Whitepapers

The hydrocracker at the BP-Husky Toledo refinery in the USA was experiencing pressure and radial temperature differentials that were curtailing its catalyst cycle length and causing potential safety concerns. This paper explains how, by removing the reactor internals, reconfiguring the reactors and installing Shell Global Solutions' latest-generation internals, the refiner was able to overcome these constraints and achieve high-value performance improvements.

Liquid-feed steam crackers still provide an important part of the mix in meeting the global ethylene production requirement, especially where naphtha and light condensate are available at reasonable cost. The key operating requirements in steam-cracking naphtha or mixed liquid feeds are determined by the need for real time cracking furnace optimization, and the control of final product purity by final acetylene hydrogenation.

For 20 years, the polyester chain has grown quickly, with strong trade flows of paraxylene into the global production hub, China. But how will China’s new paraxylene capacity transform the global aromatic market? Now China is investing in domestic aromatic production capacity, but how will markets respond? Will global demand be enough to keep prices buoyant? Will current leaders lose share to a new wave of Chinese paraxylene?

This article will highlight the importance of residue upgrading processes for modern refineries in light of declining fuel oil demand and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Carbon rejection processes are ideal for converting residue – it yields liquid products with higher hydrogen-carbon ratios, clean-burning fuel, known as flexigas, and a byproduct coke with reduced hydrogen-carbon ratio. ExxonMobil's carbon rejection process technology, FLEXICOKING^TM, integrates thermal conversion with air coke gasification to produce flexigas. To highlight how this technology works, the article will conclude with a case study which illustrates how FLEXICOKING helped improve the Hellenic Petroleum Elefsina Refinery’s economic and environmental performance.

Has your reactor shown signs of fouling, high pressure drop or thermal maldistribution, or had a shorter than expected cycle length? If so, you may be failing to capture the maximum value from your hydroprocessing unit or fixed-bed catalytic reactor. Furthermore, this could be having a severe impact on your refinery's profitability. This white paper discusses many of the most common issues encountered in a reactor and, through the inclusion of case studies, explains how a low-cost revamp involving the installation of latest-generation reactor internals can help to resolve them.

Find out how GT-BTX PluS® technology helps produce low-sulfur gasoline from catalytically cracked naphtha without a significant loss in octane value.  The extractive distillation technology segregates olefins from sulfur and aromatics, which can be directly blended in gasoline, thus eliminating the octane loss of traditional, selective HDS units.  GT-BTX PluS® is a variation of GT-BTX®, a proven extractive distillation technology that simultaneously removes benzene, toluene, xylenes and thiophenic sulfur species from aromatic-containing cracked naphtha.  Alternatively, the segregated aromatics can be sent for paraxylene production without the need to go through a naphtha reformer.

Keeping turnaround teams safe, on time, and on budget is always a challenge. Dynamic Air Shelters help them tackle these common challenges with the safest temporary shelters in the world.

Signal conditioners ensure efficient signal transmission between the field level and control level at all times. Interference of measuring signals is a potential problem, particularly in large plants with long transmission paths. Signal conditioners allow the uninterrupted gathering of data, guaranteeing a smooth process that contributes to maximum plant availability.