Environment & Safety
Using valve diagnostics at startup to save time and money
Early detection of valve problems with diagnostics prevents small issues from escalating into major incidents when production starts.
Advanced steam system optimization program
The steam system forms an integral part of the safe, reliable and profitable operation of a process plant. Steam constitutes approximately 30% of the energy used in a typical petroleum refinery.
Innovations
Ross Systems and Controls (SysCon) recently completed the qualification to self-certify its touchscreen purged panels as meeting the rigorous standards of Underwriters Laboratories’ UL-698A Code and the National Fire Protection Association’s NFPA-496 Code.
Engineering Case Histories: Case 100—Was sloshing the cause of a failure?
Some situations in failure analysis demand an understanding of the wave motion of a liquid wave in a tank, called “sloshing.”
Measuring steam flow to flares
Refinery flare stacks are designed to combust all manner of unrecoverable hydrocarbon gases and vapors to avoid putting them into the atmosphere in their original form.
How pipeline management becomes part of a plant safety strategy
A typical refinery or chemical plant contains miles of pipelines.
Optimize your insulation to reduce costs
Corrosion under insulation (CUI) is a common problem that is shared by the oil and gas (onshore and offshore), refining, petrochemical, power and manufacturing industries.
Energy losses from the radiant firebox wall of pyrolysis furnaces
The steam cracking unit is highly energy demanding, requiring high-severity pyrolysis furnaces to break the carbon-carbon bonds, as well as high pressure for the purification of its products.
Innovations
Hawk Measurement Systems has announced a new OptioLaser S300 that can be used for the detection of all types of liquids, regardless of their dielectric properties.
Industry Perspectives: Secondary unit construction surges in the near term
Although the refining industry is expected to add more than 7 MMbpd of new distillation capacity by the early 2020s, the global refining industry will witness a boost in secondary processing capacity, as well.
- Industry collaboration brings new insights on corrosion under insulation 7/1
- IMI secures major contract to supply wireless vibration monitoring solution in Omani refinery 7/1
- KBR, ReVentas partner to scale polymer dissolution technology to recycle polyethylene and polypropylene 7/1
- Yara to reallocate capital from abandoned $2.9-B Louisiana Clean Energy complex project 7/1
- Schneider Electric to acquire Cognite in $3.1-B all cash deal 7/1
- BASF and Carlyle complete coating transaction, an enterprise value of €7.7 billion 7/1

