RENTECH breaks new trails in the

boiler industry with its focus on custom

engineering and design.
There’s no “on the shelf” inventory at RENTECH because we design and build each and every
boiler to operate at peak efficiency in its own unique conditions. As an industry leader, RENTECH
provides solutions to your most demanding specifications for safe, reliable boilers. From design and
manufacture to installation and service, we are breaking new trails.
 AUGUST 2011

HPIMPACT SPECIALREPORT TECHNOLOGY

IEA seeks closer FLUID FLOW AND Climate change:

alignment with China ROTATING EQUIPMENT Fact or fiction
Top oil and gas Updates on valves, Solutions on advanced
investment locations pumps and flowmeters Process control

www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
RENTECH breaks new trails in the
boiler industry with its focus on custom
engineering and design.
There’s no “on the shelf” inventory at RENTECH because we design and build each and every
boiler to operate at peak efficiency in its own unique conditions. As an industry leader, RENTECH
provides solutions to your most demanding specifications for safe, reliable boilers. From design and
manufacture to installation and service, we are breaking new trails.
Select 52 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
 AUGUST 2011 • VOL. 90 NO. 8
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

SPECIAL REPORT: FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

33 Consider life-cycle costs in specifying control valves

New approach improves sizing valves while incorporating total ownership investment
Cover CITGO’s 167,000 bpd refinery,
located in Lemont, Illinois, is capable
J. Kiesbauer and D. Vnucec of refining heavy, sour crude oils into
high-quality finished product. In July
2010, CITGO successfully started up
39 Avoid failures with pump power-end upgrades
Designing-out maintenance and failure risk starts with simple upgrading measures
a new 42,500 bpd ultra-low sulfur
diesel process unit designed to
reduce the sulfur content of diesel
H. P. Bloch transportation fuel to 15 ppm or less
to comply with US EPA standards.
Mustang provided the front-end
47 Control-valve seat leakage
Enhancing initial performance and extending the service life of valves offers benefits
engineering design, detailed design,
procurement and field engineering
D. Sanders support for the new unit, and a
duplicate unit was built in parallel
for the CITGO Corpus Christi, Texas
57 Decrease vibration in piping with reciprocating compressors
Case study identifies problems in new compression unit
refinery. Photo courtesy of CITGO.

M. G. Choudhury and R. Tripathi

63 Use a new calibration method for gas pipelines

An advanced method improves calibrating orifice flowmeters while reducing maintenance costs
M. Guemana, S. Aissani and A. Hafaifa
HPIMPACT
15 IEA seeks closer
alignment with China
PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS 15 Ranking the world’s
top places for oil
71 Reevaluate the activity of your catalyst system
Selecting optimum conditions for fluid catalytic cracking requires
16
and gas investment
Europe looks to
micro activity testing through an improved method
US for guidance
M. A. Siddiqui, R. K. Voolapalli, N. V. Choudary, on unconventional
N. Ravichander, D. T. Gokak and T. Chiranjeevi gas issues

SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011—SUPPLEMENT

75 Safety, Security and Environment 2011

Strategies to limit damage from a vapor cloud loss
COLUMNS
PROCESS CONTROL 11 HPIN RELIABILITY
Reliability pros: Hear
87 Pre-engineered solutions drive down advanced control costs
Process control can improve quality and operating efficiency
what others say
about you
P. Sharpe and G. Hawkins 13 HPINTEGRATION
STRATEGIES
ENVIRONMENT Standard-based
interoperability is
key for terminal
91 Climate change 101: Impact on refiners
Here’s a different viewpoint on global warming
automation systems
J. C. Gentry 102 HPIN WATER
MANAGEMENT
Be a saavy buyer
DEPARTMENTS of water treatment
9 HPIN BRIEF • 21 HPINNOVATIONS • 25 HPIN CONSTRUCTION chemicals
30 HPI CONSTRUCTION BOXSCORE UPDATE
98 HPI MARKETPLACE • 101 ADVERTISER INDEX

