ARTICLES
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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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Enhancing energy efficiency in the CDU
Apr-2015
Revisiting your crude distillation unit may expose hidden potential for major energy savings
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Mar-2007
In amine sweetening units, the heat of absorption and VOC and BTEX solubility have been found to vary significantly with acid gas loading, as well as with ...
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Reliability vs recovery for delayed coking fractionators
Apr-2009
When selecting tower internals, numerous choices are available for coker main fractionator configurations, each offering benefits and trade-offs. Some ...
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Overcoming tight emulsion problems
Oct-2014
A refiner’s trials of a membrane coalescence mechanism were scaled up to plant level and delivered significant product recovery from tight aqueous e ...
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High capacity distillation revamps
Oct-2001
Understanding how high-capacity trays work assists in the selection and design process and can also help in the avoidance of failures
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Selective control for a total reflux column
Jul-2014
Operating problems with a de-ethaniser column led to the development of a new strategy for an advanced process control system
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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.
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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 ...
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Accurate prediction of tower relief
Apr-2014
A comparison of conventional and dynamic simulation methods applied to a project to debottleneck a deisobutaniser
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Optimised reactor internals for a hydroprocessing unit
Apr-2012
Optimised distributor and quench box design can improve catalyst performance and unit reliability
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Modular design of smaller-scale GTL plants
Jan-2013
Modularisation is opening up opportunities for GTL plants to monetise small-scale natural gas deposits both on- and offshore
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Hydrocarbon removal from amines demonstrated experience
Mar-2006
Bringing amine system contaminants down to low levels has reduced operational problems. Several large operating facilities are now using the latest technology ...
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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
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Less is more: how a dividing wall column maximises LPG recovery
Oct-2014
Maximising LPG recovery from fuel gas using a dividing wall column. Refiners have a challenge to recover LPG from mixed fuel gas streams due to the difficulty ...
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Retrofitting a glycol contactor to 
prevent carryover
Oct-2013
A revamp of glycol contactor column internals, following CFD studies, resolved problems with gas production caused by glycol carryover
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Increasing vacuum tower performance
Oct-2004
Advantages of using gravity flow liquid distributors in services where, historically, spray nozzles have been used, specifically in refinery vacuum tower ...
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Risks of accumulated sulphur in sulphur recovery unit
Aug-1998
Follow-up data to an October 1997 article proves with refinery experience that caustic neutralisation does not improve system operations
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Jan-2011
A process review, including the improvement of atmospheric and vacuum distillation columns, for the reformulation of the diesel pool
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Debottlenecking an FCC gas concentration unit
Jan-2018
Component trapping by physical carry-over of water can cause capacity bottlenecks that are not easily predicted
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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 ...
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Dividing wall column technology as a way of removing benzene from refinery gasoline streams
May-2011
The primary separation method in the petrochemical industry is distillation, or fractionation, which is an energy-intensive process.
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Dec-2016
Feed containing fines, in-organic matter, sludge, rust etc. can cause excessive pressure drop build-up issues in hydroprocessing reactors.
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Maximising heat exchanger cleaning
Jun-2018
Powerful chemical cleaning programmes reduce downtime and increase the efficiency of heat exchangers.
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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 ...
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Enhancing energy efficiency in the CDU
Apr-2015
Revisiting your crude distillation unit may expose hidden potential for major energy savings
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Heat storage in solar power plants
Jun-2020
Avoiding freezing and leakage: optimal thermal management for the use of molten salt in solar thermal power plants with concentrated radiation
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Accurate prediction of tower relief
Apr-2014
A comparison of conventional and dynamic simulation methods applied to a project to debottleneck a deisobutaniser
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Packed bed performance analytics
Jun-2018
Advanced analytics introduce a numerical and easily understood approach to tower gamma scanning.
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Working with an extractive distillation process
Jul-2001
A cost comparison between progressive extractive distillation of aromatics versus a more conventional technology has shown there can be considerable savings ...
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Tray technology 
enhances extraction
Oct-2007
A case study involving the revamp of two rotating disc contactors in aromatics service highlights the most important design considerations for enhancing ...
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Overcoming tight emulsion problems
Oct-2014
A refiner’s trials of a membrane coalescence mechanism were scaled up to plant level and delivered significant product recovery from tight aqueous e ...
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Replacing a corroded column with packing internals
Jul-2018
A 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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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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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 ...
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Increase duty in tube side condensers
Jul-2020
A retrofit is shown to improve several aspects of tube side condensation processes.
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Troubleshooting premature tower flooding
Aug-2020
Thorough analysis of field data and tray hydraulics together with gamma scanning were key factors in the successful troubleshooting of premature flooding ...
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PackView™ liquid retention scale is a quantitative analysis of packing maldistribution
Sep-2020
PackView™ can be used to compare operational parameters with engineering design
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Increase production rates with Tracerco’s FrothView and Tru-Scan technologies
Sep-2020
How Tru-Scan™ and FrothView™ results help increase production, and remove the debutanizer tower, which seemed to be the bottleneck for the unit.
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Tru-Scan™ identifies abnormal process conditions and helps optimise vessel efficiencies
Sep-2020
Tru-Scans™ provide valuable data aiding operations in achieving 115% of unit capacity
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Detecting leaking PSVs helps a refiner avoid potential emission fines and penalties
Sep-2020
A Tracerco Diagnostics™ Leak study identifies leaks resulting in massive savings from environmental fines, without any interruption to production.
