards.

Hydrocarbon Processing Awards Winners

<i>Hydrocarbon Processing,</i> the downstream processing sector’s leading technical publication, has announced the winners for its third annual awards. The <i>HP</i> Awards celebrate innovative technologies and people that have been instrumental in improving facility operations over the past year.

Reliability: Viewing issues out of context may be a waste of time

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

An alternative to the above title would be “Test your rotating equipment engineers’ IQ.”

Hydrocarbon Processing Awards

<i>Hydrocarbon Processing,</i> the downstream processing sector’s leading technical publication, has announced the finalists for its third annual awards.

Horizontal distillation column technology

Independent Researcher/Inventor: Katyal, A.

Gas-liquid contact operations are required for the separation of mixtures based on differences in the chemical properties (volatility, solubility, etc.) of various components.

Reliability: Find the cause of black oil in pump bearing housings

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

While on consulting assignments, observant reliability engineers often uncover (or rediscover) failure initiators that their long-departed colleagues experienced years ago.

Pumps handicapped by not using best available technology

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Pump lubrication deficiencies are often denied, and the outstanding reliability performance of oil mist is vastly underreported.

Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

To test developments of pumps and systems under even more realistic conditions, LEWA has inaugurated a specially developed container test bench that will be used for experiments with hot or explosive fluids.

An evolving approach to digitalization

Emerson Automation Solutions: Wyatt, T.  |  Fleissman, R.

Much has been written in recent years about the need for refineries to embrace the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).