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Dynamic simulation to estimate 
tower relief
Jan-2019
When applied in the correct circumstances, dynamic analysis can help avoid unnecessary scope and project delays.
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Tray revamp restores crude column performance
Jan-2019
Retrofitting the packed top section of a crude atmospheric tower with high capacity trays improved separation efficiency
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Slug catcher debottleneck protects downstream processing (TIA)
Aug-2020
Effective separation of oil and gas from different impurities in upstream operations is a matter of paramount importance. All downstream activities and ...
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Stahl Columns: An alternative to molecular sieves?
Jun-2022
Case study and independent cost estimations lay out what may someday become the standard way to achieve deep dehydration of produced gas streams.
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Sustainable technology for cleaning a crude preheat exchanger network
Aug-2019
Mitigating environmental impacts, saving time and reducing costs: cleaning a heat exchanger network using a renewable cleaning agent.
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Heat exchanger fouling analytics
Sep-2020
Modelling the effects of fouling on the performance of heat exchangers and its impact on product values as well as energy losses
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Enhanced energy recovery for 
crude preheating
Jun-2018
Replacing shell and tube heat exchangers with a compact welded exchanger increased heat transfer efficiency and reduced fouling issues in a crude unit ...
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How to replace sensors on process heaters
Jun-2020
Process heaters, such as immersion heaters, use a range of sensor options to accurately measure and adjust the heat of a manufacturing process.
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Improving crude vacuum 
unit performance
Mar-2008
When simulating or designing an unconventional heavy oil/bitumen vacuum crude unit, the sharing of operating data on cracked gas make, stripping section ...
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Jul-2019
The availability of devices capable of creating an image of the infrared radiation emitted by an item of process equipment such as the CO2 absorber in ...
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Increase duty in tube side condensers
Jul-2020
A retrofit is shown to improve several aspects of tube side condensation processes.
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Heat storage in solar power plants
Jun-2020
Avoiding freezing and leakage: optimal thermal management for the use of molten salt in solar thermal power plants with concentrated radiation
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Get 20% more hydrogen than nameplate in your next turnaround
May-2020
A foil-supported catalyst meets increased hydrogen demand within a normal turnaround.
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Advanced thermoplastic polymer supports processing of harsh chemicals
Jul-2023
The proprietary NeXRing in VICTREX PEEK polymer from Sulzer Chemtech is ideal for supporting the processing of harsh chemicals, thanks to its high temperature ...
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How watt density specifications may be holding back optimal electric heat exchanger design
Mar-2020
Typical customer specifications for a direct electric heat exchanger (DEHE) in forced convection gas applications aim for efficiency and safety given the ...
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Considerations for crude unit preflash drums and preflash towers
Feb-2024
A guide to debottlenecking, revamping, designing, and operating crude unit preflash facilities based on literature and the authors’ experience.
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Revamp of a methanol wash column
Jun-2022
Installation of high performance trays and internals enabled a successful revamp for a syngas purification process.
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Improving the flow, installation experience with a new reformer flue gas tunnel system
Jul-2019
For decades, down-fired steam methane reformer furnaces have used flue gas tunnels (or ‘coffins’) along the radiant section floor to collect and improve ...
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Debottlenecking product recovery using product pair distillation: Part I
Apr-2023
Advantages of using a thermodynamically efficient method to debottleneck existing distillation trains using fewer new columns than traditional methods ...
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High capacity valves for distillation towers
Nov-2021
Advanced valves deliver higher column capacity while meeting process requirements such as wider operating range and higher fouling resistance
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Debottlenecking product recovery using product pair distillation: Part II
Jul-2023
Advantages of using a thermodynamically efficient method to debottleneck existing distillation trains using fewer columns than traditional methods.
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Analysis, active filtration unlock guard vessel stability (ERTC)
Jan-2019
For the first time in years, they did not need jackhammers to unload the guard vessel. It was another short cycle, and there was another crust layer.
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Premature foam-flood in an amine absorber: Part 1
Nov-2021
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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Boosting tube-side heat transfer
Jun-2021
Tube insert technologies can improve heat exchanger performance by enhancing tube-side heat transfer coefficients in two-phase applications.
