Desalting chemistry and monitoring methods to help expand crude basket

Feb-2023

Widening the crude basket increases the challenges of maintaining asset reliability and plant performance, including formation of rag layers.

The power option

Apr-2019

With the market for high sulphur fuel oil under pressure, refiners with delayed cokers can instead opt for higher value power and steam generation.

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 ...

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.

Maximising stripping section performance

Aug-2021

The design of a crude unit stripping section affects diesel and gasoil yields, energy usage, and unit reliability.

Crude logistics scheduling

Jun-2021

Upgraded crude scheduling enabled a refiner to increase its use of opportunity crudes for higher margin.

Online monitor slashes biocide dosage (TIA)

Nov-2018

In many systems, fouling and deposits are a serious problem which results in shutdowns, cleaning actions and unexpected costs for the customer.

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.

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 ...

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 ...

Identifying the root cause of underperforming ejector systems

Nov-2022

Underperforming ejector systems illustrate the importance of the long air baffle, its proper operation, and how to quickly identify problems when they ...

Amine anomaly in a mild hydrocracker

Jun-2021

Simulation and operational changes help to crack the riddle of frequent amine carry-over from a high pressure amine absorber.

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 ...

Turnaround at a crude unit

Jan-2022

Improvements in performance and energy efficiency were achieved during the turnaround of a crude distillation unit.

Column revamp boosts diesel production

Nov-2020

Revamping the internals of a main fractionator column enabled a refinery to increase its diesel throughput.

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 ...

Unicracking unit flow scheme optimisation and integration

Nov-2023

How an optimisation and integration approach can assist in maximising refinery margin for a residue upgrading project.

Front end filtering of unconventional oil

Jan-2019

Processing unconventional oils requires technologies such as electrostatic separation to handle higher amounts of filterable solids.

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 ...

Crude preheat train fouling and fix-up

Nov-2022

Rigorous modelling of crude preheat train exchangers allows for fouling progression of the heat exchangers to be monitored throughout the crude unit run ...

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 ...

Managing vacuum tower wash beds

Sep-2020

ThruVision™ scans monitor the rate of coking in vacuum tower wash beds to get the most out of bed productivity.

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.

A simple ejector modification

Apr-2022

A vacuum column’s economics can be greatly improved with a low cost modification to the ejector system

Crude oil processing scheme for reducing operating costs in the CDU

Feb-2023

Development of crude oil distillation processing schemes to significantly reduce external energy and stripping steam demand.

Crude column relief mitigation

Oct-2011

Mitigation of plant-wide relief loads can greatly improve the safety of the plant, reduce flaring and be used as the basis for building smaller relief ...

Turnarounds deliver process improvements

Nov-2016

An extended unit shutdown is relatively rare and an opportunity to take every advantage to improve performance.

A two stage approach to controlling fouling on preheat trains at OMV’s Schwechat refinery

Aug-2016

Fouling in heat exchanger preheat trains is a well-known problem in the refining industry. Fouling reduces exchanger performance, increases furnace duty, ...

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.

Dealing with desalter cleaning challenges

Aug-2016

How to overcome lengthy and potentially dangerous challenges when cleaning a crude unit desalter.

Online cleaning of 
process equipment

Oct-2008

In the interest of time and cost savings, online cleaning prior to shutdown can reduce the duration and complexity of refinery turnarounds, as demonstrated ...

Energy-efficient vacuum systems

Apr-2013

Case analysis of the techniques available to reduce energy consumption in vacuum systems reveals the potential for cost savings

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.

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

Front end filtering of unconventional oil

Jan-2019

Processing unconventional oils requires technologies such as electrostatic separation to handle higher amounts of filterable solids.

Unlocking current 
refinery constraints

Apr-2008

When processing heavy feeds, technology based on residuum supercritical solvent extraction provides higher volumes of gas oil and DAO for conversion units. ...

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

Designing a crude unit heat 
exchanger network

Oct-2012

Preheat train design for heavy Canadian crudes can be very challenging, requiring an approach not normally required with other crudes

Improved conceptual process design avoids revamp scope growth

Mar-2002

For grassroots design, defining project scope is a straightforward exercise. Grassroots projects can follow optimum execution procedures for engineering ...

Reducing the danger of maintenance exposure

Apr-1998

Maintenance cost overruns result from inadequate cost estimating and the emergence of unidentified work that has to be done

Revamping conceptual process design

Jan-2002

With the desirability of getting the maximum use out of existing equipment when revamps are planned a rigorous approach to CPD is required to avoid scope ...

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 ...

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 ...

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

Deep-cut vacuum unit design

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

Gamma scanning fractionators

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 ...

Identifying very small 
equipment leaks

Jan-2008

Very small leaks in feed/effluent exchangers can be identified using chemical tracing. This online technique can detect leaks as low as 5.0 ppm, avoiding ...

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 ...

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.

Online real-time optimisation helps identify energy gaps

Oct-2010

Real-time supervision of a refinery’s energy system enables optimisation of its fuel consumption and emissions levels