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Using Corrosion as a Process Variable

Monitoring and analyzing historical corrosion data can provide insights not available from manual inspection and measurement techniques Some petroleum refiners looking for ways to improve profitability have lately turned to buying opportunity crudes from secondary sources. These crudes, while priced…

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Boost Steam-System Efficiency by Improving Condensate Recovery

Pressurized condensate-return systems and flash-steam vent condensers offer opportunities for fuel cost savings in a plant’s steam system. Here’s how to take advantage Pressurized steam-condensate systems can provide plants with a minimum of between 15 and 35% savings in fuel…

An Investigation of Premature Flooding in a Distillation Column

Surprising observations regarding flooding in the upper fractionation trays of an atmospheric crude-petroleum distillation column are investigated In industial distillation processes, flooding is an abnormal, but relatively common, process condition in which liquid accumulates in the column. The accumulation may…

Recent Air Regulations: Impact on Turnaround Vapor Deinventory Strategies

With the onset of new environmental regulations, turnaround teams must look to temporary vapor-control strategies to ensure compliance during non-routine operations Turnarounds are one of the most anticipated and time-intensive events in a plant’s cycle, and are an essential part…

Energy Recovery in Compressed Air Systems

Users of compressed air can take advantage of heat recovery to enhance their sustainability, improve energy efficiency and reduce system lifecycle costs Air compressors account for a considerable portion of industrial energy consumption, and facilities that employ large-scale air compression…

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Best Practices in Capital Equipment Commissioning

Ensuring that real-world commissioning tests are properly executed can benefit both equipment end users and suppliers Every capital equipment project comes to a point when operations teams expect payback to begin on the investment. How soon those benefits are realized…

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Commissioning and Startup: Increase Certainty Through Advanced Planning

Taking commissioning and startup into consideration during the early design phase can result in more predictable project schedules and more robust equipment designs Historically, new capital projects and facility upgrades in the chemical process industries (CPI) were designed with a…

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Liquid-Liquid Extraction: Generating Equilibrium Data

Equilibrium data and related information gathered from a liquid-liquid extraction laboratory “shake test” can provide information for process feasibility and column-type selection in the scaleup of liquid-liquid extraction processes Most chemical engineers have had the experience of dealing with problematic…

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Microbial Control in Cooling Water

Three chlorine-based strategies for controlling microbial load in industrial cooling water are evaluated here Industrial cooling-water systems are critical to the success of many chemical process industries (CPI) operations. Proper operation of cooling-water systems supports the financial drivers of energy…

Treating Boiler Feedwater for Reliable Operation

These key elements of internal boiler feedwater (BFW) treatment will help avoid boiler tube failures due to scale and pitting For many chemical processes, an industrial packaged-type boiler is a critical component for either power generation or for producing steam.…