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Improving turnarounds and operations with online cleaning
Sep-2020
Case histories illustrate the financial and operational gains achieved by replacing mechanical cleaning with online, closed-loop operations. The conventional ...
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How to replace sensors on process heaters
Jun-2020
Process heaters, such as immersion heaters, use a range of sensor options to accurately measure and adjust the heat of a manufacturing process.
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Increasing vacuum tower performance
Oct-2004
Advantages of using gravity flow liquid distributors in services where, historically, spray nozzles have been used, specifically in refinery vacuum tower ...
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Turnarounds deliver process improvements
Nov-2016
An extended unit shutdown is relatively rare and an opportunity to take every advantage to improve performance.
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Revamping crude towers to meet 
bitumen specifications
Jun-2017
A revamp of crude column internals improved bitumen quality, increased output of light products, saved on energy costs and improved ease of operation
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Considerations for crude unit preflash drums and preflash towers
Feb-2024
A guide to debottlenecking, revamping, designing, and operating crude unit preflash facilities based on literature and the authors’ experience.
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Troubleshooting a C3 splitter tower Part 2: Root cause and solution
Jan-2015
Distillation trays are prone to channelling and multi-pass maldistribution in large diameter towers. Multichordal gamma scanning is used for solving such ...
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Catalyst filling in a fixed bed tubular reactor
Apr-2017
A reactor filling methodology ensures even reactant distribution and pressure drop
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Risks of accumulated sulphur in sulphur recovery unit
Aug-1998
Follow-up data to an October 1997 article proves with refinery experience that caustic neutralisation does not improve system operations
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Performance optimisation of fixed bed processes
Apr-1999
An extensive range of hydroprocessing technologies has been developed through a combination of long-term R&D commitment and commercial experience
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High capacity distillation revamps
Oct-2001
Understanding how high-capacity trays work assists in the selection and design process and can also help in the avoidance of failures
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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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Analysis and prediction of hydrocarbon dew points and liquids in gas transmission lines
Mar-2006
The occurrence of liquid hydrocarbons in natural gas transmission lines has increased in recent years as a result of the shrinking price spread between ...
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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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Loss into gain in high-capacity trays Part 2: reverse vapour cross flow chanelling
Aug-2016
Systematic troubleshooting diagnosed two complex problems that limited the capacity of an atmospheric crude distillation tower
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A comparison of physical solvents for acid gas removal
Mar-2008
Physical solvents such as DEPG (Selexol or Coastal AGR), NMP or N-Methyl-2- Pyrrolidone (Purisol), Methanol (Rectisol), Propylene Carbonate (Fluor Solvent) ...
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CFD study of a VDU feed inlet device and wash bed
Oct-2009
Analysis of vapour velocity profiles at the entry to the wash zone of a VDU column enables a higher feed rate and improved output quality
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Mar-2010
Near net shape refractory forming technology and its use to create significant process improvement. The vast majority of refractory, by volume, used in ...
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Optimised reactor internals for a hydroprocessing unit
Apr-2012
Optimised distributor and quench box design can improve catalyst performance and unit reliability
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Advanced process control of distillation
Mar-2018
The introduction of model predictive control enabled a bio-products plant to raise throughput and automate product variation.
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Divided-wall columns — a novel distillation concept
Oct-2000
The technology of divided-wall columns using a single distillation tower, described in this article, is claimed to have investment and operating advantages ...
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Column design using mass transfer rate simulation
Apr-2002
This article looks at examples of commercial columns used in CO2 removal and selective H2S treating, comparing performance test data to demonstrate benefits ...
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Specifications — importance of getting them right
Mar-2003
Faulty equipment specifications sometimes carry unforeseen penalties, with loss of performance. It is the process design engineer’s responsibility to ...
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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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Using process simulators will make your plant more productive and efficient
Mar-2005
The use of process simulators to model plant operations can provide a plant hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in increased production and lower ...
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Hydrocarbon removal from amines demonstrated experience
Mar-2006
Bringing amine system contaminants down to low levels has reduced operational problems. Several large operating facilities are now using the latest technology ...
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Dividing wall column technology as a way of removing benzene from refinery gasoline streams
May-2011
The primary separation method in the petrochemical industry is distillation, or fractionation, which is an energy-intensive process.
