1st Hydrocarbon Processing 09 2010

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SEPTEMBER 2010
HPIMPACT
SPECIALREPORT
TECHNOLOGY
Are recent gains by US

refiners sustainable?
REFINING
DEVELOPMENTS
Update on spiral
wound gaskets
Debating low-carbon
fuel standards
Clean fuels use

unique solutions
Calculate temperature
in horizontal tanks
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SEPTEMBER 2010 VOL. 89 NO. 9

SPECIAL REPORT: REFINING DEVELOPMENTS
29
20 questions: Identify probable causes

for high FCC catalyst loss
P. K. Niccum
39
45
51
Consider high-impact constructability issues for refineries

R. Carter
Bottomless refinery: Improve refinery economics

P. McKenna and F. Sheikh
Cover Marathons Garyville, Louisiana

refinery completed a major expansion
with startup in December 2009. This
project increased the refinerys rated
capacity from 256,000 bpd to 436,000
bpd and is now among the five largest
US refineries as well as the 20 largest
international refineries. More details of
the Garyville project can be found on
page 22. Photo courtesy of Marathon
Oil Corp.
Biorenewables update: What is beyond

ethanol and biodiesel?
R. Cascone and B. Burke
57
67
75
81
Upgrade FFC performancePart 1

L. M. Wolschlag and K. A. Couch
Fine-tune processing heavy crudes in your facility

T. Falkler and C. Sandu
Mitigate corrosion in your crude unit

N. P. Hilton and G. L. Scattergood
Improve vacuum tower revamp projects

S. Costanzo, S. M. Wong and M. Pilling
HPIMPACT
15 Strong second quarter
for US refiners
15 Low-carbon fuel
standard could cause
crude shuffle
16 $8.4 billion Chinese
pump market by 2015
17 BP to pay $50.6 million
for Texas City explosion
HEAT TRANSFER/VESSELS
89
Calculating the temperature distribution

in horizontal vessel saddle supports
G. N. van Zyl
MAINTENANCE/RELIABILITY
95 Spiral-wound or kammprofile gaskets?

C. Yoder and D. W. Reeves
ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION 2010SUPPLEMENT
99
Managing projects in a global evironment

S. K. Poddar
LOSS PREVENTION
115
Hydrobulging of storage tanks

and its effect on first support selection
M. G. Choudhury, S. Johri and R. Tripathi
ENGINEERING CASE HISTORIES
123
Case history 58: Piston pin plug wear

T. Sofronas
COLUMNS
9 HPIN RELIABILITY
Eccentric reducers
and straight runs of
pipe at pump suction
11 HPINTEGRATION
STRATEGIES
Sustainability program
management
with EAM
13 HPIN CONTROL
APC application
ownership
130 HPIN WATER
MANAGEMENT
Utility water boot
camp for process
engineersPart 1
DEPARTMENTS
7 HPIN BRIEF 21 HPIN CONSTRUCTION
26 HPI CONSTRUCTION BOXSCORE UPDATE
126 HPI MARKETPLACE 129 ADVERTISER INDEX
HP ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
L. M. Wolschlag and K. A. Couch
GPCs Software
ReferenceFall 2010
Following page 132
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EDITORIAL
Editor Les A. Kane
Senior Process Editor Stephany Romanow
Process Editor Tricia Crossey
Reliability/Equipment Editor Heinz P. Bloch
News Editor Billy Thinnes
European Editor Tim Lloyd Wright

Contributing Editor Loraine A. Huchler
Contributing Editor William M. Goble
Contributing Editor Y. Zak Friedman
Contributing Editor ARC Advisory
Group (various)
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MOVING AHEAD
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING (ISSN 0018-8190) is published monthly by

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Sulzer Chemtech is a world leader in

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BILLY THINNES, NEWS EDITOR
BT@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Canada Products (Shell) and Delek US Holdings, Inc. have agreed

to end negotiations regarding a potential sale of the Shell Montreal East refinery. Shell
and Delek US met last week in an effort to address outstanding issues that both parties
had been unable to resolve in negotiations held earlier this year. Negotiations once again
reached an impasse, leading both parties to terminate discussions.
Unfortunately, after considerable efforts to find common ground on a number of
complex issues, both sides have determined not to pursue further negotiations with regard
to the Montreal East Refinery, said Uzi Yemin, president of Delek US Holdings.
Because no buyer for the refinery had been identified by the end of last year, we
announced on January 7, 2010 that we intended to convert the refinery to a terminal and
so started detailed planning for the conversion, said Richard Oblath of Shell. Although
we retained hope that a buyer could be found, the conversion was planned in parallel to
the sale process, since there was no guarantee a sale would occur.
The late July fire at Frontier Oils Cheyenne, Wyoming, refinery

has been problematic for the company, but its leadership does not see the incident as
having a long term effect on Frontiers overall bottom line.
We suffered a recent setback in Cheyenne as a result of a fire near our crude unit,
said Mike Jennings, chairman of Frontier. Our third quarter production and costs will
reflect this outage, which is expected to last approximately two to three weeks. Despite
this event, our Cheyenne refinery has been delivering on its cost reduction and yield
improvement goals. Still ahead of us is the completion of Cheyennes LPG recovery project, which is scheduled to come online in mid-2011.
Rive Technology Inc. has an agreement with W. R. Grace & Co. Conn.
to jointly develop and commercialize Rives zeolite technology for use in catalysts for
fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes within a petroleum refinery. Rives proprietary
technology makes zeolite refining catalysts more accessible to hydrocarbon molecules,
resulting in increased yields of transportation fuels and less coke. Rives technology creates
refinery wide operating flexibility due to enhanced coke selectivity. Refiners can profit
from the improved catalytic performance by increasing refinery throughput, processing
heavier crude oil and maximizing production of high quality fuels. Under the agreement,
Rive and Grace will develop, manufacture and market FCC catalysts incorporating Rives
technology worldwide.
The grand opening of the Castrol China Technology Center recently

took place in Shanghais Pudong Jinqiao Science Park. The new facility will be dedicated
to developing lubricant technology solutions for the automotive, aviation, industrial,
offshore and marine market sectors in China. The center comprises specialist laboratories
dedicated to conducting lubricant development and modification, a friction testing center to evaluate and screen new formulations for industrial and automotive applications, a
driveline testing laboratory and a vehicle workshop for testing product performance.
Huntsman Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire

the chemicals business of Laffans Petrochemicals Ltd. Located in Ankleshwar, India, the
Laffans chemicals business manufactures amines and surfactants. The chemicals business
has 130 employees and annual sales of approximately $45 million. The acquisition is subject to certain terms and conditions and is expected to occur in the first half of 2011.
Gevo has signed definitive agreements to acquire Agri-Energys

ethanol production facility in Luverne, Minnesota. Mechanical retrofitting of the plant
will begin upon closing the transaction. Isobutanol production is expected to begin by the
first quarter of 2012. During most of the retrofit process, it is expected that the facility
will continue to produce ethanol. HP
Refinery
financing
In these troubled economic times, it
is nice to see some lending and financing for large scale projects being given
the green light. The Egyptian Refining
Co. (ERC) recently signed a debt package of $2.6 billion to finance construction of its $3.7 billion second-stage
oil refinery in the greater Cairo area
of Egypt. The refinery will produce
over 4 million tpy of refined products
when completed, including 2.3 million tons of EURO V diesel.
The debt package includes $2.35
billion of senior debt and $225 million of subordinated debt. Institutions
participating in the senior debt
package include the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation, Nippon
Export and Investment Insurance, the
Export-Import Bank of Korea, the
European Investment Bank and the
African Development Bank. First drawdown under the senior debt facilities is
expected in the coming two months.
Mitsui & Co., which is part of the
consortium of contractors building
the refinery, is providing $200 million
of subordinated debt financing. The
African Development Bank is providing an additional $25 million of subordinated debt financing.
News of the debt package came
just weeks after the International
Finance Corp. announced it would
invest equity of $100 million in the
project. The refinery, to be located in
the greater Cairo district of Mostorod,
will sell its production to the stateowned Egyptian General Petroleum
Corp. (EGPC) under a 25-year offtake
agreement at international prices.
ERC has obtained all regulatory
and environmental approvals and
signed a lump-sum turnkey contract
with GS Engineering & Construction/
Mitsui & Co. The projects builders
expect to complete construction and
operational testing of ERC in the
second half of 2014 in time for operations to begin in 2015
Considering the financial and regulatory complexity of building a refinery today, the signing of ERCs debt
package has come together remarkably quickly, said Tom Thomason,
CEO of ERC. HP
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING SEPTEMBER 2010
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HPIN RELIABILITY
HEINZ P. BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
HB@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Eccentric reducers and straight runs of pipe at pump suction

Questions relating to proper reducer application in centrifugal
upstream of any low point must be governed by an important
pump suction lines date back many decades. Until his death (at
criterion. The line must be a diameter that will limit the pumpage 84, in 1995), world-renowned pump expert Igor Karassik
age velocity to values below those where bubbles will rise through
frequently corresponded with the writer and other pump users
the liquid.
on pump-related subjects. We rarely pass up an opportunity to
In general, it can be stated that wherever a low point exists in a
highlight some of his experience-based comments.
suction line, the horizontal piping run at that point should be kept
Once, a pump user referred to Fig. 1 and noted that this was
as short as possible. In a proper installation, the reducer flange will
quite typical of illustrations found in many textbooks. In essence,
thus be located at the pump suction nozzle and there is usually no
Fig. 1 indicates that, with a suction line entering the pump in the
straight piping between reducer outlet and pump nozzle. Straight
horizontal plane, the eccentric reducer is placed with the flat at
pipe lengths are, however, connected to the eccentric reducer inlet
the top. Available texts often give no indication as to whether the
flange. On most pumps, one usually gets away with five diameters
pumpage came from above or below the pump.
of straight length next to the reducer. In the case of certain unspeciIgor Karassik agreed that, if the supply source was from above
fied velocities and other interacting variables (e.g., viscosity, NPSH
the pump, the eccentric reducer should be installed with the
margin, pump style, etc.), it might be wise to install as many as 10
flat (horizontal) surface at the bottom. Entrained vapor bubbles
diameters of straight length next to the reducer inlet flange. The
could then migrate back into the source instead of staying near
two different rules-of-thumb explain seeming inconsistencies in the
the pump suction. If the pump suction piping entered after a long
literature, where both the 5 and 10-D rules can be found. HP
horizontal run or from below the pump, the flat of the eccentric
LITERATURE CITED
reducer should be at the top.1
1 Karassik, Igor J., Centrifugal Pump Clinic, 2nd Ed., Marcel Dekker, Inc.,
Still, in many older texts it has been assumed that the pump1989.
age source originated at a level below the pump suction nozzle.
Karassik reminded us that older Hydraulic Institute Standards
The author is HPs Equipment/Reliability Editor. The author of 17 textbooks
commented on the suction pipe slope:
and over 470 papers or articles, he advises process plants worldwide on reliability
improvement and maintenance cost reduction opportunities. His coauthored Bloch/
...Any high point in the suction pipe will become filled with
Budris text, Pump Users Handbook, is comprehensive and very widely used. Find
air and thus prevent proper operation of the pump. A straight
the 2nd edition under ISBN 0-88173-517-5.
taper reducer should not be used in a horizontal suction line as
an air pocket is formed in the top of the
reducer and the pipe. An eccentric reducer
Air pocket
should be used instead.
This instruction applies regardless of
Suction
Suction
where the pumpage originates. Depending
on the particulars of an installation, trapped
vapors can reduce the effective suction line
cross-sectional area. Should that be the case,
Incorrect
Correct
flow velocities would tend to be higher than
FIG. 1 Illustration of eccentric reducer mounting from Hydraulic Institute Standards.
anticipated. Higher friction losses would
occur and pump performance would be
adversely affected.
In the case of a liquid source above the
pump suction, and particularly where the
suction line consists of an eccentric reducer
Suction
Suction
followed by an elbow turned vertically
upward and a vertical pipe lengthall assembled in that sequence from the pump suction
flange upstreamit will be mandatory for
Correct
Eccentric reducers should be
the eccentric reducer flat side to be at the
Source of supply
arranged with the bottoms
bottom. That said, Fig. 2 should clarify what
below pump.
at when source of supply
is above the pump.
reliability-focused users need to implement.
FIG. 2 Suggested modifications for eccentric reducer mountings.
Also, whenever vapors must be vented
against the flow direction, the line size
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HPINTEGRATION STRATEGIES
RALPH RIO, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
rrio@arcweb.com
Sustainability program management with EAM

Moving to a sustainable manufacturing model requires significant changes throughout the enterprise. Some HPI companies
use a top-down approach in which senior managers set targets
to which engineers and plant operators must respond. Others
use a more collaborative approach, providing visionary goals and
allowing project leaders to emerge. In either case, companies must
manage and monitor progress to ensure that overall business needs
are met. An effective program requires structure.
Focal points for managing sustainability. Sustainable
manufacturing embodies three principal concepts: design-, environment- and resource-friendly products; produced in environment- and resource-friendly plants; with an environment- and
resource-friendly supply chain.
Available software applications can help HPI plants and other
manufacturers manage each of the product, plant and supply
chain domains. For example, manufacturers typically use enterprise asset management (EAM) applications to manage the life
cycle of assets in the plant and supply chain. This can be extended
to also manage a sustainability program for plant assets.
Manual merges create mayhem. Sustainability concerns
for a plant include both the various inputs into the plant (feedstocks, power, water, air and MRO materials), plus the different
plant outputs (gasses, liquids and solids) that can have a detrimental effect on humans or the environment. The problem is that
each asset category within a plant typically has its own specific
operational control applications and systems.
For most manufacturers, rolling up the carbon footprint across
a site involves accessing each of these different systems and performing manual data mergers, which at best, is a time-consuming
and error-prone process.
HPI companies can leverage the knowledge base resident in
their EAM and maintenance management systems to help manage the plants sustainability program. EAM systems improve
equipment uptime and performance (Fig. 1). This benefit can
be extended to reduce both a companys carbon footprint and
emissions. EAM can also help manufacturers comply with future
carbon reporting regulations.
EAM applications have an asset-specific structure. They manage each asset as either an individual item (like a compressor), or
as a group (like a distillation train). EAM has well-established
functions for managing each asset. These include work-order
management (scheduling, dispatching and monitoring completion), parts inventory management, labor management, information management and analytics.
A sustainability program also needs this asset-specific approach
to identify those assets that need improvement. For example, a
plants wastewater contains a mixture of effluents from a variety of
plant sources. The volume and composition is inconsistent over
time. The obvious emitters have probably already been addressed.

What do you do next? Examining the wastewater is too late in the
process. To improve sustainability, manufacturers need to move
upstream to the source, and closely examine the individual assets.
The major areas of asset-specific functionality relative to managing a sustainability program include:
Program management: set goals, measure and benchmark
performance
Alert management: monitor, trend and notify
Planning and analytics: optimize asset performance
Emissions and resource compliance: track and verify for
corporate governance and government regulations.
Plant sustainability program scope. HPI plants already
see significant new resource-based constraints, regulations and

business drivers. These will only escalate. Also, it is reasonable to
expect higher prices for feedstocks, energy and carbon emissions
in the future. As shown in the figure, these resources involve a
variety of different plant production, IT, and other assets.
Usually, each of these assets has a supervisory control system
or historian. These supervisory systems provide an excellent data
source for the EAM system to use to manage sustainability. Rather
than periodic manual data collection, data collection should be
an automated process with integration between the EAM system
and these supervisory control systems. HP
The author has been with ARC since 2000. Prior to joining ARC, he was with GE
Fanuc Automation as its manager of marketing for its CIMPLICITY software and services. Prior to that, Mr. Rio was Intellutions marketing manager for all HMI software
products. Mr. Rio holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering and an MS degree in
management science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York.
Inputs
Processing
Outputs
Power
Production
MRO
Air
Water
Waste
IT data center
Emissions
HVAC
Steam
Larry OBrien is part of the automation consulting team at ARC covering the
Lighting, other ...
process industries, and an HP contributing editor. He is responsible for tracking the
market for
process
automation systems (PASs) and has authored the PAS market studNatural
gas
ies for ARC since 1998. Mr. OBrien has also authored many other market research,
Plant assets EAM
strategy and custom research reports on topics including process fieldbus, collaborative
partnerships, total automation market trends and others. He has been with ARC since
January
started his
career with market
research
in the
field instrumentation
Managing
sustainability
via assets
with
EAM.
FIG.1993,
1 and
markets.
I 11
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HPIN CONTROL
Y. ZAK FRIEDMAN, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Zak@petrocontrol.com
APC application ownership

Advancec process control (APC) requires skilled control engineers, and where such engineers are not available, even wellimplemented APC applications quickly become ineffective. That
much is known and has been published.14 Feeling frustrated over
the dire APC manning shortage, I wrote an editorial recommending simplifying APC to the point of giving up on some of the
benefits, aiming to reduce maintenance requirements and improve
the APC success rate. Another school of thought, represented best
perhaps by Allan Kern, suggests that we do away with multivariable predictive control (MVPC) tools altogether, and move back
to implementing APC strategies as DCS structures, going by the
name of advanced regulatory control (ARC).
I do not share Kerns view against MVPC but think that complexity is the real culprit. Good intentions of capturing all of APC
benefits have led control engineers to overly complex designs that
might be beneficial with constant attention, but fall into disuse
without attention. I have implemented many simple MVPCs, as
well as ARC applications, and if you structure such an application with say, one inferential-quality model plus one override
constraint without any built-in economics, it works day-in and
day-out. If you wish to incorporate more constraints, especially
constraints with slow dynamics and more economic considerations, MVPC is your tool, and that application requires almost
daily attention to work well.
Why? Management asks. We have paid a lot to develop
APC, why do we need to invest more engineering time, and yet

daily, to keep this application in good repair? Complexity has
something to do with it. Refinery economics can vary wildly.
Seasonal or blocked-operation jumps are obvious and predictable,
but there are other events that change economics quickly: delayed
shipments, storms, equipment problems, troubles in a neighboring refinery, political unrest on a different continent or, in fact,
any unforeseen event. Can the preconfigured MVPC economics
cope with actual economics of the day? It absolutely cannot!
And how would a wise operator respond to a mismatch between
refinery economics versus MVPC configuration? He/she would
continue using valid APC functionality and disable offending
functionality, usually by clamping manipulated variables (MVs).
I have seen applications with 40 controlled variables (CVs) by 20
MVs where only two MVs were not clamped. Worse yet, operators
are not expected to be aware of plantwide economics. With lack of
guidance they might let APC drive the unit against the economics
of the day, and what have we achieved then?; nice-looking multivariable responses that cause the refinery to lose money.
That is why economics-driven APC applications need daily
attention. The site APC engineer should always be aware of current economic situations. While the engineer cannot quickly redesign the APC to follow current economics, he/she must find a way
to set economic drive coefficients and CV targets to approach the
real economics, and then instruct operators about how to work

with these settings. That is what I call ownership. Being aware of
refinery economics is perhaps a two-hour-a-week task, and figuring out how to make APC comply with current economics could
take six more hours a week.
Theres more to say about inferential control models. They
are important because as APC moves the unit, keeping product qualities on target is key to correct optimization. I advocate
inferential models based on first principles, whereas many APC
practitioners employ regression-based models. That, in itself, is
not a disaster. While the regression is necessarily inferior, a good
process engineer can perhaps specify model inputs correctly to
achieve workable models. Either way, inferential models require
careful and detailed monitoring. As a minimumtrack unbiased
inferences against the lab to investigate inferential bias patterns,
especially if it is related to operational modes. Upon seeing that
the regression model no longer fits, the APC engineer should
devote time to collect data and come up with another regression.
That is perhaps a two-to-four-hour a week job, depending on the
number of inferential models and their quality.
What about outsourcing APC engineering? In my
view, APC ownership, i.e., the responsibility to monitor economics and inferential models, and to set the APC to agree with unit
economics, should rest with the site engineer. But communications tools today certainly permit engaging a remote expert to
help the site APC engineer set the application correctly, and/or to
rework inferential models. I support inferential models in many
refineries, though not to the point of daily attention.
The count of hours above leads to a simple conclusion that a
good APC engineer can steward four major applications, five or
six with outside help. If you cannot afford this level of engineering
supportwhy spend money implementing APC to begin with?
In that case implement only simple APC with quality targets and
constraints but without economic drives. HP
1
2
3
4
LITERATURE CITED
Friedman, Y. Z., Avoid advanced control project mistakes, Hydrocarbon
Processing, October 1992.
Friedman, Y. Z., Advanced process controlit takes effort to make it work,
Hydrocarbon Processing, February 1997.
Latour, P. R., Does the HPI do its CIM business right? Hydrocarbon Processing,
July 1997.
Kane L. A., Controversy in Control, Hydrocarbon Processing, March/April 1998.
The author is a principal consultant in advanced process control and online

optimization with Petrocontrol. He specializes in the use of first-principles models
for inferential process control and has developed a number of distillation and reactor
models. Dr. Friedmans experience spans over 30 years in the hydrocarbon industry,
working with Exxon Research and Engineering, KBC Advanced Technology and since
1992 with Petrocontrol. He holds a BS degree from the Israel Institute of Technology
(Technion) and a PhD degree from Purdue University.
I 13
HPIMPACT
Strong second quarter

for US refiners
Baker & OBrien issued an August report
that stated US refinery cash margins have
increased, on average, by almost $3 per barrel vs. the previous quarter, with the strongest improvement noted on the West Coast.
Countering the general improvement trend
was the East Coast, where margins declined
slightly because of a widening light-heavy
crude oil discount and general market conditions. Overall US first half 2010 (10H1)
cash margins were much stronger than the
last half of 2009 (Table 1). However, during
the second quarter of 2010 (10Q2), refining
crack spreads began to slip relative to the
previous quarter, with further weakening
noted in July.
The light-heavy differential increased
in the first half of 2010, resulting in the
improvement of margins for Gulf Coast
coking refineries. However, margins for East
Coast cracking refineries remained stuck at
depressed 2009 levels (Fig. 1), even with the
previous shutdown of two area refineries
(Valeros in Delaware City, Delaware, and
Sunocos in Westville, New Jersey). With the
recent announcement by Western Refining
of plans to close the Yorktown, Virginia,
refinery, East Coast refinery capacity will
soon be reduced by a cumulative total of
almost 400,000 bpd, which is 23% of the
East Coasts atmospheric distillation capacity operating in November 2009.
12
Low-carbon fuel standard

could cause crude shuffle
The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA) recently released
a report examining how a low-carbon fuel
standard (LCFS) policy intended to reduce
greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the transportation sector could actually result in
shuffling or leakage of emissions. The
study says an LCFS would actually increase
global GHG emissions by up to 19 million
metric tpy. This is in contradiction to those
East Coast resid cracking vs. Gulf Coast coking margins
10
8,000
East coast resid cracking, W Africa

Gulf coast coking, Maya
who advocate the LCFS, saying it would

reduce emissions. Barr Engineering of Minneapolis, Minnesota, conducted the study
for members of NPRA.
The study assumes that because an LCFS
would prevent US refineries from importing petroleum obtained from oil sands
in neighboring Western Canada, the US
would instead have to import more oil in
tankers from the Middle East and elsewhere.
At the same time, the Canadian oil would
be shipped in tankers across the Pacific to
China and other Asian locations.
The study calls this long-distance movement of oil thousands of miles around the
world in tankers a shuffle that would
result in higher carbon dioxide emissions
than simply extracting the Canadian petroleum from the oil sands for US consumption, due to emissions created by shipping
the oil such great distances.
In conducting this technical study, we
looked at the most accurate data publicly
TABLE 1. US refiner cash margins
compared to previous periods, $/bbl
10Q2 vs. 10Q1 10H1 vs. 09H2
East Coast
(0.54)
Midwest
+4.04
+2.83
Gulf Coast
+2.40
+3.73
Rocky Mountains
+4.28
+3.22
+5.41
+1.82
US Total
+2.94
+2.86
Total crude + feedstock inputs to US reneries

2007
2008
2009
2010 Q1
2010 Q2
6,000
5,000
8
6
+0.55
West Coast
7,000
Mbpd
Gross margin, $/bbl input
Recent margin improvements have

encouraged US refineries to increase
throughputs (Fig. 2), with overall refinery
utilization rates increasing during the quarter from 82.2% to 88.7%. The increases in
throughput varied widely across regions,
with the Midwest only increasing by 2% vs.
an increase of 12% in the Gulf Coast.
The consultants at Baker & OBrien
hold the opinion that, during the second
quarter of 2010, US refiners exhibited
much stronger performance. But they
wonder whether the industry can sustain
this performance for any extended period
depends upon strengthening demand for
transportation fuels. Supply-side challenges
in the medium term include currently high
gasoline and diesel inventory levels, additional capacity from new projects that are
near completion and announced plans to
restart idled refining capacity.
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
2
0
Jan-09
FIG. 1
0
East Coast
Apr-09
Jul-09
Oct-09
Jan-10
Apr-10
East Coast resid cracking vs. Gulf Coast coking margins

from January 2009April 2010.
Midwest
Gulf Coast
Rocky
West Coast
Mountains
Source: US DOE/EIA
FIG. 2
Crude and feedstock inputs to US refineries from 2007 to

2010 Q2.
I 15
HPIMPACT
available, and the conclusion was clear, said
Joel Trinkle, senior air quality consultant at
Barr and one of the authors of the study.
Crude shuffling under a nationwide LCFS
would substantially raise overall greenhouse
gas emissions.
The study found that an LCFS implemented in the US results in a notable
increase in greenhouse gas emissions due
to the displacement of Canadian crude
imports to the US and the rerouting of
crude imports and exports to accommodate
this displacement (Table 2).
Nearby Canadian crude sources
would be diverted to regions not affected
by an LCFS and replaced with supplies
from distant parts of the world, the
study says. While it is likely that an
LCFS would change the mix of crude
imports to the US, LCFS implemented
in the US is not expected to change overall trends in energy use and demand for
crude resources throughout the rest of the
world. A shift in US crude-supply preferences will simply cause redirection of
crude supplies elsewhere.
This analysis of the change in crudetransport-related emissions accompany-
ing implementation of an LCFS indicates

that the net effect will be a doubling of
GHG emissions associated with changes
in crude-transport patterns. It indicates
an increase in global GHG emissions by
7.1 million to 19.0 million metric tons per
year, depending on the extent of resulting
Canadian crude displacement (Fig. 3).
Canada is currently the largest supplier
of petroleum imported into the US, but
other nations are looking to the Canadian
oil sands as a potential energy source. China
alone has already invested more than $6
billion in Canadian oil sands projects as it
continues to rapidly increase its presence in
overseas energy production.
By denying the American people access
to oil from our friendly neighbor Canada,
a low-carbon fuel standard would raise fuel
costs and wipe out millions of American
jobs, said NPRA President Charles T.
Drevna. Now this latest study shows that
a nationwide LCFS wont reduce overall
global GHG emissionsit will actually
raise them. These findings simply reinforce
NPRAs long-held belief that a federal lowcarbon fuel standard is a policy of all pain
and no gain.
TABLE 2. Total transport GHG emissions under LCFS examined in detail

Metric tons CO2-e total
per day (assumes tanker
transportone way)
Metric tons CO2-e total per day

(assumes tanker transport
roundtrip/deadhead)
All Canadian imports to US displaced
35,160
40,519
All Canadian imports to US Midwest II displaced
16,651
19,189
All Canadian imports to US displaced
76,478
92,507
All Canadian imports to US Midwest displaced
36,218
43,809
Scenario
Base case
Crude shuffle case
Metric tons CO2-e/bbl
2.5E-02
2.0E-02
1.5E-02
1.0E-02
0.5E-03
0.0E-03
FIG. 3
16
One way Round-tripdeadhead

tanker
tanker
transport
transport
Thousand metric tons CO2-e/day
LCFS GHG impacts: Base case vs. crude shufe

GHG emissions per barrel
Total GHG emissions per day
100
Base case
Crude shufe
80
60
40
Additional concerns regarding American access to Canadian oil sands resources

have surfaced following a recent US State
Department decision regarding a proposed
pipeline to transport Canadian crude
to refineries in the Gulf Coast region.
The decision will allow federal agencies
an additional 90 days to comment on
TransCanadas proposed Keystone XL project, pending the State Departments release
of a final environmental impact statement.
The proposed pipeline expansion would
more than double the amount of Canadian
crude imported to the US.
Several regional and state LCFS initiatives are currently underway, including
a statewide LCFS program in California
established as part of the states AB 32 climate law, and proponents of a federal LCFS
continue to seek its enactment.
A federal LCFS provision was included
in the 2008 Lieberman-Warner climatechange bill that was defeated in the Senate.
The 2009 Waxman-Markey climate-change
bill also contained an LCFS provision,
although it was removed before the bill was
passed by the House.
Two other recent studies cast additional
doubt on the efficacy of an LCFS. A June
2010 report by Charles River Associates
found that a nationwide LCFS implemented
in 2015 would result by 2025 in: the loss
of between 2.3 million and 4.5 million US
jobs; an increase of up to 170% in the price
of gasoline and diesel fuel; and a 23%
decrease in the US gross domestic product.
The other report, by the Canadian
Energy Research Institute, issued in October 2009, examined the impacts of developing Canadian oil sands on the US economy.
It found that such development (which
would be threatened by the implementation
of a nationwide LCFS in the US) would
result in an estimated 343,000 new US jobs
between 2011 and 2015, and that US output of goods and services would increase
by an average of $62 billion per year from
2009 through 2025.
$8.4 billion Chinese pump

market by 2015
20
0
All US
All Midwest
Canadian
Canadian
crude
crude
imports
imports
displaced
displaced
One way
tanker transport
LCFS GHG impacts: Base case vs. crude shuffle.
I SEPTEMBER 2010 HYDROCARBON PROCESSING
All Midwest
All US
Canadian
Canadian
crude
crude
imports
imports
displaced
displaced
Round-trip-deadhead
tanker transport
McIlvaine is predicting that China will

account for 21% of the $40 billion 2015
world market for industrial pumps. China is
completing a five year plan which is adding
15,000 million gallons daily of municipal
sewage treatment. Also of note is that China
now has twice the big power plant scrubbers
as does the US. These scrubbers each need
Our vision for clean conversion.

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HPIMPACT
up to 400,000 gpm of abrasive slurry. China
is building more new coal plants than the
US or all of Europe combined.
BP to pay $50.6 million

for Texas City explosion
The US Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that BP Products North
America Inc. will pay a full penalty of $50.6
million stemming from the 2005 explosion
at its Texas City, Texas, refinery that killed
15 workers and injured 170 others. The
agreement resolves failure-to-abate citations
issued after a 2009 follow-up investigation.
In addition to paying the record fine, BP has
agreed to take immediate steps to protect
those now working at the refinery, allocating
a minimum of $500 million to that effort.
This agreement achieves our goal
of protecting workers at the refinery and
ensuring that critical safety upgrades are
made as quickly as possible, said Secretary
of Labor Hilda L. Solis. The size of the
penalty rightly reflects BPs disregard for
workplace safety and shows that we will
enforce the law so workers can return home
safe at the end of their day.
Under the agreement, BP immediately
will begin performing safety reviews of
the refinery equipment according to set
schedules and make permanent corrections.
The agreement also identifies many items
in need of immediate attention; the company has agreed to address those concerns
quickly and to hire independent experts to
monitor its efforts.
Additionally, the agreement provides
an unprecedented level of oversight of BPs
safety program including regular meetings
with OSHA, frequent site inspections and
the submission of quarterly reports for the
agencys review. Finally, in a step toward
workplace safety corporate-wide, BP agrees to
establish a liaison between its North American and London boards of directors and
OSHA, which will allow the agency to raise
compliance problems at the highest level.
Safer conditions at this refinery should
result from this arrangement, which goes
far beyond what can normally be achieved
through abatement of problems identified
in citations, said Assistant Secretary of
Labor for OSHA David Michaels. Make
no mistake, OSHA will be watching to
ensure that BP complies with the agreement
and safeguards its workers.
In September 2005, OSHA cited BP
for a then-record $21 million as a result of
the fatal explosion at its Texas City refinery

in March of that year. Upon issuance of
the citations, the parties entered into an
agreement that required the company to
identify and to correct deficiencies. In a
follow-up investigation in 2009, OSHA
found that although the company made
many changes related to safety, it failed to
live up to several extremely important terms
of that agreement. As a result, OSHA cited
BP for failure to abate violations with
penalties totaling a record $50.6 million

that BP now has agreed to pay.
During that same 2009 investigation
at the Texas City refinery, OSHA also
identified 439 new willful violations and
assessed more than $30 million in penalties. Litigation before the Occupational
Safety and Health Review Commission
regarding those violations and penalties
is ongoing and is not impacted by todays
settlement. HP
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19
rening your prot
UOP helps you exceed your goals with innovative technology,

catalysts and optimization solutions specically designed to
meet your needs.
UOP hydroprocessing solutions and optimization services are designed to help
you maximize your return on investment and grow your business. As regional
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HPIN CONSTRUCTION
North America
AdvanceBio Systems LLC has a contract with the US Department of Energys
National Renewable Energy Laboratory in
Golden, Colorado, to provide a biomass
pretreatment reactor system for its integrated biorefinery research facility. The
equipment will be used for research, development, demonstration and deployment
in support of national transportation fuel
diversification objectives, specifically those
associated with performing the advanced
technologies that make fuel ethanol from
cellulosic biomass cost-competitive.
Xebec Adsorption Inc. has signed a significant contract to build a complete biogas
upgrading plant for Terasen Gas in western Canada. The plant will be installed at a
landfill site in British Columbia to upgrade
biogas to biomethane which will then be
injected into the utilitys natural gas grid for
residential uses such as home heating and
cooking. The biogas plant features the latest generation of Xebecs proprietary rapidcycle pressure swing adsorption technology.
Commissioning and startup is expected to
take place in early 2011.
ProSep has $2 million contract to provide process engineering and specialized
internals for crude separation. This contract was awarded through a commercial
alliance with Thermo Design and will
be installed at a super major oil and gas
producers steam-assisted gravity drainage
facility located in the oil sands of Alberta,
Canada. The crude separation equipment
will be built using ProSeps free water
knock-out and treater vessel designs and
internals, allowing for efficient separation
of crude, natural gas, water and solids from
the production stream.
Syntroleum Corp.s new Dynamic
Fuels plant that will produce high quality
renewable fuels from animal fats and greases
is mechanically complete, and work is now
underway to prepare for the start of operations. The prime contractor on the project
in Geismar, Louisiana, achieved mechanical
completion in July and turned the entire
plant over to Dynamic Fuels LLC, a joint
venture of Syntroleum and Tyson Foods.
The commissioning activities in progress

include flushing of all lines, verifying operation of the control system and installation
of catalysts and absorbents. Dynamic Fuels
currently expects to begin fuel production
and ramp up of production rates during the
third quarter of 2010.
South America
Foster Wheeler AGs Global Engineering and Construction Group has
an owners engineer contract for a new
LNG receiving terminal to be built in
Montevideo, in the region of Ro de la
Plata, Uruguay. The contract was awarded
by Uruguays state-owned oil company,
Administracin Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland (ANCAP). Foster Wheelers scope of work includes technical assistance through the initial phases
of the development of the project, conceptual design of the terminal, and development of the invitation to bid for the role
of owner and operator of the terminal.
The owner/operator role will include the
responsibility for, among other elements,
the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract. Foster Wheelers
TREND ANALYSIS FORECASTING
scope also includes the supervision of the
Hydrocarbon Processing maintains an
EPC
contractor from detailed engineering
extensive database of historical HPI projthrough
to startup.Current project activity
ect information.
is published three times a year in the HPI
Boxscore. When a project
is completed, it is removed from current
The
Shaw
Group
Inc. has a contract
listings and retained in a database. The
with
Dogu
Akdeniz
Petrokimya
database is a 35-year compilation ve
ofRafinprojby type,
operating
licen-to
eriects
Sanayi
ve Ticaret
A.S.company,
(DAPRAS)
sor, engineering/constructor,
etc.
provide
project managementlocation,
consultancy
Many companies use the historical data for
(PMC)
services for a grassroots refinery in
trending or sales forecasting.
Construction
Europe
Yumurtalk
located in the Ceyhan region of
The historical information is available in
Turkey
on the eastern
Mediterranean
and can becoast.
comma-delimited
or Excel
cusShaw
also
tom will
sorted
toconduct
suit yourpre-front-end
needs. The costengiof
the sortdesign
depends
on the size and
complexneering
development
for 14
process
ity of the sort you request and whether a
units,
utilities, offsites and marine facilities
customized program must be written. You
atcan
thefocus
site. on a narrow request such as the
The planned
facility,type
theofAdana
Dogu
history
of a particular
project
or
you canrefinery,
obtain the
35-year to
Boxscore
Akdeniz
willentire
be designed
process
database, or portions thereof.
212,000
bpd of crude oil. The crude will
Simply
clear description
of thevarious
data
flow
intosend
theaCeyhan
region from
you need and you will receive a prompt
sources,
including
Iraq, Russia and the Cascost quotation.
Contact:
pian areas, and will
target the domestic and
Lee Nichols
regional exportP.markets.
O. Box 2608
Houston, Texas, 77252-2608
Fax: 713-525-4626
INEOS Oxide
says it will build
e-mail: Lee.Nichols@gulfpub.com.
and
operate a new 1-million-tpy ethylene ter-
minal, to be constructed at its Zwijndrecht

facilities in Belgium. Operation of the new
deep-sea terminal is expected to start in
2012. Once completed, the new terminal
will be connected directly to INEOS ethylene consuming facilities in the Antwerp/
Rotterdam area and into Europe via the
ARG ethylene pipeline linking Antwerp to
Cologne and the Ruhr industrial areas.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has
a contract with The Dow Chemical Co.
to provide engineering and construction
management services for the expansion
of Dows facility in Fombio, Italy. The
expansion will accommodate the manufacturing of uniform particle size (UPS)
copolymers to be used in ion exchange
resins. The scope of the contract includes
a range of services from detailed design
and construction management activities,
up to mechanical completion. The project
includes the installation of new process
equipment. The new equipment covers
two existing buildings and includes an
upgrade and tie-in of existing utilities and
a new control system.
ConocoPhillips, Rompetrol Rafinare
S.A. and Rominserv S.A. have a license
TREND ANALYSIS FORECASTING
Hydrocarbon Processing maintains an
extensive database of historical HPI project information. The Boxscore Database is a
35-year compilation of projects by type, operating company, licensor, engineering/constructor, location, etc. Many companies use the historical data for trending or sales forecasting.
The historical information is available in
comma-delimited or Excel and can be custom sorted to suit your needs. The cost of the
sort depends on the size and complexity of
the sort you request and whether a customized program must be written. You can focus
on a narrow request such as the history of a
particular type of project or you can obtain
the entire 35-year Boxscore database, or portions thereof.
Simply send a clear description of the data
you need and you will receive a prompt cost
quotation. Contact:
Lee Nichols
P. O. Box 2608, Houston, Texas, 77252-2608
Fax: 713-525-4626
e-mail: Lee.Nichols@gulfpub.com
I 21
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
Garyville refinery major expansion facts
Completed on schedule during the fourth quarter of 2009,
the Garyville Major Expansion (GME) units are fully integrated
with the original refinery operations. With the expansion, the
refinerys rated capacity increased from 256,000 bpd to 436,000
bpd, making it among the largest refineries in the US. The
180,000-bpd expansion will provide the equivalent of 7.5 million gallons of clean transportation fuels each day; the initial cost
for GME was an estimated $3.2 billion.
In addition to the installation of a new crude and vacuum
distillation units, expansion plans called for the construction
of infrastructure and other process units: 44,000-bpd delayed
coker, 70,000-bpd heavy gasoil hydrocracker, 65,000-bpd
reformer and a 47,000-bpd kerosine hydrotreater. The new
facilities incorporate the latest safety and environmental control
technologies at the refinery, which is the first and only refinery

to be included in the US Environment Protection Agencys elite
National Environmental Performance Track (NEPT). Marathons Garyville refinery was also one of the first refineries to
achieve this distinction.
The construction project was one of the largest private sector projects underway in the US. Some of the most important
project partners existed offsitecitizens in the local parish and
in the state of Louisiana who trusted Marathon Oil and endorsed
this project. Because of this successful partnership, Marathon
was able to:
Provide over 270 full-time employees and contract
positions
Award $1.7 billion in contracts to local Louisiana
companies
Contribute approximately $60 million during the
construction project in State and parish tax revenues
Provide an economic boost to the community, in the wake
of natural disasters and a worldwide economic recession.
During construction, the GME required approximately 2,000
construction workers, with over 9,100 workers at peak periods.
In total, more than 40,000 workers participated in this expansion project.
More than 31 million construction hours were logged.
With an OSHA Recordable Incident Rate of 0.27 compared
to OSHAs published average of 4.7 for general construction
projects. The GME used enough steel to build over 15,000 cars,
created 10 miles of new paved roads, and installed over 1,000
miles of wire and cable. This was truly a global effort with 1,300
engineers from the Philippines, Mexico, India and the US all
working tirelessly to develop over 60,000 blueprints.
Around the world, and around the clock, major equipment
was manufactured in 12 countries. Over 50 barges traveled tens
of thousands of miles to deliver this hardware to the site. To
preserve integrity of the Mississippi River dike while delivering
some equipment, a $3.5 million temporary bridge was constructed. Once the hardware was onsite, the team safely executed
over 100 critical equipment lifts, some as large as 850 tons.
Note: Marathon Oil Corp. is an integrated energy company
focused on value creation through the responsible development

of liquid hydrocarbon and natural gas resources to help meet the
worlds energy needs. It is
4th largest US-based integrated oil and gas company
5th largest US petroleum refiner
Headquartered in Houston, Texas. HP
TABLE 1. GME overview timeline
2006
December Detailed engineering

effective start
22
2007
2008
2009
March Contractor to begin clearing site
January Commence steel erection
March Complete engineering effort
May Begin hauling fill
March Commence piping erection
May Begin commissioning activities
July Commence filling
July Commence construction of

marine facilities
October Mechanical completion
September Commence foundations
December Critical vessels delivered

to site
December Startup
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HPIN CONSTRUCTION
and technical services agreement for the
revamp of the existing delayed coker
unit at Rompetrols Petromidia refinery in Romania. The revamp will utilize
ConocoPhillips delayed coking technology to further improve the reliability, the
environmental performance and the operability of the existing 22,000-bpd unit.
Construction of Rompetrol Rafinares
Petromidia refinery delayed coker revamp
is expected to be completed in 2012.
Foster Wheeler AGs Global Engineering and Construction Group has a

framework agreement, awarded by Statoil,
acting on behalf of Gassco AS as operator
for the Gassled joint venture, for front-end
engineering design (FEED) services valid
through 2013 to support the development
of the Krst oil and gas processing plant
in Norway. Statoil is modifying, on behalf
of Gassco, the processing plant to enable
it to process new light oil/condensate pro-
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duction coming onstream in the Norwegian North Sea.
Middle East
Flowserve Corp. has received final
approval from Saudi Aramco on a master purchase agreement to supply pumps,
valves and services for the Yanbu export
refinery project (YERP). Under the terms
of the corporate procurement agreement
(CPA) established between Flowserve
and Saudi Aramco, Saudi Aramco plans
to make significant future purchases of
Flowserve pumps, valves and value-added
services. Flowserve expects to begin booking orders under the CPA later in 2010.
Under construction on the west coast
of Saudi Arabia, YERP will be a 400,000bpd, full-conversion refinery being built
in Yanbu Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.
The refinery is designed to process Arabian
heavy crude and will produce high-quality,
ultra-low-sulfur refined products, including
gasoline and diesel fuel. The new refinery is
expected to be operational in 2014.
Tecnimont SpA has a contract with
Kuwait National Petroleum Co. to
develop a treatment plant for acid gas and
condensates. The project, scheduled for
completion by 2014, will be executed a on
turnkey basis and has a value of approximately $400 million. The contract includes
the provision of engineering services, purchase materials, construction and commissioning of the plant for a new train of
process and treatment systems including
softening gas and condensates (for the new
treatment plant acidgas), as well as the
revamping of the existing gas treatment
systems ( for the current extraction system
of acid gases) for the refinery in the Mina
Al-Ahmadi section of Kuwait City. The
new plant will have a processing capacity of
approximately 78,000 bpd of condensate.
The Shaw Group Inc. has a contract with Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Co.
(Takreer) to provide project management
consultancy services during the engineering, procurement and construction phase
of a base oils plant at the Ruwais Industrial Complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The
planned facility will be capable of producing 500,000 tpy of Group III base oils, as
well as 100,000 tpy of Group II base oils,
and is scheduled to begin commercial production in 2013. Group II and III base oils
are used for blending top-tier lubricants
for car engines. HP
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HPI CONSTRUCTION BOXSCORE UPDATE

Company
City
Plant Site
Project
Capacity Unit Cost Status Yr Cmpl Licensor
Northeast Biodiesel
Greenfield
Greenfield
Biodiesel
3.5 MMgal
2.5
U 2011
Spectra Energy
Dawson Creek
Dawson Creek
Gas Processing
200 MMcfd 1500
P 2013
Tierra Del Fuego P&C

