Loss Prevention
Brazilian developments in the biofuels market
Since the 1970s, Brazil has been a world reference in automotive biofuels, especially bioethanol produced from sugarcane. In 1973, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) forced a sharp rise in oil prices, triggering a massive slowdown in the country’s economic growth, which had been going through what was dubbed the “economic miracle,” with growth at an average of 12% of GDP. This study gives an overview of the biofuel sector in Brazil, along with the main business challenges and opportunities in this area.
Optimal gas analysis decisions improve ethylene plant operation
One of the most common and important building blocks in the petrochemical industry is ethylene, constituting a huge and fast-growing worldwide industry. Ethylene is an intermediate chemical used to manufacture many commercial products—approximately 200 MMt will be produced in 2020.
Digital: Technologies are advancing industry beyond alarm management
Let’s face it, alarm management is a fully mature body of knowledge. Since the mid-1990s, industry has improved thousands of alarm systems, transforming them from overloaded nuisances to valuable operator tools for abnormal situation detection and response.
Reliability: Things rarely heard at reliability conferences
We can only guess how many reliability conferences we have attended since accepting job offers in the refining or chemical processing industries. In my case, starting in 1965, it is somewhere between 60 and 80. If, in each of these conferences I listened to six presentations, the number of sessions attended is perhaps 400.
Onsite
Business Trends: EPC 2030: Five vital characteristics that will define the EPC firm of tomorrow
The state of the global engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) industry can accurately be described as “challenging.” Operating in an environment of volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous conditions, EPC firms are facing unsustainable levels of stress.
A new liquid-phase isomerization process for xylene loop debottleneck and energy savings
In a typical xylene loop, C<sub>8</sub> aromatics are fractionated out of a heavy reformate C<sub>8</sub>+ aromatics stream and collected in the xylene column overhead. Then, paraxylene (PX) from the C<sub>8</sub> aromatics stream is recovered as product—usually by an adsorption or crystallization process—in the PX recovery section.
Can ammonia be a future energy storage solution?
Ammonia is well known as a fertilizer. However, it is also a potential carbon-free fuel and an excellent solution for storage of renewable electricity, especially if the syngas needed for producing the ammonia is made by electrolysis.
Business Trends: The ins and outs of construction contracts
Industrial construction projects are becoming larger and more complex, with shorter schedules. To meet these challenging requirements, such construction projects are often executed by multiple entities located in different countries that may have different business objectives.
Digital: Better maintenance through better data
When I talk to professionals in the refining and petrochemical businesses, they are always interested in how new technologies can improve operational efficiency, make plants safer and increase profitability.
- DOMO Chemicals responds to surging demand in China with its new TECHNYL polyamide production plant 4/29
- Ineos shuts down Canadian unit for maintenance after chemical leak 4/29
- India's Chennai Petroleum sees two-year delay in building new 180,000-bpd refinery 4/29
- PetroChina profit boosted by stronger gas sales and fuel demand 4/29
- thyssenkrupp Uhde completes EnviNOx project for Dyno Nobel in Australia 4/29
- India receives fuel oil cargo in Russian SCF tanker after brief halt 4/26