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Bulk separation of gas-liquid mixtures
Apr-2011
Effective gas-liquid separation is increasingly important to produce high-quality products from feedstocks of decreasing quality
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Practical hydrocarbon dew point specification for natural gas transmission lines
Mar-2011
Hydrocarbon liquid dropout can cause a number of problems in gas transmission lines, including increased pressure drop, reduced line capacity and equipment ...
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Mar-2011
Developments in catalyst and internals technologies exploit the flexibility of
the ULSD unit. The economic incentive to produce diesel is substantial ... -
Jan-2011
A process review, including the improvement of atmospheric and vacuum distillation columns, for the reformulation of the diesel pool
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Utilising the checkerwall as a 
static mixer to improve SRU 
process performance
Oct-2010
A little more than a decade ago, as Blasch Precision Ceramics began to steadily grow their hex head ferrule business, they began to field requests from ...
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Oct-2010
Separation technology is not complex, but separators deliver a range of benefits in ethylene cracking
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Improvements in random packing performance
Oct-2010
Developments in random packing design aim for increased efficiency 
and capacity. Random packing is used extensively in gas processing 
and ...
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Designing trays for selective gas treating
Oct-2010
Field data from eight gas treating plants show how tray design parameters can be selected to improve contactor performances
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A balanced approach to vacuum tower flash zone/wash section design
Sep-2010
Revamping an existing vacuum column to operate at a higher feed rate, higher flash zone temperature, lower pressure, and different feed stock characterisation ...
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Improving performance through low-cost modification of tower internals
Jul-2010
Low-cost revamps of tower internals improve production from existing assets with a payback period of less than a year
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Tray hydraulic operating regimes 
and selectivity
Apr-2010
Tray hydraulics is discussed in terms of froth and spray operating regimes, and possible impacts on selectivity are pointed out by reference to performance ...
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Mar-2010
Near net shape refractory forming technology and its use to create significant process improvement. The vast majority of refractory, by volume, used in ...
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An evaluation of general “rules of thumb” in amine sweetening unit design and operation
Mar-2010
Many “rules of thumb” are widely used in the design and operation of amine sweetening units. These rules have been developed over the years and most ...
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Entrainment issues in vacuum column flash zones
Jan-2010
For a vacuum tower to operate effectively, the flash zone and the wash section must work together to provide the best possible feed quality to the sections ...
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Analysis of hydrate conditions and property predictions in acid gas injection systems
Oct-2009
This paper will focus on the hydrate formation conditions for acid gas mixtures commonly found in acid gas injection systems. Many studies have analysed ...
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CFD study of a VDU feed inlet device and wash bed
Oct-2009
Analysis of vapour velocity profiles at the entry to the wash zone of a VDU column enables a higher feed rate and improved output quality
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Demystifying the zero entrainment myth for vacuum column flash zones
Apr-2009
One of the recurring questions about refinery vacuum tower operation is the issue of flash zone entrainment and the operation of the wash section.
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Reliability vs recovery for delayed coking fractionators
Apr-2009
When selecting tower internals, numerous choices are available for coker main fractionator configurations, each offering benefits and trade-offs. Some ...
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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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Industrial design and optimisation of CO2 capture, dehydration and compression facilities
Mar-2009
On an industrial-scale process, a comprehensive engineering design and optimisation study was conducted for CO2 capture, dehydration and compression facilities ...
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Improving VGO hydrotreater operation
Jan-2009
A practical, industrial data-derived tool can give refiners confidence in simulating the actual benefits of additional hydrogen for improved VGO hydrotreater ...
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Staged FCCU main fractionator revamp
Oct-2008
A refinery column is debottlenecked in steps to address operational concerns and strategic goals. Understanding the site specific operational nuances and ...
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Composition variety complicates processing plans for US shale gas
Oct-2008
This article reviews which gas processing technologies are appropriate for the variety of US shale gas qualities being produced and planned to be prod ...
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Improving hydrotreater reactor performance
Jul-2008
Case study of a kerosene hydrotreater shows that combining new and old technologies - a unique inlet diffuser with Raschig rings - can significantly improve ...