Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Crude oil

Reverse refining: A novel approach to the refining process

Heatoil Solutions LLC: Echenagucia, J. E.

The crude oil refining processing sequence is based on the separation of distillate products from heavier ones and concentrating the heavy molecules of the barrel for processing at the end of the refining run.

Editorial Comment: Optimization: Advancing the industry’s evolution and benefits to the masses

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Nichols, Lee

Optimization—the action of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource—is not a term that the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) takes lightly: it is a way of life.

Reliability: Exploring better compressor sour seal oil traps

Professional engineer: Bloch, H. P.

An interesting case involving sour seal oil traps in an offshore application recently came to our attention.

Good distributor design for high-velocity feed debottlenecks a crude preflash tower

Bazan Group: Blum, B.
Fluor: Kister, H.
Koch-Glitsch: Tsang, R.

Bazan Group’s crude unit No. 3—not designed by any of the authors’ companies—was bottlenecked by the preflash tower.

Executive Viewpoint: It was the best of times

KBC, a Yokogawa Company: Howell, A.  |  Byfield, R.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”. Fortunately, this opening line from A Tale of Two Cities does not often present itself as an appropriate analogy to the oil and gas industry. Yet, here we are.

Business Trends: The economics of reliability—An interim report on the global refining industry

Pinnacle: Krimmel, J.

What is reliability? Most people think reliability is simply a measure of failure, or lack of failure. If something runs for a longer period without failing, then it is more reliable than something that runs for less time. However, reliability is a measure of how often something performs when you want it to.

Understanding HCN in FCC: Formation, effects and mitigating options

BASF: Riva, S.
Chalcat Consulting: Challis, S.

In these challenging times, fluidized catalytic cracking units (FCCUs) aim to improve margins by processing poorer- or different-quality feeds, while maintaining good yield performance.

TOTAL refineries improve overhead systems corrosion and salting with amine-neutralizing technology

SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions: Pothuaud, A.  |  Cross, C.

Weak organic amines are commonly used in crude unit overhead systems to prevent acidic corrosion from chlorides and other acidic contaminants via a neutralization reaction.

Leveraging digital technologies to create the smart renewable diesel facility

OSIsoft: Harclerode, C.

Many companies are modifying existing crude refineries or building grassroots renewable diesel facilities to produce drop-in, green renewable diesel from a variety of agriculturally derived triglyceride feedstocks.

Reducing acid consumption: Maximizing sulfuric acid alkylation unit profitability

DuPont Clean Technologies: Peterson, J. R.  |  Rana, D.  |  Ewing, R.

Alkylation is a process used to produce highly branched isoparaffins from the reaction of lighter olefins and isobutane in the presence of sulfuric acid as a catalyst.