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Nov-2017
Thorough tank cleaning means removing all of the sludge and restoring the vessel’s full storage capacity.
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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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Future of opportunity crudes processing
Oct-2011
Five critical drivers help refiners remain profitable and sustain long-term business goals while processing relatively inexpensive, low-quality crudes
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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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Simulating crude units with preflash
Nov-2016
Process simulation offers a cost effective way of testing ideas to improve yield and energy performance.
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HS-FCC for propylene: concept to commercial operation
Oct-2016
A FCC process provides a high light olefin yield from a wide variety of feedstocks utilising high severity reaction conditions and a novel down flow reaction ...
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Renewable fuels and biofuels in a petroleum refinery
Jan-2011
Sound judgement of process environment, logistics and product properties is needed to process fossil and bio-derived raw materials on a single site
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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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Minimise amine losses in gas and 
liquid treating
Jun-2018
Even with incomplete information, a systematic approach can be used to identify the source of amine losses and the action needed to reduce them.
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Refinery energy efficiency and environmental goals
Jul-2002
Cheaper fuels do not always reduce costs, say the authors, and an alternative is cogeneration. It is argued that fuel saving programmes and cogeneration, ...
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Green retarder technology for the 
styrene industry
Jan-2012
Increased environmental and safety awareness in the styrene industry has led to the development of more acceptable alternatives to toxic nitrophenolic ...
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On-purpose propylene production
Feb-2019
Propane dehydrogenation plays an increasingly key role in closing the global shortage in traditional propylene supplies.
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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 ...
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Reducing gasoline sulphur with additives
Apr-2004
Evolution of regulations in an era of limited capital has led to the development of catalyst additive technologies to reduce FCC gasoline sulphur
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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 ...
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Jul-2015
Computational fluid dynamics was used to analyse the performance of side entry mixers in large crude tanks
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Simulating optimal tank farm design
Apr-2005
Development of a computerised model incorporating Monte Carlo operational risk simulation with the optimisation power of linear programming
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Air pre-heater improves energy efficiency
Apr-2014
A corrosion resistant air pre-heater enables valuable heat recovery from corrosive and fouling refinery flue gas streams
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Oct-2012
Inaccurate feed characterisation and process modelling errors are major contributors to poor performance in a vacuum unit as refiners switch to heavier ...
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FCC flue gas scrubber alternatives: part I
Jul-2009
The merits of combining additives and barrier filters as a cost-effective and highly efficient way of meeting SOx, NOx and particulate matter emissions ...
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Apr-2019
The oil and gas sector is consistently among the most vulnerable to cyber attack. Can a security programme reduce the risks?
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High-performance trays alone do not guarantee performance improvements
Apr-2012
A high-performance tray does not determine the effectiveness of the whole column. Other distillation equipment plays a vital role in a column revamp
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Consider retrofits to handle high-viscosity crudes
Mar-2004
In 2000, ConocoPhillips’ refinery in Sweeny, Texas, began processing 16° API gravity blends of extra-heavy crude oils, including Merey 16 and BCF 1 ...
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Apr-2011
Gasification technologies deliver steam, hydrogen and power from low-value refining residues and petcoke
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FCC feed preparation for improved quality
Apr-1997
The benefits of hydrotreating heavy gas oil FCC feedstocks at different levels of severity are discussed in this article, particularly the operating success ...
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Evaluating hydrogen rich fuel gas firing
Mar-2021
A sudden shift to hydrogen rich fuel gas firing may not be prudent if a fired heater is not designed for it.
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Gases and gas handling for the lab environment
May-2011
Over the past decade, manufacturing and process plants across the full spectrum of industry have advanced exponentially to meet the growing and evolving ...
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Alarm floods and plant incidents
Jul-2012
Alarm floods and their contribution to industrial incidents can be controlled successfully through all process states
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Carbon dioxide emissions from fired heaters
Jun-2021
Fired heaters emit an estimated 400 to 500 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. At least 73% of average refinery CO2 emissions come from c ...
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An atmospheric crude tower revamp
Jul-2005
Overall gas oil yield was maintained with heavier crudes due to a crude tower revamp. The revamp allowed for a crude heater outlet temperature reducti ...
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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.
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Importance of heat maintenance in sulphur recovery units
Mar-2016
While sulphur recovery in an SRU depends on the condensation and removal of elemental sulphur, its unintended condensation and accumulation can present ...
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When excess air becomes too much
Jul-2020
Excessive use of excess air impacts operating costs through fuel efficiency, furnace reliability, and stack emissions
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Detecting and dealing with hydrate formation
Apr-2010
A review of cause, detection and treatment of hydrate plug formation in 
gas pipelines. Gas hydrates are solid crystalline compounds, which have ...
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Cross-unit APC boosts downstream performance
Jul-2020
Manipulating advanced process control in a crude unit reduced constraints in a downstream diesel hydrotreater
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IMO 2020: meeting the challenge
Sep-2020
Developments in fuel additive technology address challenges and uncertainties raised by the IMO 2020 regulations
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Oct-2020
Responses to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
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Optimise your workflow and improve lab efficiencies
Oct-2020
XOS’ Sindie® series sulphur analysers offer a variety of features and capabilities aiming to improve your operational efficiencies. In addition, XOS’ ...
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Maximum margin = sharp tools + true aim
Dec-2020
It’s time that we shift our focus away from the doom, the gloom, the fear, and the uncertainty of today’s industry news. Flip to the Comics section ...
