Refining
Safe work permit auditing: Is your system providing the expected results?
When the challenging position of manager is assumed in a refinery, one of the first orders of business is to “survive” an upcoming process safety management (PSM) compliance audit.
Construction pitfalls in SRU-fabricated equipment
In the hydrocarbon processing industry, sulfur recovery is a well-known process. However, this process uses a variety of equipment.
Piping interface type selection
Most oil and gas process plant projects involve multiple work packages executed by different lump sum turnkey (LSTK) contractors executing work within their own package, with a final piping interface connection at an agreed boundary limit to accomplish the interface joint between two parties and successfully close the piping interface.
Industry Pioneers: Polymer science, catalytic cracking and chemical advances
The Austrian-born chemist, Hermann Francis Mark, is well-known for his contributions to the development of polymer science, which he devoted more than 60 yr of his life to.
Productivity in process plant engineering: Aspects and examples
For centuries, division of labor has been the recipe to improve productivity—dividing an organizational set of tasks into smaller tasksets, as assigned to individuals.
Impact of biofeed retrofits, co-processing on refinery amine units, SWSs and SRUs—Part 2
Producing diesel with a portion of biologically sourced carbon is being done at an increasing number of conventional crude oil refineries.
HP Flashback: Operations, processes and safety evolve and advance: Excerpts from the 1930s
The following is a mixture of technical articles, columns and headlines published in the 1930s by <i>The Refiner and Natural Gasoline Manufacturer</i>, the forerunner to <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i>.
Debottlenecking of an extractive distillation column for aromatics recovery: Effect of feed pre-vaporization
Extractive distillation is one of the most efficient techniques to separate aromatic and non-aromatic hydrocarbons by increasing the relative volatility of the mixture in the presence of a solvent.
Why robotic process automation is quickly becoming a must for downstream companies
For the refining operation that wants to relieve its planning team of mind-numbing manual data-management tasks, there are bots for that.
History of the HPI: The 1930s: Catalytic cracking, polyethylene, synthetic fibers, resins and jet engines
The hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) has a rich history of discovery, challenges, breakthroughs, trial and error, collaboration and success. <i>Hydrocarbon Processing</i> continues its reflection on the history of the HPI.

- Mideast conflict turbocharges diesel prices, squeezing Europe 6/23
- Pertamina is looking to import > 200,000/month of 90-octane gasoline 6/23
- Japan will mitigate potential gasoline price spike, prime minister says 6/23
- Linde to invest $400 MM to build the world-scale air separation unit 6/23
- OEG signs major partnership agreement in Qatar 6/23
- U.S. Supreme Court lets fuel producers challenge California emissions standards 6/23