ENAP
ENAP
Reficar
Reficar
Reficar
Tierra del Fuego

Pemuco
Pemuco
Cartagena
Cartagena
Cartagena
Tierra del Fuego

Pemuco
Pemuco
Cartagena Refinery
Cartagena Refinery
Cartagena Refinery
Ammonia
LNG Regasification
LNG Storage (4)
Treater LPG
Treater, Jet Fuel
Treater, Spent Caustic
1.5 Mtpy
600 Mm3/d
200 m3
None
None
None
F
P
P
E
E
E
2012
2012
2012
2011
2011
2011
Total
Total
Total
Georgian Oil and Gas Corp
Sud Chemie
Gate Terminal BV
ConocoPhillips/Rompetrol Rafinare
NIS-Refinery Novi Sad
Gonfreville
Gonfreville
Gonfreville
Undisclosed
Straubing
Rotterdam
Navodari
Pancevo
Gonfreville
Gonfreville
Gonfreville
GOGC Refinery
Straubing
Maasvlakte
Navodari
Pancevo
Distillation, Crude
Hydrocracker
Hydrotreater, Gas Oil
Refinery
Bio-ethanol
Compressor
Coker, Delayed
Hydrogen Generation
50
100
E
E
E
S
U
E
E
U
2013
2013
2013
2014
2011
2011
2012
2011
Anning
Nanjing
Ningbo
Ningbo
Tianjin
Yantai
Yantai
Ennore
Jurong
Taichung
Taichung
Kunming Oil Refinery

Nanjing Chemical Ind Park
Ningbo
Ningbo
Tianjin
Yantai
Yantai
Ennore
Jurong
Taichung
Taichung
Refinery
Phenol
ADI (aliphatic isocyanate)
Polyethers
Dehydrogenation, Propane
ADI (aliphatic isocyanate)
MDI
LNG Terminal
Terminal
Coke Oven Plant
Gas Treating
EX
200 Mbpd 3400

400 Mtpy
None
None
600 Mm-tpy
None
600 Mtpy
2.5 MMtpy
64
61 Mm3
350
3 Mtpd
146 Mm3
E
S
S
S
U
S
C
P
E
F
F
2012
2013
2013
2013
2012
2013
2010
2015
2011
2012
2012
Eshidiya
Eshidiya
Mina Al Ahmadi
Mina Al Ahmadi
Al Jubail
Jubail
Eshidiya
Eshidiya
Mina Al Ahmadi
Mina Al Ahmadi
Al Jubail
Jubail 2 Ind Zone
Phosphoric Acid
Sulfuric Acid
Acid Gas Removal
Acid Gas Removal (2)
Caustic Soda
Acrylic acid\acrylates
500 Mtpy
4.5 Mtpy
230 MMcfd
None
245 Mtpy
200 Mtpy
E
E
E
E
U
S
2012
2012
2014
2014
2011
2014
Engineering
Constructor
UNITED STATES
Massachusetts
CANADA
British Columbia
LATIN AMERICA
Argentina
Chile
Chile
Colombia
Colombia
Colombia
KBR
Merichem
Merichem
Merichem
EUROPE
France
France
France
Georgia
Germany
Netherlands
Romania
Serbia
EX
EX
RE
205 Mbpd
48 Mbpd
364 Mbpd
None
2 Mt
None
22 Mbpd
40 tpd
950
950
950
36
FW
Technip
Technip
Techint
Haldor Topse
Burckhardt Compression|TS LNG BV

Rominserv
Jacobs |Heurtey
TS LNG BV
Rominserv
Heurtey
ASIA/PACIFIC
China
China
China
China
China
China
China
India
Singapore
Taiwan
Taiwan
CNPC
INEOS Phenol/Sinopec YPC
Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes
Tianjin Bohua
IOCL/TIDCO JV
Stolthaven Singapore Pte
Dragon Steel Corp
Dragon Steel Corp
CB&I
Chiyoda Singapore Pte

Uhde
Uhde
MIDDLE EAST
Jordan
Jordan
Kuwait
Kuwait
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
Jordan India Fertilizer Co

Jordan India Fertilizer Co
KNPC
KNPC
Arabian Chlorovinyl Company
Dammam 7 Petrochemicals
RE
625
625
400
400
Uhde
Aker Solutions
SNC-Lavalin
SNC-Lavalin
Tecnimont
Tecnimont
Daelim |Jacobs
Aker Solutions
Daelim
See http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/bxsymbols for licensor, engineering and construction companies abbreviations,

along with the complete update of the HPI Construction Boxscore.
BOXSCORE DATABASE
ONLINE
THE GLOBAL SOURCE

FOR TRACKING HPI
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
For more than 50 years, Hydrocarbon Processing
magazine remains the only source that collects and
maintains data specifically for the HPI community,
publishing up-to-the-minute construction projects
from around the globe with our online product,
Boxscore Database. Updated weekly, our database
helps engineers, contractors and marketing personnel
identify active HPI construction projects around the
world to:
Generate leads
Market research
Track trend analysis
And, decide future budget planning.
Now, weve made our best product even better!
Enhancements include:
Exporting your search results to Excel so you can
compile your research
Delivering the latest updated projects directly to
your inbox each week
Designing customized construction reports for your
company using our 50 years of archived projects.
For a Free 2 -Week Trial, contact Lee Nichols at
+1 (713) 525-4626, Lee.Nichols@GulfPub.com,
or visit www.ConstructionBoxscore.com
26
MERICHEM COMPANY
Problem: Sour Gas

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REFINING DEVELOPMENTS
SPECIALREPORT
20 questions: Identify probable

causes for high FCC catalyst loss
Here is a list to troubleshoot your catalyst problems
P. K. NICCUM, KBR Technology, Houston, Texas
luid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU)

performance and reliability are the
primary drivers of refinery economics. Containment of the finely powdered
catalyst within the circulating FCC unit
inventory is a critical element of effective
FCC operation. Identifying the probable
causes of high catalyst losses from a FCCU
remains one of the more important yet esoteric challenges that can be faced by FCC
operators and engineers. The answers to
20 key questions provide a basis to list the
more likely causes of high losses. Armed
with this list, a refiner can develop costeffective mitigation strategies to relieve, if
not solve, the problem online or be prepared to confirm and correct the situation
during the next unit shutdown. This can
prevent chasing unlikely solutions, while
the real culprits escape detection.
Workhorse unit of the refinery.
FCCU performance and reliability do

impact refinery economics. Containment
and minimizing losses of the finely powdered catalyst within the circulating FCC
unit inventory is critical. It is remarkable
that two-stage reactor and regenerator
cyclones, as depicted in Fig. 1, typically
capture more than 99.997% of the catalyst
dust entrained with the product and flue
gas vapors. Any significant loss in the ability to contain the catalyst will have serious
negative economic consequences, such as:
Catalyst contamination of slurry-oil
product reducing its value in the market.
Severe erosion of slurry-circulation
pumps
Required cleaning of heavy oil tanks
due to catalyst buildup
Loss of compliance with permitted
atmospheric particulate emissions
Premature failure of flue gas power
recovery turbines
Loss of catalyst fluidity causes irregu-
lar or unstable catalyst circulation leading

to lower FCC unit throughput and less
desirable product yields
Several fold increase in fresh catalyst
makeup costs.
After a refinery notices an increase in
FCC catalyst loss rate, it may prematurely
conclude that the high loss rate must be
due to mechanical problems that can only
be cured by a unit shutdown and repairs.
This scenario can then deepen when no
obvious mechanical damage is found during the shutdown and it becomes apparent
that the root cause of the losses can only be
diagnosed by gathering clues and studying
unit operations while the FCC unit is in
service. Indeed, the worst thing that can be
found during the shutdown and inspection
could be finding nothing at all.
There are three categories of questions
that can be asked when gathering clues to
determine the most likely cause of high
FCC catalyst losses:
Questions with answers at your fingertips
Questions that should have readily
available answers
Questions whose answers require
data or analysis beyond that considered
routine.
These listed groupings can provide an
order for an investigation, starting with
the questions where answers are most easily available, and working down the list
toward those requiring more time and
costs to answer.
Another complicating factor in FCC
catalyst loss investigations, like many troubleshooting exercises, is that some of the
supposed evidence may be corrupt or just
plain wrong. It is up to the investigator to
look for what is being indicated by the preponderance of the evidence, and not be
drawn into making premature conclusions
based on limited data.
First things first: Q1Q7. If the
increased rate of catalyst loss is not severe, the

first indication may be the report of higher
than expected fresh catalyst additions needed
to maintain the unit catalyst inventory. The
FIG. 1
Cut-away view of FCC unit.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING SEPTEMBER 2010 29
SPECIALREPORT
first order of business is to ascertain which

side of the reactor-regenerator system, if not
both sides, is responsible for the increased
catalyst loss, as listed in Table 1.
Q1: What is the relative rate of catalyst
loss in the fractionator bottoms compared
to normal? Calculating the catalyst loss rate
through the reactor cyclones is normally a
straightforward multiplication of the slurry
oil production rate times the concentration
of ash in the slurry oil product.
Q2: What is the relative stack opacity or rate of fines catch compared to
normal? An increase in regenerator stack
opacity generally indicates an increase in
stack catalyst emissions. It is noted that
particles with diameters greater than a few
microns generally have an increasingly
smaller impact on opacity while those with
diameters in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 microns
have the larger impact on opacity.1,2 The
presence of third-stage separators, electrostatic precipitators and flue gas scrubbers
can obscure the impact of increased regenerator catalyst losses on stack opacity.3
A concept referred to throughout this
article is What is normal? Unfortunately,
in many cases, this normal data may be
difficult to obtain as the incentive to document problems often gets more priority
than collecting data concerning what things

look like when all is well.
It is also noteworthy if either the reactor
or regenerator loss rate has decreased while
losses from the other vessel have increased.
With a constant rate of fines input (fresh
catalyst) and fines generation by attrition,
anything that reduces the fines losses from
one vessel will increase the fines concentration in the unit and result in a corresponding
increase in fines flowrate from the other vessel. For instance, commissioning a catalyst
slurry oil filter with recycle back to the riser
will increase the loss rate from a regenerator.
The equilibrium catalyst data sheet
provides a long-term accounting of many
important equilibrium catalyst properties
that are useful in diagnosing catalyst loss
issues. Chief among these is the particle
size data.4
Q3: What is the relative amount of
equilibrium catalyst in the 040 micron
range? An equilibrium catalyst data sheet
provides a long-term accounting of many
important equilibrium catalyst properties
that are useful in diagnosing catalyst loss
issues. Chief among these is the particle
size data.4 The relative amount of fines in
the catalyst inventory is often indicated
by the percentage of the catalyst particles
TABLE. 1. Questions with answers at your finertips

1. What is the relative rate of catalyst loss in the fractionator bottoms compared to normal?
2. What is the relative stack opacity or rate of fines catch compared to normal?
3. What is the relative amount of equilibrium catalyst in the 040 micron range?
4. What is the average equilibrium catalyst APS compared to normal?
5. How does the volumetric flowrate of reactor product vapors through the cyclones compare to normal?
6. How does the volumetric flowrate of air or flue gas through the regenerator compare to normal?
7. How does the catalyst circulation rate compare to normal?
TABLE 2. Questions needing more investigation to resolve

8. What is the relative rate of catalyst loss from the regenerator compared to normal?
9. How does the fresh catalyst makeup rate compare to normal?
10. Are the losses steady or intermittent?
11. When did you last change the type of fresh FCC catalyst?
having a diameter less than 40 microns.

This parameter provides an indication of
whether or not the increased loss rate is due
to cyclone malfunction versus an increase
in fines generation due to increased attrition or a higher loading of fines with the
fresh catalyst.
Q4: What is the average equilibrium
catalyst APS compared to normal? The
change in average particle size (APS) of
the equilibrium catalyst generally moves
opposite the fraction of fines in the catalyst. However, APS can also increase over
time due to decreasing equilibrium catalyst
withdrawals that traps the largest particles
within the circulating catalyst inventory.
Q5: How does the volumetric flowrate
of reactor product vapors through the
cyclones compare to normal? The volumetric rate of vapor flowing through the
reactor cyclones can be estimated based on
the reactor operating temperature and pressure together with the hydrocarbon product
rate, reactor and stripper steam rates, and
an estimate of the hydrocarbon product
molecular weight. The rates and molecular
weights of any hydrocarbon recycle streams
should also be included in the calculations.
Q6: How does the volumetric flowrate
of air or flue gas through the regenerator
compare to normal? The regenerator air
rate together with the regenerator operating
temperature and pressure provide an indication of the volumetric vapor traffic through
the regenerator and its cyclone system. Even
better accuracy can be obtained by calculating the molar rate of the flue gas based on
the air rate and flue gas composition.
Q7: How does the catalyst circulation rate compare to normal? The most
common method of estimating the catalyst
circulation rate is based on the regenerator
air rate, flue gas analysis, and reactor and
regenerator temperatures. For the purpose
of catalyst loss troubleshooting, the consistency of method is more important than
the absolute accuracy of the method.
12. When did the loss increase first occur?
The next level. As listed in Table 2:
13. How long did it take for the losses to increase from a normal rate?
Q8: What is the relative rate of catalyst loss from the regenerator compared
to normal? On the regenerator side, quantification of the catalyst loss rate is best
determined over a period of time by subtracting the reactor catalyst loss rate from
the catalyst addition rate. Careful attention
to changes in the unit and catalyst hopper
inventories over the same time period is
important for the catalyst balance.
Previously, the presence of particulate
capture devices downstream of the regen-
TABLE 3. More difficult to resolve questions on FCC operations

14. What is the relative angularity of the equilibrium catalyst?
15. What is the relative angularity of lost catalyst?
16. What is the relative APS of the catalyst in the reactor carryover?
17. What is the shape of the differential particle size curve of the catalyst in the reactor carryover?
18. What is the relative APS of the catalysts in the regenerator carryover?
19. What is the shape of the differential particle size curve of the catalysts in the regenerator carryover?
20. How does the cyclone system pressure drop compare to normal?
30
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Percent, %
SPECIALREPORT
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Typical PSD
Poor second-stage
cyclone performance
0
FIG. 2
Microscopic view of FCC catalyst.
erator may obscure the impact of increased

regenerator catalyst losses on stack opacity.
In these cases, the investigator can review the
catalyst catch rate in the post-regenerator flue
gas cleanup equipment. For instance, data on
the catch rate in a fourth-stage cyclone fines
hopper or in an electrostatic precipitator
(ESP) dust bins can provide more evidence
of increased regenerator catalyst loss.
Q9: How does the fresh catalyst
makeup rate compare to normal? Documentation of catalyst additions is important
for several reasons. Firstly, after accounting
for any changes in routine equilibrium catalyst withdrawal rates, increasing fresh catalyst additions to maintain unit inventory
corroborates other indications of increasing catalyst losses. Second, increasing the
fresh catalyst addition rate generally leads
to increased losses due to increased fines
input with the fresh catalyst and because
the newer catalyst may have surfaces that
are more easily abraded.5
Q10: Are the losses steady or intermittent? If the increased catalyst losses seem to
come and go with time, this is an indication that the problem may be more related
to operating conditions than mechanical
damage. For instance, the diplegs may be
operating close to a flooded condition,
where changes in gas rate or catalyst loading drastically affect the cyclone efficiency.
In a counter-example, if the increased loss
rate is due to a hole in a plenum or cyclone
outlet tube, then the losses are more likely
continuous and increasing.
Q11: When did you last change the
type of fresh FCC catalyst? If the type of
fresh catalyst has changed in a timeframe
that could coincide with the increased catalyst losses, the catalyst itself becomes suspect.
Similarly, the same is true if the fresh catalyst
receipts show significant physical property
changes, especially in terms of the fraction
of fines, density or Attrition Index.6
32
FIG. 3
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Particle size, microns
80
90
100
Reduced system efficiency.
Q12: When did the loss increase first

occur? It is also worthwhile to consider
the date when the increased catalyst losses
seemed to begin. Look for coincidences
with other significant events in the FCC
operation. For instance, did the time of the
increased loss rate correspond with a unit
turnaround or upset? Equipment damage is
more likely to occur during a startup, upset
or shutdown. Loss of restriction orifices
that can cause an attrition problem more
commonly occurs during a turnaround.
Were there other significant changes in the
operation corresponding to the time of the
increase in catalyst losses such as changes
in feedrate, combustion air rate, catalyst
circulation rate or feedstock quality?
Q13: How long did it take for the
losses to increase from a normal rate? If
the catalyst loss rate made a step change
from normal to a higher value, then this
generally indicates that the problem is not
an erosion induced hole somewhere in the
cyclone system; as the hole size will increase
gradually if erosion is to blame.
Harder-to-answer questions. As
shown in Table 3, these require sample capture and/or laboratory testing that would
be considered non-routine.
Q14: What is the relative angularity
of the equilibrium catalyst? As shown in
Fig. 2, looking at the sample of the equilibrium catalyst loss under a microscope can
be very revealing. If the sample contains
a lot of small, jagged or broken pieces, it
indicates an abnormally severe degree of
catalyst attrition.7
Q15: What is the relative angularity of lost catalyst? Generally speaking,
samples of catalyst lost from the reactor
are readily available from a sampling of
the slurry oil product or circulating slurry
oil. The slurry oil can be washed and filtered in a laboratory, and the captured
catalyst can be viewed under a microscope. If available, samples of catalyst

lost from the regenerator can be viewed
under a microscope. The microscope can
reveal whether the sample contains a high
concentration of small, jagged or broken
pieces indicating an abnormally severe
degree of catalyst attrition.
Q16: What is the relative APS of the
catalyst in the reactor carryover? Catalyst
taken from the slurry oil can be subjected
to the all important particle size analysis.
For a given rate of fines input and fines
generation within the unit, material balance considerations dictate that the APS
of the lost catalyst must increase as the loss
rate increases. The image from the microscope can corroborate the particle size
analysis by showing more than an expected
fraction of larger particles and even very
large particles that would never escape a
properly functioning cyclone system.
If the APS of the lost catalyst is smaller
than normal, and if the loss rate is higher
than normal, then that would indicate an
increased degree of fines input or increased
catalyst attrition.
Moderately increasing APS would
indicate some loss of cyclone efficiency;
if the loss rate is higher than normal or a
reduction in fines input or attrition if the
loss rate is less than normal.
Moderately increasing APS indicates
a reduction in fines input or attrition if the
loss rate is less than normal.
A large increase in APS indicates
a major cyclone malfunction or serious
damage.
Q17: What is the shape of the differential particle size curve of the catalyst
in the reactor carryover? The particle size
analysis of a loss sample can also be reported
as differential particle size distribution,
indicating the fraction of particles falling in
narrow size ranges. This is a different pre-
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10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Percent, %
Percent, %
SPECIALREPORT
Attrition
FIG. 4
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
90
Bi-modal distribution indicating an attrition problem.
What can be done to correct

an attrition problem online?
Locate and correct any missing

orifices or valve openings.

a plugged reactor cyclone
dipleg online?
Lower the stripper bed level to

unseal the diplegs.
Pressure bump the unit by
changing the vessel operating
pressure rapidly, say 4 psi in
15 seconds.
sentation than a cumulative particle size distribution displaying the weigh percentage of
particles having less than a given diameter.8
The shape of the differential particle size
distribution curve can be insightful:
If the curve has only a single broad
peak centered about a higher than normal
particle size, as shown in Fig. 3, this could
indicate a partial loss of cyclone efficiency
but not complete bypassing of solids.
A bimodal curve having a peak near
that considered normal, as well as a secondary peak at a lower than normal particle size
as shown in Fig. 4, may indicate a catalyst
attrition problem.
Some bypassing of material around
the cyclones altogether would occur with
a breached plenum chamber or a hole in
a secondary cyclone outlet tube, as shown
in Fig. 5. This would exhibit itself with a
bimodal curve having peaks near that considered normal, as well as a secondary peak
at a higher than normal particle size.
Q18: What is the relative APS of the
catalysts in the regenerator carryover?
Collecting a representative sample of catalyst
lost from the regenerator is less straightforward than the collection of fines from slurry
34
80
100
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Hole or crack in outlet

tube or plenum
FIG. 5
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Bi-modal distribution indicating cyclone bypass.
oil. Ideally, a dust sample can be collected

from the regenerator effluent, and the results
can be analyzed as previously discussed with
respect to catalyst separated from slurry oil.
If dust collection equipment exists downstream of the regenerator, such as a scrubber, ESP or TSS, the fines catch can also be
analyzed and used in the investigation.
Q19: What is the shape of the differential particle size curve of the catalysts
in the regenerator carryover? If a dust
sample from the regenerator effluent can
be obtained, the results can be analyzed as
previously discussed with respect to catalyst
separated from slurry oil.
Q20: How does the cyclone system
pressure drop compare to normal? Some
FCC units are instrumented with differential pressure measurements across the vessel disengaging space and the vapor outlet.
This provides an indication of the pressure drop through the cyclone system and
it will indicate whether there has been a
significant change in the catalyst or vapor
loadings of the cyclones.
Once answers to many of the 20 questions
are available, these answers can be analyzed
for fit with the characteristics of the problems
described below to establish the more likely
causes of the catalyst loss problem.
Possible FCC catalyst losses. More
common causes of high catalyst losses are:

Excessive attrition in a fluid bed. Catalyst attrition in a fluid bed is caused by
catalyst particles colliding at high velocity
with other particles or solid surfaces. The
high particle velocities in a fluid bed are
chiefly the result of particle acceleration
driven by high-velocity gas jets within the
fluid bed. The focus of an investigation into
the source of excessive catalyst attrition can
include looking for these problems:
Missing restriction orifices or open
orifice bypasses associated with pressure
taps, torch oil nozzles, and other vessel

connections intended to pass only a small
amount of gas, air or steam.
High-velocity gas jets can also emanate
from broken or eroded steam or air distributors where gas escapes without traveling
through a velocity reducing nozzle typically
used in the design of such distributors.
A high fines concentration in the lost
catalyst; high fines content in the catalyst
inventory; and splintered, broken and jagged
particles as viewed with a microscope, all are
indicative of a catalyst attrition problem.
Excessive reactor or regenerator dilute
phase attrition. Since there is little catalyst
in a dilute phase, by definition, high attrition rates in this region are likely associated with particle impacts on solid surfaces
within the cyclones, especially cyclones
with high exit velocities.
The nature of the solid surfaces can
also play a role in catalyst attrition with
badly damaged refractory or unusually
rough refractory surfaces providing more
opportunity for abrupt impact of the travelling catalyst.
Plugged reactor secondary cyclone
dipleg. Secondary cyclone dipleg plugging
is much more common than the plugging
of primary cyclone diplegs. The reason is
smaller diameter diplegs. The plugging of
a second-stage reactor cyclone dipleg often
calls for an immediate shutdown of the
FCC unit due to high catalyst losses.
Coke can form in a reactor cyclone
and then fall into the dipleg, causing a full
or partial plug.9
If feed is introduced into the reactor before the internals are sufficiently
heated, such as can happen during startup
or upsets, then large amounts of coke can
appear wherever feedstock can condense.
Some cyclones have check valves on
the dipleg. Anything that can cause the
flapper to stick or be held closed, includ-
ing design problems or hinge coking, will
provide an effectively plugged dipleg.
Failures of the cyclone hexsteel
attachments to the cyclone interior shell
can release sheets of hexsteel and refractory sufficiently large enough to plug even
large diameter diplegs. Such failures can be
attributed to poor hexsteel design or installation as well as coke induced refractory
anchor failure.10
Plugged reactor primary cyclone
dipleg. The causes of primary reactor
cyclone dipleg plugging are the same as
those given for the plugging of reactor
secondary cyclone diplegs. Plugging of
reactor primary cyclone diplegs is relatively uncommon due to the large dipleg
diameters normally associated with primary
cyclones. If a primary cyclone dipleg does
become plugged, and if the vapor outlet is
associated with a secondary cyclone, as is
common, the catalyst loading to the secondary cyclone may exceed the capacity of
the secondary cyclone dipleg. In this event,
the secondary cyclone will become flooded
with catalyst, and full-range catalyst will
begin flowing at a high rate from the secondary cyclone outlet.
Plugged regenerator cyclone diplegs.
Plugging of regenerator cyclone diplegs has
similar causes and effects to those encountered with respect to the reactor cyclones,
but plugging of regenerator cyclone diplegs
is less common. In the regenerator, the coking phenomenon that is at the root of most
reactor cyclone plugging problems does not
exist. There are, however, some situations
peculiar to the regenerator cyclones:
A phenomenon unique to regenerator
secondary cyclone diplegs is that the almost
extinct use of spray water in the regenerator
primary cyclone outlets can lead to the formation of wet catalyst in dipleg, preventing
catalyst flow.
Regenerator upsets, such as a sudden drop in pressure or the activation of
emergency spent catalyst riser lift steam,
can precipitate a large catalyst carryover
that may persist even after the disturbance
is gone. This has been explained by noting that defluidized solids will drain from
a cyclone much more slowly than fluidized
solids. So much catalyst can be thrown into
the cyclones that it defluidizes before it can
get into the dipleg. Then, even at normal
entrainment, the catalyst will not drain out
of the cyclone fast enough to eliminate the
packed catalyst level in the cyclone.11
Holes in plenum or second-stage
cyclone outlet tube. A hole in a plenum
or secondary cyclone outlet tube, as shown
in Fig. 6 provides a direct path for catalyst escape, bypassing the cyclone system,
and allowing even large catalyst particles to
show up in the main fractionator bottoms
or flue gas system. Even a 10-mm hole can
increase the catalyst losses several fold. In
time, the passage of high velocity catalyst
through the hole will increase the hole size,
and the catalyst losses will intensify.
Holes often start as cracks or tears in
the metal; in time, they grow due to the
erosive effects of the catalyst flow. If the
catalyst loss problem is not yet severe, a
unit inspection may have difficulty finding
the cracks, as the cracks may tend to close
as the unit cools.
The impact of a hole in the outlet tube or plenum of a reactor with riser
cyclones will be less than with an inertial
riser termination device because there will
be little catalyst in the dilute phase that can
be sucked into the hole.
Holes in a second-stage cyclone. Holes
in a secondary cyclone (or a single stage
cyclone), including holes in the cyclone
dipleg, will have serious consequences on
catalyst containment. The rate of performance deterioration will be controlled by
how quickly the hole enlarges due to erosion. Holes in the dipleg allow the vapor
flow into and up the dipleg. This can
restrict the ability of catalyst to flow down
the dipleg. If the hole is in the cyclone body,
FIG. 6
Two-stage regenerator cyclone

system.
SPECIALREPORT
then the incoming vapor jet can disrupt the

desired vapor profile in the cyclone, damaging the collection efficiency.
Holes in first-stage cyclone. Holes in
primary cyclones are not as common due
to the lower velocities in primary cyclones.
The catalyst loss impact from a hole in a
primary cyclone will be much less severe
compared to a hole in a secondary cyclone,
because the secondary cyclone will catch
almost all the catalyst lost from the primary
cyclone. In fact, it may be difficult to even
notice the increased catalyst loss associated
with a hole in a primary cyclone.
Stuck open or missing flapper in firststage cyclone. Most first stage cyclones are
submerged in a fluid bed and do not have
or need check valves because the catalyst
traffic is sufficiently high enough that gas
does not force itself up the dipleg. Sometimes check valves, as shown in Fig. 7, are
included to limit losses during startup when
the diplegs are not submerged. In these
cases, a stuck-open flapper will be of little
consequence during normal operations.
In some cases, due to the unit geometry or technical preference, the primary
cyclones can be designed to discharge
above the bed. In these cases, assuming the cyclone is not a positive pressure
riser cyclone, a properly functioning valve
is required. The consequences of a valve
that is stuck open would be a major loss of
FIG. 7
Cyclone dipleg check valve.
What can be done online to correct a plugged regenerator

cyclone dipleg?
Pressure bump the unit by changing the vessel operating pressure rapidly,
say, 4 psi in 15 seconds
Partially unload the catalyst and then return to a normal operating level.
Following a cyclone overload, sometimes normal operation can be restored
by reducing the air rate to a very low level for several minutes so that
overfilled cyclone hoppers can drain the defluidized catalyst.
SPECIALREPORT
cyclone efficiency, increasing the loading to

the secondary cyclones and increasing the
catalyst losses from the unit.
Stuck open or missing flapper in second-stage cyclone. A flapper that is stuck
open or missing may not affect the cyclone
performance if the dipleg is submerged sufficiently in a well-fluidized bed. If the bed
fluidization is erratic, then the losses may
increase due to unsteady catalyst flow down
the dipleg or due to gas bypassing up the
dipleg. If the secondary cyclone dipleg is not
submerged into the fluid bed, a stuck open

or missing flapper turns the dipleg into a vacuum tube sucking vapors into the cyclone;
destroying the cyclone efficiency. A detached
dipleg would have similar consequences.
Reactor cyclone overload. A reactor
cyclone system can become overloaded
if the catalyst or vapor traffic exceeds the
design hydraulic capability of the cyclone
system. The cyclone system pressure drop
increases with both catalyst and vapor loading. As the pressure drop increases, the cata-
MODERNIZING
Nuclear Measurement Technology
lyst in the dipleg must backup to a higher

elevation, as shown in Fig. 8, to provide
enough static head to force the catalyst out
of the dipleg. When the catalyst height in
the dipleg reaches the dipleg top, the swirling vapors in the bottom of the cyclone will
reentrain the catalyst and drastically reduce
cyclone collection efficiency. This situation
is referred to as cyclone flooding. Increasing reactor vapor traffic beyond the cyclone
dipleg hydraulic limit can occur by operating at an increased feedrate, higher conversion, and reduced operating pressure.
Catalyst loss can be intermittent
when cyclone dipleg hydraulic limitations
are the issue.
When operating near the cyclone
dipleg hydraulic limit, even a small increase
a stuck open or detached
check valve online?
It may be possible to reduce

catalyst losses by raising the bed
level to seal the dipleg.
What can be done to correct a

cyclone design issue online?
FiberFlex for Reactor Measurement
Nothing, but try to rule out the

other possible causes before
shutting down.
Adjust operating conditions
to minimize losses until design
modifications are possible.
From process conditions to vessel geometry, accurately

measuring level in chemical reactors is challenging. The
FiberFlex radiation-based measurement system is up to the
task; immune to high process temperature and pressure
conditions, the FiberFlex is also flexible to follow the contour
of rounded and conical reactor vessels. This allows for
measurement all the way to the very bottom of the reactor so
that accurate level is reported on this critical process.
Second-stage
cyclone
Advantages:
t Unaffected by high process
temperature and pressure
t Longest detector available in the
industry (23 feet)
t Flexible to fit vessel geometry
First-stage cyclone
t Lightweight for easy mounting

t Offers a wide variety of setup and
compensation options
t HART and Foundation
Fieldbus outputs
Dipleg catalyst level
Catalyst bed level
www.ohmartvega.com
info@ohmartvega.com
800.FOR.LEVEL

36
FIG. 8
Cyclone hydraulic balance.
0.05
What can be done to correct catalyst-induced

loss problem online?
0.04
0.03
Ve/Rp
SPECIALREPORT
0.02
Ve = Effective supercial vapor velocity, fps
Rp = Particle density, lb/ft3
Rg = Gas density, lb/ft3
e = Entrainment, lb cat/ft3 vapor
0.01
1
FIG. 9
5 6 7 8 9 10
e/Rg
Catalyst entrainment correlation.
in catalyst circulation or vapor rate can

result in increased catalyst losses.
Dipleg sizing is rarely a limitation during normal operations, but if the regenerator temperature falls to very low levels while
maintaining riser outlet temperature, the
catalyst circulation will increase. At extreme
conditions, the reactor cyclone dipleg can
restrict the flow of catalyst.
Regenerator cyclone overload. A
regenerator cyclone system can also become
overloaded when catalyst and vapor traffic exceed the hydraulic capability of the
cyclone system:
Catalyst loss can be intermittent when
cyclone dipleg hydraulic limitations are the
issue. In some cases, the flue gas stack can
appear to be puffing.
Increasing vapor traffic beyond the
cyclone dipleg hydraulic limit can occur
by operating at increased regenerator air
rate, higher temperature and reduced
operating pressure.
Catalyst overload in regenerator
cyclones can occur for the same reasons
as vapor overload because the catalyst
entrainment rate to regenerator cyclones,
as shown in Fig. 9, is a function of regenerator superficial vapor velocity.12
Poor efficiencyCyclone design. The
suspicion of a poor efficiency cyclone design
will typically be raised only after the installation of a new set of cyclones. Poor reactor
cyclone efficiency due to coke formation
within the cyclone has also been reported.9
Having said this, it would be a characteristic of a low efficiency cyclone design to
exhibit a rather large average catalyst particle size in the lost catalyst. Also, the differential particle size analysis curve would have
only a single peak as opposed to a bi-modal
peak associated with a damaged cyclone. A
low concentration of fines in the circulating
inventory would also be characteristic of
low cyclone system efficiency.
Poor efficiencyRegenerator design.
It would be a characteristic of a low-effi-
20
30
Sometimes refiners purposely add fresh catalyst with high

fines content, low density, lower Attrition Index, or just an
increase in fresh catalyst makeup rate to improve the fluidity
of the catalyst inventory. With that in mind, consider:
Ordering fresh catalyst with lower agreed limits on 040
micron particle content.
Changing to a catalyst with higher particle density or one
with increased attrition resistance.
Reducing the fresh catalyst makeup rate.
ciency regenerator design to lack sufficient

height or diameter to effectively disengage
the catalyst rising from the fluid bed. Such
a regenerator would exhibit a rather large
average catalyst particle size in the lost catalyst while the differential particle size analysis curve would have only a single peak as
opposed to a bi-modal peak associated with
a damaged cyclone. A low concentration of
fines in the inventory would also be characteristic of a low-efficiency regenerator
design. The quality of the bed fluidization
may also affect the catalyst entrainment
rate and cyclone operability:
Defluidized sections of the bed may
inhibit flow from the submerged diplegs.
Spouting spent catalyst risers can
throw more catalyst up to the cyclones.
Specially designed baffles placed
within the bed have been observed to
reduce catalyst entrainment.13
Fresh catalyst too soft. Soft FCC catalyst is one that inherently suffers from a
higher than average attrition rate when
subjected to the rigors of circulation in
the FCC unit. The softness of a catalyst is
the opposite of its hardness, a parameter
defined by the catalyst manufacturers as
an Attrition Index.5 This index is based on
a laboratory simulation of FCC catalyst
attrition relying on the punishment of a
laboratory sample with a high-velocity gas
jet at defined standard conditions.
Catalyst manufacturers offer varying
degrees of catalyst hardness. Soft catalyst
is rarely an explanation for a catalyst loss
problem today.
Catalyst that is too soft will manifest
itself as higher catalyst losses from both the
reactor and regenerator and higher than
normal equilibrium catalyst fines content.
Fresh catalystHigh 040 micron
content. A fresh catalyst with a high 040
micron content is one that is shipped with a
larger than typical fraction of particles having diameters less than 40 microns. Catalyst with this character will lose a higher

a dipleg hydraulic problem
online?
Reduce dipleg submergence

by lowering the catalyst bed level
Lower vapor and/or catalyst
circulation rates.
Increase operating pressure.
percentage of their mass from the inventory
shortly after being loaded into the unit.
Fresh catalystHigh addition rate.
FCC unit catalyst losses have a definite correlation with the rate of fresh catalyst additions because increasing fresh catalyst addition rate increases fines input and because
the fresh catalyst may have fragile edges
that are lost more easily when the catalyst
is first introduced into the unit.
Higher catalyst losses are an expected,
normal result of increasing fresh catalyst
addition rate.
Increased reactor fines retention.
Whenever changes occur that limit the ability of fines to escape from a reactor system,
the fines will find their way out of the unit
via a different avenues, which are limited
to the regenerator cyclones and increased
catalyst withdrawals. Examples of changes
that increase reactor catalyst retention are:
Recycle of fines from the fractionator
bottoms back to the FCC reactor via conventional slurry oil recycle system or a
slurry-oil filter system.
Installation of new reactor cyclones
having a higher design efficiency.
Increased regenerator fines retention.
If the catalyst fines cannot get out through
the regenerator, they will be forced to exit
the unit through the reactor. Examples of
changes that increase regenerator catalyst
retention are:
Recycle of fines from an electrostatic
precipitator or third-stage separator back to
the regenerator.
SPECIALREPORT
Installation of new regenerator

cyclones having a higher design efficiency
Feed contaminants and regenerator
operating conditions that lead to sticky
catalyst within the regenerator.
In the presence of high levels of fluxing
agents such as sodium, potassium, calcium,
chlorides or vanadium that can be introduced with contaminated feedstock, and
especially at high temperatures, the catalyst
can become sticky. These fluxing agents
can form low melting eutectics with the
catalyst at temperatures as low as 930F

to 1,200F.5
There will be times that even with
thoughtful consideration of the answers
to the 20 questions, and even after unit
shutdowns and inspections, the cause of
high FCC catalyst losses will remain elusive. However, FCC product economics,
reliability and environmental concerns
may compel refiners to resort to extraordinary tactics for finding the source of the
high losses.
Pflj\\jk\\c%
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]
c
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\ejli\k_\gifk\Zk`fec\m\cjpflèj`jkfe]fi
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:ljkfd;\j`ê
J_fik$fiCfe^$K\idC\Xjè^
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b\\gjpflgifk\Zk\[]ifdk_\flkj`[\è%
_lek\iYl`c[è^j%Zfd
)/(%+,)%0/''

38
Extraordinary measures. A number

of more costly and time-consuming options
in searching for the root cause of high catalyst losses include:
Cold-flow modeling
Radioactive tracers and gamma ray
scans
Cyclone pressure testing
Computational fluid dynamic simulations.
The road to the conclusion of an investigation into the cause of high catalyst losses
may prove to be long and arduous. However, if the investigation stays the course,
the road will usually lead to success. HP
LITERATURE CITED
Ensor D. S., and M. J. Pilat, Calculation of
Smoke Plume Opacity from Particulate Air
Pollutant Properties, 63rd Annual Meeting of
the Air Pollution Control Association, St. Louis,
Missouri, June 1418, 1970.
2 McClung, R. G., Effect of FCC Catalyst Fines
Particle Distribution on Stack Opacity, The
Catalyst Report, Engelhard Corp., 1994.
3 Niccum, P. K., E. Gbordzoe and S. Lang, FCC
Emission Options, NPRA Annual Meeting,
March 2002, San Antonio.
4 Montgomery, J. A., More about Davisons
Equilibrium Fluid Cracking Catalyst Analysis
Program, Davison Catalagram, No. 63, Davison
Chemical Division, W. R. Grace & Co., 1981.
5 Linden, D. H., Catalyst Deposition in FCC
Power Recovery Systems, Katalistiks 7th Annual
Fluid Cat Cracking Symposium, Venice, Italy,
May 1213, 1986.
6 Weeks, S. A. and P. Dumbill, Method speeds
FCC catalyst attrition resistance determinations,
Oil & Gas Journal, April 16, 1990, pp. 3840.
7 Zhou, F., C. Liu, J. Liu and S. Shu, Use micrographs to diagnose FCC operations, Hydrocarbon
Processing, March 2006.
8 Fletcher, R., Stepwise method determines source
of FCC catalyst losses, OGJ, Aug. 28, 1995.
9 McPherson, L. J., Causes of FCC Reactor Coke
Deposits Identified, OGJ, Sept. 10, 1984.
10 Session II.A-Fluid Catalytic Cracking, Mechanical
Question 6, NPRA Q&A Session on Refining and
Petrochemical Technology, 1994.
11 Zenz, F. A. and D. F. Othmer, Fluidization and
Fluid-Particle Systems, Reinhold Publishing Co.,
New York, 1960.
12 Giuricich, N. L. and B. Kalen, Dominant Criteria
in FCC Cyclone Design, Katalistiks 3rd Annual
Fluid Cat Cracking Symposium, May 2627, 1982,
Marriot Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
13 Miller, R. B., Y-Lin Yang, T. E. Johnson,
S. J. McCarthy and K. W. Schatz, REGENMAX
Technology: Staged Combustion in a Single
Regenerator, NPRA Annul Meeting, March
1999, San Antonio.
1
Phillip Niccum joined KBRs fluid catalytic cracking

