Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
JUNE 2011
HPIMPACT
SPECIALREPORT
TECHNOLOGY
Refining margins
under pressure
PROCESS/PLANT
OPTIMIZATION
Update on lubrication
systems
Maintenance, operations
and engineering are
all involved in better
plant performance
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Reliability has
no quitting time.
Think about ITT.
In oil and gas facilities around the world, ITT delivers pumps, valves, composite piping, switches,
regulators and vibration isolation systems that can handle harsh conditions and keep going.
After all, in the 24/7/365 renery business, the last thing you want is a piece of equipment that
fails. With ITT, your processes stay upand your total cost of ownership stays down. For more
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35
37
41
45
55
61
67
A growing trend is migrating to this new lubricating system for rotating equipment
D. Ehlert
Energy conservation is a complex analysis on existing units, but benefits are possible
Z. Milosevic and T. Shire
73
95
101
Advanced modeling methods provide useful information on operating main compressor system
and feeds
X. Yang, Q. Xu and K. Li
HPIMPACT
15
Refining margins
under pressure
to 2015
15
US PVC producers
see healthy exports
17
11
HPIN RELIABILITY
How do you size
expansion chambers
(assuming it is
needed)
13
HPINTEGRATION
STRATEGIES
Korean ethylene
plant reaps benefits
from APC
COLUMNS
VALVES 2011SUPPLEMENT
79
Valves 2011
Update on valve technology for processing/refining facilities
DEPARTMENTS
9 HPIN BRIEF 19 HPINNOVATIONS 25 HPIN CONSTRUCTION
32 HPI CONSTRUCTION BOXSCORE UPDATE
106 HPI MARKETPLACE 109 ADVERTISER INDEX
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Process Editor Tricia Crossey
Reliability/Equipment Editor Heinz P. Bloch
Technical Editor Billy Thinnes
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With new Human Centered Design technologies from Emerson, its like the experience
never left. Using our deep insights into how your people perform their roles and tasks, Emerson
is designing all of our new products based on the science of Human Centered Design. This lets us
embed the same experience and understanding thats walking through your plant into our control
and monitoring technologies making them the easiest and most intuitive to use. Tasks are
accomplished in fewer steps, and with greater confidence, even when relying on less expertise
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The Emerson logo is a trademark and a service mark of Emerson Electric Co. 2011 Emerson Electric Co.
HPIN BRIEF
BILLY THINNES, TECHNICAL EDITOR
BT@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, coupled with the
disaster in Japan, threatens the sustainability of the global economic recovery, but
the momentum of growth is thought to be strong enough in most regions to absorb
the shocks, according to a quarterly analysis report from Ernst & Young. However,
global economic growth projections are being reduced, dropping to around 4%
for 2011. Despite the fact that short-term oil and gas supply and demand remains
relatively balanced, oil prices have gone up in anticipation of supply shocks, the
report says.
We are dealing with a new kind of oil shock, said Marcela Donadio, Americas oil
and gas leader for Ernst & Young. Driven by angst over broad geopolitical concerns,
markets are proactively reacting to a potential supply problem. HP
Natural gas
demand
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the total of
more than 22.1 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas demand in 2010 was the
highest-ever level in the US, exceeding
the previous high point established in
2000 by more than 10%.
With 2010 setting new records for
natural gas demand, Gas Technology
Institute (GTI)an independent, notfor-profit R&D organization serving
the natural gas industrysees the
coming decade as a period of continued robust growth.
The economic and clean-energy
benefits of natural gas are helping
to drive market demand, said David
Carroll, president and CEO of GTI.
The outlook for natural gas demand
remains robust, thanks to the remarkable expansion of natural gas supplies
in recent years and very attractive
end-user prices. We believe that gas
demand will likely reach 2426 trillion
cubic feet by 2020, while also helping
to reduce US carbon emissions.
Future growth in demand will be
led by the power-generation sector,
where natural gas is poised to help
offset an expected wave of older coalfired power-plant retirements. Powergeneration demand in 2010 was at
an all-time high, 40% higher than
demand in 2000.
The natural gas industry is also
experiencing growth in residential
and commercial market sectors. In
2010, residential natural gas demand
was the highest since 2003, while
commercial customers used more gas
than at any time since 1997. While
muted by appliance and building
energy-efficiency improvements, natural gas is well positioned to continue
to efficiently meet building energy
needs as an environmentally friendly
energy source.
Another area in which GTI anticipates major growth in demand is in the
transportation sector, where fleet owners are increasingly turning their attention to natural gas vehicles (NGVs) for
their economic benefits. Current prices
of compressed natural gas for vehicle
use are about $1.95/gallon. HP
I9
Select 55 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
HPIN RELIABILITY
HEINZ P. BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
HB@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
L = 0.0000065 L T
Anyway, heres the academic exercise.
We might elect to work with a base temperature of, say, 100F, which would be (100
+ 460) = 560 Rankine. Continuing in US
units, an increase of 100C (180F) is (180
+ 560) = 740 Rankine.
Charles Law states that the volume
of an ideal gas at constant pressure varies
directly as the absolute temperature; thus,
V 2=V 1 (T 2 / T 1 ) = Constant. For equal
pressure, the new volume, V2 , would have
to be V1 (740/560), or 1.32 times that of
the original air space (or volume) of 1.
Thus, 0.32 volume units would have to be
added to the original air space or volume
unit of 1.
Also, the volume of an expansion
chamber would have to be larger if we had
assumed a lower base temperature, say, 0F.
In that case, the needed volume addition
would be based onV1 (640/460)1and
0.39 volume units would have to be added
to an original air space or volume of 1.
Much of the 3 m-by-2-m-by-2 m overall
gearbox volume will be taken up by the
gears and oil. So, if the remaining air volume had been 30% of the gearbox total,
i.e., 0.3 12 = 3.6 m3, one would have to
add an expansion chamber with a useable
volume of0.32 3.6 = 1.15 m3in the
first instance. In the second instance, the
needed addition would be0.39 3.6
= 1.4 m3.
While this might have answered the
original question, I now imagined all kinds
of different scenarios, including seeing a
1.15 m3 or 1.4 m3 hump on the gearboxes
of future wind turbines. Or perhaps none,
because someone explained intelligent-sealing options to the gearbox manufacturer.
An intelligent-sealing option would be a
balanced seal, or a seal that can take the
pressure increase that comes with a constant volume. Let me explain.
Pressure increase with constant
volume. Suppose we didnt add an
FIG. 1
A threaded-type expansion
chamber is sometimes used at
the location where the bearing
housing vent had been installed
originally.
I 11
KNOW-HOW DELIVERED
We put tested rening technologies
and processes to work in your
world. From hydroprocessing to
uid
catalytic
cracking
and
REFINING
2011 KBR
All Rights Reserved
K11070
6/11
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HPINTEGRATION STRATEGIES
DICK HILL, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
DHill@Arcweb.com
an online model for composition and severity for the CLP and
multivariable controllers.
Since this was the plants first experience at such a comprehensive change in automation, it had to be established through
proper leadership to help people understand the coming changes.
For example, the changes in the way the operators managed the
process required quick adoption of new methods. Getting the
employees, from operators to engineers, to work together as a
team was an important challenge to overcome early on.
This was to be an integrated approach to automation; so
they had to establish effective connectivity between the existing
distributed control systems (DCSs) and the new APC and optimization solution. In addition, since success relied on accurate
and highly available instrumentation, they had to incorporate
strategies to deal with any instrument failures quickly.
ethylene plant is an important asset in LG Chems Petrochemicals unit. The plant was experiencing difficulty in meeting its
corporate operations goals due to a variety of issues. The naphtha
feed typically varies considerably in quality, and the plant has
issues related to furnace decoking, and tank and dryer swings.
Since ethylene crackers are major energy-consuming units, the
dynamics of the process further prohibited any attempts at comprehensive energy management. This all contributed to a process
that was seldom in steady state.
Through a quality improvement program called gaisen, the
company had previously improved the process, more than doubling the capacity from 350,000 tpy to the current world-class
capacity of 760,000 tpy. The underlying problems, however,
continued to cause plant upsets, resulting in total productivity
well below corporate expectations.
To have a chance at meeting corporate goals, the company
realized that it must stabilize operations before it could concentrate on maximizing plant throughput, which is why the company invested to increase the plants capacity in the first place.
Another LG Chem objective was to minimize energy consumption to produce ethylene.
LG Chem realized there was only so much improvement
that could achieved with process and procedure changes. The
company had some success at its Yosu plant using multivariable
control, and the plant manager at Daesan was keen on trying to
adopt this approach. LG Chem chose to work with AspenTech.
Together, the two companies decided that the plant needed to
go further than just applying multivariable control to the 11
ethylene cracker furnaces. The solution needed to be integrated
with the ethylene and propylene recovery areas downstream of
the furnaces. Due to the plantwide scope, inherent feedstock
variations and other disturbances, they decided to incorporate the
Composite Linear Program (CLP) tools with Aspen DMCplus.
LG Chems LGSim ethylene furnace model was used to create
I 13
owserve.com/data
Experience In Motion
Select 83 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
HPIMPACT
BILLY THINNES, TECHNICAL EDITOR
BT@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
global demand for crude oil while still having only a limited impact on product markets. Indias refinersboth public sector and
privatecontinue to advance plans that will
keep the country in strong surplus, eagerly
eyeing export markets in other Asian countries and further abroad.
Middle Eastern refiners are also expected
to add refining capacity above their domestic
requirements, with 1.6 million bpd of firm
new capacity expected by 2016 in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and more than 1 million
further bpd of potential capacity to be built
elsewhere on the Arabian Peninsula. Iran
and Iraq both continue to plan significant
new additions as well, though geopolitical
realities suggest no clear timeline for these
additions. Surplus output from Middle
Eastern refineries will compete with Asian
products for markets in Asia and Europe,
making operational efficiency, freight costs
and crude-oil pricing key parameters in a
highly competitive market.
European refiners face rising clean-fuels
import competition from the Americas, Asia
and Russia. KBC anticipates a significant
wave of Russian refining upgrading investment driven by recent reforms in Russias
export tariff structure. These upgrades could
see Russias exports swing from relatively lowquality intermediates, like vacuum gasoil and
M-100 fuel oil, to higher-quality finished
products that meet European standards.
With declining export markets for surplus
gasoline, a functioning carbon market from
2013 and a swing to distillate bunker fuels in
the North Sea/Baltic corridor, Europes refiners face the greatest pressure in the global
scenario, although unlike some more bearish
80,000
Thousand, tons
60,000
50,000
US PVC producers
see healthy exports
PVC demand returned to positive growth
in 2010 following the collapse in consumption experienced in 2008 and 2009, according to a new report on market dynamics in
the vinyls chain, published by Nexant.
The global economic slowdown has
taken its toll on the construction sector,
and building activity in Europe and North
America has been dramatically reduced.
China has become the main driver of global
growth. After a decline in Chinese demand
during 2008, the Chinese governments
economic stimulus packages have buoyed
consumption and underpinned positive
growth for the time period of 20092010.
Producers in Western regions have been able
to maintain operating rates due to a large
volume of exports. US producers benefitted
from reduced ethylene feedstock costs, large
5,000
North America
South America
Western Europe
Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Middle East
Africa
Asia-Pacic
40,000
30,000
4,000
Thousand, tons
70,000
North America
South America
Western Europe
Central Europe
Eastern Europe
Middle East
Africa
Asia-Pacic
3,000
2,000
1,000
20,000
0
10,000
0
-1,000
2008
FIG. 2
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
I 15
HPIMPACT
integrated plants and a weak dollar with the
country responsible for over 60% of global
trade in 2010.
Operating rates remained at historical
lows in 2010, with the output of large sections of acetylene-based Chinese capacity
limited in the second half of the year as
government policy on energy conservation
reduced supply of calcium-carbide feedstock.
PVC demand growth is forecast to continue in 2011, but the start-up of additional
capacity in China will see global operating
rates remaining low.
Consumption. In recent years, envi-
Advisory Board:
Axens
BP plc
eniRefining & Marketing Division
Foster Wheeler
Hydrocarbon Processing
Indian Institute of Petroleum
in Dehradun
NICE
Poddar & Associates
Shell Global Solutions
International B.V.
Sd Chemie
Technip
Walter Tosto S.p.A.
16
true in the Middle East. Capacity development in China is proceeding rapidly due to
the massive demand growth and the relative
attractiveness of coal-based production there.
Other parts of Asia show minimal development due to the lack of competitively priced
feedstock and the abundance of capacity already installed. Some major capacity
developments already underway in North
America have proceeded despite the ongoing
contraction in domestic demand. Much of
this new supply will go to foreign markets.
The capacity development that is underway in China is unprecedented. Capacity
has expanded from 5 million tpy in 2003
to over 15 million tpy in 2009, almost 90%
of total global capacity expansion over the
period (Fig. 2). Despite legitimate environmental concerns, relating both to massive
carbon emissions and mercury pollution, the
development of acetylene-based capacity in
China shows no sign of slowing. The governments effort to restrict the construction and
expansion of less efficient, environmentally
hazardous plants has had little impact on the
overall pace of development, although it has
perhaps prevented some sub-scale projects
from moving ahead.
While coal/acetylene technology has been
progressively replaced by ethylene-based production in other regions, coal-based production in China has been encouraged, as
it does not require imported feedstock or
compete for the limited supplies of ethylene.
The required feedstocks (coal and limestone)
are concentrated in the Western part of the
country, which is comparatively underdeveloped. Industrial activity there is subsequently inexpensive, and provides economic
growth in otherwise isolated areas.
The pace of capacity development in the
Middle East has been slow because of the
lack of local consumers for the caustic soda
byproduct from chlorine production, and
the availability of more attractive investment
opportunities in olefins. The higher longterm global energy pricing environment has
however brought the focus back onto the
ethylene and power cost advantages in the
region, leading to new interest in projects.
Regional demand growth has also considerably outpaced previous expectations, providing a much larger domestic market for new
entrants to sell into.
Demand and trade. Operating rates
have fallen sharply in recent years as capacity has increased while demand has fallen.
Further capacity additions in Asia, Eastern
Europe and the Middle East will see rates
HPIMPACT
PPI00181EN
17
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HPINNOVATIONS
SELECTED BY HYDROCARBON PROCESSING EDITORS
editorial@gulfpub.com
the use of Hamworthy Peabody Combustions SMARTflow flow modeling, and the
resources of Hamworthy Peabody Combustions World-Leading Advanced Technology Center (14 test furnaces/testing
burner capacities to 300 MMBtu/hr), the
ECOjet emerged, offering ultra-low emissions with little or no flue-gas recirculation.
Every aspect of the burner from air entry to
gas and oil nozzles to swirler was strategically designed, developed and tested.
Ignition is achieved using the highly
reliable, self-cleaning and low maintenance
Chentronics (a Hamworthy Combustion
Group company) high energy direct-spark
ignitor. The burst-mode ignition with
flashing indicator allows the operator to
observe the ignitor condition during operation. This also eliminates the need for an
ignitor fuel train. Gas-electric ignitors are
also available for firing natural gas, propane, coke oven gas, etc.
Easy to install, operate and maintain
FIG. 1
Select 2 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING JUNE 2011
I 19
HPINNOVATIONS
equalization valves, saving users hundreds
of dollars per installation.
