In a Chemical Engineering article, Emerson’s Nick Pinto offers strategies for improving tank farm safety with more effective gas release and flame detection In countless war movies, the heroes, whether in trenches or spaceships, have to stop the enemy advance at some...
Chemical
Choosing the Right Gas Analyzer for Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Emissions Monitoring
NOx is probably the most ubiquitous combustion-created air pollutant since it can be generated by any process burning any fossil fuel, and it is tightly regulated by the U.S. EPA and other regulatory bodies around the world. Plants with relevant combustion processes,...
Compressor Anti-Surge Control Value Improvement Practice
An ethylene plant has a number of very large, very critical compressors which will cause the entire plant to shutdown if they ever trip. The cracked gas compressor increases the entire cold-side feed from around 3 psig to ~475 psig, typically through 5 stages. The two refrigeration compressors are the next biggest compressors that can also shut down the entire plant if they trip.
Driving Safer and More Secure Refining and Chemical Operations
According to the United States Energy Information Administration, the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast refiners and petrochemical producers accounted for 50.5% of the U.S. total finished petroleum products as of October 2019. So with over half of America's refining and...
Ethylene Furnace Automation, Control & Optimization
Cracking furnaces are one of the most crucial parts of an ethylene complex. They set the production and yield for the entire plant. For furnace-limited plants, when a furnace is down, whether for maintenance or decoking, production is lost.
Digital Transformation and Top Quartile Performance for Petrochemical Producers
Digital Transformation is a buzz word that seems to be on everyone’s mind and lips these days. Most companies have one or more digitalization initiatives underway as demonstrated in this survey conducted at the 2019 Emerson Exchange during the Chemical Industry Forum session.
Optimizing Energy Consumption and Overall Reliability
I heard a great story from Emerson's Sam Thiara of a polymer producer in the Middle East region that was looking to improve energy efficiency across the facility's steam system. They wanted to reduce energy costs and their carbon footprint, while also improving the...
Successfully Implementing State-Based Procedure Automation
Continuous processes still must go through startups, planned and unplanned shutdowns, upset recovery and other events. These operations have traditionally been performed manually. At the October 14-16, 2019 AFPM Operations & Process Technology Summit in San...
Improving Chemical Industry Manufacturing Performance
One look at the economic news and you see that trading relationships among countries are changing from longstanding norms. For manufacturers, this uncertainty requires flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions. In a Process Engineering article, Connectivity...
A Novel Thermodynamic-Based Metric: The Magic Bullet for Resource-Efficiency?
Author: Ana Gonzalez Hernandez In my previous post, I introduced the concept of resource efficiency: the integrated efficiency with which energy and materials are transformed in industrial processes. I mentioned that improvements in resource efficiency are considered...
Petrochemicals-a Growth Area for Hydrocarbons
As alternative energy sources and energy storage technologies continue to advance, will the decrease in transportation fuel demand be mitigated by the growth in petrochemical demand? At CERAWeek 2018, Emerson's Jamie Froedge joined a panel, Petrochemicals: Future...
Reliable Control Valve Performance in Ethylene Production
Olefins, also known as alkenes, are unsaturated hydrocarbons, use to make many petrochemical products such as plastics. Olefin production, including ethylene, propylene and butadiene products, requires tight control for higher throughput, more energy efficient, and...
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The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the authors. Content published here is not read or approved by Emerson before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Emerson.