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Preventing salt fouling in FCC main fractionators
Apr-2001
Results of using salt dispersant additives on a badly fouled FCC unit has shown that the method allows refiners to avoid more costly methods of naphtha ...
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Amine plant corrosion reduced by removal of bicine
Jun-2012
Bicine, an amino acid, has been found in numerous amine gas treating systems including tail gas treating units, certain refinery services, and some natural ...
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Mitigation of heat exchanger fouling
Oct-2012
Detailed analysis of potential contributors identifies the root cause of fouling in naphtha hydrotreater feed-effluent exchangers
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Minimise corrosion while maximising distillate
Jul-2012
Reducing atmospheric fractionator overhead temperatures to maximise middle 
distillate production requires a full understanding of resulting corrosion ...
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Nov-2017
Thorough tank cleaning means removing all of the sludge and restoring the vessel’s full storage capacity.
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Future of opportunity crudes processing
Oct-2011
Five critical drivers help refiners remain profitable and sustain long-term business goals while processing relatively inexpensive, low-quality crudes
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Evaluating opportunity crude processing
Oct-2006
Is processing opportunity crudes for every refiner? Technical challenges and economic benefits from processing high-acid crudes and bottom-of-the-barrel ...
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Operational challenges in sour water stripping
Jul-2019
How to keep a sour water stripper at optimum performance between shutdowns.
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Online cleaning and decontamination of a butadiene unit
Apr-2010
Chemical treatment by closed-loop recirculation reduced cleaning time for a butadiene unit turnaround from a typical 20 days to 24 hours
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Cuba’s oil: due for development
Apr-2017
Cuba’s ambitions for energy self-sufficiency require major investment in the nation’s oil reserves and refining industry
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Estimating silicon accumulation in coker naphtha hydrotreaters
Mar-2012
Improved sampling and analysis of silicon in the feed enable a significant gain in the cycle life of coker naphtha hydrotreater catalysts
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Chemical analysis in amine system operations
Jul-2013
The array of contaminants that can disrupt the operation of alkanolamine systems needs to be precisely characterised and analysed
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Control of primary fractionator fouling
Jan-2009
Optimal operation and chemical treatment of primary fractionators requires an in-depth knowledge of many parameters. A combination of analytical tools ...
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Analysis method for determining bound and free alkanolamines in HSS contaminated solutions
Jul-1990
A conductometric titration method has been developed to determine the true available alkanolamine in solutions used for H2S and CO2 removal from refinery ...
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Stabilisation 
of asphaltenes
Jan-2009
Asphaltenes can plug refinery equipment and can decrease or stop production. Stabilisation of asphaltene particles is an efficient and cost-effective way ...
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Pitting and crevice corrosion of offshore stainless steel tubing
Jan-2009
Stainless steel tubing on oil and gas platforms is regularly employed in process instrumentation and sensing, as well as chemical inhibition, hydraulic ...
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Continuous removal of contaminants from amine solutions
Oct-2011
A continuous purification system overcomes amine degradation and the formation of corrosion-promoting heat stable amine salts
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Modelling to optimise natural gas dehydration
Apr-2009
Computer modelling can help processors to understand the severity of conditions in molecular sieves used for the dehydration of natural gas
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Operating challenges associated with fines in the delayed coker
Jun-2014
The coking process has been around since the early days of the refining industry. Over the years it has undergone continuous improvements to make it a ...
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Enhancing energy efficiency in the CDU
Apr-2015
Revisiting your crude distillation unit may expose hidden potential for major energy savings
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Passivation of ethylene cracker transfer line heat exchangers
Jul-2009
Case study based on fours years of applying DEHA-based passivation treatment technology to the TLEs of Egyptian Petrochemicals’ ethylene crackers
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Mitigating corrosion from naphthenic acid streams
Jan-2003
The authors describe how crude and side-cut analysis, laboratory and field data lead to strategies for managing high severity operating conditions needed ...
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Monitoring and controlling corrosion in steam generation
Oct-2010
At-temperature oxidation reduction potential (ORP) technology enables 
real-time measurement and control of corrosion potential in steam generat ...
