November 2006

This basic knowledge can help mitigate potential hazards and improve regulatory compliance issues

Using these devices can improve facility safety and the bottom line

Automated testing and monitoring increase safety and lower costs

Here are the trade-offs between safety and cost-of-ownership

Simple procedure can be used to help determine piping and equipment design pressures into process loops

For plant owners and operators, the right words and actions can make a meaningful difference

Use these preventive steps to improve operations and reliability of process water treatment units

Better selection of resins and operating practice improve operation of this water treatment method

Innovative methods meet challenges to pretreat and dispose of process wastewater properly

Normalizing plant data reveals true condition of membrane systems

Our memories are not always adequate

C. F. Picou Associates, Inc. (CFPA), an affiliate of Maverick Technologies, was founded in 1974 by Dr. Courtney Picou. Originally aiming to provide process engineering consulting to the refining indus..

Globalization in many areas of business and commerce is providing numerous opportunities for expanded trade links across the world. Expansion of the infrastructure along the full length of the liquefi..

On February 7, 1904, one of the worst fires in US history consumed almost 2,500 buildings in an 80-block area in Baltimore, Maryland. That conflagration raised national attention for standardizing fir..

The most critical asset for reliable boiler operation is the deaerator. Most plants do not routinely monitor or inspect these units because there are few early warning indications of poor performance...

Have you ever boarded a plane, looked into the cockpit at all the displays, lights and switches and wondered what training the pilots have completed and how they would cope with all that information i..

When Sir Richard Branson, the UK billionaire businessman, first said he wanted to build oil refineries, a friend of mine – a well-known consultant – got on the phone to Virgin Group headquar..

Process incorporates renewables as part of refining operations PETROBRAS has developed a new technology to produce diesel oil. The H-BIO process uses vegetable oils as feedstocks to refine transportat..

System monitors H2Sand water vapor The WaSul system is claimed to continuously and automatically monitor hydrogen-sulfide (H2S) or water-vapor concentration. It can monitor each separately or both sim..

Foster Wheeler USA Corp. has a reimbursable engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Sinclair Oil Corp. The agreement is for a 30,000-bpsd delayed coker, gas plant and coke-handli..

Linde has an order from Petrom S.A. for the lump-sum turnkey installation of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) recovery plant in Constanta, Romania. The contract is worth more than €70 million. The..

ABB has a contract worth more than $210 million from Sonatrach to expand existing compressor and power systems. The project was agreed to by ABB and a joint venture company operated by ABB's Italian s..

Solvay has an agreement with Zhejiang Lantian Environmental Protection Hi-Tech Co. Ltd. to create a joint venture that will produce and supply hydrogen fluoride, an essential building block for many h..

Flow control products for alternative fuel processes A new brochure from Metso Automation outlines its proven JAMESBURY and Neles brand valves, sealing and automation technologies. With growing accept..

   US winter fuels, LNG outlook A recent forecast from the US Department of Energy (DOE) projects th..

Economists with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and The George Washington University have reviewed the relationship between the Henry Hub natural gas price and the West Texas Intermediate ..

The world has experienced high oil prices for a relatively brief period. "Therefore, it is premature to claim that the type of record prices seen earlier this summer will not ultimately lead to demand..

While US petroleum companies declined from 1995–2003, they also aged. The average age in the industry is 49 yr. With the emerging seller's market and rising hydrocarbon prices, the nation's emplo..

The world market for water and wastewater treatment chemicals in the power sector will rise from $3.4 billion in 2006 to $4 billion in 2010, says a new report by the McIlvaine Company (www.mcilvaineco..

Demand drivers for terephthalic acid (TPA) continue to be region-specific, according to CMAI. Absolute demand growth in Asia is dominated by polyester fiber, which dwarfs the market size of PET resin ..

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) plans to acquire 100% of the shares of Huntsman Petrochemicals (UK) Ltd. (Huntsman's European base chemicals and polymers business) for $700 million in cash. After..

Because intangible assets are increasingly important components of the knowledge economy, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is interested in expanding the available data for analysts to understand..

APC survey I hope HP readers found useful the dialog in the October 2006 "Letters to the Editor"1 among three experienced Purdue University process control chemical engineers, Dr. Y. Zak Friedman, Dr..

HEINZ P. BLOCH, Reliability/ Equipment Editor       Comments? Write: HB@HydrocarbonProcessing.com In 2000, the New Jersey-based Hydraulic Institute issued..