August 2004
Special Report: Fluid Flow and Rotating Equipment
Follow these guidelines to improve reliability
A proven design eliminated control interactions in this ethylene cracker facility
In low-flow applications they use less horsepower when 'curve run-out' is considered
Benefits included lower maintenance costs and reduced lost production
Follow these guidelines to improve reliability
Engineering Case Histories
A quick analysis helps solve an unexplained failure
Process Technology
Coriolis flowmeters overcome maintenance problems when used in light hydrocarbon service
Process Technology/Heat Transfer
Ceramic coatings improve production capabilities and thermal efficiencies of process furnaces and boilers
Risk Management
Here's how to judge the strengths and weaknesses of its technical and economic content
Columns
It may sound far-fetched, but the ramifications of incorrect pump startup and shutdown procedures have recently been debated in reliability-related litigation in US courts. At issue was performance of..
Refineries and petrochemical plants have a large number of heat exchangers. Maintaining reliability and heat transfer efficiency of these heat exchangers is critical to optimizing refinery operation..
Supported by intelligent field devices, expanded communications networks and improved compatibility with IT, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) can now provide a wealth of information an..
The excitement of starting to write for HP has been tempered over the past month or so by a family crisis ? the birth by emergency ceasarian of a little son with a syndrome of ailments. One of the few..
Trends and Resources
T-Thermal Co., a Selas Fluid Processing Corp. division, is providing four liquefied natural gas (LNG) vaporizers to regasify liquid natural gas at the Lake Charles, Louisiana, import terminal. The add..
Aker Kvaerner is conducting detailed design and planning activities for future offshore phases of the proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in the North Adriatic Sea. It previously p..
Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd. (FWEL), a Foster Wheeler Ltd. subsidiary, has a program management services contract with Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC). The agreement is for a new grassroots petroch..
Taiyuan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. (TISCO) has an agreement with Uhde GmbH, Dortmund, Germany, to build two coke oven batteries, each with 1.0 million metric tpy capacity of blast furnace coke, in Taiyu..
Labyrinth piston compressors Sulzer Burckhardt's labyrinth piston compressor (Laby) is a unique oil-free machine refined by more than 65 years of experience. There are to date more than 6,500 Lab..
Facilities throughout the HPI are keenly interested in methods to record as-built plant design data. Laser scanning is one such technique; however, confusion about how these devices work is prevalent...
A global ?energy demand shock? ? compounded by extremely tight world oil supplies, constraints on US natural gas production and geopolitical turmoil ? is putting the US at a ?critical juncture? in its..
The China market for programmable logic controllers (PLCs) is expected to grow at 14.1%/yr over the next five years in spite of a decline in prices. The market was about $370 million in 2003 and is fo..
A study was recently published alleging misreporting of certain air emissions from US refineries and chemical plants. It focused on the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) ..
Data from BP's annual ?Statistical Review of World Energy? illustrates the continued growth in reserve volumes across the world. ?At current levels of consumption, there are sufficient reserves to m..
The actual or potential impact of plants on the environment within which they operate is increasingly under scrutiny the world over, as the risk-thresholds that governments and the public alike are pr..
Misc
Potential for 43% boost in combined cycle profits Fern Engineering Inc., a worldwide company that provides consulting services and products to the turbomachinery industry, has recently conducted a c..
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