-
Installing a power recovery system on FCC or RFCC units
Jan-2010
Full examination of the design options and operating issues related to the installation of a PRS on a FCC or RFCC unit will increase energy efficiency ...
-
Control of foaming in amine systems
Sep-2007
Amine solutions foam. Solution foaming causes plant upsets. It is the disengagement or break time that differentiates normal, desirable froth from undesirable ...
-
Operating vacuum distillation ejector systems
Oct-2016
Best practices and opportunities to deliver reliable ejector system performance and reduce performance risk.
-
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
-
Conversion of natural 
gas to liquid fuels
Apr-2009
Companies aiming to bring gas to liquids projects to the 
commercial stage have encountered variable success
-
Optimised hydrogen production by steam reforming: part I
Jan-2012
Modelling optimisation of process and design parameters for minimising natural gas consumption in hydrogen production by steam reforming
-
Dynamic simulation: a tool for engineering problems
Oct-2012
Dynamic simulation can be used to solve engineering problems that require an 
in-depth understanding of transient processes
-
Oct-2005
Fundamental design considerations influencing diesel and vacuum gas oil (VGO) recovery when revamping existing or designing grassroots crude units. By ...
-
Metathesis: refinery and ethylene plant applications
Jul-2001
With the demand for propylene now exceeding that for C4s, the authors see the integration of the metathesis process in FCC units and steam crackers as ...
-
Optimise hydrocracker operations for maximum distillates
Apr-2012
Estimation of an accurate operating window for a hydrocracker enables refiners to minimise yields of light ends and maximise diesel production
-
Residue desulphurisation and conversion
Apr-2006
The current market forces that presage a boom in resid hydrotreatment are examined along with recently reported progress in technology
-
Reducing benzene 
in gasoline
Jul-2008
Cost-effective solutions for the reduction of benzene in gasoline, particularly with regard to MSAT II requirement
-
Overcoming high conductivity in process condensate
Jan-2014
Analysis of design and operations enabled a refiner to eliminate contaminants from hydrogen plant process condensate by installing a high pressure str ...
-
The challenges of crude blending - Part 2
Jun-2016
The second part of a two-part article details the importance of crude selection and blending strategies to prosper in a low cost yet volatile market.
-
Chloride removal in refineries
Mar-2011
A review of catalytic removal of chlorides from refinery streams and a critique of current analytical techniques for estimating chloride content
-
Tray design for high load applications
Jul-2014
Distillation is an essential separation technology in refineries, gas processing, and the chemical industries. Internals for distillation columns can be ...
-
Mitigating fouling in the caustic tower
Oct-2013
Comprehensive analysis of foulants in an ethylene plant’s caustic tower led to the identification of an effective treatment programme
-
Removing salts and contaminants in glycol regeneration
Apr-2014
A new process combining candle filters and pressure plate filters enables more glycol to be safely recovered from natural gas than by conventional met ...
-
Meeting Euro IV fuel specifications
Jan-2006
Pretreating technology and special catalysts can help refiners meet the current and forthcoming European environmental regulations and improve their FCCU ...
-
Managing vanadium from high metals crude oils
Sep-2003
Improvements in process and equipment design with regard to crude unit and delayed coker distillation column performance can reduce metals content
-
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 ...
-
Jul-2019
Building a good time series model is the primary requirement for generating good oil price forecasts.
-
Preventing ammonium salt fouling and corrosion
Jan-2018
Best practices and opportunities to reduce the risk of salt deposition and damage
-
HCN emissions in fluid catalytic cracking
Apr-2013
Increased attention to refinery emissions of hydrogen cyanide requires detailed understanding of its formation and conversion in the FCC regenerator
-
Carbon capture options for refiners
Mar-2012
An outline methodology identifies the most appropriate way to achieve a refinery’s carbon capture goal
-
Pricing licences for gas processing units
Mar-2021
How technologies can be selected on the best licensing terms.
-
Transition to net zero: steps to decarbonise the oil refining industry
May-2022
A review of the solutions being employed by oil refineries to reduce their Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions.
-
Achieving 95% direct CO2 reduction for hydrogen plants
Jun-2022
Decarbonisation solutions targeting existing refinery hydrogen plants enable refiners to achieve long-term CO2 capture while minimising site space requirements ...