The AST5400 sensor replaces systems
that use two gauge pressure sensors to
calculate differential pressure, saving on
installation time and cost. Since the accuracy or inaccuracy of two-sensor systems is
additive, the AST5400 system can easily
increase performance over temperature.
With the advancements in electronics, users of differential pressure switches
to experience a fault condition, the transducer can be programmed to rail the output signal to 10% below the minimum or
10% above the maximumoutput signal
to notify the user of an issue and protect
the system from undesirable conditions.
The AST5400 series also offers excellent
flexibility, allowing for a variety of wetted
materials and pressure ports.
Select 3 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
www.mustangeng.com
Select 153 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
20
Your Benet:
Lowest Life Cycle Costs
HPINNOVATIONS
New Directions
WHO SHOULD
ATTEND:
CURRICULUM:
Global Best Practices
OPERATIONS
Process
Superintendent
Operations/Unit
Engineer
Plant Manager
Waste Water Manager
Operations Manager/
Supervisor
Safety Personnel +
Asset Protection
Decontamination
Trends+Methodologies
Planning + Logistics
Chemistries
Efuent Management
Economic Benets
MAINTENANCE
RELIABILITY
Maintenance
Manager/Engineer
Turn Around
Manager/Engineer
Turn Around
Planner/Coordinator
Asset Manager
ENGINEERS
Tech Service
Engineer
Process Engineer
Construction
Manager
Utility Manager
ENVIRONMENTAL
& SAFETY
PROFESSIONALS
22
tors and field service personnel in their dayto-day operation of General Electric aero
derivative gas turbines. This is accomplished
by gathering and analyzing real-time data to
calculate thermodynamic performance. The
outputs of the GT Performance Module are
ISO reference corrected and humidity corrected, specifically for the General Electric
LM series gas turbines.
The GT Performance Module facilitates the optimal management of gas
turbines. Its development was based on
decades of packaging experience with the
GE LM2500 to accurately calculate turbine performance as if it were on a DresserRand factory test stand, said Dan Levin,
general manager, Dresser-Rand Control
Systems. It facilitates the effective planning for operational and maintenance
activities ahead of a planned shutdown.
Dresser-Rands GT Performance Module provides two direct benefits to the GE
LM2500 gas turbine generator set. First,
it lowers operating costs. The real-time
monitoring of gas turbine performance
can help ensure a generator set operates at
peak efficiency. Recognizing indications
of performance degradation early allows
for prompt corrective action to prevent
excessive energy/fuel usage and reduced
turbine life. Second, it provides predictive
maintenance capabilities that are crucial
in identifying performance degradation
from irregularities like turbine compressor fouling, imbalanced fuel nozzles, compressor rotating stall, expander efficiency
degradation and exhaust pressure drop.
Users can assess the engines performance relative to OEM-determined predictions, Levin said. With this information, operational and maintenance activities
can be planned in advance of a scheduled
shutdown. Users can also reduce the impact
on production and decide what corrective
actions are needed before servicing the turbine. This is crucial for the optimal functioning of General Electric aero derivatives.
The GT Performance Module also adds
value by allowing for the optimization of an
engines maintenance schedule. With lower
costs from fewer maintenance intervals and
the increased turbine runtime, the total
cost savings from maintenance optimization could be significant.
One of the modules key advantages is
providing comprehensive information in
various forms when and where its needed.
Users can select from multiple graph formats or create trends from stored data.
Select 5 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
E50001-E440-F170-V1-4A00
For career
opportunities
within Siemens
Oil and Gas, visit
jobsearch.
siemens.biz
www.siemens.com/oilandgas
Select 95 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
)BWJOHUIFJODPSSFDUMJRVJEMFWFM
DBOCFEFUSJNFOUBMUPZPVSQSPDFTT
'JTIFS '*&-%76& %-$G EJHJUBM MFWFM DPOUSPMMFST BSF B CSFBUI PG GSFTI BJS GPS
MJRVJEMFWFMBQQMJDBUJPOT5IFZNFBTVSFQSPDFTTMFWFMTXJUIBDDVSBDZBOESFMJBCJMJUZ
TP UIFSFT OP VODFSUBJOUZ 1MVT UIFZ FOTVSF DPOTJTUFOU MPPQ QFSGPSNBODF XJUI
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HSBQIJDBM EJTQMBZT
SFBMUJNF BDDFTT UP IJTUPSJDBM PQFSBUJOH MPHT
BOE FBTJMZ
DPOHVSFEQSPDFTTVJETBEESFBMWBMVFUPMFWFMDPOUSPMTZTUFNT%-$GEJHJUBM
MFWFM DPOUSPMMFST BSF TVSF UP NBLF B TQMBTI BU ZPVS GBDJMJUZ -FBSO NPSF BU
XXX'JTIFSDPN%-$G
5IF&NFSTPOMPHPJTBUSBEFNBSLBOETFSWJDFNBSLPG&NFSTPO&MFDUSJD$P'JTIFS$POUSPMT*OUFSOBUJPOBM--$%9.9 )
Select 69 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
HELEN MECHE, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
HM@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
North America
KBR has been awarded a $65 million
contract by Chevron Products Co. to execute a base-oil expansion project at Chevrons refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The
construction project includes building a new
lubes hydrocracker and a lube dewaxing/
hydrofinishing unit. Work is expected to
begin in May 2011, and upon completion,
the facility is expected to be one of the largest premium base-oil plants in the world.
Shell has successfully started production from its Scotford Upgrader Expansion project in Canada. The 100,000-bpd
expansion takes upgrading capacity at Scotford to 255,000 bpd of heavy oil from the
Athabasca oil sands. This marks the first
commercial production from the upgrader
expansion. The Scotford Upgrader processes oil sands bitumenheavy oilfrom
the Muskeg River Mine and Jackpine Mine
for use in refined oil products.
Westlake Chemical Corp. has an
expansion program that includes increasing
the ethane-based ethylene capacity at Lake
Charles, Louisiana, and evaluating expansion options and the upgrading of ethylene
production facilities at Calvert City, Kentucky, to capitalize on new low-cost ethane
and other light feedstocks being developed in North America.
Each of the companys two light feedstock ethylene crackers in Lake Charles will
be expanded as part of this program. These
expansions will commence as planned
maintenance turnarounds occur in order to
provide ethylene for existing internal derivatives units and the merchant market. The
first cracker expansion will increase capacity
by approximately 230240 million lb/yr,
while also increasing feedstock flexibility.
It is expected that this project will be completed by late 2012 and a second expansion
concluded by the end of 2014.
PetroAlgae Inc. has an agreement with
Haldor Topse and its US subsidiary, Haldor Topse, Inc., to provide technology
and catalysts to upgrade oils produced from
PetroAlgaes biomass through refinery coking
processes and pyrolysis into drop-in renewable fuels, including diesel and jet fuels.
Under the agreement, the two companies will work together to apply Haldor
Topse catalysts, equipment and licensed
technology to upgrade oils derived from
PetroAlgaes biocrude.
URS Corp. has been awarded a contract
by BP Products North America Inc. to
provide construction and maintenance services, including electrical, mechanical, piping, instrumentation and civil works to the
Whiting Refinery in Whiting, Indiana. The
three-year contract has a maximum value of
$150 million for URS.
CB&I has a project, valued in excess
of $45 million, for storage tanks at an oil
sands project near Fort McMurray, Alberta,
Canada. CB&Is scope of work includes the
engineering, procurement, fabrication and
construction of 12 cone-roof tanks at the oil
sands project. CB&Is contract is scheduled
for completion in 2013.
Technip has an engineering, procurement and construction-support services contract with Canadian Natural
Resources Ltd., worth approximately 100
million, for the Horizon project in Fort
McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The contract
covers the expansion of the existing delayed
coking unit, completed by Technip in 2008.
It confirms Technips leading position in the
refining of nonconventional hydrocarbons
such as refining bitumen.
Technips operating center in Rome,
Italy, will execute the contract which is
scheduled to be completed in 2013. Detail
engineering, procurement and supply of
materials and equipment will be delivered
on a lump-sum basis, while the construction management will be charged on a
reimbursable basis.
Bayer MaterialScience is set to invest
some $120 million into its Baytown,
Texas, site. The Baytown site, which celebrates 40 years of manufacturing success
this year, is the companys largest manufacturing facility in the US, and it is a
keystone of Bayer MaterialSciences global
manufacturing strategy.
The planned $120 million investment
includes:
South America
Technip, in consortium with Tom
Engenharia, was awarded a lump-sum
turnkey EPC contract by Petrobras for
five new units at the Presidente Bernardes
Refinery in Cubato, state of So Paulo,
Brazil. This contract covers EPC, commissioning, pre-operation and assisted operation of five new process units, including a
diesel hydrotreater and a hydrogen plant, as
well as all associated utilities.
The project, which is scheduled to be
completed by the end of 2013, will produce
low-sulfur-content diesel to comply with
new Brazilian environmental regulations.
Oxford Catalysts Group PLCs gasto-liquids (GTL) demonstration plant has
arrived in Fortaleza, Brazil, following the
timely completion of its construction in
Asia last year. The integrated GTL dem-
I 25
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
New methanol facility online in China
China Blue Chemical Co. Ltd. and Davy Process Technology
(DPT), a Johnson Matthey Co., announced the successful startup, performance test and plant acceptance of a 2,500-metric
ton/day methanol plant in Hainan Island in the South China
Sea in March 2011. The methanol facility is located at Dongfang. It is the worlds largest operating coal-based methanol
plant, and the methanol is used for olefin production.
This facility will produce chemical-grade methanolUS
AA grade and the Chinese GB388 standard methanolto
supply both the domestic Chinese market along with product
available for export. The feedstock is natural gas from the China
National Offshore Oil Corp.s (CNOOC) offshore wells. China
Blue is a subsidiary of CNOOC.
The plant utilizes DPTs catalytic-rich gas pre-reforming
technology and a DPT steam reformer for synthesis gas production and Johnson Matthey Catalysts low-pressure methanol
technology featuring DPTs proprietary steam-raising converters.
The success of this plant, which was completed in 31
months from start of the contract, is due to the excellent team
work and cooperation between Davy Process Technology and
Johnson Matthey Catalysts as technology licensors and catalysts suppliers, China Blue Chemical Co. Ltd., the owner and
operator, and Chengda the Chinese Design Institute, which
performed the detailed engineering and construction management. The plant is 1 of 13 plants that Davy Process Technology
and Johnson Matthey Catalysts have licensed globally over the
past five years. HP
Europe
Evonik Industries has started up a new
facility to produce high-purity isobutene at
its site in Antwerp, Belgium. The new plant,
which involved investment of tens of millions of euros, can produce up to 110,000
metric tpy of isobutene, and it forms part of
the sites integrated C4 production platform.
The investment has tripled Evoniks production capacity for isobutene.
A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler AGs
Global Engineering and Construction
Group has received a pre-FEED con-
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
next four years in stepped increases. The
current nameplate capacity is 330,000 tpy.
In addition to the polycarbonate
expansion at the site, Bayer MaterialScience is also rebuilding chlorineproduction facilities to increase energy
efficiency. The new facilities will utilize
state-of-the-art membrane technology
and the innovative companys oxygen
depolarized cathode (ODC) technology.
Compared with the membrane technology, ODC will reportedly reduce both
electricity use and indirect CO2 emissions
up to 30%.
Japan Far East Gas Co., Ltd., a company newly established by ITOCHU
Corp., Japan Petroleum Exploration Co.,
Ltd. (JAPEX), Marubeni Corp., INPEX
Corp. and ITOCHU Oil Exploration
Co., Ltd. (CIECO) has signed an agreement on the implementation of a joint
study for the natural gas utilization project
in the Vladivostok area with Russias stateowned gas company Gazprom.
The joint study consists of pre-frontend engineering and design (pre-FEED)
for the construction of a liquefied natural
gas (LNG) plant with production capacity
of 10 million tpy, a preliminary feasibility study on the compressed natural gas
(CNG) pilot project, and a preliminary
study on a gas chemical complex project.
The joint study is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011.
Middle East
Merichem Co. has a licensing and
equipment-supply agreement with a leading supplier of direct reduced iron (DRI)
facilities to install a LO-CAT hydrogen sulfide treatment system at a new grassroots
facility in the Mideast. The 1.43 metric-tpd
LO-CAT unit, provided through the Merichem Gas Technologies business unit, will
be integrated into the overall DRI processing facility, with a proposed startup date
during the fourth quarter of 2012.
The LO-CAT unit will be treating
70,000 Nm3/hr of natural gas with a H2S
removal efficiency of 99.9%, far exceeding
current environmental standards. This will
be the seventh LO-CAT unit to be installed
in a DRI facility worldwide.
Saudi Organometallic Chemicals
Co. (SOCC), a joint venture equally
owned by SABIC affiliate Saudi Specialty Chemical Co. (Specialty Chem)
and Albemarle Netherlands B.V. (a
Select 155 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
27
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
The Fujairah Refinery project, a strategic initiative of the government, will be
located near the new Abu Dhabi crude-oil
pipeline Main Oil Terminal and the UAE
deepwater export terminals in Fujairah. It
will be designed to process UAE crudes
such as Murban, Upper Zakum and Dubai.
A number of financing optionsincluding, but not limited to, project financing
are under consideration.
The project management consultancy
(PMC) contract for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase of the Fujairah Refinery was awarded to Shaw Stone
& Webster in April 2011. The project is
now in pre-FEED, with project completion
anticipated to occur by mid 2016.
A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler AGs
Global Engineering and Construction Group has a contract with Bahrain
National Gas Co. (BANAGAS) to undertake a feasibility study for the modifications and expansion of the BANAGAS
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facilities
in Bahrain. The expansion will allow the
plant to increase its gas throughput, which
is planned to reach 285 million scfd of
Asia-Pacific
Badger Licensing LLC has a contract
to provide proprietary technology and
basic engineering for a 300,000 metric-tpy
ethylbenzene/styrene monomer (EBSM)
plant for Egyptian Polystyrene Production Co. (EStyrenics). The plant will be
located within the El Dekila port site in
Alexandria, Egypt. The contract covers
technology licensing and the front-end
engineering and design (FEED) package,
along with operations training and commissioning support.
Badgers technology and engineering services will provide the foundation
for this EBSM plant, representing the
second phase of a larger styrenics com-
Lummus Technology, a CB&I company, has a contract from Kazakhstan Petrochemical Industries Inc. LLP (KPI)
for the license and basic engineering of a
propane dehydrogenation unit and a polypropylene plant. The two units, each with
a design capacity of 500,000 metric tpy,
are planned as part of KPIs gas-processing
complex to be built in the western Atyrau
region, Kazakhstan.
The propane dehydrogenation unit will
make use of the CATOFIN technology
for converting propane to propylene. The
polypropylene plant will use the Novolen
advanced gas-phase polypropylene technology. This will enable KPI to produce
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HPIN CONSTRUCTION
a broad range of polypropylene products
to meet the needs of both local and export
markets. Both technologies provide high
reliability and easy operability.
