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Post-combustion 
capture of CO2
Apr-2009
Case study of a generic amine-based absorption process. A lifecycle cost analysis for a power plant over a 40-year span clearly shows the advantages of ...
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Optimising and revamping a refinery hydrogen network
Oct-2011
Pinch analysis and mathematical programming support hydrogen network 
design and retrofit. An increased demand for hydrogen often makes the supply ...
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Gasoline and diesel imbalances in the Atlantic Basin: part II
Oct-2011
Options to re-orientate a refinery’s production towards middle distillates. European refineries currently produce a surplus of gasoline and insufficient ...
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Apr-2006
When designing vacuum units for processing heavy Canadian crudes, reliability costs can be high if the feedstock’s thermal instability is not fully ...
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Low-cost methods to improve FCCU energy efficiency
Jul-2000
The first step to finding low-cost ways of improving FCC unit efficiency under new environmental regulations is to determine the true limits of the existing ...
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Rapid waste heat boiler retubing at IPL Mount Isa sulphuric acid plant
Feb-2017
Effective energy recovery in sulphuric acid plants can drive the economics of the plant every bit as much as the actual production of sulphuric acid.
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Energy management: raising profitability, reducing CO2 emissions
Oct-2010
Case studies show how lower energy demand via revamps and improved maintenance can save money and abate CO2 emissions in refinery operations
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ULSD production: improved feed stream quality
Apr-2003
Much of hydrotreater revamp investment costs in future will be in dealing with the most difficult-to-remove sulphur species, because of their low reaction ...
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Cost-effective and reliable revamps
Jul-2009
Test run hydraulic measurements and analysis, together with equipment know-how, can help refiners identify profitable, low-cost revamp opportunities
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Fluidised catalytic cracker hydrotreater revamp
Apr-2004
Primary revamp of reactors, exchangers and other FCC pretreater components provided return on investment for a complex refining facility
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FCC unit revamps at minimum cost
Oct-2016
Selective modifications for FCC unit revamps can deliver the best return 
on investment
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Increasing deisobutaniser capacity
Oct-2006
Insight into procedures and details involving a distillation revamp can be gained by looking at a project carried out on a deisobutaniser unit separating ...
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Jan-2007
Gamma scanning is a powerful tool that can be used to determine the cause of flooding and regain column efficiency. Debutaniser capacity and performance ...
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Further advances in light hydrocarbon fractionation
Jul-2004
Recent developments in high capacity distillation trays focus on increasing capacity in fixed tower sizes in refineries and chemical plants. C2 and C3 ...
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Debottlenecking a refinery fuel 
gas absorber
Oct-2010
A refinery fuel gas absorber was revamped to increase capacity while maintaining H2S in the product well below specification
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Reducing refinery heater revamp costs
Oct-2005
This article discusses the importance of being able to deliver a safe, cost-effective heater revamp, in the shortest possible shutdown
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Estimating bitumen viscosity for revamps
Oct-2014
Accurate viscosity data for dilbit and its heavy residues define the scope of revamps required to process the feed in crude and vacuum units
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Revamp cat feed hydrotreaters for flexible yields
Nov-2016
Revamping a cat feed hydrotreater to a flexible mild hydrocracker can be the most attractive economic option for adjusting the gasoline to diesel rati ...
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A novel process to reduce aromatics and benzene in reformates
Oct-2009
A catalytic scheme for reducing the aromatics and benzene content in reformates without octane barrel loss uses existing reforming units at Moscow Oil ...
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Troubleshooting vacuum unit revamps
Jul-1998
While vacuum unit revamps increase gasoil yield, management is pushing the intervals between turnarounds to four or five years
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Sep-2006
The design, detailed engineering and installation of one revamp took just
four-and-a-half months -
Practical considerations for crude unit revamps
Oct-1998
Two examples are used in this article to illustrate how changes in the process flow scheme can increase preheat train heat recovery
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Tray revamp for demethaniser ethane recovery
Oct-2011
As a first step in an ethane extraction plant’s operational improvement plan, a 
tray revamp was performed to improve both tray efficiency and ...