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Tru-Grid™ scans detect solids build-up to assist in determining the appropriate maintenance path
Sep-2020
PackView™ liquid retention scale included on Tru-Grid™ Scan results provide customers the amount of build-up, relative density and growth patterns ...
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ThruVision™ scans are the next step to investigate liquid maldistribution
Sep-2020
ThruVision™ technology allows for a complete understanding of liquid distribution, saving days of production losses and massive costs of a unit shut ...
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Baseline scans prove critical in diagnosing any potential future column problems
Sep-2020
A baseline scan establishes a reference point, a historical marker for column performance
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Sep-2020
Tracerco technology can see inside the very heart of operations to determine why processes are not operating as expected.
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Pre-turnaround scans enable better critical path planning
Sep-2020
Tru-Scan™ and Tru-Grid™ Scan results help determine whether to enter a particular column during the turnaround outage or remove it from the critical ...
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Upgrading a vacuum distillation tower (TIA)
Feb-2021
Reliable and efficient vacuum towers are key to ensuring optimal performance and yield.
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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 ...
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Improving turnarounds and operations with online cleaning
Sep-2020
Case histories illustrate the financial and operational gains achieved by replacing mechanical cleaning with online, closed-loop operations. The conventional ...
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Heat exchanger fouling analytics
Sep-2020
Modelling the effects of fouling on the performance of heat exchangers and its impact on product values as well as energy losses
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Troubleshooting premature tower flooding
Aug-2020
Thorough analysis of field data and tray hydraulics together with gamma scanning were key factors in the successful troubleshooting of premature flooding ...
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Slug catcher debottleneck protects downstream processing (TIA)
Aug-2020
Effective separation of oil and gas from different impurities in upstream operations is a matter of paramount importance. All downstream activities and ...
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Increase duty in tube side condensers
Jul-2020
A retrofit is shown to improve several aspects of tube side condensation processes.
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Heat storage in solar power plants
Jun-2020
Avoiding freezing and leakage: optimal thermal management for the use of molten salt in solar thermal power plants with concentrated radiation
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How to replace sensors on process heaters
Jun-2020
Process heaters, such as immersion heaters, use a range of sensor options to accurately measure and adjust the heat of a manufacturing process.
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Get 20% more hydrogen than nameplate in your next turnaround
May-2020
A foil-supported catalyst meets increased hydrogen demand within a 
normal turnaround.
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How watt density specifications may be holding back optimal electric heat exchanger design
Mar-2020
Typical customer specifications for a direct electric heat exchanger (DEHE) in forced convection gas applications aim for efficiency and safety given the ...
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Cleaning heater convection tubes
Feb-2020
Fired heater tubes are difficult to clean, but a sequence of operations can remove unwanted material from the tubes’ external surfaces and raise the ...
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High octane isomerates from light naphtha
Feb-2020
Dividing wall column distillation is an energy efficient, cost effective alternative to conventional distillation for delivering high octane products from ...
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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 ...
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Exhaust scrubbers are a viable option for IMO 2020 (ADS)
Dec-2019
With the goal to reduce airborne sulphur emissions, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has mandated that international shippers use fuel with ...
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Troubleshooting instability in a debutaniser tower
Dec-2019
Successful diagnosis and remediation of premature flood in a debutaniser tower demonstrate the value of good diagnosis for solving tower problems econ ...
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Preventing yellow metal corrosion
Dec-2019
A novel corrosion inhibitor for yellow metal meets corrosion and environmental targets under halogen control.
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Flow maldistribution in shell and tube heat exchangers
Dec-2019
Old designs of shell and tube heat exchangers need to be revamped to develop uniform flow distribution in the inlet header and mitigate tube-side foul ...
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Installation of a new flue gas tunnel design concept and resulting operation
Oct-2019
Conventional tunnels incorporate physical features that constrain design efficacy resulting in non-uniform flue gas flow both along the length of the tunnels ...
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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.
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Improving the flow, installation experience with a new reformer flue gas tunnel system
Jul-2019
For decades, down-fired steam methane reformer furnaces have used flue gas tunnels (or ‘coffins’) along the radiant section floor to collect and improve ...
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Jul-2019
The availability of devices capable of creating an image of the infrared radiation emitted by an item of process equipment such as the CO2 absorber in ...
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Flue gas heat recovery through the acid dew point
Jul-2019
Polymer based heat exchange technology enables more heat recovery from flue gas by addressing acid corrosion issues.
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Spherical catalyst carriers with unprecedented size uniformity (ERTC)
Jan-2019
An increased demand for small diameter (less than 4 mm) spherical catalyst carriers led to the development of Saint-Gobain NorPro’s Accu® Spheres.
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Analysis, active filtration unlock guard vessel stability (ERTC)
Jan-2019
For the first time in years, they did not need jackhammers to unload the guard vessel. It was another short cycle, and there was another crust layer.
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Getting the best out of your hydrocracker unit with new Equiflow® internal reactors (ERTC)
Jan-2019
In today’s complex environment, refineries and petrochemical plants around the world are on the lookout for advanced solutions to help them reach operational ...
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Savings using divided wall columns
Jan-2019
Divided wall columns can provide substantial energy and capital cost savings compared to conventional distillation methods.
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Watlow’s thermal systems optimize your refinery
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Europe's largest manufacturer of tower packings
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FCC online diagnostic services for FCCU
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Turbomachinery and Pump Symposia, September 26-28
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New fired heaters
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Evonik Catalysts. Let’s make a difference
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Compressors for demanding applications
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Hydrotreating and hydrocracking catalysts
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Tri block, double block and bleed valve from ZWICK
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