Haldor Topse has been awarded
the contract for the second out of four
substitute natural gas (SNG) projects
approved by Chinas National Development and Reform Commission. The
plant will be commissioned by the Hui
Neng Group, a major coal mining company in the Inner Mongolia region. The
plant will produce SNG based on syngas
from coal gasification, and, onsite the
SNG will be converted into liquefied
natural gas (LNG). Topse will be the
licensor for the methanation section and
will supply license, engineering design,
catalyst and service.
The Hui Neng SNG plant has a total
planned capacity of 1.6 billion Nm3 per
This bench top analyzer tops all others in its price range for
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31
City
Plant Site
Project
PetroChina Daqing
PetroChina
UPC Technology Corp
HPCL
Essar Oil Ltd
Cosmo Oil Co Ltd
Petron Corp
Petrovietnam
Daqing
Guangdong
Nanchong
Mumbai
Vadinar
Sakai
Bataan
Dung Quat
Daqing
Jieyang
Nanchong
Mumbai
Vadinar
Sakai
Bataan
Dung Quat
Ethylene
Refinery
Phthalic Anhydride
Cracker, FCC
Refinery
ETBE
Refinery
Refinery
Edmonton
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray
Edmonton
Fort McMurray
Fort McMurray
Bitumen Refinery
SAGD
OTSG
AIOC
Evonik Industries AG
Socar
HKM
Enel SpA
Statoil
Polskie LNG
Offshore
Antwerp
Kulevi
Duisburg
Porto Empedocle
Melkoya Island
Swinoujscie
Chirag
Antwerp
Khobi Dstrict
Duisburg
Porto Empedocle
Melkoya Island
Swinoujscie
FPSO
Isobutane
LNG Terminal
Coke Oven Plant (2)
LNG Terminal
LNG
LNG Terminal
Santos
Coatzacoalcos
La Cangrejera
Poza Rica
Salamanca
Veracruz
Camisea
Paramaribo
Santos
Coatzacoalcos
La Cangrejera
Poza Rica
Amor Refinery
Tuxpan
Camisea
Paramaribo
Bandar Abbas
Baghdad
Al Jubail
Jubail
Saudi Aramco
Homs
Fujairah
Bandar Abbas
Baghdad
Al Jubail
Jubail Ind City
Yanbu
Homs
Fujairah
Kenai
Whiting
Norco
Kenai
Whiting
Norco
Engineering
Constructor
ASIA/PACIFIC
China
China
China
India
India
Japan
Philippine Repub
Vietnam
RE
600 tpy
EX
400 bpd
TO
60 Mtpy
RE
28 Mbpd
EX
375 bpsd
RE 140000 l/d
EX
180 bpd
EX
6.5 MMtpy
2000 U 2012
8700 P 2013
20 P 2013
C 2011
382 U 2012
C 2011
1800 U 2014
3000 P 2016
Shaw S&W
PDVSA
UOP
ABB Lummus
Belco
Essar
Daelim
Tecnicas Reunidas|JGC|Technip
CANADA
Alberta
Alberta
Alberta
5000 bpd
5000 bpd
60 bpd
50 U 2014
U 2011
U 2012
SNC-Lavalin
KTI|Snamprogetti
EUROPE
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Georgia
Germany
Italy
Norway
Poland
183000
110
10
2.32
8
EX
4.3
5
bpd
m-tpy
m-tpy
m-tpy
Bcmy
Mtpy
BNm3/y
3000 E
C
U
U
1200 E
843 F
U
2013
2011
2015
2013
2015
2012
2014
2.7
1
228
200
80
500
520
15
MMtpy
MMtpy
Mtpy
MMcfd
tpd
Mbbl
MMscfd
Mbpd
F
2500 F
U
307 U
43.4 U
14 U
143 U
575 U
2013
2015
2012
2012
2011
2011
2012
2013
Refinery
Crude oil pumping station RE
Ethylene Vinyl Acetate
Coker
Yanbu
Coker
Crude Unit, Atmospheric
Refinery
120
2.5
200
103
771
115
200
bpd
Mtpy
t/a
Mbpd
tph
bpd
bpd
U
E
385 E
U
E
M
3000 F
2015
2012
2013
2013
2014
2013
2016
64 Bcfy
410 bpd
137 Mgpy
EX
EX
KBR
Linde|Statoil
Saipem|Techint
Uhde
Tractebel Eng
FW|Linde
Techint|Saipem
Braskem SA
Chiyoda|SBM Offshore
Technip|IDESA
LATIN AMERICA
Brazil
Mexico
Mexico
Mexico
Mexico
Mexico
Peru
Surinam
BY
EX
Linde
Pemex
PlusPetrol Peru
CB&I Lummus
ICA Fluor|Linde
Tecna
Sener
Tecna
Aker Solutions
Technip
Tecna
Tecna
Saipem
MIDDLE EAST
Iran
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Syria
UAE
FW|UOP
Chiyoda|Samsung Eng
Techint
Shaw S&W
UNITED STATES
Alaska
Indiana
Louisiana
EX
EX
20 A
3800 U 2011
241 U
BOXSCORE DATABASE
Bechtel
Bechtel
URS Corp - Washington Div|Fluor URS Corp - Washington Div|Fluor
UOP|Dresser-Rand
ONLINE
32
Select 94 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
As part of a renery expansion project, a large Indian oil company set out to
extend the life of heat exchangers in the new coker unit. This meant dealing with an
extremely corrosive environment caused by substantial amounts of hydrogen
sulphide, ammonia and cyanide.
Because of the high content of hydrogen sulphide and the subsequent risk of
hydrogen induced cracking, the engineering company involved in the plant design
specied Sanicro 28 stainless steel tubes. This grade is a safe choice when
the process ow is rich in acids, chlorides and hydrogen sulphide. When the
new renery unit was started in 2005, Sanicro 28 tubing had been installed
in10 heat exchangers.
Five years later, when the heat exchangers were opened for inspection and testing,
the tubes showed no signs of corrosion.
CHALLENGE
YOUR EXPECTATIONS
w w w. s m t . s a n d v i k . c o m / o i l re f i n e r y
Select 79 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
HPI VIEWPOINT
Why technology choice does matter
Brian Harkins is a director for KBRs Technology business unit. In his current role, he is
responsible for growing KBRs technology portfolio. Mr. Harkins has been actively involved in
the technology sector for process industries
for more than 25 years in roles that span sales,
marketing, business development, technology
management, mergers and acquisitions (M&A),
project management, consulting and technology implementation.
Prior to joining KBR, he held positions at Setpoint, Aspen Technology,
Inc., and Invensys Process Systems. Mr. Harkins has a chemical engineering degree from Rice University and has been active in presenting
and publishing in the industry over his career.
drives the decision to buy and build a process dominates the thinking process. Yes, engineering and construction companies routinely
look forand findways to improve the capital picture without
compromising the end product, and yes, with computer modeling
and simulation, these decisions are much more accurate, and costs are
(on a relative basis) much lower than they have ever been.
The other half of the equation is how the process operates.
Before a final decision is made, a view of the net present value
(NPV) is taken to see how the operating side of the equation influences the economic picture. This calculation is full of uncertainty.
Licensors succeed if they can meet or exceed any guarantees they
offer in the license grant. Thats the easy part. What is significantly
harder to foresee is the long-term operating impact of the licensing
decision. How much will it cost to operate? This is a function of
energy consumption, feed costs, catalyst and additives, maintenance
of associated equipment, repairs and upgrades, and so on. Add to
this the quality requirements that may change over time, and what
the available operating range of the unit is within safety margins.
Now youve got enough variables to make what was once a very
simple decision a very complicated one.
DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
I 35
CRYO-PLUS
Get More Valuable Liquid from your Gas Streams
Linde Process Plants, Inc. provides engineering, design,
fabrication and construction of cryogenic plants for the
extraction of hydrocarbon liquid from natural gas, refinery
and petrochemical gas streams. Recovered liquid components can include ethylene, ethane, propylene, propane,
isobutane as well as other valuable olefinic and paraffinic
hydrocarbons. Combine your CRYO-PLUS plant with a
Linde PSA to recover high purity hydrogen from refinery
and petrochemical off-gas streams.
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
FIG. 1
FIG. 2
FIG. 3
I 37
Stepping up performance
next generation BRIM technology
W WW.T OPSOE.CO M
high dispersion
high porosity
high activity
Select 87 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
FIG. 4
BORSIG
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Leading
Technology for
Innovative
Solutions
Quench Coolers
Process Gas Waste Heat
Recovery Systems
Reciprocating Compressors
Centrifugal Compressors
Membrane Technology e.g.
Emission Control Systems
Industrial Boilers and
Power Plant Technology
Services
BORSIG GROUP
Egellsstrasse 21
D-13507 Berlin/Germany
Phone: +49 (30) 4301-01
Fax:
+49 (30) 4301-2236
E-mail: info@borsig.de
www.borsig.de
Select 160 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
www.CBI.com
CB&I has worked in more than 100 countries around the world, on all
seven continents. We have the global experience and local knowledge to
safely deliver superior results in all kinds of environments. From concept
to completion, CB&I gets the job done.
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
(Fig. 2). This means that many of the capabilities and possible
training exercises are never used or presented to the trainee.
Typically, instructors are senior operators put in charge of training newer operators, even though they may have no prior experience as an instructor. The International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), in its publication, Development of instructors for nuclear
power plant personnel training (IAEA-TECDOC 1392) makes a
strong case for qualified simulator instructors, and states, A simulator setting requires an instructor to have wider competence than
that needed for classroom training.1 In this same document, the
IAEA stresses, The attitude and professional demeanor of trainees
and instructors should reflect the professionalism expected in the
main control room. To provide support in learning these areas,
simulator instructors should have an appropriate qualification.
The five-phase identification, normal operations, startup and
shudowns, troubleshooting and optimization (INSTO) learning
module combines using the simulator with instructor and student
laboratory exercise manuals to reinforce concepts and provide
virtual process practice. It equips instructors with the tools necessary to train effective and competent operators. Feedback from
clients has been great: The instructor and student manuals are
very useful because we have a product you can load and go, was
one comment.
Startup
Shutdown
Troubleshooting
Simulator instructors
Training objectives
Reading and
rounds sheets
Simulator
Normal
operations
Lesson plans
Training exercises
Performance objectives
Simulator models
Engineering benets
Operator training
results
Startup
scramble
Optimization
FIG. 1
FIG. 2
Operator
evaluation
I 41
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Methodology. INSTO is an immersive method for training operators to fully know and understand a process, making
them experts on the equipment, procedures, mechanisms and
general operation. The goal and result of this type of training is a
more intuitive and capable operator that can seamlessly transition
from normal operations to troubleshooting system faults while
minimizing economic and human costs. Safety is a central theme
throughout, with the harshest grading resulting from unsafe practices performed by the student.
INSTO. This is a process for training that aligns itself to nearly
any simulation program, from generic process simulators and
modules to fully customized replications of live plants.
IdentificationFamiliarization with the process being
operated is of utmost importance, as is knowing exactly where
various instrumentation and equipment are located on both
the digital control system (DCS) in the control room as well as
on site out in the field. Students are given piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID), DCS screen shots, and images
representing a field operators view they are asked to correlate
between the three. Testing is done by asking the students to
label blank forms of the process with the correct tag names
and descriptions of pumps, valves, equipment and any other
instrumentation represented.
Normal operationsKnowing how a process or plant
works when everything is operating correctly helps operators
1970
1990
2000
2010
Gr
ad
e
Grading
Event
Makes
recommendations
Informs others of
recommendations,
intentions/actions taken
Communicates
recommendation,intensions/
actions clearly
Seeks information
Conrmation
feedback sought
Logs Information
Gr
ad
e
Event
Gr
ad
e
Grading
Informs others
5
Proper shift handover
6
Logging
Team support
Conict solving
Flexibility
4
Consideration of others
Support of others
Medium skill
level
4, 5, 6
Avoids unnecessary
conict
Lacks Flexibility
Adapts to change
Ignores
accomplishments of
ther team members
Recognizes
accomplishments of
other team members
Recognizes accomplishments of
team members and reinforces them
Subtotal
Subtotal
Overall score
FIG. 4
42
Overall score
FIG. 5
Gr
ad
e
Cooperation
Communication
Gr
ad
e
FIG. 3
1980
Gr
ad
e
1960
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Just
like
Mozarts
compositions
SAMSONs Series 240 Valves are
world renowned and appreciated.
Tuned like organ pipes, the Series 240
suits all pressures and ows, from adagio to allegro. Yet, the valves denitely
work piano so nobody will be roused
by a sudden beat of the drum. And, just
like in an orchestra, the number of instruments is your choice. With positioners, solenoid valves and limit switches,
further virtuoso performers are waiting
to come in.
LITERATURE CITED
Development of Instructors for nuclear power plant personnel training,
IAEA, IAEA-TECDOC-1392, June 2004.
Communication Differences between Dedicated Inside and Outside
Operators, Newsletter, Beville Engineering, Inc., 1991, http://www.beville.
com/article.asp?ArticleName=W4.txt.
Ortloff, Dr. R. C., Training Approaches for Using Simulators to Teach
Process Control Technology, Control Engineering, December, 2010, http://
www.controleng.com/index.php?id=483&cHash=081010&tx_ttnews[tt_
news]=40524.
Efuent Wa
Water Quality
Before
After
solve processing
problems with
heavy crudes.
well share
our experience.
www.bakerhughes.com
2011 Baker Hughes Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. 31714
Select 67 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
OSHAs PSM Standard (CFR 1910.119) details the requirements for preventing or minimizing the consequences of catastrophic releases of toxic, reactive, flammable or explosive chemicals. PHA teams assemble to identify and evaluate hazards that
represent the potential release of dangerous materials as described
in subpart e of the PSM StandardCFR 1910.119(e). As part
of the PHA process, action items are assigned to manage the
consequences of identified hazards to an acceptable level. It is not
uncommon for historical PHAs to be evaluated in response to an
accidental release of potentially hazardous process materials. This
evaluation is triggered to understand how previous PHA teams
assessed the hazard. It is, therefore, possible to interpret any failure
that results in the accidental release of potentially hazardous process materials as a PHA team failure. More precisely, it indicates
that the previous PHA teams may have failed to adequately identify, evaluate and control the hazard. Its potential consequences
were, therefore, left for discovery by the process safety failure that
exposed them.
Many, if not most, process safety failures are preceded by lower
consequence repeat failures. These low consequence failures can
New Mexico refinery on April 8, 2004.1 The fire ignited upon the
catastrophic release of flammable process liquid following a centrifugal pump mechanical-seal failure. The failure caused six injuries as well as extensive property damage and business interruption.
The fire resulted due to loss of process containment from
one of a set of three centrifugal pumps in alkylate recirculation
service. Alkylate is a mixture of light hydrocarbons typically in
the C4 (butane) to C8 (octane) range. Process material leaking
from the pump at 350F autoignited upon contact with air. This
failure was attributed to misapplication of energy control after
the pump was removed from service to address a process fouling
problem. More specifically, the release occurred when mechanics
that were scheduled to replace a defective mechanical seal began
disassembling the pump on location.
The three alkylate-recirculation pumps at this facility had
a recurring history of seal failures. In its formal report, the US
Chemical Safety Board (CSB) designated this incident as an MI
program failure. In the report, the CSB cites 23 WOs issued to
address seal failures in the three pumps in a 12-month period
leading up to the catastrophic process release. (Note: A summary
table was published in Hydrocarbon Processing, May 2010, p. 9).