(FCC) team in 1989. He has held various FCC-related
positions at KBR including process manager, chief technology engineer of FCC, and is currently director of FCC
Technology for KBRs Technology business unit. Following
graduation from California State Polytechnic University
with a degree in chemical engineering in 1980, he began
his career in the Central Engineering Department at Texaco USA headquarters, where he provided design and
technical assistance to Texaco FCC units worldwide.
SPECIALREPORT
Consider high-impact
constructability issues for refineries
Upfront investment has a positive effect on project execution
R. CARTER, Fluor Constructors International, Sugar Land, Texas
imply put, construction is the merging

of information, material and labor.
The construction goal is to create a
product that operates at or above the specification; a product built without any health,
safety or environmental incidents; and a
product with the highest-level of quality,
meeting time and budget parameters.
In refinery construction, especially
operating refineries, it is challenging to bring
all these factors together to create the perfect
project. However, a successful project should
always be the goal. History states that a good
project start creates a better chance of achieving success than a rough start. The article will
focus on the events leading up to construction and why these events are so important
to the goal of a successful project.
Any project, regardless of size or complexity, should start with preconstruction
planning or constructability. The Construction Industry Institute (CII) states that the
greatest opportunity for project and construction savings comes early in the project
life cycle. The opportunity to influence cost
can start as early as the conceptual planning
phase and it diminishes as the project flows
through front end engineering and design
(FEED), detailed engineering, procurement
and ultimately field execution, commissioning and startup.
Successful projectsregardless of their

total cost, site location, owner, industry
type, or project scheduleutilize influential constructability goals. A summary of
some of the highest impact, most rewarding goals is presented here along with their
expected impact on a project.
Safety in design and execution.
The single most important task on a project

is to ensure that all team members work
safely in the office and at the site. Additionally, design elements should be finalized
after consideration is made for safe assembly and operations of the subject facility.
Key considerations should include protection from falls, minimization of trenching
and excavation, risk analysis of heavy-lift
activities, pre-assembly and modularization, as well as numerous other safety issues
and concerns. Many of these issues are
complex, but some are as simple as prepunching steel columns for fall-protection
static lines and the scheduling of heavy lifts
on weekends when manpower and congestion are at a minimum. It is every project
team members responsibility to reduce
and eliminate accidents. As such, the most
important element of the project execution
plan is the safety plan.
Inputnot review. Constructability
Why constructability? Effectively uti-
lizing construction knowledge and experience are key elements in the process and
planning of how a project is built. As mentioned, CII studies indicate that cost savings associated with a project are in direct
proportion to the project phase in which
constructability is initiated. The earlier constructability is implemented on a project,
the greater the savings. Projects that fully
implement the constructability process can
see a 10:1 benefit-to-cost ratio.
facilitates the integration of engineering,

procurement and construction goals and
objectives. Site input saves time and money,
and it more effectively integrates a projects
goals and objectives. Concurrent engineering and site management, and modularization and other fast-track project techniques
do not allow time for multiple reviews. It
benefits everyone concerned when design
and procurement is right the first time. Plot
plans require site input early on to maximize construction equipment utilization,
interference studies, erection sequencing

and facilities layout. If construction has to
review a plan and is not able to provide
input to that plan, then the benefit of the
review is severely limited.
Onsite productivity improvement.
Clients also look for significant opportunities to increase productivity onsite. This
concept can include integrating technology
use, decreasing the number of staff and craft,
improving workforce-density relationships,
advancing methods and materials, promoting the performance of work offsite in less
congested and unsafe areas, working at
grade level, pre-assembly, as well as numerous other techniques and applications.
Site productivity starts as early as the
design of temporary facilities and the plan
to move the workforce from point to point.
Work in existing facilities is especially challenging due to space limitations, permit
requirements and blast-zone effects. Getting craft resources to the point of work
and then keeping them fully engaged has a
tremendous effect on productivity. This is
as important in greenfield construction as
it is in revamp work or work in any kind of
operating facility.
Work smarter, not harder. Simplicity is a bargain for everyone involved in a
project. Examples include plot plan layouts
to material acquisition and tracking, and
single-source and alliance vendors offering
competitively priced, quality products, support and service. Innovative construction
techniques such as modularization, suband pre-assembly of piping and equipment
skids and modules, premanufactured forming systems, modular scaffolding systems
and welding processes that are automatic or
semi-automatic all contribute to simplicity
of construction and enhanced productivity.
I 39
SPECIALREPORT
Uniformity of material types and specifications are less cost prohibitive if applied correctly. Value-engineering reviews can offer
simplified scope enhancements. As an example, consider systems running with off-theshelf pumps instead of owner-specified
models that cost thousands of dollars more.
Know your labor and its cost. Planning and coordination will be lost if an adequate, well-trained and motivated workforce
is not available. Understand the source and
cost of your labor, regardless of the supply

and execution strategy. Execution can be
direct-hire labor, through multiple subcontractors providing the labor, or through
labor brokers. Along with labor availability,
you must also fully understand its cost. As an
example, what comes with direct labor costs?
Are there incentives that need to be paid
for broker fees, travel expenses, per diems,
building construction camps, bonuses,
requirements for overtime payments, shift
differentials and various other benefits? As
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40
Standardize materials and fabrication details. Constant review of cli-
ent standard details and specifications for

material and fabrication will result in cost
and productivity improvement. Examples
include using sonotube for installing concrete piers, pre-assembly of concrete catch
basins and manholes, using precast foundations, and using consolidated bulk materials such as gaskets and stud-bolts.
Some projects have saved significant cost
by utilizing single sizes and specifications
for reinforcing steel and concrete, so that
the cost was minimized in the design, procurement and construction for a single element. As an example of commitment to this
philosophy, contractors should subscribe to
the process industry practices (PIPs) that
are intended to standardize the practices
and standards across individual companies
throughout the process industry.
Environment
North America
an example, youve estimated an appropriate

cost of labor including wages, fringe benefits,
payroll taxes and insurance, only to discover
that the labor will not come to your site
without the incentive of daily subsistence.
This cost should be researched and identified during the bid stage, and then verified
during the preconstruction phase. You must
have a clear understanding of all these costs
to bid and execute the project successfully.
Middle East
Oceania
industry has many automation tools that

integrate proprietary software solutions
with commercial software configured to
enhance the engineering, procurement,
construction and maintenance of capital
projects. For the wide variety of industries
served, these tools enhance the ability to
execute projects on schedule, within budget
and with operational excellence.
Contractors should work with outside
resources, including leading industry institutes and university research programs, in
developing technology applications that
manage resources, tasks and priorities across
the project life. As an example, automation
tools exist that track material from delivery
through warehousing, installation, testing
and turnover to the client. Contractors must
implement automation tools that site personnel can access and use with ease. These
tools improve communication and efficiently
collect, store and share accurate data.
The latest wave of three-dimensional
(3D) modeling tools integrates multiple
databases to provide customers with realtime, walk-through simulations before and
during project execution. These tools help
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SPECIALREPORT
customers identify potential problems;

link them to project progress information
such as equipment installation and material availability; generate what if scenarios when deviations occur in scheduling,
sequencing, material delivery and planning;
and document construction completion.
Minimize excavations. Excavations
for underground pipe and electrical systems
can cause large-scale disruptions to productivity and safety planning. Underground
plans should be carefully developed and
sequenced if a significant portion of any site
is impacted by excavation, or if the critical
path of a schedule falls on underground
work. Site methods should be employed to
minimize the excavation amount and the
time that trenches are left open. This is a
perfect example of the merging of information, material and labor. Trenches should
not be opened until all three are readily
available. All safety precautions should also
be used. Some considerations are:
Using competent person
requirement
Using barricades
Using trench boxes (when required)
Keeping trenches clean and dry
Ensuring the integrity of adjacent

foundations
Using common trenches
Use straight runs and pre-assembly
Use flowable backfill where applicable.
Pre-assemble and modularize. Most
projects can benefit from taking a known
scope of work offsite and producing that
same work with better tools, possibly a permanent and more productive workforce, better conditions (shop, weather, craft support),
and closer supplies and vendors, etc. By fully
applying pre-assembly concepts and principles, significant cost reductions have been
seen. As an example of pre-assembly, many
vertical vessels can be insulated at grade and
fitted with piping, ladders and platforms, as
well as electrical components and instrumentation, before being erected without impacting a cranes safe operating capacity. Other
examples are the prefabrication of equipment and piping skids, either offsite or preassembled onsite to reduce congestion.
Minimize scope in operating
units. Productivity and safety concerns
are heightened while performing any work

inside or near an operating facility or unit.
Permitting, access, training and material

management are significantly more difficult to plan, manage and coordinate. As
an example, hot work, such as grinding,
welding or cutting, is more difficult, if not
entirely out of the question, without a shutdown in some units. Reduction of piping
tie-ins is always a benefit, if possible. To
maximize productivity in operating units,
blast-proof or blast-resistant structures for
temporary facilities may need to be utilized
to keep the craft workforce in the work area.
Having to leave the work area to clear the
blast zone for breaks and meal periods has a
direct, negative effect on productivity.
Completion and turnover of
systems. Clients insist that contractors
complete and turn over plant systems and

material in an orderly fashion, with documentation and in the proper sequence for
startup. It does not make sense to turn over
primary process systems if the utilities or
conveying systems are not in place to support them.
Essential elements of a proper turnover
plan include: early definition of, and assignment of, responsibilities for systems identification, sequencing, mechanical completion,
testing and check-out, precommissioning,
commissioning, startup and documentation
requirements. A comprehensive startup and
commissioning program should be in place
shortly after the civil phase of the project
begins. Knowing how the systems need to be
turned over and started up will influence the
projects planning and execution phases.
Conclusion and implementation. Constructability challenges compa-
nies (owners and contractors alike) to go

beyond their conventional approach to
project execution by expanding front-end
planning. Refinery construction is complex,
inherently dangerous and subject to many
changes. As a result, an upfront investment
in constructability will undoubtedly have
a positive effect on project execution. By
applying construction knowledge and best
practices in the early stages of a project, optimal financial impact will be achieved. HP
Ric Carter is president of Fluor
Constructors International, Inc. a
wholly owned subsidiary of Fluor
Corporation. Mr. Carter is a 27-year
veteran of Fluor and has 38 years of
industry experience. During those years he has participated in construction projects across most business
lines including power, energy and chemicals, industrial
and infrastructure, governmental and maintenance and
modification in numerous industries.
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SPECIALREPORT
Bottomless refinery:
Improve refinery economics
Integrating gasification process with residue upgrading can produce
high-value multiproduct streams while decreasing total refinery emissions
P. McKENNA and F. SHEIKH, GE Energy, Houston, Texas
odays global refining environment

is very competitive, facing low margins and increasingly more stringent
environmental standards. Residual fuel
oil surpluses are emerging in places where
there is a rising demand for transportation
fuels and a lack of deep processing of the
oil barrel. In addition, low-cost natural gas
is increasingly displacing fuel oil for power
generation. The recent MARPOL emissions regulations on bunker fuel will further deteriorate the supply-demand balance
over residual fuel oil with negative implications for refining margins, particularly for
hydroskimming configurations.
Refiners can address this challenge by
upgrading process residue with conversion
processes to meet the increasing demand
for transportation fuels. However, these
upgrading processes leave behind a more
contaminated residue with sulfur and metals that are difficult to remove. Additionally,
the residue also requires more cutter stock
to meet viscosity and emissions standards.
Disposal of the bottom residue poses an
economical and environmental challenge
to the refiner.
New gasification technology can be used
to help mitigate these challenges; gasification can be applied to process the leftover
residue and produce additional hydrogen
supplies needed for desulfurization and
conversion operations. Sulfur and metal
contaminants can be scrubbed, significantly reducing the refinery emissions. Any
remaining residue can be used to generate
power and steam, through an integrated
gasification combined cycle (IGCC) process, resulting in a bottomless refinery.
Alternatively, remaining residue can also
be used to produce liquid fuels for blending or chemicals for industrial applications.
Further, the gasification plant can be con-
figured to capture carbon on a pre-combustion basis to meet possible future greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations (Fig. 1).
Traditional refinery. A hydroskimming refinery (Fig. 2) consists of an atmospheric crude distillation unit (CDU),
which separates the oil into product fractionsliquefied petroleum gas (LPG),
naphtha, gasoline, kerosine/diesel, gasoil
(GO) and residue. These product fractions are treated for sulfur removal in a
hydrotreating unit to meet local regulations on clean fuels. Hydrogen is consumed
in the hydrotreating unit, combining with
sulfur to form hydrogen sulfide (H 2S),
which is converted to elemental sulfur in
the Claus unit.
The hydroskimming refinery also has
a catalytic reformer unit that produces
aromatics for blending in gasoline to
increase octane. The reformer is a major
source of hydrogen production for
the refinery. Desulfurized GO or light
distillates are blended in the residue to
meet the viscosity and emissions standards
required for fuel oil as saleable product (380
CST Bunker, No. 6 fuel oil, M100), thus
negatively impacting the refining margins.
The product fractions and hydrogen
demand are dependent on the API and
sulfur content of the feed crude oil. Overall, a hydroskimming refinery is generally
short on hydrogen and long on residue
products. Incremental hydrogen demand
is often met by an onsite steam methane
reformer or purchased over the fence.
Hydrogen demand is increasing with ever
more stringent regulations on clean fuels.
Additionally, as the hydroskimming refiner
upgrades and increases conversion level,
(i.e., decreases residue production), hydrogen demand will increase further.
A hydroskimming refiner will typically

add a vacuum distillation unit (VDU) as a
first step to upgrade the refinery. Vacuum
distillation allows some lighter fractions,
such as GO, to be separated from residue
without the need for high temperatures that
result in thermal cracking. The vacuum residue (VR) is blended with desulfurized GO
or light distillates as cutter stock to meet
the local fuel oil specifications for viscosity and emissions. The refiner can go for
deeper processing of VR to further decrease
fuel oil production with these options:
Visbreaker is a mild thermal cracking process that produces lighter products
and tar
Solvent deasphalting is an extraction
process that separates the lighter fractions
(deasphalted oil) from the asphaltenes
Delayed coking unit is a deep thermal cracking process that produces lighter
products and petroleum coke.
FIG. 1
The Sarlux S.r.l. Refinery

polygeneration plant operated
by SARAS S.p.A. , has been
gasifying refinery residuals using
gasification technology since
2001. With a power block of
three syngas turbines, the plant,
located in Sardinia, produces
500 MW of power, plus steam
and hydrogen for the refinery.
I 45
SPECIALREPORT
Hydroskimming renery
Hydrogen
CDU = Crude distillation (atm.)

VDU = Vacuum distillation
HDT = Hydrotreater
SDA = Solvent deasphalting
DAO = Deasphalted oil
LPG/naphtha
HDT
Hydrogen
Gasoline
Reformer
Hydrogen
Crude oil
C
D
U
Hydrogen
(if hydrocracker)
Kerosine/diesel
HDT
Naphtha
Gasoil
Cracker
Kerosine/
diesel
Cutter-stock
Long residue
Phase 1
Residual
fuel oil
V
D
U
Cutter-stock
Vacuum residue
Phase 2
Phase 3 Option 1
Residual fuel oil

Gas/gasoline/naphtha
Visbreaker
DAO
Tar
Phase 3 Option 2
Gasoil
Partial oxidation. An entrained-flowGas/gasoline/

naphtha
SDA
Asphalt
Phase 3 Option 3
Gasoil
Coker
Petcoke
FIG. 2
Process flow diagram of a hydroskimming refinery.
Air
separation
unit
O2
Renery
Bottoms
Gasication Syngas
island
Power
island
Clean
syngas
Shift and
cooling
Shifted
syngas
Pure H2
Pressure to renery
swing
adsorption
H2
Solid waste
Sulfur
recovery
FIG. 3
Sulfur
Process flow diagram of syngas production using residuals.
GO or deasphalted oil (DAO) can be

further processed in a fluidized catalytic
cracking unit (FCCU) or hydrocracker
to increase yield of transportation fuels.
Metals, sulfur and other contaminants are
generally concentrated in the residual fraction. Thus, the bottoms from the processes
described heretar, asphalt and coke
have higher contamination levels than the
feed. Disposal of the bottoms becomes an
environmental challenge.
Gasification. As the refinery upgrades,
a phased approach to gasification can be
applied. Gasification solutions can be
implemented starting with the atmospheric
46
Electricity
CO2
Acid-gas
removal
H2S
can be applied for VB and SDA, since these

are liquid bottoms. If a DCU is selected, a
solids gasifier will be needed.
The major building blocks of a gasification plant are:
Air separation unit (ASU)
Gasification island
Shift and cooling
Acid gas removal (AGR)
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA)
Power island.
The gasification plant is configured
to integrate seamlessly with the refining
processes to meet hydrogen and power
demand. Planning the integration process
and reducing the need for feedstock storage
can save capital cost.
residue (Phase 1). Gasification will use the

residue and produce valuable hydrogen for
desulfurization, decreasing the net residue
production. This will enable the refinery to
upgrade high-sulfur fuel oil into low-sulfur
fuel oil, increasing refining margins.
When the refiner adds a VDU, the
gasification solution for the atmospheric
residue can be applied for VR (Phase 2)
with some configuration changes (Fig. 2).
Finally, when the refiner adds deep processing unitsvisbreaker (VB), solvent deasphalting (SDA) or delayed coker (DCU)
the ultimate goal of bottomless refinery will
be achieved. The same gasification solution
from Phase 1, with some design changes,
quench gasifier design is used for the partial

oxidation of refinery bottoms. Feed and
oxygen are introduced separately through
the feed injector and mix in the gasifier
chamber. Water or steam is used as a moderating agent to maintain the gasifier temperature below a certain limit, but above
the ash-fusion temperature (Fig. 3).
The resulting partial oxidation reactions
produce syngas composed of mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO), preserving most of the chemical energy from the
residue feedstock. The syngas exiting the
gasifier contacts with water in a quench
chamber, allowing efficient removal of
solids and introducing water in the syngas
for the CO shift reaction, to increase the
H2:CO ratio. The water contaminated with
solids undergoes several separation stages to
recover solid waste. Part of the clean water
is recycled back to the gasifier. Metal contaminants in the feed can be recovered from
the solid-waste stream exiting the process.
Gas cleanup. Clean syngas, now
scrubbed of solids and particulates, enters
the catalytic shift process, which is designed
to handle sulfur in the syngas (sour shift).
Here, CO combines with water to produce
hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2). Any
carbonyl-sulfide present in the syngas is
also converted to H2S and CO2.
The raw syngas exiting the shift section is cooled in heat exchangers producing medium-pressure steam. The cooled
syngas is scrubbed of acid gases (H2S and
CO2) in the AGR unit, a solvent extraction-based process.
Hydrogen sulfide is removed first. A portion of the clean syngas is fed to the power
island, producing electric power through
a gas turbine. The hot flue gases from the
gas turbine are used to generate steam with
a heat-recovery-steam generator (HRSG),
before releasing to atmosphere. The generated steam is used to produce more power
through a steam turbine. Alternatively, the
steam can be exported to the refinery.
The balance of the clean syngas is
stripped of CO2 and sent to the PSA unit
for hydrogen purification. The PSA unit
delivers 99.8% pure hydrogen to the refinery, to be used for desulfurization and conversion. Alternatively, all the syngas can
be stripped of carbon dioxide for capture
and storage, making the gasification plant
carbon capture ready.
The ASU uses cryogenic distillation for
the fractionation of air. It provides oxygen
to the gasification and sulfur recovery unit.
The ASU also provides compressed nitrogen to the gas turbine to control NOx and
enhance power production.
The sulfur recovery unit uses the Claus
process to produce elemental sulfur from
hydrogen sulfide. Other ancillary units
include utilities, cooling water, instrument
air, and tail-gas treatment.
Case study. A 70:30 mix of Arab light
and Arab heavy crude oil, yielding a
medium grade API, is used for two different refinery sizes of 6 MMtpy (120,000
bpd) and 10 MMtpy (200,000 bpd) to
develop the case study.
For simplification, it is assumed that
atmospheric residue and vacuum residue
are similar to visbreaker tar, so only the visbreaker tar (VB) case (Phase 3 Option 1)
is explored in further detail. Table 1 summarizes the composition of VB tar, asphalt,
and petcoke for the 70:30 Arab light and
Arab heavy crude mix.
A total of six cases were selected for
the two different refinery sizes and three
upgrade options as described in Table 2.
The listed cases are for the co-production of hydrogen and power, except Case
3B, which is for hydrogen only. Each of
the cases result in the complete destruction of the residue, resulting in a bottomless refinery, except Case 2A, where a lower
throughput is used to enhance the gasifier
and gas turbine configuration.
SPECIALREPORT
TABLE 1. Bottoms composition for 70:30 mix of Arab light and Arab heavy
Composition
VB tar
Asphalt
Petcoke
Carbon,%
84.84
84.60
88.41
Hydrogen,%
10.16
8.91
3.34
Sulfur,%
4.50
4.90
5.91
Nitrogen,%
0.31
0.68
2.04
Oxygen,%
0.05
0.78
0.02
Ash,%
0.10
0.13
0.28
Total,%
99.96
100.00
100.00
Heating value (HHV) in KJ/kg
40,472
39,775
35,123
TABLE 2. Gasification cases for refinery upgrade and bottoms destruction

Cases
Case 1A
Crude Oil, million

tpy (bpd)
Residue
6 (120,000)
Case 1B
Visbreaker tar Visbreaker tar
Feed, metric tpd

Gasifier size, m3 (ft3)
No. of operating gasifiers
Case 2A
Case 2B
Case 3A
Case 3B
6 (120,000) 10 (200,000) 10 (200,000) 10 (200,000) 10 (200,000)

Asphalt
Asphalt
Petcoke
1,750
1,750
2,700
3,200
1,540
Petcoke
1,540
12.7 (450)
12.7 (450)
25.5 (900)
25.5 (900)
12.7 (450)
12.7 (450)
No. of spare gasifiers
Gasifier pressure, barg
65
65
65
65
65
65
Gas Turbine model
9E
6FA
6FA
9E
6FA
None
No. of gas turbines
None
37
28
50
27
41
100
Syngas to hydrogen, %
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SPECIALREPORT
gen availability. This flexibility eliminates

the need for a spare gasifier, provided the
syngas to hydrogen is less than 50% of total
syngas produced by the gasification island.
Using this logic, the spare gasifier can
be eliminated thus lowering capital expense
(CAPEX) with the exception of the delayed
coking process scheme. Two different gas
turbine models are selected6FA and 9E,
in the 50 Hz platformto target a NOx
limit of less than 25 ppm. A combined cycle
is used to maximize power production. Efficiency gains are available through steam
integration with the refinery steam loads.
To develop the economics of bottoms
gasification for coproduction of hydro-
gen and power, it is important to estimate

the cost of hydrogen. This is best done by
using a replacement-cost approach, where
the cost of hydrogen from bottoms gasification is fixed at the cost of hydrogen from
steam methane reforming (SMR). Cost
of electricity (COE) and the impact on
refining margins can be calculated based
on capital return requirement. The cost of
hydrogen calculation assumes:
CAPEX for 110,000 Nm3h hydrogen SMR plant is $150 million
Natural gas price is $7/MMBtu
(~$254/1,000 Nm3).
These assumptions result in a hydrogen cost of $0.12 per Nm3. The cost of
TABLE 3. Gasification cases for refinery upgrade and bottoms destruction

Cases
Case 1A
Crude oil , million tpy
Case 1B
Case 2A
Case 2B
Case 3A
Case 3B
10
10
10
10
120,000
120,000
200,000
200,000
200,000
200,000
Residue
VB tar
VB tar
Asphalt
Asphalt
Petcoke
Petcoke
Feed, metric tpd
1,750
1,750
2,700
3,200
1,540
1,540
37
28
50
27
41
100
60,000
45,500
118,000
76,000
41,000
100,000
Crude oil, bpd
Syngas to hydrogen, %
Hydrogen, Nm3h
H2 (Nm3) production
per barrel of crude
12
14
12
120
165
115
275
67
39
38
40
36
32
52
CAPEX, Million USD

615
(60% of US Gulf Coast basis)
656
778
850
554
440
Cost of electricity (COE), /kWh 7.7
7.5
5.2
5.2
15.1
COE in cents/kWh
5
10
15
Net MW export
Feedstock utilization efficiency
HHV basis (thermal for
H2 + net electric), %
0
CAPEX, $ per ton of
residue capacity/day
200,000
Capital charge, %/year
500,000
15
Cost of residue, $/ton

Feedstock utilization efciency
HHV basis (thermal for H2+net
electric) %
Cost of hydrogen
from SMR, $/Nm3
FIG. 4
48
10
75
40%
16
32%
0.1
OPEX and maintenance,

% of CAPEX
2.5
Availability of H2, %
98
85
Availability of power, %
80
70
COE sensitivity analysis chart for Case 2B (Tornado chart.)
Downside
Upside
hydrogen from SMR is primarily driven by

natural gas prices. A $7/MMBtu natural
gas price assumption is valid for India and
China, considering the long-term outlook.
It is also applicable to Russia, if the opportunity cost of selling natural gas to Western
Europe is taken into account.
Case study results. Using the listed
assumptions, we can determine the cost of

electricity for several processing cases:
Capital charge rate is 10%/yr
CAPEX estimate is US Gulf Coast
basis as of Q1 2010 with 15% to +30%
accuracy
CAPEX for India, Russia and China
are assumed to be ~60% of US Gulf Coast
Depreciation period is 25 years
Operational expenses (OPEX) and
maintenance expenditures per year is 3.5%
of CAPEX
Cost of residue is $20/metric ton
Cost of hydrogen from SMR is
$0.12/Nm3
Availability for hydrogen is 90% on
an annual basis
Availability for power is 75% on an
annual basis.
Note: The availability of hydrogen and
power are consistent with global experiences in coproduction.
Availability of power is lower than
hydrogen due to the absence of spare gasifier. Availability of power can be increased
by supplying backup natural gas to the gas
turbines in the event of a shutdown of an
operating gasifier.
The basis of the economic analysis is
to use the listed assumptions and calculate
the net cost by considering capital charge,
OPEX and maintenance, depreciation and
feedstock (residue) cost. From this net
cost, the hydrogen cost is subtracted using
a replacement cost basis from SMR. The
resulting cost is the cost of electricity.
Table 3 summarizes the case study
results. An analysis of the results indicates that Case 2 has the best economics, i.e., lowest COE at 5.2 /kWh. Case
2B has the highest throughput of residue
and uses a 9E class turbine. Moreover,
hydrogen production is enhanced for the
loading and selection of the gas turbine.
Residue throughputs above 2,500 metric
tpd are advantageous for coproduction of
hydrogen and electricity.
The value of hydrogen can offset the
CAPEX and OPEX excluding capital
charge (interest). Accordingly, hydrogen
production recovers all of the investment
costs, excluding capital charge, and there is
no net cost to recover from electricity. This
is an alternative view to value the project
investment and it is important in light of
the surplus in the residue/fuel oil segment.
To better understand the impact of the
assumptions made earlier on the COE,
sensitivity analysis is done on Case 2B and
listed in Fig. 4. The Base Case in Fig. 4 is
the same as Case 2B with a COE of 5.2
/kWh. The tornado chart (Fig. 4) captures the impact of variability over COE
assumptions. Note: Each assumption
is changed one at a time, keeping other
assumptions the same as the Base Case.
Refinery margins and emissions.
Value addition can be calculated by Eq. 1:

Gross margin = (KW COE + Hydrogen Cost of hydrogen) Residue Price
of residue
(1)
For Case 2B, equating Eq. 1 to zero
results in a residue price of $176/ton. This
implies that, as long as the residue price is
lower than $176/ton, the refinery gross margin will be positive. Additional value is realized by reducing cutter stock, which is typically
a low-sulfur, high-value distillate product.
The air emissions from the IGCC complex meet applicable industry standards
SPECIALREPORT
and regulations. The CO 2 can be separated for future storage or enhanced oil
recovery (EOR). All further increase value
in the event that limits on, or a cost of,
CO2 is established.
Typical emissions are:
NOx 50 mg/Nm3
SOx 10 mg/Nm3
Refinery gross margins will be further

improved by releasing previously consumed
cutter-stock.
Total refinery emissions for NOx and
SOx will be reduced significantly. Additionally, metal contaminants in the residue can be recovered from the solid waste
stream. HP
Outlook. Several conclusions can be
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Oil demand
and supply, January 2010.
Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Refined
products prices and margins, January 2010.
Purvin and Gertz, Inc., Study on oil refining and oil
markets, January 2008.
Surinder, P., Refining Processes Handbook, Elsevier, 2003.
drawn from the cases analyzed in this

article:
Coproduction of hydrogen and electricity is economically attractive when
residue throughput is higher than 2,500
metric tpd
Increasing hydrogen production
results in better economics.
The most attractive case uses 9E
turbines and a configuration to produce
approximately 76,000 Nm3h of hydrogen.
This results in COE of 5/ kWh for China,
India and Russia.
As an alternative to power production, producing chemicals (methanol,
methanol derivatives or ammonia) or liquid
fuels for blending may be more economical for smaller refineries with lower residue
throughput.
Patrick McKenna is a commercial leader for gasification technology platform at GE Energy. He has over
18 years of engineering, construction, operations and
business development in the energy industry including
the application of gasification technologies for refining
industry. Mr. McKenna holds an MBA in finance from
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BS degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers University.
Farooq Sheikh was formerly a senior product line

manager for gasification technology at GE Energy. He
has over 15 years of operations and consulting experience in the energy industry. Mr. Sheikh Farooq holds
degrees from the University of Texas, Iowa State University and the Indian Institute of Technology.

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Biorenewables update: What is

beyond ethanol and biodiesel?
New processing technologies have broadened potential
drop-in alternatives for transportation fuels
R. CASCONE and B. BURKE, Nexant, White Plains, New York
n July 2007, the article entitled,

Biofuels: What is beyond ethanol and
biodiesel? began the quest to investigate how biofuels will be incorporated
into the transportation fuel supply. This
article provides a status assessment on the
replacement of hydrocarbon-based fuels,
chemicals and polymers with carbohydrate
and lipid-based materials.
In 2007, ethanol and biodiesel were the
biofuels of wide commercial interest; corn,
sugarcane, soybeans and palm oil were the
main feedstocks for dedicated biofuels facilities. Although that profile has not materially changed, now there is wider interest
in developing more fungible biofuels that
are drop-ins for gasoline and diesel, and in
the broader concept of biorefineries, with
coproduction of renewable chemicals and
polymers. This change in focus reflects several important factors:
Strong public policy drivers and funding, including mandated use of second-generation biofuels
A maturing platform of R&D data
and experience provided by universities and
government agencies
Entrepreneurial activity by individuals
and organizations across a wide spectrum
Sponsorship and capital investments
by venture capitalists
Sponsorship, capital investments,
product off-take agreements and other
integral involvement by large energy,
chemical, agricultural and other stakeholder companies
Experience gained in commodityscale feedstock supply and bioprocessing.
Of particular interest to readers is that:
Valero has become a leading player in
North American ethanol through acquisition of production and logistics assets, integrated with retail operations
Strategic interest and investments in

ethanol-to-ethylene is emerging commercially on several fronts, in value chains for
ethylene glycol (MEG), polyethylene (PE)
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
More than four potential bio-routes
to p-xylenefor green polyethylene
terephthalate (PET)are emerging, e.g.,
from Gevo, Virent, Anellotech and Global
Bioenergies (France)
Bio-hydrocarbon projects (isoprenoids, biodiesel, bio-olefins, etc.) are
being developed in Brazil, elsewhere by
Amyris and others
Refining and aircraft interests are
sponsoring algae, jatropha, biomass-toliquid (BTL), synthetic paraffinic kerosine (SPK) as non-recourse users of liquid
biofuels (kerosine range)
There is progress and further prospects in fermentation routes to industrial
chemicals, e.g., by NatureWorks, Metabolix, Amyris, Myriant, Gevo, etc.
The forest products industry, a huge
potential platform for carbohydrate-based
biorenewables production, remains a largely
unexploited resource, except for combustion for heat and power, which has recently
been raised as a controversy in Massachusetts and elsewhere.
Failure of FAME. There has been a
general failure of fatty acid methyl ether
(FAME) biodiesel to develop as rapidly as
originally planned. The resulting shortfall
may be relieved by other, thermochemical approaches to make bio-based diesel
fuel, including renewable diesel, BTL and
pyrolysis. The key reason for the shortfall is
a general paucity of virgin and used lipids
(natural fats, oils and greases) feedstocks. In
addition, while the lipids (or triglycerides)
in natural oils and fats are relatively close
to being suitable for use in compressionignited internal combustion engines, with

minimum conversion by transesterification
to FAME, nature makes relatively little oil
as a fraction of total biomass. Thus, most
existing supplies of natural oils and fats are
committed to food, animal feed or oleochemicals uses, and, therefore, there is not
enough to meet the large volumes required
to replace petroleum-based diesel. Key drivers that are impacting the development of
biorenewables are discussed here.
Societal objectives. The most common
objectives of renewable fuels, chemicals
and polymers development are to achieve
or improve: lower carbon footprint, energy
security, jobsrural development and
reduced emissions on a lifecycle basis.
For each of these, there is competition
from other solutions such as other lower
carbon alternative fuels and alternative
renewable energy sources, energy conservation and materials recycling.
Political atmosphere is favorable.
While there has been much press attention

against biofuels and materials since 2007 on
the points of food vs. fuel, and the indirect
land use impacts of agriculture for biofuels,
these concerns have largely been discredited.
After plummeting in early 2009, the price of
crude oil is up to 20062007 levels, and it
shows little prospect of returning to historical $20$30/bbl levels. Strength in crude
oil prices is driven by increasing demand in
developing economies, continued political
instability in many producer nations, and
the industry having to venture farther afield
into increasingly difficult venues.
ExxonMobil has embraced the potential of renewables, and has taken a position
with Craig Venters Synthetic Genomics
for algae development. Many other energy
I 51
SPECIALREPORT
and chemical companies and related stakeholders are now interested and invested in
renewables, including Chevron, Shell, BP,
Total, Neste Oil, Petrobras, Dow, Braskem,
UOP, Pemex, GE, Marathon, Solvay, Mitsubishi Chemical, BASF and PTT. From a
shorter term perspective, BPs Macondo oil
well incident in the US Gulf of Mexico has
dramatically raised interest in renewable
and bio-based energy and materials.
a shift from gasoline to clean diesel (dieselization). Compression internal combustion engines need mostly paraffinic hydrocarbons. Triglycerides are largely paraffinic,
but nature does not make much as a percent
of total biomass, and most production is
already claimed for food or oleochemicals.
Algae as a potential solution for large-scale,
low-priced supply is judged to be at least 10
years away from commercialization. With
jatropha, while there is some commercial
development, this is limited to developing
countries. The business model is seen by
many to be viable only with subsistence
labor, with no economic basis for mechanized agriculture.
Some users have few alternatives to
liquid fuels. Land transport can theoretically drastically reduce or eliminate liquid
fuel use, e.g., with EVs, NGVs, hybrids,
H2, LNG, etc. But these solutions do not
apply well to propulsion for aircraft and, to
a lesser extent, water craft, which will have
limited alternatives for liquid fuels.
Biobased technologies are challenging. Most fermentations are batch, with
unit operations most different from chemical/refining processing. This places limits
on economies of scale. Fermentations are
vulnerable to feedstock inhibition, attack
by alien microbes, phage infections, genetic
drift/mutation, etc., further limiting feasibility of continuous operations. Cellulosic
biomass feedstocks have logistics limitations
due to regional growing density, bulk, moisture content/weight, tendency to rot, etc.
Charring/torrefaction of feeds in the field as
a solution does not apply to fermentations.
Brazil has a short operating year.
While biotech companies are flocking to
form joint ventures (JVs) with Brazilian
sugar mills, these typically operate only
about 200 days per year due to seasonal
weather/growing cycles. This is a long growing season relative to North America or
Western Europe. However, sugarcane and
its juice cannot be stored like corn, wheat
and even cassava; sugar mills are capitalinefficient compared to using these feed-
Competing renewables, lower

carbon alternatives. Similar to
biorenewables, the environment is favorable for other renewable and lower carbon
approaches, which include:
Unconventional/new methane
resources, such as:
Shale gas and coal-bed methane
Fugitive methane to market (M2M),
including landfill gas (LFG) and biodigester gas. These can be developed for use
in natural gas vehicles (NGVs), enabled by
implementing small-scale LNG to capture,
clean and manage these resources.
Shale gas is being aggressively developed in North America, but there are also
substantial resources on most major land
masses, including Central Europe, China,
Southeast Asia, India and Australia.
Electric vehicles (EVs), wherein the
electricity is provided by solar PV, wind,
wave, hydroelectric and other low-carbon
sources. (In Brazil, new initiatives toward
enabling EVs are creating anxiety and
resentment in the sugar/ethanol industry
and may free up ethanol capacity in the
future to supply feedstock to green chemicals and polymers production.)
Table 1 is a conceptual review of the
relative merits of competing renewables.
As indicated, each has counterbalancing
strengths and weaknesses, and no clear winner is yet apparent.
The development of biofuels and renewable chemicals and polymers involves many
challenges:
Biodiesel development disappointing. The world vehicle fleet is undergoing
TABLE 1. How green are alternative energy sources?

1 is weakest rating, 3 is strongest
Drivers/energy sources
First-gen. Ferm. Next-gen. Bio
New CH4
Biogas M2M
Carbon footprint
Energy security (incl. scale)
Jobs and rural development (incl. scale)
Other sustainability
Feasibility (experimental=0, commercial=3)
12
12
12
15
Total
Source: Nexant
52
stocks and to traditional petroleum-based

industries, which operate year-round.
Ways to adapt this industry to a longer
operating year (such as off-season operation on molasses, etc.) are being developed.
If dehydration of ethanol to ethylene is the
objective, ethanol can be stored for feeding
in the off-season. But if feeding the sugar
juice to another type of fermentation is
the objective, then the solutions will likely
need to be more integral and customized to
each technology.
Poor progress in cellulosic ethanologens. Corn and sugarcane are viewed
as transitional feedstocks that will produce

the vast majority of ethanol and other fermentation biofuels until technologies for
conversion of biomass become commercially
competitive. The latter will yield a mixture
of C5 and C6 sugars, with lignin for separation and utilization, and with inhibitors
present that are typically generated in the
pretreatment and/or hydrolysis steps. The
role of oil companies is increasing in supporting development of advanced generation
of biofuels, including that of ethanologens
(ethanol-producing organisms).
Even more significantly, BP has just
announced acquisition of Verenium and
its demonstration plant in Jennings, Louisiana. However, Nexant believes that neither corn nor sugarcane ethanol are going
away anytime soon. Also, both types of
plants can be easily modified to produce
second- and third-generation biofuels and
renewable chemicals. Nexant also believes
the carbon life cycle performances of both
types of plants are better than some popular
perceptions, especially for corn ethanol.
There is a huge diversity of life-cycle
analysis (LCA) factors used by analysts.
The actual performance of any one plant
depends heavily on location, but there
has been steady progress throughout the
industry to improve LCA performance. For
example, the US Department of Agriculture
reported in 2009 that water consumption
rates for corn ethanol can be as low as 10
gallons water/gallon ethanol in the US Corn
Belt region, or as high as 324 gallons water/
gallon ethanol in the Northern Plains.
Refiners are becoming active.
It is understandable that refiners will

embrace market participation in ethanol
production, given how integral ethanol
has become to the entire fuel value chain.
The cost and tax structure of ethanol production can also make such involvement
highly profitable for refiners.
RFS targets reduced. Short-term
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) targets for
biodiesel and second-generation biofuels
have been cut back, due to slower than
anticipated progress in the commercialization of these technologies. The ethanol
blend wall is a potentially major barrier
for continued growth in ethanol use in
the US, making it practically impossible
to achieve the RFS goals. This is because
an increased supply is not likely to be consumed by the E85 (85% ethanol blended
fuels) market, and most of the nations
retail stations have already transitioned
to E10 (10% ethanol, 90% gasoline). An
increase to 15% allowable ethanol (E15)
or higher in gasoline is being considered
by the US EPA, and Nexant expects a
level above 10% will be approved in the
near future.
Government funding. There are sev-
eral major US government funding initiatives for biofuels that serve the dual purposes
of widespread dissemination of federal funds
to help drive economic recovery and promote clean energy. This includes Advanced
Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
technical sponsorship through the Fungible
Biofuels and Algae Consortia. Through an
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA) program, 19 diverse biorefinery
projects have been given grants totaling $564
million; Table 2 summarizes these projects.
n-Biobutanol vs. isobutanol. A big
development of the last three years is the

growth in interest in isobutanol relative
to n-butanol. Gevo, Cobalt and Butalco
(DuPont/BP joint venture) are all focused
on isobutanol, and French Global Bioen-
SPECIALREPORT
ergies has developed a fermentation route

directly to isobutylene. Gevo has achieved
demonstration-scale operation in a converted corn ethanol line in St. Joseph, Missouri. One concept proposed by Gevo is
to use isobutanol together with ethanol to
avoid the ethanol blend wall in achieving
RFS goals. As described here, bio-isobutanol
can be the starting point of a value chain
leading to green terephthalic acid (PTA).
Bio-hydrocarbons. Another exciting
development is that Gevo and several others
are developing potential routes either aimed
at, or capable of making green paraxylene
(PX). This can serve as a feedstock for green
PTA, one of the two monomers for PET.
These developments overlap with Gevos
efforts at fuels production. Recognizing its
progress in developing its iso-C4 platform,
TABLE 2. ARRA biorefieries grantees
Grantee
DOE
grant,
$MM
Other
funds,
$MM
Project Location
Description
1) Pilot and Demonstration Scale FOA - Pilot Scale

Algenol Biofuels, Inc.
25
34
Freeport , TX
100,000 gpy ethanol using algae
American Process Inc.
18
10.1
Alpena, MI
Up to 890,000 gpy ethanol and 690,000 gpy potassium acetate, startup 201
Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc.
25
10.5
Emeryville, CA
Diesel substitute by fermenting sweet sorghum, plus lubricants, polymers,

petrochem substitutes
Archer Daniels Midland
24.8
10.9
Decatur, IL
Hydrolyze biomass with acid, for fuels or energy, make ethanol and ethyl acrylate
ClearFuels Technology Inc.
23
13.4
Commerce City, CO
Renewable diesel and jet fuel, integrating ClearFuels and Rentech technologies,
use baggase and biomass mixes
Elevance Renewable Sciences
2.5
0.6
Newton, IA
Complete preliminary engineering design for jet fuel, renewable diesel, high value
chemicals from plant oils and poultry fat
Gas Technology Institute
2.5
0.6
Des Plaines, IL
Complete preliminary engineering design for green gasoline and diesel from woody
biomass, ag residues and algae
Haldor Topse, Inc.
25
9.7
Des Plaines, IL
Wood to green gasoline integrating and optimizing multi-step gasification, 21 tpd feedstock
ICM, Inc. (with Gevo)
25
6.2
St. Joseph, MO
Modify existing corn-ethanol plant for switchgrass and energy sorghum,

using biochemical conversion
20.4
5.1
Visalia, CA
Ethanol based on switchgrass and woody biomass via biochemical route
20
5.1
Toledo, OH
Pyrolysis and steam reforming of ag and forest residues for green diesel,
25 tpd feedstock
Logos Technologies
Renewable Energy Institute
International
Solazyme, Inc.
21.8
3.9
Riverside, PA
Algae oilvalidate projected economics of commercial scale biorefinery
UOP LLC
25
6.7
Kapolei, HI
Integrate existing Ensyn/UOP technologies for green gasoline, diesel, jet fuel
based on ag residues, woody biomass, energy crops and algae
ZeaChem Inc.
25
48.4
Boardman, OR
Hybrid technology to convert poplar wood to ethanol and acetic acid/acetates
2) Pilot and demonstration scale FOAdemonstration scale

BioEnergy International, LLC
50
89.6
Lake Providence, LA
Succinic acid by fermentation of grain sorghum
Enerkem Corporation
50
90.5
Ponotoc, MS
At an existing landfill, woody biomass from MSW to ethanol, green chemicals

via gasification and catalysis
INEOS New Planet Bioenergy, LLC
50
50
Vero Beach, FL
8 MM gpy ethanol and 2 MW electricity from ag residues and MSW,

combined gasification and fermentation, startup end of 2011
Sapphire Energy, Inc.
50
85
Columbus, NM
Algae ponds for green jet fuel and diesel, using Dynamic Fuels refining
3) Increased funding of existing biorefinery projects

Bluefire LLC
81.1
223.2
Fulton, MS
19 MM gpy ethanol based on wooy biomass, sorted MSW
564.1
Source: US Department of Energy
I 53
SPECIALREPORT
Lanxess has recently taken a sponsoring/

partnership position with Gevo.
The other monomer, ethylene glycol has
been made for decades by Indian Glycols via
the ethanol dehydration process developed
by Scientific Design Co. This process route
is now being used in PET production.
Besides the iso-C4 developments, there
is a high interest in green olefins in many
regions. This interest is variously aimed
at ethanol-to-ethylene for MEG, PE and
PVC, as well as for many other derivatives.
Green propylene, on the other hand, has
a wide variety of potential routes for its
manufacture, including dehydrogenation of
green propane (e.g., from renewable diesel
processes), though this is not yet commercialized.) Metathesis of bio-ethylene with
bio-n-butene has several possible sources.
A number of developers are also focused
on isoprene, including Amyris, which has
specialized in C5 hydrocarbons. These consist of isoprenoidsisoprene, d-limonene,
farnesenefor fuels and chemicals production. These and other developers are flockUS PBR algae oil 50 MMgal
bio-renewables. Biodiesel (FAME) production in the US has stagnated , with many

ventures shutting down due to the lapse of
the US $1.00/gal tax credit. Future growth
in non-petroleum diesel will likely be driven
by biodiesel from non-food oils, such as
algae and jatropha, as well as by new supplies
of renewable diesel via hydrocracking.
White biochemistrybiopolymers. Compared to biofuels, develop-
ment of renewable chemicals and polymers

is much more complex and only highlights
are discussed herein. There has been a proliferation of players and projects in polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA) and the succinic acid/BDO value chains. At the same
time, there is a great deal of confusion in
the market and in public perception over
biopolymers properties, use and disposal,
US open pond algae oil 50 MMgal
Price, $/gal
Catalyst and chemicals

Fixed costs
100,000
Byproduct credit
Capital related costs
Beta carotene
DHA
Kevlar
Caffeine
10,000
Nylon 6.6
n-Butanol
1,000
Fish oil
FAME
LLDPE
Fertilizer
PVC
Ethanol
Corn
100
Portland cement
10
0.0001
FIG. 2
54
0.001
0.01
0.1
1
10
Market volume, million tons
100
Conceptual price-volume exclusion correlation. (Nexant analysis)
and growing focus among companies on

the differences among:
Biodegradable renewable (PLA,
PHA)
Biodegradable/degradablenonrenewable or only partially so
Non-biodegradable (fungible) renewablegreen PE and polypropylene (PP).
Customers and the polymer industry are
at a crossroads in making choices among
these, and in developing improvements to
better fit end-use needs.
New feedstocks. New marginal food
crops are emerging as biorenewable feedstocks. These are crops that are widely known
and cultivated, but must be considered second tier compared to corn, wheat and rice.
Among these are sorghum (grain and sweet),
cassava and sweet potatoes. China, for example, has mandated that corn not be used for
ethanol manufacture, in favor of crops like
sweet potatoes. With some of these starchy
crops, however, new diseases are emerging
(e.g., cassava rot) to threaten plans for efficient monoculture plantations.
Jatropha and algae have had a smaller
impact than expected. D1 and BP, longtime
champions, pulled out of jatropha, although
there have been some successes among local
small is beautiful developers in developing
economies such as India and Africa.
Algae. Algae are single-cell species that,
PBR and open pond algae lipids conceptual cost of production. (Nexant analysis)
1,000,000
Price, $/ton
Biodiesel. Biodiesel is a lame duck among
Diesel prices for expected

range of crude oil prices
Feedstock
Utilities
FIG. 1
ing to Brazil to forge JVs with the major

players for access to cheap sugar syrup for
both chemicals and fuels production.
1,000
10,000
unlike other plants, can produce high levels of lipids along with carbohydrates and
proteins. Algae technology has been pursued for decades, with some recent breakthroughs. There continues to be more
interest and investment in algae, despite the
challenges associated with it that need to
simultaneously meet these requirements:
Cheap land
Excellent insolation
Water resources
Superior biota (yield/area)
Source of clean, concentrated CO2
Other cash flows.
Generic technologies for algae are open
ponds and photobioreactor (PBR) systems.
In general, the economics of both systems
are not competitive to conventional fuel or
chemical production economics. Developers of various technologies often rely heavily
on income from production of high-value
byproducts to substantiate even the current
poor economics. Conceptual results of Nexants economic models for open ponds and
PBRs are shown in Fig. 1. This indicates
that even the state-of-the-art technology is
far from being commercial. Nexant believes
that algae oil production at true economic
commercial scale operations (defined as
producing tens of thousands barrels per day
for fuels) is at least 10 years away.
ExxonMobil has recently announced
positive progress in its JV with Synthetic
Genomics, opening a new greenhouse
facility in California to examine different
growth systems, temperatures and lighting
systems for algal growth. This JV appears
to be taking a very systematic approach
to algae technology development, with
targets for development over time that,
if met, are designed to lead to large-scale
commercialization.
It is not clear which technology is likely
to accomplish this first. In addition to the
generic models, several interesting alternatives are being pursued:
Algenolethanol, not lipids
production in a PBR system, with backing/partnering including Dow Chemical,
Valero and Linde AG.
Solazymesugar-fed, non-photosynthetic (without sunlight or CO2) algae-based
conventional fermentation to make lipids
Martek (a PBR/open-pond staged
hybrid, with emphasis on high-value coproducts.)
Many algae technology developers rely

on the high-value specialty byproducts to
support their economics. There is a danger in assuming that such byproducts will
maintain their high prices as algae capacities approach commercial scale, due to the
impact of market price/volume elasticity.
Fig. 2 makes it clear, considering a very wide
range of commodity and specialty product types (building materials to polymers,
chemicals and nutraceuticals), that one cannot have the high volumes of sales needed
for commercial production of fuels, while
maintaining high prices. Markets tolerate
either commodity-scale production or high
unit prices. Rarely is it possible to have both.
Effectively, if production of algae-based
byproducts increases significantly, they will
oversupply their markets and prices will rapidly fall to commodity levels.
Outlook. The biorenewables industry has
evolved since 2007, with these key drivers:

Strong public policy drivers and funding, including mandated use of secondgeneration biofuels
Growing interest and investment by
traditional oil and chemical firms
Weak performance by biodiesel sector
SPECIALREPORT
Slow progress in technical and commercial development of cellulosic-based fuels

No clear winners from a technical
approach and feedstock basis have yet to
emerge. HP
Ron Cascone is manager of biofuels development
at Nexant, Inc./ChemSystems White Plains, New York
office. He is a chemical engineer with 40 years of industrial experience in a broad range of energy and chemical processes and products, most recently focusing on
biorenewables (fuels, chemicals and biopolymers) as
part of Nexants global practice. He deals with technology and project development through feasibility studies, market and due diligence assignments, as well as
leading multi-client reports, including the recently published Liquid Biofuels: Substituting for Petroleum, and
Algae: Emerging Options for Sustainable Biofuels.
Bruce F. Burke is a vice president of Nexants Energy

Resources Business Unit, with responsibility for energyrelated consulting assignments in North America, South
America and Asia. Relevant areas of interest include
technology assessment, petroleum refining, natural gas
utilization, market and price forecasting, and emerging
alternative fuel use in the global energy industry. An
experienced international project manager, Mr. Burke
has conducted numerous studies on the production and
integration of first- and second- generation biofuels with
conventional refinery and chemicals production. He has
a degree in chemical engineering from the University of
Pennsylvania, and began his career with Gulf Oil Refining, following by energy consulting with ChemSystems
(from 1980), and Nexant (from 2001).

