This final installment of the History of the HPI series details major events in the refining and petrochemicals industry over the past 20 yr, including stricter regulations/initiatives to curb carbon emissions, a safer and more environmentally friendly way to produce and handle chemicals, significant capital investments to boost production capacity and digital transformation.
Hydroprocessing (hydrotreating and hydrocracking) units are high-pressure, high-temperature units that have multiple reactors, multiple beds per reactor and specialized metallurgy. Catalysts in these units are replaced on a 2 yr–5 yr cycle, depending on feed quality, unit design, catalyst selection, operational constraints and performance.
Several major impactful events took place in the global oil and gas and petrochemical industries in the 1980s.
Hydroprocessing (hydrotreating and hydrocracking) units are high-pressure, high-temperature units that have multiple reactors, multiple beds per reactor and specialized metallurgy.
Shell and Dow have started up an experimental unit to electrically heat steam cracker furnaces at the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The 1970s were marked by several historical events that affected not only the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) but nations around the world.
Each year, significant economic losses due to corrosion failures occur in the refining and petrochemical industries; unfortunately, many of these losses could have been prevented.
Molecular management, energy efficiency and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have become major focuses for petrochemical complexes, including aromatics plants.
During the 1960s, the global refining and petrochemical industries witnessed new processes and products that enhanced the daily lives of millions of people around the world.