The CSB makes the valid argument that an effective mechanical
integrity program would have investigated and resolved the probHYDROCARBON PROCESSING JUNE 2011
I 45
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
FIG. 1
46
(see Table 1) similar to the pumps examined in the first case history.
Likewise, the cause of the fire was determined to be a catastrophic
mechanical-seal failure. However, the physical evidence collected
at the unit after the fire indicated that seal damage was a secondary
effect and had been preceded by catastrophic thrust-bearing failure.
The primary failure had caused uncontrolled shaft movement in the
axial (thrust) direction, which then destroyed the mechanical seal.
Eventually, the investigation team was able to link together
the probable causes of unstable hydraulics at the pump installation. The failure mechanism was introduced by operating the
No. 2 fuel-oil pumps in continuous parallel service. Originally,
the pumps were designed for single-spare operation. However,
through years of growth and unit debottlenecking efforts, the
pumps were continuously operated in parallel to overcome rundown piping pressure constraints. In the parallel operation, the
pumps rotating elements came under constant stress. Before the
fire, this failure mechanism was adequately managed by condition monitoring and frequent repairs. But, eventually, a fire in
an operating unit and an OSHA-recordable injury settled any
debate over the potential consequences for accepting poor pump
reliability in this service. Although this particular installation had
been examined twice previously by PHA teams in accordance with
OSHA regulations, the hazard remained hidden until the process
safety failure exposed it.
Although these two separate failures occurred in different
facilities, in different services, at different times, and under different process operating conditions, the common thread of belowexpectations reliability runs between them. In both cases, it is
easy to look back on events as an accident waiting to happen.
Unfortunately, in neither case was the MI program able to prevent
repeat failures that eventually resulted in an unacceptable, nondiscretionary process safety failure.
In both cases, the owner-operators of the unreliable equipment
were in full compliance with OSHA 1910.119(e) governing the
use of the PHA program to detect hazards that could result in the
potential release. However, in both cases, the PHA program failed
to identify and adequately control the hazards that ultimately
resulted in the failure. Additionally, the MI program (OSHA
1910.119(j)) was unable to achieve a level of equipment reliability
sufficient to offset any PHA defect. The MI program is just as
important for the PSM standard to achieve its objective as any of
its other elements.
FIG. 2
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Conservative, but reasonable? Typical PHA team members
do not take lightly their responsibility to identify hazards. Rendering
their services in PHA meetings requires a considerable amount of
time away from their normal responsibilities. They participate with
the intention of adding value by detecting, assessing and controlling
any hidden hazards to protect themselves and their fellow workers.
They, therefore, take their PHA performance very seriously and are
committed to learning from their mistakes. By learning, they can
add more value in future PHA meetings. Should PHA teams or
team members be criticized (publicly, privately or interpersonally)
for having failed to avoid an incident? It is common practice for the
teams to err on the safe side in future PHA meetings.
In some cases, this conservative response may be appropriate.
For example, it is both reasonable and important to expect drastic
changes when a facility learns of an operation that is contrary to
industry policies or standards. Conversely, it would not be realistic
to view all potential hydrocarbon releases equally. Yet, this is what
some teams do upon recognizing their failure to generate action
items sufficient to mitigate the potential risk of a process safety
failure in previous PHA meetings. Merely piling on more action
items may or may not add value.
Addressing them may create an illusory image of improving
workplace safety while not really making progress on mitigating
hazards that truly represent unacceptable risk.
Recent events in process safety failure show how dangerous it
can be to develop initiatives around safety items that represent
little or no incremental value. This situation was brought to British Petroleums (BPs) attention after the refinery explosion at its
Texas City, Texas, facility on March 23, 2005.3 It is not that BP
was not concerned about, nor investing in, process safety improvements. The unfair truth about process safety is that there is no
reward for hard work. To avoid a process safety failure, the effort
must be properly directed. A safety program will fail if it focuses
employee attention on the wrong things. The illusion of a safe
workplace is destroyed when a catastrophic failure exposes a persistent, unacceptable risk as an accident waiting to happen. Working on the wrong things creates a distraction from the greater and
more realistic process safety threats that should be resolved first.
RISK BASICS
Although the argument could be made that safer pump operation results from upgrading with more robust seals, bearings and
monitoring systems, doing so is probably not the most deliberate
way to achieve process safety. In many cases upgrades offer no
incremental improvement unless they address a deficiency that
causes the pump to perform below justified life-cycle expectations.4 Indiscriminately upgrading pumps can consume a considerable amount of resources with the intention of making a system
safer, while creating a distraction from other process safety hazards
that often represent even greater risk.
Risk is a function of frequency and consequence. Not all centrifugal process pump failures represent the same risk. For example,
a hydrocarbon pump operating in the middle of a congested
process unit may not represent the same potential consequences
as a pump moving similar process liquids in a remote location
away from an operating unit. Likewise, the high-temperature
gasoil (GO) fraction that leaked in the second case history may
not represent the same potential consequences as a leaking GO
fraction cooled below 300F, downstream from a rundown cooler.
The point here is that assessing the potential consequence of
a catastrophic pump failure is not a binary process. A risk assess-
SPECIALREPORT
Date
Problem
Leaking head
Sept. 3, 1993
Failed coupling
Failed coupling
Leaking head
Nov. 22,1994
Cavitating noise
Leaking seal
Failed coupling
April 6, 1999
Leaking seal
10
Leaking seal
11
Aug. 3, 2000
Leaking seal
12
Failed coupling
13
14
Sept. 9, 2003
I 47
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Risk-based
pump analysis
FIG. 3
3
Medium
Airline
fatalities
US work
Driving
related fatalities,
fatalities US manufacturing
US high
risk (mining,
heavy
construction)
Generic
renery pump
risk prole
2
Low
b
c
1
Near
miss
10-2
1/100
FIG. 5
Likelihood
analysis
Risk analysis
10-7
10-6
10-5
10-4
10-3
1/10,000,000 1/1,000,000 1/100,000 1/10,000 1/1,000
Failure per year frequency
FIG. 4
Consequence
analysis
able resources that should be working on resolving more important process safety risks.
5
Extreme
4
High
Risk-based
reliability plan
OSHA data from 1992 to 2009 contains a record of 36 catastrophic releases of highly hazardous chemicals that resulted in
fatalities.5 These incidents are responsible for 52 fatalities and
250 employee injuries. Ninety-eight of these injuries were severe
enough to require hospitalization. One of these incidents involved
a process release that occurred while steaming-out a pump casing.
The pump casing split open, resulting in a hot oil release that
immediately exploded (Jan. 19, 2005, Kern Oil Refinery, Bakersfield, California). The conditions present during this failure are
similar to those that the CSB documents in the first case history.
However, none of the fatal incidents contained in the OSHA
database resulted from a pump-reliability issue.
It would not be responsible to conclude that a catastrophic
pump seal failure could not result in a fatality based on these historical statistics. The second case history illustrates the potential
for pump-failure mechanisms to be directly involved in a process
safety incident capable of causing severe consequences. Although
there is insufficient data for a straightforward fatality frequency
calculation, enough statistical information exists to estimate a
minimum frequency based on site-specific data and industry averages. A frequency/consequence diagram, such as the one shown in
Fig. 4, can be constructed using this information along with these
facts and assumptions:
A total estimated 2009 refining capacity of 17.67 million
bpd6
The relationship of approximately one fire for every one
thousand repairs, as cited by an industry reliability authority. 7,8
This was corroborated by a large US refinery in 2009.
According to this analysis, the frequency for a fatality (highest
severity consequence) is estimated to be lower than 1x10-6 (1/1
million) years. This frequency suggests that a fatality caused by a
pump-reliability issue is probably more likely than an airline fatality but less likely than other typical US workplace fatality causes.9
Based on the industry workplace fatality statistics contained in the
OSHA database, this relative ranking seems reasonable.
This information makes it possible to define risk tolerance.
Risk tolerance (or literally tolerance to risk) implies that the
choice has been made to operate equipment in a responsible man-
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
ner rather than shutting it down to mitigate
a process safety failure risk. Risk tolerance
will vary between different organizations. It
is a decision that should be made under the
direction of legal counsel and supported by
industry statistics.
Risk-based pump analysis. Fig. 5
shows the primary steps involved in the
RBPA. In the RBPA, results from the consequence analysis are combined with the likelihood analysis to determine the risk associated
with a catastrophic pump failure. Comparing actual operating risk against a designated
risk tolerance makes it possible to assess risk
reduction options that may adequately control the process safety hazard. To be effective, the risk reduction options must directly
address the factors governing process safety.
SPECIALREPORT
Likelihood
analysis
Determine the
t3FQSFTFOUBUJWFnVJE
t"TTPDJBUFEQSPQFSUJFT
&TUJNBUFUIFSFMFBTF
JOWFOUPSZ
FIG. 6
Risk
analysis
Packing gland
Major leak
Pump case
Throat bushing
Shaft sleeve
Shaft
Seal chamber
Rotating seal
Stationary seal
Major leak
ow path
Sleeve OD
Fixed ID
FIG. 7
IEFa
MTBFg
MTBFa
(1)
(2)
Risk analysis. The risk analysis takes place as the LOPA that
assesses the pump operating risk against the designated risk tolerance. Its purpose is to determine if a pump installation meets its
reliability expectations. This is true if the frequency of mitigated
consequences is less than the designated risk tolerance. If the
frequency of mitigated consequences is more than the designated
risk tolerance, then guidance should be suggested to improve
performance to meet process safety objectives.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING JUNE 2011
I 49
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Probability of personnel in affected area. The probability of personnel in the affected area, Pp, is a function of the
size of the affected area, Aa, and the amount of time personnel are
100
Reference line
2
5
10
5
4
1
1
3
1
0.1
3
2
3
1
0.01
0.001
10-5
1/100,000
FIG. 8
10-4
10-3
10-2
1/10,000
1/1,000
1/100
Event frequency per year
10-1
1/10
Identify, evaluate and select alternatives (for meeting safe design objectives)
Identify alternatives
'.&"
NBKPSMFBLGBJMVSF
NPEFT
t"1*
t$VSSFOUEFTJHOQSBDUJDF
t#FTUQSBDUJDFQFFSSFWJFX
3$'"
TFBMCFBSJOH
GBJMVSFT
Design review
t"WBJMBCMFUFDIOPMPHZ
FIG. 9
50
1SPKFDUQMBO
"VEJUQMBO
'BJMVSFBOBMZTJT
QMBO
(3)
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
TABLE 2. HVGO pump WO history
Date
Problem
Cost
$1,445
April 9, 2007
$1,974
$4,771
Nov. 1, 2008
$3,853
April 7, 2009
$3,487
$15,530
(4)
The LOPA results designate a target MTBF for meeting a designated risk tolerance. MTBF improvements have a number of
advantages. For example, they reduce both maintenance costs and
the potential to introduce some major leak failure modes during repairs like the one described in the first case history. MTBF
improvements are typically preventive instead of reactive. However,
it may be difficult to quantify the expected MTBF improvement
available through failure analysis and investigation. Failure analysis
skills, training and methods are involved in developing an effective
set of corrective actions to increase MTBF. This depends greatly
upon the failure investigators individual capabilities.
Machinery engineers must be consulted to determine if the
MTBF improvement is realistically achievable. Consideration
should be given to proven technology and both industry and per-
FIG. 10
sonal experience with the process requirements. MTBF improvements can be applied together with additional safeguards to meet
the overall risk tolerance criteria. If MTBF alternatives are selected
as a part of the strategy to meet the risk tolerance, MTBF becomes
a part of the process safety risk management for the pump group
under consideration. It should be managed with the same diligence
and priority as defined by safe operating limits.
Case history in preventive risk mitigation. An investigation was used to determine the cause for a series of recurring seal
and thrust bearing failures on two heavy vacuum gasoil (HVGO)
service pumps operating side-by-side in a refinery vacuum crude
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Engineering advanced
2011 Chemstations, Inc. All rights reserved. | CMS-322-1 5/11
52
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
This information can be supplemented with site specific failure
data and industry statistics to develop RA criteria for centrifugal pumps operating in the petroleum and chemical processing
industries. Practicing this approach to process safety is expected
to provide more satisfying and effective results than dedicating
resources to random safety improvements that may ultimately fall
short in avoiding a process safety failure. HP
Italian design
A masterpiece
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This is an updated and refreshed version of the original paper presented at
the American Institute of Chemical Engineers 2011 Spring Meeting, 7th Global
Congress on Process Safety, Chicago, Illinois, March 1316, 2011.
LITERATURE CITED
Oil Refinery Fire and Explosion, 2004-08-I-NM, U.S. Chemical Safety and
Hazard Investigation Board, October 2005.
2 Safe Ups and Downs, 1st Ed. (booklet), Standard Oil Co., 1960.
3 The Report of the BP U.S. Refineries Independent Safety Review Panel,
January 2007.
4 Risk Based Inspection (RBI) Base Resource Document, API Publication
581 1st ed., May 2000.
5 OSHA National Emphasis Program Directive, CPL 03-00-004, June 7,
2007, http://www.osha.gov/ (accessed December 26, 2010).
6 Refining Capacity Report, January 1, 2009, National Petrochemical &
Refiners Association, August 2009.
7 Bloch, H. P., Understanding canned motor pumps, Lubrication Management
and Technology, September/October 2008.
8 Bloch, H. P., Pump statistics should shape strategies, Maintenance
Technology, October 2008.
9 Layer of Protection Analysis Simplified Risk Assessment, Center for
Chemical Process Safety of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers,
2001.
10 OREDA, Offshore Reliability Data, 4th and earlier eds., SINTEF, 2002.
11 HSE, Offshore Hydrocarbon Releases Statistics and Analysis, 2002, HSR
2002 02, 2003.
12 Mannan, S., Lees Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 3rd ed., 2005.
13 Cox, A.W., F.P. Lees, and M.L. Ang, Classification of Hazardous Locations,
Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1990.
14 DNV (for DTI in UK), White Rose DA Volume 5 Part Two (Concept Safety
Analysis), July 2000.
15 HSE, Offshore Technology Report OTO 1999 079, January 2000.
16 Spouge, J., New Generic Leak Frequencies for Process Equipment, Process
Safety Progress, Vol. 24, No.4, December 2005.
17 Guidelines for Quantitative Risk Assessment, Purple Book, CPR18E, SDU,
Committee for the Prevention of Disasters (CPR), The Hague, 1999.
18 Flemish Government, LNE Department, Handbook Failure Frequencies
2009 for drawing up a Safety Report, May 5, 2009.
19 Bloch, H. P. and F. K. Geitner, Machinery Failure Analysis and
Troubleshooting, Vol. 2, 1999.
20 Schiavello, B., Cavitation and Recirculation Troubleshooting Methodology,
Proceedings of the 10th International Pump Users Symposium, 1993.
1
Kenneth Bloch is a PHA/Loss control engineer at Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend
Refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota. He is responsible for detecting and addressing
potential process safety failures. He specializes in root-cause analysis and catastrophic
equipment failure investigation. He publishes articles about equipment failure analysis,
life-cycle extension and reliability improvement, and speaks regularly at the API/NPRA
Operating Practices Symposium, NPRA National Safety Conference, and AIChE Loss
Prevention Symposium. Mr. Bloch holds a BS degree (honors) from Lamar University
in Beaumont, Texas, as well as, API -510, 570, and 653 inspection certifications.
