Petrochemicals

Catalytic Cracking of FT Products for Light Olefins Production

Mar 14, 2011
Angeline Moodley
The demand for light olefins is continuing to rise at over 3% per annum. While ethylene production is expected to be addressed by the construction of new ethane crackers, mostly sited in the Middle East, only 3% of propylene production can be attributed to on-purpose propylene technology. As the...

Exploitation of Low-Grade Heat In Site Utility Systems

Mar 14, 2011
Ankur Kapil
The site utility system provides the heating, cooling load along with power production for the processes on the total site. Low-grade heat is available in large amount across the process industry from temperatures of 30 o C to 250 o C as gases (e.g. flue gas) and/or liquids (e.g. cooling water)...

Life Cycle of Aluminum Plate Fin Exchangers

Mar 14, 2011
Dr. Hubert Koepf
Abstract: Corrosion, blockage, fouling, and mechanical/thermal overload are the key degradation mechanisms that operators need to control to avoid premature failure of their aluminum plate fin heat exchangers. The paper will describe these degradation mechanisms as well as how to incorporate finite...

Novel Additives to Improve Resid Quality

Mar 14, 2011
Parag Shah
With an increasing focus on resid upgrade and bottom of the barrel conversion over the years due to economic advantages, refiners are increasingly processing heavy crudes that yield higher residue content. These crudes are also higher in salt, metal and sulfur content. Often in these cases, there...

Petroleum Resid Conversion: Opportunities and Limitations

Mar 14, 2011
Irv Wiehe
In the conversion of vacuum resids one has the option to form coke as a byproduct or to devise conversion processes that prevent coke formation while forming a heavy liquid byproduct. The theme of this presentation is that both options can be greatly improved over current commercial practice but...

Furnace Penetration Sealing Systems - Engineered Solutions for Cracking Furnaces

Mar 14, 2011
Malcolm A. Peirson
Ethylene Cracking Furnace operators are under continuing pressure to increase furnace efficiency. Fuel costs, environmental concerns and reduced maintenance budgets demand that unit reliability and efficiency be kept at a high level. Our paper will discuss an operational problem common to high...

Reducing the Load on Cooling Towers through Revamping of Individual Coolers

Mar 14, 2011
Graham T. Polley
The engineering of cooling water systems involves a consideration of both hydraulic and thermal behaviour. Unfortunately this is often ignored. For instance when engineers seek to reduce the thermal load on cooling towers they will often opt for increased heat recovery (via improved heat...

Cooling Water Issues – Cause and Solutions to Microbiologically Induced Corrosion

Mar 14, 2011
Carl G. Matherne
In the 2007 turnaround at the BASF FINA PETROCHEMICAL L.P. Ethylene Steam Cracker, severe damage was discovered in the cooling tower to process exchangers. Over 41 exchangers had been replaced or required total tube bundle replacement within the first seven years of operation. Several of the units...

Chemical Insights Indicate Process Opportunities for Residue Processing

Mar 14, 2011
Murray R. Gray
The vacuum residue fraction of petroleum is one of the most complex mixtures of compounds known, one which continues to defy comprehensive analysis. The combination of complexity, diversity, and aggregation of the asphaltenes has enormous implications for upgrading reactions and phase behaviour...

Multi-Model MPC for a Complex pH Neutralization Process

Mar 14, 2011
Weiting Tang
Control of feed pH control is an important task in chemical industries, wastewater treatment, polymerization reactions, fatty acid production and biochemical processes. However, this is a challenging problem due to (i) presence of large and varying time delays and (ii) complex time varying...

C5 Metathesis for Increased Propylene Production

Mar 14, 2011
Robert J. Gartside
The production of on-purpose propylene via the metathesis of ethylene and butenes now exceed 6% of the total propylene. The supply of butenes is tightening worldwide due to both the increased demand for metathesis feedstocks and the increased demand for butadiene. The C5 cut from steam crackers has...

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