-
Start-up and shutdown issues in sulphur processing
Nov-2020
Knowing the limitations of the sulphur unit and what may occur during start-ups and shutdowns helps to prevent damage.
-
Simulation model increases 
visbreaker conversion
Jan-2011
Introduction of advanced analytical monitoring, chemical treatment and process optimisation has raised the profitability of a visbreaker unit
-
Flue gas heat recovery through the acid dew point
Jul-2019
Polymer based heat exchange technology enables more heat recovery from flue gas by addressing acid corrosion issues.
-
Oil-to-chemicals: new approaches
Jul-2020
A review of developments and trends in the expanding business of oil-to-chemicals.
-
Planning a turnaround that fits
Jan-2021
A risk based work selection process screens worklist items to ensure they are justified for risk reduction or financial benefit as part of a turnaroun ...
-
Catalytic reforming in the biorefinery
Mar-2021
Optimum production of hydrogen in the reformer enables profitable production of diesel range biofuels by hydrotreating residual oils.
-
High efficiency contaminant removal - Improving new and existing acid gas sweetening processes
Nov-2022
Gas sweetening processes using amine solvents are often challenged to meet productivity and reliability targets due to the impact of solid and liquid contamination. ...
-
Combating green oil formation in a CCR reformer
Jul-2013
The addition of a chloride adsorber guard bed solved a refiner’s issues with contamination affecting a CCR reformer’s rich gas compressor
-
Seismic design of structural steel pipe racks
Nov-2011
Structural steel pipe racks are structures in petrochemical, chemical and power plants that support pipes, power cables and instrument cable trays. Occasionally, ...
-
Jun-2020
Petcoke gasification. The chemistry of gasification fits somewhere between combustion and pyrolysis. Combustion is a high temperature reaction in an excess ...
-
Precision Comparison Case Study – HDXRF® vs ICP (IP 501 & IP 621)
Jul-2020
As petroleum professionals continue to refine their production processes, products such as crude oil, residual fuel oils, and VGO can contain higher concentrations ...
-
Making innovative catalysts to trigger a reaction in chemical, gas and refining processes
Aug-2020
When you are creating high-quality petrochemical end products, you must first trigger a reaction.
-
Capturing carbon dioxide from refinery streams
Aug-2020
Using hydrogen manufacturing units to demonstrate the relative benefits of technologies for capturing carbon from low and high pressure streams.
-
Managing the life cycle of coke drums
Sep-2020
Coke drums have finite lives. Understanding where they are in their life cycle is key to managing spending on repair or replacement
-
Oct-2020
Response to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
-
When replacement in-kind gives performance that isn’t: a vibration case study
Dec-2020
This story starts with a familiar scenario for a fluidised catalytic cracking unit (FCCU); a 30 year old waste heat boiler (WHB) had become a maintenance ...
-
Process safety time for fired heaters
Dec-2020
Cases illustrate the actions needed to avoid hazards occurring when the supply to a fired heater is disturbed.
-
Feb-2021
Responses to a question in the Q1 2021 issues Q&A feature
-
Acid gas fired reheater control
Jun-2021
Operating as close as possible to the stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio is advised for acid gas fired reheaters.
-
Catalyst switch solves NOx removal issues
Jun-2021
Changing to a corrugated honeycomb design from a pellet type for catalytic NOx reduction of a furnace’s flue gas stream overcame a series of operational ...
-
A smart approach to tank dewatering
Jun-2021
A tank dewatering technology using smart sensors is designed to reduce hydrocarbon losses and raise the quality of crude supplies to the refinery without ...
-
Impact of chlorides on fluid catalytic cracking
Aug-2021
Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is an important conversion process in many refineries. It produces transportation fuels, including gasoline and diesel precursors, ...
-
Increasing chemicals by integrating refinery with petrochemicals (RI 2023)
Nov-2023
This article explores the integration of refineries with petrochemicals to increase chemical production.
-
K Model: The future of blending (RI 2023)
Nov-2023
In a refinery operation, the profitability margin is increased when heavy crude fractions are blended with light crude without affecting processabilit ...
