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Jan-2006
Cost-effective exchanger network solutions need to rely on more than just pinch technology if they are to be successful
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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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Revamping crude towers for quality and yield
Nov-2016
A successful revamp of distillation towers for increased diesel quality and yield depended on reliable design and accurate assembly
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Accurate front-end scope definition: the key to a successful revamp project
Mar-2014
One of the characteristics of a mature industry such as petroleum refining, particularly in the U.S., is that many capital projects are facility revam ...
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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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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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Designing for sulphur removal and storage: part 1
Apr-2010
Selection of technologies for the sulphur block must serve legislative demands and the efficient operation of upstream processes
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Delayed coking: valves make the difference
Jan-2009
Traditional manual methods of coke drum unheading are labour intensive, costly to maintain, expensive to repair and carry inherent risk for personnel on ...
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Tray technology 
enhances extraction
Oct-2007
A case study involving the revamp of two rotating disc contactors in aromatics service highlights the most important design considerations for enhancing ...
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Sep-2006
Operational issues such as higher heater duty and column pressure must be weighed against avoiding residue entrainment in HVGO
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Enhancements in Ethylene Oxide/Ethylene Glycol manufacturing technology
Aug-2017
The markets for ethylene oxide (EO) and ethylene glycol (EG) continue to see attractive growth. This means that at least one or two new plants will need ...
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Bitumen processing: crude unit revamps
Jul-2011
The ability to process bitumen offers a competitive advantage, but revamps of crude and vacuum units to process bitumen require significant changes
to ...
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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 ... -
Hydrocracker revamp for Grangemouth refinery
Jul-1998
BP Oil’s Grangemouth refinery has completed an extensive revamp of its hydrocracker and FCC, reducing production of fuel oil and upgrading to middle ...
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Dividing wall technology in distillation columns
Feb-2020
Increased throughput required the revamp of a gasoline unit. Space constraints and strict product requirements led to dividing wall column technology as ...
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Crude unit start-ups: the results of a 
high liquid level
Sep-2003
Pressure-measurement techniques can avoid the dangers of rapidly changing flow rates and levels during start-up
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Refining/petrochemical integration: a new paradigm
Sep-2013
The global trend in motor fuel consumption favours diesel over gasoline. There is a simultaneous increase in demand for various petrochemicals such as ...
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Troubleshooting crude column constraints
Jul-2017
Multiple limitations to operating capacity were identified and resolved during a column turnaround
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Strategies for improved naphtha processing
Oct-2013
To take advantage of dilbit from Alberta and light oils from shale formations, refiners must develop a strategy for processing additional naphthas and ...
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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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Development of a refinery petrochemical master plan
Jan-1999
A master plan for a refinery/petrochemical complex justifies comprehensive study of all the variables, from market forecast to operating costs
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Oct-2016
Large maintenance overhaul projects are complex, expensive processes, often with unpredictable challenges that call for best practice techniques.
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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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Vacuum pressure control: impact on profitability
Jul-2001
Optimisation of flash zone pressure and temperature can improve feedstock quality to downstream units
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Oct-2005
Process modelling and equipment know-how are needed to design deep-cut vacuum units that operate reliably at high temperature and low pressure
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Planning for a refinery turnaround
Jan-2019
A consistent approach, coupled with an aligned team, leads to successful preparation at the front end of a turnaround.
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Understanding centrifugal compressor performance
Apr-2002
In a connected process system, expensive changes to the compressor and driver can be avoided with system debottlenecking modifications
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Centrifugal compressor operations
Jul-2004
The wet gas compressor is used as an example in this article reviewing compressor performance, operating conditions and basic control philosophy
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Using pinch technology in operations?
Sep-2013
Pinch Technology is a well established concept, and a tool used to optimise waste heat recovery and design efficient heat integration schemes in a wide ...
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Cost estimating for turnarounds
Jan-2012
Cost estimates for refinery turnarounds can lack accuracy, but lessons learned 
from capital project estimating could improve matters
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Refining/petrochemical integration: a new paradigm
Sep-2013
The global trend in motor fuel consumption favours diesel over gasoline. There is a simultaneous increase in demand for various petrochemicals such as ...
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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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Revamp raises crude flexibility and profits (TIA)
Aug-2020
Hyundai Oilbank (HDO) has been operating an atmospheric residue desulphurisation (ARDS) unit, producing feed for the RFCC unit, at its Daesan, South Korea, ...
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High performance internals in severe service
Nov-2020
Application of a severe service grid achieved 10% higher throughput with improved reliability in a vacuum tower revamp.
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Upgrading a vacuum distillation tower (TIA)
Feb-2021
Reliable and efficient vacuum towers are key to ensuring optimal performance and yield.
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Dividing wall revamp boosts octane and throughput
Jun-2021
Dividing wall column technology reduces energy and capex, but increasingly contributes to higher revenues from better products, as in this application ...
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Taking a holistic approach to a revamp
Jun-2021
If all aspects of a system are carefully examined, even minor changes can lead to large gains in unit performance and profitability.
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Don’t let furnace emissions derail your expansion project
Nov-2021
Predicting emissions prior to actual furnace design is not just a mathematical calculation
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Value engineering: a continuous front-end process (ERTC)
Dec-2021
The concept of front-end loading of projects is not new, where robust planning and design early in a project’s lifecycle helps to influence changes in ...
