Process Optimization
Jacobs to upgrade PTA plants for BP in Belgium
BP’s Geel site is a major producer of purified terephthalic acid and paraxylene, used in the manufacture of polyesters. The goal is to optimize operational performance of the BP Geel facilities.
KBR to revamp Mosaic ammonia plant in Louisiana
KBR’s “lean FEED” approach will debottleneck the plant and increase Mosaic’s ammonia production capacity by 20% at their plant located on the banks of the Mississippi, just south of Baton Rouge.
Shale gas drives new opportunities for US downstream
This shift to lighter feeds for the SC will reduce the future availability of other petrochemical feedstocks—in particular, propylene.
DCS migration: Lessons learned
In 2005, TOTAL’s Port Arthur refinery (PAR), like many present-day refining and petrochemical facilities, found itself with an obsolete, at-capacity distributed control system (DCS). As shown in ..
Avoid counterproductive project management practices
For many years, reliability-focused engineers have observed flawed procurement processes for mechanical equipment. Many requirements are supposedly aimed at the lowest possible lifecycle cost; however..
Fine-tune monitoring of critical compressors
In this case history, a new monitoring system was installed on a critical service hyper compressor for a Middle East (ME) ethylene complex. This unit supported two 400 Mton polyethylene (PE) units; do..
Consider technology to reduce compressor vibration and noise problems
Industrial centrifugal compressors installed in hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) complexes absorb significant amounts of mechanical power when compressing gases. A small part of the mechanical en..
Achieve successful compressor startup by addressing dry-gas seal failure
A common root cause for compressor failure during first startup is a failure of the dry-gas seal (DGS) system. To avoid failures of gas compressors, the project team and end users must understand the importance and significance of the DGS very early in the basic design phase.
HP Reliability: Plan now to deal with stressed equipment later
The US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) “Today in Energy” brief evaluated how US refineries are processing record amounts of crude oil (Fig. 1), with Midwest and Gulf Co..
HP Automation Strategies: Control on the wire(less)
Since the industrial revolution, process/industrial control had relied on tightly coupled systems to transmit control signals. Industrial plants have used “modern” control via wired electron..
- YPF, Eni and XRG sign joint development agreement advancing 12-MMtpy Argentina LNG project 2/12
- Maire launches new technology to produce PTMEG, the key polymer composing the spandex fiber. 2/12
- Verde Clean Fuels announces suspension of development of Permian Basin gas-to-gasoline project 2/12
- Vietnam's largest refinery to operate at 120%-125% of designed capacity in Q1 2/12
- Indonesia's Medco expansion plans bet on rising energy demand in Southeast Asia 2/12
- Brazil to rebuild ethanol stocks in new harvest after 21% drop in 2025-2026 2/12
