ARTICLES
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Treating high CO2 gases with MDEA
Apr-2009
Using MDEA as a solvent for high levels of CO2 removal requires careful process modelling using accurate simulation
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Reciprocating compressor suction and discharge valve monitoring
Feb-2013
A decision making guideline evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the most common online monitoring technologies
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Apr-2013
A careful evaluation of the options for removing mercury from natural gas plant feed and product streams is a prudent exercise
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Steam reforming natural gas containing higher hydrocarbons
Apr-2013
A method is described for estimating reformed gas composition in a primary reformer when the feed is a natural gas containing higher hydrocarbons
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Relative economics of mixed C4 processing routes
Jan-1998
Ethylene producers are seeking ways to upgrade the mixed C4 stream from ethylene plants to improve operating economics
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Challenges of heavy crude processing
Oct-2012
A review of upgrading options and refinery configurations to process heavy crudes profitably. Refiners have long faced a major dilemma when designing refineries ...
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Improving the distillation energy network
Oct-2013
Energy-efficient design applied to the refit of a distillation unit was achieved through optimisation between the distillation column and heat network ...
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Gases: identifying hazards and mitigating risks
Feb-2012
Although critical for the operation of refineries and petrochemical plants, industrial gases can be associated with a spectrum of possible hazards and ...
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Stripping sour water: the effect of heat stable salts
Oct-2012
Mass transfer rate-based simulation models sour water stripping and assesses the distribution of ammonia in conventional amine treating systems
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Advanced propane dehydrogenation
Jan-2008
Oxdehydrogenation-based on-purpose propane dehydrogenation can close the propylene supply-demand gap. Reactor design and the effect of thermodynamic equilibrium ...
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Processing NH3 acid gas in a sulphur recovery unit
Apr-2010
The feasability and economics of a two-stage sour water stripper with an SRU for NH3 contents of 25% and higher are discussed
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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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Recovery of olefins from refinery offgases
Oct-1998
The Lummus process eliminates the multi-stage feed gas compressor yet maintains over 90 per cent recovery of ethylene while cutting capital cost and reducing ...
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Controlling the dew point of natural gas
Jul-2015
Meeting water and hydrocarbon dew point specifications for natural gas without acid gas components
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Bioethers impact on the gasoline pool
Feb-2007
Benefits of producing bioethers compared to blending bioethanol are examined for the total European gasoline pool. The result of maximising ethanol use ...
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Understanding FCC feeds and benefits to refinery operation
Apr-2015
In 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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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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Mercury removal in hydrocarbon streams
Mar-2009
The presence of mercury in refinery hydrocarbon streams results in detrimental effects, including catalyst poisoning, corriosion and safety issues
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Removing contaminants from crude oil
Mar-2016
Natural and introduced contaminants limit crude desalting effectiveness, increasing fouling and corrosion risks in downstream units
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GC-MS: an ideal tool for forensic analysis
Mar-2011
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) presents the ideal analytical tool for forensic analysis in the petrochemical industry.
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Optimising pumparound reflux for zero-cost energy savings
Apr-2012
By increasing pumparound ratios in principal units, refinery engineers were able to recover energy for process heating and reduce stack emissions
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Jul-2013
A simulation model compares accurately with actual operating data to provide reliable predictions of catalyst lifetime in naphtha reforming
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Apr-2007
Utilisation of refinery offgases for hydrogen production. Three basic schemes of ROG integration into a steam reformer plant were investigated. These schemes ...
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Delayed coking and LC-Fining technology - a winning combination
Apr-2008
The 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 steam ejectors
Oct-2014
Some causes and practical solutions concerning problems with refinery steam vacuum ejectors
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Refinery protection with gas detection
Apr-2020
Based on several recent M&A transaction valuations it is fair to say that the price tag of a medium-sized, medium-complexity refinery in Europe is in the ...
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Boosting mild hydrocracking performance
Aug-2020
Optimising its mild hydrocracking operations using new catalyst developments enabled a refinery to meet more complex targets for fuel quality.
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What is sintering in relation to catalyst deactivation and how can it be avoided? (PTQ Q&A)
Oct-2020
Response to a question in the Q3 2020 issue of PTQ
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Isomalk-3 and Isomalk-3R in production of light paraffin hydrocarbons
Sep-2021
One of the main trends in the oil refining and petrochemical world market in recent years has become an increase in the environmental friendliness of high-octane ...
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Evaluating quickly deactivating catalytic systems (TIA)
Nov-2018
Avantium provides contract research services for high throughput catalysis R&D. For some years now, Avantium has been helping refineries select the best ...
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Jun-2016
The outlook and opportunities for petrochemicals based on China’s development of shale gas
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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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Refining-petrochemicals integration: an Indian view
Mar-2018
Integrating a refinery with a petrochemicals complex offers high value products and a boost to gross margin.
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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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Automating catalyst evaluation (TIA)
Nov-2019
Accurate evaluation of catalysts performance is an important step in optimising catalytic refinery processes with respect to product yields, run length, ...
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Processing high TAN crude: part I
Jan-2010
Huizhou, 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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Simulation model increases visbreaker conversion
Jan-2011
Introduction of advanced analytical monitoring, chemical treatment and process optimisation has raised the profitability of a visbreaker unit
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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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Detection of VOCs demands continuous innovation in calibration gases
Oct-2011
With an ever-increasing number of processing plants coming on stream worldwide to keep up with the burgeoning petrochemical industry, the focus on the ...
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Removing contaminants from crude oil
Mar-2016
Natural and introduced contaminants limit crude desalting effectiveness, increasing fouling and corrosion risks in downstream units
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Best practice for refinery flowsheets
Aug-2019
Refinery-wide flowsheets can demonstrate the true representation of changes in key operating variables and their associated impact on refinery operati ...
