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Refining

Use CFD analysis to evaluate the impact of hot air recirculation on air-cooled heat exchangers

CTCI, Corp.: Chen, C-C.

Air-cooled heat exchangers are widely used in the petroleum, petrochemical, natural gas and other industries for cooling purposes. In contrast to a water-cooled system, which consists of a traditional shell-and-tube heat exchanger and a cooling tower, an air-cooled heat exchanger uses ambient air as the main cooling medium.

History of the HPI: The 1990s: Clean fuels and emissions mitigation, M&A, GTL and the fieldbus wars

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Much like several initiatives passed in the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s were a decade heavily focused on environmental issues, with many new regulations being enacted to not only mitigate industrial and vehicle emissions but also to advance the production of clean fuels globally.

Hydroprocessing catalyst reload and restart best practices—Part 2

PetroQuantum: Dyke, S.
Global R&D: Pongboot, N.

Hydroprocessing (hydrotreating and hydrocracking) units are high-pressure, high-temperature units that have multiple reactors, multiple beds per reactor and specialized metallurgy. Catalysts in these units are replaced on a 2 yr–5 yr cycle, depending on feed quality, unit design, catalyst selection, operational constraints and performance.

Evaluate options for decarbonizing petroleum refineries

Bechtel India: Singh, R.

The energy transition requires rebuilding the energy supply infrastructure for a lower-carbon economy and renewable energy generation for industry and transportation that run more on electricity and hydrogen and less on fossil fuels and provide a circular path for consumer plastics. The growth in global oil demand is predicted to end within 10 yr, but it is still too early to foresee a rapid decline in that demand.

Choosing the proper regulator configuration can reduce droop

Swagelok Company: Arumpanayil, S.

Many factors go into selecting the proper regulator for your system. One of those factors is sensitivity to changes in outlet pressure as downstream flow fluctuates, which is often characterized as “droop” as illustrated within a regulator’s flow curve.

Green refinery challenges: Small-scale sulfur recovery

Merichem: Echt, W.

As the gavel dropped, signaling a historic agreement at the conclusion of COP26 (2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Glasgow, Scotland, leaders from 197 nations agreed to continue supporting the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The race is on!

Column revamp using packings and internal modeling and revamping technology

Sahara International Petrochemical Co.: Shirpurkar, V.
Sulzer Chemtech Middle East WLL: Arora, A.  |  Kale, V.

The challenge of frequent plugging in vent gas scrubbers is resolved with the highest degree of maleic anhydride (MAN) product recovery.

The downstream rundown: In case you missed it 08/05

In case you missed any downstream news, here are the top stories from last week.

Russia's Novoshakhtinsk refinery fully resumes operations

The Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's southern Rostov region has fully resumed operations after it was struck by drones in June.

Idemitsu restarts 150,000-bpd Hokkaido CDU on July 25 after maintenance

Japan's second-biggest oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co restarted the 150,000 bpd crude distillation unit at its Hokkaido refinery in northern Japan on July 25 after maintenance.