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Catalytic oxidation of spent caustic
Jul-2011A process to oxidise spent caustic in an existing treatment plant by a catalytic route in the presence of air enhances the quality of wastewater relea ...
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Ambient conditions impact CO and NOx emissions: part II
Jul-2009Effects of air temperature and humidity on burner NOx emissions are discussed, including considerations for factoring in these effects
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Choosing the proper regulator for high-purity applications
Feb-2008Regulators are highly technical, highly specialised fluid-handling components. So, the next time you need one please do not just grab one out of the supply ...
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Hydrogen-induced cracking and blistering
Apr-2009Hydrogen damage to steel is a well-known consequence of corrosion in sour service. A corrosion inhibitor program can reduce hydrogen entry into the metal. ...
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Simulation of a visbreaking unit
Apr-2011Simulation of a commercial visbreaking unit supports optimisation of the unit’s performance. The visbreaking unit utilises vacuum residue as a feed and ...
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Entrainment issues in vacuum column flash zones
Jan-2010For a vacuum tower to operate effectively, the flash zone and the wash section must work together to provide the best possible feed quality to the sections ...
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Multiple corrosion mechanisms in crude distillation overhead system
Jul-2009Extensive troubleshooting efforts determine distinct corrosion mechanisms simultaneously attacking multiple areas of an atmospheric tower overhead sys ...
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Maximise olefins through catalytic cracking Indmax FCC process
Apr-2008The primary purpose of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process historically has been to convert low-valued, heavier petroleum streams into gasoline, ...
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Hydrotreating in the production of green diesel
Apr-2010A novel scheme enables co-processing of light gas oil and tall diesel to produce a renewable diesel meeting EN 590 specifications
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Combating green oil formation in a CCR reformer
Jul-2013The addition of a chloride adsorber guard bed solved a refiner’s issues with contamination affecting a CCR reformer’s rich gas compressor
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Diesel and VGO recovery
Oct-2005Fundamental design considerations influencing diesel and vacuum gas oil (VGO) recovery when revamping existing or designing grassroots crude units. By ...
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Optimised hydrogen production by steam reforming: part I
Jan-2012Modelling optimisation of process and design parameters for minimising natural gas consumption in hydrogen production by steam reforming
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Managing vanadium from high metals crude oils
Sep-2003Improvements in process and equipment design with regard to crude unit and delayed coker distillation column performance can reduce metals content
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Residue desulphurisation and conversion
Apr-2006The current market forces that presage a boom in resid hydrotreatment are examined along with recently reported progress in technology
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Designing the CDU/VDU for opportunity crudes
Oct-2012New units for processing heavy crudes should not be designed using conventional practices or run length will be short, and product yields and quality ...
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Mercury treatment options for natural gas plants
Jan-2014Removing mercury as close as is practicable to the front end of a natural gas processing system is the best choice
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Natural gas fuels the integration of refining and petrochemicals
Jul-2012Maximising the use of natural gas in a refinery-petrochemicals complex offers higher margins and lower carbon emissions
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Predicting catalyst lifetime
Jul-2013A simulation model compares accurately with actual operating data to provide reliable predictions of catalyst lifetime in naphtha reforming
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Divided-wall columns – a novel distillation concept
Oct-2000The 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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Sour water stripping Part 3: waste water treatment
Sep-2014Mass transfer rate-based simulation is used in a case study to examine two of the important factors that determine the performance of a 2-Stage Chevron ...
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Pretreatment of resid FCC feedstocks
Jul-2004How a refinery optimised hydrogen consumption to raise API “shift”, enhancing FCC economics. The effect of heavy feedstock reactivity on the operation ...
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Sour water stripping Part 2: phenolic water
Aug-2014In addition to ammonia, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon dioxide, phenolic sour water may contain a host of so-called heat stable salts (HSSs), hydrogen cyanide, ...
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Reliable design of sour water strippers
Jul-2012A simulation model aims to raise confidence in the reliability of sour water stripper design. Oil refining always generates sour water, and within a refinery ...
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Naphtha cracking for light olefins production
Jul-2010As an alternative to steam cracking, an FCC-type process provides on-purpose production of propylene
Most Popular
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Maximising FCC performance and yields with catalyst innovations (ERTC)
Nov-2017BASF analyses equilibrium catalyst (Ecat) and operating data from over 200 units worldwide. These data provide valuable information on refinery conditions ...
