Maintenance & Reliability
Strategies to minimize piping thermal maintenance system cost without compromising performance
Where process fluid must be maintained within a certain operating temperature window, the piping will likely require the application of a thermal maintenance system.
Double-suction centrifugal compressor in ethylene plant inlet piping design
Centrifugal compressors are designed with different suction nozzle orientations and impeller layouts in casing.
Optimizing failure data analysis
A critical objective of engineers who design an automatic protection system is to lower the false trip rate and to lower a key metric called average probability of failure on demand (PFDavg).
Specifying internals in sour water strippers—Part 2
Sour water stripping is a common process in petroleum refineries and other processes where hydrogen sulfide (H<sub>2</sub>S) is present.
Specifying internals in sour water strippers—Part 1
A sour water stripper (SWS) system is a common process in petroleum refineries and other processes where hydrogen sulfide is present.
Successes and challenges installing the first proprietary closed-coke slurry system
The authors’ company<sup>a</sup> licensed a two-drum delayed coking technology process unit to Grupa LOTOS in Gdansk, Poland.
Smart manufacturing standardization: Driving global interoperability for enabling factories of the future
Smart manufacturing is a topic that has generated considerable discussions within industry and standards organizations.
A compliant solution for repairing corroded acid lines with composite materials
Composite materials have been utilized for the repair of corroded or damaged piping in refineries, chemical plants and other highly aggressive operating and production plants around the world for decades.
Reliability: Plan startups wisely and involve SMEs
DE, a retired former colleague of mine, recounted his experience as an expert witness for ABC in litigation against XYZ. (Note that I picked the letters A through M for the plaintiff’s side; N through Z are assigned to the defendants.)
Troubleshoot flooding problems in a crude distillation column
Crude oil is separated into more valuable products, such as naphtha, kerosene, light diesel, heavy diesel and atmospheric residue, in crude distillation units (CDUs).

- Vioneo awards Lummus polypropylene contract for world's first industrial scale fossil-free plastics from green methanol facility 8/19
- Research: Developing an energy-saving, carbon-capturing method for making ethylene glycol 8/19
- Emerson announced the release of its new Rosemount 3144S temperature transmitter 8/19
- Chinese refiners sweep up Russian oil after Indian demand falls 8/19
- Indonesia plans quick-to-build oil refineries for U.S. crude 8/19
- Russia's ultra low-sulfur diesel exports from Primorsk scheduled to rise in August 8/19