Environment & Safety Gas Processing/LNG Maintenance & Reliability Petrochemicals Process Control Process Optimization Project Management Refining

Heat Transfer

Case history: Characterization of shale oils and heat exchanger performance

KBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.: Sayles, S.  |  Romero, S.

LTOs are paraffinic, low in asphaltenes but high in filterable solids. Understanding the impact of these mechanisms can shed light on preheat exchanger performance and the prediction of fouling rates.

Inspect steam reformers and catalyst tubes with infrared thermography

Thermal Diagnostics: James, S.

Infrared thermography is a useful inspection tool to help locate problems in steam reformers while the units are online and fired. There are three main areas in a reformer that can be efficiently insp..

Update on ambient heat transfer for storage tanks

Professional engineer: Anjan, S.  |  Khan, K.

Heat gain from ambient or heat loss to atmosphere is discussed in standards and technical publications.1, 2 However, the work on fluid/ambient thermal interactions rarely includes an important factor&..

Decrease tube metal temperature in vacuum heaters

Saudi Aramco: Bright, E.  |  Roy, S.  |  Ramaseshan, V.

Various options for reducing the TMT of a vacuum heater, such as changing the transfer line size and adding extra surface area in the radiation and convection sections, are examined here. The best option generally depends on the limitations under which the heater operates with regard to the process requirements and the downstream equipment limitations and flexibility.

HP Water Management: Best practices for RO operations

MarTech Systems, Inc.: Huchler, L. A.

Widespread use of reverse osmosis (RO) technology in industrial applications began in the late 1980s, following the introduction of polyamide materials that had a significantly higher permeate flow an..

Alfa Laval wins order to supply heat exchangers at US petrochemical plant

The Alfa Laval OLMI heat exchangers will be used to increase the yield and recover energy in the production of ethylene, an important ingredient for the manufacturing of industrial chemicals and plastics products.

Mitigate heat exchanger corrosion with better construction materials

Sandvik Materials Technology: Perea, E.

Better materials can provide optimal equipment service life, reduce maintenance, mitigate contamination by corrosion products and minimize heat loss due to fouling.

Mitigate fouling in crude unit overhead—Part 3

CH2M Hill: Sloley, A. W.

CASE STUDYThe basis for this case study is shown in Fig. 18; it is a crude unit with overhead heat integration. This is a one-drum overhead system with heat integration and no water wash. In an attemp..

Mitigate fouling in crude unit overhead—Part 2

CH2M Hill: Sloley, A. W.

Up to 50% of the refinery’s entire corrosion expense may occur in the crude unit. The root causes of the fouling and corrosion issues are often linked to the basic unit configuration choices, as ..

Improve solvent recovery in wax production

CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum: Garg, M. O.  |  Kumar, S.  |  Nanoti, S. M.  |  Ghosh, P.

The solvent-recovery section of the deoiling unit for wax production consumes substantial energy. In this study, the effects of operating conditions (pressure), energy consumption and cost, and proces..