I 55
Results
Seven (7) ethane cracking furnaces supplied by Selas Fluid to Saudi Ethylene and Polyethylene Company (SEPC) on an
EPC basis. Completed ahead of schedule and contributed over 1 million accident-free man hours to the entire project.
Selas Fluid has supplied innovative heater, furnace, and oxidation technologies to reneries
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SPECIALREPORT

New ceramic feed distributor offers ultimate erosion protection
L. M. WOLSCHLAG and K. A. COUCH, UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company, Des Plaines, Illinois
luid catalytic cracking (FCC) technology has been a part of

the petroleum industry since the 1940s. Despite being a very
mature technology, continued development is vital, especially
as many refiners move their FCC operations from fuels production to higher-value products. Advanced diagnostic and design
tools are accelerating process developments.
Through the development and commercialization of worldscale FCC units, technical discoveries have emerged that provide
opportunities for improvements across all units, independent of
size. Using sophisticated engineering tools, such as computational
fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling combined with radioactive tracer
and tomography, will streamline physical inspection reports and
commercial yield analysis. The article highlights advancements
in regenerator technology for higher capacity through existing
assets, emissions reduction and feed distribution systems for
large-diameter risers.
ysis (gamma scan) of the riser was completed. The scan results
confirmed the CFD model prediction as illustrated in Fig. 1.
Radioactive tracer work was also completed on the 9-ft ID
riser. Irradiated Krypton-79 gas was injected into the riser base.
Detectors were positioned along the riser length and reactor to
measure the tracer as it moved through the system. The results
indicated that the time of flight of the krypton gas from one
detector to another did not provide a sharp response peak. An
early peak followed by a secondary peak which was skewed a high
degree is shown in Fig. 2.
A mathematical evaluation was performed to determine what
type of continuous stir tank reactor (CSTR) response would be
needed to emulate the measured data. To accurately reproduce the
field data plot, a composite plot modeled 100, 40 and 15 CSTR
responses (Fig. 2).
Unit performance, CFD modeling, tracer and tomography
tests, and mathematical analysis all indicated the same pathologythe feed was not adequately accessing the full cross-sectional area of the riser leading to the presence of a high-density
core of catalyst and a low-density annulus, which caused low
conversion and high dry gas and coke make. One solution to
this problem would be to install two, smaller diameter risers to
match more conventional FCC sizes. However, installing dual
risers, even with new construction, is substantially more expensive. For an FCC unit of 200,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd),
the estimated cost difference between a single, large-radius riser
and a pair of smaller risers has a cost estimated at $60 million.
A substantially lower cost solution with an implementation of
dual-radius feed distributors was developed (Fig. 3). This design
Dual-radius feed distributors. As refiners look to capitalize on economies of scale, design throughputs of FCC units have
reached record levels. At these scales, opportunities have emerged
from the background noise of the data to improve FCC technology. Through pushing multiple constraints to design limits on one
particular unit, yields and conversion deviated from benchmark
performance, with gasoline selectivity lower, conversion lower and
dry gas higher than benchmark performance. To get more out of
the existing asset, an intensive program was undertaken to achieve
benchmark performance.
The riser for a particular FCC unit has an inner diameter
(ID) of 6.6 ft at the point of feed injection, which expands to 9
ft immediately above. The feed is injected
into the riser through a set of circumferentially positioned distributors. The combination of low conversion and high dry gas
yield seems counter-intuitive, given traditional FCC operations. A hypothesis was
raised that the large riser diameter might
be preventing the feed from adequately
distributing across the full cross-sectional
area of the riser. To test this hypothesis,
a CFD model of the riser was created to
analyze the fluid dynamics of the system.
Results of the model supported that raw oil
feed would only penetrate the riser a finite
distance, thus creating a vapor annulus,
and that much of the catalyst flowing up
FIG. 1 CFD prediction and gamma scan of 6.6-ft riser.
the riser would form a high-density core.
Based on CFD results, a tomographic anal-
I 57
SPECIALREPORT
ensures optimal feed distribution across the entire riser, while

avoiding adjacent spray impact that could cause undesirable
spray interference.
Another CFD model that incorporates the dual-radius feed
distributors was created. Fig. 4 shows catalyst density profiles of
an axial slice of the riser, both with and without dual-radius feed
distributors. The riser on the left side without the dual radius feed
distributors shows the high-density core of the catalyst; the CFD
model with the dual radius feed distributors indicates that the
catalysts dense core is effectively eliminated.
The dual-radius feed distributors were installed on a FCC unit
designed with an 8-ft-diameter riser at the point of feed injection.
The unit was commissioned in May 2009. Results indicate that dry
gas yield and conversion and gasoline selectivity were within expectations. The risers gamma scans indicate that the catalysts high
density core was effectively eliminated. The catalyst density profile
of the riser at approximately 1 pipe diameter above the point of
dual radius feed injection, indicates that core annular flow has been
achieved with an evenly distributed catalyst density profile (Fig. 5).
Additional tomography scans were completed at varying feed ratios
to optimize distribution of oil and steam across the riser.
Erosion of the inner feed distributors was a client concern.
This was mitigated by using ceramic feed distributors. Ceramic
March 14, 2007, gas injection
1,000
Early peak
feed plug
ow core?
Response
800
Centroid 77.18s
t-res = 1.32s
velocity 9.3 m/s
600
Riser ex top avg

40 CSTR response
Composite
100 CSTR response
15 CSTR response
400
Late peak
wall holdup?
200
0
0
3
4
Seconds
FIG. 2
Mathematical composite.
FIG. 3
Schematic of dual-radius feed distributors.
offers the ultimate in erosion protection, and feed distributors

with ceramic tips can withstand highly erosive environments with
zero discernable erosion.
CERAMIC FEED DISTRIBUTORS
Development. FCC feed distributor tips are subjected to a
high-temperature, high-velocity erosive environment. To function in this harsh environment, FCC feed distributors have historically been fabricated from various erosion-resistant materials.
While these materials are proven effective at reducing rates of
erosion, most erosion-resistant materials are, by their nature,
generally hard and brittle and can be susceptible to brittle fracture. Erosion and brittle fracture have been an industry-wide
issue, and can be induced mechanically or by thermal shock.
This must be considered in the design of FCC feed distributors
as erosion and brittle fracture can occur when relatively cold oil
and/or steam are rapidly introduced to the system in which the
tips are hot from circulating catalyst.
These issues were addressed in many ways with a distribution
system. Following proper operating procedures will avoid thermal
shock and brittle fracture. However, erosion is more a function of
operating environment as opposed to improper operation.
Designs. Advanced design feed distributors include three primary designs: standard, weld overlay and ceramic. The standard
designthe new distributor for most FCC applicationsbalances the erosion issue and the possibility of cracking due to thermal shock. The tip incorporates a more erosion-resistant metal
alloy, changing the geometry and reducing stress concentrations.
Incorporating orifice extensions extends the flashing hydrocarbon
feed further away from the metal tip. Additional protection can
be provided by applying a very hard diffusion coating over the
cobalt-based (Co-based) alloy.
The weld overlay design is applied to resolve chronic problems
with wet steam and installations that have a high risk of thermal
shock. The erosion-resistant weld overlay is applied to a softer,
more ductile base metal for superior thermal shock resistance.
To further combat erosion, this tip incorporates orifice extensions to move the flashing hydrocarbon feed further away from
FIG. 4
58
CFD models of the riser catalyst

profiles with and without dualradius feed distributors.
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SPECIALREPORT
the distributor tip. While a very hard diffusion coating is used

to provide additional protection against erosion, the primary
design goal is resistance to thermal shock, and, therefore, it is
recommended only for FCC operations that have proven to be
particularly susceptible to thermal shock.
Finally, the ceramic design represents a step-change improvement for superior erosion resistance. Determining the erosion
potential of FCC feed distributors is based on the physical properties of the feedstock. The ceramic design is used in applications
where erosion is forecast to be higher than normal or in units that
have previously exhibited high erosion rates. Even though the
ceramic material is very hard, quench testing in the laboratory
FIG. 5
Gamma scan of 8-ft ID riser with dual-radius feed

distributors.
and commercial application have indicated that new ceramic tips

are no more susceptible to thermal shock than traditional fabrications with co-based alloys. Fig. 6 shows three new tip designs, as
well as older versions.
Ceramic tipsdesign challenges. Ceramic materials are
widely accepted and proven to be more resistant to erosion than

metallic materials. The characteristics that impart erosion resistance also tend to make these materials more brittle. Successful
application of ceramics in FCC feed injection required that two
technical challenges be overcome: 1) selecting a suitable ceramic
material that can be fabricated into the required geometry and
2) developing a means to connect the ceramic tip to the metallic
base assembly of the distributor.
The geometry used for the ceramic distributor tip was the
same as the traditional elliptical-feed distributor. The same principles and considerations applied to reducing mechanical stresses
and improving thermal shock resistance in metallic tips were
applied to address the brittle nature of ceramics. The ceramic
tips were subjected to laboratory quench testing to simulate the
unique temperature profiles in the feed-injection system. Quench
testing was used to help select the proper ceramic material, and it
confirmed that the final material was no more susceptible to brittle fracture than previous FCC feed distributor metallic tips.
The large differences in thermal expansion coefficients
between the materials provided the next challengea means
of attaching the ceramic tip to the metallic base assembly.
The attachment should provide a liquid-tight seal at design
pressure drop across the distributor, while accommodating
a wide range of feed and steam temperatures experienced
across startup, normal operation and FCC unit shutdown.
Creative engineering, stress modeling, full-scale prototyping
and therma-cycle testing were all used to develop a proprietary
mechanical connection. With an acceptable ceramic identified and a means of connecting the ceramic to the metal base
assembly, the next step was to demonstrate new distributors
in a commercial application.
Ceramic tipsa commercial experience. As the design
details for the new ceramic tip and connection were finalized,
an opportunity presented itself in which two ceramic tips could
be installed in the same reactor riser at the same time as metallic tips, providing an ideal side-by-side commercial test.1 The
subject FCC had a history of aggressive feed distributor tip erosion, and a trial installation of the ceramic tips was welcomed.
Final design details regarding tip connection were addressed. In
FIG. 6
60
FCC feed distributor tip designs.
FIG. 7
Metallic and ceramic feed distributor tips after 18 months

in operation.
Hope is a
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you can count on.

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Call AltairStrickland today. You can count on us

to help make your next turnaround a success.
AltairStrickland
1605 South Battleground Road
La Porte, TX 77571
Call 281-478-6200 1-800-478-6206
www.altairstrickland.com
SPECIALREPORT
April 2007, ceramic tips were commissioned in a commercial

FCC reactor riser.
After 18 months of operation, the ceramic tips were inspected
and were free of erosion and cracking, while the adjacent metallic tips exhibited signs of erosion. In Fig. 7, the metallic tip
shows significant erosion, while the ceramic tip shows zero
discernable erosion.
The viability and benefit of using ceramic tips for the feed
distributor were confirmed. The expected life of the distributors
in this application was revolutionized, from imminent failure
(with an average run life of 23 years), to potentially a life with
perpetual success.
Since January 2010, FCC ceramic feed distributors have been
delivered to three refiners in addition to the trial installation. The
second installation was placed into service on May 17, 2009, and
it continues to perform well with two additional project shipments pending. Ceramic distributors are currently recommended
and supplied as the premiere offering to improve reliability in
installations with aggressive distributor tip erosion.
Elephant trunk arm combustor riser disengager.
The market drive to maximize returns through economies of

scale can present technical challenges with respect to scale-up. A
phenomenon occurred on a large combustor style FCC regenera-
62
FIG. 8
Dual-radius cyclone system in regenerator.
FIG. 9
Tee and elephant trunk arm disengage.
tor in which flue-gas catalyst losses appeared to increase at the

higher end of superficial velocities that are typically stable for
smaller designs. In this case, the refiner was interested in achieving a higher capacity through an existing asset.
The inside of the upper regenerator has two major pieces of
equipment: cyclones and a combustor disengager. The combustor disengager provides the first-stage inertial separation of catalyst from the combustion products, and the cyclones provide the
final separation. Layout of this particular regenerator is unique
in that the cyclone pairs are configured on two different radii
(Fig. 8). While this has been a common plan view layout for
bubbling-bed regenerators, this was the first time it was applied
to a combustor-style unit.
To start the evaluation, a CFD model of the regenerator was
created to study the unit-specific gas flow paths in the upper
regenerator. The model demonstrated that the gas flow exiting
the standard tee disengaging arms was in the range of 49 m/s
(Fig. 11). This velocity range is between 50%100% higher at
a 15% lower superficial velocity compared to the next largest
combustor-style regenerator. The model also indicated that the
jet length projected from the disengaging arm was long enough
that the high-velocity gas stream moved horizontally in the area
of the dipleg termination. This resulted in fines re-entrainment
with preferential flow to the inner-radius cyclone pair, at a rate
that exceeded the catalyst discharge capacity of the cyclones. This
result was initially difficult to believe, as the primary cyclone
inlets on the two different radii were only 18 in. apart. However,
the preferential flow was readily apparent upon internal unit
inspections at the turnaround six years after commissioning. A
slight change to the base design had a profound impact on the
equipment performance.
Solution. The solution developed was a variation on what
is called the elephant trunk disengager (Fig. 12). While basic
elephant trunk disengagers were used in FCC reactor riser disengagers in the late 70s and early 80s, the regenerator application
required substantial engineering work to ensure that the proper
gas flow paths and catalyst separation efficiencies were achieved.
The disengager arm was curved to lower the impact transition,
reduce catalyst attrition and improve lining reliability. The shroud
was extended to direct the catalyst more into the catalyst bed, but
was limited in length so as not to provide excessive separation
FIG. 10
CFD model of the gas profiles in the upper regenerator

with tee and elephant trunk arm disengagers.
efficiency that would lead to increased afterburn and high dilute
phase temperatures. The outlet area was optimized to ensure that
the combustion gases bleed off horizontally with minimal crosswind at cyclone dipleg terminations (Fig. 9).
The CFD model of the final design indicated that at a superficial velocity of 1.05 m/s, slightly higher than the base case
model, the gas velocities exiting the arms of the elephant trunk
disengager were significantly lower than the gas velocities for the
tee disengager, with peak gas velocities reduced by 25% and the
horizontal gas velocities at the dipleg outlets reduced to nearly
zero (Fig. 10).
With the original design, 10 out of 11 inner cyclones holed
through after six years of operation. With the elephant trunk
disengage installation, the fines entrained to the inner-cyclone
set were reduced sufficiently to reasonably expect a 10-year service life. This enables the refiner to either significantly reduce
maintenance costs and realize greater onstream reliability, or to
push the system harder for greater operating margin.
CFD model validation. CFD models have historically
met with substantial skepticism in mixed-phase fluidized bed
systems. To validate the CFD modeling efforts, multiple operating regenerators were modeled, and the results compared
with turnaround field inspection reports. The CFD modeling
has proven to be predictive with respect to erosion of both the
cyclones and the external support braces when compared with
field inspection reports.
To further evaluate the accuracy of the CFD modeling and
determine the proper boundary conditions for the models, multiple radioactive tracer tests were completed on regenerators with
the tee disengager and elephant trunk disengager. The downward
gas flow predicted with the tee disengager was validated, and the
residence time of the flue gas within the upper regenerator was
within 6% of the CFD model. Tracer studies of the elephant
trunk disengager confirmed a greater amount of gas dispersion,
eliminating regions of high gas velocity, and effectively using
regenerator volume.
The first commercial combustor riser elephant trunk disengager was commissioned in 2009. Initial results have been very
promising. Catalyst containment is very good and continues
Cyclone 10
14%
12%
Cyclone 9
SPECIALREPORT
to be closely monitored. The flue gas residence time in the

upper regenerator increased by as much as 26%substantially
improving regenerator performance. The unit design and operation resulted in extremely low delta coke operation and a regenerator average dense-bed temperature as low as 1,198F. Even
with this low regenerator temperature operating at maximum
throughput, the average afterburn is only 8F. This is a stepchange advancement in regenerator combustion performance
and it supports that the modeled increase in flue-gas residence
time was achieved.2
The elephant trunk disengager was developed to improve the
performance of a very large combustor. CFD modeling, tracer
work, unit inspection and operational data collectively contributed to its creation, proof of principle and commercialization.
However, by using these sophisticated tools, other benefits were
FIG. 12
Gull-wing and piped spent-catalyst distributor.
6HQVRU6ROXWLRQV
IRUWKH1H[W'HFDGH
Cyclone 1
10%
8%
Cyclone 2
6%
4%
2%
0%
Cyclone 3
Cyclone 7
Cyclone 4
Cyclone 6
FIG. 11
Cyclone 5
Catalyst tracer results for a bubbling bed regenerator with

a gull-wing design.
ZZZVLFNVROXWLRQVWRXUFRP
discovered that are applicable to all sized units. Eliminating the
high-velocity regions reduces erosion to internals and associated
catalyst attrition. The increased residence time improves the burning capacity of the regenerator, enables lower excess oxygen operation and directionally reduces NOx emissions. Now, the elephant
trunk arm disengager has become the standard design for all new
combustor-style regenerators, with several revamp and new unit
designs in progress.
Turn it on now!
SPENT CATALYST DISTRIBUTOR
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Problem. Engineering tools and associated skills used to solve

the previously discussed problems for very large FCC units can be
used on FCC units of all sizes and types, to support operating and
reliability needs of individual refiners. In one example, an 80,000bpsd FCC unit with a bubbling bed regenerator exhibited a regenerator cyclone outlet temperature differential of 100F from one
side of the regenerator to the other. This afterburn differential
resulted in a localized hot spot that limited the throughput of the
unit against a main air-blower constraint. The regenerator was
an older design that used a gull-wing spent-catalyst distributor
design. Catalyst maldistribution in the regenerator causes fuel-rich
areas in the dense phase, with localized hot spots directly above
in the dilute phase. Hot spots can be completely invisible within
a unit depending on where instrumentation is placed in relation
to the spent-catalyst inlet.
To validate the temperature data, catalyst tracer work was
completed on the regenerator to evaluate the flow distribution
in the unit. With ideal distribution, a radar plot of the detector
signals would show perfect symmetry. The actual unit data showed
that the catalyst was heavily skewed to one side, which was not a
surprise (Fig. 11).
Solution. The typical spent catalyst distributor installed in a
bubbling-bed regenerator of this vintage was the gull wing design
with an external lift riser. Fig. 12 is a schematic of the distributor.
Air maldistribution in this type of regenerator design results from
two sources. First, the external riser lift air discharges vertically out
of the disengager, resulting in an oxygen-rich environment in the
dilute phase. Second, high localized catalyst density and resultant
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FIG. 13
64
vwe1002_AZ_85x255_US.indd 2
19.02.2010 13:39:16 Uhr
CFD model of the catalyst densities in a regenerator with

gull-wing and piped spent-catalyst distributors.
hydraulic head caused a preferential flow of combustion air to the
opposite side of the regenerator.
To achieve a more even catalyst density and uniform coke
distribution, the piped spent catalyst distributor was developed
(Fig. 12). The piped distributor was designed to radially distribute both the lift air and spent catalyst across the regenerator
bed through a set of side arms. The size and orientation of the
distributor arms were designed in an iterative process with CFD
modeling to ensure as much even catalyst and air distribution
as possible within the back-pressure limitations of the existing
lift air blower.
CFD models of the gull-wing distributor and the piped spent
catalyst distributor were created to predict the catalyst distribution, gas flow paths and bed-density profiles in the bubbling-bed
regenerator. With the gull wing distributor, the catalyst was
concentrated in the bed center. With the piped spent catalyst
distributor, the catalyst distribution was much more uniform
throughout the bed (Fig. 13).
SPECIALREPORT
coke yield, optimum coke combustion while retaining existing

equipment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank the following individuals for their assistance in providing
data and/or support that made this article a realityPeter J. Van Opdorp, UOP,
who provided the yield estimate comparisons between the design case and outer
maximum case; Reza Mostofi-Ashtiani, Mechanical Engineering and Materials
Engineering Center, for providing his assistance and expertise with the CFD
models; and Dave Ferguson, Justin Tippit, Benjamin Chang, Pannatat Trikasem,
Brian Octavianus and Nurudin Sidik, at Tracerco, for their dedication and effort
that contributed to a successful project.
1
2
LITERATURE CITED
Mitchell, T. P. and K. A. Couch, Optimix (ER) Commercialization
Ceramic Tips, July 2009.
Couch, K. A., K. D. Seibert and P. J. Van Opdorp, Controlling FCC Yields
and Emissions, NPRA Annual Meeting, March 2004.
Lisa Wolschlag is senior manager of the FCC, alkylation and treating develop-
Results. The piped spent-catalyst distributor was commis-
sioned in December 2006. Post-revamp tracer tests were conducted on the regenerator. The actual catalyst distribution is
very close to the ideal distribution as illustrated in Fig. 14.
Operational data also indicate a significant improvement
in the regenerator performance. The dilute phase temperature
differential was reduced from 100F pre-revamp to about 15F
following the implementation of the piped spent-catalyst distributor. As a result, the refiner was able to lower the excess oxygen level in the flue gas from a pre revamp minimum of 2 mol%
to a post-revamp 1 mol%, enabling a higher capacity through
existing assets and saving on utility consumption. HP
Part 2 of this article can be viewed online at HPs
Website in the September 2010 issue. The article will
discuss improvements in FCC technology that achieve lower
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and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
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UOP business located in Des Plaines, Illinois. He has worked for UOP for 18 years in
manufacturing, research and development, field operating service, technical service,
sales support and process development. Mr. Couch received a BS degree in chemical
engineering from Louisiana Tech University and is pursuing an MBA from the University of ChicagoBooth School of Business.
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SPECIALREPORT
Fine-tune processing heavy

crudes in your facility
A better understanding of asphaltene stability in crude oils
allows refiners to increase blending of opportunity feedstocks
T. FALKLER and C. SANDU, Baker Hughes, Sugar Land, Texas
eavy crude oils are often appealing feedstocks for refinOperational challenges. Heavy crude oils are commonly
eries, due to their lower cost. The availability of these
blended with lighter crudes and other feedstocks at terminals or
heavy crudes is improving as production rates increase,
in refinery crude tanks to facilitate transportation and processing.
particularly in North and South America. Refiners want to keep
Each heavy crude oil has unique physical and chemical charactercertain key performance indicators (KPIs) such as heat transistics that can represent specific operational challenges.
fer coefficients, corrosion rates, pressure drop and throughput
Heavy crudes are usually characterized by high levels of filterunder control. However, asphaltenes present in heavy crudes can
able solids, asphaltenes, water and salts, as compared to lighter
significantly affect these KPIs when they become destabilized
crude oils. Industry experience indicates that blending heavy
and agglomerate to the extent where precipitation can occur.
crudes with other crude oils or lighter feedstocks can form unstaAsphaltene particles can stabilize emulsions, causing desalter
ble or incompatible crude blends that can lead to serious operaperformance and oil carry-under
tional problems such as:
problems, and can contribute to The ability to measure crude blend stability
Sludge buildup in crude
accelerated fouling in crude unit and compatibility quickly and accurately can
storage tanks
preheat exchangers.
Stabilized emulsions
create a competitive advantage for refiners
This article reviews the prob More frequent desalter
wanting to improve feedstock flexibility and
lems associated with asphaltene
upsets
destabilization and discusses reduce feedstock costs by processing greater
Increased desalter water
new tools available to improve quantities of heavy crude oils. A robust field
and salt carryover
and control asphaltene behavior. testing instrument and analysis procedures
Increased amounts of oil in
A laboratory asphaltene stability have been developed that provide on-site
the desalter effluent water
test has been successfully used to measurements of crude blend asphaltene
Greater fouling in crudedetermine heavy crude feedstock stability allowing more timely feedstock
preheat exchangers, and in
compatibility. Case histories segregation and blend optimization decisions.
atmospheric and vacuum tower
show how new field techniques
furnaces.
were used to develop appropriate blend ratios for specific sets of
Greater salt carryover can also lead to increased corrosion activity
crude feedstocks, and how this information was used, together with
in the atmospheric tower and the overhead condensing system.
an asphaltene control-additive program, to improve the utilization
Fouling impact. The economic impact from fouling is very
of these crudes and avoid downstream operational problems.
significant. It is estimated that billions of dollars are spent annuHeavy feeds. Heavy crude oils are forecast to be more significant
ally to address this problem.6 Major areas affected by feedstock
feedstocks for refineries due to increased production coupled with
asphaltene destabilization are:
growing global energy demand. The heavy feedstocks commonly
Crude storage tanks
processed in US refineries usually come from California, Canada
Crude unit preheat exchangers
(Alberta or the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin), Venezu Crude unit atmospheric and vacuum furnaces
ela, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. Canadian heavy crude imports are
Resid hydroprocessing units
steadily increasing due to the pipeline infrastructure that has been
Delayed coker furnaces
recently developed and extended.13 To accommodate the growing
Visbreaker furnaces and preheat exchangers.
Fig. 1 illustrates the locations where fouling is observed in
influx of heavy crudes, several US refineries are revamping process
crude distillation unit operations. These impacted areas all creconfigurations; such modifications involve more bottoms upgradate significant operational problems by increasing energy costs,
ing capability and greater consumption of steam, hydrogen and
raising greenhouse gas emissions and limiting unit throughput.
power.35 These measures require a significant capital investment,
Typical measures that refineries can use to mitigate fouling pheand due to present economic conditions, their implementation is
nomena include:
progressing at a slow rate.
I 67
SPECIALREPORT
Increasing the frequency of heat exchanger and furnace tube

cleaning operations
Increasing furnace firing rates to compensate for furnace
inlet temperature losses
Chemically treating the crude charge with specialty chemical additives, such as asphaltene dispersants and stabilizers, to
improve asphaltene stability in the blended feed.
A combination of methods is often the most economical solution for managing fouling.7, 8
Considering that new, more stringent environmental regulations are anticipated, and rigorous control and lower levels of
carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions will be
required, refineries are challenged to identify the best approaches
to mitigate and control fouling phenomena with minimum capital expenditures.58
Role of asphaltenes. Asphaltenes are one of the major components of refinery fouling deposits. Asphaltenes are defined as a
class of hydrocarbons that are soluble in xylene and toluene, but not
soluble in paraffinic solvents such as heptane or pentane. They are
polar compounds that normally contain hetero-atoms like sulfur,
nitrogen and oxygen. When asphaltenes form aggregates, it is possible to generate sludge in storage tanks and fouling on equipment.
Asphaltenes can also aggregate at oil/water interfaces, where
they stabilize water-in-oil emulsions, or at oil/solid interfaces
where they can alter surface wetting properties. One area in
the refinery where this phenomenon is frequently encountered
is around the crude unit desalter. 9,10 In several cases where
heavy Canadian feedstocks were processed, it was observed that
asphaltene destabilization resulted in either a stabilized water/
oil emulsion in the desalter, increasing basic sediment and water
(BS&W) carryover into desalted crude, or the appearance of
asphaltenes in desalter effluent water.
Hot crude
preheat
Cold crude
preheat
Desalters
Crude
storage
Atmos.
crude
tower
Crude
furnace
The stability of a feed is not directly proportional to the

asphaltene amount present. More important, it is the stability
of the asphaltenes that are present in the organic matrix, and the
quality of the solvent in the organic matrix of the feed. Light
oils with limited amounts of asphaltenes are more likely to cause
problems during production than heavy crude oils with larger
amounts of material in the asphaltene fraction.11,12
Heavy crude oils, although they contain higher amounts of
asphaltenes vs. typical crudes, are also characterized by a rich
organic matrix of intermediate components such as resins,
aromatics, polynuclear aromatics with 23 rings, and naphthene-aromatics that are good asphaltene solvents. Light oils
can consist principally of paraffinic materials in which, by
definition, asphaltenes have very limited solubility. The key to
identifying feed stability lies in having a very accurate method
to measure the optimum ratio of the good solvent species vs.
the paraffinic components, thus preventing the destabilization
of asphaltenes by maintaining the optimum ratio throughout
the entire refining process.
Impact of blending on asphaltene behavior. There
is no linear behavior in crude blending; only in specific cases
may the behavior be close to linear where crude blends might
exhibit stabilities between the two individual crude oil stabilities.
These cases are usually encountered when crudes with a similar
amount of asphaltenes, as well as similar organic matrixes, are
mixed (e.g., light crude with light crude, or heavy crude with
heavy crude). In most real-life situations, the nonlinear behavior
is frequently seen where blends of light crude with heavy streams
are used. Fig. 2 shows a real-life example of a stability trend
obtained by mixing light crude with heavy crude. This example
illustrates clearly that the crude blend obtained has lower stability vs. the initial stabilities of the blend components, and there
is no linear behavior.
It is imperative for the refiner to assess the compatibility/
stability of the feedstocks prior to their blending, and to identify the optimum mitigation solution. Crude compatibility is
defined as the ability to blend two or more crude types without
inducing asphaltene precipitation. Crude stability is an intrinsic
physical characteristic and refers to the capacity of the crude
oil to keep all constituents, including the asphaltenes, well dis-
Vacuum
distillation
tower
Pipeline
Vacuum
furnace
Crude unit locations impacted by asphaltene fouling
phenomena.
Decreased stability
FIG. 1
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Light crude oil in blend, %
80
90
100
FIG. 3
FIG. 2
68
Example of nonlinear stability behavior upon mixing light

crude with heavy crude.
Example of crude incompatibility resulting in asphaltene

precipitation raw crude A (right); raw crude B (left); and
50/50 blend of crudes A/B (center).
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SPECIALREPORT
persed. Both parameters require evaluation prior to blending

or processing.
Fig. 3 shows an example of two crude oils that, upon mixing,
become incompatible and asphaltene destabilization occurs. On
the left side of Fig. 3 is the heavy crude oil that, by itself, is stable; on the right side is the lighter asphaltenic containing crude
that is also stable. Both crudes show no evidence of asphaltenes
precipitated on the bottle walls. By creating a 50/50 blend of
these two individual crudes, a very unstable mixture is produced
that immediately displays asphaltenes precipitated on the walls
of the bottle, thus indicating the incompatibility of these two
selected feedstocks. In practice, refineries blend their feedstocks
by considering a series of factors such as storage-tank availability
and capacity, feedstock availability and inventory, targeted refinery throughput and yield characteristics of the blend.
change in intensity upon a titration with an asphaltene precipitant (a nonsolvent such as pentane). An inflection point can be
observed in a plot of transmittance vs. the volume of added nonsolvent as flocculation begins. The point of inflection, expressed
as the asphaltene stability index (ASI), corresponds to the point
of asphaltene precipitation and provides a relative measure of the
asphaltenes stability in the oil.
A scale of ASI values was developed that can classify the feedstock with respect to its stability and fouling potential:
0130 ASI: High fouling potential
130200 ASI: Medium fouling potential
200 and higher ASI: Low fouling potential.
This technique is used to measure the stability of crude, crude
blends and the effects of chemical additives upon asphaltene
stability.13
Measuring asphaltene stability. A series of conventional
Asphaltene stability test case. A US West Coast refinery

displayed poor desalter dehydration and brine quality issues when
processing a particular heavy Canadian crude. The refinery was
interested in improving the desalter operation; the emulsion or
rag layer was building up and significant amounts of solids and
asphaltenes were present that diminished the salt-removal efficiency and affected the quality of the effluent brine. The refinery
was interested in solving these issues, but it also wanted to boost
the amount of this heavy crude processed above 7,000 bpd.
Laboratory tests were performed on the heavy crude, the refinery blend and multiple synthetic blends to identify the optimum
ratios for processing. The laboratory asphaltene stability test was
used to perform this study. Fig. 4 shows the asphaltene stability
results obtained for the standard refinery blend, where no heavy
blend component or asphaltene stability additives were present;
the heavy crude oil alone; and a blend containing 90% of the
standard unit blend with 10% heavy crude.
The standard unit feed shows a moderate fouling potential.
The heavy Canadian crude is severely unstable, with an ASI value
of 26. By adding only 10% of the heavy component into the standard crude blend, the asphaltene stability of the processed feed
decreased by about 11.3%. Thus, the heavy crude is expected to
have detrimental effects on the desalter performance, reducing
dehydration efficiency and affecting effluent water quality.
A decision was made to evaluate several samples using chemical
additives to improve the stability of the 90/10 crude blend. Fig.
5 shows the results obtained with two additives that displayed
analytical tools are used to characterize and quantify the physical

and chemical properties of received feedstocks. The most typical
characterization performed measures the amount of saturates,
aromatics, resins and asphaltenes (called a SARA analysis) in the
oil sample. The asphaltene-to-resin ratio is usually used as a rough
indication of the stability of the crude or crude oil blend (A/R >
0.35 indicates unstable oil). Although these methods are useful
directional indicators of feedstock stability and compatibility,
these techniques are not always sensitive enough to measure,
predict and control the stability and compatibility of crudes and
heavy crude oil blends. To obtain more valuable information, a
versatile laboratory asphaltene stability technique was developed
and is frequently used in laboratories.
Laboratory asphaltene stability technique. The laboratory asphaltene stability test was developed to provide highly
sensitive information about the stability of crude oils as well as
their blends, and to detect very small changes in the blend stability. As little as a 2% change in the blend composition can be
resolved with the method. The asphaltene stability test measures
the stability of asphaltenes in crude oils via determination of
the onset of the asphaltene flocculation point using a solventtitration method.
The test instrument is equipped with a coherent near-infrared (NIR) source that transmits through a sample. The device
also has a solid-state detection system capable of measuring the
Decreased fouling potential
1,400
Heavy crude
Standard renery feed
90/10 blend 90%
standard feed and
10% heavy crude
1,200
26
1,000
800
600
600
400
200
200
0
50
100
150
200
250
ASI
FIG. 4
70
Comparison of the asphaltene stability: heavy crude,

standard refinery feed and crude blend of 90/10 standard
feed/heavy crude.
149 171 192
800
400
0
0
90/10 crude blend

Additive 1 addition
Additive 2 addition
1,200
149 168
Intensity
Intensity
1,000
1,400
FIG. 5
50
100
150
ASI
200
250
300
Chemical additives increase stability of crude blend with

10% heavy feed: 90/10 crude blend, Additive 1 on crude
blend and Additive 2 on crude blend.
SPECIALREPORT
Decreased fouling potential
100
1,400
1,200
45
146 172
800
70
60
180
600
40
200
30
0
50
100
150
ASI
200
250
300
Field
Laboratory
Crude # 2
Crude # 3
Crude # 4
Crude # 5
Crude # 6
Crude # 7
Crude # 8
0
FIG. 7
20
40
60
80
100 120 140 160 180 200
Crude stability comparison on samples measured with

both laboratory and field techniques from a Texas Gulf
Coast refinery.
the best asphaltene-stabilizing effect. Additive 1 increased the

stability of the 90/10 crude blend by 15%. Additive 2 showed an
improvement of 29% and shifted the stability to a range of values
indicative of lower fouling potential.
Based on these results, it was recommended that Additive 2 be
applied in the field. Using this additive program, the refiner could
increase the rate of heavy oil processed from 7,000 bpd to 15,000
bpd, while maintaining desired salt-removal efficiency, as well as,
dehydration performance.
After seeing this positive response from the stabilizer additive,
the refinery wanted to process more than 10% of the heavy crude
oil component. Another round of testing was done on the new
heavy feed as well as on the currently processed feed. A blend of
80% processed feed with 20% heavy crude was made. Additive
2 was applied to this new crude blend; test results are illustrated
in Fig. 6.
The 80/20 crude blend showed a 15% decrease in its stability
in comparison with the processed feed. Treating the heavy crude
with Additive 2 prior to mixing with the processed feed resulted
in a 23% improvement in stability. Based on these laboratory data,
the refinery more than doubled the amount of processed heavy
Canadian crude from 7,500 bpd to 17,500 bpd and maintained
good desalter performance.
72
Untreated
crude
Current
treatment
10
0
FIG. 8
Crude # 1
62.17
20
Chemical additive increases stability of crude blend

with 20% heavy feed: heavy crude, 80/20 crude blend,
processed feed and Additive 2 on 80/20 crude blend.
FIG. 6
57.92
50
400
94.84
80
ASI
Intensity
1,000
85.76
90
Heavy crude feed

80/20 crude blend
Processed feed
Additive 2 applied
to 80/20 crude blend
Proposed
treatment
Experimental
stabilizer
Improved asphaltene stability for crude blend No. 1 using

chemical additives.
These results illustrate the importance of identifying the stability and/or compatibility of multiple crudes or crude mixtures
when heavy streams are part of the blending formulation. Also
important is determining the optimum blending ratio of the
feeds prior to charging them to the processing units, and selecting
the most cost-effective chemical treatment program to improve
blend stability. By performing this exercise before the blending
step, refineries can avoid significant operational problems, reduce
energy costs, and lower feedstock costs by increasing the amount
of heavy crudes in the crude blend.
To obtain this information, refiners usually ship samples to
testing laboratories and wait until results are returned, which can
take from one week to one month. This approach is not satisfactory in the refinery environment where decisions must be made
in a matter of hours, or where information is needed onsite for a
particular feed with specific operating conditions.
Field asphaltene stability testing. In response to refiners
need to access valuable information onsite and to enable operators
to screen feedstocks for asphaltene stability and blend compatibility, a new portable field asphaltene stability monitoring technique
was developed. Having this technical capability available onsite
can provide several advantages:
Greater flexibility in selecting feedstock types
More ability to optimize the blend feedstock ratios
Capability to improve optimization of any asphaltene stability additive program. The new field asphaltene stability technique
is similar in principle with the laboratory method now used.
This instrument is more rugged, self-contained and completely portable. As with the laboratory test, the technique itself
measures the stability and blend compatibility of refinery feedstocks, the impact of chemical additives on these parameters
and the optimum amount of chemical needed to improve blend
stability. However, the field asphaltene stability test has improved
sensitivity and detection capabilities to make these measurements
quickly and accurately.
Case study on crude-oil blend stability. A series of
crude feedstocks were obtained from a Texas Gulf Coast refinery.
The asphaltene stability was measured using both laboratory and
field techniques. Laboratory results were obtained on samples
received from the field and measured within 12 weeks. The
results obtained with the field instrument were recorded in the
field on samples provided by the refinery.
Fig. 7 illustrates the results from this experiment and shows the
same stability trend obtained with both techniques: Crudes No.
1 through No. 5 are very unstable and have a high potential for
fouling, and Crudes No. 6 to No. 8 show medium stability and
have moderate fouling potential.
Based on these results, Crude No. 1 was selected as the best
candidate to perform more in-depth studies on the effects of
chemical additives to improve asphaltene stability vs. the current
chemical treatment program. Initially, one additive dosage was
tested for all stability measurements. The results are illustrated
in Fig. 8. As shown, a slight increase in asphaltene stability is
provided with the current treatment program. These tests also
suggest that using newly developed products can provide a 64%
improvement in asphaltene stability.
Working with the refinery to optimize both the blend ratio
and cost performance, a proposed chemical solution was recommended where a 48% stability improvement could be obtained.
This testing was performed in the test laboratory and in the field
at the refinery. A protocol to correlate these test results with field
experience is being planned for this refinery location.
Overview. The ability to measure crude blend stability and
compatibility quickly and accurately is an important competitive

advantage for refiners wanting to improve feedstock flexibility and reduce feedstock costs by processing greater quantities
of heavy crude oils. Suitable laboratory techniques have been
developed that can determine these measurements, but these
techniques require long lead times to receive good results. A
robust field testing instrument and analysis procedures have
been developed that allow onsite measurements of crude blend
asphaltene stability.
Based on results obtained, this new technology is a versatile tool
that will allow more timely feedstock segregation and blend optimization decisions, and it will provide more effective asphaltene
stability additive program optimization. This new capability can
help refiners increase their heavy crude processing while maintaining desired desalter operation and performance. HP
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank several Baker Hughes employees, especially Jerry
Weers, director of Industrial Technology; Lawrence N. Kremer, technical advisor;
and Marco Respini, technology development specialist, for contributing to the
manuscript and Roger Metzler, technical support manager, and Bruce Wright,
technical field engineer, for supporting this work and reviewing the manuscript.
2
3
4
5
6
7
LITERATURE CITED
Worrell, E. and C. Galitsky, California Industries of the Future Program,
Energy Analysis Department and Environmental Energy Technologies,
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, July 2004.
Energy Efficiency Roadmap for Petroleum Refineries in California,
Energetics Incorporated Report, April 2004.
Crude Oil Forecast, Markets and Pipeline Expansions, Canadian Association
of Crude Oil Producers Report, June 2009.
Downstream industry struggles with fewer resources, Oil & Gas Journal,
pg. 52, 2008.
Gunaseelan, P., Changing US Crude Imports are Driving the Refinery
Upgrades, Oil & Gas Journal, August 2009.
Fouling Minimization, Office of Industrial Technologies, US Department
of Energy, January 1999.
Wright, B. and T. Falkler, Fouling Control Programs Reduce Energy
Consumption, CO2 Emissions, NPRA Annual Meeting, AM-09-52,
March 2224, 2009.
Smali, F., V. S. Vassiliadis and D. I. Wilson, Mitigation of Fouling in
SPECIALREPORT
Refinery Heat Exchanger Networks by Optimal Management of Cleaning,

Energy & Fuels, 2001, 15, pp. 10381056.
9 Kremer, L. N., and S. Bieber, Rethink Strategies When Handling Heavy
Feedstocks, Hydrocarbon Processing, September 2008, pp. 113122.
10 Horne, B., Homing in on Heavy Crudes, Hydrocarbon Engineering,
October 2009.
11 De Boer, R. B., K. Leerlooyer, M. R. P. Eigner and A. R. D. van Bergen,
Screening of Crude Oils for Asphalt Precipitation: Theory, Practice and
the Selection of Inhibitors, SPE Production & Facilities, February 1995,
pp., 5561.
12 Branco, V. A. M., G. A. Mansoori, L. C. De Almeida Xavier, S. J. Park,
and H. Manafi, Asphaltene flocculation and collapse from petroleum fluids,
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Vol. 32, pp. 217230, 2001.
13 Stark, J., L. N. Kremer and J. M. Nguyen, New method prevents desalter
upsets from blending incompatible crudes, Oil & Gas Journal, March 18,
2002.
Thomas Falkler is a senior research scientist in Baker Hughes Fouling Control
Group in Sugar Land, Texas. He has over 30 years of experience with Baker Hughes
in developing technologies to improve the stability of petroleum fluids and laboratory
test methodologies to identify new mitigation and application strategies for refinery
fouling. Mr. Falkler has authored or co-authored papers and patents focusing on
coker-furnace fouling, asphaltinic polymers in FCC slurries, oxidation polymerization
in naphtha streams, and asphaltene stability in crude oil and heavy hydrocarbon
feedstocks.
Dr. Corina Sandu is a project manager in Baker Hughes Commercial Development Group, Industrial Technology, in Sugar Land, Texas. In her current position, Dr.
Sandu is responsible for leading the development of new technologies to enhance the
performance of fireside additives for gas turbine applications. She is also responsible
for Baker Hughes control/prediction programs for heavy fuel oil stability/compatibility.
Dr. Sandu holds a PhD in materials chemistry from the University of Houston, and a
post-doctorate from Rice University in Houston. She is a member of ACS and SPE.
Dr. Sandu has authored and co-authored 19 publications in peer-reviewed journals
as well as many conference publications, and has two patents.
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SPECIALREPORT
Mitigate corrosion in your crude unit