Jeremy Bertsch is a reliability center manager at the Flint Hills Resources Pine
Bend Refinery in Rosemount, Minnesota. He is responsible for providing reliable
production and excellent operating team performance for the process units within
his department. Mr. Bertsch has over 15 years of refinery experience, primarily within
the rotating equipment and reliability engineering disciplines. He holds a BS degree
in mechanical engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Doug Dunmire is a refinery consultant with Western ROPE. His work includes
development of risk analysis and management tools for refining clients. Mr. Dunmire
holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of California Davis.
Select 89 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
the refinery, operating rates, parameters and yields on each process unit for each day. It also includes timing of batches, recipes
required to produce different product grades and the detailed
product shipment schedule into the future.
Scheduling also makes use of offline built-in optimizers for
maximizing profit for crude and product blending. The blend
optimizer can be used to optimize a single crude or gasoline blend,
or it can be used to develop optimum recipes for a sequence of
blends through time (multi-period optimization). In the case of
products blending, the optimizer maximizes profitability as well as
minimizes quality giveaway, all while meeting target specifications
and managing inventory balances of component tanks.
In short, scheduling/blending is the development of the detailed,
executable plan to implement the operating strategy developed in
the planning process, running the refinery up against identified
physical or economic constraints to maximize profitability.
Solution for Valeros diverse refining operations.
I 55
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Alkylate
Product
tanks
1st blend
header
Component
tanks
Product
tanks
Reformate
2nd blend
header
Product
tanks
Component
tanks
3rd blend
header
Naphtha
Product
tanks
Process
units
FIG. 1
Manifold
Manifold
Drying Technology
database-backed scheduling system. As of early April 2011, implementation is nearing completion across all Valeros US refineries.
Refinery optimization is a collaborative effort. At
Valero, many groups and individuals participate in the optimization of a refinery, including the refinery planner, refinery
schedulers (e.g., crude, process unit, distillate/other products,
and gasoline blenders/schedulers), crude and feedstock planning,
product planning, transportation, supply and trading, refinery
operations, and refinery oil movements.
In the past, scheduling systems were restricted to a scope of
inside the fence of the refinery. Today, scheduling systems
span across the supply chain, terminals, refineries and organizational groups. This enables a collaborative effort, better visibility
and additional points of adjustment for improving economics.
Adjustments are seen by multiple groups, enabling faster response
and awareness.
Scheduling integrates data, technology and people. The more
feedback and comparison that is enabled, the more effective the
optimization becomes. For example, the planning models process unit sub-models are shared with the scheduling system. The
scheduling system compares simulated unit performance vs. actual
unit performance. The refinery scheduler can apply biases to
compensate for sub-model inaccuracy. The planning group then
receives feedback on sub-model accuracy, and this information
is then used to tune submodels, ultimately benefiting both the
planning and scheduling tools.
Timely updates of shipments and receipts (i.e. nominations)
from the supply and trading group are reflected in the refinery
scheduling system for the crude, feedstocks and products schedulers. Supply and trading receives feedback on actual arrival/departure times, demurrage events, quantities and material properties.
Refinery operations and oil movements receive daily operating
orders from the refinery schedulers, including direct import of
receipts, shipments, blends and tank transfers into oil movement
tracking systems. In short, scheduling is the hub that coordinates the
contributions of many to optimize the refinery.
Rundown blending optimization. Fig. 1 shows the schematic for rundown blending optimization. Rundown blending
involves multiple process unit streams as continuous feed components into blend headers. The blend headers may also pull feed
from typical component tankage. As depicted, at any point in
time, three blend headers receive feed from any of the component
Primary
crude
blending
terminal
DR
r HY
N
CARBO
You
er
Renery
Marine
liftings
FIG. 2
Finished
product
tank
farm
Pipeline D
Distribution
terminal
u nd
www.newton-s.com
Pipeline C
Pipeline B
Secondary
crude
terminal
n
o
i
t
a
c
i
f
eci
p
s
r
te
O L .. .
Wa
CONTR
ep
Ke
Pipeline A
Pipeline E
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
tanks and process unit rundown streams. Rundown streams must
be completely consumed in the three blends, since there is no other
possible destination for these streams. Volume of each blend can be
fixed or allowed to vary. The blend optimizer solves the group of
three blends together to meet specifications for each grade, minimize quality giveaway and maximize profits. The optimizer can
also optimize sequential groups of blends in a multi-period optimization. While Fig. 1 shows three blend headers, the solution is user
configured for any number necessary for the site. While depicted
with gasoline blending, it can also be configured to optimize diesel
or fuel-oil blends that are often managed as rundown blends.
Refinery supply-chain logistics. Managing supply and
demand is a requirement for achieving overall refinery optimization. Without doing so, a refinery can be constrained on blend
feedstocks, production rates, or shipment of finished product. At
Valero, the refinery supply-chain network includes a variety of
docks, terminals, tank farms, refineries and pipelines. Fig. 2 shows
the supply-chain scope for a marine-based refinery with multiple
pipelines and terminal assets. These assets along with the production capability of the refinery are visually shown in a model making it easy to see the possible inventory limitations, throughputs
and constraints across the refinery supply chain network.
Pipelines A, B, C, D and E reflect real logistical challenges to
maintaining balance across the network. Each pipeline has unique
linefill, minimum/maximum rate constraints, multiple inlets/outlets, and default throughput rates. Crude pipeline chains, such as A
and B, can work sequentially with or without the secondary crude
terminal. Likewise, the product pipeline chain has the flexibility to
provide product to a secondary distribution terminal or to a common carrier pipeline (E). The solution is to simulate the pipeline
batches, terminal activities and refinery production/consumption
across the supply-chain network to see the big picture of where
each asset stands. Volume and properties for each pipeline batch
and pipeline segment are available at any point in the simulation.
SPECIALREPORT
Blend
performance
multi-dimensional
comparison
Scheduled blends
Destination facility
Component facilities
Recipe
Heel(s)
Volumes, properties
Blend #1
Blend #2
Single blend
optimizer
FIG. 3
Blend #3
Blend #4
Blend #5
Multi-blend
optimizer
Blend #6
Long-term blend
optimization using
aggregate tankage
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Craig Acuff is the business development director with M3 Technologys SIMTO (scheduling and simulation) and M-Blend (single/
multi-period blend optimization). Mr. Acuff has 24 years of experience and has been involved with implementing refinery systems for
achieving business process improvements, along with assisting many
end users with making the transition to best practices. Mr. Acuff earned a BS degree
in mathematics from Oklahoma State University and an MS degree specializing in
computer science from the University of Central Oklahoma.
LIVE WEBCAST
presents . . .
think simplicity
Select 91 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
2011 Thermo Fisher Scientic Inc. All rights reserved. Copyrights in and to the Matches and Blowtorch photographs are
owned by a third party and licensed for limited use only to Thermo Fisher Scientic by maxx images and SuperStock.
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
Consider closedloop
oil-mist lubrication
A growing trend is migrating to this new
lubricating system for rotating equipment
D. EHLERT, Lubrication Systems Co., Houston, Texas
challenges with oil mist in the early years. Some users failed to
realize that lubricant base stocks are very important contributors
to long-term successful systems operation and equipment lubrication. The oil used in the system must be free of paraffin.2 In this
case, the paraffin contains wax or waxy substances that tended
to coalesce and plug the systems reclassifiers whenever ambient
temperatures fell below 5C (40F). Reclassifiers are orificed fittings, as shown in Fig. 1, that create turbulence in the laminar
oil-mist flow. This turbulence causes the small dry mist globules
(also somewhat erroneously called particles) to impinge on
each other and to grow in size. The large globules then form the
wet mist needed for bearing lubrication. The difference in dry
mist and wet mist is merely in the size of the particles; dry mist is
essentially composed of particles less than 3 microns in diameter.
Clean, dry air is used as the carrier that allows the small atomized
oil globules to be transported throughout the distribution system.
Wet mistglobules larger than 3 micronsare heavy enough to
form a thin liquid film on the bearings rolling elements. It is this
oil film that provides bearing lubrication.
With unsuitable oils, wax crystals adhere to the orifice face.
As more wax collects, it eventually plugs the orifice. The back
pressure will then rise and eventually trip the high-mist pressure
alarms provided with well-engineered plantwide systems. At this
point, all lubrication to the rotating equipment can be lost, and
the system has to be dewaxed to restore lubrication. Fortunately,
this loss of oil mist rarely means that equipment failure is instantaneous. It has been proven that equipment such as centrifugal
process pumps and their motor drivers will continue to operate
for about 8 hours without additional lubrication being supplied
by the oil-mist system.1
An ambient temperature change is not always the culprit for
waxing issues. Reclassifiers can plug-up in ambient temperatures
as high as 37C (98F). Mineral oils that have not been properly
dewaxed can plug the system even during the warm US Gulf
Coast summer months.
However, plugging problems disappeared two decades ago,
and no longer exist with properly selected lubricants. This is
when many facilities that use oil mist on a plantwide scale opted
to use wax-free naphthenic-based mineral oils, or have converted
to synthetic oils. These facilities enjoy additional benefits with
modern lubricants. The incremental cost for synthetic oils is offset
by the reduced oil consumption inherent to oil-mist systems and
by reliably operating equipment with high-process temperatures.
Installation challenges. Proper installation of the piping distribution system is important to the overall success of an
oil-mist system. Incorrect installation practices created many
problems associated with early oil-mist distribution systems. The
mixing ratio for oil mist is approximately 200,000 volumes of air
per 1 volume of lube oil.
Because the mist consists of oil globules carried by air and
oil-mist globules behave like any other weighted particle or mass,
Oil mist reclassication
Mist ow
dry oil mist
Wet mist
I 61
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Reclassifer was
mounted inline
Pumps
FIG. 2
Manifolds w/
reclassiers
Pump
Pump
Drains to oil
collectors
FIG. 3
62
cleaner systems that enhanced lubricant application and equipment reliability. Proper sloping and support of the header pipe
to prevent low points and allow the liquid oil to flow back to
the OMG were among the first improvements made. This had a
major impact on housekeeping because it reduced oil consumption and no longer allowed excess oil to reach the equipment base.
De v i c e s we re
developed for collecting the oil
draining from each
piece of equipment.
Bearing isolators
became popular
also in the 1980s;
these helped to
contain stray mist
in the bearing housing and to direct it
and the coalesced
oil into a collection
device.
Oil mist flowing
through the rolling
elements and creatFIG. 4 Mist-distribution manifold.
ing a positive pressure in the bearing
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
FIG. 5
Mist-distribution system.
SPECIALREPORT
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2000
2001
FIG. 6
FIG. 7
I 63
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Benefits. A well-engineered closed-loop oil-mist system provides the same benefits as the one-way system. These include a
continuous flow of fresh lubricant, positive pressure in the bearing housing, energy savings and very low maintenance requirements. Additional benefits include reduced oil consumption
that helps justify the incremental cost of synthetic oils, less open
container handling of spent oil collected, reduction of stray mist/
oil into the environment and the capability to extend the piping
system to greater distances. Closed-loop oil-mist systems have
been documented as being a best available technology (BAT) for
lubrication of rotating equipment.6
Installations. The first closed-loop systems (Fig. 9) were
installed in the early 1990s. They are still in operation and are
delivering highly reliable resultsjust as expected of any oil-mist
system. A recent survey revealed that closed-loop oil mist was
being used in 11 countries around the world with an approximate
total of 155 closed systems in service.About 13% of all large-scale
oil-mist systems are the closed type. One of the most prominent users of closed-loop oil mist is an oil refinery in Western
Australia.7 This refinery has in operation 15 large-scale closedloop and numerous compact systems. Their oldest systems have
been online at least 10 years, imparting equipment reliability as
expected. Aside from the US and Australia, there are closed-loop
systems operating in Canada, India, the Middle East, Southeast
Asia, South Korea and Taiwan.
The most intriguing and highly successful applications of
closed-loop oil-mist systems comprise air-cooled heat exchanger
(ACHE) fan shaft bearings and motor bearings. Years ago, oneway oil-mist systems were tried in ACHEs. It was noted that
early one-way systems created significant housekeeping issues due
to the excess mist escaping from the shaft and motor bearings.
Recent technology utilizes redesigned shaft bearings, as shown in
Fig. 10, that will contain the oil mist and allow it to be captured
and recycled.8 The older one-way systems lacked the ability to
capture, control and recycle excess oil mist.
A motor (Fig. 11) has also been developed exclusively for
ACHEs and oil-mist lubrication. In this system, the oil mist is
routed through the bearings, and an outlet is provided for recovery of excess mist and coalesced oil collected from the motor
internal volume or stator housing.
SPECIALREPORT
FIG. 10
FIG. 11
I 65
Spray
Nozzles
Spray
Analysis
Spray
Control
Spray
Fabrication
Dual Nozzle
Injector
Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD)
D32
(m)
220
165
Z = 0.6 m
Nozzle spraying
in-line with duct
110
55
0
Nozzle spraying
at 45 in duct
1-800-95-SPRAY | spray.com |
Select 66 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
F-1
Qf = 24.7 GJ/h
= 87%
337C
FG
Diesel
stripper
8 barg
313C
V-6
Wild naphtha
200C
385C
E-3
260C
MP steam tph
E-1
172C
97C
HPLT
Gasoil feed
110 tph 160C
E-4
168C
RGC
FIG. 1
H2
makeup
Diesel
E-5
E-2
168C
Treat gas 19C
I 67
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
313C
260C
E-3 moved
and area
added
Feed
168C
Qf = 11.7 GJ/h
337C
E-1
E-1
228C
E-3
200C
Stripper feed
97C
New
HPHT
218C
Stripper feed
E-2
HPLT
HPLT
40C
E-2
40C
Retrot-hot separator
Original design
FIG. 2
Flow diagram of the original and retrofit for distillate hydrotreating unit.
Asset Longevity
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SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
Project
24.7
Base case
Install twisted tubes in E-1 and E-3
5.2
380
1.7
4.5
18.8
5.2
335
1.6
4.8
18.8
7.9
490
2.3
4.6
16.3
9.2
537
2.9
5.5
15.5
Note: The fuel cost used to calculate the savings is 6/GJ. The CO2 reduction benefit is added to the fuel-saving benefit at CO2
price of 20 /ton, making the total fuel cost 7.3 /GJ.
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
the size of the feed/effluent exchangers at
the same time.
Due to the higher separation temperature and increase in hydrogen solubility,
installing a hot separator incurs two important process-related consequences:
1. Reduced hydrogen content in the
recycle gas. A 5% reduction in hydrogen
(H 2) concentration is expected for the
example hydrotreater. This will shorten
the catalyst life and reduce the cycle length
from about 3 years to 2.2 years. Assuming
a catalyst volume of 120 tons, at 16 /kg,
the extra catalyst replacement cost would
be around 230,000/yr. Alternatively, the
catalyst life could be restored to three years
by increasing the purge and H2 makeup.
About 1,500 Nm3 of additional H2 will be
needed for each 100 m3 of feed. Which of
the two alternatives will be selected depends
on the hydrogen cost. Shorter cycle length
would also incur a production loss of 12
days/yr and some added maintenance costs.
