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Handling mercury in gas processing plants
May-2017
Advances in the safe treatment and disposal of mercury in gaseous and liquid streams.
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Operational challenges in sour water stripping
Jul-2019
How to keep a sour water stripper at optimum performance between shutdowns.
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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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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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Anode-grade coke from traditional crudes
Apr-2010
A combination of solvent deasphalting and delayed coking is an option to minimise fuel oil production and produce anode-grade coke
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How ZSM-5 works on FCC gasoline composition
Oct-2015
A study of the effect of matrix versus zeolite in the base catalyst on the composition of light and heavy gasoline fractions.
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Using APC in refinery energy systems — develop your own solutions
Oct-2013
Advanced Process Control (APC) has been used extensively to assist in operating refinery and petrochemical processes smoothly, safely and profitably.
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High performance catalyst for liquid phase EB technology
Jul-1997
The EBZ-500 catalyst has raised catalyst peformance, achieving not only greater purity in the ethylbenzene produced and, consequently, in styrene monomer, ...
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Delayed coker design and project execution
Apr-2002
This article presents insights into the key considerations for residue upgading and details some of the advances in technology, including online computer ...
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Alternative routes to paraxylene production
Apr-2004
An integrated refining and petrochemical approach to paraxylene manufacture from various feedstocks, such as excess aromatics in reformate or pyrolysis ...
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Increasing catalytic reforming yields
Mar-2008
Case study where a CCR Platforming process unit increased profitability by changing to a high-density catalyst. Higher aromatic yields and the ability ...
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Refining/petrochemical integration 
- FCC gasoline to petrochemicals
May-2015
The global trend in motor fuel consumption favours diesel over gasoline, with gasoline often being in surplus. There is a simultaneous increase in demand ...
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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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New flare technology utilising low pressure steam
Sep-2009
The American Petroleum Institute defines a flare to be a “device or system used to safely dispose of relief fluids in an environmentally compliant manner ...
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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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Oct-2013
By adding a new unit that reacts a benzene-rich stream with light olefins, a refiner complied with current regulations for benzene and achieved a payback ...
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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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FCC gasoline and C4 streams for 
BTX production
Oct-2009
An extractive distillation process provides direct recovery of aromatics from FCC gasoline to rebalance refinery production towards higher levels of p ...
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Steam reformers for hydrogen and synthesis gas
Jan-2013
Modern steam methane reformer design is a complex process that needs to be carefully optimised in terms of capital and operating costs
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A comparison of physical solvents for acid gas removal
Mar-2008
Physical solvents such as DEPG (Selexol or Coastal AGR), NMP or N-Methyl-2- Pyrrolidone (Purisol), Methanol (Rectisol), Propylene Carbonate (Fluor Solvent) ...
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Small-scale LNG — what refrigeration technology is the best?
Mar-2014
Currently, low natural gas prices are allowing multiple secondary players in the U.S. market to consider investments in small-scale LNG plants.
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Refinery power failures: causes, costs and solutions: part 2
Oct-2013
Technologies are discussed to help refiners formulate strategies in managing risks and crisis due to emergency shutdowns, thereby minimising financial ...
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Estimating delayed coker yields
Feb-2020
Correlations were developed for estimating product yields from delayed coker units to achieve optimum performance and refinery configuration.
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Advanced solutions for efficient 
crude blending
Apr-2014
The use of nuclear magnetic resonance based process analysers supports the production of blends at lowest cost
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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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Design configurations for lowering quenched coke drum venting pressure
Feb-2023
Compare the advantages when installing either an ejector or a water ring compressor for lowering coke drum venting pressure.
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Advice to my aspiring engineer: What will make you stand out?
Feb-2023
What separates the good engineers from the great? The top three traits to consider that could ensure a rewarding and challenging career in the industr ...
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Petrochemical complex digitalisation for greater efficiency and emissions reduction
Apr-2023
Concepts of automation and data exchange in manufacturing have propelled both upstream and downstream sectors into the 4.0 world, gradually extending to ...
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Refineries can reduce leak repairs by monitoring emissions
Jul-2023
Cutting oil refinery leak repair times by 80 percent through game-changing fixed, continuous emissions monitoring.