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Application of CFD in NOx reduction
Oct-2009
A study of parameters affecting NOx formation in an ageing boiler unit confirmed the measures needed to meet emissions targets
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Revamping hydrogen and sulphur plants to meet future challenges
Oct-2009
Revamp opportunities for hydrogen and sulphur plant operations in the era of clean fuels production offer significant benefits for refiners
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Column preheat improvement to debottleneck furnace operation
Apr-2012
Simulation helped to identify and mitigate the root cause of a furnace bottleneck to maximise the removal of light ends in the feed to a preflash colu ...
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A few sweet tricks for sour gas
May-2014
Large volumes of acid gas (H2S and SO2-rich gas) are generated from various technologies used to sweeten sour off-gases, or acid gas.
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Revamp process design — optimum crude unit product yields
Jul-1997
Designing a new crude unit is an unconstrained process, limited only by capital
investment targets, while revamping an existing unit to optimise ... -
Crude unit revamp to increase diesel yield
Apr-2002
Account of a crude vacuum unit revamp where detailed calculation of the true performance of existing equipment raised diesel production by 14.5 vol% on ...
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Vacuum unit design for high 
metals crudes
Jan-2007
Vacuum unit design can influence vacuum gas yield, product quality and run length. A wet vacuum unit with residue stripping achieves the highest cutpo ...
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Post-combustion 
capture of CO2
Apr-2009
Case study of a generic amine-based absorption process. A lifecycle cost analysis for a power plant over a 40-year span clearly shows the advantages of ...
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FCC fundamentals: turnaround best practices
Apr-2009
Basic procedures and activities are presented for the unit engineer and other support personnel, designed to ensure a successful and safe 
FCC t ...
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Hydroprocessing to maximise refinery profitability
Oct-2012
Low-cost changes in catalyst systems can significantly enhance operational flexibility and increase returns on investment
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Revamp of a reciprocating 
compressor unit
Jul-2015
A step-by-step guide to the revamp of a reciprocating compressor unit to meet increased hydrogen throughput
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Enhanced heat transfer for improved throughput and energy consumption
Oct-2015
Customised revamps of heat exchangers optimise energy use and reduce 
costs in revamps.
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Sep-2016
Automation at start-up, supported by dynamic simulation, is desirable if it can be accomplished with a modest amount of engineering effort
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How to improve energy efficiency, reliability and asset integrity
Feb-2023
A global inventory of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions recently published by One Earth suggests that global cumulative emissions could be reduced by up ...
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Revamping atmospheric crude heaters
Sep-2007
Revamp of an atmospheric crude unit heater suffering from coking caused by asphaltene precipitation resulted in an increased heater run length
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Canadian crude processing challenges
Jan-2008
Vacuum unit design influences liquid volume yields, run length, product 
yield and product quality when processing bitumen crude oils
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Taking hydroprocessing reactor cooling off the critical path
May-2022
Rapid cool-down of a typical hydroprocessing unit’s recycle gas compressor offgas can be used to cool spent reactor catalyst while avoiding the need ...
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Distributor design and testing
Oct-2006
A new main fractionator designed to separate a range of feed streams incorporates multiple layers of structured packing and a slurry section. Flow testing ...
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Sep-2007
Primary goals of a lube vacuum column revamp were to increase lube product fractionation and minimise HVGO product contaminants
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A step-by-step approach to 
managing emissions
Oct-2010
A comprehensive review of combustion systems and controls underpins a strategy for emissions reduction
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Optimising and revamping a refinery hydrogen network
Oct-2011
Pinch analysis and mathematical programming support hydrogen network 
design and retrofit. An increased demand for hydrogen often makes the supply ...
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Platformer debutaniser revamp and optimisation
Oct-2012
Recommendations following a study of high reformate RVP delivered a range of benefits including a significant increase in gasoline production
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Oct-2012
Bringing the structures of existing refineries into the digital information age transforms the processes of upgrading and operating
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The age of turbulence: charting a course for refiners to a profitable future
Nov-2012
Relentless turbulence has profoundly affected the global refining landscape in recent years. Moreover, the turmoil is likely to continue unabated in the ...
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Savings in exchanger network cleaning (TIA)
Jun-2015
The Super Clean System (SCS), an online heat exchanger cleaning technology, is being used by a major oil refiner in Japan at a refinery equipped with a ...
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Some myths about mechanical cleaning
Aug-2018
Because it has long been the only option when unit cleaning becomes unavoidable, the true cost of mechanical cleaning has been overlooked.
