-
Apr-2006
When designing vacuum units for processing heavy Canadian crudes, reliability costs can be high if the feedstock’s thermal instability is not fully ...
-
Refinery CO2 challenges: part III
Jul-2006
For the prediction of CO2 emissions from a refinery, simple correlations are not always sufficient. A rigorous simulation tool that includes fractionation ...
-
Wastewater treatment for challenging crudes
Jan-2018
A new organic polymer treatment has enabled refiners to more effectively process a variety of opportunity crudes
-
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
-
Problems in processing discounted crudes Part 2: crude and vacuum columns
May-2019
Project costs must be considered to fully understand whether or not an opportunity crude really does deliver on savings.
-
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 ...
-
Cost-effective and reliable revamps
Jul-2009
Test run hydraulic measurements and analysis, together with equipment know-how, can help refiners identify profitable, low-cost revamp opportunities
-
Improving solids handling in a delayed coker
Jul-2011
A reliability model applied to a coke handling system demonstrates the benefits of compliance with a preventive maintenance programme
-
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 ...
-
Model predictive control of a distillation unit
Jul-2017
In a coordinated plant process, particular attention must be paid to control of individual columns.
-
How dynamic pressure can affect vacuum column readings
Jun-2016
Computational fluid dynamics confirmed field measurements to explain a vacuum unit’s poor quality HVGO and was used to redesign the tower internals
-
Troubleshooting vacuum unit revamps
Jul-1998
While vacuum unit revamps increase gasoil yield, management is pushing the intervals between turnarounds to four or five years
-
Avoiding unscheduled shutdowns
Apr-2001
Case studies have demonstrated that correct heater design and consequent performance will determine crude unit run length
-
Practical considerations for crude unit revamps
Oct-1998
Two examples are used in this article to illustrate how changes in the process flow scheme can increase preheat train heat recovery
-
Enhancing fractionator efficiency
Jul-2016
Properly designed vapour and liquid distribution devices enable more effective distillation column efficiency.
-
Maximising the use of process energy
Apr-2014
Integrating a flash drum in an atmospheric and crude distillation unit offers the potential for savings and capacity enhancement
-
Vacuum unit design effect on operating variables
Jul-2002
To revamp vacuum units, process modelling and equipment design know-how are needed, and the understanding of connected equipment performance can lead to ...
-
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 ...
-
Asphalt quality prediction and control
Oct-2014
With knowledge of heavy vacuum gasoil cut-point and asphalt density, asphalt quality can be inferred
-
Crude column revamp using radial temperature profiles
Sep-2003
Designers need to be aware of all the factors influencing packed bed performance such as feed zone mixing problems
-
Vacuum unit design for high 
metals crudes
Jan-2007
Vacuum unit design can influence vacuum gas yield, product quality and run length. A wet vacuum unit with residue stripping achieves the highest cutpo ...
-
Integrated monitoring for optimising crude distillation
Jan-2012
On-line process analysers in crude distillation units prevent lost throughput caused by non-conforming process conditions and crude oil switching
-
Turnarounds deliver process improvements
Nov-2016
An extended unit shutdown is relatively rare and an opportunity to take every advantage to improve performance.
-
Controlling contaminants in vacuum gasoil
Nov-2017
How revamps can increase VDU capacity and reliability while controlling contaminant levels to acceptable limits.
-
Troubleshooting a heavy crude topper
Jul-2019
Thorough troubleshooting revealed the primary cause of a heavy crude topper’s poor availability: desalter operation. A comprehensive revamp resolved ...
-
Improving level control in desalters to aid in use of opportunity crudes
Sep-2019
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 ...
-
Wastewater treatment for challenging crudes
Jan-2018
A new organic polymer treatment has enabled refiners to more effectively process a variety of opportunity crudes
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
High performance trays for a fractionator in an aromatics plant
May-2015
Distillation is a very important separation technology in refineries and downstream chemical processing. Mass transfer internals in distillation columns ...
-
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 ...
-
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 ...
-
Light tight oil crude unit fouling root causes and troubleshooting
Mar-2015
Fouling in preheaters, crude furnace and atmospheric tower bottoms exchangers directly impacts throughput and profitability, requiring rigorous evaluation ...
-
Silencing hammering in a condenser system
Dec-2017
Detailed analysis leading to correct diagnosis meant that only minor equipment changes were needed to cure severe hammering in a naphtha splitter.
-
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.
-
Best practice desalting Part 1: crude flexibility window
Jul-2017
A replacement programme of desalter treatment chemistry transformed the operation of crude units struggling to meet performance targets
-
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 ... -
Crude unit revamp to increase diesel yield
Apr-2002
Account of a crude vacuum unit revamp where detailed calculation of the true performance of existing equipment raised diesel production by 14.5 vol% on ...
-
Vacuum unit design for high 
metals crudes
Jan-2007
Vacuum unit design can influence vacuum gas yield, product quality and run length. A wet vacuum unit with residue stripping achieves the highest cutpo ...
