July 2006

Relief events require better planning to ensure safe plant operation

Purchasing with a better understanding of dehydrator operations can reduce costs for capital investment, operation and maintenance

New dynamics within the gas industry will accelerate its ability to eclipse oil as the premier fuel of the world economy

Improvements for purification and CO conversion increase reliability of syngas process

This basic knowledge can help mitigate potential hazards

In addition to the type, consider the installation, maintenance and wasted energy costs during its operating life

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each type and how to calculate their surface areas and efficiencies

Use these guidelines to troubleshoot and correct cooling problems

Here's a straightforward technique that enables plant personnel to compare the two data-gathering methods and address variances

Some statistics are misleading and some are highly accurate. Here are a few that you may want to ponder. Pump statistics for 2004. For 2004, the US Census Bureau reported 8,535,920 centrifugal pumps s..

Many engineers remember the original ISA S84.01 safety standard of 1996, which stated, "As new technology evolves and becomes available (e.g., ISA SP50 Fieldbus), it will be addressed in future versio..

Over 30 years ago, the first distributed control system (DCS) technology appeared in commercial operations. These early (first-generation) DCSs brought about some fundamental changes to move from anal..

Over the past three weeks, after attending two conferences, I feel that I've crossed a threshold of understanding – as Europeans did in 1938 or early 1939. After a decade of warnings, they realiz..

Handheld near infrared digital transform spectrometer Polychromix, Inc., has a new handheld near infrared digital transform spectrometer (DTS) analyzer. The Phazir is claimed to be the first data anal..

Transmitters convert machine vibration to 4-20ma signal The ST5484E two-wire vibration transmitter can be wired directly to your PLC or DCS. It is said to be all that is required for early warning of ..

Motiva Enterprises LLC is expanding refining capacity in the US. The company has completed initial project scoping and process design for the potential expansion. Results indicate that a 325,000-bpd c..

BASF is doubling production capacity for the engineering plastic Ultrason at its Ludwigshafen site. The expansion to 12,000 metric tpy is scheduled for completions late 2007. In addition, the company ..

ABB Lummus Global has a contract with Abu Dhabi Polymers Co., Ltd. (Borouge) for the front-end engineering design (FEED) of an olefins conversion unit to be located at its petrochemical complex in Ruw..

APS Engineering Co. has a contract to execute basic engineering design and project management consultancy in implementing a grass roots refinery. The design capacity is 175,000 bpsd to be built at the..

Toray BASF PBT Resin Sdn. Bhd., a 50-50 joint venture between BASF and Toray Industries Inc., successfully started commercial production at its newly built polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) plant at BA..

Comprehensive rotary seal design information Parker Engineered Polymer Systems (EPS) division has published a 434-page comprehensive Rotary Seal Design Guide (Catalog EPS 5350/USA). The publ..

  LNG prospects brighten Despite "operating problems and teething startups," short- and long-term global..

Natural gas is a hydrocarbon mixture primarily composed of methane with lesser amounts of other paraffin hydrocarbons, including ethane, propane and butanes. The value of natural gas lies in the combu..

Escalating construction costs throughout the LNG supply chain are threatening to crimp what has been a robust industry growth rate. "Sky-high costs have prompted a reassessment of project timelines an..

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) conducted an intensive, Congressionally mandated investigation into whether gasoline prices nationwide were manipulated or if price gouging was practiced in the a..

Energy executives are becoming increasingly concerned over the volatility of oil and gas commodity prices and declining reserves and say their firms will significantly boost upstream capital spending ..

Rejecting a call by host Venezuela for a cut in oil production, OPEC decided in its June meeting to maintain current production levels. In announcing the decision, OPEC members said that the world oil..

Process control Dr. Latour's article, "Demise and keys to the rise of process control" (HP, March 2006), is excellent. However, it does me (and readers) a minor disservice when it cites my article, "..