2. Increased H2 loss to fuel gas. This
additional loss is estimated at 175 kg/h.
In this particular case, this additional loss
is estimated at 175 kg/h, losing around
275,000/yr as a difference between the
cost of H2 (900/ton) and its values as
fuel (6/GJ). This loss is, however, much
reduced if the purge gas is recycled to the
H2 manufacturing plant.
The additional processing cost reduces
the benefits of installing a hot separator
from 885,000/yr to a value between
375,000/yr and perhaps 550,000/
yr, depending on the purge gas routing.
This net benefit can be lower or slightly
higher than the 490,000/yr achievable by
revamping the preheat train only. The extra
processing cost renders the hot separation
unattractive in this particular retrofit. Similar results have been reported elsewhere.4
The conclusion, however, may change if
the effects of unit debottlenecking and/or
throughput increase become substantial.
Those benefits would be greater with the
hot separator than with just revamping the
feed preheat train, and may again swing the
project economics in hot separators favor.
Minor processing issues. Other,
minor process issues to be addressed are:
Wash-water and stripper operation. In the present study, it was possible
to maintain the wash-water consumption
and stripper conditions at present values,
so that there would be little or no change
to the downstream operation. This needs to
be verified for each particular case.
Additional pressure drop from send-
SPECIALREPORT
Project
Base case
Hot separator
Separator + add area to E-3
Value,
thousand /yr
Investment,
thousand
24.6
8.8
640
2,710
4.2
14.2
13.0
885
3,310
3.7
9.6
Note: The separator investment cost (2.71 million ) is calculated as follows: hot drum: 1.6 million (D = 2.1 m L = 9.6 m,
55 bar stainless); piping: 200,000 ; modifying and re-rating E-3: 910,000 .
www.mt.com/O2gasUS
71
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
MICROTHERM SlimFlex
LITERATURE CITED
Complete literature cited is available online at
HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
Fast and simple to cut and shape directly from the roll
Microtherm - Truly the Best Performance at High Temperatures
MICROTHERM
Aerogel
Calcium Silicate
Ceramic Fiber
Mineral Wool
0.000
0.020
0.040
0.060
0.080
0.100
0.140
C1676
ASTM Standard
for Microporous
0.160
Data Per ASTM
Testing Standards
www.microthermgroup.com
Microtherm Inc.
+1 865 681 0155
Microtherm NV
+32 3 760 19 80
Nippon Microtherm +81 3 3377 2821
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
lim
it l
ine
ogy is an extension of the previous works.5,6 It integrates the modeling activities in four interactive stages, as shown in Fig. 2. At the
first stage, model development starts with setting up a steady-state
(SS) simulation model. During the modeling, pressure node and
flow node models will be modeled and connected, respectively.
The SS is based on the mass and energy balance. The developed
SS model should be validated by plant design data, and supports
from industrial expertise are usually necessary.
Once the system SS is satisfied, it is transferred to a pressuredriven DS environment at the second stage. Process control information and new operating data from the plant DCS historian
and/or industrial expertise are required to do the dynamic model
validation. After validation, the DS model is generally reliable for
the startup simulation.
Before the dynamic model is applied for the startup simulation, it should be adjusted to running at the initial startup state,
where the system is commissioned to a warm-up status. In the
rge
among which the CGC is the major unit that is used to compress
the cracked gas to a designated high pressure (HP) for downstream
separation operations. The CGC system is the heart of an ethylene plant. Failure of this unit can lead to severe accidents and
significant economic losses. Commonly, a centrifugal compressor has four operating limits: surge limits, stonewall limits, and
minimum and maximum speed limits. These limits comprise the
map for the operating envelope. Compressor operations should
be well controlled within this operating envelope to ensure safety.
Fig. 1 shows a typical compressor operating envelope. During
the startup period, the entire ethylene plant runs from an initial
low-loading status to normal operation. In this process, plant
equipment experience big changes in temperature, pressure and
flowrates that easily upset the CGC. Therefore, CGC failures
occur frequently during ethylene plant startups. These failures do
cause increased downtime, excessive flaring, equipment damage,
and even, fatal accidents. Thus, a quick and smooth startup of the
compression system is essential.
Su
Head
all
St
line
w
one
Startup
simulation and
optimization
I 73
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
KB31
Turbine
KB54
FC1
FC2
PC2
4th Stage
5th Stage
PC1
TC1
TC2
D1
LC1
Heavy naphtha
cracked gas
TC3
D2
D3
LC3
TC4
D4
LC4
LC5
LC2
TC5
TC6
D5
LC6
Condensate
Stripper
Recycled
feed from
downstream
Caustic/water
wash tower
Light naphtha
cracked gas
D6
LC7 LC8
LC9
TC9
TC8
TC7
LC
10
Dryer
D7
LC
11
LC
12
LC
13
FC3
FC4
KB21
FIG. 3
1,200
1,000
800
600
Recycle from
400 downstream process
KB21
200 KB51
0
0
FIG. 4
8
Time, hr
10
12
14
16
KB51
cled back to the previous stage drum, and vapor goes to the next
stage. In the three-phase drums, the hydrocarbon (HC) liquid is
knocked out of the system, and water is fed back to the previous
stage drum. Meanwhile, the vapor stream is sent downstream.
A caustic/water wash tower for carbon dioxide (CO2) removal
is positioned between the third-stage discharge drum and the
fourth-stage suction drum. The condensate stripper accepts the
HC-liquid feed from the fifth-stage suction drum. After this
feed stream is heated and distillated, top products go back to the
fourth-stage suction drum and bottom products flow out of the
system. The dryer drum is located after the fifth-stage discharge
drum. Vapor from this drum is sent to the downstream cold box;
and light HCs are sent back to the fifth-stage suction drum, while
heavy HCs are circulated to the fifth-stage discharge drum.
Fig. 3 also shows the major control information for the CGC
system. The first-stage suction-drum pressure is controlled by
regulating the turbine driving speed. The five compressors have the
same rotation speed, since all the compressors share the same shaft
and are driven by a steam turbine. There exist two minimum flow
loops for surge protection: the low-pressure recycling stream, KB31,
from the third stage to the first stage; and the HP recycling stream,
KB54, from the fifth stage to the fourth stage. KB31 is manipulated
by a flow controller to control the third-stage discharge flowrate,
and KB54 is designated to control the fifth-stage discharge flowrate.
During the plant startup, a light feedstock (mainly methane,
ethane, ethylene and propylene) will be used to warm up the plant
system. The entire plantincluding the CGC system, cold box
and recovery sectionsare operating at stable conditions with
no fresh feed. Meanwhile, all products from the downstream
processes are totally recycled back to the input of CGC.
Since the light feedstock has a smaller molecular weight, surge
can occur on the first-stage compressor. To avoid this condition,
a large volume of gas will be sent to the CGC system. If the light
feedstock flows through the CGC system with less condensation,
this large volume of gas can cause a stonewall problem in downstream stages. Therefore, recycling stream, KB21, from the second
discharge drum to the first-stage suction drum is done to prevent
the third stage from stonewalling.
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
2.6
Original startup
trajectory
2.5
2.4
2.3
New startup
trajectory
2.2
2.1
Safety
2.0
envelope
1.20 1.15
1.10 1.05
1.00 0.95
0.90 0.85 0
Volume, 107 ft3/hr
1,000
FIG. 7
900
Flowrate, thousand lb/hr
Head, 104 ft
SPECIALREPORT
15
5
10
Time, hr
800
700
600
Original 3rd stage discharge
500
0
FIG. 5
8
Time, hr
10
12
14
16
4,650
Flowrate, thousand lb/hr
4,600
New compressor speed
4,550
4,500
4,450
4,400
4,350
4,300
0
FIG. 6
Compressor speed.
8
Time, hr
10
12
14
16
Web: www.novozymes.com/wastewatersolutions
Tel: 1-800-859-2972
E-mail: wastewater@novozymes.com
75
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.4
2.4
2.2
New startup
trajectory
2.0
15
Safety
envelope
1.4
6.0
FIG. 8
5.5
5.0
Volume, 106 ft3/hr
2.2
Original startup
trajectory
2.0
10
5 Time, hr
4.5
2.3
2.1
1.8
1.6
New startup
trajectory
2.6
Head, 104 ft
Head, 104 ft
Original startup
trajectory
1.8
4.0
Safety
envelope
1.9
1.6
FIG. 10
1.5
1.4
1.3
1.2
Volume, 106 ft3/hr
1.1
15
10
1.0 0 5
Time, hr
2.7
2.5
New startup
trajectory
New startup
trajectory
2.6
2.5
2.4
Head, 104 ft
Head, 104 ft
2.4
2.3
Original startup
trajectory
2.2
2.1
2.3
2.2
Original startup
trajectory
2.1
2.0
Safety
envelope
2.0
1.8
1.9
2.8
FIG. 9
2.6
2.4
2.2
Volume, 106 ft3/hr
2.0
1.8
10 15
0 5
Time, hr
incremented in two ramps for each furnace but without any idle
waiting between two furnaces.
The performance of the previous (reported) startup procedure, as shown in Fig. 4, can be systematically evaluated through
dynamic simulation. One observation is that the pressure of the
first-suction drum drops quickly at the beginning of startup
when the fresh feed is introduced. As a result, the operating
speed is pushed to the lower limit. One explanation for this
development is that when the cracked gas from heavy naphtha
enters; the recycled flowrate of stream KB31 should be reduced
to maintain a constant flowrate for the third-stage compressor
discharge. However, the flowrate cuts back too quickly. As this
stream is at a higher pressure than the cracked gas input, this
flowrate cut causes significant pressure reduction in the firststage suction drum. To maintain pressure, the compressor speed
must decrease correspondingly. A similar cutback occurs for the
recycling stream of KB54.
Based on this analysis, the starting time or the flowrates of
the two recycle streams (KB31 and KB54) should be adjusted.
As KB31 and KB54 are manipulated to control the discharge
76
Safety
envelope
1.9
8.0
FIG. 11
7.5
7.0
4.5
4.0
10 15
05
Time, hr
flowrates of the third-stage and fifth-stage compressors, adjustments are actually accomplished by tuning the setpoints of the
outlet flowrate for the third-stage and fifth-stage compressors.
Fig. 5 provides the detailed adjustments compared with the
previous setpoints.
The adjusted startup procedure was tested based on the rigorous DS. It shows that the compressor performance would improve
(see Fig. 6). With the previous startup procedure, the compressor
speed approached 4,440 rpm between the second and the fifth
hour, which is too close to the lower limit speed (4,419 rpm).
This swift change should be mitigated. With the new startup procedure, the compressor speed variance was significantly reduced,
thus enabling a smoother startup for the CGC system.
To compare the dynamic performances of two startup strategies, the operating status for the five-stage compressors is tracked
and shown in Figs. 711. Note: Over time, the operating envelope
in Fig. 1 forms a closed wall, which cannot be touched by the
operating point at any time. As shown, at each compression stage,
the operating trajectories of both startup procedures are running
within the closed wall, which means the two startup procedures
Safe
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SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
6
2
3
LITERATURE CITED
Singh, A., K. Y. Li, H. H. Lou, J. R. Hopper, H. Golwala and S. Ghumare,
Flare minimization via dynamic simulation, Int. J. Environ. Pollution, 2007,
pp. 29, 19.
Luyben, W. L., Plant-wide dynamic simulators in chemical processing and
control, 1st Ed., CRC, Boca Raton, Florida, 2002.
Rutherford, P., W. Persad and M. Lauritsin, Consider dynamic simulation
tools when planning new plant startup, Hydrocarbon Processing, October
2003, p. 75.
Patel, V., J. Feng, S. Dasgupta, P. Ramdoss and J. Wu, Application of
dynamic simulation in the design, operation, and troubleshooting of
compressor systems, Proceedings of the 36th Turbo-Machinery Symposium.
Houston, Sept. 10, 2007, p. 95.
Xu, Q., X. Yang, C. Liu, K. Li, H. H. Lou and J. L. Gossage, Chemical plant
flare minimization via plant-wide dynamic simulation, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.,
2009, Vol. 48, No. 7, p. 3505.
save
the date
1 SEPTEMBER 2011
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Special Supplement to
VALVES
2011
CONTENTS
Corporate Proles
Curtiss-Wright Flow Control V85 Maxon V87 Onis V89 TrimTeck V91 VYC Industrial V92
DeltaValves fully automated coke-drum unheading device permanently connects to the bottom of a coke-drum,
creating an enclosed system from the top of the drum to the discharge pit. With the push of a single button from
a remote location, safe and reliable coke-drum unheading can be achieved.
Catalyst valve
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Select 71 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
VALVES 2011
Fugitive emissions awareness and mitigation have come a long way in the last
50 years, especially in the US. Initial fugitive emission studies of sources in the Los
Angeles basin were done by Bernie Steigerwald in 1958. In the 1970s, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) embarked on a substantial effort to quantify
these emissions and develop a standard sniff test to identify hydrocarbon leaks
using portable hydrocarbon analyzers (known as EPA Reference Method 21). The
1980s saw promulgation of the first significant regulations requiring synthetic
organic chemicals manufacturing (SOCMI) industries and petroleum refineries to
institute find them and fix them work practice programs. These programs were
referred to as leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs.
EPA was confronted with a dilemmawith already low repair-action thresholds and more frequent monitoring required under HON, what could be considered
best practice and an enhancement in the CMI sector? Where could emissions
still be reduced? In some cases, leak definitions were further lowered (e.g., from
500 ppm for valves and connectors to 250 ppm, and from 2,000 ppm for pumps
to 500 ppm). Requirements for QA/QC and third-party audits were increased.
However, overall emissions reductions from these enhancements were known to
be significantly lower compared to the refining sector.
25
20
15
12.1
10
5
0
2000
2008
I V-81
VALVES 2011
2006
156/13,8741.1%
57/3,5441.6%
182/7,1272.6%
69/2,8472.4%
3/319.7%
1/611.6%
609/16,9833.6%
3/456.7%
28/4506.2%
121/1,5957.6%
92/1,4826.2%
54/7387.3%
110/1,2448.8%
2007
161/15,9691.0%
45/4,5111.0%
193/7,9542.4%
70/3,5272.0%
2/4170.5%
3/714.2%
287/10,7082.7%
2/484.2%
30/4836.2%
108/1,8016.0%
132/1,6558.0%
67/8577.8%
136/1,32210.3%
2008
155/19,7060.8%
53/6,1250.9%
211/9,4452.2%
79/4,3811.8%
1/5040.2%
2/822.4%
193/8,8092.2%
1/541.9%
37/5716.5%
109/2,2044.9%
119/1,8606.4%
95/1,0479.1%
118/1,5227.8%
2009
135/21,7260.6%
63/6,5691.0%
139/9,9371.4%
79/4,7361.7%
1/5720.2%
5/865.8%
275/8,3293.3%
2/523.8%
35/6175.7%
132/2,4225.5%
155/1,9478.0%
100/1,0789.3%
207/1,67812.3%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
FIG. 2. Valve and pump capacity adjusted TRI emissions, lbs/1,000 bpy of
refining capacity.
