Asia/Pacific
Clariant to build catalyst R&D center in Shanghai
The R&D center is expected to begin operation by 2015 with the goal of developing catalytic solutions tailored to Chinese market requirements and enhancing technical service support to local customers.
Honeywell to train refinery technicians in Vietnam
Honeywell will be responsible for helping to prepare the workforce for the refinery's 2017 start-up as well as the ongoing operational and business readiness of the facility.
INEOS licenses technology for new Turkmenistan petrochemical plant
The complex, which will be operated by Turkmengas, will include a 386,000 tpy line of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) using Innovene S technology alongside a 50,000 tpy black compounding line.
Use crowdsourcing to boost process simulation
There are many ways to enhance the user experience of next-generation simulators by borrowing concepts from crowdsourcing, data mining and related fields.
Improve performance of exchangers in quench-water services
Dual-enhanced (DE) tubes are widely used in shell-and-tube heat exchangers (HEXs) in a range of industries. They have become a standard in multiple clean services for the hydrocarbon processing indust..
A chemist’s perspective on organic fouling in ethylene operations
Since organic fouling cannot be completely eliminated, ethylene producers must use operational, chemical and mechanical methods to minimize heat transfer losses and equipment downtime.
Automate furnace controls to improve safety and energy efficiency
Furnace firing is the biggest single operating expense in any refinery. Consider a medium-size refinery (250,000 bpd) that consumes 2,000 MMBtu/h. At a cost of $5/MMBtu, that’s $87.6 MM/yr being ..
Use online conditioning to monitor electric motors
Quality and health assessments of motor insulation are important aspects during the manufacturing, as well as the operation, of electrical motors. Today, there are several offline insulation quality a..
Russian straight-run fuel oil supply collapse complicates Gulf Coast feedstock choices
In the next couple of years, collapsing Russian supply of straight-run fuel oil (SRFO) will undermine foreign supply of feedstock to the US Gulf Coast.
Targeted liquid injection improves shed deck performance
This case study shows how the installation of an unique piping and lance design achieved targeted liquid injection, quenched vapor hot zones and reduced resid entrainment into the heavy coker gasoil product.

- Aster Chemicals declares force majeure at Singapore naphtha cracker 8/29
- Orlen signs 1-yr deal with Equinor for supply of 15% oil it uses 8/29
- Novatek partially resumed processing at Ust-Luga complex 8/29
- Phillips 66 to begin winding down Los Angeles-area refinery next week 8/29
- Update: Mexico's Minatitlan refinery back online, Olmeca still down 8/29
- SIBUR produces test batch of first hexane plant in Russia 8/28