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Impact of not integrating capex in shutdowns
Jan-2022
Capital projects must comply more with detailed practices and principles.
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Optimising processes and operations for CO2 emissions reduction
Feb-2022
A proactive approach can achieve immediate CO2 emissions reduction with almost no investments while reducing operating costs.
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Optimising planned maintenance outages in turnarounds
Apr-2022
Maintenance downtime affects the refiner’s bottom line every hour that production is offline, which is when temporary power suppliers can help a facility ...
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Producing renewable liquid products from different lipid feedstocks (TIA)
Jun-2022
The refining landscape is shifting dramatically, and refiners are looking to adapt. This process often involves revamps or retrofits of existing asset ...
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Safety in turnaround power services
Jul-2022
Renting power systems during a turnaround or unexpected shutdown must take into account the health and safety of contractors and plant personnel working ...
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Sulzer’s VIEC technology provides the solution with single-stage early separation
Nov-2022
The principle of “easiest first” applies as much in the oil industry as in most other enterprises. This in no more evident than in the state of the ...
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Improved diesel hydrotreating catalyst loading scheme
Mar-2023
A European refiner used an independent catalyst testing approach to confirm their existing hydrotreating unit’s ability to cope with different LCO blending ...
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Mitigating FCC gas plant impacts when increasing reactor LPG yields
Apr-2023
Increasing FCC reactor LPG yields at the expense of gasoline increases profitability, but equipment downstream of the converter requires modifications ...
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Focused revamp increases diesel and HVGO recovery
Jul-2023
Refiners have the best opportunity to maximise return through identification of creative solutions during a focused capital revamp.
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Increasing efficiency of catalytic reformer unit fired heaters
Oct-2023
Application of ceramic coating on CRU heater tubing and refractory avoids oxidative scale formation, significantly lowering fuel consumption and CO2 f ...
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Enhancing heat transfer in Texas Towers
Oct-2009
Retrofit technology enhances heat recovery in feed-effluent exchangers, increases throughput, reduces furnace load and provides cost benefits
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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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Feb-2023
One of the most overlooked considerations when designing a rigging system is sling angles.
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Reconfiguration of naphtha splitters using divided wall column technology
Feb-2023
Integration of DWCs into existing refining configurations reduces energy consumption and GHG emissions in distillation systems while also lowering operating ...
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Dec-2022
Risk-based Inspection (RBI) has been around the refining and petrochemical industry for many years.
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Keeping your scaffolding under control during a turnaround
Dec-2022
During any Maintenance work or Turnarounds, there will be a need to reach inaccessible areas of the process plant, either for inspection or maintenance ...
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Dec-2022
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Sulzer’s VIEC technology provides the solution with single-stage early separation
Nov-2022
The principle of “easiest first” applies as much in the oil industry as in most other enterprises. This in no more evident than in the state of the ...
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DWC technology for improved separation and reduced CO2 emissions
Oct-2022
The two most important challenges today’s refinery and petrochemical industries are facing from a sustainability point of view are reducing carbon footprints ...
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Capital priorities in the downstream industry
Aug-2022
Margins opportunities in chemicals and biofuels dominate long-term investments.
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Safety in turnaround power services
Jul-2022
Renting power systems during a turnaround or unexpected shutdown must take into account the health and safety of contractors and plant personnel working ...
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Accelerating reactor cool down prior to turnaround
Jul-2022
The post-pandemic demand for transportation fuels and petrochemicals requires higher process complexity.
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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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Using future rows capacity to debottleneck fired heaters
Jun-2022
Opportunistic usage of the future row provision can lead to a multitude of benefits, provided the refiner knows what they are looking for during the r ...
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Producing renewable liquid products from different lipid feedstocks (TIA)
Jun-2022
The refining landscape is shifting dramatically, and refiners are looking to adapt. This process often involves revamps or retrofits of existing asset ...
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The keys to successfully revamping a fired heater: how to maximise value
May-2022
Fired heaters are facing scrutiny because they contribute to the global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). For refineries and ...
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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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Optimising planned maintenance outages in turnarounds
Apr-2022
Maintenance downtime affects the refiner’s bottom line every hour that production is offline, which is when temporary power suppliers can help a facility ...
-
Optimising processes and operations for CO2 emissions reduction
Feb-2022
A proactive approach can achieve immediate CO2 emissions reduction with almost no investments while reducing operating costs.
-
Impact of not integrating capex in shutdowns
Jan-2022
Capital projects must comply more with detailed practices and principles.
-
Value engineering: a continuous front-end process (ERTC)
Dec-2021
The concept of front-end loading of projects is not new, where robust planning and design early in a project’s lifecycle helps to influence changes in ...
-
Don’t let furnace emissions derail your expansion project
Nov-2021
Predicting emissions prior to actual furnace design is not just a mathematical calculation
-
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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FCC petrochemicals production at minimum capex
Nov-2021
Adapting FCC gas concentration unit design using dividing wall technology delivers high purity petrochemicals at significantly lower capital cost.
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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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Upgrading a vacuum distillation tower (TIA)
Aug-2021
When a major oil refinery in India was constrained by its vacuum tower, it turned to Sulzer Chemtech to find a solution that would not only solve existing ...