December 2001
Special Report: Plant Utilities
These three categories of service can help you evaluate your chemical-treatment suppliers’ performance
With a better understanding of temperature profiles, plant engineers can increase steam production and minimize losses
Atomic, molar and energy-based models can improve refinery operation
Computer Technology
Use these guidelines for better results
E-Business
For technology to be valuable to HPI players, it must give them the tools to make and execute the right decisions, rather than provide a faster means of making the wrong ones
Engineering Case Histories
It’s important to keep operating loads less than the bolt preload
Instrumentation/Control
Unique combination of the two technologies provided good results on reformer octane
Columns
Until recently, finding a suitable pump was difficult for plants pumping viscous fluids or fluids that undergo viscosity change. Here, using conventional centrifugal pumps may lead to poor performance..
It is clear that field equipment manufacturers are focusing development and marketing energy on the safety instrumented systems (SIS) market. The number of new product certification announcements in t..
Condensed steam, i.e., condensate, is valued for its heat contentand purity. To minimize operating costs, condensate should berecycled back to the boiler feedwater system. Equally important, itshould ..
Flow and level measurementTecfluid's product catalog includes plastic, glass and metal tubeflowmeters and constant flow regulators; mag, target, turbine andorifice plate flowmeters; flow switches; mic..
Trends and Resources
Conoco Inc. has selected Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. as itsalliance contractor. Jacobs will perform supplemental maintenance,turnarounds and small capital construction projects at four U.S.refinerie..
        Vertical-welded ball valvesIKS A-1 forged steel welded ball valves' unique features include asim..
CMS to expand LNG terminalCMS Trunkline LNG Co., a subsidiary of CMS Energy Corp., isexpanding its Lake Charles, Louisiana, liquefied natural gas (LNG)facility. The terminal's send out capacity will b..
Taiwan's government has opened the door for Taiwanese companies to develop large-scale chemical projects in mainland China. Under the previous regulation, companies were limited to investment spending..
The initial gas-to-liquids (GTL) complexes implemented in the 1980sand early 1990s were not commercially successful for a number ofreasons - the main one was that they were far too expensive (Table1)...
The long-term relationship between owners and the contractors thathelp serve their technical needs has been buffeted in recent years.Addressing this topic at Rice University's Global CompetitivenessFo..
Co-production of electricity and steam are not new ideas, but theirpopularity in the U.S. is growing. Recent estimates have chemicalcompanies responsible for nearly one-third or 17,000 megawatts (MW)o..
The European Commission is expected to propose two new directivesto ensure that biofuels make an important contribution to the totalautomotive fuel consumption in the region. This impendingannouncemen..
Lee R. Raymond, chairman of the board and chief executive officerof ExxonMobil Corp., Irving, Texas, has been elected to a one-yearterm as chairman of the board of the American Petroleum Institute(API..
Misc
Industrial users are a driving force in demanding standards andopenness. Competition is forcing business to find ways to improveproductivity. A result is that businesses are calling forstandards, open..
Now here is a database for all you downstream folks to bookmark anduse frequently! The Advanced Petroleum-Based Fuels Program's FuelProperty Database(http://www.ott.doe.gov/fuelprops) is a gift f..
Across industries and project types, there often can be a familiarpattern in project performance and management behaviors: Projectteams focus on schedule and budget because these are directlymeasurabl..
The recent uptake for gas-to-liquid (GTL) projects is boiling up.Primary drivers for GTL announcements are fuel issues, environmentand, most important, money. So, why all the interest intechnologies t..
Here are ways to improve heat transfer for ACHEs
"Toward better reliability management" (Oct., p. 13) states that:"The plants with the highest maintenance outlays are also the leastreliable (Fig. 1). Exploring the reasons will have to be postponedun..
It is clear that field equipment manufacturers are focusingdevelopment and marketing energy on the safety instrumented systems(SIS) market. The number of new product certification announcementsin the ..
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