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Mitigating iron foulants in refinery processes
Sep-2016
Purification systems are designed to remove iron based particles without detriment to a catalyst bed’s permeability.
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Online cleaning of an integrated distillation unit
Oct-2013
Online cleaning technology was validated during a scheduled turnaround at the second largest refinery in Poland.
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Detecting and dealing with hydrate formation
Apr-2010
A review of cause, detection and treatment of hydrate plug formation in 
gas pipelines. Gas hydrates are solid crystalline compounds, which have ...
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Oct-2020
Responses to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
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Mar-2022
Improving level control in desalters to aid in use of opportunity crudes
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Anti-fouling additives to improve heavy oil processing
Apr-2023
A continuous pilot testing evaluation shows how magnesium sulphonated-based nano-additive is highly effective in mitigating and reducing upgrader/refinery ...
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Sulphidation corrosion in a claus waste heat boiler
Aug-2021
Simulation enabled a refiner to avoid potentially dangerous operating conditions in a sulphur recovery unit.
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Stripping sour water: the effect of heat stable salts
Oct-2012
Mass transfer rate-based simulation models sour water stripping and assesses the distribution of ammonia in conventional amine treating systems
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Choosing a neutralising amine corrosion inhibitor
Jul-2004
A review of physical and chemical properties of commonly used amine-based corrosion inhibitors. The authors highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses ...
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Avoiding unplanned reactor shutdowns
Feb-2019
In hydroprocessing operations, prevention is better than just dealing with the effects of corrosion and fouling problems.
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Choose the right hose: a practical guide to hose selection
Mar-2013
The right hose keeps your process performing safely and cost effectively. The wrong hose could undermine your process, put personnel at risk and compromise ...
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Foaming in fractionation columns
Oct-2015
By understanding the foaming process and its root causes, steps can be taken to eliminate or minimise the formation of foaming.
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Mitigating corrosion from naphthenic acid streams
Jan-2003
The authors describe how crude and side-cut analysis, laboratory and field data lead to strategies for managing high severity operating conditions needed ...
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Reactor effluent air cooler safety 
through design
Oct-2013
Quality-controlled replacement of carbon steel with Duplex 2205 for revamps can increase the service life and reliability of the REAC in the high-pressure ...
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Tube alloy degradation in a steam cracking furnace
Apr-2015
Understanding catalytic coke growth mechanisms to better predict and optimise furnace service times with tube alloy degradation
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Feb-2016
An understanding of process basics and fouling mechanisms enables increased run length in problem columns.
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Monitoring and simulation resolves overhead corrosion
Mar-2016
Online corrosion monitoring in tandem with simulation modelling identified the root cause of corrosion in a crude unit overhead
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Opening the crude flexibility window: enhancing crude unit capabilities
Mar-2018
Innovative online analysers help refiners to mitigate crude unit threats in real time and provide new insights into existing problems.
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Operational challenges in sour water stripping
Jul-2019
How to keep a sour water stripper at optimum performance between shutdowns.
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Automated level measurement cuts desalter upsets (TIA)
Aug-2020
The path from crude oil to high quality, usable products involves complex technical production and processing procedures in refineries, whereby several ...
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PackView™ liquid retention scale is a quantitative analysis of packing maldistribution
Sep-2020
PackView™ can be used to compare operational parameters with engineering design
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Oct-2020
Responses to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
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Mitigating corrosion with a digital twin
Nov-2020
Data-driven engineering helps engineers to identify ways to improve predictions of corrosion. Processing plants depend on assorted metallic equipment and ...
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Processing lower cost crudes with greater confidence and improved reliability
Dec-2020
For more than 100 years, it has been understood in the petroleum refining industry that certain crude oils or, more accurately, crude oil fractions contain ...
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Our desalting rate drops away quickly when we use heavier feeds. What is the problem here?
Feb-2021
Responses to a question in the Q1 2021 issues Q&A Feature
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Retrofitting the thermal stage of a SRU unit (TiA)
Nov-2021
The original burner at a site was a multi-flame burner with low pressure drop on the Claus gas side.
