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

June 1998

Archive

Environmental Management

Gasoline, the environment and economics
Neste MTBE: Rahkamo, K.
American Clean Fuels Company LLC: Rose, G.  |  Sood, J.

Will the refining industry continue to solve complicated regulatory, technological and financial challenges?

Heat Transfer

Revamp fired heaters to increase capacity
Furnace Improvements Services Inc.: Garg, A.

Use these guidelines to ensure a successful project

Instrumentation

Optimization and operational excellence
GLF/Technology Consulting: Funk, G. L

Applying operational excellence and optimization to control in the process industries will continue to provide significant economic benefits to business. However, optimization and operational excellen..

Online soft analyzers benefit refining
PrimusTech: Keaton, M.  |  Keenan, J.  |  Keenan, M.

Typical payouts are one to three months

Loss Prevention/Environment

Minimize wastewater contamination
Amoco Corporation: Helm, L.
Mustang Engineering Inc.: Spencer, C.
DUBRAE Consultancy B.V.: van den Dungen, R. T.

Source reduction techniques dramatically reduce hydrocarbons lost to sewer system

Process Control

Online optimization: What have we learned?
Emerson Process Management: White, D. C.

Discover the characteristics of long-term successful projects and how to help ensure a system's profitability

Process Technology

Improve DMT production
GTC Technology US, LLC: Braggiato, C.  |  Gualy, R.

New processing techniques reduce raw material consumption for this polyester precursor

Process Technology and Control

Successful closed-loop olefins plant optimization
BP Chemicals Ltd.: Brewer, W. M.  |  Lopez, S. F.

Most of the important factors do not involve optimizer mechanics

Columns

HP Control: Optimize the $19-billion CIMfuels profit split
Clifftent Inc.: Latour, P. R.

In the July 1997 "H P In Control" column, I raised the question, "Does the HPI do its CIM business right?" That was followed with a letter to the editor in Jan. '98 on "Decision-making and modeling in..

HP Reliability: Insulation systems affect electric motor service life
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Last month, we looked at realistic criteria to determine true value when purchasing an "high-efficiency" electric motor. High-efficiency motors must meet the following criteria to comply with the DOE ..

HPInternet: Refining secrets revealed: Sector Facility Indexing Project
Competitive Analysis Technologies: Crowley, B.

In my day job, I search the Internet for information on companies in the oil, gas and chemical industries. Recently, I came across another good U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Office of Enforcem..

HPIn SHE: Get involved
ility Engineering: Whetton, Chris

Politicians and government workers and are notoriously out of touch with industry needs. Especially government workers; at least politicians have to have some feeling for their constituents' needs. On..

HPIn Processing: Deal-making heats up in 1998
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nakamura, D. N.

After a busy first half of 1997, transactions in the refining sector seemed to slow somewhat – virtually no deals were made after my June 1997 column on refining consolidation. This proved to be ..

HPIn Competitiveness: Core areas of availability-based business simulation
Cost Control Systems, LLC: Lamb, R. G.

The May column introduced availability-based business performance simulation as the critical first step to reliability and maintenance improvement programs. This computer-based software is vital becau..

HP Innovations: HPInnovations

Fast spectrometer detects solvents What is claimed to be the world's fastest simultaneous inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) has been developed by Varian Analytical I..

HPInformer: HPInformer, North America edition
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Stephens, F. P.

Aspen Technology, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, a leading provider of Smart Manufacturing software and services for the process industries, and Intergraph Corp., a leader in software for detailed pl..

HPInformer: HPInformer, International edition
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Stephens, F. P.

Amcec, Inc., Lisle, Illinois has formed an exclusive world-wide license agreement with Texaco Development Corp. to market Texaco patented closed-loop nitrogen stripping and adsorption processes. Ma..

New Developments: NEW Developments

Bearings resist heat and wear Made from a new and patented material, WearComp bushings and bearings are being used to extend drill time in the well and maintain production equilibrium in downstream..

HP Construction: HPIn Construction
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Roberson, M.

QNP awards Krupp Uhde ammonium nitrate contract The Queensland Nitrates Pty. Limited (QNP) – the main shareholders of which are Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific Limited and Wesfarmers CSBP Limited in N..

Free Literature: FREE literature

Valve sizing program Groth Corp. has released the third version of its API pressure/ vacuum relief valve program on a floppy disk format for Windows. The enhanced update has been renamed GROTH CAL-..

HP In Brief: HPIn Brief
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

China's rapid economic growth has outpaced its ability to produce sufficient quantities of basic petrochemicals and derivatives. This despite its efforts in developing its HPI, says a new study from S..

HP Impact: HPImpact: European study examines gasoline vs. diesel particulate emissions
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Under the EC Air Quality Framework Directive, Daughter Directives are being prepared for several pollutants. The limit under discussion will apply to PM10 (particulate with an aerodynamic diameter les..

HP Impact: HPImpact: IPAA forecasts U.S. energy trends to 2010
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) has updated its forecast of U.S. industry trends from 1997 to 2010. A summary of some of its recent conclusions: Total U.S. natural gas de..

HP Impact: HPImpact: Management can take steps to ensure HPI's future is robust, says study
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Many energy companies have recently focused on sustaining competitiveness through improving operational effectiveness and cutting costs. According to a study by Arthur D. Little, in this process, "sen..

HP Impact: HPImpact: Responsible Care can add value to business
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

The Product Stewardship Code under the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) Responsible Care commits member companies to incorporate health, safety and environmental (HSE) protection into all stag..

HP Impact: HPImpact: Project automation gains new markets
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Approaching the 21st century, the role of engineering contractors is "changing dramatically," according to data from Automation Research Corp. (ARC). Rather than just competing on price and specializi..

HP Impact: HPImpact: Insulation seen as a 'solution' technology
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

With so much attention focused on utilizing energy efficiency technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, "the timing is right to begin promoting insulation as a technology," says William Piton, executive v..

HP Impact: HPImpact: PP to average growth of 7%/yr globally
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

Polypropylene (PP) resins represent the fastest-growing commodity thermoplastic resin in the world and are now surpassed only by polyethylenes and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in total volume of productio..

HP Impact: HPImpact: Miscellany of note from HPI newsfronts
Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Weirauch, Wendy

In a tight labor market, information technology (IT) is overwhelmingly cited as "increasing productivity," according to a survey of human resources executives by Ernst & Young. "Clearly technolog..

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the editor

Boiler circulation calculations We would like to add some remarks to the article, "Boiler circulation calculations," January 1998, p. 101, by V. Ganapathy. On page 104 of the article, Mr. Gana..

Misc

Inventing our future through process optimization

At Hydrocarbon Processing's Second Optimization Conference, M. W. Kellogg's Dr. Eric Moorehead discussed process optimization. While his remarks highlighted where we've been, he focused – more ..