Maintenance & Reliability
HP Reliability: Equipment life extension involves upgrades
Every plant wants to get more service life from site machinery. Since about 1990, quite a number of start-up consulting companies have formed to advise clients on equipment life extension. These compa..
Consider automated fault detection systems to improve facility reliability
Automated fault detection and diagnosis systems (AFDDSs) are well established in many consumer and industrial sectors.1 The conventional limit-value based (high/low alarms) fault detection and diagnos..
Prevent external corrosion of boiler tubes under refractory lining
A leak developed on the water wall for several boiler tubes within five months of the commissioning of a plant boiler. In this case, the boiler tubes were partially covered with a castable refractory ..
HP Engineering Case Histories: Case 70: Twenty rules for troubleshooting
In previous Engineering Case History columns, I have discussed checklists and their value in avoiding errors during startups. While the rules cannot replace common sense or a logical and methodical ap..
Pipeline repair company NRI opens Texas sales, distribution office
The new office expands NRI’s commitment to servicing the US Gulf region with same-day material availability, extensive product inventory, delivery services, job assessment services, and ASME qualified product training classes, the company said. Investment terms were not disclosed.
US equipment finance sector shows rapid growth, survey says
New business volume grew 16.5% in the equipment finance industry in 2011, according to the 2012 Survey of Equipment Finance Activity (SEFA) released by the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.
Saudi Aramco computer network attacked by virus, operations unaffected
The disruption is suspected to be the result of a virus that had infected personal workstations without affecting the primary servers and components of Saudi Aramco's network, the company said on Thursday. Saudi Aramco produced an average of 9.1 million bpd of oil last year.
India oil product demand to slow in months ahead
The EIA's monthly forecast is broadly in line with domestic projections. Summer energy demand recently peaked, and it will likely fall off over the next few months, barring unforeseen contingencies. The government has announced plans for $1 trillion in infrastructure investments over the next five years.
KBR expands hydroprocessing technology alliance with Shell Global Solutions
In addition to hydrocracking and hydrotreating, KBR will also market, sell and provide technology and design packages for Shell Global Solutions deep-flash, high-vacuum unit distillation and thermal conversion technologies worldwide. Specific terms were not disclosed.
Modernize your compressor lube- and seal-oil systems
Each pipe or control line should be traced to its origin, the design intent must be well understood, and all owner-purchaser questions answered by the vendor-manufacturer.

- Ketjen introduces new breakthrough catalyst that mitigates the effects of iron poisoning in FCCUs 8/20
- Sumitomo Chemical achieves scale-up of its process for producing propylene directly from ethanol 8/20
- EcoCortec, Jakob Schober GmbH awarded sustainability award for closed-loop circular films solution 8/20
- Addverb reinvents its factory automation development with Siemens Xcelerator 8/20
- Sanctions-hit Indian refiner Nayara turns to ‘dark fleet’ 8/20
- EIA: Crude and gasoline inventories fall, distillates rise 8/20