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Troubleshooting steam ejectors
Oct-2014
Some causes and practical solutions concerning problems with refinery steam vacuum ejectors
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Characterising and tracking contaminants in opportunity crudes
Jan-2014
The specific properties of contaminants in opportunity crudes affect the selection of crude slates for existing facilities and the design of revamps and ...
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Dec-2022
The Crude-to-Chemicals project is designed for world-scale petrochemicals production to deliver a flexible, bankable, and sustainable free-market inve ...
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Are produced water emission factors accurate?
Oct-2016
Rules of thumb are often used for estimating emissions from Produced Water storage tanks, especially when entrained hydrocarbons are present.
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Assessment of crude oil blends
Oct-2011
A refiner’s assessment of the compatibility of opportunity crudes in blends aims to avoid the processing problems introduced by lower-quality feedst ...
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Process and energy analysis for cost savings and CO2 reduction
Jul-2010
Applying heat pinch technology and process know-how to maximise energy savings. In an increasingly carbon-conscious market, improving energy efficiency ...
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Oct-2011
Ring distributors are a simple yet effective means of improving air/steam distribution within the FCC unit
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Effect of reactor inlet temperature 
in a hydrotreater
Sep-2018
Solving a problem of pressure drop in a naphtha hydrotreater led to fresh insights into the role of reactor inlet temperature.
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Simulation of Claus unit performance
Nov-2019
Simulating a sulphur recovery unit using a fundamental approach enables the effects of process changes on a host of performance metrics to be reliably ...
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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.
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Recovering hydrogen and LPG from off-gases
Dec-2020
A practical investigation devised the most effective combination of available separation technologies to recover valuable products from refinery off-g ...
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Revamping an integrated hydrocracker and lube base oil unit
Dec-2020
Process and catalytic advances enabled large-scale expansion of an integrated unit to increase fuels and base oil production.
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Piping and instrument diagrams: Part 2 Causes and management of change
Apr-2021
It is difficult to categorise or group the many reasons for routine or late changes to a P&ID. Some causes are listed here.
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Delivering drop-in renewable fuels
Jun-2021
A series of pretreatment, hydrotreating, and distillation steps converts fresh or used lipid based feedstocks to full range, drop-in renewable fuels.
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Co-processing renewable and recyclable feedstocks in the FCC unit
Apr-2022
As new regulations drive refiners to develop more sustainable processes to produce fuels and chemicals, they are exploring co-feeding renewable and recyclable ...
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Reduce emissions and improve refinery profitability
Mar-2023
Tools and solutions for the naphtha complex and beyond.Today, refineries and petrochemical facilities across the globe are faced with the challenges of ...
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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 ...
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Simulating FCC upset operations
Feb-2024
Examples are provided of FCC upset event consequences predicted by using FCC performance simulation models.
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Mar-2012
The source of a fouling problem in a FCC CO boiler was identified by systematic analysis of fresh catalysts, additives and equilibrium catalysts
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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.
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Economics of refining catalysts
Nov-2022
Risk aversion, such as averting a dual-sourcing catalyst strategy, obstructs improved profit contribution, supply flexibility, adoption, and replication ...
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Rejuvenate profits and support sustainability with reused catalysts
Nov-2022
Rejuvenated catalysts can optimise refinery margins for cat feed hydrotreating (CFH) applications.
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Demystifying digital transformation
Nov-2022
How to automate and optimise operational processes using technology.
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Needle coke — overcoming quality challenges in a resurgent market
Nov-2022
The quality of needle coke precursors as a function of their origin and/or process is discussed against a backdrop of the drive to enhance quality, purity, ...
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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 ...
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Tools for FCC unit troubleshooting
Nov-2022
Strategies, resources, and technology can help to rapidly identify potential operational problems in FCC units targeted for upgrading and optimisation ...
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Chemical cleaning and fouling removal technologies
Nov-2022
Chemical cleaning technologies for the removal of hazardous gases and problematic fouling deposits are explained.
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Safer and efficient combustion for fired heaters and boilers
Nov-2022
A technological approach to achieving efficiency improvements, CO2 emissions reduction, and parallel effects in NOx emissions control in a crude oil-fired ...
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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 ...