August 2006

They reliably meet or exceed demanding accuracy standards

Here's a summary of the approach used by competent machinery engineers

Optimize plant performance by improving compressor efficiency, availability and protection

Here are the considerations for applying nonlubricated, high-performance types

Use these coefficients to determine safe throttling positions

Economic value can be obtained by involving heat exchanger and tower internal experts in the initial design development

Strategic location of the preflash drum not only resolves network problems, but, in some cases, reduces operating costs

This US regulatory act governing accounting policies also applies to process design and operations

I have written several articles and editorials warning about the failure rate of advanced process control (APC) applications. See for example my January 2006 editorial,1 which also references related ..

IEEE 841-2001 is a self-certification standard for electric motors used in the petrochemical and chemical industries. It's worth knowing a bit more about it when considering the mechanical aspects of ..

The potential value of process simulation is generally underestimated. However, the fraction of the potential that can be realized is generally overestimated. The result is a poorly understood gap bet..

Now that there are large quantities of sulfur-free diesel on the European market, how much sense does it make that Sweden continues to insist on its own gold-plated environmental distillate quality wi..

There are numerous reference books describing the science of influent clarification – neutralization of the surface charge on suspended solids, followed by agglomeration and settling of particles..

Wireless technology delivers onsite heat-treating solution Traditional heat-treating (HT) methodology has varied little in 40-plus years. The tried-and-true stress-relief process utilizing thermocoupl..

Oil conditioning system assures operational efficiency New KA-XP series turbine oil conditioning systems are said to be tailored to the specific needs of refineries and petrochemical plants. Each syst..

Lyondell Chemical Co. is executing a company-wide agreement with TiPS Inc. to license TiPS LogMate AMS alarm management software. The computer program is claimed to be a full-featured alarm management..

Petroquímica União S. A. (PQU) has selected GE steam turbine-driven compressor trains to expand an ethylene production plant in São Paulo state, Brazil. PQU produces 500,000 tpy of ethy..

UOP LLC has a contract with Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN SA (PKN), to supply technology, basic engineering services and equipment for an aromatics project to be installed at PKN's Plock refinery in Po..

Caloric is designing and fabricating two incineration units for a chemical industries company in Saudi Arabia. The incinerators are part of a chemical complex producing epichlorhydrin, caustic alkali ..

Davy Process Technology Ltd., in cooperation with Union Carbide Corp., is licensing technology converting heptene to 1-octanol to Sasol Chemical Industries Ltd. The process uses low-pressure hydroform..

GE Oil & Gas is supplying compression technology to Reliance Petroleum Ltd. (RPL) for a project in Jamnagar, India, that will result in what is claimed to be the world's largest refinery complex at a ..

Equipment construction and specialized maintenance Chemical, power and paper industry equipment and apparatus constitute Mezap Ltd. Equipment Construction and Specialized Maintenance Co.'s main produc..

  Short-term price, demand outlooks Crude futures rallied above $77/bbl in mid-July, driven by strong gas..

Under a backdrop of declining conventional supplies and increasing North American gas demand, a new report summarizes supply options for the northeastern US and Canada. Consumption – which is dri..

Deciding where to build major new petrochemical facilities can be tough. In the past, sites were often chosen merely on the basis of technical merit and capital cost. But some locations have had unfor..

Atul Chandra, president of Reliance Industries Ltd., International Operations, presented his insights on the challenges confronting India's people and infrastructure. Speaking at an India Energy Confe..

As part of its continuing drive to find longer term commercial alternatives to oil and gas, BP recently announced significant investments for research aimed at probing the emerging secrets of bioscien..

Department of Energy regulations for sulfur content in diesel fuel were lowered from 5,000 parts per million (ppm) to 500 ppm in 2003. This was to prevent harmful emissions from engines. New regulatio..

Demand for refinery chemicals is projected to increase 5.6%/yr to $3.6 billion in 2010. Continued expansion of the US economy is driving demand for refined petroleum products, particularly gasoline an..

The US House of Representatives is debating the "Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Act of 2006." This bill would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to regulate the security of..

The world market for pumps will grow from $30 billion this year to $49 billion/yr by 2016. This latest forecast from the McIlvaine Company (www.mcilvainecompany.com). The outlook estimates that world ..

Sealing systems I read your "HPIn Reliability" column on "Tackling seal problems" (HP, May 2006) with great interest. Some of the points mentioned in your article are very helpful in understanding ce..