Maintenance & Reliability
Reliability: How to deal with time thieves and knowledge parrots
We recently corresponded with an engineer-manager who divides his time between managing a highly productive group of product developers and a growing number of callers that are interested in the innovative solutions his company offers.
Business Trends: The case for teaching competence—Part 2
Readers who have had the misfortune of being drawn into debates over the precise definitions of words or terms might agree that much time can be lost in unproductive squabbling.
Analysis of semi-solid “shoe polish” material in a refinery TGTU
Amine units, and to a lesser extent tail gas treating units (TGTUs), experience occasional “shoe polish” sludge contamination.
Improving resource efficiency of industrial processes with TOP-REF methodology—Part 1
The processing industry consumes significant amounts of resources, such as materials and energy, to produce valuable goods for society.
Business Trends: The case for teaching competence—Part 1
Readers who have had the misfortune of being drawn into debates over the precise definitions of words or terms might agree that much time can be lost in unproductive squabbling.
Reliability: Use procedures to do your job well
Disregard for following detailed procedures at a petrochemical plant in Illinois proved costly.
Extended vapor cloud analysis methodology—Part 1
The Buncefield explosion was the worst post World War 2 fire/explosion incident.
Confirm best practices for compressed air in refineries
Within a refinery, four main utilities are considered essential to operations: electricity, natural gas, water and compressed air.
Determine root causes of undesirable petcoke properties from the DCU
The delayed coking unit (DCU) is the technology of choice for the upgrade of heavy hydrocarbon residues—i.e., bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading.
Maintenance and turnaround planning critical to successful ejector vacuum system operation
Steam ejector vacuum systems are generally considered to be reliable and require little maintenance.
- Brazil's Petrobras approves $1.2 billion investment for renewable fuels plant 6/22
- First batch of equipment arrives in Kazakhstan for $7.7-B Atyrau polyethylene project 6/22
- Explosion at Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG complex kills 13, injures 66 6/22
- Asia has plenty of crude oil, but refined fuels remain tight 6/22
- Fire extinguished at Marathon's Galveston Bay Refinery in Texas (U.S.) 6/22
- El Nino, expanding ethanol use squeeze India sugar supply 6/22