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4
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Select 93 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
polimeri europa (eni) and Novamont together for a bio-based
chemical complex: a new age for the Italian chemical industry
the new joint italian venture has as its mission the development of an innovative and
sustainable production chain from vegetable oil to bio and renewable chemical products

within the next six years, and

polimeri europa (the biggest
Italian chemical company,
a subsidiary of eni) and
Novamont (a global market
leader in biodegradable plastics)
announced 13th June plans to
build an innovative bio-based
chemical complex in Porto Torres
(Sardinia, Italy). With a total
investment of 500 million Euro,
the project consists of seven new
plants - an integrated production
chain from vegetable oil to bio-
plastics - to be completed
a research center devoted to bio-
chemistry that will be operati-
ve in the next quarter. Matrica
SpA, the fifty-fifty joint venture set up
by polimeri europa and Novamont,
will execute the bio-based chemical
complex, where the basic
engineering of the first phase
has already been completed. eni
also plans to invest an additional
approximately 230 million Euro
in a biomass power station to
provide the electric power.
Novamont brings to the venture
technologies and research and
innovation skills in the sector
of bio-plastics and bio-based
products whilst polimeri europa
boosts this highly innovati-
ve project with its engineering
and commercial capabilities in
carrying out and managing big
industrial complexes. polimeri europa

eni.com
will convert the Porto Torres
production from traditional fossil
into bio-based productions: all the
traditional chemical plants at the
site with the exception of nitrilic
rubbers NBR will be shut down,
creating an available skilled
workforce and facilities for the
new project. The bio-based
chemical complex will be one of
the most important in the sector at
a global level – due to its innovative
integrated production chain, its
size and the massive overall
installed capacity of 350 kt/a of
bio-products.
Daniele Ferrari CEO of polimeri
europa said: “We aim to grow in
a new key sector of the Italian
economy, creating a virtuous
cycle based on
technological
innovation and
sustainable bio-
products with low
environmental
impact and high
integration with
the local territory.
polimeri europa can stabilize and
strengthen its traditional chemical
business, transferring at the same
time research and innovation
from the bio field into fossil
chemistry”. Using raw materials of
vegetable origin, the new bio-based
chemical plants will produce
innovative products, specifically
chemical intermediates or bio-
plastics, bio-lubricants and bio-
additives for elastomers.
The bio-materials will not only
be fully biodegradable but also
produced almost entirely from
renewable raw materials. With
high-level integration in the
local territory, the project foresees
the upstream cultivation and
production of vegetable oil
which is the raw material of the
bio-monomers plant in Sardinia.
The seven new plants will be built
in three stages:
Phase A – The first stage of the
project sees the construction of
a bio-monomers plant (the so
called bio-refinery) and a bio-
lubricants plant.
Phase B – In the second stage a
plant that produces bio-additives
and bio-fillers will be erected for
the rubber industry. These plants
will use intermediates produced
by the bio-monomers plant.
Phase C – The third stage of the
Select 70 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
polimeri europa
project will be a scale-up of the
first phase with new larger lines of
bio-monomers and bio-lubricants
and a downstream plant for the
production of bio-plastics.
The continuous development
and innovation of products and
processes is ensured by the
activities of the new research
center.
Furthermore, the synergy between
the new bio-materials produced
by Matrica and the traditional
chemical products manufactured
by polimeri europa - both in terms
of commercial and production
synergies - will guarantee the
success of the project. polimeri
europa and Novamont have
developed relevant synergies
between bio-materials and
elastomers specifically for the tyre
market and will bring to market a
range of bio-elastomer grades.
Catia Bastioli, CEO Novamont and Daniele Ferrari,
Chairman & CEO polimeri europa
When the right reaction matters ...