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On-demand propylene from naphtha
Jun-2017
A new catalytic process targets economic production of propylene from naphtha at relatively low capital and operating costs
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Maximizing refinery energy optimisation
Jan-2018
Flexicoking™ technology is a highly differentiated unique resid upgrading process resulting in significantly lower environmental emissions than other ...
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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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Pricing licences for gas processing units
Mar-2021
How technologies can be selected on the best licensing terms.
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Jun-2021
An analysis of the costs and merits of grey, blue, and green hydrogen.
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Calculating column relief loads
Apr-2010
Conventional, steady-state and dynamic simulation techniques are compared in a study of relief loads for failure modes applied to a distillation colum ...
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Seismic design of structural steel pipe racks
Nov-2011
Structural steel pipe racks are structures in petrochemical, chemical and power plants that support pipes, power cables and instrument cable trays. Occasionally, ...
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Pre-reformer catalyst in a hydrogen plant
Apr-2020
Good operation following recommended practice with technical support highlight the successful performance of a pre-reformer catalyst.
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Apr-2017
Detailed catalyst data collected over 15 years reveal shifts in FCC yields in response to changing market conditions, and provide a marker for future unit ...
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Amine anomaly in a mild hydrocracker
Jun-2021
Simulation and operational changes help to crack the riddle of frequent amine carry-over from a high pressure amine absorber.
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Taking a holistic approach to a revamp
Jun-2021
If all aspects of a system are carefully examined, even minor changes can lead to large gains in unit performance and profitability.
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A smart approach to tank dewatering
Jun-2021
A tank dewatering technology using smart sensors is designed to reduce hydrocarbon losses and raise the quality of crude supplies to the refinery without ...
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Identifying worker density constraints during process outages
Jun-2021
How to identify a hidden productivity constraint in your process outage plans and schedules.
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Refinery’s performance confirms catalyst testing
Jun-2021
Commercial results from a naphtha reformer are a close match with data from micro-pilot plant tests.
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Jun-2021
An analysis of the costs and merits of grey, blue, and green hydrogen.
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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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Increasing profit in hydrocracking and diesel hydroprocessing
Jun-2021
A drop-in catalyst for hydrocracking pretreat and distillate hydrotreating raises activity with heat management savings.
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Catalyst switch solves NOx removal issues
Jun-2021
Changing to a corrugated honeycomb design from a pellet type for catalytic NOx reduction of a furnace’s flue gas stream overcame a series of operational ...
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Acid gas fired reheater control
Jun-2021
Operating as close as possible to the stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio is advised for acid gas fired reheaters.
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Tail gas hydrotreating in a high H2S gas plant
Jun-2021
A tail gas hydrotreating catalyst delivers stable sulphur recovery operations, including low emission levels and energy savings, with a low rate of de ...
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May-2021
Analysis of gases supports cleaner air initiatives in hydrocarbon processing. Increasingly, plant operators are becoming highly sensitive to their contribution ...
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Cleaning amine units cost effectively
May-2021
Heat stable salts are dissolved or avoided by chemical products and cleaning methods during operations and turnarounds.
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Process and catalysis factors to maximise propylene output
May-2021
Catalyst selection and process design enable a new RFCC unit to maximise propylene production from a range of feeds.
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Getting the most out of syngas
May-2021
Optimise production and effectively remove CO2 from syngas with the right separation equipment.
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Increased propylene from heavier residues
May-2021
A specially developed catalyst enables a refiner to raise propylene selectivity from heavier feeds at maximum feed rate.
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Advances in crude to chemicals
Apr-2021
In mature markets like the US, refineries are revisiting their business models, asset base and technology options. This is due to regional and global changes ...
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Catalytic answer to a steam cracking challenge
Apr-2021
Rapid growth in steam cracker capacity has encountered a developing problem – contamination of opportunity naphtha feed by carbon disulphide.
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Accurate analysis of chlorine in vacuum gas oil and low sulphur fuel oil
Apr-2021
Why measure chlorine in vgo and vlsfo? Vacuum gas oil, more commonly referred to as VGO, is primarily used as a feed for cracking units such as the fluid ...
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Apr-2021
An alumina-supported catalyst for ULSD production or hydrocracking pretreat provides longer catalyst cycles, higher throughput, and better product qua ...
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Why doesn’t a great maintenance process equal great results? - Part 2
Apr-2021
In Part 1 we observed that some of the best results come from organisations with poor maintenance work processes and some organisations with a great work ...
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Driving change across the downstream industry
Apr-2021
Asian Downstream Insights Exclusive Interview with Andy Saunders-Tack, Director, Asia-Pacific and Mel Larson, Strategic Consulting Manager at Becht
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Apr-2021
Fired equipment is a critical part of most refinery process units. Operating at high temperatures and potentially high pressures make these equipment items ...
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Apr-2021
Becht has a team of HF Alky experts that have established and led the alkylation networks and licensing activities for companies like XOM, BP, P66, Shell, ...
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Why doesn’t a great maintenance process equal great results? - Part 1
Apr-2021
Becht has made an interesting observation after working in several facilities: some of the best results come from organisations with poor maintenance work ...
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Fresh look at accelerating electrification and the role that thermal plays
Sep-2021
(White Paper) - The goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement are now playing out, with companies and governments making drastic changes to hit its ambitious targets. ...
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Discovering hydrocracking units potential with pretreat and tailored hydrocracking catalysts
Sep-2021
(White Paper) - A refiner uses pretreat and hydrocracking catalyst to maximise heavy naphtha, kerosene, and diesel production with improved product properties. ...
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Predicting process performance through an online platform
Sep-2021
(White Paper) - Digitalisation has potential benefits across the oil and gas value chain. The InFocus™ Online Platform allows ExxonMobil Catalyst and ...
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