March 2012

Archive

Special Report: Corrosion Control

Consider a new monitoring system to prevent corrosion
Collins, P., Permasense

This innovative, continuous supervising method collects real-time data on important asset health

Operating philosophy can reduce overhead corrosion
Dion, M., Payne, B., Grotewold, D., GE Water & Process Technologies

Boost refinery reliability by controlling potential amine recycle loops

Closed-loop control can clamp down on crude unit corrosion
Hilton, N. P., Nalco Company, Energy Services Division

Automating the detection process and controlling applications in real time dramatically boosts performance

Avoid stress corrosion cracking of stainless steel
Jain, A. D., Reliance Ports and Terminals Ltd.

This case history investigates equipment failure in a glycol unit

Reduce CO2 in acid gas from amine-based TGTUs
Spooner, B., Derakhshan, F., Sulphur Experts

Improve furnace temperature and sulfur recovery

Bonus Report: Clean Fuels

Optimize hydrogen management for distillate production
Parihar, P., Kumar, R., Voolapalli, R. K., Agarwal, S., Bharat Petroleum Corp., Ltd.

New tools enable refiners to fine-tune refinery configuration and maximize profits

Choose a facility configuration based on financial metrics
Swaty, T. E., Fluor

Linear program (LP) modeling can provide an unbiased, cost-based preview of a refinery or petrochemical plant design

Engineering Case Histories

Case 67: Extruder blowback
Sofronas, A., Consulting Engineer

Understanding what is happening can lead to a solution

Heat Transfer

Achieve optimal heat recovery in a kettle exchanger
Das, T., Consultant

Improve operations by avoiding buildup of sensible duty or by using baffles

Global Turnaround and Maintenance 2012 Supplement

Executive leadership—essential to ensure world-class turnarounds
Singh, B., Project Assurance, Inc.

Many factors are involved in achieving ‘safe, reliable and cost-efficient’ turnarounds

Process Control/Instrumentation

Advanced process control: A historical perspective
Delaney, M. C., ProSys, Inc.

A blend of art and science with a history worth recounting

Columns

HP Reliability: Consider procedure cards, technical books and maintenance conferences for training
Bloch, Heinz P., Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

Because our memories are imperfect and we don’t want to risk making mistakes, we learned to jot down brief reminder notes on paper. Some people call it a cheat sheet, or a checklist. An airline p..

HP Water Management: Water is the next oil
Huchler, L. A., MarTech Systems, Inc.

In the future, increased demands for high-quality fresh water supplies will translate into voluntary and, ultimately, regulatory mandates. These constraints will require facilities to limit or to redu..

HP Insight: Technology and market share: Challenges requiring ever-changing solutions

In this issue of HPInsight, workforce, fuel quality and capacity overhang are a few of the challenges that the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) must address and resolve. Expansion of the refining..

HP In Brief: HPIn Brief
Thinnes, Billy, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

US demand grows for wood-plastic compositeUS demand for wood-plastic composite and plastic lumber is projected to advance by over 13% per year to $5.4 billion in 2015, creating a market for 2.6 billio..

HP Impact: BP’s energy outlook to 2030
Thinnes, Billy, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

Global energy demand will continue to grow over the next 20 years, albeit at a slowing annual rate, fueled by economic and population growth in non-OECD countries. Increased energy efficiency and stro..

HP Impact: Octagonal opportunity for carbon capture
Thinnes, Billy, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

Filtering CO2 from factory smokestacks is a necessary, but expensive, part of many manufacturing processes. However, a collaborative research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technolo..

HP Construction: North America
Meche, Helen, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, will provide technology to produce propylene at Dow Chemical Co.’s production site in Texas. Dow Texas Operations will use Honeywell UOP C3 Oleflex technology in a n..

HP Construction: South America
Meche, Helen, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

Exterran Holdings, Inc., has a contract from Petrobras for the design, fabrication and sale of a major natural gas processing and treating facility in Itau, Bolivia. The facility is a dew-point gas pr..

HP Construction: Europe
Meche, Helen, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

BASF will build a single-train 300,000 metric-tpy production plant for toluene diisocyanate (TDI) at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. It will also expand additional plants for TDI precursors by cons..

HP Construction: Middle East
Meche, Helen, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

Qatargas has signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Samsung Engineering Ltd. for a diesel hydrotreater (DHT) unit that will treat 54,000 bpsd of diesel, from high-sulf..

HP Construction: Asia Pacific
Meche, Helen, Hydrocarbon Processing Staff

Total is consolidating its positions in petrochemicals in Asia with a new expansion and upgrading project for the Daesan complex in South Korea, which the group owns with Samsung as part of the Samsun..

HP Innovations: HPInnovations

IVD vacuum vessel aids in corrosion prevention   Fig. 1. The IVD vacuum vessel   applies aluminum coatings for   corrosion protection.  Thermal processing systems manufac..

Free Literature

Top-entering mixer seal Chemineer, Inc.’s new brochure provides information on its ChemSeal top-entering mixer seal. The brochure describes the seal’s technical details and identifies i..

New Developments

Portable flowmeter offers rapid response The new DXN portable ultrasonic flow and heat meter is said to be built on a truly unique, rugged hardware platform that leverages modern micro-processing..