Hydrocarbon Processing sat down with Jason Urso (JU), Chief Technology Officer, Honeywell Process Solutions, to discuss the current state of the process automation industry, how new technologies are enhancing efficiency and safety, and what the future holds for automation.
The hydrogen (H2) plant in a refinery produces high-purity (99.9+ vol%) H2 products using a licensed pressure swing adsorption (PSA) purification process to fulfill the H2 makeup needs of refinery hydroprocessing facilities.
Air-cooled heat exchangers are widely used in the petroleum, petrochemical, natural gas and other industries for cooling purposes. In contrast to a water-cooled system, which consists of a traditional shell-and-tube heat exchanger and a cooling tower, an air-cooled heat exchanger uses ambient air as the main cooling medium.
Much like several initiatives passed in the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s were a decade heavily focused on environmental issues, with many new regulations being enacted to not only mitigate industrial and vehicle emissions but also to advance the production of clean fuels globally.
Hydroprocessing (hydrotreating and hydrocracking) units are high-pressure, high-temperature units that have multiple reactors, multiple beds per reactor and specialized metallurgy. Catalysts in these units are replaced on a 2 yr–5 yr cycle, depending on feed quality, unit design, catalyst selection, operational constraints and performance.
The energy transition requires rebuilding the energy supply infrastructure for a lower-carbon economy and renewable energy generation for industry and transportation that run more on electricity and hydrogen and less on fossil fuels and provide a circular path for consumer plastics. The growth in global oil demand is predicted to end within 10 yr, but it is still too early to foresee a rapid decline in that demand.
Many factors go into selecting the proper regulator for your system. One of those factors is sensitivity to changes in outlet pressure as downstream flow fluctuates, which is often characterized as “droop” as illustrated within a regulator’s flow curve.
As the gavel dropped, signaling a historic agreement at the conclusion of COP26 (2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Glasgow, Scotland, leaders from 197 nations agreed to continue supporting the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The race is on!
The challenge of frequent plugging in vent gas scrubbers is resolved with the highest degree of maleic anhydride (MAN) product recovery.
In case you missed any downstream news, here are the top stories from last week.