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Processing high TAN crude: part I
Jan-2010Huizhou, which is the first refinery for processing 100% high TAN crude, started up in 2009. This article describes the challenges of an opportunity crude ...
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The future for hydrocracking: part 1
Nov-2017Hydrocracking technology faces challenges and opportunities amid diesel emission scandals, low sulphur marine fuels, and the growing position of electric ...
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Understanding FCC feeds and benefits to refinery operation
Apr-2015In this work, over one hundred FCC feed samples, originating from diverse geographic locations and consisting of assorted FCC refinery streams, were a ...
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Acid gas treatment upgrade for Qatargas
Jul-2016Upgrading acid gas treatment at the world’s largest LNG facility safeguards the plant’s design capacity and its ability to process increasingly sour ...
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Simulating and monitoring H2 plant operations
Oct-2012A computer program was developed to enable a refinery to monitor its hydrogen production daily to foresee potential operating problems
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Refining/petrochemical integration: a new paradigm
Sep-2013The global trend in motor fuel consumption favours diesel over gasoline. There is a simultaneous increase in demand for various petrochemicals such as ...
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Myth of high cutpoint in dry vacuum units
Apr-2014Accurate measures of true boiling point cutpoints are essential to correctly evaluate vacuum unit performance
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Maximizing refinery energy optimisation
Jan-2018Flexicoking™ technology is a highly differentiated unique resid upgrading process resulting in significantly lower environmental emissions than other ...
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Hydrogen management in a GHG-constrained refinery
Mar-2011Recently the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that it would regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants and oil refineries starting ...
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21st century reciprocating compressors for downstream applications
May-2016Technology, like time, marches on. Think about the advancements in technology that have taken place in the last 50 years. Advancements have taken us from ...
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The challenges of crude blending - Part 2
Jun-2016The 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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Olefins and butanes to gasoline
Jul-2017Increasing alkylation capacity to process readily available olefins can be an opportunity to add value to refinery operations
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Optimise hydrocracker operations for maximum distillates
Apr-2012Estimation of an accurate operating window for a hydrocracker enables refiners to minimise yields of light ends and maximise diesel production
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Troubleshooting a FCC unit
Mar-2012The 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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Simplifying hydrogen production
Jun-2017Catalyst systems developed for the purification and reforming sections of the hydrogen plant target significant barriers to efficient production.
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Catalyst selection – a refiner’s perspective
Nov-2015The refining industry is fortunate to have the catalyst suppliers as our partners. They have been leaders in developing new technology for refining.
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Delayed coking and LC-Fining technology - a winning combination
Apr-2008The high price of oil and increasing global demand for refined products have resulted in unprecedented refining margins, especially for those refiners ...
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Troubleshooting complex FCCU issues
Jul-2009Identifying the leading causes of FCCU feed outages and unscheduled shutdowns, including unexplained or increasing catalyst losses and erratic catalyst ...
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Choosing quench interbed technology
Jan-2010A design for hydroprocessing interbed internals favours separate mixing of gas and liquid phases before contacting of the two phases occurs
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Sour water strippers: design and operation
Apr-2013Simpler, more cost-effective sour water stripper designs can outperform more generally accepted designs in the refining industry
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Failure analysis of burner piping
Jul-2014Investigation of the causes of a severe refinery fire leads to recommendations for burner piping design to prevent such incidents
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Improved stripper efficiency raises upgrader production
Jun-2016Revamping a heavy oil upgrader’s steam stripping tower increased tray efficiency and achieved record throughput.
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SRU simulation getting the properties right
Aug-2016Reliable, predictive simulation software for SRUs requires recognition of many of the unique properties and behaviours of sulphur.
Most Recent
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Replacing a corroded column with packing internals
Jul-2018A corroded column was replaced with a new column equipped with high capacity packing. The cross sectional area is less than half that of the original.
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Using infrared monitors to achieve auxiliary flare pilot monitoring (TIA)
Jul-2018Infrared flare pilot monitoring as a primary or secondary monitoring solution provides a pilot status signal when thermocouple failures occur and assures ...