Real-time analyzers can provide improved monitoring
of chloride levels and enable better corrosion control practices
N. P. HILTON, Nalco Energy Services, Sugar Land, Texas; and G. L. SCATTERGOOD,
Nalco Energy Services, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
n the refining industry, 90% of crude-unit overhead corrosion

occurs during just 10% of operating time. These periods of
unstable operation may occur during crude tank switches,
slop oil processing, processing of opportunity crudes, or other
interruptions to normal operation. Traditional approaches to
corrosion monitoring can easily miss problems that occur during
this narrow corrosion window, or they may detect problems
only after significant damage has already been done.
Traditional corrosion monitoring methods. Traditional methods used to monitor and control corrosion in the
overhead condensing system of an atmospheric crude distillation
unit (CDU) may include installation of corrosion monitoring
equipment, use of caustic in the crude oil and a variety of other
chemical corrosion control solutions. Some refiners have elected,
at great expense, to upgrade the overhead condensing metallurgy
and all associated piping.
These traditional approaches, properly applied, provide
acceptable corrosion control during the 90% of operating
time when the unit is functioning normally. However, they
may not detect or allow adequate or timely responses to the
upsets that occur or the damage they can cause, during 10% of
unit operating time. Tools available to the refiner and chemical supplier are not sensitive enough, and the frequency, reliability and accuracy of measurements are not good enough to
facilitate a timely response. Result: Even the best corrosioncontrol programs may not detect significant problems before
the damage is done.
Solutions. New solutions are being developed to detect
and to capture significant changes in the corrosive environment in realtime, to measure the changes accurately, and to
address and correct those changes before significant corrosion
has occurred. For example, a new crude unit overhead analyzer
(patent pending) that continuously measures pH, chlorides
and iron in refinery process water has been developed. It can
provide the accurate, real-time data required for effective and
timely corrosion control.
The effectiveness of this testing is limited by the time it takes

to collect and analyze samples. These tests are generally part of
the routine service performed by refinery operations personnel
or the chemical supplier, and they may only be performed at
daily or weekly intervals. Generally, refinery operations staff
will run a few of these tests once per shift, typically pH and
possibly chloride. The result is the collection of minimal data,
most of it during periods of stable operation. Only rarely and
by chance is the data collected during a period of unit upset,
when 90% of corrosion occurs. When upsets do occur, refinery
operations staff are usually busy trying to get the crude unit
lined out and back to steady-state, and data collection is a very
low priority.
Typically, the amount of data collected through a corrosioncontrol program in the course of one year is just a fraction of the
amount of process data captured by a refinery process historian
over an equivalent period.
pH is the most frequently measured parameter in the crudeunit accumulator boot water, which may be checked from 4 to
10 times a day, possibly more often if a low pH is observed, or if
it is a problematic unit. Some refiners have installed online pH
probes to monitor the overhead accumulator boot water. But,
these probes have a poor track record for reliability and they
require frequent calibration. Many refiners give up on these
systems and return to a reliance on manual pH measurements.
The frequency of sampling and performing the other wet
chemistry testschloride, iron and ammoniais substantially
less. These tests tend to be the responsibility of the chemical supplier or the refinerys central laboratory. The result may be a total
of between 52 and 260 data sets per year; the majority of them are
collected during periods of stable operation when little or no corrosion occurs. The same limitations apply to corrosion-rate data
collected from probes and other monitoring devices in the overhead. Some refiners have attached data loggers to relay these measurements to their central control system, in an attempt to gather
more timely information, but this is not a common practice.
Accuracy and speed. Test accuracy and speed of results
Monitoring frequency. Refiners and chemical suppliers use
a variety of wet chemistry tests in conjunction with corrosion

monitoring tools to track the corrosive environment in crude
overhead condensing equipment. These wet chemistry tests
quantify several components, such as pH, chloride, ammonia,
sulfide and iron in the overhead accumulator water.
turnaround are significant concerns when relying on manual

wet chemistry testing. Human error, choice of test method, and
the temptation to take shortcuts in sampling technique and
preparation, can significantly affect test accuracy.
The time lag between sampling and performing the actual
test can also make a significant impact on the value of the data
I 75
SPECIALREPORT
for effective corrosion control. Samples are usually collected on

a set schedule, at the end of a shift, and four to six hours may
elapse before they are processed in the refinerys main laboratory
and test results communicated to unit personnel. While this may
be an adequate response time during periods of stable operation,
and when data are used primarily to measure unit performance
against a key performance indicator (KPI), it is too slow to
facilitate a timely response within the corrosion window, the
relatively brief period of upset when the most serious corrosion
occurs. Without accurate, frequent and timely testing, corrosive
TABLE 1. Test data summary of traditional and
online collection methods
Test
Industry current
practice, frequency/yr
Crude-unit overhead
analyzer, frequency/yr
pH
1,460 to 3,650
52,560
52 to 260
8,760 to 52,560
Wet chemistry (Cl, Fe)
Neutralizer based on pH
pH 6.5
Filmer based on iron
Iron 0.5
Control caustic in crude based

on chloride, or customer-set limit
Chloride 25 ppm
FIG. 1
Online analyzer
Crude-unit overhead analyzer enables continuous

monitoring and process chemical control to mitigate
corrosion during upset and abnormal processing incidents.
incidents may be completely missed or discovered only after

significant damage has occurred.
Real-time solutions. The key to controlling corrosion, without throwing metallurgy at the problem, is the ability to capture
accurate data in real time, detecting and closing the corrosion
window before significant damage occurs. At present, field testing is underway on a new crude-unit overhead analyzer at several
refineries in North America.
Process water from the crude unit overhead is continuously
sampled and passed through the crude unit overhead analyzer,
where specially designed pH electrodes provide a real-time measure of the pH, as shown in Fig. 1 in the overhead water.
Simultaneously, the analyzer performs an automated, online
analysis of chloride and total iron concentration in the process
water. Chloride and iron analyses can be performed at frequencies ranging from one to six times per hour, depending on system conditions. With the online analyzer, the refiner can detect
the onset of a corrosion window in time to adjust the corrosioncontrol chemical program, using closed-loop automated controllers, thus avoiding lag time and under-feed or over-feed of
critical chemical components.
Table 1 lists the data collected with a typical service-interval
approach vs. a real-time monitoring system through the crude unit
overhead analyzer. This increase in the frequency of data collection
can provide the refiner with much greater capability to control
operational changes, excursions and upset conditions that can lead
to unacceptable corrosion. The continuous sampling captures data
around the clock, including the 10% of operating time during
which 90% of corrosion and fouling occur. In addition, it provides
test results in a timely manner for the refiner to respond, or for the
online closed-loop controllers to take corrective action.
Fig. 2 illustrates the advantage of continuous chloride monitoring with the crude unit overhead analyzer (blue dots) vs. the
current practice of manual collection and analysis (green dots). As
shown by the data, the industry current practice failed to capture
any corrosion-causing excursions or upset conditions, which were
captured by the more frequent samples tested by the analyzer.
Not only is data more frequently collected by the analyzer, but it
is also more accurate and repeatable. The
analyzer has eliminated human error, exposure to contaminants during sampling, and
lag time due to transportation and testing at the refinery central laboratory. At
any time, operations personnel can check
the current pH, chloride and iron values
by glancing at the analyzer display. Additionally, the analyzer records all data and
streams wirelessly via a proprietary server;
thus, the data can be viewed in table or
graphical format, in real time.
Performance indicators. Todays
FIG. 2
76
Chloride test data using manual field testing and online analyzer.
refinery operations place a great emphasis on tracking KPIs. If we set the KPI for
chloride at 50 ppm (Fig. 2), industry current practice (red dots) shows that chloride values are in specification 100% of
the time. But the crude unit overhead analyzer data (blue dots) shows this not to be
the case, with chloride values out of spec
Analyzer beta test data
70
60
50
Cl
Fe
pH 1
pH 2
40
5
4
9/9/09
0
9/9/09
0
9/9/09
1
9/8/09
10
9/8/09
9/8/09
20
9/8/09
9/8/09
30
pH and Iron, ppm
80
9/7/09
pH issues. Maintaining the accumulator pH within an acceptable range, typically 5.5 to 6.5, is a key requirement of an effective overhead-corrosion program. While the importance of the
actual pH in the accumulator water is not as critical as the pH
in the overhead bundles upstream, the relationship between the
two values can be established and is critical. Due to less water
being present and the absence of ammonia at the point of initial
condensation, the pH will generally be even lower upstream than
in the accumulator. Fig. 3 shows another example where, over a
weekend, the crude unit overhead analyzer picked up a significant dip in accumulator pH, which ranged between 3 and 4 for
a full 48-hour period. Again, industry current practice would
likely have missed this significant corrosion window.
Fig. 4 shows the relationship between a large increase in
chloride and the corresponding increase in iron, with the
resulting decrease in pH level. If you only observed the pH
decrease from 7 to 6, you would assume there isnt much cause
for alarm. But the crude unit overhead analyzer clearly picks up
the increases in both the chloride and iron readings, an indication that immediate corrective action is required to prevent a
significant spike in corrosion.
unit slowdowns to replace damaged overhead bundles. Using data

collected by the crude unit overhead analyzer with active participation by operations and the chemical supplier, the refiner was
able to decrease the average corrosion rate by more than 60%.
Due to the sheer amount of data available and the ease of gathering it with the crude unit overhead analyzer, operations and the
chemical supplier were able to detect changes in unit operations
more frequently, and respond to them more promptly to optimize
the corrosion control program.
Chloride, ppm
for considerable periods of time. The analyzer is capturing the

true picture of chloride variability in the units crude overhead.
Unless, by chance, the industry current practice happens to
capture data during an upset condition, it will not provide the
refiner with an accurate understanding of corrosive conditions
within the system.
SPECIALREPORT
Date
FIG. 4
Relationship between a large increase in chloride and an

increase in iron, with the resulting decrease in pH levels.
Real-world example. Results from real-world trials of the
crude unit overhead analyzer have demonstrated benefits in providing data in time for corrective adjustments to the corrosion
control program. This real-time data enables the refiner to control
overhead corrosion, extend equipment life, avoid unplanned
shutdowns, decrease off-spec material and costly reprocessing,
and reduce maintenance costs.
A clear illustration of this can be seen in Fig. 5. A North
American refiner had a recurrent corrosion issue in the overhead
exchangers that would force unscheduled shutdowns or process
Web: www.acsseparations.com Email: Separations@acsind.com
Analyzer beta test data
pH Value in Units
7
6
5
4
3
pH 1
pH 2
4/20/10 12:00
4/20/10 0:00
4/19/10 12:00
4/19/10 0:00
4/18/10 12:00
4/18/10 0:00
4/17/10 12:00
4/17/10 0:00
Date
FIG. 3
pH value trend in crude unit overhead.
GRASS ROOT AND REVAMP PROJECTS

77
Results
Linde has built a history of proven results with over 250

synthesis gas plants and 2,800 air separation plants
installed worldwide.
As a world class supplier of synthesis gas and air separation plants,
Linde Engineering and its subsidiary, Selas Fluid, provide single source
responsibility for engineering, procurement and construction of
complete synthesis gas and air separation plants.
Synthesis Gas Plants:
Hydrogen
Carbon monoxide
H2/CO synthesis gas
Ammonia
Methanol
Synthetic natural gas
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custom designed:
Nitrogen
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Argon
Selas Fluid
Subsidiary of The Linde Group
Headquarters: Five Sentry Parkway East Blue Bell, PA 19422 USA Tel: 610-832-8797 Fax: 610-834-0473
Texas Ofce: 16225 Park Ten Place Suite 250 Houston, TX 77084 USA Tel: 281-717-9090 Fax: 281-717-9091
www.selasuid.com
sales@selasuid.com
Corrosion probe readings
30
Probe #1
Probe #2
Probe reading
25
9.34 avg MPY prior online

analyzer installed
5.39 avg MPY rst 3 months
with online analyzer
20
3.62 avg MPY last 6 months

with online analyzer
15
10
5
1/6/09
1/22/09
2/10/09
2/17/09
3/4/09
3/23/09
4/21/09
5/13/09
6/11/09
6/24/09
7/8/09
7/22/09
8/5/09
8/19/09
9/3/09
9/16/09
9/30/09
10/14/09
10/28/09
11/11/09
11/25/09
12/9/09
12/23/09
FIG. 5
Corrosion monitoring program for a North American

refiners crude unit overhead.
Future development. As the example just cited shows,

real-time monitoring has greatly enhanced the refiners ability
to detect and take timely action to correct variations in process
conditions that can lead to corrosion. It should be noted that
these results were achieved over an 11-month period through
the use of manual adjustment of the corrosion-control program.
The next stage in development of the crude unit overhead analyzer will be the addition of state-of-the-art closed-loop, automated control of the chemical portion of the corrosion-control
program, further enhancing its value to the refiner.
Rust never sleeps. To be truly effective, a corrosion-control
program must go beyond the industry current practice of periodic sampling and manual sample processing. To this end, the
crude unit overhead analyzer can provide continuous, accurate,
repeatable data, including conditions during the critical 10% of
operations when 90% of corrosion occurs. By detecting these
corrosion windows consistently and in real time, the analyzer
provides the refiner with a continuous view of pH, chloride and
iron levels in the system, permitting the application of timely
and effective chemical solutions before significant corrosion
has occurred. HP
Nigel P. Hilton is the marketing manager of downstream with Nalco Energy

Services, Sugar Land, Texas. He joined Nalco in 1990, starting as a technical service
representative, working in the downstream refining and petrochemicals division. Mr.
Hilton has held several positions throughout his Nalco career in sales and marketing in
both the US and Europe. His current responsibilities are the strategic development on
new technologies for Nalcos downstream refining and petrochemical division.
Glenn L. Scattergood joined Nalco in 1978 as a quality control chemist at the

Sugar Land manufacturing facility. He then spent 8 years in RFM Research, developing test methods and new chemistries for corrosion control and emulsion breaking.
Following that, he spent 15 years in sales as an area manager and district manager in
Chicago, Illinois, and Beaumont, Texas. Mr. Scattergood has authored and presented
numerous technical papers at several industry conferences and was selected to author
the chapter on refinery corrosion inhibitors for the 13th Ed. of American Society of
Metals, Metals Handbook. At present, he is in Beijing, China as technology manager
for RFM, Asia-Pacific region.
79
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SPECIALREPORT
Improve vacuum tower

revamp projects
A balanced approach investigates separation of vapor
and liquids in the flash zone/wash section design
S. COSTANZO, S. M. WONG and M. PILLING, Sulzer Chemtech USA, Tulsa, Oklahoma
evamping an existing vacuum column to operate at a higher feedrate,

higher flash zone temperature, lower
pressure and different feedstock characterization is a complex task. It requires reviewing the column design with respect to the
revamp conditions and identifying suitable
solutions to reliably operate at the new conditions. Unless all of the design and operating aspects work together in unison, the net
result will be, at best, less than optimum,
and at worst, a very costly problem. To get
a complete view of the flash zone operation, we must also take into account all the
peripheral regions, including the heater,
transfer line, inlet nozzle, inlet feed device,
stripping section, and the overflash (slop
wax) collector tray. Also, it is important
that we consider the type and characteristics of the crude oil being processed. All
these aspects are integrally involved in the
design revision; the correct balance among
them identifies the optimum solution.
PROCESS AND EQUIPMENT
Fig. 1 shows the bottom portion of

a vacuum column along with the heater
and transfer line, and defines the focus
area when reviewing the flash zone and
wash section. Revamping the vacuum unit
will likely create significant changes to
the operating conditions for the vacuum
column, as well as, the heater and the
transfer line. Changes in vacuum tower
products generally require modifying the
tower flash zone temperature and pressure, which are directly dependant on
the heater outlet conditions and transfer
line hydraulics. All of this equipment is
linked from a process performance standpoint. Any complete process study should
include these components.
Vacuum heater. The vacuum heater
must supply the appropriate duty to the
vacuum tower feed without exceeding

tube-wall temperature limits where excessive coking occurs. Aside from the feed
composition, heater coking is mainly a
function of tube-wall temperature and
residence time, which are controlled by
feed and heater outlet temperature. Steam
can be injected in heater passes to mitigate coking, but this extra volume must
then be handled in the transfer line and
column. The heater outlet stream is fed
to the transfer line, typically from various passes of a multiple-pass heater. Since
this stream is continually flashing, the
transfer-line hydraulics, which are quite
complex,1 also affect the heater and column operation. Extra pressure drop creates additional flashing, which lowers
the fluid temperature, requiring a higher
heater-outlet temperature to maintain the
desired flash-zone temperature.
Balancing conditions. The operating
requirements that determine the optimum,

balanced design are yield recovery, product
quality, operating flexibility and reliability.
An important aspect affecting recovery and
product quality is the level of entrainment
(heavier residue liquids) carried by the
vapor in the flash zone and wash section.
Entrainment generated from the flashing
feed and carried to the upper sections can
be a source of product quality deterioration
as well as operational reliability. Therefore,
it is important to understand the sources
of entrainment generation as well as the
methods used to reduce entrainment. All
good vacuum tower designs must evaluate these factors to balance capacity, performance and operational reliability (i.e.,
coking resistance).
FIG. 1
Vacuum tower bottom section, heater and transfer line.
I 81
SPECIALREPORT
Transfer line. The transfer line transports feed from the heater to the columnflash zone, with the pipe typically increasing in diameter as it approaches the column
inlet. There is a significant pressure profile
created by the increasing velocity of the
stream due to flashing, which progressively
reduces the fluid (mixed-phase) density
along the transfer line. Reusing an existing
transfer line for operating conditions other
than for which it was originally designed
may adversely affect the new mixed-phase
fluid behavior traveling through the pipe.
The final result is that the flashing behavior within the pipe creates additional
entrainment. An undersized transfer line
will increase entrainment in the vacuum
column feed. Therefore, the transfer line
should be designed to minimize pressure
drop as is practical, and to avoid flow
regimes that create excessive quantities of
very small liquid droplets that are more
difficult to de-entrain.
Column. Inside the column, we have to
review the flash zone, stripping section, and
wash section.
Flash zone. The flash zone transitions
the high velocity two-phase feed from the
82
transfer line into the column, separating

the liquid and routing it to the bottom of
the column while providing initial distribution of vapor upward to the wash section. The column inlet can have several
arrangements with single or multiple inlet
nozzles oriented tangentially or radially.
The feed-inlet distributor functions as a
vapor/liquid disengagement device and as
a vapor distributor. It uses the feed inertia
to redirect the feed stream to contact and to
remove dispersed liquid particles. Liquids,
still entrained in the upward flowing vapor
portion of the feed, must be minimized
and/or removed because they contain
high amounts of heavy-end contaminants
such as metals and hydrogen-deficient
molecules. These contaminants can poison downstream catalyst, form coke, and
adversely affect the distillate product endpoint and color.
If no modifications are made to the
transfer line and inlet nozzles during a
revamp, the transfer line will discharge
into the flash zone via an inlet nozzle that
was originally designed for less aggressive
conditions. In this case, the inlet device
within the column becomes very important since it has to correct for the higher
momentum and increased entrainment

from the transfer line and still provide good
liquid disengagement and uniform vapor
distribution to the wash section. Conditions in the flash zone are critical as they
affect the performance of the wash section
with respect to de-entrainment capabilities,
coking resistance and conditioning of the
vapor flowing to the section above.
Slop-wax collector chimney tray. The
next important device is the slop-wax collector chimney tray that separates the flash
zone from the wash section. It serves three
purposes within the column:
Redistributes and equalizes vapor flow
on a large-scale basis due to its inherent
pressure drop and chimney distribution
Provides a de-entrainment effect,
depending on the chimney hat shape
Collects liquid leaving the bottom of
the wash bed.
The slop wax liquid product collected
on the tray consists of overflash (heavy
condensed components from the vapor
feed), the heavy portion of the clean wash
oil making through the packed bed without being re-vaporized and the coalesced
entertainment from the flash zone. Process
economics usually dictate that the clean
wash-oil rate to the wash section
be minimized while maintaining
a sufficient flow so that coking
is avoided. This liquid is relatively low volume; if kept on the
tray for a prolonged period, it is
prone to cracking due to its composition and high-temperature
operating conditions. Therefore,
a specific sloped design is recommended to lower residence time
and mitigate coking.
Wash zone. Vapor leaves the
chimney tray with any remaining entrained liquids and enters
the bottom of the wash section,
which is typically packed with
a combination of grid in the
FIG. 2
bottom and structured packing at the top. The wash section
is critical for vacuum column
product quality. It must provide
the lowest practicable amount
of contaminants and entrained
liquids to upper sections without coking. A small liquid gasoil
(GO) stream (clean wash oil)
is fed to the top of the wash section to wet packing and prevent
it from drying out and coking.
The packing removes heavier
components in the vapor flowing
FIG. 3
upward from the flash zone by
condensation and by coalescing
entrained liquid droplets. This
lowers the heavy vacuum gasoil (HVGO)
end point by removing heavier components
that belong in the vacuum residue. It also
serves to reduce other contaminants such as
organic metals, carbon and asphaltenes.
The performance of the wash section is
directly related to liquid distribution quality and flow control of the wash rate. Typically, two types of liquid distributors can
be used, either a spray header or a gravityflow distributor. Any design must provide
a homogeneous distribution to the top of
the packed bed to assure uniform wetting
of the packing and to also prevent vapor
maldistribution within the bed. Since the
packing itself has a low pressure drop, variances in liquid loads can create regions of
higher or lower pressure drop, adversely
affecting the vapor flow uniformity through
the bed. The combination of liquid distribution quality, distributor reliability and
coking resistance are crucial factors in
selecting a distributor.
Stripping section. The last portion of
the column is the bottom stripping section; this section performs the final recov-
SPECIALREPORT
Vapor distribution. Uniform
vapor distribution to the wash

bed is very important. While
the effects of entrainment can
be measured with some effort,
the effects of maldistribution are
not easily measured and often
are difficult to quantify. Vapor
maldistribution causes higher
pressure drop through the packing. It causes variations of the
vapor/liquid ratio within various
regions of the packing. It is certain that these effects reduce the
de-entrainment capabilities of
the wash bed. Poor distribution
can cause localized entrainment
through the bed (i.e., localized
Elevation of vacuum tower flash zone and wash section.
flooding) that can allow heavyend contaminants to reach the
VGO recovery section.
Maldistribution can result in
hot spots in the packing where
coking and fouling are more
likely to commence. Although it
is desirable to minimize entrainment from the flash zone to the
wash bed, it is imperative that
the vapor-feed distribution to
the wash bed is uniform so the
bed can perform properly. A
well-designed wash section will
Factors affecting entrainment generation.
provide excellent de-entrainment levels (> 98%) and subsequently excellent HVGO
ery of lighter components from the residue. quality. So, if the bed is operating in a
It is typically equipped with trays and is region where entrainment is critical and
fed from the bottom with steam that strips coking is likely, which is common, then
residue liquids leaving the bottom of the maldistribution is clearly something that
column. Proper stripping in the bottom of must be minimized.
the column directly affects column yield
Entrainment levels from the flash zone
as it recovers valuable distillate product and wash sections can almost always be
components. The design configuration of further reduced, but this often comes at
the stripping section itself and transition the expense of pressure drop, coking resisof vapors to the flash zone are important to tance or vapor distribution. One difficulty
avoid possible entrainment and to guaran- is actually knowing the entrainment levtee the reliability of the column.
els and droplet sizes. Proprietary correlations have been developed based on many
DISTRIBUTION VS. ENTRAINMENT commercial reference cases to estimate the
As discussed in Pilling et al., an issue amount of entrainment generated from
that requires close review is the feed-device various feed devices.2 These can be used
design with respect to entrainment removal to estimate flash-zone entrainment and
and vapor distribution to the wash section.2 subsequent wash section de-entrainment.
From an operational standpoint, the true However, to have a reasonably accurate
goal of the flash zone and wash section is estimation, one must also be able to
to reliably provide the best possible vapor account for the entrainment rates and
feed to the VGO recovery section above the droplet sizes entering the column from
wash section. Accordingly, it provides the the transfer line.
lowest possible amount of contaminants
Validation of entrainment should be
and entrained liquids, as well as the most done by running simulations of the coluniform vapor distribution.
umn with specific attention to estimating
I 83
SPECIALREPORT
FIG. 4
CFD column review at various elevations.
the true overflash at the operating conditions. The balance between the measured
slop wax and overflash should give the
most reliable estimation. Unfortunately,
this exercise is not routinely practiced;
therefore, empirical correlations based on
practical data or other analytical methods
can help. Based on the understanding
of the controlling parameters, a further
validation of de-entrainment capability
in the vacuum tower can be done using
a computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
study. The goal is to associate the dynamic
behavior of vapor from the flash zone to
potential entrainment carried over due to
maldistribution.
The entrainment regions within the
vacuum column are shown in Fig. 2 and
are the regions of the flash zone immediately above the feed-inlet device and above
the wash section. These areas are essentially
open regions above the feed where liquid
can be carried upward with the vapor. The
region above the feed device is affected
mainly by the feedrate, composition and
flow conditions, as well as the design of the
feed inlet and the feed device itself. The
region above the wash section is affected
by distribution and characteristics of the
vapor and liquid feeds to the wash section
as well as the design of the wash section and
slop-wax collector tray.
Factors affecting entrainment.
84
FIG. 5
A and B (standard vapor horn): Elevation just below chimney tray at 100% and 120%
design rates.
FIG. 6
A and B (high-performance vapor horn): Elevation just below chimney tray at 100%
and 120% design rates.
Fig. 3 shows several factors that can affect

entrainment. Entrainment in the feed
starts as far upstream as the heater. As the
feed vaporizes within the heater and flows
as a two-phase regime through the pipes,
liquid is being entrained into the vapor.
As the feed flow continues to flash within
the transfer line, velocity often increases
up to sonic velocity. A significant amount
of entrainment can be generated in the
transfer line. Typically, the cases where
the problem of entrainment is occurring
are when existing columns are going to
be operated at new conditions such as
increased feedrate or reduced flash zone
pressure maintaining the existing transfer
line and inlet nozzle. The increased feed
and/or lower flash-zone pressure (higher
feed vaporization) increase velocity in the
transfer line and inlet nozzle, thus increasing entrainment. As hydraulic conditions
become more severe, more entrainment
with smaller droplet sizes will be generated. This applies to the feed nozzle and
the feed internals.
For the feed device, any design characteristics that create re-entrainment or
droplet shattering (as opposed to coalescence) will create more entrainment that is
more difficult to remove. In principle, any
abrupt flow change can shatter droplets,
so placement of feed baffles (to enhance
vapor distribution) must be done carefully.
This is where the benefits of CFD can be
effectively used.
Entrainment within the flash zone is
governed by Stokes Law, where droplet
entrainment is a function of droplet size
and vapor velocity, with the other properties (fluid density and viscosity) being
inherent to the particular tower conditions,
and, therefore, out of our area of influence.
CFD is also effective in modeling these
conditions in this part of the column.
Finally, the design and performance of
the stripping section can affect entrainment
in a few different ways. First, it provides
additional vapor flow upward into the flash
zone that will influence the fluid flow patterns and gradients. Second, the chimneys
at the top of the stripping section can influence the vapor flow patterns in the bottom of the column. Improper designs can
cause vapor to entrain additional liquids
off the chimney tray deck. Third, improperly designed chimneys and hats can be
a source of entrainment. Although their
design is typically not critical, it still must
be accounted for.
CFD STUDIES
As mentioned earlier, fluid dynamic

studies developed with CFD can be a powerful tool when properly applied. A few
examples are analyzed here. Fig. 4 shows
a typical vacuum tower application where
a vapor horn design is being evaluated. To
make a complete review of the vacuum
tower, velocity profiles are generated at
various elevations in the bottom portion
of the tower. The lowest elevation view
is just above the stripping section (Plane
0). At this elevation, it is important to be
sure that the swirling action of the feed
above is not adversely affecting the flows
on the stripping section chimney tray and
vice-versa.
The next higher view is at the tower
feed elevation (Plane 1). At this elevation, the flow through the inner portion
of the column can be evaluated to ensure
that the vertical vapor velocities are not
too high. This is important when evaluating the effect of the cross-sectional area
blocked by the feed device. Open area of
the feed device is a critical parameter in
vacuum column flash-zone design. The
next elevation view is just above the feed
SPECIALREPORT
FIG. 7
A and B (standard vapor horn): Elevation just below wash section bed at 100% and
120% design rates.
FIG. 8
A and B (high-performance vapor horn): Elevation just below wash section bed at
100% and 120% design rates.
elevation (Plane 2). This is where the first

transition from high velocity feed to vertical column flow can be seen. This view
helps when evaluating the effectiveness
of the vapor distribution function of the
feed device. The next elevation up is just
below the chimney tray (Plane 3). This
view helps in evaluating the vertical spacing requirements between the feed device
and the chimney tray. The highest elevation view is just below the wash section
bed (Plane 4). This is arguably the most
important view as it shows the final result
of vapor distribution to the wash section. If
this view shows substantially uneven vapor
distribution, modifications to the column
design should be considered.
Vapor-horn design issues. It is also
important to study the flow distribution

at the various possible design rates. Figs.
58 show CFD results for a study of two
devices (standard vapor horn and a high
performance vapor horn) at two different
feedrates (100% design and 120% design).
Figs. 5A and 5B show the 100% and 120%

design rates for the standard vapor horn
at an elevation below the chimney tray.
As shown here, there are some substantial
high vapor velocity regions for both cases,
with the 120% case being more extreme.
Figs. 6A and 6B show the same views for a
high-performance feed device. Note: There
is a substantial reduction in the red areas
signifying less high vapor velocity regions
for this device.
Figs. 7A and 7B show an elevation just
below the wash section packing for the
standard vapor horn. Note: Reduction of
the higher velocity regions from Figs. 5A
and 5B is the result of the redistribution
caused by the chimney tray. Figs. 8A and
8B show the same view for the high-performance device. As expected, this view
shows improvement over the lower elevation views seen in Figs. 6A and 6B due to
the chimney tray redistribution.
By using this analysis, the user can see
the benefits of one device over another and
can also see the effects at varying design
I 85
SPECIALREPORT
rates. In certain cases, some devices handle

high rates better than others. This is especially true when devices start to occupy a
substantial amount of the column crosssectional area. Specifically, in the case
shown here, the standard vapor horn
occupies a greater amount of the column
cross section. We can see from Figs. 7A
and 7B that the 20% increase doubles the
high velocity region (shown in red) below
the packed bed. For the high-performance
vapor horn, Figs. 8A and 8B show that the
20% increase in flow only slightly changes

the flow profiles of the vapor feed to the
packed bed.
Figs. 9A and 9B show an even more
extreme example of feed effects on vapor
profiles. These show the vapor velocities
just below the wash-section packing for a
cyclone-type feed device. At the base design
rate, there are some very small high-velocity regions around the perimeter of the
column. However, at 130% of design, the
high-velocity regions around the perim-
eter are quite substantial, and, somewhat

surprisingly, there is a large high-velocity
region in the center of the column. This
further emphasizes the importance of
understanding the effects of loading on
column internals.
Looking inside. Vacuum tower design,
especially for revamps, is a complex task.

Much of the process is interdependent,
and the solution is iterative and must consider a wide range of process equipment.
For a design to be successful, the engineer
must understand the fundamentals of the
process and have design tools that reflect
real world experience. By understanding
the column hydraulics, and, specifically,
flow distribution and entrainment characteristics, the engineer is well on their
way to providing a successful, balanced,
effective design. HP
LITERATURE CITED
Ha, H., et al., Stepwise Simulation of Vacuum
Transfer Line Hydraulics, Petroleum Technology
Quarterly, Revamps, 2009.
2 Pilling, M., M. Roza and S. M. Wong,
Entrainment Issues in Vacuum Column Flash
Zones, Petroleum Technology Quarterly, Q1,
2010.
1
FIG. 9
A and B (cyclone-feed distributor): Elevation just below wash section bed at 100%
and 130% design rates.
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Calculating the temperature

distribution in horizontal vessel
saddle supports
The heat-transfer theory of cooling fins is applied
G. N. VAN ZYL, SABIC, Jubail, Saudi Arabia
n the process industries, with equipment operating at high

temperatures, it is often required to know the temperature
distribution in the horizontal-vessel saddles, and more specifically, the temperature at the saddle base. Cases where such a need
may arise include:
Selecting the correct type of antifriction material under a
sliding saddle when high temperatures could be a concern
Where the supporting structure integrity could be influenced by high temperatures transferred from the vessel through
the saddles
Selecting the correct material for the saddle plates.
Existing calculation methods mainly concentrate on pipe supports and consider conduction through the support plates only.
Such calculations are applicable where the supports are also covered by insulation, but are not valid for most cases that consider
horizontal-vessel and heat-exchanger saddle supports.
In this article, the heat-transfer theory of cooling fins is
applied to develop a calculation method for the temperature
distribution in saddle supports that consider convection heat
loss to atmosphere. Calculations are supported by finite-element
analysis (FEA) and verified by on-site temperature measurements. The calculations will be explained by application to an
example case study.
the inside of the vessel, through conduction in the saddle plate

and by convection to the atmosphere. From (1) the temperature
distribution in a cooling fin can be theoretically calculated as:
T (x) = (Tb Ts )
where:
x
mb 2
b
+ e
mb
x
b
+ e 2mb
(1)
2h 2
m=
k
(2)
ha
k
=
ha
m
k
(3)
m+
Case study. A steam drum operates with an internal temperature of 249C. The drum contains liquid up to a certain level, at
relatively low-velocity flow conditions.
A steady-state thermal FEA was performed to calculate the
temperature distribution in the saddle. A convection heat transfer
coefficient of 20 W/m2K between the process fluid and the shell
was used. This is consistent with laminar-flow conditions inside
the drum. Convective heat transfer from the saddle plates to
ambient was modeled using a measured ambient temperature of
46C and a heat-transfer coefficient of 20 W/m2K. The resulting
temperature distribution is shown in Fig.1. These results were
correlated with temperature measurements along the lines shown
in Fig. 2. The calculated temperatures are compared to measured
results in Fig. 3. This figure shows that the finite-element model
predicts the correct temperature distribution.
Theoretical calculations. The saddle plate of a horizontal
vessel can be considered as a cooling fin, transferring heat from
FIG. 1
Calculated temperature distribution on saddle.
I 89
h = convection coefficient from fin faces and sides
ha = convection coefficient from fin tip
k = conduction coefficient of fin material
Tb = temperature at a fin base
Ts = surrounding temperature
Considering that the heat loss through the saddle base plate
is mostly negligible due to contact resistance, small temperature
differences and (sometimes) the antifriction pad insulating properties, the equations can be simplified by taking ha = 0. Eq. 3
reduces to = 1 and Eq. 1 becomes:
T (x) = (Tb Ts )
x
mb 2
b
+e
mb
x
b
1 + e 2mb
(4)
The practical application of the method to calculate the temperature distribution in a saddle then reduces to the use of Eqs.
2 and 4 where:
h = convection coefficient from saddle plate to atmosphere
k = saddle material conduction coefficient
Tb = temperature at saddle and shell junction
Ts = atmospheric temperature
In most cases, the ultimate aim of the calculation will be to
determine the temperature at the saddle base plate. In this case,
Eq. 4 reduces to:
250
A-A FEA
A-A measured
B-B FEA
B-B measured
C-C FEA
C-C measured
FIG. 2
Paths for results extraction.
Temperature, C
200
150
100
50
Bartlett-Snow Rotary Calciners

for the Activation of Carbon
Custom designed to meet your requirements, BartlettSnow Rotary Calciners provide a highly effective and
efficient means for the continuous activation of carbonaceous materials at high temperatures.
0
0
FIG. 3
200
400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000

Distance from saddle base plate, mm
Comparison of FEA-calculated and measured temperature

distributions.
The calciner consists

of a cylindrical rotating
tube, housed in a gas
or electric furnace,
positively sealed to
prevent air infiltration.
Product quality is optimized with a design
that establishes and maintains the temperature profile
required for the process.
Special internal flight design promotes gentle tumbling
action and provides for uniform exposure to the internal
atmosphere and efficient heat transfer.
Air Preheater Company

Bartlett-Snow Thermal Products
4525 Weaver Pkwy., Warrenville, IL 60555

Toll Free: 877.661.5509
Tel: 630.393.1000 Fax: 630.393.1001
Email: info@airpreheaterco.com
www.bartlettsnowcalciners.com
90
x
x=0
FIG. 4
Terminology for theoretical calculations.
AD: www.graficadueprint.com
2010 Costacurta S.p.A.-VICO
SINCE 1921...
AND WE
STILL LOVE IT
For more than eighty years, we at Costacurta have
been constantly and resolutely committed to the
development 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 tcsc@costacurta.it.
Gas-liquid and liquid-liquid separators
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
www.costacurta.it
2e mb
1+ e
2mb
200
(5)
As in most applied engineering calculations, some assumptions

have to be made. For this problem, there are two basic assumptions: the temperature at the saddle-to-shell junction and the convection coefficient for heat loss from the saddle to atmosphere.
With the saddle acting as a cooling fin, temperature in the
vessel shell near the junction with the saddle will be lower than
in other regions. Calculating the temperature at the saddle and
shell junction is nontrivial. In most cases, making the conservative
assumption that Tb = internal temperature will be adequate.
The coefficient for convection heat loss from the saddle to
ambient depends on the difference between local wall and air
temperatures and air-flow velocity. In most cases, assuming a
convection coefficient of 20 W/m2K, which is typical for moderate
wind conditions, will be adequate.
Assigning values to the constants that are applicable to the
case study:
b = 1,200 mm
= 20 mm
Tb = 190C (determined from FEA result)
Ts = 46C
h = 20 W/m2K
k = 46 W/m2K
Fig. 5 compares the results of the theoretical calculation to the
FEA results and the on-site temperature measurements. Good
agreement between the three sets of results can be seen. HP
180
A-A FEA
A-A measured
A-A theoretical
160
Temperature, C
T (b) = (Tb Ts )
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
FIG. 5
200
400
600
800
1,000 1,200
Distance from saddle base plate, mm
1,400
Comparison of FEA, measured and theoretical results.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kraus, A. D., A. Aziz and J. R. Welty, Extended surface heat transfer, 2001.
Gys van Zyl has been a mechanical consultant at SABIC Engineering and Project Management since 2006. Prior to joining
SABIC, he served as a principal engineer at an engineering consultation firm in Secunda, South Africa. Mr. van Zyl holds B. Eng
and M. Eng degrees from Stellenbosch University in South Africa
and has 15 years of experience in mechanical engineering and numerical analysis for
design and maintenance in the petrochemical and power industries.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

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92
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Spiral-wound or
kammprofile gaskets?
There appears to be a shift toward the latter, but the choice
isnt always clear. Heres where best to apply each type.
C. YODER, Garlock Sealing Technologies, Palmyra, New York; and
D. W. REEVES, Chevron Richmond Refinery, Richmond, California
oth spiral-wound and kammprofile gaskets are used extensively in refineries and petrochemical plants for applications
subject to thermal cycling, pressure variations, flange rotation, stress relaxation and creep. In recent years, however, there
has been a discernable shift away from the use of spiral-wound
gaskets in favor of kammprofiles, which tend to provide better
sealing performance and longer service life.
Spiral-wound gaskets were developed to improve performance
in high-pressure applications ranging from flanged pipe connections to heat exchangers. Consisting of alternating plies of compressible filler material and thin-gauge metallic strip wrapped
phonographically, spiral-wound gaskets provide the requisite
pressure resistance in these applications (Fig. 1). In the 1980s,
alternative materials such as flexible-graphite replaced asbestos
as the filler in these gaskets, yet their basic design has remained
unchanged since they were invented in the early 1900s.
Initially, these gaskets were centered using a length of wire
looped over two opposing studs in the flange, commonly referred
to as a loop winding (Fig. 2). Today, the most common method
for centering a spiral-wound gasket is a metal outer ring. This
outer guide ring serves to center the gasket in the flange and limit
its compression. If the sealing surfaces are compressed against this
centering ring (and no inner ring is present) a metal-to-metal seal
FIG. 1
The spiral-wound gasket structure is reinforced with

metal rings to prevent buckling in service and damage
from improper handling.
may be formed. This is acceptable provided the flanges remain

at a steady temperature. However, when gasket assembly stress
cannot be adjusted to accommodate upset conditions or thermal
cycling, the seal may be subject to premature failure. This is
especially true when graphite fillers are used without inner rings.
In addition to its performance-related functions, the outer guide
ring also serves to identify the size, pressure class and material
composition of the gasket.
Spiral-wound gasket dimensions for ASME B16.5 and B16.47
flanges are delineated in ASME B16.20 (Metallic Gaskets for Pipe
Flanges). The outer guide ring is dimensioned to center the gasket
in the flange off the inner edge of the bolts, allowing it 1/16 in. of
radial movement in the flange. The ASME B16.20 specification
also provides generally accepted sealing-element dimensions.
Functionality and troubleshooting. During gasket instal-
lation the filler material extrudes from between the alternate

metallic plies to create a seal against the flange surfaces, including
any imperfections. Gasket failures can result from either gasket
under- or over-compression.
Vulnerabilities. Increasingly, spiral-wound gaskets are being
supplied with inner rings as well. If not, there is a greater risk
FIG. 2
Loop winding spiral-wound gaskets to center them on a

flange has largely given way to the use of an outer guide
ring depicted in Fig. 1.
I 95
that the gasket windings will buckle inward, limiting the load
that can be applied and maintained on them (Fig. 3). The damaged inner windings can contaminate the system or damage
downstream components. Even if the windings are properly
loaded, the graphite can move and the gasket relax as the bolted
connection heats. As a result, the gasket can lose the stress
required for the seal integrity. In some cases, highly loaded

windings can also cause buckling of the inner ring itself if it is
not wide enough.
In addition to density and compression, ease of handling can
be an important factor in selecting the proper gasket for a particular application. For example, installing a gasket in a confined
space or 20 feet in the air can pose a number of challenges. Spiralwound gasket windings are particularly susceptible to damage,
springing when bumped, dropped or otherwise mishandled.
Large spiral-wound gaskets can be especially difficult to handle
since the windings can have a tendency to pop out. In addition,
they are sometimes hard to seal since the initial winding density
can be so low that the guide rings are contacted before the windings are properly loaded. If the gasket is unloaded, the windings
can come apart like a spring (Fig. 4).
Kammprofile gaskets. Kammprofile gaskets were developed in Europe, where the original grooved cross-section was
developed in Germany and standardized in DIN 2697 nearly 40
years ago. Designed as an alternative to both traditional metaljacketed and spiral-wound gaskets, kammprofiles have seen
increased use in the US for the past decade and are displacing
spiral-wound gaskets in many systems. Although the original
design has been modified over the years, it is relatively simple:
FIG. 3
Spiral-wound gaskets without inner rings can buckle,

limiting the load that can be applied and maintained
on them.
FIG. 5
FIG. 4
96
Improperly or unloaded spiral-wound gaskets can come

apart like a spring.
Kammprofile gaskets feature a serrated metallic core with

soft, conformable materials bonded to both sides.
FIG. 5A Kammprofile gaskets feature a serrated metallic core with

soft, conformable materials bonded to both sides.
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EYjeX[h'&')"(&'&CWhh_ejj8Wbj_ceh[MWj[h\hedj8Wbj_ceh["C:
<_dZoekhmWojeDFH7iG7WdZJ[Y^debe]o<ehkc$
JeZWoiYecf[j_j_l[h[d_d][dl_hedc[djh[gk_h[iWjj[dj_edjefheY[iiiW\[jo"
ikf[h_ehj[Y^debe]o"_ddelWj_ed"WdZ[nY[bb[dY[_def[hWj_edi$J^[i^Wh[Z
ademb[Z][e\j^[h[d[hi"f[jheY^[c_YWbfheZkY[hi"YWjWboijWdZY^[c_YWbi
ikffb_[hi"fbWdjWkjecWj_edif[Y_Wb_iji"fheY[iib_Y[diehi"[d]_d[[h_d]hci"
WdZej^[h_dZkijho[nf[hjiWjj^[G7WdZJ[Y^debe]o<ehkca[[fioek
cel_d]_dj^[h_]^jZ_h[Yj_edWioekefj_c_p[oekhfbWdjief[hWj_ed$
J^[(&'&DFH7G7WdZJ[Y^debe]o<ehkcWZZh[ii[ih[WbfheXb[ciWdZ
Y^Wbb[d][ij^Wjoek\WY[Wjoekh\WY_b_joWdZm_bb^[bf]k_Z[oekjemWhZ
iebkj_ediWioekZ_iYkiij^[cm_j^fWd[b_ijiWdZej^[hWjj[dZ[[i$
H[]_ij[hjeZWoWjdfhW$eh]%gWeh
YWbbkiWj(&($*+-$&*.&\ehceh[_d\ehcWj_ed$
NATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL
& REFINERS ASSOCIATION
JeZWoih[d_d]WdZf[jheY^[c_YWbXki_d[ii[i$
J^[ceh[oekademWXekjki"j^[X[jj[hm[beea$
TABLE 1. Causes of over-and-under gasket compression
Under-compression
Cause
Effect
Solution
Insufficient torque
Filler not conformed to sealing surfaces

Premature leakage
Increase torque to increase gasket stress

or reduce winding cross-sectional area
Insufficient available bolt force
Filler not conformed to sealing surfaces

Premature leakage
Reduce cross-sectional area or use a kammprofile
Filler density too high
Problems sealing at low stud loads

Leaks can develop if windings take the initial
Address gasket design with manufacturer
load and the graphite is under-loaded

Over-compression
Cause
Effect
Solution
Excessive torque/available bolt force
Radial buckling (especially with gaskets with

no inner rings) of the windings and/or inner ring
Process stream contamination/leakage
Reduce torque (see gasket manufacturer)
Low-density winding-flanges contact outer guide ring
Reduced stress within the windings

Leakage because gasket cannot be loaded properly
Filler density too high
Gasket will seal if compressed sufficiently

Outer guide ring cups, warps or tilts
Can cause inner ring to buckle and excessive
guide ring roll
a solid metal core with concentric serrations and faced with a

nonmetallic material such as flexible graphite or various grades
of PTFE (Figs. 5 and 5A).
When the gaskets are installed, the soft facing material is
forced into the metal core serrated grooves. The compressive
stress increases the facing material density within the grooves and
multiple, concentric high-pressure seals are created across the
gasket face. These gaskets can be configured simply as a profiled
and faced ring, or they can incorporate an outer ring, much like
a standard spiral-wound gasket. This outer ring can be integral to
the core metal or a separate, floating ring.
Kammprofile gaskets offer the advantage of sealing at a relatively low seating stresses. Radial shear tightness (RAST) testing
at TTRL in Canada showed these gaskets to seal reliably down
to 4,000 psi seating stress, but some users consider 6,000 psi
as an absolute minimum. Suggested gasket stress is generally
in the range of 10,000 psi to 40,000 psi. Kammprofile gaskets
can also maintain a seal under extremely high seating stresses.
In Europe these gaskets are replacing jacketed and clad gaskets
in pressure vessels and heat exchangers, where it is difficult to
achieve and maintain sufficient gasket seating stresses due to
flange design and system conditions, such as thermally induced
stud-load changes and differential thermal expansion between
sealing surfaces.
Kammprofile vs. spiral-wound gaskets. Kammprofile
pipe flange gaskets compress significantly less than spiral-wound

gaskets, on the order of 0.022 in. compared with 0.030 in. to
0.075 in. for a spiral wound. This means kammprofile gaskets
load more quickly with less risk of nonparallel flanges. One disadvantage is that the graphite facing is more susceptible to mechanical damage if not properly handled. Since the graphite is not
protected by the windings as it is in spiral-wound gaskets, it also
can be damaged by oxidation at temperatures between 600F and
98
800F depending on the grade of graphite. (Higher temperatures

may be possible by including a mica-based layer around the OD
to protect the graphite.) It is, therefore, recommended to specify
good-quality, inhibited graphite when using these type gaskets.
In the case of ASME/ANSI flanges, the faced portion of the
kammprofile ring is the same for any given flange size regardless of pipe class. However torque values for different pressure
classes must be adjusted to obtain consistent gasket stresses since
stud number and size will vary (Table 1). Unlike a spiral-wound
gasket, all of the compressive force is transmitted directly onto
the kammprofile graphite facing, resulting in a very tight seal.
Since the kammprofile is solid metal as opposed to alternating
plies of metal and filler, it is extremely stable and easy to handle
even in large diameters.
Kammprofile gaskets are significantly more expensive than
spiral-wound gaskets, but can help avert costly, unscheduled outages and downtime. When properly manufactured, both gasket
types provide reliable seals. Spiral-wound gaskets may have a
slight advantage if the flanges are extremely close together, and the
gasket might be susceptible to mechanical damage during installation. Likewise, they may be more resistant to oxidation since
the windings hold the graphite in place and protect it. Kammprofiles can be more tolerant of sealing surface defects and seal
more effectively in fugitive emissions services. While the choice
of which gasket to use is sometimes based on properties that
are specific to one or the other, often the choice comes down to
personal preference. HP
Chad Yoder is an applications engineer with Garlock Sealing Technologies,

Palmyra, New York.
David W. Reeves is senior specialist, bolting and sealing technology, Chevron
Richmond Refinery, Richmond, California.
Special Supplement to
AND
ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION
CONTENTS
Managing projects in a global environment
|E101
Corporate Profiles
Mustang |E105 CCC
|E107
Foster Wheeler
|E109
KTI |E111
Shaw
|E113
Cover Photo: Shaw's Energy & Chemicals Group is providing engineering, procurement services and construction management for a benzene reduction unit in Robinson, Illinois.
6;:LI=>C<H6C:C<>C::GH=DJA9@CDLL=:C
8DCH>9:G>C<686G::GL>I=H6J9>6G6B8D/
1. The companys massive hydrocarbon operations are expanding.
2. Saudi Aramco is a place where you can find a long and rewarding career.
3. Energy is our #1 exportAdventure stories a close second.
In other words, working for Saudi Aramco and living in Saudi Arabia offer satisfaction on a
whole different level. It is an opportunity to participate in a world-scale hydrocarbon
program, use the most advanced technologies and team up with top-notch professionals
dedicated to a secure energy future. Its also an opportunity for you and your family to
experience international travel and work-life balance, develop friendships that last a
lifetime, and enjoy a highly competitive compensation and benefits program.
Enrich your life.

