April 2015

Long-term trends in production losses, showing total loss production measured in seven biennial studies, are discussed in this article to determine if these losses are increasing or decreasing over time.

A new revamp approach for ammonia plants uses multistage integrated chilling (MIC). The MIC scheme provides an option that avoids expensive compressor upgrades for incremental improvements in ammonia production, with energy efficiency improvements up to 15%.

Vapor distribution has often been neglected in fractionation columns. Although the importance of liquid distribution is well understood and has been a consideration in column design from the early sta..

The Bulo Bulo ammonia-urea facility will be Bolivia’s first petrochemical venture. This new facility is expected to produce sufficient urea/ammonia supplies for domestic demand and will provide surplus product for export.

Domestic refiners and petrochemical producers will face changing supply and demand conditions, particularly as the sharp decrease in oil prices influences drilling decisions.

Unusual pink coloration was noticed on the entire refractory brick wall in the radiant section of an ethylene cracking furnace of a petrochemical plant. The problem was investigated by evaluating the ..

One of the prime challenges in the operation of a fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) is keeping the catalyst circulating. Compared to other challenges with FCC operations, correcting erratic catalys..

The North American (NA) petrochemical industry is experiencing a renaissance of new project announcements and manufacturing expansions. This wave of activity is supported by abundant, low-cost natural gas supplies. In particular, many ethylene projects are under various stages of development.

Knoxville, Tennessee-based System Improvements, Inc., has been in the forefront of teaching structured root-cause analysis throughout the world. System Improvements, Inc. has used its proprietary soft..

Financing biorenewables technology companies and their projects involves a unique set of challenges. The global emergence of biorenewable fuels, chemicals and polymers is driven by public policies, su..

The $2-T Indian economy is forecast to have an annual average GDP growth rate of 8%–9% in 2015 under the new government. The main drivers—agriculture and industrial manufacturing—need r..

Since the shale revolution, US oil and gas majors have run on all cylinders, drastically curbing US dependency on foreign resources. But the past six months changed it all. A 53% plunge in oil prices ..

As the world’s largest producer and supplier of methanol to major international markets, Methanex Corp. continues to focus on growing and expanding its operations across the globe. The most recen..

Honeywell will maintain control systems for Sasol CTL complexHoneywell Process Solutions (HPS) has signed a five-year agreement to support Sasol’s synthetic fuels and chemicals facility in Secund..

US commercial crude oil inventories are at elevated levels and are expected to increase. Lower crude oil prices have supported consumption in developed economies, removed budgetary constraints in emer..

A joint industry project (JIP) has been launched between Swagelining Ltd., Saudi Aramco and The Welding Institute (TWI) to conduct investigations into the use of polymer lining in carbon steel (CS) pipelines.

Michele McNichol has been appointed CEO for Wood Group Mustang, succeeding Steve Knowles, who retired April 1. Ms. McNichol has been with WG Mustang since 2001 in roles that included executive VP, res..

IMI Sensors offers a data leaflet on its new series of mechanical vibration switches, models 685A09, 685A19, 685A29 and 685A39. The switches feature a unique, patent-pending design that is said to provide a better sensitivity adjustment than traditional designs.

SPECTRO Analytical Instruments’ new SPECTRO ARCOS high-resolution ICP-OES spectrometer is said to be the first and only spectrometer featuring selection of axial plasma or radial plasma observation in a single instrument—without any optical compromise.