December 2009
Special Report: Plant Design and Engineering
Use this integrated approach to optimize construction and operation costs
Leadership is about relationships; consider applying these strategies to improve your organization
New hydrogen-addition process yields middle distillates while zeroing fuel oil and coke production from vacuum residue
Case study: A low-sulfur gasoline project on four identical process units
Engineering Case Histories
This energy company aggressively implemented a mega-project safely and under budget with a new approach
Plant Safety and Environment
Use these guidelines to determine the safety-critical elements and tasks. Free software modules are available at http://www.adepp.com/demo
Process Analyzers
Follow these steps to avoid compromising a sample
Process Safety/Environment
Follow these protocols when evaluating common-cause failure scenarios for flares and headers
Pumps/Reliability
Think power pumps are self-priming? Think again!
Columns
Perhaps Zak Friedman struck the perfect balance in his series of editorials,1 because while Dr. Latour thinks Zak went too far in his suggestions to prune multivariable control (MPC) matrices,2 I woul..
Many process plants have "identical" centrifugal pumps installed in a given service. Most of these were probably intended as spare equipment. They would be started up in the event the primary pump ha..
Ralph Rio, Contributing editor       Comments? Write: editorial@HydrocarbonProcessing.com   Is your plant's CAD m..
It may have been the banking industry that paved the way into the present global downturn. But it is European refineries that will be shutting up shop, and there's no government rescue waiting in the ..
Trends and Resources
Online simulator for process heaters John Zink Co.'s educational organization, The John Zink Institute, offers an online process heater simulator. This learning tool reportedly enables users to study ..
  CB&I has a contract in excess of US$100 million with UGI LNG, Inc. to engineer, procure and construct the expansion of the Temple liquefied natural gas (LNG) peak shaving facility near Reading,..
  Petroperú (Petroleos del Perú) and Axens have signed a contract for the modernization of Talara, Petroperú's largest refinery in Peru. The main objectives are expansion of the ..
  Gazprom and Srbijagas have agreed to set up joint ventures for the South Stream and Banatski Dvor UGS facility in northern Serbia.The agreement defines procedures, terms and conditions of inc..
  Al-Waha Petrochemical Co. has successfully started up its new complex in Al-Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia. The complex includes a 450,000-tpy polypropylene plant based on LyondellBasel..
  Alfa Laval has received an order from PetroVietnam Group. The order value is about SEK 100 million and includes equipment and engineering solutions for an ethanol production plant in central ..
High-pressure pumping solutions Wood Group SPS Surface Pumping Systems are said to provide versatile, low-maintenance alternatives to many multistage split-case centrifugal, positive di..
The lowdown on industrial drives The worldwide industrial drives market was estimated to be worth approximately $16.5 billion in 2008, with more th..
Berlin was the spot for a sober gathering of HPI professionals who used the ERTC annual meeting as a platform to discuss current economic and regulatory problems facing the industry. The mid-November ..
Oil prices have been on a roller coaster since West Texas Intermediate hit a peak of $147 in the summer of 2008 and then plunged to as low as $37 earlier this year. While oil prices have recovered sin..
The global recession was abrupt and has hit very deep. By the end of 2009, the world will have seen two consecutive years of oil demand decline, the first time it has happened since the 1980s. Within ..
Charles Cameron, the head of research and technology in refining and marketing for BP in London, is a firm believer in small technologies that can deliver big punches. "I am here today as the lead che..
- Neste strengthens chemical recycling logistics infrastructure in Europe with Tepsa Netherlands 10/4
- U.S. distillate fuel oil demand will increase in the fall due to agricultural harvest 10/4
- StraightFloâ„¢ reciprocating compressor valve provider rebrands as Atlas Copco 10/4
- Exxon's deal with unions at Port Jerome refinery to allow job-cutting plan to move ahead 10/4
- ARA gasoline exports to West Africa hit multi-year lows in September 10/3
- Singapore's middle distillates stocks snap three-week fall 10/3