December 2008

Costs can be reduced due to 75% fewer field trips as well as 50% fewer fit-up welds and field changes

Use construction knowledge, experience and efficiency in a structured and systematic way throughout the design and execution planning stages

Practice the four basic elements to ensure a successful outcome

This major company identified cost-effective and practical water minimization and regeneration opportunities for a petrochemical facility

Improved membrane filtration designs and equipment are revolutionizing utility systems

New closed-loop cooling method improves process cooling tower operations

Ultrafiltration pretreatment before reverse osmosis systems can provide economical solutions in water conservation programs

Here are the field performance assessments and remedial measures

Accurately predict critical velocity

Here are guidelines to improve the decision-making process

Clifftent optimizes risky tradeoffs at limits

How often would you bias an inferential model? Given the propensity of instruments to go off calibration, "never" is not a valid answer. "Every day upon receiving lab information" is an equally bad an..

       Positive-displacement blowers (Fig. 1) are often used to move air ranging in pressures from slightly negative to about 15 psig (~ 1 bar) positive. These rotary-lobe machines..

 Liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects are capital intensive! They have a very long period for capital expenditures, which include design, procurement and construction phases, before generating an..

Part 1 of this column discussed the host interoperability testing program and the need for a host registration program. This part discusses other developments. Field diagnostics conform to NAMUR NE-1..

It looks like the new year that will soon be upon us will see a welcome sedative for policymakers and planners of the refining industry and wider economy. The year 2008, with its record energy price..

Women's Global Leadership Conference The 2008 edition of the Women's Global Leadership Conference took place in mid-November in Houston, Texas. Ove..

High-speed refinery gas analyzers The new PerkinElmer-Arnel Model 1117 high-speed refinery gas analyzer, based on the PerkinElmer Clarus 600 gas chromatograph, incorporates proprietary column technolo..

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is providing engineering, procurement and construction services for Flint Hills Resources' new diesel desulfurization unit in Corpus Christi, Texas. The estimate for th..

The Shaw Group Inc.'s Energy & Chemicals Group has contracts with Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) to provide its proprietary ethylene technology, including its conversion furnace equipment, basic..

Aker Solutions has a five-year framework contract with Deutsche BP AG for the provision of engineering and construction management services at the Erdöl-Raffinerie Emsland (BP-Lingen) production ..

Oil Refineries Ltd. plans to establish a hydrocracking unit at its refinery in Haifa, Israel, for a total investment of $670 million. The unit's primary products will be diesel oil and kerosene (jet..

Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd. and Foster Wheeler International Engineering & Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., along with consortium partner Wuhuan Engineering Co., have been awarded contracts by Sasol S..

Foster Wheeler Italiana S.p.A. has a contract with Zwara Oil Refinery Co. Ltd. (ZORCO) for consultancy and project management services for a planned new 200,000-bpd crude oil refinery near Zwara, Li..

  Energy-efficient gearmotors Baldor Electric Co. has published a 32-page catalog focused on the Baldor/Dodge QUANTIS Gold, a new C-face energy-efficient gearmotor. The product combines..

Quick look: IEA forecasts Oil demand forecasts for 2008 and 2009 were trimmed by 240 thousand barrels/day (Mbpd) and 440 Mbpd, respectively, given ..

From the Western perspective, methanol (MeOH) is an important petrochemical and is used in manufacturing many vital intermediate and finished goods, according to Mark Berggren, managing director of Me..

The recently released Environmental Protection Agency's 2008 Sector Performance Report analyzes the performance of 12 sectors of the US economy—including oil and gas and chemicals manufacturing&#..

Construction of a 200 thousand barrels/day (Mbpd) refinery in Qinzhou is to be completed by the end of this year, according to PetroChina, the owner/operator. The entire refinery is expected to be fu..

Delays in liquefied natural gas (LNG) production projects in the near-term will keep the market tight for the next 15 years, according to a report from Bernstein Research. The gap between global supp..

New technology and standards acceptance can typically meet with resistance from HPI stakeholders. However, representatives from leading automation companies recently spoke of the positive impact Wire..

A serious, short- and long-term shortage of trained engineers and piping designers is testing the energy industry. As these jobs go unfilled, salaries for this type of work have doubled over the past..

Oil executives and industry analysts told attendees at a major petroleum conference that the era of cheap energy is over and warned of another price spike if investment in oil production is reined in..

Global catalyst demand will be strong across all market segments as energy prices are helping support increased catalyst use as a means of improving productivity. Volume consumption is expected to in..

New project management approach uses 'lessons learned' from earlier ethylene units to fast-track new steam cracker implementations

Conflict of interest? For the last 25 years, I have been a reader of Hydrocarbon Processing. That's why I believe Heinz Bloch's column in the August issue ("Reader's choice and editorial writing," p...