500
> 500 ppmv
Leakage, ppmv
400
300
200
100
0
0
250
500
750
1,000
Cycle number
1,250
1,500
In short, EPA determined, that while fugitive emissions may be the line
where facility operations impact the community and the environment, they
were merely the symptom of a larger problem outside the control of the environmental department. Fundamental, lasting change in equipment leaks could
only be achieved by an integrated approach between maintenance, reliability,
operations, procurement and environmental personnel. And this change would
need to be technology-based.
V-82
I VALVES 2011
HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Good news. Both costs and availability are headed in the right direction.
According to David Reeves, senior specialist for Bolting and Sealing Technology
at Chevron, the company has now identified five valve packings which will meet
the stringent ChevronTexaco testing protocol/standard (up from one just a few
years ago). Additionally, costs for some of these technologies are similar and
sometimes less than costs for similar equipment.10
VALVES 2011
Facility
3
3
4
4
6
6
7
7
11
11
12
12
Overall
Overall
500 ppm
Leak definition, %
Valves Average Max
Min
DTM
4.06
7.74
0.44
NTM
3.16
5.13
1.02
DTM
0.78
1.22
0.38
NTM
2.10
3.37
1.19
DTM
1.43
2.48
0.69
NTM
2.02
2.36
1.23
DTM
0.29
0.53
0.15
NTM
1.55
1.99
1.14
DTM
2.45
3.61
1.39
NTM
2.04
2.44
1.58
DTM
0.75
1.04
0.47
NTM
0.90
1.02
0.78
DTM
1.63
2.77
0.59
NTM
1.96
2.72
1.16
10,000 ppm
Leak definition, %
Average Max
Min
0.79
2.02
0.00
0.41
0.61
0.14
0.46
0.73
0.11
0.63
1.06
0.33
0.22
0.42
0.00
0.34
0.55
0.21
0.31
0.43
0.23
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.25
0.38
0.07
0.25
0.31
0.16
0.10
0.20
0.00
0.18
0.23
0.13
0.36
0.70
0.07
0.30
0.46
0.16
As EPA continues to impose new ELPs on the last refineries and companies
in the CMI sector, some facilities are looking to retire their agreements with EPA.
While no facilities have been successful to date, many are lined up with documentation demonstrating they are in substantial and material compliance with
the provisions of their consent decree. EPA has not weighed in officially on what
those terms mean, however. Does that mean 51%, 90% or 99.9% compliance?
With over a million LDAR compliance events are done annually at many sites,
there is a big difference in these numbers. Even a 99.9% compliance level could
still mean over 1,000 possible violations.11
Outside the enforcement process that is driving these ELP agreements, EPA
continues to sharpen the pencil on LDAR. Drill and tap repair, once thought to
be an extraordinary repair technique by EPA and industry, has become a quasiregulatory requirement for leaking valves that otherwise cannot be repaired
without shutting down the process unit.12 Refinery or SOCMI process units newly
built, reconstructed or modified after Nov. 7, 2006 must meet ELP-like repairaction thresholds (500 ppm for valves and 2,000 ppm for pumps). SOCMI units
must monitor connectors.
Murphy Oil USA vs. United States, January 2002 and Hovensa Refining
consent decree, January 2011.
3 US EPA Toxic Release Inventory reporting results.
4 Evaluating fugitive emissions compliance database systems to demonstrate
Substantial and Material Compliance as a Means of Terminating USEPA
LDAR Consent Decrees, Charles Bennett and John Gray, Marathon Petroleum
Company LLC, Joe Wilwerding and Shane Kling, SAGE Environmental
Consulting, L.P., NPRA 2010 Environmental Conference.
5 Hazardous Organic National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
6 Hovensa consent decree, January 2011.
7 Ineos-Lanxess consent decree, July 2009.
8 ChevronTexaco Method, Valve World, June 2005.
9 Murphy Oil USA consent decree dated January 2011, Appendix E.
10 David Reeves, Chevron Refining, ISA LDAR Symposium, 2010.
11 Folsom, E., Northern Tier Energy, and J. Wilwerding, SAGE Environmental
Consulting, LP, LDAR, BWON Tanks Conference, 2011.
12 US Federal Register, Vol. 17, No. 215, Nov. 7, 2006.
13 Harris, B., Sage Environmental Consulting, LP, ISA LDAR Symposium, 2010.
I V-83
Select 96 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
Contact information
16315 Market Street
Channelview, Texas 77530
Website: www.cwfc.com
I V-85
Select 97 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
PFD:
0.05
Maxons Series 8000 safety shut-off valvesglobally-recognized for their rugged design and longevityare heightened with new features designed to keep
them your first choice for safety, reliability, and maximized system up-time.
without
0.045
PST
0.04
Degraded
SIL 1
Performance
Range
0.035
0.03
0.025
PFD: with
PST
0.02
0.015
0.01
SIL 2
Performance
Range
0.005
0
0
10
12
Years of Operation
You can see clearly now. The redesigned visual indicator (open/
closed) is larger and announces valve position in high-contrast, bright colors, with
a dramatically increased viewing angle. An added bonus: the new visual indicator
can be easily retrofitted to any existing Series 8000 valve.
How about adding some smarts? Todays motorists benefit
from their autos advanced diagnostics, warning systems and 100,000-mile tuneup
intervals, but furnace, fired-heater and boiler operators, for example, often operate
unaware. They want and need knowledge of their equipments condition, and they
desire longer periods of uninterrupted safe operation.
Lets be honest: even the highest-quality valves are subject to stressors which
increase the probability of failure on demand and negatively affect SIL (safety
integrity level) over long periods of service.
PSTrend, a PLC-based system, is designed in such a way that it partially strokes
the valve diskwithout interrupting burner management system functions.
The patent-pending PSTrend functional logic then trends results from periodic
testing, looking for indications of degrading valve performance, allowing operating
personnel to plan ahead for service or replacement of faulty valves.1
But wont frequent testing cause premature wear?
Maxon Series 8000 utilizing metal-to-metal seats (that wear in, not out, with use)
can actually benefit from frequent testing. This self-cleaning feature makes corrective action possible for a degrading valve by simply increasing the test frequency,
fully leveraging 8000s wear in, not out characteristics.
Maxonyour
complete system
solution provider.
S e r i e s 8 0 0 0 va l v e a n d
PSTrends unique benefits
are fully leveraged when
theyre an integral part of a
Maxon-designed combustion
system which can include fuelefficient SMARTLINK digital
ratio controls and the latest in burner technology. This combination will make a
positive impact on your companys bottom line by allowing you to run safer and
more efficiently over longer periods of time.
1 As
Contact information
Sales and manufacturing facilities located worldwide including
Muncie, Indiana USA, Brussels, Belgium, Shanghai, China
Email or consult website for your nearest location
Email: info@maxoncorp.com
Website: www.maxoncorp.com
I V-87
Need to Blind?
Line Blinds
Safe.
Fast.
Reliable.
888-664-7872
Select 52 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
How Onis Blinds Work. For all Onis Line Blinds, the pipe separation is
performed the exact same as spreading pipes preparing to swing a figure-8. With
an Onis Blind, the effort by the operator is minimal, to move a great deal of weight
(any pipe) a very small distance to move the slide.
The pipe must be depressurized, as the Onis Blind is not a valve. A lever (or a
gearbox, depending on size/pressure/ temperature) is turned, and the forged Onis
bodies are separated and the pipe is spread. The slide is moved on rollers from
the full-bore to blinded position. The lever (or gearbox) is closed to recompress
the bodies.
Onis Specifics. Onis Blinds physically spread the pipe. There are only 4
Product Range:
Sizes: to 50
150# to 2500# Flanges
Pressure: Vacuum to 6100 psig
Temperature: 152F to 1,400F
Onis FCCU Blinds, Onis Quick Filter, and Twin Onis Blinds
Onis Blinds are custom built to customers requirements: ASME Section VIII
Div-1, B 16.5, B16.48, B31.3, NACE, API-607
gaskets on the slide and zero internal (backseat) gaskets or moving parts that are
hard to change in the field. The advantage of this feature is that all gaskets can be
inspected, and changed if needed, without opening the line. For example, a few
days before operators need to blind a line, anyone can easily inspect the gaskets,
and if they need replacing, the gaskets can be removed and replaced while the
production line is still in operation. For Dangerous mediums there is no need to
use additional PPE while replacing gaskets. When the line is blinded, the full-bore
gaskets are accessible and available to easily change and provide a new seat when
the line is returned to service.
All Onis moving parts are outside of the process, and there is no reduction of
flow from the pipe and no place for product build-up. Additionally, all Onis Blinds
have slide covers, grease fittings (to ensure bushing longevity), and lock-out/ tagout latches. The bodies of Onis blinds are made from solid forgings and are not
welded flanges. Onis blinds can be built for hydrotesting additional when specified
by the customer.
Onis offers manufacturers one year warranty (additional upon request). Installation support and on-site training for operators and maintenance personnel are
available. Thank you for considering Onis Line Blinds.
Where Onis Blinds are used. Onis Blinds are currently used in
refineries, chemical plants, pipelines, and compression stations. The Onis Blind can
be used in any service (i.e. H2S, Nitrogen, Decoke/Feed lines, diesel, natural gas,
benzine, chlorine, HCN, and more). Onis Blinds can be used to isolate reactors, heaters, pumps, and furnaces. Onis Blinds are used in offshore applications and their
minimal operation time offer-many advantages. Onis Blinds are ideal for blinding
critical processes quickly for emergencies or approaching hurricanes.
Who uses Onis Blinds. Onis Blinds are currently used by ExxonMobil,
Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Petrobras, Pemex, General Electric, DuPont, LyondellBasell,
Certianteed, Dow, Total, Chevron, Honeywell, PetroChina, and BASF (and many
more). Onis Blinds are ideal for any company that must blind frequently or needs to
minimize exposure to improve safety.
Line Blinds
Contact information
Onis Inc., One Riverway, Suite 1700
Houston, Texas, 77056
Phone: 713-840-6377/888-664-7872
Fax: 832-201-7767
Email: sales@onislineblind.com
Website: www.onislineblind.com
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING VALVES 2011
I V-89
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HYDROCARBON PROCESSING VALVES 2011
I V-91
Since 1914, VYC has been designing and manufacturing valves for the regulation and control of all types of fluids, specially steam. Never standing still, we are
committed to ongoing research and innovation.
The materials used to manufacture our products are strictly inspected and
controlled. This, together with our advanced manufacturing system, permits us to
comfortably meet the increasingly high demands of our customers.
Other controls and inspections are performed by such classification societies
as Lloyds Register of Shipping, American Bureau, Bureau Veritas, Germanischer
Lloyd, E.C.A. and others.
Contact information
Avenc del Dav, 22 Pol. Ind. Can Petit
08227 TERRASSA (Barcelona) SPAIN
Phone: +34 93 735 76 90
Fax : +34 93 735 81 35
info@vycindustrial.com
www.vycindustrial.com
V-92
Select 99 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
VALVES 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
efits analysis. These studies provide the economic basis for determining whether it is justifiable to proceed with a project. They
also provide a baseline against which the actual APC performance
can be judged. A study may be done by internal staff at a plant,
or by an outside consultant. This will usually depend on internal
staff availability and knowledge of APC technology. In some cases,
APC vendors can provide these studies as part of the proposal
offering. In any case, the studies should address these points:
Study scope of work
Procedure
Benefit estimation methods
Process description
Economic basis
Benefit calculations
Instrumentation requirements
Computing requirements
Proposed APC scope of work.
Unit
Scope
Price
Price, 2009
1959
H2SO4 alkylation
(dual train)
$215,099
$88,200
$303,299
$1,565,506
$641,926
$2,207,432
1964
FCCU
340 computer hardware including AI inputs, analog filters, input/output equipment, pneumatic set point
stations for activation of pneumatic controllers. Installation and introductory and system programming
courses also included.
Control programming and analysis including reactor/regenerator section and main fractionator to:
1. Determine coke burning rates, air rates, catalyst circulation rate, heater duty rate, yields, main
fractionator loading
2. Determine constraining condition on unit
3. Determine optimum operating conditions of unit
4. Implement dynamic regulation program to hold unit at optimum operating point
Instrumentation and wiring costs
Total cost
$259,770
$1,777,662
$97,880
$669,814
$38,600
$396,250
$264,148
$2,711,624
I 95
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
FIG. 1
FIG. 2
96
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
strategies and other odd behaviors is part of continuing control
system maintenance.
Control-loop performance. At present, it is considered best
practice to have in place a program to periodically assess control-loop performance, and to prioritize and perform identified
maintenance. Automated tools can help monitor control-loop
performance and identify poorly performing or interactive loops.
Additionally, tuning tools with advanced control techniques
can help provide proportionalintegralderivative (PID) tuning
parameters. Some tools provide a range of tuning performance so
that the user can compare different closed-loop speeds of response
and select the appropriate settings for the application. These tools
go beyond simple hand tuning and can provide:
Rapid consistent tuning
Historical record of tuning
Multiple tuning scenarios from a single tuning session
Evidence of poor measurement or final element behavior
Tuning in either open or closed loop or a hybrid form starting in open loop and moving to closed loop as tuning parameters
become available.
Figs. 1 and 2 show the results from a tuning tool.4 Fig. 1 provides a set of 10 tuning solutions at different closed-loop settling
times. Fig. 2 provides a view of setpoint and load change response
curves for any of the 10 tuning solutions. Users can select a tuning solution for the desired control performance, and multiple
sets can be selected for use with advanced PID algorithms. This
allows faster speed of response when the error is outside a userdefined band, as well as a slower speed when the error is inside the
band. Level surge control is a typical application. Fig. 3 shows the
results of a tuning session for a crude pre-flash column bottoms
level. Incoming crude is manipulated to maintain the column
bottom level.
Another advanced control technology innovation is the availability of model-based control at the DCS level. Single-input,
single-output (SISO) model-based control is now available as
a control algorithm selection instead of PID.5 Not every loop
requires a model-based control algorithm, but some loops can
benefit. Specifically, this includes loops where control performance would be improved if the operator were allowed to enter
a range instead of a set point for control regulation. Some level
loops and analyzer loops also fall into this category.
SPECIALREPORT
EU High
100.00
100.00
100.00
37820.0
RAXIS
Crude ow before tuning
48 HOUR RT HM RT HM
Crude ow after tuning
Eng.
units
EU High
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
FIG. 3
% High
100.0
Percent
scale
Level loop
Level loop under test
Level loop stabilized in
Level loop
before tuning
manual
after tuning
% Low
0.0
97
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
troller is ready to be placed online. The commissioning procedure usually involves activating one independent variable at a
time. The associated dependent variables are observed to ensure
that they remain within limits. MV limits should be widened
98
Ron Di Nello is a consultant with Honeywell Process Solutions. He has more than
35 years of refining, petrochemical and chemical industry experience. His current
focus is advanced process control applications including conceptual studies, cost/
benefit analysis, functional designs, master plans and regulatory, advanced, and
predictive control, including dynamic and steady state optimization. Mr. Di Nello
holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Mexico and is
a registered professional engineer in Texas.
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2010 Costacurta S.p.A.-VICO
SINCE 1921...
AND WE
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For more than eighty years, we at Costacurta have been
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and manufacture of special steel wire and plate
components used in many different industrial processes.