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Challenges and opportunities of an FCC revamp
Jul-2018An FCC revamp for enhanced refinery performance and profitability called for close coordination with the technology licensor and contractors.
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A new solution to eliminate centrifuge for sulphur in crude oil analysis
Jun-2018Test methods for measuring sulphur content, like ASTM D4294 and ISO 8754, have become critical for assessing the value of crude oil.
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Heavy feed characterisation: a molecular approach
Jun-2018Characterising heavy feeds on a molecular basis, together with kinetic studies, accurately predicts the reactivity of a wide range of vacuum residues.
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Process flow determines coker heater performance
Jun-2018Uniform tube metal temperature resulting from a change in process flow enhances the run length of a delayed coker heater.
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Innovation in supply chain planning
Jun-2018Software that can be configured to solve any problem in the supply chain is critical to planning in the oil and gas industry.
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Maximising heat exchanger cleaning
Jun-2018Powerful chemical cleaning programmes reduce downtime and increase the efficiency of heat exchangers.
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Boosting energy efficiency in aromatics processing
Jun-2018Simulation of a revamped process scheme with improved heat integration indicates big gains through energy savings and emissions abatement.
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Wireless instruments in corrosive and hazardous locations
Jun-2018Wireless instruments introduce a range of benefits in corrosive and hazardous process areas.
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Designing for a sourer future
Jun-2018Achieving the right sulphur plant capacity and configuration is crucial to the proper operation of a refinery.
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Machine learning in asset maintenance
Jun-2018Application of machine learning to asset performance management marks a transition from estimated and statistical models towards measured patterns of ...
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Enhanced energy recovery for crude preheating
Jun-2018Replacing shell and tube heat exchangers with a compact welded exchanger increased heat transfer efficiency and reduced fouling issues in a crude unit ...
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Minimise amine losses in gas and liquid treating
Jun-2018Even 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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Modelling ethane absorption in MEA solution
Jun-2018Solving foaming problems related to absorption of hydrocarbon and feed contaminants by amine solution.
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Developments in H2S scavenging
Jun-2018Advances in the application of triazine scavengers have significantly improved process efficiencies.
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Gas: the low-carbon fuel?
Jun-2018The natural gas industry has some way to go to make its full contribution to climate change targets.
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Packed bed performance analytics
Jun-2018Advanced analytics introduce a numerical and easily understood approach to tower gamma scanning.
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HDXRF vs ICP for nickel and vanadium in crude oil
May-2018Technology introduced over the last decade, such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, has led to new sources of light tight oil (LTO).
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Accuracy of measured lean amine H2S loading
May-2018When solvent regeneration is done robustly the most accurate assessment of lean loadings can be by simulation rather than by measurement.
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Countering hydrate formation in an NGL recovery unit
May-2018Process modelling can be used to validate data from the plant and identify the most effective approach to process optimisation.
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Pushing the limits of ptfe-based sealing elements
May-2018In sealing technology, PTFE has become an established material in the low-pressure range.
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Automating catalyst withdrawal for improved safety
Apr-2018Catalyst withdrawals can be carried out continuously and reliably, minimising operator risk and maintaining the integrity of withdrawal piping.
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Hydroprocessing rate increase using shaped charges
Apr-2018Catalyst size and shape are critical contributors to hydroprocessing reactor performance.
White Papers
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Get fast results for S and Cl in Biofuels in compliance with ISO 20884
Feb-2019(White Paper) -The demand for biofuels has increased in recent years and is expected to continue growing through the next decade. In Europe specifically, ...
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On-purpose propylene production
Feb-2019(White Paper) Propane dehydrogenation plays an increasingly key role in closing the global shortage in traditional propylene supplies.
Global ... -
Get fast D4294 sulphur results without centrifuging
Feb-2019(White Paper) - Petroleum professionals looking to certify their products are commonly tied to specific method types for analysis. Two known methods, ASTM ...
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Claus waste heat boiler economics Part 1: process considerations
Feb-2019(White Paper) - The design of the waste heat boiler has a critical role to play in determining process operations, reliability and economic performance ...
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Avoiding unplanned reactor shutdowns
Feb-2019(White Paper) - In hydroprocessing operations, prevention is better than just dealing with the effects of corrosion and fouling problems.
Refineries ...