-
Novel reactor for three-phase hydroprocessing applications (RI 2023)
Nov-2023
Hydroprocessing treats heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks with hydrogen to create high-quality fuels in a heterogeneous, exothermic process.
-
Nuclear gauges and alternative level technologies in critical refinery applications (Ri 2023)
Nov-2023
In order for important equipment in an oil refinery to function in a smooth and productive manner, accurate level measurement is an essential componen ...
-
Transforming hydrogen production for a greener future with water electrolysis (RI 2023)
Nov-2023
There is a global trend toward producing clean hydrogen to achieve the ambitious net zero emissions target by 2050.
-
Used lubricating oil in India: treasure or trash? (RI 2023)
Nov-2023
To achieve smooth writing, one must eliminate resistance between pen and paper, right? This resistance to the motion is nothing but a phenomenon known ...
-
Assessing LNG feed gas depressurisation
Nov-2023
Methods and models for estimating time-dependent profiles of mass discharge rates, pressures, and temperatures for LNG feed gas non-adiabatic depressurisation ...
-
Crude to chemicals: Part 1 - The basic concept of crudes
Nov-2023
Reactor platforms with novel heat integration designed around advanced separation techniques and catalyst systems achieve 75% yields from selected cru ...
-
Catalyst testing for renewable fuels and chemicals
Nov-2023
The possibilities and best practices to run renewable feedstocks in high throughput units are presented.
-
Identifying high catalyst losses
Nov-2023
Multiple approaches to assessing FCC catalyst losses require an assessment of the unit’s mechanical system’s impact on fluidisation efficiency.
-
Simulation VGO and waste lubricating/cooking oil co-hydroprocessing
Nov-2023
Software used to build a simulation case for industrial hydrocracking of VGO, WCO, and WLO validates predicted values of gasoline and middle distillates ...
-
Estimating natural gas demand at a petrochemical complex
Nov-2023
A robust model has been developed to predict a plant’s natural gas demand, accounting for fluctuating capacities and anticipated fuel gas and steam ...
-
Optimising fouled distillation units
Nov-2023
Case studies discuss optimisation strategies and enhanced distillation unit performance against fouled conditions.
-
Managing life cycle assessment and life cycle thinking in refining
Nov-2023
LCA and LCT facilitate the ability to quantitatively determine the impact on integrated environmental management benefits as demonstrated at 10 processing ...
-
Enabling safe FCC unit operational changes through ionic modelling
Nov-2023
How ionic modelling assisted in the management of change in FCC unit operations.
-
Big changes in the US octane market
Nov-2023
Strategies for enabling higher margin capture in today’s highly volatile crude and product markets.
-
Enhancing FCC reliability: The impact of cyclone technology developments
Nov-2023
How optimising cyclone design and implementing advanced internal hardware enhance operational reliability, illustrated with three real-world examples.
-
Resolving low slide valve differentials and catalyst circulation problems
Nov-2023
Troubleshooting catalyst circulation problems that lead to unscheduled shutdowns and reduced income.
-
Technical solutions for hydrotreating
Nov-2023
Revamps and turnarounds allow time to upgrade hydroprocessing units to make refineries both profitable and sustainable
-
Transforming refinery opportunities through FCC
Oct-2023
Pursuing a sustainable path for recycled and renewable feedstocks.
-
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 ...
-
Advancements in retrofits for existing NGL recovery plants
Oct-2023
Better plant performance is achieved using proven retrofit techniques to upgrade a gas subcooled process or older plant with more recent retrofit tech ...
-
27 years of reliable sulphur removal
Oct-2023
LO-CAT® technology is a liquid reduction-oxidation (redox) process that uses catalyst in an aqueous solution to convert hydrogen sulphide into elemental ...
-
Pioneering gas analysis and empowering a sustainable future with Servomex
Oct-2023
In a world driven by technological advancements and an ever-increasing demand for environmental consciousness, the importance of accurate gas analysis ...
-
Control corrosion in refineries and petrochemical plants
Oct-2023
Formation of a water-resistant organic film barrier stops electrochemical corrosion on metal surfaces.
-
Steam methane reformer tube lifecycle improvement best practices
May-2024
Reformer tube life assessment can be done via online monitoring, non-destructive testing, and tube harvesting with historical operating, monitoring, and ...