Maintenance & Reliability
Turbomachinery: Increase rotating equipment uptime with laser shaft alignment
The cost of failing to properly align shafts or belts on rotating machinery adds up to more than the need to physically fix damaged machinery.
Reliability: How to deal with time thieves and knowledge parrots
We recently corresponded with an engineer-manager who divides his time between managing a highly productive group of product developers and a growing number of callers that are interested in the innovative solutions his company offers.
Business Trends: The case for teaching competence—Part 2
Readers who have had the misfortune of being drawn into debates over the precise definitions of words or terms might agree that much time can be lost in unproductive squabbling.
Analysis of semi-solid “shoe polish” material in a refinery TGTU
Amine units, and to a lesser extent tail gas treating units (TGTUs), experience occasional “shoe polish” sludge contamination.
Improving resource efficiency of industrial processes with TOP-REF methodology—Part 1
The processing industry consumes significant amounts of resources, such as materials and energy, to produce valuable goods for society.
Business Trends: The case for teaching competence—Part 1
Readers who have had the misfortune of being drawn into debates over the precise definitions of words or terms might agree that much time can be lost in unproductive squabbling.
Reliability: Use procedures to do your job well
Disregard for following detailed procedures at a petrochemical plant in Illinois proved costly.
Extended vapor cloud analysis methodology—Part 1
The Buncefield explosion was the worst post World War 2 fire/explosion incident.
Confirm best practices for compressed air in refineries
Within a refinery, four main utilities are considered essential to operations: electricity, natural gas, water and compressed air.
Determine root causes of undesirable petcoke properties from the DCU
The delayed coking unit (DCU) is the technology of choice for the upgrade of heavy hydrocarbon residues—i.e., bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading.

- SIBUR develops new polyethylene grade for FMCG packaging 8/13
- L&T Energy GreenTech partners with Japan’s ITOCHU for 300,000-tpy green ammonia project 8/13
- VINCI wins major contract for innovative biofuels plant in Spain 8/13
- Orlen Unipetrol to shut ethylene unit at Litvinov plant for several days 8/13
- Dangote Refinery cuts fuel price before planned sales to local Nigerian market 8/13
- Chevron Phillips Chemical completes low-viscosity PAO expansion in Belgium 8/12