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Modelling and optimising bitumen hydrocracking
Nov-2021
A rigorous hydrocracking model for the quoted catalysts is used for predicting hydrogen consumption and product yields to maximise operating revenues.
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Ceramic coating application in a refinery steam methane reformer furnace
Jun-2022
Increase an SMR’s thermal efficiency by applying a high emissivity ceramic coating on the furnace box walls.
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An introduction to fouling in fired heaters — Part 2: exterior fouling
Apr-2022
An important fouling mechanism on the fireside is corrosion fouling, especially for oil fired equipment.
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An introduction to fouling in fired heaters: part 1
Apr-2022
Fouling is the accumulation and formation of unwanted materials on the surfaces of processing equipment.
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Corrosion control in ethylene plants
Apr-2022
Treatment concepts for corrosion control in ethylene production by steam cracking of hydrocarbons
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Mar-2022
Improving level control in desalters to aid in use of opportunity crudes
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Mitigating overhead corrosion and reducing downstream costs
Jan-2022
A combination of onstream measurements, closed-loop control, and corrosion measurement enabled significant reductions in caustic addition rates and FCC ...
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Premature foam-flood in an amine absorber: Part 2
Jan-2022
Troubleshooting and hydraulic analysis identified vapour channelling in fixed valve trays as the root cause of premature foam-flooding in a high pressure ...
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Optimising critical level control in desalters by using multiphase level measurements
Dec-2021
Refineries are a complex set of various operating units designed to process crude oil into refined products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuels and feedstocks ...
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Managing ammonium salts corrosion and fouling
Nov-2021
An additive overcame corrosion and fouling issues in a FCC unit, avoiding costs arising from water wash.
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Modelling and optimising bitumen hydrocracking
Nov-2021
A rigorous hydrocracking model for the quoted catalysts is used for predicting hydrogen consumption and product yields to maximise operating revenues.
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Retrofitting the thermal stage of a SRU unit (TiA)
Nov-2021
The original burner at a site was a multi-flame burner with low pressure drop on the Claus gas side.
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Desalter chemical programmes for opportunity crudes
Nov-2021
Opportunity crude processing can present many challenges including incompatibility, high calcium and tramp amines.
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Maximising stripping section performance
Aug-2021
The design of a crude unit stripping section affects diesel and gasoil yields, energy usage, and unit reliability.
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Sulphidation corrosion in a claus waste heat boiler
Aug-2021
Simulation enabled a refiner to avoid potentially dangerous operating conditions in a sulphur recovery unit.
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Protecting your hydroprocessing reactor
Jun-2021
Owners and operators respect a hydroprocessing reactor’s minimum pressurisation temperature but can fail to understand factors other than the temper ...
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Using continuous helical flow to reduce fouling
Mar-2021
It would not be an understatement to say that fouling is one of the most costly recurring problems in hydrocarbon processing, and that it hits process ...
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Advances in damage modelling (TIA)
Feb-2021
High temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA) is a serious damage mechanism that can affect hydroprocessing, catalytic reforming, and hydrogen production units ...
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Our desalting rate drops away quickly when we use heavier feeds. What is the problem here?
Feb-2021
Responses to a question in the Q1 2021 issues Q&A Feature
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Feb-2021
Responses to a question in the Q1 2021 issues Q&A feature
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Raising diesel yield by chemical treatment
Dec-2020
A chemical treatment programme combined with process monitoring enables increased production of middle distillates.
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Processing lower cost crudes with greater confidence and improved reliability
Dec-2020
For more than 100 years, it has been understood in the petroleum refining industry that certain crude oils or, more accurately, crude oil fractions contain ...
-
Mitigating corrosion with a digital twin
Nov-2020
Data-driven engineering helps engineers to identify ways to improve predictions of corrosion. Processing plants depend on assorted metallic equipment and ...
-
Oct-2020
Response to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
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Oct-2020
Responses to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
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Oct-2020
Responses to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