ARTICLES
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Oct-2011
Ring distributors are a simple yet effective means of improving air/steam distribution within the FCC unit
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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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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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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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Choosing a neutralising amine corrosion inhibitor
Jul-2004
A review of physical and chemical properties of commonly used amine-based corrosion inhibitors. The authors highlight the relative strengths and weaknesses ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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The business case for digitalisation in the refining sector
Apr-2020
When we use the word ‘digitalisation’ what do we really mean? Computers have been used for process control since Fortran 77 was developed in the late ...
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Using infrared monitors to achieve auxiliary flare pilot monitoring (TIA)
Jul-2018
Infrared 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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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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Combating green oil formation in a CCR reformer
Jul-2013
The 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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Zeolite based dryers in ethylene plants
Apr-2014
A review of the role and nature of adsorbent dryers in the production of ethylene by steam cracking. Steam cracking represents more than 95% of ethylene ...
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Catalytic strategies to meet gasoline sulphur limits
Apr-2015
Stricter regulations reducing average gasoline sulphur content will require further reduction of FCC gasoline sulphur
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Jul-2008
Cost-effective solutions for the reduction of benzene in gasoline, particularly with regard to MSAT II requirement
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Sour water strippers: design and operation
Apr-2013
Simpler, more cost-effective sour water stripper designs can outperform more generally accepted designs in the refining industry
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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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Making sense of amine absorber temperature profiles
Apr-2017
Simulation is a powerful tool for ensuring designs are robust, operating conditions are optimal, and troubleshooting can be effectively and efficiently ...
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Interpreting FCC equilibrium catalyst data
Apr-2018
Regular Ecat and fines analysis provides information to support optimum performance from the FCC.
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The future for hydrocracking: part 1
Nov-2017
Hydrocracking technology faces challenges and opportunities amid diesel emission scandals, low sulphur marine fuels, and the growing position of electric ...
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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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Stepwise simulation of vacuum transfer line hydraulics
Oct-2009
A stepwise hydraulic calculation determines the pressure profile of a vacuum transfer line by linking the hydraulic model to process simulation result ...
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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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Reliability analysis to determine environmental emissions from units
Jul-2010
Reliability analysis determines the extent to which plant can meet emission limits and supports estimates of possible financial penalties for non-comp ...
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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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Planning to counter economic turbulence
Sep-2020
Synchronising engineering and planning models should be a key aim to support the resilience and agility needed for economic recovery
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Managing the life cycle of coke drums
Sep-2020
Coke drums have finite lives. Understanding where they are in their life cycle is key to managing spending on repair or replacement
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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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Protect control valves when production slows
Sep-2020
With many plants running at reduced rates or on shutdown, control valve operation faces severe challenges to maintain throughput. Solutions are at han ...
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Real-time crude and desalter monitoring
Sep-2020
An analyser array supports corrosion management through continuous insights into changes in crude quality
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Remote management of hydrogen production
Sep-2020
Remote monitoring and control can improve safety, detect problems early, and promote efficient operations through modelling and analysis of hydrogen p ...
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More petrochemicals with less capital spending
Sep-2020
Even in nations with exceptional dependence on transportation fuels like Brazil, better integration with petrochemicals production is essential for re ...
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Types of corrosion and materials to combat them
Sep-2020
A review of corrosion problems in fluid systems and how to prolong their life in one of the oil and gas industry’s most challenging environments.
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Sep-2020
Remotely cleaning furnace tubes slashed the cost of hydrogen production for a refiner.
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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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Capturing carbon dioxide from refinery streams
Aug-2020
Using hydrogen manufacturing units to demonstrate the relative benefits of technologies for capturing carbon from low and high pressure streams.
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Molecular management for refinery-petrochemical complexes
Aug-2020
Designing a digital twin for process simulation of an integrated complex enables enhanced molecular management to deliver higher margin.The future comprises ...
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Cutting the cost of refinery process control and CEMS gas analysis
Aug-2020
Developments in equipment functionality to reduce maintenance costs, innovative service delivery which can enable outsourcing and an array of digital solutions ...
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Waste recycling: an opportunity for refiners?
Aug-2020
The Circular Economy has been established as the number one priority in the European Green Deal and innovative recycling technologies are helping refiners ...
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How refiners can capitalise on the petrochemical industry
Aug-2020
As the demand for refined products is falling and demand for petrochemical products is increasing, it is vital that refiners consider petrochemical integration, ...
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Making innovative catalysts to trigger a reaction in chemical, gas and refining processes
Aug-2020
When you are creating high-quality petrochemical end products, you must first trigger a reaction.
Forming the catalysts
Creating ... -
Aug-2020
Assuming that this pandemic has an end-point, businesses in general and refiners more than most would prefer a restoration of near-normal to some realignment ...
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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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Analyser delivers fast quality checks for biorefinery (TIA)
Aug-2020
The demand for biofuels has increased in recent years, with the EU requiring that 10% of the total transport fuel in its member countries is to come from ...
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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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Revamp raises crude flexibility and profits (TIA)
Aug-2020
Hyundai Oilbank (HDO) has been operating an atmospheric residue desulphurisation (ARDS) unit, producing feed for the RFCC unit, at its Daesan, South Korea, ...
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Automated level measurement cuts desalter upsets (TIA)
Aug-2020
The path from crude oil to high quality, usable products involves complex technical production and processing procedures in refineries, whereby several ...
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Precision Comparison Case Study — HDXRF® vs ICP (IP 501 & IP 621)
Jul-2020
As petroleum professionals continue to refine their production processes, products such as crude oil, residual fuel oils, and VGO can contain higher concentrations ...
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Hydrocracker revamp lifts product flexibility
Nov-2020
(White Paper) - How an innovative moving bed technology enabled a major refinery to improve residue conversion and crude flexibility.
The ... -
Start-up and shutdown issues in sulphur processing
Nov-2020
(White Paper) - Knowing the limitations of the sulphur unit and what may occur during start-ups and shutdowns helps to prevent damage.
Part ... -
Mitigating corrosion with a digital twin
Nov-2020
(White Paper) - Data-driven engineering helps engineers to identify ways to improve predictions of corrosion. Processing plants depend on assorted metallic ...
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The hazards of fired heater flooding
Nov-2020
(White Paper) - Heater flooding is a serious and potentially dangerous condition which must be dealt with properly and quickly.
Heater flooding ... -
Optimise your workflow and improve lab efficiencies
Oct-2020
(White Paper) - XOS’ Sindie® series sulphur analysers offer a variety of features and capabilities aiming to improve your operational efficiencies. ...
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Oct-2020
(White Paper) - How MOL used a new approach to data to improve plant diagnostics, adopt alternate crudes and save millions. The petroleum industry is once ...
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Using continuous helical flow to reduce fouling
Sep-2020
(White Paper) - It would not be an understatement to say that fouling is one of the most costly recurring problems in hydrocarbon processing, and that ...
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