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Revamping centrifugal compressors at an ethylene plant
Oct-2010
Technical improvements and increased throughput justify the revamp of a Russian ethylene plant’s compressors
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FCC profitability assessment via 
advanced modelling
Oct-2015
Process and computational fluid dynamic modelling were applied to validate the technology used in an FCC unit revamp at Shell’s Puget Sound refinery ...
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Enhanced heat transfer for improved throughput and energy consumption
Oct-2015
Customised revamps of heat exchangers optimise energy use and reduce 
costs in revamps.
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Oct-2015
Understanding the full scope of projects and acting upon the right engineering choices reduces capital risk
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Optimising preflash for light tight oil processing
Jul-2015
For a crude unit handling light tight oil feedstock, a semi-preflash column can deliver significant advantages in energy saving, capacity gain and revamp ...
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Energy savings from electric 
capacity control
Jul-2015
Updated stepless capacity control of reciprocating compressors saved energy and improved process stability at a petrochemicals site.
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Revamp of a reciprocating 
compressor unit
Jul-2015
A step-by-step guide to the revamp of a reciprocating compressor unit to meet increased hydrogen throughput
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Revamping a hydrocracker’s overhead condenser
Jul-2015
A stepwise approach solved seasonal issues affecting plans to increase a hydrocracker’s capacity
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Savings in exchanger network cleaning (TIA)
Jun-2015
The Super Clean System (SCS), an online heat exchanger cleaning technology, is being used by a major oil refiner in Japan at a refinery equipped with a ...
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High performance trays for a fractionator in an aromatics plant
May-2015
Distillation is a very important separation technology in refineries and downstream chemical processing. Mass transfer internals in distillation columns ...
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Increasing distillate production at least capital cost
Apr-2015
Investing in improvements to the atmospheric crude unit can deliver increased distillate yields with short payback times
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3D scanning corrrects design clashes
Apr-2015
A contractor in Nigeria applied 3D laser scanning to overcome design clashes that had led to postponement of planned revamps in a gas platform
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Oxygen enriched sulphur recovery
Apr-2015
Revamping its SRU to oxygen enriched operation increased a refiner’s sulphur processing capacity and significantly reduced operating costs.
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Acid gas treatment for giant LNG plant (TIA)
Apr-2015
Prosernat, an engineering company and licensor of Total’s amine based technology portfolio, AdvAmine, has announced the successful start-up of a major ...
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Revamping crude and vacuum units to process bitumen
Apr-2015
Revamping crude and vacuum units to process dilbit can involve extensive equipment replacement as well as major changes to the crude preheating scheme
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Safe removal of polymeric deposits
Jan-2015
Damaging polymeric fouling of internals can be cleaned in situ by safe 
chemical treatments. Butadiene polymer formation is not an unusual problem ...
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Reducing reactor turnaround time
Jan-2015
A refinery uses catalyst passivation technology for safer and more 
efficient turnarounds.
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Estimating bitumen viscosity for revamps
Oct-2014
Accurate viscosity data for dilbit and its heavy residues define the scope of revamps required to process the feed in crude and vacuum units
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Oct-2014
A review of benefits, best practices and emerging opportunities in laser-enabled revamp projects
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Increasing distillate production at zero capital cost
Oct-2014
Significantly increasing distillate production can at the earliest stages require no more than process tweaks before significant capital revamps are r ...
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Options for CO2 capture from SMR
Oct-2014
As CO2 capture from steam methane reforming becomes increasingly important, the economics of retrofit for recovery from process gas streams need to be ...
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Maximising energy efficiency in grassroots designs
Oct-2014
A novel approach is required to achieve the full potential for energy 
performance of new plants
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Design developments for construction projects
Jul-2014
Software products enable the principles of lean manufacturing to be applied to refinery construction projects
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A few sweet tricks for sour gas
May-2014
Large volumes of acid gas (H2S and SO2-rich gas) are generated from various technologies used to sweeten sour off-gases, or acid gas.
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Gasoline production in the age of shale oil, renewable fuel mandates, and tier 3 regulations
Apr-2014
The North American shale oil production surge has provided North American refiners with a seemingly bounty of high quality crudes.
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Coordinating a complex automation project
Apr-2014
Installing an integrated control system in support of a major refinery upgrade meant coordinating the work of multiple EPC contractors