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.
Much like several initiatives passed in the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s were a decade heavily focused on environmental issues, with many new regulations being enacted to not only mitigate industrial and vehicle emissions but also to advance the production of clean fuels globally.
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.
Hydroprocessing (hydrotreating and hydrocracking) units are high-pressure, high-temperature units that have multiple reactors, multiple beds per reactor and specialized metallurgy.
Hydrogen recycle gas compressors are one of the most significant rotating equipment in oil refineries, petrochemical plants and upgraders.
Wang, X.,
Xu, Y., SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP)
Motor gasoline standards are becoming increasingly stringent—in particular, the olefins content requirement in motor gasoline is getting lower and lower. Among these standards, China standard motor gasoline VI (B) requires that the olefin content should be < 15 vol%.
Oil refining is an exceptionally complex industry, with much of the inherent complexity stemming from wide regional variances in crude quality and composition, plant capabilities and the types of products produced.
Hydrocarbon Processing, the downstream processing sector’s leading technical publication for nearly 100 yr, has announced the finalists for its fifth annual HP Awards, which celebrate innovative technologies and people that have been instrumental in improving facility operations over the past year.
LPG pool management is becoming more important as the regulations on the product specifications tighten.
Petrochemical demand will increase with gross domestic product, while the demand for motor fuels will only show modest growth and may even decline in certain regions, given environmental/legislative pressures and the introduction of battery-powered electric vehicles.