Economics
Manage the impacts of high-solids crude oil more effectively
Solids in crude oils present refiners with many challenges. Processing higher-solids-content crude oils increases the need for the management of such solids even more. The Canadian Association of Petr..
HP Reliability: Can integrally geared compressors be successfully used with variable speeds?
A recent HP webinar answered a number of compressor-related questions. This same webinar also generated a few additional ones. A viewer thought that two statements from this presentation were in contr..
HP Global: European refining—Cornered, with no way out?
2013 was a dismal year for European refining in terms of record low crude runs, which reflect weaked demand outlook and increasing competition from other regions. Out to 2020, we envisage European ref..
HP Automation Safety: It is easier to sit on the couch than go exercise
I like a routine each morning where I get up early and work on long-term projects—important tasks that lack the urgency of a short deadline, like reading that new safety critical systems book, wr..
HP Industry Metrics
Mid–October crude oil prices slumped as the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced a slight increase in global oil demand by 700 Mbpd. In contrast, oil production is forecast to increase by ..
HP Innovations
Software helps optimize energy performanceIn November, Yokogawa Electric Corp. is releasing Energy Performance Analytics (EP-Analytics), a software tool (Fig. 1) that uses energy performance indicator..
Integrated software drives improvement in asset management, productivity
The evolution is all about connecting people, information and devices to give a holistic view of plant operations used to better manage reliability strategy and operational risk.
Treat security like safety
Safety and security work hand in hand in the manufacturing automation arena. As cyber attacks get more sophisticated and costly, there is a growing need to elevate security awareness to the same level as safety.
Increase polypropylene production via ultra-low levels of carbon monoxide—Case study
This case study investigates using ultra-low levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in propylene to increase polypropylene (PP) production. CO is a severe poison to catalyst systems for both Ziegler-Natta (Z-..
Raise profitability through continuous performance evaluations
Reliability engineers use a wide variety of tools to support plant equipment and to optimize unit uptime and availability. Sound reliability programs assist organizations to be more competitive in the..
- UPM unlocks new bio-based markets as Leuna biorefinery produces its first commercial product 12/19
- Stamicarbon awarded technology licensing contract for new urea plant in Eastern China 12/19
- Ford takes $19.5-B writedown on EV business 12/19
- Babcock & Wilcox awarded $40-MM contract for advanced wet gas scrubbing technology at Canadian petroleum refinery 12/19
- European Commission unveils plan to drop ICE ban in the EU 12/18
- U.S. EPA expects to finalize biofuel rules in first quarter of 2026 12/18
