A master plan for a refinery/petrochemical complex justifies comprehensive study of all the variables, from market forecast to operating costs.  This article discusses the methodology and reports the results from a study case involving technology to maximise propylene.
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A novel sulphur-tolerant dearomatisation catalyst, ASAT, for LCO upgrading, is featured as a part of integrated hydroprocessing, covering desulphurisation, mild hydrocracking and hydrodewaxing.
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A description of the experience of a Malaysian refinery in implementing advanced process control and the product inferential system.  The author describes lessons learned and recommends some problem-solving methods.
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On the premise that a single model is needed to cover the range of plant functions, a performance monitoring and real-time optimisation system has been installed at BP Oil Alliance's refinery, and indications are that projected profit increases will be achieved with better and more consistent performance.
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Continuous development of a Middle East refinery's process control system  is discussed, together with the results of the application of a DMC plus multivariable constraint controller to the refinery's crude distillation unit and ARD unit fractionator.l
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The authors report the results of a technology developed by Contas Process Control for estimating product composition, and its application to the naphtha splitting section at the Livorno refinery, Italy.
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The LNG  terminal is an important link in the liquefied natural gas chain, accounting for 20 per cent or more of the total project cost.  It also has potential for cost reduction.  The author discusses various strategies for cutting cost and their impact on terminal design.
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With advancing automobile engine design, a major Russian gas processing complex was faced with the need to produce unleaded, high octane gasolines, which meant replacing existing monometallic Russian catalyst with a new breed of catalyst.  This is an account of how the change was accomplished.
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By systematically working on improvements to its operating methods, catalyst management and maintenance, a Middle East plant has increased unit converstion and profitability year-on-year with no capital investment.  The authors describe how it was done.
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An examination of the operational and economic benefits of an isomerisation process employing a superior water - and sulphur-tolerant catalyst - in particular, potential capital cost savings by eliminating feed and hydrogen drying and reducing feed desulphurisation.
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The main factor in choosing upgrading processes for bottoms crude oil is often the refinery's current and anticipated product slate, say the authors of this article, but the most important consideration should be given to the part asphaltene cracking will play in the particular crude.
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Despite the belief that MDEA does not degrade in gas treating service, a five year investigation indicates that it is subject to degradation in tail gas treating units - shown by the accumulation of fragments in process solutions.  The authors present the results of analyses of over 500 process solution samples.
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The question was how best to design and fabricate - and then transport over 500km of roads - seven pressure vessels totalling 6600 tonnes, and finally erect them in a live operating plant.
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The authors describe how the search for a safe process to treat spent caustic waste from ethylene plants has been tackled, and the benefits that resulted from designing two stand-alone wet air oxydation units at plants in the USA.
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A combination of improved feed atomisation via new elevated nozzles, control software and latest catalyst technology has resulted in increased feedrate, better gasoline yeields and enhancement of octane at Sannazzaro.
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The Irvad process is claimed as a breakthrough for removing heteroatoms from liquid carbon streams up to 240'C endpoint, using a solid adsorbent to contact liquid countercurrently in a multi-stage, fluidised adsorber.  The adsorbent is regenerated in a reactivator, using heated reactivation gas.
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The author describes how adopting identified C6- and C7+ hydrocarbon concentrations in the reforming and isomerisation feeds can increase profits and transform gasoline into a new, more environmentally friendly grade.
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This article discusses a methodology for extending the use of hydrogen flux monitoring equipment to assess quantitively the severity of hydrogen charging and relate the response directly to the material's resistance or susceptibility to wet H2S cracking.
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An account of the problems encountered - and lessons learned - during a major upgrade of a reduced crude conversion unit, and the efforts of an alliance of specialists that finally brought about a successful revamp.
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A comparison of the standard versus practical approach to the revamping of a crude unit.  In this article the focus is on optimising the use of existing equipment, changing the process flow scheme to minimise flash zone pressure and thereby maximising the yield.
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The emphasis in the planning of a plant overhaul was that everybody should feel personally responsible for safety on the project: the result has been more than a million manhours without one serious accident.
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Processes now used in the new generation of hydrogen plants make a wide choice of catalysts necessary in order to meet the requirements of particular systems.  This article describes the capabilities of some of these catalysts.
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A description of the commercial success that came from implementing a strategy to improve hydrocracking unit performance, including the methods used for controlling polynuclear aromatics and their effect on performance
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Total Site analysis, apart from improving a refinery's energy effeciency, also brings capital avoidance in site expansion, process unit debottlenecking and other benefits.  This article describes how it was applied to a real life problem.
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The authors describe how propylene and amylenes can be alkylated using much less sulphuric acid catalyst.  When a propylene-rich feed is alkylated at high acid strengths, or amylene-rich feed is alkylated at low strengths, acid consumption is similar to that of butylenes.
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New concepts have been brought to a well proven catalyst cooler technology.  In this article reliability and flexibility of operation is assessed, and commercial experience of the technology in over 20 FCC units is discussed.
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Although they were originally designed to deal with tube vibration and the equipment failures that this could cause, the use of Rodbaffles has spread to a wide range of applications in the petrochemical and other industries.
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Description of a technology with the potential for continuous operation of ethylene pyrolysis furnaces without periodic shutdown for coke removal.  In this article the authors present their work in two parts: 1. Conceptual aspects of coke formation, and 2. Practical application in a Russian ethylene plant.
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An outline of the methodology for computing optimal load targets as an important factor in arriving at overall optimal cost targets when external utilities are needed to meet a process plant's heating and colling requirements.
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A major requirement in ethylene production is the ability to predect exchanger parameters, particularly coke thickness inside exchanger tubes.  This article presents the results of a computer simulation of a naphtha pyrolysis quench cooler, or transfer line exchanger (TLX), at Arak Petrochemical Complex, Iran.
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