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Distillation

Russia's idle oil refining capacity in September seen up 34% vs August

Russia's offline primary oil refining capacity in September is set to jump 34% from August due to technical outages, Ukrainian drone attacks and seasonal maintenance. Offline capacity is seen at 3.87 MMt this month, or 14.5% of Russia's total oil refining capabilities. That is up from 2.95 MMt in August.

Japan's Eneos shuts 153,000-bpd Negishi CDU for maintenance

Japan's biggest refiner, Eneos Corp., shut the 153,000-bpd crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Negishi refinery near Tokyo on Sept. 9 for scheduled maintenance.

Motiva awards Honeywell UOP a contract for Port Arthur (U.S.) aromatics project

Motiva announced that it has advanced its aromatics project by executing a license for Honeywell UOP’s aromatics technologies for a world-scale aromatics unit to produce benzene and paraxylene.

U.S. Patent Office issues 4th patent for Alternative Environmental Technologies’ Sulfex™ desulfurization tech

Alternative Environmental Technologies Holdings Corp. (AET) has just been notified of the imminent issuance by the U.S. Patent Office of yet another patent directed to its Sulfex™ desulfurization technology.

Utilizing pilot plant operations for new chemical process technology development: A roadmap to scale up success and commercial plant safety

AVN Corp.: Clark, B.  |  Nunley, M.  |  Phillips, G.

To demonstrate a new chemical process technology (flowsheet, raw materials, product) or improve an existing one, pilot plants are designed and operated at a scale between laboratory benchtop and commercial scale—often with specific goals for operability, product quality, economics and process safety. Identifying where potential safety, technical risks or uncertainties may occur is always a key goal in evaluating a new process.

Review steam system designs to accelerate chemical industry decarbonization

Bechtel India: Singh, R. B.

Industrial steam systems range from simple systems comprising a low-pressure single steam user to a complex system with multiple pressure levels, multiple generators and multiple users integrated with an onsite cogeneration facility. This article will present the typical CO2 emissions estimates for chemical and petrochemical facilities and describe options available to reduce these emissions through additional heat integration, fuel switching, and the use of heat pumps and electric boilers. 

The purification of benzoic acid using dividing wall columns

Sulzer Chemtech: Yang, Q.  |  Ni, L-F.  |  Faessler, P.

In one recent project for a customer based in Asia, the authors’ company suggested the combination of distillation and crystallization techniques to obtain high-quality purified benzoic acid. Encouraged by the successful startup of this processing train, the customer began to schedule a second project. The authors’ company was asked to optimize the purification process to improve cost and operational efficiencies. The two existing columns, which remove lights and heavies, respectively, from the crude benzoic acid feedstock were investigated to identify key opportunities. The feasibility study based on the feed composition confirmed that the existing columns could be converted into a single dividing wall column (DWC).  

The attractive market opportunity for synthetic graphite: Graphite as an energy transition material (4)

Chevron Lummus Global: Antoniou, M.  |  Manral, V.  |  Magdoza, K.
Evalueserve: Suri, V.

Given the attractive demand projection, investors must understand the benefits and return on investment for natural and synthetic graphite routes. This article establishes the pros and cons for each, and specifically highlights the emerging opportunity for upgrading and repurposing smaller petcoke units to needle coke units, therefore contributing to fulfilling the rising demand for synthetic graphite.

Wood to progress to FEED stage for EET Fuels Hydrogen Fuel Switching project in the UK

Wood has been awarded the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage of EET Fuels Hydrogen Fuel Switching project. Hydrogen (H2) will be provided by EET Hydrogen, the company’s co-located Track One low-carbon hydrogen production company.

Neste expands chemical recycling logistics infrastructure at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland

Neste is expanding its logistics infrastructure for liquefied recycled raw materials at its refinery in Porvoo, Finland, including materials such as liquefied waste plastic and liquefied rubber tires. Neste aims to advance chemical recycling and transform the Porvoo refinery into a renewable and circular solutions hub.