The petroleum refining landscape is constantly evolving through changing crude slates, shifts in
refined product demands, and the necessity to produce more from existing assets. In the face
of these challenges, BASF offers innovative solutions. If you are looking for a catalyst supplier
whose technologies and services will enable you to make more of the products you want with
enhanced operating flexibility, look no further than BASF. Trust BASF FCC Catalyst Technologies
and Services to deliver innovation, value, and performance to your refinery.
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Select 91 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
 HPIN BRIEF
BILLY THINNES, TECHNICAL EDITOR

BT@HydrocarbonProcessing.com

Total has signed a sale and purchase agreement to sell most of ■ Yellowstone
its marketing assets in the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man to Rontec
Investments, a consortium led by Snax 24, an independent forecourt operator in the River spill
UK. The assets included within this agreement consist of Total’s UK retail network,
comprising 810 Total-branded service stations, its Butler heating-oil business, its associ- A pipeline running underneath the
ated logistics infrastructure, as well as its Channel Islands and Isle of Man businesses. Yellowstone River in Montana, owned
The transaction is expected to be completed later this year. The sale process for Total’s by ExxonMobil, ruptured on July 1.
This resulted in a spill of crude oil
refining assets in the UK is ongoing. In addition to its exploration and production into the river approximately 20 miles
operations, Total will retain a direct market presence in the UK through its lubricants, upstream from Billings, Montana.
aviation fuels, special fluids and chemicals businesses. According to the company’s estimates,
1,000 barrels of oil entered the river
Carbon Sciences is developing a catalyst technology to make gasoline (which was in flood stage) before the
and other fuels from natural gas and carbon dioxide. The company says recent commer- pipeline was cut off.
cial tests show conversion efficiency rates that are better than what was observed in the The US Environmental Protection
laboratory. The premise for the process is that the catalyst transforms natural gas and Agency (EPA) is conducting both air
and water sampling to determine
carbon dioxide into a syngas that can then be transformed into gasoline and other fuels what impacts the spill may have on
using conventional Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquids technology. Carbon Sciences prefers air or water quality. Air monitor-
dry reforming using carbon dioxide as the process to produce syngas from natural gas, ing using real-time instruments that
due to lower projected capital and operating costs. These tests are of interest because look for volatile organic compounds
there is currently no commercial catalyst robust enough to sustain dry reforming reac- and hydrogen sulfide have shown
tions on an industrial scale. The technology in development uses carbon dioxide as part no detections in ambient air along
of the feed and does not require the use of a capital-intensive air-separation unit. the Yellowstone River. Additionally,
air sampling for benzene was con-
ducted between Billings and Laurel,
BASF was presented with the American Chemistry Council’s Montana, with no detections.
(ACC) top award for political leadership, recognizing the company’s efforts to mobi- Water sampling conducted by the
lize grassroots employee participation in advocacy at both site manufacturing and EPA between Laurel and Miles City,
managerial levels in coordination with Washington, DC, and state capital activities. Montana, indicates there are no petro-
BASF maintains a government affairs office in Washington. The award is given to leum hydrocarbons above drinking
ACC member companies and state chemical industry councils for ongoing efforts to water levels standards in that region.
politically support, advocate and promote issues on behalf of the entire industry. The Preliminary results indicate that the
key element of BASF’s grassroots program is its Capital Club, a volunteer organization Yellowstone River poses no threat to
agriculture use. Prior sampling and
of BASF employees at more than 70 sites across the US dedicated to staying informed ongoing monitoring indicate that the
about public policy matters and taking action when necessary, such as writing letters to municipal drinking water supplies in
legislators or participating in site visits by members of Congress. these areas remain safe. The EPA will
also be coordinating domestic well
US legislation designed to speed the opening of the National water testing and conducting indoor
Petroleum Reserve—Alaska to production of oil and natural gas should be approved as air sampling at residences impacted
part of a larger effort to make more of the country’s energy resources available, according by the spill.
to the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPPA). NPRA President Charles As of Thursday, July 7, approximate-
ly 544 people were involved in the
Drevna testified before the US House Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on
incident response and over 360 are in
Energy and Mineral Resources in support of The National Petroleum Reserve Alaska the field conducting cleanup opera-
Access Act. Mr. Drevna said more oil production is needed in Alaska to produce enough tions and recovering oil. The responders
oil to keep the 800-mile Trans Alaska pipeline operating. If the pipeline is forced to shut continue to walk the shores and deploy
down, Western states would become more reliant on imported oil. The US Geological absorbent boom along the river banks
Survey estimates that the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska sits on top of more than to absorb oil that has collected in slow
2.7 billion barrels of oil and more than 114.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. water areas along the shoreline. While
most of the oil has been encountered
within 30 miles of the spill, a pocket of
British singer Sting cancelled a concert in Astana, Kazakhstan, to emulsified oil has been spotted approx-
protest the treatment of oil workers in the country. Several thousand workers at imately 80 miles downstream. No evi-
UzenMunaiGas went on strike on May 26 after a salary dispute with the company. dence of visible oil staining or emulsi-
The lawyer for the striking workers was subsequently jailed on disputed charges. The fied oil has been sighted beyond this
company has called the strike illegal and fired approximately 250 employees for breach- point during ground and aerial recon-
ing their contracts. Sting made his decision to cancel the concert after consulting with naissance in the affected area. HP
Amnesty International. HP