Visit www.Aramco.Jobs/HCP.
IB
ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION

2010
Managing projects in a global environment

What does it take to facilitate projects in several time zones away?
S. K. PODDAR, Poddar & Associates, Houston, Texas
Globalization is driving many EPC projects to be international in nature. As such, the project owner and/or selected
contractors are from various parts of the world. Sometimes,
the international project is not located in the main contractors homeland but is located in a third country. Such scenarios are becoming more prevalent than ever before.
Managing any project, particularly an international project, requires special leadership skills and awareness by the
project manager, and his/her team must work together in a
coherent manner to drive project success. This article explains
the challenges and opportunities in managing international
projects. More important, it discusses the special leadership
skills needed.
KEY DRIVERS TO EXECUTE A PROJECT

Successful execution of a given project is influenced by
properly controlling the budget (cost), schedule (time) and
deliverables. All of these interdependent factors are accomplished by people (project manager and team) and supported
by the best available technical knowledge and tools.
The leadership and management skills coupled with the
technical strengths of the project teamnot necessarily
project management consultant (PMC)determine the success of the project.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

For an international EPC project, the challenges are:
1. Technical. This involves the engineering/technical
strength of the project manager and the project team members.
2. Non-technical or cultural. This challenge requires
special leadership skills.
Challenges associated with the technical part are mostly
similar irrespective of whether they are for a national or an
international project as long as the project manager and the
team members are technically qualified and proficient in
using the best available technologies and tools. Challenges
associated with the non-technical part, however, deserve
special attention because they involve leading the project
team effectively, which requires special leadership skill sets.
Technical and non-technical challenges involve:
When and Why) and one H (How). Often, the SOW will
include a request for proposal (RFP); the RFP may not be
exactly what the clients expectations are for the project.
Accordingly, understanding and executing the SOW is even
more important for bid preparation. Any divergence in
understanding can potentially cause substantial monetary
loss and lasting dissatisfaction from the client. Although the
SOW is a technical issue, it is a significant part that requires
a good understanding of the diversity and differences stemming from the clients culture.
Implementing a disciplined and structured engiTwo

line caption
neering
approach. For a typical project involving engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), the total
installed cost (TIC) is split between three phases: E10% to
20%, P35% to 45% and C40% to 50%, respectively. Therefore, the common notion is to focus heavily on the procurement and construction phases of the project because P&C
are two significantly higher cost components for any given
project. However, the cost influence of engineering most
often can be very significant. Attention to details should be
considered at the very beginning of project development
as shown in Fig. 1.
Following a rigorous systematic methodology and gated
approach during the engineering phase, E, can help avoid
any adverse impacts on the remaining two significantly
higher cost componentsP and C. Once the engineering
phase is completed, the influencing factor minimizing cost
overruns and the overall project schedule diminishes significantly and often is completely eliminated.
Estimating various project cost levels at progressive execution stages. This part of the project is purely
High
Cost expenditure
Conceptual/preliminary
Ability to
inuence
cost and
schedule
Detailed engineering
Procurement
Construction
Understanding and establishing the scope of work.

At the start of any project, a clear understanding of the
scope of work (SOW) is vitally important. For an international project, the SOW must be established by careful discussions, including face-to-face clarification meetings to
arrive at the clients real expectation. During this step, the
team must carefully address all four Ws (Which, Where,
SPONSORED CONTENT
100%
Low
Startup
Cost inuence
Start date
Time
Need date
FIG. 1. Life cycle for a project and cost influence.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION 2010
I E101

2010
technical. Typically, during the progression of the projects
life cycle, cost-estimate accuracy improves from 40% to
preliminary 25% to definitive 10%. Although the terminology and associated percentage of accuracy may change
from country to country or organization to organization,
they are basically same. There is no special consideration
of non-technical skills necessary for an international vs. a
domestic project.
Developing a realistic project schedule. For this

activity, one must understand the clients culture. Depending on the country and the clients culture, some cultures
are more tolerant and/or demanding than others. In general, most projects are schedule driven, and adherence to
schedule becomes extremely important. One must remember that the project cost and project schedule are very
much interdependent. Earned value analysis (EVA) is often
done to evaluate and track progress with reference to
project cost.
Negotiating contract terms to drive project execution through EPC phases. Understanding the contract
language and the pros and cons of various contracts, and
understanding the clients culture, are extremely important
to achieve successful negotiation. This step is often a significant challenge in an international environment.
Developing suitable quality assurance and control

procedures. A rigorous quality assurance (QA) and quality
control (QC) procedure must be developed to appropriately
monitor project performance. Open intra- and inter-level
discussion with the project team members, with appropri-
Poddar & Associates is a consulting company

with three major areas of expertise and interests.
They are:
1. Developing projects and businesses for its clients
internationally
2. Offering training courses on various aspects of
project management and leadership skills and
3. Teaching selected technical courses including
Refining Overview, Chemical Engineering Fundamentals for Non-Chemical Engineers and Operators, Coal
& Biomass Conversion Processes, Gas to Liquids (GTLs)
and Practical Approach to Heat Exchanger Design.
For more information, contact Syamal Poddar Ph.D.,
P.E., Fellow AIChE @ e-mail: associates.poddar@
gmail.com
Adding value to our customer is our motto
ate level of involvement and input from the client, are very
essential when implementing a detailed QA and QC scheme
at the onset of project execution.
Understanding and implementing EHS issues into

project execution plan. Successful implementation of
environment, health and safety (EHS) issues and requirements depend on the technical knowledge, as well as a
clear understanding of various requirements of local government and other nongovernmental entities where the
project is located. Special attention to understanding these
requirements and integrating them early in the project
execution planning (PEP) is very important for any international project. In particular, understanding cultural diversity plays a significant role to determine the agreed upon
methodology to achieve a well-thought-out EHS strategy
and its execution.
Managing risk factors associated with international projects. These risks can be of different natures;
there could be technical risks, especially when the project
involves implementing new technologies, or a first-of-akind situation without any prior experience. There could
be engineering and other performance risks involving construction performance.
For international projects, the interface management
risks with the client are often challenging. This can intensify
when dealing with a first-time international client and/or
any major international supplier located overseas. A few
other risks to address include managing suppliers, especially
new and/or unproven ones; traffic and logistics risks, such as
heavy hauls to the project construction site; and expatriate
content and risks for local customs and duties.
If the project is a lump-sum, turnkey (LSTK) project, then
the pricing risks include currency issues as appropriate.
Sometimes, it is mitigated by choosing a basket of currency
in the offer as well as incorporating currency hedging in an
international project. Project location risks include local politics, political stability, security, labor availability and quality.
Also, site accessibility could be of great importance.
Caution should be taken in selecting subcontractors
and negotiating subcontract languages. This requires a
thorough knowledge of local government and non-government requirements including the local content requirement. Sometimes, a project specific joint venture may be
a better approach to mitigate some risks associated with
subcontractors.
Prior knowledge and understanding, and proper proactive recognition of these risks in implementing them in the
PEP are critically important for the successful execution of
any international project.
Managing in-country rules, regulations and specific requirements. A thorough understanding of these
requirements is important even before a project bid is prepared, let alone during the project execution stage. Very
often, managing in-country becomes a catch up effort, and
it creates many difficulties.
E102
I ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION 2010
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING
SPONSORED CONTENT

2010
SPECIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS
There is a fundamental difference between management
and leadership. Managers are people who do things right
and leaders are people who do the right thing. Vision is
a unique trait of true leaders as they overcome barriers to
change. A leader is able to instill a common vision to employees across the boundary by absorbing available cultural
diversity as strength and by not setting aside such diversity
as a weakness. An organization driven by an effective leader
translates vision to reality. This translation is manifested by
an effective 360 communication between leaders and their
followers. The two important leadership traits are credibility
and commitment fueled by trust and integrity.
High
Trust
Low
Low
Getting the message across all levels is the key

to success. This is achieved through establishing a common goal (vision) and creating alignment among all team
members. Trust is the glue that keeps the organization
moving forward, and effective leadership is the catalyst
that builds trust. More important, trust creates accountability, dependability, integrity, predictability and identity
for any organization. Effective leaders pull people together
by attracting, energizing and motivating them towards a
common goal. Effective leaders are proactive listeners. All
of these are achieved by special character traits and other
proactive day-to-day actions influenced by the leaders
effective communication in a cross-cultural environment.
Fig. 2 is a qualitative representation of how the leaders
communication effectiveness influences the process of
Trust building.
High
Communication effectiveness
FIG. 2. Trust vs. communication effectiveness.
Technical understanding
and skills
TRUST
Special leadership skills
International project
Project success:
Protable
Customer satisfaction
FIG. 3. Key project drivers for international project success.
Communication and cross-cultural communication.

It is important to recognize the importance of the leaders
effective communication skills. Leaders managing international projects must be culturally sensitive with a global
outlook. Creating effective human capital from a diverse
cultural background is becoming more important than monetary capital. Proficiency in cross-cultural communications is
of tantamount importance. The leaders who create cultural
synergy emphasize similarities and common concerns, and
integrate differences to enrich organizational strength.
Culturally sensitive and skilled leaders, who value diversity
as strength and not weakness, are the leaders who are successful in managing international projects. The key element
of success in a multi-cultural setup is proficiency in nonverbal
communication skills.
GLOBAL LEADERS FOR GLOBAL PROJECTS

Very often, successful project execution calls for not only
the project managers and the teams technical competencies in effectively managing the above, but also for special
leadership skill-sets to understand, integrate and manage
the cultural diversity.
Most often, it is not the technical strength of the project
management team but the soft leadership skills such as
understanding of cultural differences, effective communication skill and extraordinary level of interpersonal skills,
as shown schematically in Fig. 3 that create trust and drive
SPONSORED CONTENT
the project success. This is even truer for an international

project. A successful project execution delivers two important end-results. They are: profit, and most importantly,
client satisfaction.
Dr. Syamal K. Poddar brings over 35 years of professional

experience combining university teaching and industry. His industry
experience extends over a broad range of technology and in processes related to the hydrocarbon and energy industries, encompassing RandD, process and project engineering, project and business development, and management. Prior to forming a consulting company, Poddar
and Associates, Dr. Poddar worked in various capacities in the hydrocarbon industry
sector including Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Bechtel Corp. and CDI. His
global business exposure and Indian heritage helped him to acquire a unique set of
skills to develop, lead and manage international projects. In addition to his industrial
career, he maintained his teaching interest as an adjunct faculty for several years. Dr.
Poddar has given several technical, project and business development and leadership courses nationally and internationally. With Bachelors and Masters degrees in
chemical engineering from Jadavpur University, India, Dr. Poddar earned his PhD in
chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to authoring
42 technical papers and holding 2 US patents, he has made numerous technical and
business presentations at national and international conferences, and organized
and chaired many such conferences. He is a registered professional engineer in the
State of Texas. He is a passionate volunteer and, as elected president, contributed
significantly in the growth of professional and social organizations. He has held various elected positions at the AIChEs divisional level. At present, he is the chair of the
Fuels and Petrochemicals division, a member of Operating Council and a Trustee of
the AIChE Foundation. He is an elected Fellow of the AIChE.
I E103
Using Experience to
Integrate Total EPCM Delivery
Mustang offers hands-on construction operations experience to make sure project delivery is what you
expect safe, on time, within budget and with no surprises. We provide a fully integrated approach for every
stage on projects of any type, any size, anywhere in the world.
We handle any and all aspects of the project, from front-end planning through startup, including:
Safety & Environmental

Project Controls
Site Planning
Quality Assurance
Construction Engineering
Materials
Administrative/Subcontract
Engineering Coordination
Inspection Services
Contact us to put our horsepower to work on your next project.
People Oriented...Project Driven

constructionoperations@mustangeng.com
www.mustangeng.com

CORPORATE PROFILE: MUSTANG 2010
Mustangs construction operations

enhance EPCM capabilities
Mustangs construction operations personnel are industry professionals with vast hands-on field experience and
working knowledge of planning, scheduling, design, QA/
QC, procurement, material management, construction and
installation. That expertise helps Mustang provide its clients
with a competitive advantage. Regardless of project size, its
construction operations teams can be involved in every stage,
from initiation through pre-commissioning and startup.
In managing any project phase, Mustang puts safety first.
Mustangs approach to Health, Safety and Environmental
(HSE) on projects extends beyond mere compliance. From the
executive level down, Mustangs commitment to implement
and execute sound HSE practices is reflected in everything
it does and its safety performance is exceptional. Mustangs
outstanding performance not only protects lives, but also
benefits clients with increased productivity and reduced
project costs.
MAKING HEROES
Mustangs culture is designed to make heroes of all project
participantsclients, vendors, fabricators, contractors, business partners and Mustangers. Project execution involves all
parties from the earliest stages, encouraging communication,
ingenuity and innovation.
Construction operations teams work closely with engineering and design to provide constructability and cost
estimate input during the FEL process and provide constructability planning during detailed engineering. Their input
greatly enhances the quality of deliverables and overall
project success.
all project aspects seamless and successful. It assists engineering in developing inspection and execution plans. It
helps develop specifications and apply appropriate codes
and standards to assure safety compliance and intended
performance. Along with procurement, inspectors evaluate
suppliers with in-depth audits, facility surveys, Q/A assistance,
and vendor data assessments for safety and quality appropriateness. With a thorough understanding of all necessary
codes, industry standards and jurisdictional requirements,
the team performs quality assurance inspections on the construction site, in the fabrication facility or at the equipment
manufacturers plant.
FIRST CHOICE
MANAGING AN ENTIRE PROJECT OR JUST A PORTION
Mustangs flexibility offers the most sensible project
approach. It can manage all project phases or be designated
as the owners representative, providing various levels of
oversight or specialized services, such as inspection or laser
scanning, depending on scope and client needs. It can tailor
a solution by providing various levels of support to maintain a
close, on-site relationship with the client providing the necessary counsel and management services for all project phases.
Mustangs integrated global EPCM services encompass
project controls, site planning, quality assurance, construction engineering, materials and equipment control, and
administrative oversight. Mustangs worldwide entities are
further supported by parent company Wood Group, a multinational energy firm with operations in 50 countries and
annual revenues exceeding $5 billion.
INSPECTORS PROVIDE ADDED VALUE

Mustangs highly experienced inspection team interfaces
with all project participants, providing a synergy to make
SPONSORED CONTENT
Extensive experience and strong vendor and contractor relationships help Mustang take projects from concept
through startup, accelerating project schedules, improving
coordination, providing high levels of QA/QC and bolstering
the bottom line. This assures that its vision of making heroes
becomes a reality for all project participants.
Contact information
16001 Park Ten Place
Houston, TX 77084
Phone: 713-215-8000
Fax: 713-215-8506
Website: www.mustangeng.com
I E105

CORPORATE PROFILE: CCC 2010
Excellence, commitment, human touch

CCC is the partner of choice for all your global needs
CCC Group
Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), founded in
1952 in Lebanon, is a diversified international construction
company active in over 50 countries across five continents;
from the Middle East to Australia.
Our diverse portfolio now encompasses energy, heavy
civil, building, infrastructure, mining, power and real estate
services.
We have had record revenues for the past five years,
and Engineering News Record has ranked CCC consistently
in the top 20 International Construction Contractors for 9
straight years.
Our diversified local workforce consists of 120,000 qualified men and women representing over 70 nationalities.
We have a turnover in excess of US$ 5 Billion with more
than 70% generated from projects in the Middle East.
We have a proud history, an active past and a promising
future.
Our Core Business

CCC offers a wide range of business activities in line
with the highest commitment to HSE, Quality and Social
Responsibility.
Our Core Business across the EPC Chain Value
We capture all aspects of the Engineering, Procurement
and Construction (EPC) value chain, starting with Feasibility
Studies, into Design, Procurement, Construction, Commissioning, Operations and Maintenance for:
Oil and Gas Projects
Petrochemical Projects
Pipelines
Offshore Construction Works
Environmental Projects
Heavy Civil and Marine Works
Buildings
Roads and Infrastructures
Power and Water Projects
Dams, Harbours and Airports
RasGas Onshore Onplot LNG Enpansion (Trains 6 & 7) Ras Laffan, Qatar
Two line caption
eration and desalination projects, dams and networks in the

Middle East and Africa.
Environment. Dedicated to the Environment, we offer
viable environmental solutions.
Alternative Energy. CCC is committed to participating
in the global drive towards alternative energy.
How we Operate
Other Business Services
We work with clients, partners and stakeholders to find

quality solutions for a wide range of business segments and
activities.
By combining our immense construction expertise and
experience gained over 50 years, with our diversified services
and commercial acumen, we supply innovative solutions
across the markets and industries around the world.
An essential part of our success is our responsible approach
towards all our operations, our employees, clients, suppliers,
local communities, the environment and society as a whole.
Our core business principles, derived from the CCC family values, set out the company values and behaviours that
define how we work.
Our diversified services, flexibility and adaptability combined with the abilities of our people, offered through
a one address, have made us the partner of choice for
many companies.
Through market and geographical diversification, CCC can

now offer, in addition to our core business, a wide range of
services and assistance in multiple market segments:
Mining. We participate and invest in worldwide mining
exploration and development.
Real Estate Development. With creative solutions and
commitment to excellence, we provide a multitude of real
estate development services for commercial, residential,
retails, hospitality and combined properties.
Power Generation and Water. As the world is highly
dependent on power, we invest and construct power gen-
Contact information
Consolidated Contractors Company
Phone: +30 2106182000
Fax: +30 2106199224
Website: www.ccc.gr
SPONSORED CONTENT
I E107
Delayed Coking
and so much more...
What more can we do for you?

Visit us on the web at www.fwc.com

CORPORATE PROFILE: FOSTER WHEELER 2010
Delayed Coking and so much more

As an EPC company with over 100 years of experience,
Foster Wheeler designs, engineers and constructs leadingedge processing facilities and related infrastructure
for the upstream oil & gas, LNG, gas-to-liquids, coal-toproducts, carbon capture & storage, refining, chemicals
& petrochemicals, environmental and power industries,
as well as pharma, biotech & healthcare. With a proven
track record in everything from conceptual studies through
full EPC execution, we continue to invest in the process
technology that is transforming our industry.
As a pioneer in refinery clean fuels projects, with
technology leadership in delayed coking through our
SYDECSM (Selective Yield Delayed Coking) process, we are
committed to provide safe, reliable and environmentallyconscious solutions for residue upgrading or zero fuel
oil production. We continue to evolve the technology to
improve safety, lower maintenance requirements, extend
equipment life, reduce operating costs, and so much more.
Understanding that residue upgrading can be a significant
investment, UOP / Foster Wheelers Solvent Deasphalting
(SDA) technology offers refiners a lower cost solution to
bottom of the barrel upgrading.
As refiners are faced with increasingly stringent fuel
specifications and environmental constraints, we continue
to focus on ventures in sustainable technology development
and licensing, to provide cost-effective clean fuel solutions.
Our recent partnering in micro-crop biomass to develop
clean fuels that are functionally compatible with petroleumbased fuels is just one example. We are working to create
end-to-end market solutions for the large-scale production
of green gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and specialty chemicals.
Foster Wheeler also has extensive experience in other
areas of green initiatives such as gasification (including
biomass), carbon capture, power generation (including wind
and solar, as well as clean coal plants).
With the need for increasing hydrogen generation to
support hydroprocessing, refiners routinely turn to Foster
Wheeler for the technology solutions that provide operating
flexibility and maximum reliability, coupled with the EPC
construction solutions that can reduce construction cost and
schedule. We have designed, engineered and constructed
over 100 hydrogen and synthesis gas plants over the last 60
years, reforming natural gas, refinery gases and light liquid
feeds, as well as partial oxidation of both gaseous and liquid
feedstocks, ranging in size from 1.4 million standard cubic
feet (mscf) to 95 mscf.
In addition to our refining technology and EPC
portfolio, we also have a long and illustrious track record
in the chemicals, petrochemicals and polymers market.
From consultancy and small process unit revamps to large
integrated grass roots complexes, we deliver comprehensive
solutions that meet your needs. Furthermore, we are proud
of our strong and expanded base to serve the upstream
oil and gas business. Our recent acquisitions and new
SPONSORED CONTENT
strategic resources allow us to execute larger and more

complex onshore and offshore global projects from
concept to completion. With such a breadth of global and
comprehensive offerings, and talented people delivering
innovative and sustainable solutions to address the current
industry challenges, we think it is clear that Foster Wheeler
truly provides so much more.
WHAT MORE CAN WE DO FOR YOU?
Contact details:
585 N. Dairy Ashford
Houston, Texas 77079
Phone: 713-929-5555
e-mail: Info@fwc.com
www.fwc.com
I E109

CORPORATE PROFILE: KTI 2010
The markets bouncing back

Are you ready for the rebound?
Jump ahead of the pack with fired heater training from KTI
Since December 2007, the U.S. economy and many sectors of the global economy, experienced one of the worst
recessions on record. And just when we thought we were
out of the woods, weve felt the back-to-back global shocks
of first the Euro crisis and now the possible slowdown
in the U.S.s economic recovery. Weve tried to manage
our organizations and bottom lines through significant
uncertainty, resulting in two years of work force reductions, hiring freezes and re-assigned workers. As weve successfully managed through these sustained pressures, we
finally now have a positive data point that should generate
some cheer: Exxon Mobil Corps second-quarter earnings
jumped 91%, helped by higher commodities prices and a
surge in refining profits and production. Exxons smaller
rival, ConocoPhillips, said its second-quarter earnings tripled, while Chevron Corp is expected to post substantially
higher earnings. WSJ, July 30, 2010.
With confirmation that industry earnings have reached
solid ground, well start seeing stalled projects move forward again. However, as the recovery begins to take shape,
our organizations may not be ready to capitalize on this
opportunity. From a staffing, training and personnel development perspective, nows the time to start preparing for
the recovery. Managers should take this opportunity to
further develop their personnel with incremental training
and personal development investment. Training programs
such as KTIs Advanced Fired Heater School are useful tools
for cost effectively strengthening technical skill sets in a
rebounding market.
KTIs program offers comprehensive fired heater training,
from thermal process design to commissioning, over two and
one half days of structured presentations. KTIs objective is
to train professional attendees in the fundamentals of fired
heater design and auxiliary equipment. The program covers each step in a projects life-cycle with a focus on quality
assurance throughout the entire process. In-depth discussion includes many of the key topics which focus on fired
heater technology and innovation. Attendees will complete
the program with a strong understanding of all aspects
of managing a fired heater project, with special emphasis
on operations and maintenance. The cost for this class is a
nominal $250 per attendeea must attend for the refining
and petrochemical industries.
Despite the depth and severity of the recession, industry
innovation kept advancing. While the recession forced less
competitive suppliers to the sidelines, market dynamics
continued to shape our global supply chain. If you havent
been keeping up, its time to get caught up. And lets not
SPONSORED CONTENT
KTI Advanced Fired Heater School, Houston, Texas, United States
forget an industry concern that was widely shared before

the global recession hitan aging workforce. While we may
not be attracting young talent like Internet search companies, were just as vital to the global economy. Identifying
and growing talent is critical to sustaining growth and KTI
can help as you seek to further develop your internal staff.
Whether your with an engineering service company or integrated energy producer, its time to plan ahead. For more
details on KTIs Advanced Fired Heater School, go to www.
kticorp.com and learn how additional, specialized training
can boost your teams productivity.
Contact details:
KTI Corporation
11720 Katy Freeway, Suite 110
Houston, TX 77079
Phone: 281-249-2400
Fax: 281-249-2328
e-mail: sales@kticorp.com
Website: www.kticorp.com
I E111
OUR TECHNOLOGY & EPC SOLUTIONS,

YOUR MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE
At Shaw, we understand todays market challenges and the demand for protable,
efcient solutions. Whether the need is for licensing process technology, building
a grassroots plant or revamping an existing unit, Shaw can help you achieve
optimum operating performance.
CONSULTING
LICENSED TECHNOLOGY
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FRONTEND ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING
PROCUREMENT
CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
COMMISSIONING & STARTUP
PROJECT MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY
ENERGY & CHEMICALSs&!"2)#!4)/.-!.5&!#452).'

0/7%2s%.6)2/.-%.4!,).&2!3425#452%
www.shawgrp.com
34M062010D

CORPORATE PROFILE: SHAW 2010
Shaws Energy & Chemicals Group

Shaw is one of the worlds leading technology-driven
engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors. A full-service organization, Shaw can provide the engineering talent needed for the design and construction of
new facilities, as well as refurbishment and modernization
of existing facilities. We also are recognized for our ability
to develop, commercialize and integrate a wide range of
process technologies.
Refining. From improving cracking margins to producing petrochemicals from the bottom of the barrel, Shaw
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I E113
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LOSS PREVENTION
Hydrobulging of storage tanks and

its effect on first support selection
Case studies prove that installing variable spring supports is a viable option
M. G. CHOUDHURY, S. JOHRI and R. TRIPATHI, BecRel Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India
n the hydrocarbon industry, especially refineries, many storage

tanks exist. A storage tank is a container or vessel generally used
to store raw crude, intermediate and final-product liquids from
refineries or other process industries. The roots of these tanks can
be fixed, cone, domed or floating. Tanks vary in diameter and can
measure up to 102 m. Large-diameter tanks, larger than 90 m
with heights up to 20 m are not uncommon in refineries. These
tanks act as feed sources to feed pumps and as reservoir to store
discharge from pumps.
With regards to differential settlement between the tank and
connected piping (generally large pipes), there are two pipesupporting approaches:
Spring supportfirst support away from the tank nozzle
that supports the connected pipe
Support directly from the tank foundation or extended tank
foundation.
The effectiveness of both approaches will be discussed in relation to the effect of hydrobulging on large-diameter liquid-filled
tanks and the interrelated effects on nozzle-load analysis.
Background. Tank settlement occurs in large diameter tanks

holding heavy products, so stress analysis needs to be performed
on piping that is connected to tank nozzles. To take care of heavy
loads on the nozzle due to tank settlement, spring support is an
acceptable approach. However, another school of thought advocates first support from the tank foundationthis avoids using a
spring support, saving cost. This support is taken directly from the
tank foundation or by extending the tank foundation.
Before proceeding, the following terms need to be understood:
Tank settlementgradual settling of the tank foundation during an extended period of time which creates a relative difference
in elevation between the piping and the tank nozzle. Most settlement occurs during hydrotesting of the tank but it can continue
for years since its a slow process and it may take more years to
reach full settlement. The tank settlement amount depends on soil
characteristicsprimarily, consolidation and compressibility.
Spring supportsflexible supports used when excessive
loads are encountered on the nozzle due to vertical displacements of line and equipment. These supports are used to absorb/
accommodate the vertical displacement and to support the line
in these conditions.
First support from tank foundationrefers to normal rest
supports that are taken from the tank foundation or by extending
the tank foundation to support the line connecting to the tank
nozzle. This serves the same purpose as using a spring support.
This type of support will also settle by the same amount as the
tank foundation.
Tank bulgingradial growth occurs on the shell due to
product static head for large-diameter tanks. Bulge formations
appear because a static head may cause circumferential and
longitudinal strains.
Methodology. For large-diameter storage tanks with heavy liq-
uid, tank bulging occurs since there is a slight growth of the tank
shell in radial direction. When this radial-shell growth occurs at
the nozzle location, the nozzle is rotated slightly. Even the smallest
nozzle rotation will cause the associated piping to either lift-off
from the first support from the tank foundation or excessively
compress the pipe at the first support from the tank foundation.
This happens even if the vertical displacement of the tank nozzle
is in a downward direction. This assumes that the first support is
a rigid support from the tank foundation extension.
A case study was done on the piping connected to a 36-in.
nozzle on a 76-m-diameter tank that was used for crude storage in a refinery tank farm. Various interrelated aspects of tank
bulging on the first support from the tank foundation and nozzle
loads were studied. Radial-shell growth and nozzle vertical displacement at varying heights and shell thickness were tabulated.
A vertical displacement effect on the nozzle occurred due to it
rotating from tank bulging. This caused the support of the associated piping to lift off or come down. Nozzle-load analysis for
both systemsfirst support from the tank foundation and spring
supportswere developed.
A similar stress-run was made where all design parameters
were kept similar except that the first support from the tank foundation was replaced by a spring support. Nozzle loads for both
the stress-runs and the behavior of first support from the tank
foundation and spring support were compared and studied.
Case study with the following tank design
parameters:
Tank diameter: 76,000 mm

Tank product design height (H): 18,500 mm
Specific gravity of liquid (G): 1.0
Vertical distance (L) between nozzle (N1) and tank bottom:
875 mm
Shell thickness at shell-nozzle junction(t) : 38 mm
Nozzle (N1) standout from outer shell (S): 340 mm
Nozzle (N1) and connecting pipe size: 36 in.
No anchor chair on tank base.
I 115
LOSS PREVENTION
T = normal operating temperature minus installation
temperature (C)
= unrestrained shell rotation resulting from product
head (radians)
S = Nozzle standout from outer shell
X = Vertical displacement of nozzle due to rotation,
i.e., lifting-off support (mm)= S x tan
Notes:
1. The case study was done for a hydrostatic condition; however, the temperature effect on tank bulging was not considered.
2. Radial deflection due to tank bulging is calculated based
on Appendix P clause P.2.5.1 of API-650, using the understated
formula:
9.8 106 GHR 2
L
W =
1 e L cos(L)
+ RT
(1)
H
Et

Temperature effect, i.e., R T; in Eq. 1 is considered 0. Thus,
Eq. 1 is rewritten as:
W =
9.8 106 GHR 2

L
1 e L cos(L)
H
Et

where:
W
G
H
R
=
=
=
=
=
=
the shells unrestrained radial growth (mm)

design specific gravity of the liquid
maximum allowable tank filling height (mm)
nominal tank radius (mm)
characteristic parameter, 1.285/ (Rt)0.5 (1/mm)
vertical distance from the opening centerline
to the tank bottom (mm)
E = modulus of elasticity (MPa)
t = shell thickness at the opening connection (mm)
= thermal expansion coefficient of the shell material
(mm/mm, C)
35
= characteristic parameter = 0.001068815 (1/mm)

L = 0.935213 (radians)
W = 24.4738 mm
= 0.01811 radians; 1.0376 degrees
tan = 0.01811
X = 6.1583 mm
A negative sign indicates lifting-off support since the nozzle
rotates in a clockwise direction. Table 1 shows W calculated at
different thicknesses and varying heights from the tank base.
Based on Table 1, an L vs. W chart is plotted to observe the
trend of changing radial-shell growth at different heights from
the tank base (Fig. 1).
Vertical displacement effect on nozzle due to tank
bulging on nozzle loads
Case 1Nozzle load with first support from the tank foundation
and vertical displacement due to nozzle rotation because of a bulge.
For the piping arrangement illustrated in Fig. 2, nozzle loads are
listed in Table 2. The loads and displacements for first support from
the tank foundation are listed in Table 3.
Series 1
30
TABLE 1. Calculation scenarios when using different

shell thicknesses
25
W
Calculating radial growth in relation to height:
20
15
t (mm)
10
5
0
2,500
FIG. 1
5,000
7,250 10,000 12,500 15,000 17,500 18,000

L
Radial-shell growth (W ) vs. heights from tank base (L ).
Vertical displacement from

nozzle rotation due to bulge
input at nozzle node using
displacement
W (mm)
L (mm)
38
31.5062825
2,500
34
27.62671196
5,000
33
27.34424293
7,250
26
22.8354091
10,000
22
19.04995468
12,500
16
15.27965145
15,000
11
6.349985021
17,500
10
3.492491761
18,000
Tank modeled
as rigid element
Tank foundation as
anchor with settlement
260
250
240
230
220
FIG. 2
116
280
320
290
Tank modeled
as rigid element
230
220
240
260
250
270
280
320
290
Tank modeled
as rigid element
Y
Z
270
First support (rigid) from tank foundation

with settlement same as using anchor
C node and displacement concept
Piping arrangement of line connected to tank nozzle using

first support from tank foundation.
FIG. 3
First support (rigid) from tank foundation

with settlement same as using an anchor
C node and displacement concept
Piping arrangement of line connected to tank nozzle with
first support from tank foundation.
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LOSS PREVENTION
Behavior of first support from tank foundationit is evident from Table 3 that the line doesnt rest on the support taken
from the tank foundation at node 290. The support doesnt take
any load in both operating and sustained conditions.
Case 2nozzle load with first support from the tank foundation, without vertical displacement.
The piping arrangement shown in Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2,
except that the vertical displacement due to nozzle rotation from
TABLE 2. Calculated nozzle loads and moments
using first support from tank foundation and vertical
displacement
Node 340
FX
FY
FZ
Operating case
7,764
61,076
9,422
Sustained case
310
61,043
MAX
7,764
61,076
MX
MY
MZ
79,100
12,966
8,965
596
79,119
435
8,937
9,422
79,119
12,966
8,965
TABLE 3. Calculated loads and displacements on first

support from tank foundation with vertical displacement
from nozzle rotation because of bulge
Node 290
Operating case
FX
FY
FZ
DX
DY
DZ
1.145
0.460
9.050
Sustained case
0.038
0.448
0.411
MAX
1.145
0.460
9.050
tank bulging is not considered at nozzle node 340. For the piping
arrangement shown in Fig. 3, nozzle loads are listed in Table 4.
The loads and displacements for the first support from the tank
foundation are listed in Table 5.
Table 4 indicates that, if there is no hydrostatic bulge and no
nozzle rotation, the rigid support from the extended foundation
is reliable.
Behavior of first support from tank foundationTable 5
indicates that the rest support from the tank foundation serves its
purpose of supporting the line when vertical displacement due to
nozzle rotation is taken out of the picture. This support settles at the
same rate as that of the tank, thereby reducing the loads coming on
nozzle. This is similar to the function served by the spring support at
the same location as that of the rest support (refer to Cases 3 and 4).
TABLE 7. Spring details for spring support at node 290
Type
Variable spring support
Load variation
13%
Quantity
Model
DV35
Size
17
Horizontal movement
9.529 mm
Vertical movement
9.279 mm
Hot load
51,349 N
Installed load
44,850 N
Spring rate
700 N/mm
TABLE 4. Calculated nozzle loads and moments using

first support from tank foundation, without vertical
displacement from nozzle rotation because of bulge
Node 340
FX
FY
FZ
MX
MY
Operating case
7,924
33,689
9,942
2,626
12,918 37,469
Sustained case
144
32,476
55
501
469 37,053
MAX
7,924
33,689
9,942
2,626
12,918 37,469
Tank foundation as
MZ
TABLE 5. Calculated loads and displacements

using first support from tank foundation, no vertical
displacement from nozzle
Node 290
FX
FY
FZ
DX
DY
DZ
Operating case
16,362
1.140
13.0
9.459
Sustained case
17,751
0.042
13.0
0.002
MAX
17,751
1.140
13.0
9.459
240
Y
Z
First support spring
Piping arrangement of line connected to tank nozzle using

spring support as first support.
FIG. 4
Vertical displacement due

to nozzle rotation from bulge
input at nozzle node using
displacement
MX
MY
MZ
Operating Case
7,987
8,231
9,956
34,760
13,173
16,950
Sustained Case
87
8,044
45
35,504
235
17,292
7,987
8,321
9,956
35,504
12,918
37,469
FIG. 5
280
X
Tank foundation as
Tank modeled
as rigid element
270
240
FZ
Tank modeled
as rigid element
320
290
260
FY
118
280
250
FX
MAX
270
TABLE 6. Calculated nozzle loads and moments

considering spring support, without vertical
displacement
Node 340
260
250
320
290
First support spring
Piping arrangement of line connected to tank nozzle with

first support as spring support.
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LOSS PREVENTION
Case 3Nozzle load, using first support with a spring and
no vertical displacement.
The piping arrangement illustrated in Fig. 4 is analyzed with
a variable spring support in lieu of rest support from the tank
TABLE 8. Calculated nozzle load moments using a
spring support, with vertical displacement from nozzle
rotation because of bulge
Node 340
FX
FY
Operating case
7,857
23,871
Sustained case
223
MAX
7,857
FZ
MX
MY
MZ
9,445
24,238
13,340
21,081
23,844
580
24,265
78
21,104
23,871
9,445
24,265
13,340
21,104
TABLE 9. Spring details for spring support at node 290

Type
Variable spring support
Inferences. As seen from the calculations, using the first sup-
7%
port from the tank foundation in lieu of a spring support is not

the best approach. Although this support settles with the same
value as that of the tank foundation, this support is not active
since nozzle rotation occurs from tank bulging, resulting in
nozzle loads that are higher than should be allowed.
First support for lines connected to nozzles on large-diameter tanks with significant settlement values is better served to
use a spring support. Keep in mind, the spring support should
be designed to take in settlement effects. Also, the spring support, if possible, should be designed for vertical displacement
of the nozzle due to nozzle rotation from tank bulging. This
is evident from the spring behavior as seen in calculation. The
spring may show opposite displacement behavior during settlement and the nozzles vertical displacement from rotating due
to tank bulging.
Load variation
Quantity
Model
DV35
Size
17
Horizontal movement
9.126 mm
Vertical movement
4.982 mm
Hot load
51,291 N
Installed load
Spring rate
foundation at node 290. Vertical displacement from nozzle rotation because of a bulge is not considered at nozzle node 340. For
this case, nozzle loads are listed in Table 6. The details for spring
support at node 290 are listed in Table 7.
Case 4Nozzle load with first support as spring, with vertical
displacement.
The piping arrangement shown in Fig. 5 is analyzed with a
variable spring support in lieu of rest support from the tank foundation at node 290, with consideration of vertical displacement
from nozzle rotation because of bulge considered at nozzle node
340. For this case, nozzle loads are listed in Table 8. Details for
spring support at node 290 are listed in Table 9.
For all cases, all forces (FX, FY and FZ ) at nozzle node 340 are
in Newtons. Moments (MX, MY and MZ) are in Newtons-meter.
All displacements (DX, DY and DZ) at node 290 are in mm. Piping analysis is done using stress analysis software.
54,780 N
700 N/mm
Conclusion. For large-diameter tanks, tank bulging plays a

role in nozzle loads and support selection. The nozzle rotation
effect when considered in stress analysis, gives an indication of
adverse effects from first support from the tank foundation on
nozzle loads. Therefore, it is advisable to install variable spring
supports for such cases. HP
M. G. Choudhury is senior vice president and head of piping

engineering at BecRel Engineering Pvt. Ltd. He has over 38 years of
experience in piping design and engineering, including pipe stress
analysis. Mr. Choudhury has also worked at EIL, TOYO, CHEMTEX
and SABIC.
Saurabh Johri has been working extensively in the field of

pipe stress analysis for the past four years at BecRel Engineering Pvt.
Ltd., Mumbai, India. Mr. Johri is a production engineering graduate and also has a mechanical engineering diploma from Aligarh
Muslim University, India. He was involved with pipe stress analysis
for Reliance SEZ Refinery in Jamnagar, Gujrat, India (JERP).
Radharaman Tripathi is a mechanical engineering graduate

and has been associated with pipe stress analysis at BecRel Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India. He has a mechanical engineering
diploma. Recently, Mr. Tripathi has been involved with the pipe stress
analysis for Reliance SEZ Refinery in Jamnagar, Gujrat, India (JERP).
120
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upstream / downstream
A Supplement to
SHOWCASE
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ENGINEERING CASE HISTORIES
Case history 58: Piston pin plug wear

A wear analysis can help when failure data are meager
T. SOFRONAS, Consulting Engineer, Houston, Texas
n internal combustion engine experienced aluminum

particles in the oil after only 700 hr of operation. Previously the engine was overhauled at 1,700 hr with no wear
noted. A literature review and discussions with the manufacturer
did not identify any definitive causes.
Figs. 1 and 2 show the aluminum piston pin plug that failed
due to excessive wear. The plugs keep the steel piston pin from
contacting the cylinder wall.
With only historical data on the engine available an aluminum
plug wear model was developed to understand how the variables
contributed to the wear, .1
Follow the specifications for straightness and plug fits and

use harder AlBr plugs.
As with all troubleshooting efforts, only continued monitoring and time will tell if the actions taken have been successful.
At least the effects of some of the critical variables are now better
understood and so is the problem complexity. HP
1
LITERATURE CITED
Sofronas, A., Analytical Troubleshooting of Process Machinery and Pressure
Vessels: Including Real-World Case Studies, p. 113, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN:
0-471-73211-7.
= [ 0.042 K V t ] / BHN, in.

