August 2015

Over the past several decades, a leading overseas HPI corporation experienced a disturbing number of explosions in its belowground hydrocarbon sump pits.

Although individual operating facilities take many steps to protect plants from fire, pressure vessels within a fire zone must be protected by a pressure safety valve (PSV). Proper calculation of the vessel’s wetted surface area is a crucial step in properly sizing a PSV.

Leaks result in a direct loss of revenue, along with the possible contamination of soil and water, leading to potential punitive action from environmental agencies and negative corporate publicity.

   State oil company Petron’s Port Dickson refinery   in Malaysia (top) has a rated capacity of 88 Mbpd. Shell’s   refining and petrochemical complex at&#1..

Double-pipe and multitube (also called hairpin) heat exchangers, with their compactness and ability to optimize thermal performance without compromising maintainability, are finding increasing accepta..

In June 2014, the plant maintenance manager of a chemical plant in southern Louisiana contacted an industrial services company for an alternative flange corrosion protection solution.The plant had a 5..

Operators have a significant influence on a plant’s reliability. In spite of this, little attention is focused on improving operators’ capabilities or on developing an operator ownership cul..

Many factors are necessary for a successful compressor startup. One of the key actions is conducting high-quality field oil flushing during the precommissioning stage, or after a major overhaul.

A number of devices are available for protecting low-pressure American Petroleum Institute (API) tanks against overpressurization. A case study demonstrates the need for the designer to analyze the en..

Plant managers who work in a hydrocarbon-processing-industry (HPI), power-generation or other industrial facility can relate to the need to optimize energy consumption. Opportunities to reduce unneces..

It is quite extraordinary, the events that can happen within a single year. Beginning in July 2014, the world began to witness a widespread fall in crude oil prices. By the end of January 2015, both W..

Equipment reliability can be enhanced or jeopardized by many different actions, inactions, commissions and omissions. Reliability may be a hollow term to many. Still, first and foremost, a reliable plant is a safe plant.

Lang factors are cited frequently and used within the HPI. With the ensuing changes, the question must be asked, “Do Lang factors still present a realistic approximation of capital cost today?”

Top industry management should consider profits over the long term to make the business case for more sustainability, with a particular focus on results in the four-to-five-year range rather than on the initial year or two.

The mega-project expansion at the Talara refinery is the foundation of Petroperu’s new strategic plan to increase refining capacity and reduce the sulfur content in refined products.

For decades, process industries have used different forms of safety control based on what was available in the market. The simple answer to the question of whether SIS devices need to be certified is, "No," but operators and the industry as a whole continue to ask for certification anyway. Why is this?

Russian blending facility utilizes advanced control technologyLUKOIL’s Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez gasoline blending facility in Kstovo, Russia, will integrate Honeywell software, which is designed ..

Refinery utilization rates in the US, encouraged by the high driving season demand, continued to rise following the end of the heavy maintenance season. Regional demand in Asia continued lending suppo..

Endress+Hauser’s Loading Metering Skid (LMS) is a solution for the custody transfer of light hydrocarbons—including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and marine gas—to and from tanker trucks, railcars and ships.

Gulf Publishing Company is saddened to announce the passing of Les Kane, longtime editor of Hydrocarbon Processing, after an extended illness.

NEO Monitors’ mid-infrared (IR) sensors will help global industries better control emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides.