Refining
Russia's Novatek launches new condensate unit at Ust-Luga complex
Russian energy company Novatek has launched the new processing unit at its gas condensate complex at the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga in the last third of the August.
China's new Yulong refinery runs crude unit at 60%–70%
China's latest greenfield refinery, Shandong Yulong Petrochemical, is running one of its two crude units at 60%–70%, as local government announced its official startup on Wednesday.
Vertex Energy files for bankruptcy, explores sale
Vertex Energy has filed for bankruptcy in a Texas (U.S.) court, just months after it paused renewable diesel output at an Alabama refinery over macroeconomic woes.
Marathon, Teamsters negotiations remain at standstill as strike enters third week
Marathon Petroleum and the Teamsters union, which represents refinery workers in Detroit, Michigan (U.S.), are at a standstill as negotiations for a new labor agreement stagnate and the strike at the plant enters its third week.
Haffner Energy, Bambbco partner to optimize biomass procurement for clean fuels production
The signing of this partnership will enable Haffner Energy and Bambbco to offer a turnkey solution for the production of green energy, with guaranteed feedstock availability and cost all year round. It builds on Haffner Energy’s strategy to diversify sustainable biomass procurement.
Thermal decomposition of particulate mercury sulfides in petroleum—Part 1
Traces of particulate mercury sulfide (HgS) in stabilized crude oils transform to elemental mercury below 400°C in refinery distillation units. The authors evaluated this transformation and measured reaction rates and activation energies in crude oil and Hg-spiked mineral oil, using glass vessels at atmospheric pressure and a microunit at 1,000 psig.
Deliver sustainable benefits through site-wide process digital twins
Refiners have used offline process models for decades. The next generation of solutions is anticipated to operate automatically, integrate with legacy systems and provide transparency site-wide.
Prompt engineering: Extracting operational excellence knowledge from AI—Part 1
Prompt engineering is an emerging discipline at the intersection of AI and process engineering and will undoubtedly contribute to the hydrocarbon and green molecules processing industries. Parts 1 and 2 (October 2024) of this article explore and provide a glimpse of how this technique can help process engineers and operators to manage the power of advanced AI models to optimize processes, contribute to solve complex problems, and improve operational efficiency in refineries and petrochemical plants.
Seven tips to achieve a smoother plant turnaround
This article provides seven best practices that should be kept in mind for successful plant turnaround management.
Monitoring cyclone reliability in fluid catalytic crackers
The authors’ company has developed a novel approach with a digital algorithm to effectively estimate the current cyclone erosion and predict future erosion based on operating conditions. With this approach, refiners get an automatic way to better predict abrasion lining erosion for both reactors and regenerator cyclones daily from digital analytics, thus helping refiners quantify their monitoring.
- Methanol Reformer to supply Mitsubishi Gas Chemical with L18 methanol reformer technology 12/10
- Clariant’s CATOFIN™ catalyst innovation boosts performance in Ningxia Runfeng’s PDH operations 12/10
- Opinion: Trump sanctions on Lukoil, Rosneft could reshuffle global oil map 12/10
- HF Sinclair forecasts lower CAPEX in 2026 on reduced maintenance costs 12/10
- Aster to carry out further upgrades at Singapore Bukom refinery 12/10
- EIA: U.S. crude stocks fall, fuel inventories rise on robust refining 12/10