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I9
Reliability has
no quitting time.
Think about ITT.

In oil and gas facilities around the world, ITT delivers pumps, valves, composite piping, switches,
regulators and vibration isolation systems that can handle harsh conditions and keep going.
After all, in the 24/7/365 refinery business, the last thing you want is a piece of equipment that
fails. With ITT, your processes stay up—and your total cost of ownership stays down. For more
information, and to receive our Oil and Gas catalog, visit www.ittoilgas.com or call 1-800-734-7867.

Conoflow | Enidine | Fabri-Valve | Fiberbond | Goulds | ITT Standard | Midland-ACS | Neo-Dyn

Select 86 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

HEINZ P. BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
HB@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Reliability pros: Hear what others say about you
In an editorial “Engineering Better Engineers,” published in
the January 2010 issue of Civil Engineering News, John Bachner
commented on how lack of innovation has resulted in engineer-
ing services becoming commodities. Mr. Bachner’s reasoning was
essentially based on a three-step premise:
1) Engineers often demonstrate a lack of leadership, which
leads to:
2) Engineers tending to be risk-averse, and finally resulting in:
3) Engineering work product being considered little more
than a commodity.
It should be clear that John Bachner forcefully made the point
that communication is inextricably tied to leadership. Profes-
sions that cannot communicate are flawed, and engineers must
learn to communicate. Those that refuse to learn risk being out-
flanked by often ruthless advertisers, shameless self-promoters,
and shrewd marketers.
Too much noise, not enough engineering. In an edi-
torial in Design News (July 2010), Dr. Geoffrey Orsak, Dean of
Engineering at the SMU Lyle School of Engineering, expressed
the view that “companies extracting value from our earth have
a responsibility to invest some of this value into increasing the
reliability of these complex systems. And because no engineering
system is ever foolproof, we better have a good backup plan when
oil is released into the environment.”
Regarding the 2009 BP/Transocean oil rig explosion and spill
tragedy in the Gulf, we have seen editorials ranging from a basic
“accidents happen, so let’s just move on” to wholesale condem-
nations heaped on an entire industry. Must we always take an
adversarial stance? Is everything starkly black and white?
As to other voices heard in the recent past, a perceptive few did
point out that scenarios called for plugging an undersea leak with
golf balls and rubber tire shards seemed concocted by executives,
not engineers. We also noted that BP made a presentation at the
NPRA Reliability & Maintenance Conference in San Antonio
(May 26, 2010), focusing on “the key foundational elements of a
world class reliability program that were established for BP’s larg-
est and most technical refinery in 8 months vs. the typical industry
practice of three years.” Two months later, in early August 2010,
BP agreed to pay a record $50.6 million fine for failing to correct
safety hazards at its Texas City, Texas, oil refinery after a 2005
explosion at the refinery killed 15 workers. In all of this, where
were the engineers’ voices? Why this abysmal disconnect?
Buying cheap will impoverish many. There is a trend to
buy commodities from the lowest bidder. Lowest bidders are often
the shrewdest marketers. It’s fair to say that the lowest bidders are
rarely the providers of highest quality products.
At its Technical Press Day in Philadelphia (June 20, 2011),
bearing manufacturer SKF briefed us on a topic with which we
HPIN RELIABILITY
FIG. 1 A counterfeit (!) double-row spherical roller bearing.
had been acquainted for many decades. In fact, we were thor-
oughly familiar with the topic because we had identified best-
of-class (BOC) companies as ones that, among other things,
purchased bearings from highly respected manufacturers only.
Years ago already, these BOCs recognized that manufacturers with
competent application engineering departments were providing
far more than mere commodity products. They passed on priceless
expertise in failure avoidance and became mentors to the relatively
few true reliability professionals. True reliability pros are defined
as the men and women who made it their life’s ambition to add
value to an enterprise.
SKF asked its audience to join together and fight globally
against industrial counterfeiting. Counterfeit products continue
to flood the marketplace worldwide. Fig. 1 is a counterfeit, and a
