Sulfur
Refinery residue and bitumen upgrading: Gasification
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
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
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
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.
Are produced water emissions factors accurate?
Rules of thumb are often required to estimate hydrocarbon emissions from produced water storage tanks due to a lack of sampling or inadequacies of sample analysis—the “1% rule” being the most common.
Hydrocarbon Processing Awards
<i>Hydrocarbon Processing,</i> the downstream processing sector’s leading technical publication, has announced the finalists for its third annual awards.

- Syensqo signs new multi-year Solef® PVDF contracts for battery materials 5/15
- Topsoe’s technology chosen by Zhongneng Yida for 400,000-tpy SAF plant in China 5/15
- Phillips 66 announces agreement to divest majority interest in Germany and Austria retail marketing business 5/15
- Carbon Clean announces successful test of CycloneCC C1 technology at commercial scale 5/15
- Asia's refined fuel imports drop, but margins still hold 5/15
- SP Chemicals plans to raise ethane use at eastern China petchem plant 5/15