Environment & Safety
Engineering Case Histories: Case 109: Catastrophic failures and the human factor
A catastrophic failure is defined (for this article) as a failure where lives have been lost and human causes have been a factor.
Demineralized water system design: Considerations for the petrochemical industry—Part 1
Site utility leads, engineers and other professionals in the hydrocarbon/chemical processing industries (HPI/CPI) are facing a perfect storm of increasing demineralized water demand, end of life of existing demineralized water plant equipment, changing source water quality, corporate directives to diversify water sources, and pressure from regulators and community stakeholders to minimize the volume of waste generated from water treatment.
Solve PRV and piping capacity problems—Part 1
Engineers often uncover problems or inadequacies with pressure relief valve (PRV) and relief system piping capacities that need creative and cost-effective solutions.
Integration can enhance fire safety and protection systems
The world population is expected to reach 9.2 billion people by 2040,1 and the global GDP is also likely to double over that same period.
Variable capacity control technology facilitates efficient operation for reciprocating compressors
Reciprocating compressors are used extensively in refinery and petrochemical operations to keep feedstocks and products moving through miles of piping.
Improving plant operations with control valve simulations
In today’s business climate, where project budgets and schedules are under cost and time pressures (and where installed valve applications must perform reliably under increasingly severe conditions), valve simulations are enabling new capabilities.
Design of very-high-flow coefficient centrifugal compressor stages
Centrifugal compressors are widely used in the oil and gas and petrochemical industries, with more than 15,000 operating in the U.S. alone.
Executive Viewpoint: Sustainability: Initiatives, innovation and solutions to crucial challenges
<i>Hydrocarbon Processing's</i> Editor-in-Chief/Associate Publisher, Lee Nichols, was pleased to speak with Jim Becker (JB), Vice President, Polymers and Sustainability for Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem).
Optimization: Plan before main air blower disaster strikes
Weeks before a planned overhaul of its coker unit, a synthetic crude plant’s main air blower for the furnace failed, throwing the engineers’ plans into disarray.
Project Management: Efficiently expanding a specialty chemical company
COIM, a specialty chemical company, decided to expand its production capacity in the U.S. to supplement growing market and economy.
- Carbon capture tops agenda at GPAE Conference 2025 6/17
- INEOS to cease phenol production at German site, cites high European energy costs and CO2 tax policy 6/17
- Petrobras signs $892 MM in contracts to complete RNEST Train 2 refinery expansion 6/17
- China's May refinery throughput at 9-month low on plant overhauls (1) 6/17
- bp completes turnaround work at 250,000-bpd refinery in Washington (U.S.) 6/17
- Japan's Eneos restarts 77,000-bpd Kawasaki CDU after unplanned shutdown 6/17
