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Maintenance & Reliability

HP Editorial Comment: The silent assassin: Corrosion

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Romanow, Stephany

This month’s special report focuses on corrosion. Often, uncontrolled corrosion undermines the mechanical integrity of process equipment and infrastructure. It is often identified as the root cau..

HP Reliability: Consider single-point responsibility for compressors

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Equipment purchasers are always interested in meeting the cost and schedule targets for projects. However, there could be conflicting goals when purchasing compressor drivers and/or auxiliaries from v..

HP Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Blume, Adrienne

Bitumen blowing unit converts residues to asphaltPoerner Ingenieurgesellschaft’s Biturox oxidation process (Fig. 1) converts suitable feedstock blends to road and industrial asphalt/bitumen. Feed..

Consider robust tank overfill prevention and independent alarm and gauging systems

PEMY Consulting: Myers, P. E.

Elimination of tank overfills is a significant problem for the petroleum industry. Since most tank receiving operations are manual, the operators rely heavily on tank level gauges and alarms for overf..

HP Reliability: Best practices when trim-cutting closed-pump impellers

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Experienced reliability professionals will implement least-risk solutions whenever possible. The following example relates to impeller trimming to reduce the diameter of a fixed-speed centrifugal pump..

HP Engineering Case Histories: Case 77: Random deck vibration with beats

Consulting Engineer: Sofronas, A.

When something vibrates, it is usually in a predictable manner. Motors, pumps, compressors, turbines and centrifuges all vibrate when they are out of balance. Vibration analysis can help predict the s..

Update on lubrication systems

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Several case histories illustrate the pros and cons for maintaining rotating equipment under various plant conditions.Example 1In late May 2013, a US oil-mist provider in one of the Great Lakes states..

Control moisture in ‘wetted’ rotating equipment

Des-Case Corp.: Barnes, M.  |  Morgan, D.

In turbomachinery, water is one of the most deleterious contaminants. Left unchecked, moisture can severely reduce the service life expectancy of oil-wetted rotating and reciprocating components by as..

Improve quality of lubricating fluids via filtration

Puradyn Filter Technologies: Kroger, K. G.

Micro-sized dust particles, along with water, can ruin the best lubricating fluids. Contamination of lubricating fluids can occur due to the byproducts of combustion, metal wear, oxidation and more. T..

HP Reliability: Was that a failure or ‘just a repair’?

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Bloch, Heinz P.

Purists among reliability professionals are sometimes concerned about the accuracy of the measurement of the mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) of an asset. There are many ways to conduct this failure f..