May 2006

Use these guidelines to avoid problems with both static charges and circulating currents

The approach saved $2 million per year at one site

Operating experience has been good in several installations

Use this method to identify, prioritize and quantify inefficiencies

A computer program simplifies methods of true boiling point curves in design applications

How Web-based software applies to process safety management

Questionable practices may jeopardize plant performance

A European refiner applies new processing technology to convert highly refractory vacuum resid into quality distillates

Here's the procedure this plant used to reduce fuel consumption and emissions

A recent pump reliability improvement issue might serve as a model for tackling sealing issues in modern refineries. This one concerns crude vacuum bottoms pumps and explains a North American refinery..

As most individuals involved with automation/ safety systems, I have a few questions: Who is TÜV? What does this name mean? Why is TÜV mostly associated with functional safety certificates f..

Keeping plants safe requires huge investments in safety instrumented systems (SISs) while balancing the high cost of regulatory compliance. Because of the uniqueness of plant equipment, processes and ..

In the case of the little campaign group versus the parties to the world's biggest hydrocarbon deal, it seems as if the positions are irreconcilable. The UK Court of Appeal disagrees. Last week, as I ..

 Fig. 1     Total nitrogen/ phosphorus analyzer is claimed to be easy to handle and simple to maintain. Total nitrogen, ..

Transmitters for intrinsic safety environments CorrTran corrosion-detection transmitters are now available for intrinsically safe (IS) application. Isolation barriers work in concert with CorrTran to ..

Emerson Process Management is the main automation contractor (MAC) for the Altamira LNG Regasification Terminal, under construction near Tampico, Mexico. Emerson will provide automation systems and se..

Yara Sluiskil B.V. is replacing a gas turbine at its fertilizer plant in Sluiskil, The Netherlands, with an MS5002E (Frame 5-2E) gas turbine from GE's Oil & Gas business. Operating in a cogeneration m..

Carbon Projektentwicklung GmbH, Austria, is commissioning Uhde to design and construct a turnkey tail gas treatment unit for Abu Qir Fertilizer Co. in Egypt. The contract includes the plant license, e..

Foster Wheeler Ltd. Global Power Group subsidiaries have a contract with a unit of the China National Petrochemical Corp. (SINOPEC) to supply two 75 MW circulating fluidized-bed boilers. The boilers w..

Gas detecting and monitoring equipment A new 74-page catalog, Gas Detecting and Monitoring Equipment, Vol. 5, from Industrial Scientific Corp., features the company's full line of portable a..

Earnings across the basic chemicals and plastics industry generally will be on the upside in 2006, although certain segments have already retracted from up-cycle peaks, according to an annual outlook ..

Worldwide investment in refining will increase significantly in the next decade. Historically, capital spending in the US refining industry was generally in the $3 billion to $4 billion/yr range betwe..

Bunker fuel traders in the region affected by the world's first Sulfur Oxide Emission Control Area (SECA) – that is, Europe's North Sea – are concerned that fuel supplies are inadequate ahea..

Despite hundreds of millions being spent by HPI plant owners to "harden" their sites over the last several years, the expenditures are mostly limited to the largest producers and not always the most v..

Partly as a result of robust demand for oil and other forms of energy, process and power owner/ operators and EPC firms are projected to step up their investments in IT solutions that enable the quick..

WENDY WEIRAUCH, Managing Editor       Comments? Write: WW@HydrocarbonProcessing.com   ..