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Feb-2021
Responses to a question in the Q1 2021 issues Q&A Feature
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Navigating the greenhouse gas conundrum
Apr-2021
How supply chain ecosystems can meet new renewable growth demands.
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Jun-2021
Advances in floating liquefied natural gas production technology are becoming an important factor in maintaining sustained growth of the natural gas i ...
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Hydroprocessing routes for flexible residue upgrading
Jan-2022
Efficient and flexible resid processing options maintain profitability and reduce risk when price volatility is high.
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Mar-2022
As North Sea oil production declines, it is also getting heavier and more sour. How is the quality shift is playing out in global trade flows?
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Mar-2022
Improving level control in desalters to aid in use of opportunity crudes
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Use of tube inserts in fired heaters
May-2022
In 1896 Whitham reported the successful use of twisted tapes (originally called retarders, and now also called turbulators) to increase heat transfer in ...
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Economical structural design of natural gas processing plants
Jun-2022
Case study of a butane treatment unit illustrates effective structural design procedures and highlights construction challenges encountered in new and ...
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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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Olefins and octane from FCC operations
Jun-2022
The worldwide olefins market is valued at over $322 billion by 2026 and is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.0% for the 2022 to ...
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Challenges with carbon disulphide removal in petrochemical naphtha
Aug-2022
Meeting new specifications for removing carbon disulphide in petrochemical naphtha using dividing wall column technology.
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What about a CBAM for the refining industry? (ERTC)
Nov-2022
In 2020, when oil demand and refining margins collapsed during the pandemic, we saw a tidal wave of industry rationalisation across the world; many refineries ...
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An FCC sustainability game changer (ERTC)
Nov-2022
As the post-pandemic world reflects the return of strong demand and profits for oil refined products, there are increased incentives to use FCC premium ...
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Facilitating adoption of carbon capture on fcc flue gas (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is a key conversion step in gasoline production.
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Refiners weighing opportunities for circular polymer production (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Zero to single-digit returns for European refiners compel development of revenue streams around low-carbon products.
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Sustainable energy management is becoming increasingly important for refineries (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Energy is the big topic throughout Europe. Where does it come from, what is it used for, and how can we save it?
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Take-off for cleaner skies starts now with SAF (ERTC)
Nov-2022
The transportation sector accounts for 14% of the world’s GHG emissions. This is why governments and states worldwide are taking measures to lower GHG ...
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Decarbonising liquid fuels with BioFlux technologies (ERTC)
Nov-2022
The traditional oil and gas industry is transforming as modern fuels become cleaner and more sustainable.
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Mesoporous zeolites deliver catalytic benefits (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Catalytic results make compelling business cases in refining, petrochemicals, and the conversion of methanol, biomass and waste plastics.
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Where does future growth lie? (ERTC)
Nov-2022
2022 was truly an unprecedented year for global refining. The pandemic-driven capacity rationalisation, strong subsequent demand recovery, China’s product ...
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Environmental and economical benefits of improving amine unit operations (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Amine unit in refineries - The alkanolamine system in a refinery, better known as the ‘amine unit’, is used to remove hydrogen sulphide (H₂S), carbon ...
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Precious metals: managing the markets in a changing world (ERTC)
Nov-2022
They are still considered very valuable for their appearance, but their expanding technological uses and increasing scarcity mean these elements will continue ...
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Pivoting to chemicals while decarbonising today (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Despite many improvements in vehicle fuel economy, increasing adoption of hybrids and EVs, petroleum-based fuel demand continues to grow, at least in the ...
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Using reactivated hydroprocessing catalysts in TGTUs for financial and sustainability rewards (ERTC)
Nov-2022
For over 40 years, the global petroleum refining industry has successfully been reusing hydroprocessing catalysts through ex situ reactivation, to capitalise ...
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Hydroprocessing catalysts sulphiding with DMDS: Carelflex® Connect brings more than IIoT (ERTC)
Nov-2022
Two years after the launch of its new digital Carelflex® service, Arkema has greatly improved the content of its digital platform known as Carelflex® ...
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Solution for ammonia monitoring in CEMS and DeNOx applications
Nov-2022
The SERVOTOUGH Laser 3 Plus Environmental delivers Tunable Diode Laser sensing precision to ammonia monitoring applications in a low-maintenance, cost-effective ...
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Nov-2022
Going into the winter, global economies need more diesel, petrochemical feedstocks, etc. Refinery disinvestment in North America and Europe has led to ...
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Cationic polymer application in DAF units
Nov-2022
Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF) technology is one of the proven purification technologies already used in the world. It is designed to meet all costumer ...
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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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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. ...
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Considerations for repurposing a fuel-grade coker into a needle coker
Nov-2022
How a delayed coking unit originally designed and operated to produce fuel-grade coke could be repurposed to produce needle coke.
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Nov-2022
Chemical absorption is both technically and economically feasible for biogas upgrading under atmospheric conditions, thereby avoiding the need for com ...
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Design of sulphur recovery units
Nov-2022
Cost-effective methodologies for SRU developments should incorporate advanced structural design aspects with process design improvements.
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Future refinery complexes built using an integrated approach
Nov-2022
Minimise risks of project design changes at later stages using process digital twins during the design phase.
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Navigating environmental complexities at pace
Nov-2022
Revamping existing hydrogen plants can provide a significant and lasting impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions towards net zero.
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High throughput experimentation meets chlorine chemistry
Nov-2022
A novel high throughput unit designed for the accelerated testing of HCl oxidation catalysts under industrially relevant conditions.