Every day at Costacurta, we work to improve the quality
of our products and services and the safety of all our
collaborators, paying ever-greater attention to the
protection of the environment.
Within the wide range of Costacurta products you will
also find some, described below, that are used specifically
in the oil, petrochemical and chemical industries:
- RADIAL FLOW AND DOWN FLOW REACTOR INTERNALS;
- GAS-LIQUID AND LIQUID-LIQUID SEPARATORS;
- ARMOURING OF REFRACTORY, ANTI-ABRASIVE AND
ANTI-CORROSIVE LININGS.
For more information visit our website or contact the
division 'C' components for the oil, petrochemical
and chemical industries at tcrc@costacurta.it.
Costacurta S.p.A.-VICO
via Grazioli, 30
20161 Milano, Italy
tel. +39 02.66.20.20.66
fax: +39 02.66.20.20.99
Management systems
certified by LRQA:
ISO 9001:2008
ISO 14001:2004
OHSAS 18001:2007
Select 57 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
www.costacurta.it
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
SPECIALREPORT
optimum feed location is critical to maximizing distillation column performance. Improper feed location of a distillation column
can downgrade column performance; the degree of separation is
decreased at the same reflux/boil up ratio or the higher reflux/
boil-up ratio is required to maintain the degree of separation.
An ideal feed location is feeding to a section of the distillation
column where column internal liquid traffic composition is similar to feed stream composition. In this case, it can minimize the
composition gradient between feed stream and distillation internal
fluids. In distillation column operations, it is often seen that feed
compositions are changed from original design conditions. In the
case of significant deviation, discrepancy between column internal
liquid composition and feed stream composition can increase, and
results in non-optimum feed location. Therefore, evaluating the
feed location is an essential step for a successful distillation unit
revamp or optimization.
However, it is very difficult to sample and analyze the column
internal liquid traffic composition in most of the distillation
columns that are commercially operated. Instead, process simulation modeling has been widely utilized to predict internal liquid
composition and determine the optimum feed location in the
actual industry design. As feed optimization through simulation
modeling is convenient and does not require additional costs
for field measurements and laboratory analysis, it seems to be a
very convenient procedure on the surface. Nevertheless, reputable simulation software itself does not promise the reliability of
simulation modeling. Inherent gaps between actual conditions
and theoretical simulation modeling should not be ignored.1 The
appropriate simulation flow sheeting methodology is necessary
to bridge between actual conditions and the simulation model.
It is common for improper simulation modeling to give misleading results regarding the optimum feed-point location and cause
poorer column performance than expected.
Key ratio plotting is a useful tool to evaluate optimum
feed location in simulation modeling. This key ratio is usually
I 101
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
FIG. 1
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102
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
feed configurations also influence distillation column performance. If feed flow is split and introduced to the distillation
column through multiple locations, all multiple-branch pipes
shall be symmetrical. Otherwise, feed flows are not introduced in
uniform manners and column performance is influenced. Unless
external feed-line balancing is strongly specified in process design
materials, such as piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs)
and process data sheets, this line balancing may be overlooked
during the final piping design.
External feed-line geometry is also a critical issue when twophase fluid is formed in the feed stream line. Certain distillation
columns, such as refinery multi-product fractionators, are inherently designed with two-phase feed conditions. Quite a few energy
saving projects specify two-phase feed conditions.
As is well-known in the industry, a two-phase feed condition
necessitates more complex design steps than a single-phase feed
condition. Undesirable two-phase flow patterns are prone to
causing unit troubles including entrainment, flow instability,
temperature and/or pressure fluctuation, hammering and pipe or
equipment erosion.5 It is generally known that a slug flow regime
should be avoided at two-phase feed inlets. A highly aerated slug
can act like frothy surge and can cause not only column instability but also severe hydraulic pounding and distillation equipment
damage.6 For a particular vacuum tower inlet, a mist flow regime
can create liquid entrainment in the flash zone.7 At high twophase flow velocities, most of the liquid components are turned
to mist droplets and distributed into the vapor phase. This liquid
mist is prone to be entrained in the vacuum tower flash zone and
impacts distillate product yield and/or qualities.
Understanding two-phase flow patterns and proper piping
geometry is required to avoid unit troubles. However, it is very difficult to identify two-phase flow patterns in an accurate manner.
There is no reliable calculation method to predict void fractions
for pressure drop and fluid residence time yet. Due to a lack of a
universal model, two-phase flow pattern prediction is varied upon
Impurities
Other process streams
Feed
Water
Steam
Solvent recovery
column (SRC)
Hydrocarbon solvent
FIG. 2
45
40
Reux rate, gpm
SPECIALREPORT
35
30
25
20
1
FIG. 3
3
4
5
Feed stage, from column top to bottom
I 103
SPECIALREPORT
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
TABLE 1. Solvent-recovery column performance
comparison
1
Top-stage feeding
Third-stage feeding
Fifth-stage feeding
0.1
Unit
Pre-revamp
operation
Post revamp
operation
Feedrate
GPM
BASE
+ 35%
BASE
68
Feed temperature
Feed phase
Water and other impurities
in bottom solvent
Reflux ratio (to feed)
0.01
0.001
1
FIG. 4
3
5
7
Stage number, from column top to bottom
Impurities
Other process streams
Feed
Steam
Water
Solvent recovery
column (SRC)
Hydrocarbon solvent
FIG. 5
Case parameter
Two-phase
Liquid
wt ppm
BASE
Volume basis
BASE
48%
lb steam/gallon
BASE
12%
all design materials were not updated to the real equipment configurations. There were five heat exchangers positioned in the
actual feed pre-heating circuit, while the P&ID only showed three
exchangers. Through clarifications with the technical/operating
staffs, it was found that two more heat exchangers were added to
increase feed temperature, but design document materials were
not updated. The belief was that higher feed temperature always
improves the energy consumption in a distillation unit.
To evaluate the column performance in detail, rigorous simulation modeling was conducted based on operating conditions.
The purpose of modeling was to identify the bottleneck point and
to construct a base model for revamping. Obtaining pertinent
operating data is necessary for reliable simulation modeling. A
review of operating data showed that daily operating conditions
were not suitable for simulation modeling. As measured stream
volumetric flowrates were not standardized, mass-balance closure
could not be reviewed. Also, gathered temperature and pressure
data were not consistent. A dedicated test run was required to
gather reliable operating data. A set of operating data was obtained
at the rate just before the maximum operating point in a snap-shot
basis. Overall mass and component balance closure data were
compiled. Each instrument position was checked and confirmed
through a field survey.8
Before performing rigorous simulation modeling, the thermodynamic package was reviewed in the selected commercial process simulator. It was found that the binary interaction parameter
and alpha functions were not available between key components
in the selected thermodynamic packages data base. In this case,
most of the commercial simulators automatically choose the ideal
gas law between components and report results. It is difficult to
recognize this assumption unless detailed thermodynamic parameters are reviewed among components. For reliable simulation
modeling, binary interaction parameters and alpha functions
that were regressed through experiment data were applied in
the selected liquid activity coefficient model. Through various
sensitivity analyses, tray efficiency of the column was quantified.
Rigorous simulation results indicated that two-phase feed was
formed at the operating feed temperature. This feed temperature was
much higher than the original design feed temperature. The increment of feed temperature was intended to maximize feed preheater
duty and reduce overall energy consumption. However, undesirable
two-phase feed caused an excessive hydrocarbon solvent amount in
the column overhead system. To maintain product purity specifications of the bottom product, the reflux rate needed to be increased.
A higher reflux rate generated more vapor/liquid traffic inside the
column and limited column capacity. To destroy this vicious cycle,
the feed temperature should be decreased to maintain the liquid feed.
PLANT/PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
A case study was conducted to check whether the existing feed
point was optimum. Required reflux rates were simulated with
various feed points at the same bottom solvent purity. These results
are displayed in Fig. 3. This figure shows that adding a rectification section helps to minimize the reflux rate at the same product
purity and the feeding at Stage 3 shows the minimum reflux rate.
Partial key ratio plots are highlighted among stages 1 and 5. Fig.
4 shows key ratio plot changes as the feed point is elevated down.
Monitoring key ratio behavior with various feed points shows that
retrograde distillation was observed at the Stage 5 feeding.
The solvent recovery unit was modified according to the feedoptimization study. The feed tray was relocated from the top tray
to the tray matching the third theoretical stage. The reflux stream
was no longer combined with the feed stream and was introduced
to the top tray independently. The feed temperature was reduced
to maintain liquid-phase feed condition. New feed temperature
was set at a temperature slightly lower than the simulated bubblepoint temperature. In spite of the slightly sub-cooled feed, this
temperature maintains a stable liquid-phase feeding against a
minor feed composition variation. The internal feed distributor
was designed and installed at the new feed location. Since the feed
stream contains some fouled materials, the discharge hole size was
optimized to prevent potential plugging. It was also found that
the control valve flow was reaching the critical flow zone. A new
control valve was installed to prevent the choked flow. Modified
process schemes are depicted in Fig. 5.
Table 1 summarizes the solvent columns pre- and post-modification operating data. The maximum feed rate of the column
is increased by 35%. The metered reflux rate is significantly
SPECIALREPORT
5
6
7
8
LITERATURE CITED
Lee, S. H., et al, Optimizing crude unit designs, Petroleum Technology
Quarterly, 2Q, 2009.
Kister, H. Z., Distillation design, McGraw-Hill Company, 1992.
Lee, S. H., et al., Minimizing energy consumption in distillation units AIChE
Spring national meeting, April 2009.
Bolles, W. L., Multipass flow distribution and Mass Transfer Efficiency for
Distillation Plates, AIChE Journal, Vol. 22, No. 1, January 1976.
Daniels, L., Dealing with two-phase flows, Chemical Engineering, June 1995.
Kister, H. Z., Distillation operation, McGraw-Hill Company, 1990.
DeGance, A. E., et al, Chemical Engineering Aspects of Two-Phase Flow,
Chemical Engineering, March 1970.
Kister, H., et al., Sensitivity analysis is key to successful DC5 simulation,
Hydrocarbon Processing, October 1998.
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108
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Anik International & Co. Ltd.
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Michael Brown
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Mobile: +44 79866 34646
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Phone: +852 69185500, (Hong Kong)
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Yoshinori Ikeda
Pacific Business Inc.
Phone: +81 (3) 3661-6138
Fax: +81 (3) 3661-6139
E-mail: Japan@GulfPub.com
PAKISTANKarachi
S. E. Ahmed
Intermedia Communications
Phone: +92 (21) 663-4795
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REPRINTS
Rhona Brown, Foster Printing Service
Phone: +1 (866) 879-9144 ext. 194
E-mail: RhondaB@FosterPrinting.com
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This Advertisers Index and procedure for securing additional information is provided as a service to Hydrocarbon
Processing advertisers and a convenience to our readers. Gulf Publishing Co. is not responsible for omissions or errors.
-Refining Company
-Petrochemical Co.
-Gas Processing Co.
-Equipment Manufacturer
-Supply Company
-Service Company
-Chemical Co.
-Engrg./Construction Co.
JOB FUNCTION
(check one only):
B
E
F
G
I
J
Page
RS#
(58)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-169
(74)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-74
(55)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-55
(59)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-59
Chemshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V-93
(62)
(57)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-57
(96)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-96
(94)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-94
www.info.hotims.com/35904-173
www.info.hotims.com/35904-178
www.info.hotims.com/35904-167
(87)
(71)
(91)
(86)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-86
www.info.hotims.com/35904-168
Sandvik Steel AB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
www.info.hotims.com/35904-155
(89)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-89
(81)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-81
www.info.hotims.com/35904-151
Siemens AG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Spraying Systems Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(66)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-66
(76)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-76
www.info.hotims.com/35904-162
TrimTeck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V-91
Turbomachinery Laboratory . . . . . . .V-94
www.info.hotims.com/35904-171
(70)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-70
Mettler-Toledo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 (170)
Microtherm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 (171)
(98)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-98
Unifrax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
www.info.hotims.com/35904-97
www.info.hotims.com/35904-153
(95)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-95
(97)
(79)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-79
www.info.hotims.com/35904-170
(69)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-166
www.info.hotims.com/35904-60
Prosim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 (166)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-158
www.info.hotims.com/35904-91
ITT Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
(52)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-52
www.info.hotims.com/35904-71
Honeywell Analytics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Onis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V-88
www.info.hotims.com/35904-87
RS#
www.info.hotims.com/35904-172
www.info.hotims.com/35904-159
KTI Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
www.info.hotims.com/35904-161
www.info.hotims.com/35904-83
Page
www.info.hotims.com/35904-165
KBR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
www.info.hotims.com/35904-62
(83)
Flowserve Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
(67)
CB&I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Newton's . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 (165)
HP Subscription . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .V-90
HP Webcast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 (167)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-58
Cameron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
(93)
(53)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-67
Burckhardt Compression Ag . . . . . . . 21
Flexitallic LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
www.info.hotims.com/35904-53
Company
Website
(64)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-64
RS#
EventsIRPC Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
EventsMarketing in the Oilfield . . 78 (173)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-157
Axens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Page
www.info.hotims.com/35904-93
www.info.hotims.com/35904-174
Company
Website
(68)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-68
(99)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-99
Zyme Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
(71)
www.info.hotims.com/35904-71
I 109
Is it possible to communicate
risk issues successfully?
A safety project has a better chance of being approved if the
person making the payback decision understands the concept
of risk cost. If there is a likelihood of a $1,000,000-cost event
happening once every 100 years, then the risk cost/yr is $10,000.
A project gets approved when the cost of the safety project is less
than a reduction in risk cost. However, one big problem is that
risk cost is well not understood by many people, and the concept
is hard to explain. Often, the risk is estimated to be noncredible, therefore the risk cost is extremely low. Therefore, no risk
cost reduction, no payback. One time when I tried to explain
risk cost, I was asked, Who do I pay the $10,000 to each year?
Many a good safety project has been shot down because the concept of risk cost was not well communicated.
Risk communication is not easy. Once when trying to
Given this claim and realizing that both the transmission control and ignition switch appear to be contact inputs to the control
computer, I thought there was additional consequence reduction
needed. So, I explained that if the car did not stop accelerating,
the driver should steer the car into an obstacle like a ditch, a field
or a guardrail before gaining further velocity. This was not my
idea. One of the drivers who experienced an SUA incident drove
the car into desert sand where it stopped. It makes sense to me,
the engineer. Lower levels of kinetic energy result in less damage.
But, I went too far.
The listeners facial expressions turned to fear and anger. The
result of my risk mitigation training was an immediate demand
to get rid of the Prius. A discussion about the small probability of
an incident lacked any impact. I could not make any risk-based
argument to get agreement to keep the car. The sensational TV
news report did not help either. So, now I have a new company
car with a conventional mechanical transmission and no reputation for unintended acceleration.
Communicating clearly. There have been times where risk
The author is a principal partner of exida.com, a company that does consulting, training and support for safety-critical and high-availability process automation. He has over 25 years of experience in automation systems, doing analog and
digital circuit design, software development, engineering management and marketing. Dr. Goble is the author of the ISA book Control Systems Safety Evaluation
and Reliability. He is a fellow member of ISA and a member of ISAs SP84 committee on safety systems. Dr. Goble can be reached by e-mail at: wgoble@exida.com.
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