Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Maintenance & Reliability

Modified shed decks tackle crude tower fouling problems

Valero Energy Corp.: Hanson, D.  |  Brown Burns, J.

Many tray designs have been complicated by the hunt for the “perfect distillation tray” design.

Industry Perspectives: HP Awards—Honoring the industry’s best

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

In late June, <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> announced the finalists for its third annual awards.

Reliability: Find the cause of black oil in pump bearing housings

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

While on consulting assignments, observant reliability engineers often uncover (or rediscover) failure initiators that their long-departed colleagues experienced years ago.

Advantages of using TDL analyzers for safety monitoring in combustion within HPI applications

Servomex: Jenkins, R.

From refining to chemical production processes, heaters play an essential role in hydrocarbon processing applications.

Projects as programs: A vision for long-term project success

Solvay: Scofield, R.

Process industries across the globe grapple with producing dozens or even hundreds of different products.

Refinery revamp opportunities with welded plate heat exchangers

CDE Projects Ltd.: Kauders, P.
GESMEX Exchangers GmbH: Broad, R.

The plate-and-shell (P&S) heat exchanger has three significant advantages over the shell-and-tube (S&T) type traditionally used in refinery processes.

Fatigue damage assessment of coke drums based on temperature monitoring

Nuclear NDT Research & Services Srl: Soare, M.  |  Minea, I-S.  |  Predoi, M. V.  |  Bunesco, C.  |  Diba, C.

Coke drums are expensive equipment with a long manufacturing cycle, so a realistic and accurate life prediction can save significant time and money.

Asset life assessment: A strategic reliability tool for the process industries

Reliability and Asset Strategy Specialist: Pyne, T.

Asset life assessment (ALA) has become a strategic tool for process plants (e.g., petrochemical, chemical, and oil and gas) to determine the extent of degradation and the ability of assets to bear static and dynamic loads while sustaining the desired production processes.

Best options for a reboiler revamp

Fluor Daniel India: Pramanik, R.  |  Srinath, N. R.

It is always a challenge to reconfigure and resize existing reboilers, especially vertical thermosiphon ones, for the revised design and operating conditions of a brownfield project, since hydraulics external to the reboiler must match the reboiler hydraulics under the revamped conditions to ensure trouble-free operation.

Benefits of close-coupled flush rings

AS-Schneider: Ambacher, A.

The chemical industry uses flush rings for diaphragm seals.