For many sour gas streams present in a flare header, less expensive options than flare gas recovery may exist. The compressors, liquids management, downstream treating and other systems required for flare gas recovery (FGR) can be expensive to install and/or operate reliably. Some refineries allow the flaring of sweet gases.
One of the primary means for refiners to boost profitability is to improve crude diet flexibility. Many refiners are challenged with increasing their margins while the quality of the global crude oil supply declines.
Gulf Publishing Company and Hydrocarbon Processing are pleased to announce that IRPC 2017 will be held April 18–20 in New Delhi.
McGarvey, B.,
McGarvey, C. E.,
Thakkar, B., Imperial Oil;
Tucker, L.,
Spafford, L., Metrohm USA
Many refiners look at discounted opportunity crudes as a way to improve their margin spread. The growing varieties of discounted opportunity crudes on the market contain certain risks for the purchaser, such as high naphthenic acid or sulfur content.
Siemens Water Solutions has chosen a ceramic flat-sheet membrane for use in a powdered activated carbon technology (PACT) membrane bioreactor (MBR).
In October 2016, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that it will implement a new regulation that calls for the sulfur content in marine fuels to be reduced from 3.5% to 0.5%. The new regulation will go into effect in January 2020. This action by the IMO will have a profound impact on the maritime and refining industries worldwide, as well as on the environment. This month’s Business Trends section provides an overview on the anticipated impacts of the IMO’s decision on petroleum product markets.
According to OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2016, desulfurization capacity additions represent the largest capacity increases among all process units to 2040. This trend is due to increased regulations on the amount of sulfur allowed in transportation fuels.
Common organic contaminants of Claus sulfur recovery unit (SRU) acid gas (AG) feed include: heavy hydrocarbons, in general; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), in particular; and methanol (CH3OH).
Arbogast, S.,
Bellman, D.,
Paynter, D.,
Wykowski, J., AOTA Energy Consultants LLC;
Baldwin, R. M., National Renewable Energy Laboratory
In Part 1 of this article, economic incentives were estimated for relaxing the requirement that biocrude entering the refinery infrastructure be oxygen (O2)-free. It was concluded that an accurate estimate of these incentives is not possible without a significant amount of additional data. Part 2 examines key issues that must be addressed and the associated data needed for this constraint to be relaxed.
Process unit revamps often do not result in a refiner achieving its desired objectives. This is typically not the result of mechanical defects with process equipment.