Safety
Editorial Comment: Maintenance spending to jump in 2016 as refiners catch up with turnarounds
The number of scheduled refinery turnarounds in North America is anticipated to rise this year after declining sharply in 2015, as refiners delayed maintenance shutdowns to capitalize on abundant quantities of low-priced feedstock.
Reliability: Principles are more important than strategies
A number of US oil refineries have recently asked the question, “When should an equipment repair be classified as rework?”
Innovations
Planned shutdowns, turnarounds and outages (STOs) are often scheduled for preventive maintenance and new equipment installation that must be performed to keep a plant running and in regulatory compliance.
Innovative design configurations for flare system reliability
The function of a flare system in a refinery or chemical plant is to collect gases released during an overpressure scenario, typically resulting from a plant upset.
In-depth and preemptive front-end planning yields positive project results
Despite the challenges that major projects can present (short deadlines, budget constraints and overruns, unforeseen problems onsite and tension throughout executive teams), they can also prove to be a win-win for both the owner and the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm.
Reliability: Transform ODR-OPPM into a worthwhile initiative
ODR, which stands for operator-driven reliability, has recently morphed into a new arrangement of letters: OPPM.
Codes and Standards: How much fireproofing do we need?
This article is the first under the Codes and Standards series. The purpose of this series is to make readers aware of code requirements, the interpretations and the limitations as they stand today, and what engineers can do as an alternative engineering. This series is based on the actual implementation of what is narrated and the satisfactory experiences drawn.
Editorial Comment: Corrosion prevention is a necessary cost
Corrosion is a major maintenance and reliability concern because it has the potential to impact not only plant operations and costs, but also the environment and worker health and safety.
Prevent the overfilling of storage tanks
Overfilling storage tanks, especially those with large inventories of toxic or flammable material, has always been a safety concern for site owners and operators.
Improve facility safety by understanding process and personal safety
The lack of knowledge and understanding about process safety is still apparent in many industries where hazardous materials are processed and handled.
- Kumho Mitsui Chemicals begins operation of chlor-alkali plant using thyssenkrupp nucera technology 6/16
- MAIRE, Azerbaijan partner to increase sustainability projects in Azerbaijan 6/16
- Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, RITE partner to convert captured CO2 into methanol 6/16
- Yara Clean Ammonia supports groundbreaking ammonia bunkering pilot in Pilbara (Australia) 6/16
- Syensqo signs carbon fiber composites recycling contract with Fairmat 6/16
- OCI Global receives U.S. regulatory approval for the sale of its global methanol business to Methanex Corp. 6/16