The piston speed, V, is 20,000 in./min, BHN is the plug
Brinell hardness, is the pressure pushing the plug against the
cylinder wall and t is the rubbing time in hr. The plug boundary
rubbing condition against the cylinder wall is K and is obtained
from calculated life data. It is the key to understanding the lubrication and surface finish effect, and can range from metal-tometal to a nonmetal contacting hydrodynamic film.
A sensitivity analysis of the variables on wear with 1,700
hours and a of 0.005 in. is used as a basis for normal life and
is shown in Table 1.
The first row of Table 1 represents a normal wear life of 1,700
hr from which K is calculated with a cylinder finish of 2 -in. after
break-in. This is a mirror finish as observed at rebuild and 0.005
in. plug wear. Using the harder new-design aluminum bronze plug
with 170 BHN would reduce the wear to 0.003 in.
The second row represents the calculated K value required for
0.35 in. wear in 700 hr. Since K increases as the square of the roughness, this represents a roughness of 25 -in., which is a typical breakin honing pattern. However, the finish at 700 hr was smoothed to a
mirror finish by the rings and is probably not the failure cause.
The third row illustrates that the load on the plug would have
to increase 150 times to result in only a 700-hr life and 0.35
in. actual wear. This might be possible with a stuck plug or rod
misalignment.
While loose plug fits and rod misalignment were mentioned as
possible causes in the literature, neither were evident at rebuild.
Even though no root cause was identified from the analysis, a
plan forward can be established.
Connecting
rod
Cylinder wall
Cylinder
head end
Aluminum plug
Steel pin
Plug
Piston rub track
Wear,
FIG. 1
Piston pin plug rub track on cylinder wall.
FIG. 2
Aluminum piston pin plug wear.
TABLE 1. Effect of variables on wear rate

Condition
psi K unit-less BHN
Wear, in.
Normal, 1,700 hr cylinder finish 2 -in. 1
4 x 10-7
100
0.005
700 hr cylinder, determine finish
6 x 10-5
100
0.35
150
4 x 10-7
100
0.35
700 hr. same K, determine
Dr. Anthony (Tony) Sofronas, P.E., was worldwide lead

mechanical engineer for ExxonMobil before his retirement. Information on his books, seminars, technical help and comments to this
article are available at http://mechanicalengineeringhelp.com.
I 123
PCI
process
control &
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conference
Calling all process control

and instrumentation experts!
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Gulf Publishing Companys publications Hydrocarbon Processing and
World Oil will host the Process Control & Instrumentation Conference
for the process industries. In March of 2011 in Galveston, Texas. This
technical conference will be devoted to advancing process control and
instrumentation in the oil and gas industry.
You are invited to submit an abstract to present at the conference.
Abstracts submitted for consideration should be approximately 250 words
and should include all authors, affiliations, pertinent contact information
and proposed speaker(s).
Please submit abstracts by October 1, 2010 to Events@GulfPub.com,
re: PCI Abstracts.
Topics for consideration include, but are not limited to:
Fieldbus
Advanced regulatory control
Advanced process control
Planning and scheduling
Six Sigma
Process and laboratory analyzers
Safety-instrumented systems
Wireless networks
Real-time optimization
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Production metering
For additional information on the technical program, please

contact Les Kane at: Les.Kane@GulfPub.com
For additional information on sponsorship and exhibition
opportunities, please contact your Hydrocarbon Processing
or World Oil account manager or Hadley McClellan at
+1 (713) 520-4475 or Hadley.McClellan@GulfPub.com
Hosts:
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HOW TO USE THE INDEX: The FIRST NUMBER after the company name is the page on which an
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PRIMARY DIVISION OF INDUSTRY
(check one only):
A
B
C
F
G
H
J
P
-Refining Company
-Petrochemical Co.
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-Equipment Manufacturer
-Supply Company
-Service Company
-Chemical Co.
-Engrg./Construction Co.
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(check one only):
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-Company Official, Manager

-Engineer or Consultant
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ADVERTISERS in this issue of HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

Company
Website
Page
RS#
ACS Industries Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 (166)

Alstom Power, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 (170)
(53)
(80)
(92)
(74)
KBC Advanced Technologies Inc . . . . . 74

KBR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Lurgi GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
MBI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
MBI Leasing LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Shaw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112113
(82)
(83)
(81)
(59)
(94)
(61)
Microtherm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 (159)
(79)
Mustang Engineering . . . . 66, 104105
(69)
(54)
NPRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
(98)
(93)
Ohmart/Vega . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 (155)
Foster Wheeler . . . . . . . . . . . . 108109 (100)

Optimized Gas Treating . . . . . . . . . . . 92 (172)

(84)
Parcol SpA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 (167)

Sick Ag (Sick Maihak) . . . . . . . . . 63, 65 (162)

SNC-Lavalin Eng. & Constr. Inc. . . . . . 40 (157)

SO.CA.P. Srl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 (168)

Spraying Systems Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(62)
(66)
Team Industrial Services. . . . . . . . . . . 43
Messe Dusseldorf North America . . . . 64 (163)
(85)
T.D. Williamson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
(76)
Eaton Filtration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 (119)
Sulzer Chemtech, USA Inc.. . . . . . . . . . 4 (151)

(99)
(65)
(88)
Merichem Company . . . . . . . 23, 25, 27
Saudi Aramco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Selas Fluid Processing Corp.. . . . . 56, 78 (60, 96)
KTI Corporation . . . . . . . . . 44, 110111 (90, 95)

Linde Process Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
(52)
(86)
(57)
Johnson Screens Europe . . . . . . . . . . 18
Saint-Gobain NorPro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chemstations Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 (160)
Garlock Sealing Technologies . . . . . . . 12
(67)
Hunter Buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 (156)

ITT Goulds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
(58)
(77)
Flexitallic LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Heurtey Petrochem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
RS#
CB&I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14, 94(70, 71)
Emirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Rentech Boiler System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
(55)
DuPont Vespel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
(72)
Haldor Topsoe A/S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Page
C&I Engineering Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 (169)
Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corp . . . 80
Prosim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 (171)
Costacurta SpA Vico . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
(91)
Grace Davidson GmbH . . . . . . . . . . 119
Bently Pressurized Bearing Co . . . . . . 42 (158)
CCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106-107
Prosernat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 (153)
Cameron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
(75)
Burckhardt Compression Ag . . . . . . . 87
Gas & Air Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
BASF Catalysts LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Company
Website
Asco Filtri Srl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 (161)
Baldor Electric Company . . . . . . . . . . 28
RS#
www.info.hotims.com/29423-91 . . . . . . .
(56)
Axens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Page
Altair Strickland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Company
Website
(73)
Thermo Fisher Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . 33
(97)
Trachte USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 (173)

Tricat, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 (165)

Unifrax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
(68)
United Lab. Intl., Llc/Zyme-Flow . . . . . 19 (152)

UOP LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Veolia Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Washington Group (URS). . . . . . . . . 114 (101)
For information about subscribing to HYDROCARBON PROCESSING, please visit www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

I 129
HPIN WATER MANAGEMENT

LORAINE A. HUCHLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Huchler@martechsystems.com
Utility water boot camp for process engineersPart 1

The refining and petrochemical industries employ a large
number of process engineers. Plants often assign newly graduated engineers to the utility water area. Process engineers in
each operating unit are responsible for the cooling water circuit and waste-heat steam generators. A lack of specific water
Update: Legionella standard (CTI STD-159: Legionellosis Related Practices for Evaporative Cooling Water Systems) the committee has modified the standard significantly,
incorporating many of the suggestions described in this
column in May 2010 and June 2010. The most important
change is giving the cooling tower owner more control: the
owner has the primary responsibility to assess the magnitude
of a change, the requirement to conduct a hazard assessment,
and the need to conduct a revalidation of the microbiological protocol. To register as a corresponding member of the
committee contact Virginia A. Manser, CTI administrator,
by e-mail: vmanser@cti.org or by phone at 281-583-4087.
treatment training and general experience in plants challenges

new process engineers. This series of articles will focus on the
basic understanding required by process engineers.
Crisis management. Equipment failures and unplanned
shutdowns are expensive ways to learn lessons about proper

operation of utility water systems. Table 1 lists some of the
failures that require immediate action and the consequences
of choosing to continue operating. HP
Next month: Slowly developing problems. Often, problems
develop slowly, with failures occurring with no clear causal

event. Next month, we will discuss how to detect and avoid
long-term problems.
The author is president of MarTech Systems, Inc., an engineering consulting firm that provides technical services to optimize water-related systems (steam, cooling and wastewater) in refineries and petrochemical
plants. She holds a BS degree in chemical engineering and is a licensed
professional engineer in New Jersey and Maryland. She can be reached at:
huchler@martechsystems.com.
TABLE 1. Crises management situations and recommended actions

Failure
Recommended action
Consequence of no action or insufficient corrective action
Partial or complete loss of water
Shutdown
Unplanned boiler tube failures for weeks or months
purification equipment capability
De-rate
(influent clarifiers, softeners,
Immediately obtain mobile water
demineralizers, reverse osmosis units)

Process leak from a heat exchanger (HX)
as necessary to restore production

Isolate HX from service (if it is redundant)
to repair or replace
Implement leak response procedures in
cooling water treatment program
Shut down process as necessary to repair
or replace HX
due to deposits and overheat

Carryover in boilers
Risk of turbine fouling and failure
Additional damaged HX from deposition, microbiological fouling,
under-deposit corrosion
Collateral damage: perforations in tubes of other HX in the same
cooling water circuit
Legionella risk: process contaminants feed bacteria; drift containing
legionella bacteria infects susceptible persons downwind
of the cooling tower
Partial loss of mechanical

deaeration capability
Increase oxygen scavenger chemical

feedrate for boilers
If dissolved oxygen > 20 ppb with
increased chemical, shutdown immediately
for repairs
If dissolved oxygen < 20 ppb with increased
chemical but exceeds ASME guidelines,
shutdown within one month for repairs
130
Economizers or boiler tubes will fail rapidly (in days) with inadequate
deaeration; the risk increases with boiler pressure
As the worlds leading provider of pressurized piping system maintenance and repair capabilities, TDW delivers innovative, customized
products, services and solutions that optimize system performance
with a minimum of downtime.
Give us a call. And put our solutions to work for you.

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Integrated and easy-to-use
Cross Flow
Backed by proprietary data from

industrial-scale research rigs
Comprehensive help and
documentation just a click away
Compact
Spiral
Interfaces with
leading process simulators
mechanical design programs
physical property databanks
integrated engineering software
Microsoft Excel
Analysis

www.HTRI.net
Fall 2010
A SUPPLEMENT TO
Publisher
Advertising Sales
Bill Wageneck
Laura Kane
Production Manager
Phone: +1 (713) 520-4449
Angela Bathe
Gulf Publishing Company
Cover Design
Amy Dodd
Advertising Production Manager
CONTENTS
Cheryl Willis
P.O. Box 2608

Houston, Texas 77252-2608
Phone: +1 (713) 529-4301
Fax: +1 (713) 520-4433
Visit the Software Reference Website: www.gulfpub.com/gpc/
Advertising Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Predictive Maintenance and Repair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Budgeting, Capital Allocation & Planning . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Business Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Process Control and Information Systems . . . . . . . . . . .18

Process Engineering and Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Refining, Petrochemical and Gas Processing . . . . . . . . . .20
Enterprise Operations Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 SIS/Safety Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Land and Leasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Plant Lifecycle and Performance Monitoring . . . . . . . . . .5
Regulatory Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Risk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
DOWNSTREAM
Alarm Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Asset Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Collaboration and Knowledge Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
UPSTREAM
Alarm Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Asset Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Data Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Design, Construction and Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Configuration Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Field Data Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Design, Construction and Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Dynamic Simulation and Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Energy Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Enterprise Portal Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Process Control and Information Systems . . . . . . . . . . .28
Process Engineering and Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Online Monitoring & Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Production Accounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Planning, Scheduling and Blending . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Regulatory Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Plant Lifecycle and Performance Monitoring . . . . . . . . .16 Well Log Data Access and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
F A L L 2010
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
Business Management
BUDGETING, CAPITAL
ALLOCATION AND PLANNING
U PSTREA M / D OWN STREA M SOFTWA RE REFERENCE
Company Bio
m:pro IT Consult is a project services and software products company which enables petroleum rening, petrochemical and other industries to achieve total integration of information
sources and applications, from business systems,
ERP and supply chain management through to
plant information, production planning, scheduling and operations decision support.
Products:
3esi
#200, 1601 Westmount Road N.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2N 3M2
Canada
Phone: 403-270-3270
Fax:
403-270-3343
E-mail: info@3esi.com
www.3esi.com
Company Bio:
3esi is an international E&P, Software and Services Company committed to serving the Oil
and Gas industry by creating Integrated Business Planning and Capital Management Software Solutions designed to increase eciency
by streamlining all of the processes associated
with the Oil and Gas Value Chain.
Products:
esi.manage is an Integrated Business Planning
and Capital Management solution that supports the E&P processes focused on managing
the portfolio of opportunities (projects) from
the planning stages through execution and lookbacks. esi.manage allows companies to collect
and analyze opportunities, perform portfolio
analysis in order to create Long Term Plans and
Budgets. esi.manage oers the capability of
importing actuals from 3rd party applications
to allow companies to prepare variance reports
and perform look-backs analysis.
esi.manage improves an E&P companies business results through superior decision making
due to enhanced corporate agility and improved
data quality; by entrenching best practices and
key business processes and by improving workforce eectiveness.
BUSINESS INTEGRATION
m:pro IT Consult GmbH

Kirchgasse 47
65183 Wiesbaden
Germany
Phone: +49 611 39843 0
Fax:
+49 611 39843 12
E-mail: info@mpro-it.com
www.mpro-it.com
4
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
m:pro delivers enterprise wide or point solutions - easy and fast to implement - which truly
integrate the production and business applications required to manage the overall assets.
m:pro enables, consult and assists business
process improvements, especially for rening
supply chain management (SCM).
The m:pro Integration Platform (m:ip) provides
the total integration of information sources and
applications including ERP, planning, scheduling, functional databases, plant information
systems, forecasting in a phased justied approach. The m:ip enables and improves the use
of best-in-class software, plant and business applications = asset maximization.
The m:pro object warehouse (m:owh) is our
integration, data storage/management, and
business intelligence back-end. The m:owh is
based on standard and open relational database technology.
The m:pro explorer (m:exp) is our feature rich,
fully web-enabled common graphical user interface including build and administration
tools. The m:exp can run as the portal or can
seamlessly be embedded in popular web portal
environments.
m:pro provides standard applications/interfaces for:
Production planning, scheduling and blending
Performance monitoring and dashboards
Data and process quality
Information analysis, visualization, owsheeting, trending and reporting
Featured applications/interfaces are:
Analyzer Monitoring
Blend Monitoring and Reporting
Crude Composition Tracking
Crude Scheduling
GRTMPS Planning Interface
Heat Exchanger Monitoring
KPIs, Operating Envelops, Plan vs Actual
Lab Interface and Reporting
LP Data Collector
Oil Movement Logging
ORION Scheduling Interface
PIMS Planning Interface
Quality Tracking
Tank Calculation System
ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS
MANAGEMENT
Oildex
1999 Broadway, Suite 1900
Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: 303-863-8600
Toll Free: 888-922-1222
Fax:
303-863-0505
E-mail: info@oildex.com
www.oildex.com
Other Oildex Oce Locations:
11777 Katy Freeway, Suite 350
Houston, Texas 77079
Phone: 281-741-6300
Fax:
281-741-6296
Company Bio:
Oildex is the energy industrys leading Software
as a Service (SaaS) provider of ePayables, digital
data, workow, and spend analysis solutions.
With Oildex, companies can do more in less time,
and managers can get up-to-the-minute data to
help them make well-informed decisions. Thats
why today, more than 8,400 companies depend
on Oildex to receive and process their electronic
invoices, check stubs, and joint interest bills.
Service products and descriptions:

Oildex provides software solutions to companies
looking to get the most out of their resources, so
they can quickly and accurately process, track,
and manage critical business information. Oildex is the energy industry leader when it comes
to supplying digital data, workow, and spend
analysis solutions to companies that want to
boost productivity and cut costs.
Proven Technology to Transform the Business
of Energy:
SpendworksOildexs ePayables (EIPP) system for simplifying the way companies manage
invoices and track spending.
Checkstub Connect (CDEX)The industrys
largest eRevenue data exchange which speedsup the processing of check stub data.
JIB ConnectOildexs ePayables, joint interest bill exchange for automating JIB processing
and eliminating routine monthly data entry.
CDEX CompleteThe industrys only eRevenue solution to address time-consuming check
stub detail. It eliminates hand-keying and converts paper check stub data into a digital, uploadable format.
Owner Relations ConnectOildexs eInformation, owner-relations tool for providing
secure web access to monthly statements of rev-
FALL 2010
UPS TR EAM / DOW N S T R E A M S OF T WA RE R E FE REN CE

enue, production, gas balance, JIBs, frequently
asked questions, and more.
Oildex Helps Energy Companies:
Save time & work smart
Spot opportunities
Cut up to 70% of processing costs
Track revenue & expenses
Collaborate via the Internet
LAND AND LEASING
Business Management
tical insights that can help you make more

protable decisions about petroleum plays.
From reserve and production data through to
full-cycle economics, petroCUBE gives you
immediate access to a full spectrum of current
geostatistical, technical and nancial information and comprehensive analytical tools. petroCUBE instantly delivers the data engineers
and geologists need to accurately assess risk
and justify exploration and development proposals before wells are drilled.
PLANT LIFECYCLE AND

PERFORMANCE MONITORING
geoLOGIC systems ltd.
900, 703 6 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB
Canada T2P 0T9
Phone: 403 262-1992
Fax:
403-262-1987
E-mail: sales@geologic.com
www.geologic.com
Andrea Hood, VP Business Development & Sales
Company Bio:
geoLOGIC systems ltd. is a widely recognized
developer of high quality databases and premium software products that oer more comprehensive, relevant solutions to the Oil and Gas
industry. geoLOGIC has provided Oil and Gas
professionals with industry-leading, integrated
software and value-added data coupled with
unsurpassed customer support for 27 years. The
company is an innovator in supplying data in
more accessible and usable forms so clients can
make better decisionsfrom the well head to
senior levels of accounting and administration.
Products:
geoSCOUTTM is a fully integrated, Windowsbased exploratory system that combines presentation-quality mapping and cross-section tools
with data handling and analysis software. It
integrates public and proprietary data on wells,
well logs (Raster and LAS), land, pipelines and
facilities, elds and pools, and seismic studies. It includes powerful, easy-to-use tools for
searching, viewing, mapping, reporting, graphing, analysis and managing information.
The gDC (geoLOGIC Data Center) is a comprehensive online solution that integrates public wells and land data across Western Canada.
Designed on a PPDM 3.8 model, geoLOGIC
value-added data is accessible through virtually
any petroleum industry software application.
The gDC oers spatial data in an industry standard GIS format that is accessible through most
mapping applications.
TM
petroCUBE is an innovative suite of products that provide unbiased, consistent statis-

Kirchgasse 47
65183 Wiesbaden
Germany
Phone: +49 611 39843 0
Fax:
+49 611 39843 12
www.mpro-it.com

environments.
Information analysis, visualization, owsheeting,
trending and reporting
Analyzer Monitoring
Crude Scheduling
LP Data Collector
Quality Tracking
Company Bio:
Quest Integrity Group, LLC
Products:
Company Bio:
m:pro delivers enterprise wide or point solutions easy and fast to implement - which truly integrate
the production and business applications required
to manage the overall assets.
Quest Integrity Group provides highly accurate,

technology-enabled inspection and assessment
solutions that help companies in the process,
pipeline and power industries increase protability, reduce operational and safety risks, and
improve operational planning. The company is
built upon a foundation of leading-edge science
and technology that has innovated and shaped
industries for nearly forty years.
m:pro enables, consult and assists business process improvements, especially for rening supply chain management (SCM).
The m:pro object warehouse (m:owh) is our integration, data storage/management, and business
intelligence back-end. The m:owh is based on
standard and open relational database technology.
2465 Central Avenue, Suite 110

Boulder, CO 80301
Phone: 303-415-1475
Fax: 303-415-1847
Email: Info@QuestIntegrity.com
www.QuestIntegrity.com
Products:
Signal FFS software performs Fitness-forService and fracture mechanics analyses on
xed and rotating equipment. It implements
the API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 2007 standard
and performs crack assessments in accordance
with the BS 7910 procedure. Users can perform Level 1 and 2 assessments on many aw
and equipment types. An advanced fracture
mechanics module allows users to also perform limited Level 3 assessments.
FEACrack is nite element analysis software
that rapidly generates 3D crack meshes utilizing an intuitive interface. Users can perform
F A L L 2010
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
Business Management
PLANT LIFECYCLE AND
PERFORMANCE MONITORING, CONT.
detailed fracture and fatigue analyses with unlimited levels of crack mesh renement.
LifeQuest Heater software provides complete analysis and remnant life assessment of
red heater tubes on a foot-by-foot basis utilizing API 579. The nal output is a system
risk curve displaying remaining life in hours
versus probability of failure. It combines with
heater performance monitoring and process
modeling for extensive heater reliability management.
LifeQuest Pipeline software delivers inspection and Fitness-for-Service assessment results
through a powerful data viewer. Analysis and
assessment capabilities include standard calculation methods B31G, B31G Modied and
API 579.
RMS software facilitates the implementation
of risk-based assessment programs in a wide
range of industries. It addresses the needs
of pressure systems not met by existing reliability management programs and eliminates
the high data and manpower demands of fully
quantitative systems.
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
U PSTREA M / D OWN STREA M SOFTWARE REFER

REFERENCE
ENC E
The standard functionality of COMPRESS

includes everything needed to perform ASME
Section VIII, Division 1 pressure vessel calculations. This includes the U.S. Customary and
Metric Editions of Section II, Part D as well
as a selection of Building Codes and related
Engineering Standards.
To tailor COMPRESS to your needs, the following optional modules are available:
ASME Section VIII, Division 2
Heat Exchangers (includes TEMA
Standard, ASME UHX rules, tube eld layout
capability and bi-directional interface with
HTRIs Xchanger Suite)
Drafter (converts COMPRESS les into
AutoCAD drawings)
Coster (creates Excel compatible vessel
cost estimates)
COMPRESS generates both detailed and abbreviated reports, the former suitable for use
as a calculation audit trail. COMPRESS also
generates ASME U forms and NBIC R forms.
Once nalized, forms can be saved in PDF
or EDT compliant format. EDT compliant
les can be directly submitted to the National
Board electronically. To simplify document
management, a new Project feature allows
users to organize, view and backup les of any
type from within COMPRESS.
Visit www.codeware.com to download your
complimentary COMPRESS trial software
today.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Codeware, Inc.
Codeware, Inc.
5224 Station Way
Sarasota, FL 34233
United States
Phone: (941) 927-2670
Fax:
(941) 927-2459
E-mail: inquiries@codeware.com
www.codeware.com
Company Bio:
Since 1985, Codeware has focused exclusively on providing the most comprehensive
software for the design and analysis of ASME
vessels and exchangers. Codewares Austin,
Texas based development team has the expertise needed to understand the complexities of
the Code rules and the practical experience required to implement an eective solution.
Products:
Let COMPRESS be your expert assistant.
From individual components to complex multiple diameter towers, COMPRESS can model
virtually any geometry.
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010
The Equity Engineering Group,

Inc.
20600 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 1200
Shaker Heights, OH 44122
Phone: 216-283-9519
Fax:
216-283-6022
E-mail: gcalvarado@eng.com
www.equityeng.com
Greg Alvarado, VP Sales and Client Service
Company Bio:
The Equity Engineering Group, Inc. is a recognized leader on aging infrastructure xed equipment service and support for the oil and gas
industry. Equity helps plants manage risk and
improve protability with cutting-edge software and consulting strategies that maximize
equipment operational availability, control inspection costs and avoid costly shutdowns.
Products:
VCEPlant ManagerTM is a fully-integrated
software tool for the lifecycle management of
plant assets. It oers equipment and data management in one application and database on a
universal .net standard platform that encompasses all modules with a single IT installation
procedure.
Plant Manager takes advantage of the integration of design and in-service codes and standards that is now becoming a focal point in the
industry, and can be used for the design and
subsequent management of a plants reliability
program. The design features in Plant Manager
are provided in VCESage and cover pressure
vessel, heat exchanger, piping, and tankage design in accordance with ASME and API codes
and standards. The xed equipment reliability
tools include:
VCESage for performing Fitness-ForService assessments
API RBI for inspection planning
CMLWise for tracking and analyzing
thickness reading data from inspections
IMS for developing equipment-specic,
detailed inspection plans and reports
VCEDamage for identifying and understanding your plants potential damage mechanisms
VCEIntelliJoint for troubleshooting and
eliminating ange joint leakage problems.
To nd out more about how Plant Manager can
benet your plants reliability program, contact
plantmanager@equityeng.com or check our
website at www.equityeng.com.
ALARM MANAGEMENT
Company Bio:
Yokogawa Electric Corporation

World Headquarters
9-32, Nakacho 2-chrome,
Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-8750, Japan
www.yokogawa.com
PAS
16055 Space Center Blvd. Ste. 600
Houston, TX 77062
Phone: +1.281.286.6565
Fax: +1.281.286.6767
Email: info@pas.com
www.pas.com
Company Bio:
safe running operations, maximize situation
awareness, and reduce plant vulnerabilities.
Our comprehensive portfolio includes Alarm
Management, Automation Genome Mapping,
Control Loop Performance Optimization, and
High-Performance Human Machine Interfaces.
Products:
PAS pioneered the rst commercially available
alarm management software in 1996, which
is still the most widely used in the industry.
PlantState Suite (PSS) software from PAS is
recognized as the only comprehensive solution
in the market addressing all requirements outlined in EEMUA 191 guidelines and ISA 18.2
standards. PSS is system and vendor neutral.
Downstream
Yokogawa Corp. of America

12530 West Airport Blvd,
Sugar Land, TX 77478
www.yokogawa.com/us
Yokogawa Europe B.V.

Databankweg 20 3821 AL Amersfoort,
The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu
Yokogawa Engineering Asia

PTE. LTD.
5 Bedok South Road, Singapore 469270,
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg
Yokogawa Electric China Co., LTD.

22nd Floor Shanghai Oriental Centre
31 Wujiang Road (699 Nanjing West Road)
Jingan District, Shanghai 200041, China
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
Yokogawa Corporation of America is the North

American unit of US $4 billion Yokogawa Electric
Corporation, a global leader in the manufacture
and supply of instrumentation, process control,
and automation solutions. Headquartered in
Newnan, GA., Yokogawa Corporation of America
serves a diverse customer base with market-leading
products including analyzers, ow meters, transmitters, controllers, recorders, data acquisition
products, meters, instruments, safety instrumented systems, distributed control systems and more.
Products:
CAMSYokogawas Consolidated Alarm Management System (CAMS) is an alarm management software designed on the innovative concept
of acquiring real-time alarms and events from a
variety of various automation systems - not only
from Distributed Control Systems (DCS) but
also Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), Supervisory and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA
and DAQ) and Plant Asset Management Systems (PAM); then to sort and deliver only essential alarms to the right person at the right time.
Important information such as the root cause of
alarm occurrence and role-based guidance are
also added to the displayed message.
AAASuiteAAASuite is a comprehensive alarm
management system that optimizes and enhances
process alarms issued by control systems. AAASuite improves operator performance by minimizing nuisance alarms and providing timely notica-
PSS aggregates and stores all alarm-related information and provides a broad set of analyses,
reports, and metrics that help identify the state
of the alarm system, discover improvement
opportunities, and provide powerful visualization.
PSS Alarm Advanced Elements ensures that
plant alarm systems are equally as eective
during abnormal situations, when operators
need them the most, as they are during normal
conditions. PSS Alarm Advanced Elements
includes Alarm Shelving, Documentation and
Rationalization, Dynamic Alarming, and Audit
and Enforce applications.
PAS also developed the rst Six Sigma alarm
improvement methodology and authored the
rst comprehensive how to book for improving an alarm system. The seven-step alarm improvement methodology outlined in The Alarm
Management Handbook has become a best practice for alarm management practitioners worldwide. This best practice is fully embodied in
PlantState Suite software.

7
Downstream
ALARM MANAGEMENT, CONT.
tion of only necessary alarms, thereby preventing
alarm ooding and enabling safe, stable and cost
eective plant operations.
U PSTREA M / D O WN STREA M SOFTWARE REFERENCE



Inc.
Phone: 216-283-9519
Fax:
216-283-6022
www.equityeng.com
Company Bio:
Products:
procedure.
tools include:
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
ASSET MANAGEMENT
management programs and eliminates the high

data and manpower demands of fully quantitative systems.
FALL 2010

Boulder, CO 80301
Phone: 303-415-1475
Fax: 303-415-1847
Company Bio:
Products:
Signal FFS software performs Fitness-for-Service and fracture mechanics analyses on xed
and rotating equipment. It implements the
API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 2007 standard and
performs crack assessments in accordance with
the BS 7910 procedure. Users can perform Level 1 and 2 assessments on many aw and equipment types. An advanced fracture mechanics
module allows users to also perform limited
Level 3 assessments.
LifeQuest Heater software provides complete
analysis and remnant life assessment of red
heater tubes on a foot-by-foot basis utilizing
API 579. The nal output is a system risk curve
displaying remaining life in hours versus probability of failure. It combines with heater performance monitoring and process modeling for
extensive heater reliability management.
API 579.
range of industries. It addresses the needs of
pressure systems not met by existing reliability
World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com

www.yokogawa.com/us

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg
Yokogawa Electric China Co.,

LTD.
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
Company Bio:
and supply of instrumentation, process control, and
automation solutions. Headquartered in Newnan,
GA., Yokogawa Corporation of America serves a
diverse customer base with market-leading products
including analyzers, ow meters, transmitters, controllers, recorders, data acquisition products, meters,
instruments, safety instrumented systems, distributed control systems and more.
Products:
PRMPlant Resource Manager (PRM) is a
real-time instrument device maintenance and
management software package that provides
a platform for advanced instrument diagnostics. PRM is an integrated software solution
that unies the monitored data from intelligent and non-intelligent eld devices running
within Yokogawas CENTUM VP and STARDOM control systems or as a stand-alone
solution. The key feature of PRM is that it
provides easy access to automatically collected
data from eld networks such as Foundation
Fieldbus, and HART allowing integration,
management and maintenance these devices
using a common database.
Downstream

PRM provides integrated plant and device
performance data, maintenance records, audit
trails, device conguration with auto-device
detection, historic data management, parameter comparison, advanced device diagnostics
information, and access to on-line documentation such as device drawings, parts list and
manuals in a client server architecture that
provides information to multiple users within
a plant facility. It provides the ability to adjust
the parameters of intelligent devices online
and allows comparison of the current data to
historical data of a device.
FieldmateFieldMate is an asset management software developed for portable laptop
computers that provides conguration and
maintenance of intelligent eld devices. Fieldmate supports the use of open interface Field
Device Tool (FDT) technology to facilitate
the conguration and adjustment of eld devices such as sensors and valves at production
sites, regardless of the manufacturer or the
communication protocols. Fieldmate also
supports Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL) interface technology.
With its device navigation and device maintenance information management features, this
software relieves users of the diculties with
dealing with a variety of communication protocols and conguration methods from multiple
manufacturers which used dierent congurators and/or multiple conguration procedures.

Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT
Company Bio:
American unit of US $4 billion Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a global leader in the manufacture and supply of instrumentation, process
control, and automation solutions. Headquartered in Newnan, GA., Yokogawa Corporation
of America serves a diverse customer base with
market-leading products including analyzers,
ow meters, transmitters, controllers, recorders, data acquisition products, meters, instruments, safety instrumented systems, distributed
control systems and more.
PAS
16055 Space Center Blvd. Ste. 600
Houston, TX 77062
Phone: +1.281.286.6565
Fax: +1.281.286.6767
Email: info@pas.com
www.pas.com
Products:
Company Bio:
ExapilotExapilot is a patented Advanced

Operation Eciency Improvement software
package that plant operators use to develop a
structured methodology of operating certain
standard procedures. Exapilot makes it possible to incorporate the know-how and plant
operation expertise of experienced operators in
automated plant operation procedures that ensure standard and uniform plant operation. By
enforcing a common and structured operating
methodology, Exapilot helps plants run more
eciently and safely.
Products:
safe running operations, maximize situation
awareness, and reduce plant vulnerabilities.
Our comprehensive portfolio includes Alarm
Management, Automation Genome Mapping,
Control Loop Performance Optimization, and
High-Performance Human Machine Interfaces.
Manage, leverage and make sense of the complex congurations in, and interactions among,
COLLABORATION
AND KNOWLEDGE CAPTURE
World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com

www.yokogawa.com/us

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg

LTD.
9
Downstream
CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT, CONT.
your automation systems. Gain quick access to
the large and continually changing automation
systems conguration databases and provide
comprehensive management of change (MOC)
for them. Dramatically improve the productivity of plant personnel by signicantly reducing
the time required to nd accurate and up to
date plant information.
PAS Integrity Software maps the Automation
Genome, which is the collective congurations within and among all automation systems
in a plant. It aggregates and contextualizes plant
automation conguration databases, programs,
and user interfaces, and simplies the visualization of their information in context with work
being performed.
Additional layered applications for Integrity are
available to improve the productivity of plant
personnel. Integrity Loop Sheets automatically
generates, on demand, a single loop sheet containing the full signal genealogy from instrumentation, wiring, marshalling, and through
the entire automation system conguration.
Integrity Recon monitors and reports vital
information and vulnerabilities about critical
automation infrastructure. It provides an eective means for dening and managing common
operating environments (COE) within the automation rewall.
Integrity currently supports over 40 dierent automation systems from a multitude of vendors.
DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION
AND ENGINEERING
Products:
CC-STEADY STATE Chemical Process Simulation Software - Includes database of chemical
components, thermodynamic methods, and
unit operations to allow steady state simulation
of continuous chemical processes from lab scale
to full scale.
CC-DYNAMICS Dynamic Process Simulation
SoftwareTakes your steady state simulations
to the next level of delity to allow dynamic
analysis of your owsheet. The combination of
two pieces of software, CC-ReACS and CCDCOLUMN make CC-DYNAMICS the dynamic simulator of choice.
CC-BATCH Batch Distillation Simulation
SoftwareAs an add-on or stand alone program, CC-BATCH makes batch distillation
simulation and design easy with intuitive, operation step based input.
CC-THERM Heat Exchanger Design & Rating SoftwareAs an add-on or stand alone
program, CC-THERM makes use of multiple
international standards for design and materials
to make sizing your next heat exchanger faster
and more accurate.
CC-SAFETY NET Piping & safety relief Network Simulation SoftwareA subset of CCSTEADY STATE, this program allows rigorous
analysis of any piping network.
CC-FLASH Physical Propertieis & Phase
Equilibria Calculation SoftwareA subset of
the CHEMCAD Suite (all of the CHEMCAD
Suite products include CC-FLASH capabilities), this program allows rigorous calculation
of pure component and mixture physical properties and phase equilibria (VLE, LLE, VLLE).

Heat Exchangers (includes TEMA Standard, ASME UHX rules, tube eld layout
AutoCAD drawings)
cost estimates)
Visit www.codeware.com to download your complimentary COMPRESS trial software today.

Worldwide
Codeware, Inc.
Chemstations, Inc.
2901 Wilcrest, Suite 305
Houston, TX 77042
Toll Free: 800-243-6223
Phone: 713-978-7700
Fax:
713-978-7727
E-mail: sales@chemstations.net
www.Chemstations.net
Steve Brown, V.P. Sales/Marketing
Company Bio:
With oces worldwide, Chemstations is a leading global supplier of process simulation software for the following process industries; Oil
& Gas, Petrochemicals, Chemicals, and Fine
Chemicals, including Pharmaceuticals. We
currently oer several individually licensed, and
tightly integrated, technologies to address the
needs of the chemical engineer, whether doing
new process design or working in the plant.
10
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010
Codeware, Inc.
5224 Station Way
Sarasota, FL 34233
United States
Phone: (941) 927-2670
Fax:
(941) 927-2459
www.codeware.com
Company Bio:
Products:
150 Venture Drive

College Station, TX 77845 USA
Phone: 979-690-5050
Fax:
979-690-3250
E-mail: HTRI@HTRI.net
www.HTRI.net
Claudette D. Beyer, President and CEO
Fernando J. Aguirre, VP, Sales and Business
Development
Asia - Pacic
World Business Garden Marive East 14F
Nakase 2-6, Mihamaku
Chiba 261-7114 Japan
Phone: 81-43-297-0353
Fax:
81-43-297-0354
E-mail: HTRI.Asia@HTRI.net
Hirohisa Uozu, Regional Manager
EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa)

The Surrey Technology Centre
40 Occam Road
Guildford, Surrey GU2 7YG U.K.
Phone: 44-(0)1483-685100
Fax:
44-(0)1483-685101
HTRI.Europe@HTRI.net
Hans U. Zettler, Regional Manager
Downstream
India
C-1, First Floor, Tower-B, Indraprasth
Complex
Near Inox Multiplex, Race Course (North)
Vadodara 390007, Gujarat, India
Phone: +91 (982) 514-7775
HTRI.India@HTRI.net
Rajan Desai, International Coordinator
Company Bio:
HTRI operates an international consortium
founded in 1962 that conducts industrially
relevant research and provides software tools
for design, rating, and simulation of process heat
transfer equipment. HTRI also produces a wide
range of technical publications and provides other services including contract research, software
development, consulting, and training.
Products:
HTRI Xchanger SuiteIntegrated graphical
user environment for the design, rating, and
simulation of heat transfer equipment.
XaceDesigns, rates, and simulates the performance of air-cooled heat exchangers, heat
recovery units, and air preheaters.
XfhSimulates the behavior of red heaters.
Calculates the radiant section of cylindrical and
box heaters and the convection section of red
heaters. It also designs process heater tubes and
performs combustion calculations.
XhpeDesigns, rates, and simulates the performance of hairpin heat exchangers.
XistDesigns, rates, and simulates single- and
two-phase shell-and-tube heat exchangers, including kettle and thermosiphon reboilers, falling lm evaporators, and reux condensers.
XjpeDesigns, rates, and simulates jacketedpipe (double-pipe) heat exchangers.
XpheDesigns, rates, and simulates plate-andframe heat exchangers. A fully incremental program, each plate channel is calculated individually using local physical properties and process
conditions.
XspeRates and simulates single-phase spiral
plate heat exchangers.
XtloGraphical standalone rigorous tube layout software; also integrated with Xist.
XvibPerforms ow-induced vibration analysis of a single tube in a heat exchanger bundle.
It uses a rigorous structural analysis approach to
calculate the tube natural frequencies for various modes and oers exibility in the geometries it can handle.
Xchanger Suite EducationalCustomized version of Xchanger Suite with the capability to
design, rate, and simulate shell-and-tube heat
exchangers, air-coolers, economizers, and plateand-frame heat exchangers. Available to educational institutions only.
R-trendCalculates and trends fouling resistances for shell-and-tube heat exchangers in single-phase service. Uses Microsoft Excel as working environment with optional link to Xist.
KRC Technologies
6637 Covoy Ct.
San Diego, CA 92111
Toll Free: 888-467-2127
Phone: 858-490-0028
Fax:
858-777-5462
E-mail: support@engineering-software.com
www.engineering-software.com
Mike Stephenson, President
Company Bio:
KRC Technologies provides engineering software solutions. The company sells hundreds of
commercial engineering software applications
from the companys website. KRC Technologies also develops custom engineering solutions and has delivered software for the design
and analysis of heat exchangers, on-line six
sigma, factory automation and valve tray design software.
Products:
KRC Technologies develops, sells and distributes
software to engineers. Our mission is to provide
software solutions to increase the productivity
of engineers. For this reason, our products transcend most engineering disciplines. You can nd
software on our website to solve a multitude of
engineering tasks. Some of these include:
Design programs:
Shell and tube heat exchangers
Waste heat boilers
Cooling towers
Steam heaters
Heat recovery steam generators
Fluid mixers and atmospheric tanks
Mixer designs in vertical tanks
Vertical and horizontal storage tanks
Plate-n heat exchangers
Compact heat exchangers
Heat transfer in process vessels and
fermenters
Physical properties:
Steam tables (IFC-97)
Gas compressibility calculators (AGA-8)
Psychrometrics
Combustion analysis
Thermodynamic and transport properties of
over 600 common organic and inorganic compounds
Economic evaluation:
Cogeneration
Flash tanks
Insulation
Transport:
Piping pressure loss
Pipe Networks
Duct design
Flow calculation (nozzle, orice, venturi)
Structural:
Wind Load analysis
Snow load analysis
COMPRESS
Simplify ASME VIII Code Calculations
We have the expertise needed to understand
the complexities of the Code rules and the
practical experience required to implement
an effective solution. Let COMPRESS be
your expert assistant.
x
Intuitive interface
x
Code rule reminders during input
x
ASME U and NBIC R form generation
x
New Project view
DOWNLOAD YOUR TRIAL SOFTWARE TODAY

www.codeware.com
11
Downstream
AND ENGINEERING, CONT.
Single or multiple span beams
Rods
Self supported stacks
Guy wire supported stack
Analysis of horizontal vessels supported on
two saddles
KRC Technologies also creates custom software
to various industries, including oil and gas.
These have included:
Factory automation
On-line leak testing with six-sigma on-line
analysis
Mist eliminator design
Valve tray design
Compact heat exchanger design
Many products have demo versions that
can be downloaded from the website,
www.engineering-software.com.
DYNAMIC SIMULATION
AND OPTIMIZATION

and more accurate.
CC-FLASH Physical Properties & Phase Equilibria Calculation SoftwareA subset of the
CHEMCAD Suite (all of the CHEMCAD
ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Phone: +91 (982) 514-7775

HTRI.India@HTRI.net
Company Bio:
founded in 1962 that conducts industrially relevant research and provides software tools for
design, rating, and simulation of process heat
range of technical publications and provides
other services including contract research, software development, consulting, and training.
Products:
Chemstations, Inc.
Houston, TX 77042
Toll Free: 800-243-6223
Phone: 713-978-7700
Fax:
713-978-7727
Company Bio:
Products:
CC-STEADY STATE Chemical Process Simulation SoftwareIncludes database of chemical
to full scale.
12
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010

Worldwide
150 Venture Drive
Phone: 979-690-5050
Fax:
979-690-3250
www.HTRI.net
Development
AsiaPacic
Phone: 81-43-297-0353
Fax:
81-43-297-0354
Hirohisa Uozu, Regional Mgr.

40 Occam Road
Phone: 44-(0)1483-685100
Fax:
44-(0)1483-685101
India
C-1, First Floor, Tower-B, Indraprasth Complex

conditions.
ENTERPRISE PORTAL SYSTEMS

Kirchgasse 47
65183 Wiesbaden
Germany
Phone: +49 611 39843 0
Fax:
+49 611 39843 12
www.mpro-it.com
Company Bio
m:pro IT Consult is a project services and
software products company which enables
petroleum rening, petrochemical and other
industries to achieve total integration of information sources and applications, from
business systems, ERP and supply chain management through to plant information, production planning, scheduling and operations
decision support.
Products:
m:pro delivers enterprise wide or point solutions - easy and fast to implement - which truly
integrate the production and business applications required to manage the overall assets.

Crude Scheduling
LP Data Collector
Quality Tracking
ONLINE MONITORING
AND OPTIMIZATION
Chemstations, Inc.
Houston, TX 77042
Toll Free: 800-243-6223
Phone: 713-978-7700
Fax:
713-978-7727
Downstream
Company Bio:
With oces worldwide, Chemstations is a
leading global supplier of process simulation
software for the following process industries;
Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Chemicals, and
Fine Chemicals, including Pharmaceuticals.
We currently oer several individually licensed, and tightly integrated, technologies
to address the needs of the chemical engineer,
whether doing new process design or working
in the plant.
Products:
CC-STEADY STATE Chemical Process Simulation SoftwareIncludes database of chemical
to full scale.
The m:pro object warehouse (m:owh) is our
integration, data storage/management, and
business intelligence back-end. The m:owh is
based on standard and open relational database
technology.
environments.
Analyzer Monitoring
13
Downstream
ONLINE MONITORING
AND OPTIMIZATION, CONT.
U PSTREA M / D OWN STREA M SOFTWARE REFERENCE
PLANNING, SCHEDULING
AND BLENDING
international standards for design and materials to make sizing your next heat exchanger
faster and more accurate.
Equilibria Calculation SoftwareA subset
of the CHEMCAD Suite (all of the CHEMCAD Suite products include CC-FLASH
capabilities), this program allows rigorous
calculation of pure component and mixture physical properties and phase equilibria
(VLE, LLE, VLLE).
AMI Consultants, Inc.

4102 Tremont Ct.
Phone: 281-565-4745
Fax: 281-565-1196
Email: Info@AmiConsultants.com
www.AmiConsultants.com
Company Bio:
AMI Consultant develops and markets software
for Petroleum renery planning and economics.
Since the introduction of the PetroPlanSM software in 1996, AMIs customer base has grown
with installations now at over 50 sites worldwide. Licensees include operating and E&C
companies as well as educational institutions.
Products:
Flexware, Inc.
PO Box 110
Grapeville, PA 15634-0110
Phone: 724-527-3911
Fax:
724-527-5701
E-mail: sales@exwareinc.com
www.exwareinc.com
Company Bio:
Flexware is focused on servicing companies interested in monitoring and improving turbomachinery performance for energy
conservation and capacity improvements.
Central to this is software development to
assist the rotating equipment engineer in assessing the operating equipment along with
training programs and supporting consulting services.
PetroPlanSM is a software to simulate the whole

renery using a truly user-friendly graphic interface. Applications include: evaluation of revamp/expansion options, planning of grassroots
facilities, evaluation of alternative feedstocks,
changed product specications and optimization of plant operations.
In the simulation each renery unit is represented by a block (e.g. FCC). For each block,
the prediction of product yields and properties
is based on feed characteristics and user specied parameters (e.g. conversion). The equations for predicting a blocks performance are
visible to the user and are editable. Crude oil
cutting and specication product blending are
integrated into the main simulation.
Products:
Gas Flex, rst developed as a DOS program
in 1990, does gas compressor performance
calculations using BWR (Benedict, Webb
& Rubin) equations of state. In its present
form, Gas Flex Live Analysis will automatically process compressor data. Gas Flex
will read raw data, process it and store results
for trending purposes while you watch the
results displayed on the OEM performance
curve. The trending, including transients like
hard startups aid troubleshooting eorts.
Haverly Systems, Inc.

12 Hinchman Avenue
Denville, NJ 07834
Phone: 973-627-1424
Fax:
973-625-2296
E-mail: newjersey@haverly.com
www.haverly.com
Other Haverly Oce Locations

Ventura, CA:
Houston, TX:
St. Albans, U.K.:
Singapore:
805-653-5355
713-776-3161
+44 1727 826321
+65 9630 6364

14
Company Bio:
Haverly Systems Inc. is an independent software company that has specialized in the development and use of optimization-related products and services for over four decades. Their
systems are used in more than 50 countries
worldwide by international and independent
oil companies, chemical companies, and many
other industrial and government entities. The
eectivenss of their products has long been recognized in the continued patronage and goodwill of their clients. The ownership has been
unchanged since the companys founding, and
most senior management and technical sta
has been with the company for more than 15
years. This continuity in ownership, management, and business specializaiton is reected in
the corporate stability, continued protability,
and very personal pride found in satisfying each
clients need for technically excellent products
and services.
Products:
H/CAMS: a software system for the management, development, analysis, and application of
crude assay data. H/CAMS determines and relates
the eects associated with mixing and distilling
crude oils, as well as other virgin hydrocarbons.
Hundreds of varying whole crude, distillate, and
residue properties are accepted, reported, correlated, or otherwise calculated. Raw assay data is
easily entered and results displayed through vivid
graphs. These can be readily smoothed, augmented, and contraasted against other properties and
known references to provide the very best representation of crude behavior to applications that
depend on good assay data. Correlations and
calculations-based sound engineering principles
provide users additional intelligence in determining data quality and best data interpretation. H/
CAMS features several useful utilities that allow
easy updating of existing assays with renery laboratory or current operating data and assure accurate representations. H/CAMS may be supplied
with one or more high quality, industry developed
crude assay libraries to supplement a users local
library and extend the application of the system.
H/COMET: the on-line version of H/CAMS
which allows for the quick access and evaluation
of crude oils from a large, on-line crude assay database. Crudes may be easily cut, blended, compared, and analyzed using advanced graphical
and computational techniques. LP optimization
technology is used to calculate netback value for
selected crude or blends of crude. Crude netback
values may readily be determined for a user customized set of renery congurations.
GRTMPS: Haverlys premier economic optimization planning system. GRTMPS is used
to model individual renery and petrochemical
plant operations, as well as entire business enterprises, of any size and complexity, and over any
time horizon. It employs both advanced linear
and non-linear modeling techniques. Its non-linear modeling abilities extend to cut-point optimization, reformulated gasoline modeling, rigorous
process simulation interfacing, and investment
Downstream

opportunity studies. Haverly also oers an advance renery modeling platform in GRTMPS
structure and developed by the industry consulting rm: Turner, Mason & Company -- to assist
in the development and execution of models.
H/Sched: advanced operations scheduling tools.
Each H/Sched system couples superior schedule
simulation and generation technology with stateof-the-art graphics to provide tools with unsurpassed scheduling optimization abilities. Schedules
are automatically generated and optimized, using
Haverlys own Progressional LP technology. After
reviewing informative Gantt charts, ow diagrams,
inventory proles and detail windows - schedulers
may directly modify these mediums to alter their
schedules and obtain more desirable results.
H/Gal-XE: an expert H/Sched application
specically designed for the optimization of
gasoline blend scheduling. Allow for fast construction and execution of models constrained
by operational parameters typically found in
gasoline blending and distribution operations.