-
Heat integration projects for 
refining processes
Oct-2013
Heat integration projects can deliver substantial savings, but they require detailed simulation and case-specific heat integration analysis
-
Reducing vacuum tower pressure
Apr-2015
To create a better vacuum the vapour load to the ejector has to be reduced
-
Simulating crude units with preflash
Nov-2016
Process simulation offers a cost effective way of testing ideas to improve yield and energy performance.
-
Mar-2018
Scalable simulation of crude unit operations enables refineries to build increasingly rigorous models to enhance performance
-
Maximisation of VGO through deep-cut distillation for refinery margins
Jan-2011
Appropriate choice of crude and/or crude oil blends as feedstock and a vacuum tower revamp enable higher production of vacuum gas oil
-
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
-
Maximising the use of process energy
Apr-2014
Integrating a flash drum in an atmospheric and crude distillation unit offers the potential for savings and capacity enhancement
-
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
-
Canadian crude processing challenges
Jan-2008
Vacuum unit design influences liquid volume yields, run length, product 
yield and product quality when processing bitumen crude oils
-
Improving solids handling in a delayed coker
Jul-2011
A reliability model applied to a coke handling system demonstrates the benefits of compliance with a preventive maintenance programme
-
Sep-2007
Primary goals of a lube vacuum column revamp were to increase lube product fractionation and minimise HVGO product contaminants
-
Balanced distillation equipment design
Feb-2017
Fouling resistance and efficiency requirements for distillation equipment are balanced and optimised for reliable unit performance.
-
Turnarounds deliver process improvements
Nov-2016
An extended unit shutdown is relatively rare and an opportunity to take every advantage to improve performance.
-
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
-
Simulating crude units with preflash
Nov-2016
Process simulation offers a cost effective way of testing ideas to improve yield and energy performance.
-
Operating vacuum distillation ejector systems
Oct-2016
Best practices and opportunities to deliver reliable ejector system performance and reduce performance risk.
-
Data analytics for hydrocarbon processing
Oct-2016
Advanced data handling techniques are transforming operations in the refining industry at an increasing pace.
-
Troubleshooting vacuum systems
Oct-2016
Case histories of refinery vacuum tower problems solved are gleaned from five decades of experience.
-
Dealing with desalter cleaning challenges
Aug-2016
How to overcome lengthy and potentially dangerous challenges when cleaning a crude unit desalter.
-
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, ...
-
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
-
Enhancing fractionator efficiency
Jul-2016
Properly designed vapour and liquid distribution devices enable more effective distillation column efficiency.
-
Loss into gain in high capacity trays - Part 1: excursion
Jun-2016
Systematic troubleshooting diagnosed and solved two complex and independent problems that limited the capacity of an atmospheric crude distillation to ...
-
How dynamic pressure can affect vacuum column readings
Jun-2016
Computational fluid dynamics confirmed field measurements to explain a vacuum unit’s poor quality HVGO and was used to redesign the tower internals
-
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 ...
-
Savings in exchanger network cleaning (TIA)
Jun-2015
The Super Clean System (SCS), an online heat exchanger cleaning technology, is being used by a major oil refiner in Japan at a refinery equipped with a ...
-
High performance trays for a fractionator in an aromatics plant
May-2015
Distillation is a very important separation technology in refineries and downstream chemical processing. Mass transfer internals in distillation columns ...
-
Enhancing energy efficiency in the CDU
Apr-2015
Revisiting your crude distillation unit may expose hidden potential for major energy savings
-
Increasing distillate production at least capital cost
Apr-2015
Investing in improvements to the atmospheric crude unit can deliver increased distillate yields with short payback times
-
Reducing vacuum tower pressure
Apr-2015
To create a better vacuum the vapour load to the ejector has to be reduced
-
Revamping crude and vacuum units to process bitumen
Apr-2015
Revamping crude and vacuum units to process dilbit can involve extensive equipment replacement as well as major changes to the crude preheating scheme
-
Light tight oil crude unit fouling root causes and troubleshooting
Mar-2015
Fouling in preheaters, crude furnace and atmospheric tower bottoms exchangers directly impacts throughput and profitability, requiring rigorous evaluation ...
-
Asphalt quality prediction and control
Oct-2014
With knowledge of heavy vacuum gasoil cut-point and asphalt density, asphalt quality can be inferred
-
Shale feedstocks fuel ethylene, LNG and petrochemical derivatives expansion
Apr-2014
In spite of the variability in shale composition causing operational challenges for refiners, monetisation opportunities are seen throughout the energy ...
-
Maximising the use of process energy
Apr-2014
Integrating a flash drum in an atmospheric and crude distillation unit offers the potential for savings and capacity enhancement
-
Myth of high cutpoint in dry 
vacuum units
Apr-2014
Accurate measures of true boiling point cutpoints are essential to correctly evaluate vacuum unit performance