AIChE Spring Meeting and Global Congress on Process Safety

Amory Lovins leads a discussion of the 10xE concepts for reducing energy use by a factor of 10. Following is the announcement of the award recipients of the joint AIChE-RMI 10xE competition.

Hydrocarbon and other commodity prices are increasingly volatile due to factors which include speculation, reduced inventory and a lack of spare capacity. Energy prices are likely to trend higher as we replace depleted crude oil and natural gas fields and reduce emissions. In this environment...

In recent years, there has been a marked surge in the search for alternative sources of energy that wean the world off of dependence on fossil fuels and reduce our carbon foot-print on this world. After a boom in U.S. corn-based ethanol in the early part of the 21st century, the interest has...

Maintaining reliable and efficient operations in the Ethylene Plant Steam Generation Process requires good control of corrosion in the pre-boiler and boiler water systems. The high purity water and high heat flux conditions require chemical treatments to be monitored and controlled in tight ranges...

An energy stewardship program, aimed at driving energy efficiencies from no-cost operational improvements has been implemented with considerable success across the Valero refining system. Two years since commencement of the program roll out, energy use has been reduced by 5% and over $140 million...

Use of aviation fuel currently corresponds to 2-3% of the total fossil fuels used worldwide, or 13% of fossil fuel used in transportation fuel. Aviation fuel use is the second biggest sector after road transportation, which consumes 80 percent. Further, the aviation industry is expecting to grow at...

Near-infrared spectroscopy is now a well established technology for the indirect measurement of hydrocarbon streams composition and properties. From the earlier works and patents in late 80's, several industrial applications have been derived and implemented, mostly in the refining area but also in...

Crude oil distillation accounts for a large fraction of the energy used in oil refining. Crude oil contains a variety of substances which tend to deposit as fouling layers in heat exchangers, and this results in decreased energy recovery and requires increased energy input to the furnace. CDU pre-...

Can the instrumentation, control, and protective systems for fired heaters as defined by the prescriptive API recommended standard 556 be reconciled with IEC 61511 / ANSI/ISA 84 by implementing an Integrated Control and Safety System? What cost savings can be identified and measured from both the...