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

Sulfur

Treat toxic, malodorous ethylene spent caustic using WAO technology

Siemens Water Solutions: Clark, M.
Sinoec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co.: Xia, N.

As China’s largest integrated refinery, Sinopec’s Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. (ZRCC) plant can process approximately 23 MM metric tpy of crude oil. The plant produces more than 50 fuel and chemical products, including different grades of gasoline, jet and diesel fuels, asphalt and polypropylene plastics, as well as more than 1 MM metric tpy of ethylene. The latter generates spent caustic, one of the world’s most toxic wastewaters.

IMO 2020 stability and compatibility headaches

Refinery Automation Institute, LLC: Curcio, E.  |  Barsamian, A.

The year 2020 will be a mess from the fuel oil stability and compatibility points of view. The year will be price-driven, so the temptation to “cut corners” is great—meaning that a highly variable number of blend components to manufacture the fuel oil will open a “Pandora’s box” of complex and questionable fuel formulations.

Refinery residue and bitumen upgrading: Gasification

Advisian: Abazajian, A.  |  Sloley, A.

Gasifiers take the bottom of the crude barrel and move the residue into the C1 value chain. Refiners have had a variable record of running gasifiers for a time and then shutting them down. Reasons for this include inexperience with gasifier operations, lack of knowledge on how to extract profits from the C1 value chain and market difficulties in catering to clients operating in different business environments.

HP Top Project Awards

The editors of <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> have identified nine projects that are anticipated to significantly impact the global or regional downstream industries. The winners and nominees of the HP Top Project awards will have a considerable impact on the HPI, whether through CAPEX, satisfying domestic or regional demand, diversifying product offerings, or adding to the resurgence in refining and/or petrochemical processing capacity.

Construction

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Total plans to take a final investment decision (FID) on the Nigeria LNG expansion project by the end of this year. If greenlighted, the 7-MMtpy LNG train would increase the Bonny Island LNG terminal’s capacity to nearly 30 MMtpy. If built, Train 7 is expected to be operational by 2023.

Use submerged combustion systems to efficiently destroy hazardous plant waste

Selas-Linde North America: Predatsch, E.  |  Armstrong, P.

In the production of clean fuels, plastics and other hydrocarbon-based products, refineries and petrochemical facilities generate unwanted (waste) byproducts. Having no market value, the undesired byproducts must be recycled, minimized or eliminated. Depending on the feedstocks, end products and reactant materials, the unwanted materials can be gases, liquids or multiphase materials.

Diversifying the future: Incentives for worldwide adoption of renewable fuels and chemicals—Part 2

Bio-based, renewable fuels and chemicals can reduce the environmental footprint of maintaining global transportation and product demands, while also offering supplementation of traditional fossil fuels in a global environment with increasing energy demand. The renewable energy sector is large and growing rapidly.

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.

Business Trends: One downstream—Strategic imperatives for the evolving refining and chemical sectors

Deloitte Services: Dickson, D.  |  Slaughter, A.
Deloitte Services LP: Mittal, A.

Downstream executives will remember the present decade as a golden age for the industry, driven by low feedstock prices and healthy end-use demand.

Diversifying the future: Incentives for worldwide adoption of renewable fuels and chemicals—Part 1

Bio-based, renewable fuels and chemicals can reduce the environmental footprint of maintaining global transportation and product demands, while also supplementing traditional fossil fuels in a global environment with increasing energy demand.