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

Analyzers

Hydrocarbon Processing 2020 Awards WINNERS

<i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i>, the downstream processing sector’s leading technical publication, has announced the winners for its third annual awards.

Hydrocarbon Processing Awards 2020—FINALISTS

This special section details all finalists within each category for the fourth annual <ital>HP</ital> Awards. The winners will be announced on Oct. 1.

Catalytic processes operation during downturns in aromatics complexes

ExxonMobil Chemical Co.: Andrews, J.  |  Hung, J.  |  Molinier, M.  |  Lim, Y. T.

Paraxylene production is a highly cyclical business that is subject to changes in the global economy and dependent on feedstock costs, alternative dispositions for aromatics, utilities costs and plant locations, among other factors. With the large PX capacity added by recently started crude-to-chemicals complexes and the expected impact of the economic recession on commodities demand, many aromatics complexes face a significant slowdown in the coming months or, possibly, years.

Business Trends: Autonomous operations in process manufacturing—Part 1

IBM Corp.: Agnihotri, R.

Progress in the driverless car segment has served to illuminate one of the major future goals in industrial and process manufacturing: autonomous operations in process plants—in other words, the autonomous plant. While AO for process plants has received interest from the process automation and control industry, limited serious discussion has taken place in the process operations and IT domains.

Advanced analytics drive IIoT success

Seeq: Zinsli, J.

Refineries and petrochemical plants face similar challenges in daily operations. Each must mitigate risk, anticipate maintenance, optimize operations and minimize expenses. To achieve these goals, plant personnel rely heavily on data to drive decisions.

Innovations

Hydrocarbon Processing Staff: Rhodes, Mike

Sphera has released a new Interactive piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) solution that helps organizations break down silos between their operations, maintenance and engineering departments while simplifying isolation planning.

Business Trends: Managing risk and uncertainty: The importance of optimizing your value chain

AVEVA: McMullen, J

No doubt exists that COVID-19 is disrupting the oil and gas industry. Oil prices are falling, demand is down, supply is up, and storage capacity is limited. In these difficult times, the industry must swiftly act to keep business viable to come back strong when conditions improve.

Improve the safety and efficiency of natural gas sweetening units

Endress+Hauser: Thomas, M.  |  Sreekumar, P.

After natural gas is extracted from onshore and offshore sites, it must be transported and processed.

Safety: Where foresight replaces hindsight: How AI impacts the future of oil and gas safety

Advisian Digital, part of the Worley Group: Stewart, H.
SaltGrid: Aitken, C.

According to the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), there were 31 fatal incidents across the industry in 2018.

Leveraging modern flow technologies to improve safety in refineries

Emerson: Jha, M.  |  Valentine, J.

The refining industry is facing increased pressures, such as crude oil supply changes, changing product distributions and increasing regulations. These pressure points create a highly competitive market where refiners are looking for options that include digitally transforming operations and adapting new technologies to enhance safety and improve uptime, flexibility and efficiency, while securing their competitive position in a dynamic market. Improving personnel and process safety remains a top focus area for refiners.