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

Reactors

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..

Mitigate fouling in crude unit overhead—Part 3

CH2M Hill: Sloley, A. W.

CASE STUDYThe basis for this case study is shown in Fig. 18; it is a crude unit with overhead heat integration. This is a one-drum overhead system with heat integration and no water wash. In an attemp..

Recommended guidelines can help prevent fires caused by static electricity

Newson Gale: O’Brien, M.

For any person working in the oil and gas industry who is responsible for the safety of employees, colleagues, plant equipment and property, one of the most potentially confusing aspects in providing ..

Mitigate fouling in crude unit overhead—Part 2

CH2M Hill: Sloley, A. W.

Up to 50% of the refinery’s entire corrosion expense may occur in the crude unit. The root causes of the fouling and corrosion issues are often linked to the basic unit configuration choices, as ..

Update temperature control for a Claus unit with neural networks

North-West University, School of Chemical and Minerals Engineering: Schabort, C. J.  |  Neomagus, H. W. J. P.

The Natref oil refinery in Sasolburg, South Africa, had experienced refractory problems in the sulfur recovery unit’s (SRU’s) combustion chamber since startup (Fig. 1). Even though the SRU w..

Case history: Optimization of FCCU with multivariate statistical modeling

BASF Corp.: Keeley, C.  |  Mayol, J.  |  Riva, S.  |  Komvokis, V.  |  Bozukov, V.  |  Challis, S.
Lukoil Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez Refinery: Karpov, N. V.

Process models and simulation methods can be used to simulate the fluidized-bed catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) process.a,b Likewise, kinetic or multivariate statistical models have been used. Rigorous..

Mitigate fouling in crude unit overhead—Part 1

CH2M Hill: Sloley, A. W.

In a refinery crude distillation column, up to 40% of the total heat removal may be found in the tower overhead condenser. The quantity of duty available makes heat integration (HI) between the column..

Improved oxidation process increases sulfur recovery with Claus unit

GTC Technology US, LLC: Vazquez, R. G.  |  Seeger, D.  |  Thundyil, M.

Since its development in 1936, the “modified Claus” technology has been the preferred process used by refineries and gas processing plants for the recovery of sulfur from acid-gas streams. M..

Update: Russia’s capacity and modernization program

RAS, A.V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas: Levinbuk, M.
Gazprom Neft: Galkin, V. V.  |  Makhiyanov, V.

Since 2008, Russian regulations regarding the crude oil and refining industry have changed substantially. At present, Russia has 22 large refineries, each with an individual throughput capacity exceed..

Consider accurate feed characterization with improved simulation methods

Fluor Canada Ltd.: Ha, H. Z.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.: Tiwary, D.

Assay definition is crucial for accurate process simulations. The performance of process simulators depends on the feed definition to the processing unit. Modern analytical laboratories can offer comp..