Kirchgasse 47
65183 Wiesbaden
Germany
Phone: +49 611 39843 0
Fax:
+49 611 39843 12
www.mpro-it.com
Company Bio
Products:
m:pro delivers enterprise wide or point solutions easy and fast to implement - which truly integrate
the production and business applications required
to manage the overall assets.
The m:pro object warehouse (m:owh) is our integration, data storage/management, and business
intelligence back-end. The m:owh is based on

standard and open relational database technology.
fully web-enabled common graphical user interface including build and administration tools. The
m:exp can run as the portal or can seamlessly be
embedded in popular web portal environments.
m:pro provides standard applications/interfaces
for:
Analyzer Monitoring
Crude Scheduling
LP Data Collector
Quality Tracking
M3 Technology, Inc
10375 Richmond Ave., Suite 380
Houston, TX 77042
Phone: +1-713-784-8285
Fax:
+1-832-553-1893
E-mail: m3.sales@m3tch.com
www.m3tch.com
Company Bio
M3 Technology is the premier supplier of supply
chain management solutions focused on enterprise
planning, advanced asset scheduling and optimization solutions for the petroleum, petrochemical &
LNG industries. M3s solutions capture economic
oppor-tunities and reduce the cost of managing
complex facilities at the plant level, regional operating level and global enterprise level. M3 has a global
network of implementation partners to provide local consulting expertise and customer support.
Products:
SIMTO Scheduling
(AVERLY3YSTEMS)NC
(#/-%4
Crude Oil Management Evaluation Tool

Revolutionary Web-Based Application
With H/COMET you can:
Quickly access & evaluate crudes from a large assay database
Select crudes based on user-defined criteria
Compare crudes side-by-side for any desired qualities
Re-cut and blend crudes using Haverlys H/CAMS technology
Determine netback values of crudes or blends for a variety of
refinery configurations.
Visit www.haverly.com to learn more or call us at (973) 627-1424

15
Downstream
PLANNING, SCHEDULING
AND BLENDING, CONT.
SIMTO Scheduling is the next generation
plant scheduling technology
Powerful comprehensive owsheet modeling
Models facility connections
Easy to create multiple modes of unit operation
Models pipeline and jetty operations
Handles imperfect tank mixing
Flexible Plant Simulator
Predicts plant inventories, compositions,
properties, and unit yields
Runs multi-month simulations in seconds
Friendly and easy to use interfaces
Interactive, dynamic process owsheet
User congurable Gantt charts, trends and
tabular view, all are fully synchronized
Custom scheduling logic without programming
Quick and low cost implementation
Many customers self implement
Easy to maintain; saves manpower
Scalable Enterprise Workow/Collaboration
Users are notied of data changes detailing
who changed what, when
Easy to integrate with plant and enterprise
systems using standard web services.
Standardized reports

Intuitive and easy to use interfaces
Provides blend performance analysis for
comparing schedule vs. actual, and adjusting
blend correlations
Blend operators can customize and congure
Gantt charts, trends and tabular view, to fully
meet individual needs
Visualization of inventories and specication
violations improves understanding of blending eects
Fast and low cost implementation
Outputs standard blend recipes or transfers to
an advanced blend control system
Leverageable blend knowledge base builds
competitive advantage
Blend Knowledge Base contains data about
product specications, property bonuses and
interactions, and blending methods used in
blending optimization.
Easy to update blend methods to assure compliance with government regulations.
Protable, high ROI, fast time-to-cash
Reduces quality giveaway, maximizes prot
across the planning horizon, able to capture
prot opportunities, assures timely comple-tion
of blends to minimize demurrage, e-cient use
of human resources, empowers per-sonnel to
quickly troubleshoot prot stealing problems.
Versatile supply and distribution optimization

Trade Management make/buy/exchange
Cost ManagementTransportation pricing,
availability and routing
Inventory Managementsafety stock, seasonal changeover, turnarounds
Terminal Managementright product, place,
price and time
Product Mixmaterial blending
Flexible, user advantage
Provides customizable presentations of the
supply and distribution environment
Provides optimized solution for decision
support
Empowers the planner/scheduler/trader to
make fast, accurate and protable decisions
Protable: low cost, very short payback
Bottom-line reduction in distribution cost,
right sizing terminal inventory and safety stock,
maximizes prot across the planning horizon,
able to assure timely completion of transactions
and transfers; empowers people to seize prot
opportunities.
PLANT LIFECYCLE AND

PERFORMANCE MONITORING
Protable:
Today it is not enough to drive cost out of your
supply chain. SIMTO Scheduling pro-vides
you the agility to take full advantage of prot
opportunities.
SIMTO Blending
SIMTO M-Blend is a multi-period, multiblend optimization technology for blending
crude oil, gasoline, distillate, fuel oil, asphalt,
petrochemical feedstock and more.
M-Blend is part of the native construct of SIMTO Scheduling and inherits the rich capability
and robustness of the parent.
Powerful blend modeling
Models rundown streams, component tanks
and group blending
Respects logistic and running gage constraints
Models multiple blenders operating separately or in parallel
Supports non-linear blend correlations such
as CARBOB
Flexible blend recipe optimization
Predicts non-linear, linear and index based
properties
Optimizes single blend and multiple blends
Allows priority for near term blends
Issues component buy/sell signals
16
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010
SIMTO Distribution
SIMTO Distribution is a supply and distribution optimizer designed specically for the
petroleum downstream industry. It is built with
the latest software systems such as .NET and
SQL Server along with integration via industry
standard web services. SIMTO Distribution delivers sustainable benets today and in the future. It is part of M3s ongoing commitment to
our customers to develop best-in-class solutions.

Boulder, CO 80301
Phone: 303-415-1475
Fax: 303-415-1847
Powerful supply chain modeling system
Company Bio:
Inventory and location modeling

Buysupply locations and materials
Selldemand locations and materials
Trade/exchangelocations and materials
Locationsinventory/material constraints
Point-to-point network
Logistics for point-to-point movements

Material blend modeling

Recipes for material blending
Quality specication for blending
Components used for blending
Material qualities used in blending
Route modeling
pipeline and vessel routes
Commercial modeling
All cost and contract matters including tiered
pricing
Products:
Signal FFS software performs Fitness-forService and fracture mechanics analyses on
xed and rotating equipment. It implements
the API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 2007 standard
and performs crack assessments in accordance
with the BS 7910 procedure. Users can perform Level 1 and 2 assessments on many aw
and equipment types. An advanced fracture

mechanics module allows users to also perform limited Level 3 assessments.
API 579.
range of industries. It addresses the needs of
pressure systems not met by existing reliability
management programs and eliminates the high
data and manpower demands of fully quantitative systems.
Heat Exchangers (includes TEMA Standard, ASME UHX rules, tube eld layout
AutoCAD drawings)
cost estimates)
PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE
AND REPAIR
Downstream
Inc.
Phone: 216-283-9519
Fax:
216-283-6022
www.equityeng.com
Company Bio:
The Equity Engineering Group, Inc. is a recognized leader on aging infrastructure xed
equipment service and support for the oil
and gas industry. Equity helps plants manage
risk and improve protability with cuttingedge software and consulting strategies that
maximize equipment operational availability, control inspection costs and avoid costly
shutdowns.
Products:
software tool for the lifecycle management
of plant assets. It oers equipment and data
management in one application and database
on a universal .net standard platform that encompasses all modules with a single IT instal-
Codeware, Inc.
Codeware, Inc.
5224 Station Way
Sarasota, FL 34233
United States
Phone: (941) 927-2670
Fax:
(941) 927-2459
www.codeware.com
Company Bio:
Products:
17
Downstream
PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE
AND REPAIR, CONT.
lation procedure.
tools include:
PROCESS CONTROL AND

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com

www.yokogawa.com/us

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg

LTD.
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
Company Bio:
Yokogawa Corporation of America is the
North American unit of US $4 billion Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a global leader in the
manufacture and supply of instrumentation,
process control, and automation solutions.
Headquartered in Newnan, GA., Yokogawa
Corporation of America serves a diverse customer base with market-leading products
including analyzers, ow meters, transmitters, controllers, recorders, data acquisition
products, meters, instruments, safety instrumented systems, distributed control systems
and more.
Products:
CENTUM VPCENTUM VP is an integrated production control system used to manage and control the operation of plants. The
highly acclaimed, extremely reliable integrated
production control system combines rugged
control station and remote I/O hardware with
a scalable Windows XP/VISTA-based operation. Designed to handle information and
control from small-scale facilities to the very
largest of plants, the CENTUM VP provides
a highly scalable, easy to operate, engineer,
and maintain, high performance automation
platform. The system architecture includes a
1 GB control and information highway utilizing Yokogawas deterministic VNet protocol
over Ethernet that provides built-in security
for critical communications. CENTUM VP is
an open platform for control and information
providing high performance with low cost of
ownership and a seamless technology migration to its installed base.
ExaQuantumExaquantum is an intelligent
and scaleable Plant Information Management
System that provides a platform for collecting,
storing and displaying current and historical
data from production equipment. Its historian software processes and stores process data,
alarms and events acquired from the production control system through a standard OPC
interface. Plant operational performance can
be monitored and analyzed using this data as
it is an enabling platform for production management applications like data reconciliation,
production accounting, performance monitoring, environmental monitoring, and operations
electronic logbook. Exaquantum also enables
supervisory enterprise applications to be able to
share this data.
PROCESS ENGINEERING
AND SIMULATION
Chemstations, Inc.
Houston, TX 77042
Toll Free: 800-243-6223
Phone: 713-978-7700
Fax:
713-978-7727
Company Bio:
Products:
CC-STEADY STATE Chemical Process Simulation Software - Includes database of chemical components, thermodynamic methods, and unit operations to allow steady state simulation of continuous
chemical processes from lab scale to full scale.
Software - Takes your steady state simulations
Software - As an add-on or stand alone program, CC-BATCH makes batch distillation
CC-THERM Heat Exchanger Design & Rating Software - As an add-on or stand alone
and more accurate.
CC-SAFETY NET Piping & safety relief Network Simulation Software - A subset of CCSTEADY STATE, this program allows rigorous
Equilibria Calculation Software - A subset of
the CHEMCAD Suite (all of the CHEMCAD
18
Downstream
Phone: 44-(0)1483-685100
Fax:
44-(0)1483-685101
Codeware, Inc.
Codeware, Inc.
5224 Station Way
Sarasota, FL 34233
United States
Phone: (941) 927-2670
Fax:
(941) 927-2459
www.codeware.com
Company Bio:
Products:
India

Worldwide
150 Venture Drive

Phone: 979-690-5050
Fax:
979-690-3250
www.HTRI.net
Development
AsiaPacic
Phone: 81-43-297-0353
Fax:
81-43-297-0354

40 Occam Road
C-1, First Floor, Tower-B

Indraprasth Complex
Phone: +91 (982) 514-7775
HTRI.India@HTRI.net
Company Bio:
Products:
Heat Exchangers (includes TEMA Standard,
ASME UHX rules, tube eld layout capability and bi-directional interface with HTRIs
Xchanger Suite)
Drafter (converts COMPRESS les into AutoCAD drawings)
Coster (creates Excel compatible vessel cost
estimates)

19
Downstream
PROCESS ENGINEERING
AND SIMULATION, CONT.
conditions.
U PSTREA M / D OWN STREA M SOFTWARE REFER ENC E

ment service and support for the oil and gas
Products:
procedure.
tools include:
REFINING, PETROCHEMICAL
AND GAS PROCESSING
Worldwide

Phone: 216-283-9519
Fax:
216-283-6022
www.equityeng.com
Company Bio:
The Equity Engineering Group, Inc. is a recognized leader on aging infrastructure xed equip20
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010

40 Occam Road
Phone: 44-(0)1483-685100
Fax:
44-(0)1483-685101
India
Indraprasth Complex
Phone: +91 (982) 514-7775
HTRI.India@HTRI.net
Company Bio:
founded in 1962 that conducts industrially
relevant research and provides software tools
for design, rating, and simulation of process
heat transfer equipment. HTRI also produces a wide range of technical publications and
provides other services including contract
research, software development, consulting,
and training.
Products:

Inc.
Phone: 81-43-297-0353
Fax:
81-43-297-0354
150 Venture Drive

Phone: 979-690-5050
Fax:
979-690-3250
www.HTRI.net
Development
AsiaPacic

conditions.
Downstream

assets and inventories, inherits and synchronizes with multi-plant scheduling models
SIMTO Integration Depot provides integration with the plant information system, LIMS,
oil movements, plant LP planning, advanced
optimization process models, crude assay system, and ERP for crude nominations, and is
made easy and robust through the use of web
services standards and a multitier architecture.
User Experience:
SIMTO Rening is used by planning, scheduing and operating personnel. The soft-wares
Service Oriented Architecture enables collaboration across the entire enterprise. Recently a
SIMTO user said, Thanks for this GREAT
tool. We are in preparation for a turnaround and
without this amazing software I would be totally
lost.
Benets:
SIMTO Rening produces benets of over
$1118 million for a 200,000 bpd high-conversion renery or about 1525/bbl.
M3 Technology, Inc
10375 Richmond Ave., Suite 380
Houston, TX 77042
Phone: +1-713-784-8285
Fax:
+1-832-553-1893
E-mail: m3.sales@m3tch.com
www.m3tch.com
Company Bio
M3 Technology is the premier supplier of supply chain management solutions focused on
enterprise planning, advanced asset scheduling and optimization solutions for the petroleum, petrochemical & LNG industries. M3s
solutions capture economic oppor-tunities and
reduce the cost of managing complex facilities
at the plant level, regional operating level and
global enterprise level. M3 has a global network
of implementation partners to provide local
consulting expertise and customer support.
Products:
SIMTO Rening
Introducing
VCEPlant
Manager
Life Cycle
Management
on a
SIMTO Rening is a comprehensive solution

for renery planning, scheduling and blending
that includes:
Single Platform
SIMTO Scheduling schedules all pipeline and

tank transfers, crude oil receipts, process unit
operation, product run downs, product single
blend optimization and shipment
For more information, contact

plantmanager@equityeng.com
SIMTO M-Blend provides multi-period

blend optimization including rundown blending for gasoline, distillates, fuel oil, other rening products, crude oil that blends from vessels,
pipelines & tanks with or without a separate
crude feed tank
www.equityeng.com
SIMTO Dock Manager calculates and visualizes demurrage, automatically schedules vessels
and berths/jetties
SIMTO Global manages distributed rening
21
Downstream
SIS / SAFETY SYSTEMS
TRAINING
World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com
exida
64 North Main Street
Sellersville, PA 18960
Phone: 215-453-1720
Fax:
215-257-1657
E-mail: Info@exida.com
www.exida.com
Iwan van Beurden, Senior Safety Engineer,
Iwan.vanbeurden@exida.com
Company Bio:
exida is an engineering consulting rm specializing in safety critical / high availability automation systems, control system security, and
alarm management. Core competencies in design, analysis, implementation, operation, and
maintenance of critical automation systems,
along with expertise in the application of the
IEC 61508 and IEC 61511 / ISA 84 functional
safety standards, has allowed exida to develop
an extensive suite of software tools that assist in
the implementation of the Safety Lifecycle.
Products:
exSILentia Integrated Safety Lifecycle Suite:
The exSILentia integrated toolset helps tackle
three of the most important steps in the safety
lifecycle: Safety Integrity Level (SIL) selection,
Safety Requirements Specication, and SIL
verication. exSILentia lets the user dene a
project consisting of one or more Safety Instrumented Functions. It helps you manage
project documentation through easy report
generation and viewing of reports in Microsoft
Word. Sharing data for multi-person projects,
for independent review, or for input into other
lifecycle tools (e.g. PHA), is easy with the builtin exSILentia import/ export functionality.
exSILentia provides fully customizable SIL selection options like risk graph, hazard matrix,
and frequency based targets. In addition, a complete SIF SRS template ensures completeness
in requirements denition. exSILentia contains
the most comprehensive SIL verication program on the market, SILver, allowing extensive
Safety Instrumented Function denition, and
an IEC 61508-approved calculation engine
based on the Markov Modeling technique. Finally exSILentia includes a built-in reliability
database from the best-selling Safety Equipment Reliability Handbook (SERH), speeding
up the process of SIL verication by allowing
users to select equipment items directly from
the database without having to manually enter
reliability data. For more information, please
visit www.exSILentia.com.
22
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010

www.yokogawa.com/us

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg

LTD.
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
Company Bio:
ow meters, transmitters, controllers, recorders, data acquisition products, meters, instruments, safety instrumented systems, distributed
control systems and more.
Products:
ProSafe-RSProSafe-RS is an integrated
safety instrumented system (SIS) designed
for such applications as emergency shutdown
(ESD), Fire and Gas (F&G), Boiler management (BMS). It provides safe, reliable and available control without compromise and is certied by the German certication organization,
Technische eberwachungs-Verein (TV) to
meet Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 3 as specied
in IEC 61508. An integral feature is that it
can be combined with Yokogawas CENTUM
VP DCS system that allows all information to
be combined into one screen integrating alarms
and events, tag data onto graphics and trends.
With ProSafe-RS, the safety-instrumented system uses the common DCS network for safety
communicationswith absolute integrity.

Inc.
Phone: 216-283-9519
Fax:
216-283-6022
www.equityeng.com
Company Bio:
Products:
procedure.
tools include:
Upstream
ALARM MANAGEMENT
World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com
process alarms issued by control systems. AAASuite improves operator performance by minimizing nuisance alarms and providing timely
notication of only necessary alarms, thereby
preventing alarm ooding and enabling safe,
stable and cost eective plant operations.
ASSET MANAGEMENT

www.yokogawa.com/us

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg

LTD.
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
Company Bio:
Products:
CAMSYokogawas Consolidated Alarm Management System (CAMS) is an alarm management software designed on the innovative concept
of acquiring real-time alarms and events from a
variety of various automation systems - not only
from Distributed Control Systems (DCS) but
also Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), Supervisory and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA
and DAQ) and Plant Asset Management Systems (PAM); then to sort and deliver only essential alarms to the right person at the right time.
Important information such as the root cause of
alarm occurrence and role-based guidance are
also added to the displayed message.
AAASuiteAAASuite is a comprehensive alarm
management system that optimizes and enhances
Merrick Systems, Inc.

4801 Woodway, Suite 200E
Houston, TX 77056
Toll Free: 800-842-8389
Phone: 713-579-3400
Fax: 713-579-3499
E-mail: sales@MerrickSystems.com
www.MerrickSystems.com
Faisal Kidwai, V.P. Sales,
Faisal.Kidwai@MerrickSystems.com
Company Bio:
Merrick Systems provides the industrys most
robust software and hardware solutions addressing production operations, engineering
and asset tracking. Recognized for its industry
expertise and innovative technologies, Merrick
is committed to delivering best of breed solutions to improve production operations, helping companies extend oil and gas producing asset life, lower lifting costs, increase production
and optimize operations. Merricks integrated
applications, installed or hosted (Software as a
Service), include real-time surveillance and optimization; eld operations management; eld
data capture; hydrocarbon production accounting; mobile computing for eld and drilling
operations and ruggedized RFID for drilling
and asset management.
Products:
RFID Diamond Tags: Industrial, rugged, patented Radio Frequency Identication (RFID)
tags that survive extreme environmental conditions including high impact, vibration, corrosion, sustained temperatures up to 200C (400F)
and pressures up to 2070 bar (30,000 psi) and
are readable through thick layers of drilling
mud, for tracking surface, subsurface and subsea drilling and industrial assets. The tag suite
includes various durable and rugged tags and
mounting methods for dierent components
including drill pipe, HWDP, subs, drill collars,
bits, risers, ow iron, casing, production tubing, safety equipment and more. The tags allow to uniquely identify, trace and document
high-value assets for location, measurements,
maintenance, use, inspection history and certications. The RFID Diamond Tags are part of
Merricks Asset Tracking system which includes
the DynaCap software, rugged mobile or xed
readers and additional Automatic Identication and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies
and consulting services to provide a complete
solution for all asset tracking needs even under
the harsh conditions of drilling, subsea and industrial operations.
DynaCap Asset Tracking Software: Congurable asset tracking system manages operational
assets for increased eciency, risk mitigation
and regulatory compliance. DynaCap captures
any type of data that may be needed, including asset location, dimension, manufacturer
specications, maintenance and inspections.
The System can serve as an enterprise system
or can interface with in-house or leading 3rd
party ERP/EAM systems such as Maximo, SAP
and others. Providing access in near-real time to
vital asset information across the organization,
DynaCap allows companies to make informed
decisions on asset use and re-use, manage assets eciently, reduce inventory, downtime and
operational cost and reduce the risk of catastrophic failure, improving the safety of both
operations and people.
RFID features include:
Asset tracking solution includes rugged
RFID tags, intrinsically safe (I.S.) or non-I.S.
mobile or xed readers, software, complementary technologies and consulting services for project scoping, management and implementation
A suite of t-for-purpose, durable and
rugged RFID tags and mounting methods
for dierent components including drill pipe,
HWDP, subs, drill collars, bits, risers, ow
irons, casing, production tubing, safety equipment and any other downhole, sub-sea and
surface equipment components that requires
tracking
Tags are rated for sustained temperatures
up to 200C (400F) and pressures up to 2070
bar (30,000 psi), expected under harsh drilling
and operating conditions
Tags can be installed during the component manufacturing process or retrotted in the
eld
RFID data is linked to corporate-wide
asset management, maintenance management
and ERP/EAM systems including Merricks
DynaCap software or any in-house asset tracking system.

World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com

www.yokogawa.com/us
F A L L 2010
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
23
Upstream
ASSET MANAGEMENT, CONT.

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg

LTD.
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
face Field Device Tool (FDT) technology to

facilitate the conguration and adjustment of
eld devices such as sensors and valves at production sites, regardless of the manufacturer
or the communication protocols. Fieldmate
also supports Electronic Device Description
Language (EDDL) interface technology.
With its device navigation and device maintenance information management features, this
software relieves users of the diculties with
dealing with a variety of communication protocols and conguration methods from multiple
manufacturers which used dierent congurators and/or multiple conguration procedures.
petroCUBETM is an innovative suite of products
that provide unbiased, consistent statistical insights that can help you make more protable
decisions about petroleum plays. From reserve
and production data through to full-cycle economics, petroCUBE gives you immediate access
to a full spectrum of current geostatistical, technical and nancial information and comprehensive analytical tools. petroCUBE instantly delivers the data engineers and geologists need to
accurately assess risk and justify exploration and
development proposals before wells are drilled.
DATA MANAGEMENT
DATA VISUALIZATION
Company Bio:
Products:
PRMPlant Resource Manager (PRM) is a
real-time instrument device maintenance and
management software package that provides a
platform for advanced instrument diagnostics.
PRM is an integrated software solution that
unies the monitored data from intelligent and
non-intelligent eld devices running within
Yokogawas CENTUM VP and STARDOM
control systems or as a stand-alone solution. The
key feature of PRM is that it provides easy access
to automatically collected data from eld networks such as Foundation Fieldbus, and HART
allowing integration, management and maintenance these devices using a common database.
PRM provides integrated plant and device
performance data, maintenance records,
audit trails, device conguration with autodevice detection, historic data management,
parameter comparison, advanced device diagnostics information, and access to on-line
documentation such as device drawings,
parts list and manuals in a client server architecture that provides information to multiple
users within a plant facility. It provides the
ability to adjust the parameters of intelligent
devices online and allows comparison of the
current data to historical data of a device.
FieldmateFieldMate is an asset management software developed for portable laptop computers that provides conguration
and maintenance of intelligent eld devices.
Fieldmate supports the use of open inter24
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010

Calgary, AB
Canada T2P 0T9
Phone: 403 262-1992
Fax:
403-262-1987
www.geologic.com
Company Bio:
Products:

Calgary, AB
Canada T2P 0T9
Phone: 403 262-1992
Fax:
403-262-1987
www.geologic.com
Company Bio:
Products:
Upstream

PIXOTEC, LLC
15917 SE Fairwood Blvd.
Renton, WA 98058 US
Phone: 425-255-0789
Fax:
425-917-0104
E-mail: info@slicerdicer.com
www.slicerdicer.com
Skip Echert, Director of Marketing
Company Bio:
PIXOTEC, LLC specializes in the development of software for the analysis of complex data in three or more dimensions. Dr.
David Lucas, the originator of Slicer Dicer,
heads the software development eorts and
is co-owner of PIXOTEC. Slicer Dicer and
its precursors have been under development
since the late 80s.
lighting and light reection, and change the

center of rotation of your data image.
Pricing for Slicer Dicer starts at only $495. Go
to our web site, SlicerDicer.com, to download
a full-featured demo that is limited only by a
15-day trial period. Low-cost upgrades from
previous versions of Slicer Dicer are also available from the SlicerDicer.com web site.
Products:
Slicer DicerVolumetric Data Visualization
Software for Windows, is designed for geoscientists and engineers involved with complex
data dened in three or more dimensions. This
easy-to-use tool is employed for the analysis
of seismic data and geological model outputs.
It has users in over 50 countries. The latest
version of Slicer Dicer, v5, includes 3VOTM
Slicer Dicers powerful new 3D viewer. It
simplies rotating, zooming, and other manipulations of your data scene, all by simply
moving your mouse.
With Slicer Dicer, you can explore your multidimensional volume data visually by slicing
and dicing to create arbitrary orthogonal and
oblique slices, rectilinear blocks and cutouts,
isosurfaces, and projected volumes. You can
generate animation sequences featuring continuous rotation, moving slices, blocks, parametric variation (time animation), oblique slice rotation, and varying transparency. Use the new
3VOTM viewer to easily rotate, zoom, control
0M`V\RUV^ÔH[`V\YLKVPUN
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AND ENGINEERING

Worldwide
150 Venture Drive

Phone: 979-690-5050
Fax:
979-690-3250
www.HTRI.net
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25
Upstream
AND ENGINEERING, CONT.
AsiaPacic
Phone: 81-43-297-0353
Fax:
81-43-297-0354

40 Occam Road
Phone: 44-(0)1483-685100
Fax:
44-(0)1483-685101

India
Indraprasth Complex
Phone: +91 (982) 514-7775
HTRI.India@HTRI.net
EXPLORATION
Company Bio:
Products:
conditions.
26
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010
FIELD DATA CAPTURE

Calgary, AB
Canada T2P 0T9
Phone: 403 262-1992
Fax:
403-262-1987
www.geologic.com

Houston, TX 77056
Toll Free: 800-842-8389
Phone: 713-579-3400
Fax: 713-579-3499
Company Bio:
Company Bio:

Products:

robust software and hardware solutions addressing production operations, engineering and
asset tracking. Recognized for its industry expertise and innovative technologies, Merrick is
committed to delivering best of breed solutions
to improve production operations, helping
companies extend oil and gas producing asset
life, lower lifting costs, increase production and
optimize operations. Merricks integrated applications, installed or hosted, include real-time
surveillance and optimization; eld operations
management; eld data capture; hydrocarbon
production accounting; mobile computing for
eld and drilling operations and ruggedized
RFID for drilling and asset management.
Products:
eVINUsed in 20% of all oil & gas wells in
the US and multiple global locations, eVIN enables data capture from oil and gas elds using
handhelds and PCs. Designed to meet eld operation needs anywhere in the world, including
the unique complexities of dicult environ-

ments and products such as coal bed methane,
water oods and CO2, eVIN handls mixed
units of measure and multiple languages.
Field operators use eVIN to easily enter data
from the eld with automated eld calculations
of dierent gas metering devices and oil tickets. eVIN provides error validation and reliable
transfer of the data to the companys central
oces 24/7 where production supervisors, accounting personnel and engineers can access it
in near real time. It also allows SCADA and
other automated readings and information to
be transmitted to eld personnel for review and
action. eVINs congurability enables capturing any desired data, allowing it to be used for
asset tracking, environmental and safety compliance and much more.
Designed for use in remote locations, eVIN
can be deployed in areas of low bandwidth and
manages interruptions in connectivity without
disruption to the data capture process. Easy to
deploy, eVIN can manage updates via a simple
set-up, a single point of deployment and standard TCP/IP protocol. The software can be
used on multiple devices including desktop,
Pocket PC or TabletPC.
RFID Diamond TagsIndustrial, rugged,
patented Radio Frequency Identication
(RFID) tags that survive extreme environmental conditions including high impact, vibration,
corrosion, sustained temperatures up to 200C
(400F) and pressures up to 2070 bar (30,000
psi) and are readable through thick layers of
drilling mud, for tracking surface, subsurface
and subsea drilling and industrial assets. The
tag suite includes various durable and rugged
tags and mounting methods for dierent components including drill pipe, HWDP, subs, drill
collars, bits, risers, ow iron, casing, production
tubing, safety equipment and more. The tags
allow to uniquely identify, trace and document
high-value assets for location, measurements,
maintenance, use, inspection history and certications. The RFID Diamond Tags are part of
Merricks Asset Tracking system which includes
the DynaCap software, rugged mobile or xed
readers and additional Automatic Identication and Data Capture (AIDC) technologies
and consulting services to provide a complete
solution for all asset tracking needs even under
the harsh conditions of drilling, subsea and industrial operations.
DynaCap Asset Tracking SoftwareCongurable asset tracking system manages operational
assets for increased eciency, risk mitigation
and regulatory compliance. DynaCap captures
any type of data that may be needed, including asset location, dimension, manufacturer
specications, maintenance and inspections.
The System can serve as an enterprise system
or can interface with in-house or leading 3rd
party ERP/EAM systems such as Maximo, SAP
and others. Providing access in near-real time to
vital asset information across the organization,
DynaCap allows companies to make informed

decisions on asset use and re-use, manage assets eciently, reduce inventory, downtime and
operational cost and reduce the risk of catastrophic failure, improving the safety of both
operations and people.
OPERATIONS

Houston, TX 77056
Toll Free: 800-842-8389
Phone: 713-579-3400
Fax: 713-579-3499
Company Bio:
and asset tracking. Recognized for its industry expertise and innovative technologies,
Merrick is committed to delivering best of
breed solutions to improve production operations, helping companies extend oil and
gas producing asset life, lower lifting costs,
increase production and optimize operations.
Merricks integrated applications, installed or
hosted, include real-time surveillance and
optimization; eld operations management;
eld data capture; hydrocarbon production
accounting; mobile computing for eld and
drilling operations and ruggedized RFID for
drilling and asset management.
Products:
Merricks suite of products provides a complete
production and drilling management solution.
From the eld to the back oce, all of your
data is integrated into a single system:
eVINMobile and PC-based eld data
capture system designed for simple, fast and efcient entry of daily readings with eld validation and AGA calculations built in.
ProCountComprehensive hydrocarbon accounting solution to manage simple and
complex daily and monthly production allocations, including full component allocations
with over 100 standard reports included.
CarteWeb based production monitoring and reporting tool for viewing, graphing,
analyzing and exporting daily and monthly oil
& gas production trends. Catch potential production areas before they become problems.
PetroRegsComplete regulatory compliance modules for state and MMS reporting.
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Industrial IT
for the Digital Oil Field
We Understand
Upstream
OPERATIONS, CONT.
RIOPetro technical data store for exploitation, exploration, property evaluation,
reservoir analysis, and eld operations. Used to
manage and analyze production, reservoir, geological, and petrophysical data, allowing multiple applications to utilize and benet from the
same data.
RFID-Based Asset Tracking System
for tracking down-hole, subsea and surface
equipment onshore and oshore. The system
includes a portfolio of t-for-purpose rugged
RFID Diamond tags, DynaCap software for
drill-site and corporate-wide asset tracking,
rugged readers and consulting services.
PROCESS CONTROL AND

INFORMATION SYSTEMS
World Headquarters
www.yokogawa.com

www.yokogawa.com/us

The Netherlands
www.yokogawa.com/eu

PTE. LTD.
Singapore
www.yokogawa.com/sg

LTD.
Phone: 86-21-5211-0877
Fax: 86-21-5211-0299
Company Bio:
28
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
FALL 2010
ow meters, transmitters, controllers, recorders, data acquisition products, meters, instruments, safety instrumented systems, distributed control systems and more.
PROCESS ENGINEERING
AND SIMULATION
Products:
FAST/TOOLSTM (Advance Process Control
Management software) is a powerful, stateof-the-art, exible, distributed Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
system. It is a client/server based open architecture that provides support for standards
such as XML, HTML, Java, ODBC and
OPC ensures uniform and standard interfaces to other packages and applications.. It
has been developed and evolved over a period
of three decades to span a wide range of operating platforms such that it oers stability
and scalability during the lifetime of the process. It has a proven track-record, guaranteed
best-of-class availability, data integrity, high
levels of performance and on-line conguration capabilities. FAST/TOOLS is scalable
from less than a hundred to more than a
million I/O points, and supports multiple
architectures from single node solutions to
multi-node client/server systems and is used
in many application areas, such as:
Oil & Gas exploration, production and distribution supervision
Pipeline Management
Ship monitoring and control
Production control supervision
Utilities like water, waste-water treatment, gas
and electricity distribution and management
Embedded applications in advanced production equipment.
STARDOMTM, network based control system,
is coupled with FAST/TOOLS to provide the
remote terminal units (RTU). STARDOM
consists of a family of highly functional autonomous controller RTUs and application portfolios. It features small, scalable architecture
which is capable of being highly distributed,
both within a facility and also geographically.
STARDOM family of controllers include a
Field control node (FCN) a modular controller with a wide range of I/O modules and two
expansion units suitable for mid-size applications, a Field Control Junction an all-in-one
compact controller with built-in I/O suitable
for direct installation on equipment or utilities
and a FCN-RTU suitable for low power applications. STARDOM enables operation and
monitoring of the process anywhere, anytime
using commercial o-the-shelf (COTS) components. STARDOM autonomous controllers
are FOUNDATION eldbus certied and can
be adapted to any infrastructure to integrate
all process information. STARDOM autonomous controllers have great remote management and stand-alone capability, and reduce
running costs by making exible use of e-mail,
the Web, and SCADA technology.

Worldwide
150 Venture Drive
Phone: 979-690-5050
Fax:
979-690-3250
www.HTRI.net
Development
AsiaPacic
Phone: 81-43-297-0353
Fax:
81-43-297-0354

40 Occam Road
Phone: 44-(0)1483-685100
Fax:
44-(0)1483-685101
India
Indraprasth Complex
Phone: +91 (982) 514-7775
HTRI.India@HTRI.net
Company Bio:
Products:
HTRI Xchanger SuiteIntegrated graphical user environment for the design, rating,
and simulation of heat transfer equipment.
XaceDesigns, rates, and simulates the per-
Upstream

formance of air-cooled heat exchangers, heat
XpheDesigns, rates, and simulates plate-andframe heat exchangers. A fully incremental program,
each plate channel is calculated individually using
local physical properties and process conditions.
PRODUCTION ACCOUNTING

Houston, TX 77056
Toll Free: 800-842-8389
Phone: 713-579-3400
Fax: 713-579-3499
Company Bio:
and asset tracking. Recognized for its industry
expertise and innovative technologies, Mer-
rick is committed to delivering best of breed

solutions to improve production operations,
helping companies extend oil and gas producing asset life, lower lifting costs, increase production and optimize operations. Merricks
integrated applications, installed or hosted,
include real-time surveillance and optimization; eld operations management; eld data
capture; hydrocarbon production accounting;
mobile computing for eld and drilling operations and ruggedized RFID for drilling and asset management.
Products:
ProCountProCount is a comprehensive hydrocarbon accounting solution for daily and
monthly volumetric allocations, management
and partner reporting. Used onshore, oshore,
domestically and globally, ProCount helps
meet allocation needs in both operated and
non-operated properties and handles simple
to complex allocations by mass, energy and
volume, with plant and pipeline, meter, tank
and fuel wellhead allocations. ProCount has
a proven track record working in unconventional oil and gas operations in shale plays.
The software is available both installed or as a
hosted solution.
Providing daily and monthly volume reconciliations that are used to minimize month-end
operational surprises and operational discrepancies, ProCount also supports allocations
for production sharing agreements and other
contractual needs. Handling multiple units of
measure, ProCount has built-in integration
with several standard ERP accounting and nancial systems as well as third-party engineering and economic analysis software packages.
With over a hundred standard reports and adhoc reporting capabilities, ProCount is highly
scalable, congurable and built to integrate
well with other software packages. In addition, It has a built-in auditability and traceability which are required for nancial regulatory compliance.
ProCount features include:
Simple drag and drop tool that allows users to create simple to complex multi-tiered
connections for allocation networks
Quick setup of daily and monthly allocations using templates for multiple objects
(meters, tanks, equipment and completions)
Allocate by volume, energy based BTU
and analysis, including component allocation
of plant products and liquids/NGL
User dened error checking and validation, custom formulas for allocation requirements and user congurable data elds and
screens
Handles requirements for mixed units of
measurement (Imperial and Metric) within
one data store
Scalable to handle daily allocations for
20,000+ wells (with related equipment in a
network)
Integrates with revenue/nancial systems

like Artesia, Excalibur, SAP as well as Aries for
Petroleum Economics
Regulatory ling of production for all key
states and MMS either in electronic format or
printed
100+ reports included for daily operations, daily and monthly accounting/allocations and management/partner reporting.
Available installed or hosted as a service
from Merrick
CarteCarte is a web-based production
management dashboard and monthly oil &
gas production reporting system that allows
access to information by a single well, eld or
entire asset, viewed graphically or in tabular
form. Carte reads data from Merricks ProCount software or other standard third-party
production databases and provides KPI and
variance reports. It allows operations sta and
executives to easily access production data at
varying levels, including corporate division
and asset summaries, or drill down to completion levels. As a web based solution it oers
simple deployment from a central location
to eld and oce personnel at multiple locations. It can also be used to share information
with partners.
Carte features include:
View allocated production data to spot
early trends and potential problem areas
Drill down to the completion level and access critical information for decision making
Activate Excel from within Carte to generate user spreadsheets
Annotate with sticky notes on well production graphs
Print one or all production graphs with a
single mouse click
Graph the forecasted economic model
versus actual production on a daily basis
PetroRegsFrom production form lings
with state and federal agencies to gas allowable
computations and well test calculations, these
modules help ensure regulatory compliance.
Regulatory features include:
Flexible ling options with hard copy reports, electronic ling and PDF format
Automatic handling of prior period adjustments (PPA)
Each module generates state-approved
digital lings
Generate error reports for identifying potential problems before ling with the state
F A L L 2010
SOFTWARE REFERENCE
29
Upstream
REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

Boulder, CO 80301
Phone: 303-415-1475
Fax: 303-415-1847
Company Bio:
Products:
Signal FFS software performs Fitness-for-Service and fracture mechanics analyses on xed
and rotating equipment. It implements the
API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 2007 standard and
performs crack assessments in accordance with

the BS 7910 procedure. Users can perform Level 1 and 2 assessments on many aw and equipment types. An advanced fracture mechanics
module allows users to also perform limited
Level 3 assessments.
LifeQuest Pipeline software delivers inspection
and Fitness-for-Service assessment results through
a powerful data viewer. Analysis and assessment
capabilities include standard calculation methods
B31G, B31G Modied and API 579.
RMS software facilitates the implementation of
risk-based assessment programs in a wide range of
industries. It addresses the needs of pressure systems not met by existing reliability management
programs and eliminates the high data and manpower demands of fully quantitative systems.
Asset Longevity
Plant & Pipeline Performance
We provide highly accurate, technology-enabled

inspection and assessment solutions that help companies
in the process, pipeline and power industries increase
profitability, reduce operational and safety risks and
improve operational planning.
Quest Integrity Group is built on a foundation of leading
edge science and technology that has innovated and
shaped industries for nearly forty years. As a private
business with a global presence, we are responsive to
your needs and focused on empowering your operating
and maintenance decisions.
(281) 557-2255
(253) 893-7070
Sales@QuestIntegrity.com
WELL LOG DATA ACCESS

AND MANAGEMENT

Calgary, AB
Canada T2P 0T9
Phone: 403 262-1992
Fax:
403-262-1987
www.geologic.com
Company Bio:
Products:
and production data through to full-cycle economics, petroCUBE gives you immediate access to a full spectrum of current geostatistical,
technical and nancial information and comprehensive analytical tools. petroCUBE instantly
delivers the data engineers and geologists need to

30
Software Reference Index

UPSTREAM / DOWNSTREAM SOFTWARE REF ERENCE
How to use this index:

1. Learn more about the display advertisers by visiting the pages provided in the first column under Display Advertisers.
For more information, go to www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS and follow the instructions.
2. The companies shown in bold-faced type have product listings on the page numbers provided.
DISPLAY ADVERTISERS
Chemstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Codeware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Equity Engineering Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Lloyds Register
Expertune
ICONICS
Intergraph
KBC Advanced Technologies
Quest Integrity Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Equity Engineering Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Collaboration and Knowledge Capture
geoLOGIC systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Configuration Management
Haverly Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Design, Construction and Engineering
Heat Transfer Research Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

M3 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Merrick Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
m:pro IT Consult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
PAS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 9
Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Yokogawa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Budgeting, Capital Allocation and Planning
3esi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Schlumberger Information Solutions
Business Integration
Baker and OBrien
Ensyte Energy Software
IBM Solutions
m:pro IT Consult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Enterprise Operations Management

Oildex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
OSIsoft
P2 Energy Solutions
Land and Leasing

geoLOGIC systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Plant Lifecycle and Performance Monitoring

ABB
Emerson Process Management
m:pro IT Consult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Quest Integrity Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Production Yield/Accounting
Bolo Systems
CGI Solutions and Technologies
Data Scavenger
Regulatory Compliance
Codeware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Risk Management
Equity Engineering Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Decisioneering
Dyadem
DOWNSTREAM
Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
AVEVA
Chemstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Codeware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Heat Transfer Research, Inc. (HTRI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
KRC Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Peng Engineering
Dynamic Simulation and Optimization

Chemstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Invensys
Kinesix Software
RSI Simcon
Economic Evaluation
Spiral Software
Energy Management
Enterprise Portal Systems

m:pro IT Consult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fluid Flow Analysis

ABZ
CPFD-Software
Engineered Software
Online Monitoring and Optimization

Chemstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Flexware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Planning, Scheduling and Blending

AMI Consultants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Haverly Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
m:pro IT Consult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
M3 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Plant Lifecycle and Performance Monitoring

Dassault Systemes
innotec
Quest Integrity Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Ventyx
Predictive Maintenance and Repair

Codeware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Equity Engineering Group. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Metegrity
Siemens Energy and Automation
Process Control and Information Systems

Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Process Engineering and Simulation

Ansys
Bryan Research and Engineering
Chemstations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Codeware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Farris Engineering Services
Total Systems Resources
Production/Yield Accounting
Soteica
Refining, Petrochemical and Gas Processing

Alarm Management
PAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Asset Management
Aspen Technology
Asset Performance Networks

M3 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
SIS/Safety Systems
exida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Training
UPSTREAM
Alarm Management
Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Asset Management
IHS Energy Group
Landmark (Halliburton)
Merrick Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Data Management
Decision Dynamics Technology
Enertia Software
geoLOGIC systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Open Spirit
Paradigm
Data Visualization
Slicer/Dicer (PIXOTEC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Design, Construction and Engineering

BlueCielo ECM Solutions
COADE
Drilling Engineering
Knowledge Systems
Pegasus Vertex
Exploration
Digital Formation
Knowledge Systems
Field Data Capture

Merrick Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Operations
Merrick Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Process Control and Information Systems

Yokogawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Process Engineering and Simulation

Softbits
Sun Microsystems
Production Accounting
Merrick Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Production Engineering
Well Flow Dynamics
Production Optimization
Fekete Associates
Joshi Technologies
OVS Group, Inc.
Pavilion Technologies
Regulatory Compliance
Quest Integrity Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Reserves Management
Geomechanics International
Petro-Soft Systems
Roxar
Sitelark
Reservoir Modeling
CMG
Geomodeling
Seismic Data Interpretation and Analysis

Earth Decision
Fugro-Jason
I/O
Seismic Processing
CGGVeritas
TGS
Well Log Data Access and Management

Your company can be listed under a single category in this index at no charge. For information, please contact Laura Kane at 1-713-520-4449 or laura.kane@gulfpub.com
32
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F A L L 2 0 10
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