Engineering & Design
Refining: Russia plans ramp-up in refinery expansion, construction
Russian fuel producers aim to ensure regular supplies of oil products to both the domestic market and foreign importers in the coming years by building new refineries and modernizing existing plants across the country.
Reliability: Consider stainless steel tubing for mechanical seal connections
If, in days past, you have questioned why hard piping was used for mechanical seal flush lines and seal support configurations in process pumps, you are certainly not alone.
Prevent buckling of tanks with external rafters
Most cone roof tanks are designed with roof-supporting structures inside the tank.
Simulation model of a vacuum heater transfer line
The vacuum tower is a critical part of many crude distillation units, and the vacuum heater transfer line is a critical part of vacuum tower operation.
Flexibility in desalting operations for opportunity crudes
Typically, opportunity crudes require more rigorous desalting to yield high-quality products due to high levels of naphthenic acids, basic sediment and water (BS&W) and filterable solids, among others.
Upgrading the bottom of the barrel
In the past few decades, new technologies, including both carbon rejection methods and catalytic conversion methods, have emerged.
Metallurgy solution to prevent polythionic acid stress corrosion cracking in hydroprocessing
Hydrotreating is a staple process found in nearly every refinery. The process removes undesirable feed contaminants, such as sulfur, nitrogen and metals, and saturates olefins and/or aromatics to produce high-quality products.
Editorial Comment: It’s all in the makeup of things
This issue of <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> features a topic that has been addressed in sections of the magazine for several decades, but has never been a focal point of the publication. That topic is materials manufacturing.
Evaluate structural stiffness for piping stress analysis
Hydrocarbon plants use a system of pipes of various sizes, pressures and temperatures. Sometimes these pipes have pulsating flows that result in piping system vibration. These piping systems must be designed for a high degree of reliability, which requires a comprehensive piping stress analysis for thermal, sustained, occasional and dynamic loading conditions.
Consider pitot tube pumps for low-flow, high-head applications
Low-flow, high-head pumping requirements in refining and petrochemical plants make up less than 2% of the total pump population. This minor percentage is creating significant reliability concerns, which result in low mean-time between failures (MTBF), as well as high maintenance costs.

- Wood to design upgrades at Ecopetrol refinery for cleaner fuels production 6/24
- Saudi Arabia's CMDC (BCI group) awards thyssenkrupp nucera key contract for chlor-alkali plant expansion in Jubail 6/24
- EU imposes measures to curb ethanol imports from Pakistan 6/24
- China doubles 2025 naphtha import quotas 6/24
- BEL Valves supplies six-figure order for Europe’s largest processing plant 6/24
- INEOS responds to UK Government's industrial strategy 6/24