March 2002

A new anticoke technology sustains a noncatalytic layer on cracking tubes that reduces coking

Using this process can improve energy consumption and costs

This heat-pump system can reduce energy consumption for various product separations

Retrofitting an existing plant can provide a cost-effective way to meet incremental demand for hydrogen

Combining the Analytic Hierarchy Process and decision tree analysis provides an effective means for controlling a complex project

Failure analysis was used to predict replacement times, saving millions of dollars per year

Combining a high-level expert system with the DCS increased productivity and reduced losses

Use these guidelines to diagnose mechanical and electrical problems

The ARC Advisory Group (Dedham, Massachusetts) held itsManufacturing Strategies Forum, February 11 and 12 in Orlando,Florida. This was an excellent meeting to learn about high-levelprocess and busines..

In virtually every modern process plant, we will find operating,maintenance and reliability / technical job functions. The mostprofitable of these facilities have managed to train theirpersonnel. Also..

The government is often viewed as an adversary to our efforts, butthis is not always the case. Here is an example of a great sitefull of information about the hydrocarbon processing industry fromthe U..

The terrorist attacks' wake has spilled across many economicsectors, severely damaging industries from airlines to retailing.The greatest threat facing the hydrocarbon processing industries'(HPI) futu..

Many plants with highly decentralized operating units often useseveral closed-loop cooling systems to serve process systems.Traditionally, the utilities department may also haveresponsibility for smal..

As the safety lifecycle (SLC) methods of ISA84.01 and IEC61508 arebecoming more widespread, engineers who design safety instrumentedsystems (SISs) are starting to think more about the valves theyuse. ..

Data management solution investments by the process and powerindustries will grow far more rapidly than the data managementmarket as a whole, according to a new study by Daratech, Inc., aCambridge, Ma..

"We should not mistake the calm in today's natural gas prices asanything more than the low side of our normal business cycle,"advises R. Skip Horvath, president of the U.S. Natural Gas SupplyAssociati..

ABB retrofitting plant in PolandABB has a $165 million olefins plant revamp contract with PKN ORLENS.A., Plock, Poland. The retrofit is designed to increase ethyleneproduction from 360,000 metric tpy ..

Polypropylene (PP) growth rate was 6%/yr until 2000; futuregrowth is expected to slow only slightly. PP's diversity in enduses has helped sustain its growth through 2001-a very slowindustrial spending..

With the significant capacity overhang prevalent today,petrochemicals producers will need to closely monitor comparativeinternational oil and domestic natural gas values. So says a recentCMAI market a..

A database from Industrial Information Resources, Inc. (IIR) hasidentified over 44 major maintenance turnarounds representing over$250 million in expenditures. These are scheduled to take place atU.S...

A loan package comprising $1.8-billion equivalent in debt financinghas been provided to the Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical CompanyLimited (SECCO). This is the largest debt financing that a Chineseenterp..

John A. Manzoni, Chief Executive Gas, Power&Renewables for BPspoke at the CERAWEEK Conference, Houston, Feb. 13, 2002. He sharedhis perspective on what he believes is an emerging global gaseconomy. Hi..

"Petroleum refining is a series of separation steps," explains theOffice of Industrial Technology's petroleum team leader Jim Quinn."Energy can be saved in many of those steps." Each of five recentR&D..

Is zero pollution an objective that can be reached in five yearsusing available technologies? Yes, say the automakers and engineR&D centers meeting at an international conference on newcombustion proc..

Demand for water management chemicals in the U.S. is forecast toincrease 5%/yr to $4.3 billion in 2005. Volume growth will average1.6%, to 15.8 billion pounds. In most major product types and innearly..

I really enjoyed Heinz Bloch's article, "Looking for RCFAdatabases" (Jan. 2002). He touched on several very importantpoints. I think one problem with the article may relate toterminology usage. Mean t..

Leaders of the global automotive industry often refer to fuel-cellvehicles as the "Holy Grail" of propulsion technology. Thepetrochemical industry's quest is finding a hydrogen-carrier fuelto fill thi..

By exchanging process streams, neighboring HPI facilities can increase yields without new unit construction