April 2001

Here's how to accurately assess opportunities in technology projects

This approach, implemented at U.S. Oil & Refining Co.'s Tacoma Port refinery, safeguards plant integrity and applies the latest measures to prevent leakage of confidential data

For an average-sized refinery, these improvements should deliver an economic benefit of $25 million/year

Case study of a project in India demonstrates how a planning structure was applied to complete the job on a fast track

Follow these guidelines to reduce problems

A screening analysis helps in understanding the cause

Several recently developed techniques make the task easier

Neural network technology increased light oil product recovery

Flooding problems severely limited operations for toluene recovery column. A revamp with high-capacity tray and other modifications improved operations and increased throughput

Misapplication of chimney trays can hinder tower operations; six examples detail how to diagnose and debottleneck such trays

Discover special tools that help to deliver valuable results in informational environments

The Fieldbus Foundation (Austin, Texas) held its General Assembly and Worldwide End-User Council Meetings on March 6 and 7 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Nearly 100 attendees s..

As if we didn't know, lubricant contamination will reduce bearing life. However, a thorough understanding of the contamination / bearing life relationship is essential if improvements a..

I was talking to an engineer from a major petrochemical company today about implementing the new safety standards. The discussion covered ISA 84.01 and the new IEC61511. Both are perfor..

Technology is a wonderful medium; it can push forward advancements. Equally important, it can also generate bewilderment and initiate chaos. Overzealous organizations rushed to be playe..

Industry has developed several semi-quantitative measures of the corrosive tendency of water. Corrosivity is the tendency to sustain anodic or cathodic chemical reactions. System design..

The BFGoodrich Co. as acquired Air Science Engineering, Inc., a leading supplier of compressed air-auditing services and systems products. Air Science will augment Goodrich's current compressed air-pr..

Aspen Technology, Inc., and Optimum Logistics, one of the first Internet-based open logistics systems for bulk materials have formed a joint marketing and technology alliance to develop Internet-based..

Degussa-Huls / Krupp Uhde to cooperate in propylene oxide The two German companies Degussa-Huls AG and Krupp Uhde GmbH have concluded an exclusive agreement for cooperating in the devel..

U.S. energy policy must develop 'a continental perspective,' says Daniel Yergin of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Many of the pressing issues for gas and power are not limited to the U.S., so d..

"Chemical prices are softening, even as feedstock costs remain high," says Fred Peterson of Probe Economics (www.probeeconomics.com). In a recent assessment, he notes that it is too early in the indus..

Key findings from a new multiclient study from Transmar Consult Inc. highlight what strategic issues and new trends are shaping the downstream engineering and construction contractor (ECC) industry. T..

Actions taken thus far by California officials to remedy the state's energy crisis not only fail to address its underlying shortage problem, but in some cases are making matters worse. So says Lawrenc..

HPI engineers and designers must use a collection of software (in-house, commercial and/or academic) to do computer-aided process engineering (CAPE) because the market for process simulation has been ..

As of 2000, metallocene catalysts have captured nearly 7% of the world's total LLDPE market. Consumption is expected to further increase at more than 25%/yr over the next 5 yr. So says a recent market..

Fifteen major refiners and engineering service companies have launched an industry-wide study to determine causes and solutions to refinery sour water corrosion. Sour water is ammonium bisulfide, a co..

In 2001, governments and industry will buy products and services costing more than $23 billion to remediate soil and groundwater. Over $2 billion will be invested in systems such as pump and treat and..

Optimize gas turbine driven centrifugal compressors I read with interest the article "Optimize gas turbine driven centrifugal compressors," as published in the November 2000 issue of Hydrocarbon Proce..

Bill Crowley, Contributing Editor       Comments? Write: editorial@HydrocarbonProcessing.com This month we are m..

Lowered NOx, SOx and PM mandates and how to comply with them are global hot topics. At the recent National Petrochemical and Refiners Assoc. Annual Meeting (New Orleans, March 18 – 20), presenter..