Equipment malfunction or an unplanned shutdown of a sulfur recovery unit (SRU) can have a significant effect on a production company’s profitability, along with an equally serious impact on personnel safety and the environment.
The startup and commissioning of hydrocarbon plants can present unique challenges that, if not anticipated and addressed in the pre-commissioning and commissioning periods, will inhibit plant startup and increase the difficulty of achieving product specifications in a timely manner.
Copper, S.,
Viceral, B.,
Thomas, K.,
Goff, S.,
Contreras, J.,
Nyadong, L.,
Stavros, J., Phillips 66;
Hatcher, N., Optimized Gas Treating
In May 2021, Phillips 66 started up a new methyl diethanolamine (MDEA)-based tail gas unit at its Belle Chasse, Louisiana, refinery.
An interesting case involving sour seal oil traps in an offshore application recently came to our attention.
A sour water stripper (SWS) system is a common process in petroleum refineries and other processes where hydrogen sulfide is present.
Emissions from flares worsen air quality and produce waste gas. A flare gas recovery system is designed to facilitate CO2 reduction.
After natural gas is extracted from onshore and offshore sites, it must be transported and processed.
The consistent global trend toward improvements in air quality and tighter regulations on emissions, as well as the International Maritime Organization’s shipping regulations, continue to mitigate sulfur levels—not only in conventional transport fuels (petrol and diesel), but also in jet fuels, fuel oils and other heavier distillates.
In the production of clean fuels, plastics and other hydrocarbon-based products, refineries and petrochemical facilities generate unwanted (waste) byproducts. Having no market value, the undesired byproducts must be recycled, minimized or eliminated. Depending on the feedstocks, end products and reactant materials, the unwanted materials can be gases, liquids or multiphase materials.