reliability expert must learn to distinguish a bogus product from
the real thing. There is only one thing that is obvious in cases
of industrial counterfeiting: More than a brand will be at risk.
Many components, such as bearings and seals, are safety-critical
in applications, and their “knockoffs” can pose hazards in addition
to performance issues.
The SKF presentation profiled why and how this company is
striving to protect both its brand and its customers from illegal
fakes that can cause real damage in service. Reliability profession-
als must agree and actively do their part in not ever using fakes in
their plants. HP
The author is Hydrocarbon Processing’s Reliability/Equipment Editor. A practicing
consulting engineer with close to 50 years of applicable experience, he advises pro-
cess plants worldwide on failure analysis, reliability improvement and maintenance
cost avoidance topics. He has authored or co-authored 18 textbooks on machinery
reliability improvement and over 490 papers or articles dealing with related sub-
jects. For more, read his book Pump Wisdom: Problem Solving for Operators and
Specialists, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, ISBN 9-781118-041239.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 11
Select 54 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
 HPINTEGRATION STRATEGIES
PAUL MILLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
PMiller@Arcweb.com
Standard-based interoperability is key
for terminal automation systems
The highly complex, dynamic and multi-faceted operational
nature of tank farms and petroleum product terminals, combined
with the environmental and price sensitivity of the products being
handled, requires a special breed of automation systems.
A good terminal automation system (TAS) must combine
the powerful IT-enabled application, information processing
and transactional capabilities of the back-office, enterprise-level
business systems, with the real-time performance, determinism,
nonstop availability, and specialized physical packaging of indus-
trial process control and supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) systems. It must be:
• Open enough to interface with any number of field systems,
back-office applications and/or data exchanges
• Secure enough to prevent unauthorized system access and
guard valuable customer information
• Flexible enough to smoothly adapt to new product and
additive mixes, facility expansions and constantly evolving gov-
ernmental regulation, all without a hiccup.
In short, a good terminal automation system has to wear many
different hats.
Key requirements. In this environment, standards-based
interoperability is a key requirement. Why? Because while dis-
tributed control systems (DCSs), SCADA systems, programma-
ble logic controllers (PLCs), safety instrumented systems (SISs)
and manufacturing execution systems (MESs) all have relatively
well-defined functional boundaries; a terminal automation sys-
tem (TAS) typically encompasses a combination of sub-systems,
applications, and functionalities that can include all of the above
and many others.
To avoid creating inefficient functional silos, the multiple
subsystems must be woven together to create a unified terminal
automation system. Ideally, a TAS should have centralized con-
figuration and system management, a common human machine
interface, common communications, common database, and
common alarming and reporting structures. ARC clients (and
others) will recognize that this is consistent with the vision for any
collaborative process automation system (CPAS).
In cases where the majority of functionalities are coming
from the same vendor, these might not be major issues, since
that vendor will assume responsibility for integrating the various
functionalities. However, in other cases, interoperability based
on established industry standards assumes paramount impor-
tance. This includes situations where the owner/operator (or a
systems integrator) creates a TAS, using best-in-class functional
components from different vendors, or where subsystems from
different vendors need to be integrated into a larger, primarily
single-vendor TAS. Industry standards can also simplify interop-
erability between the refinery and tank farm automation systems
(if different), between automation systems installed at different
terminals, between the TAS and corporate back-office systems
and across the supply chain.
Standards and protocols. A wide variety of networking
and communications, software, control and hardware standards
applies to petroleum product terminal operations. These include
international standards, such as those developed and supported
by IEC, ISO, and IEEE; national standards such as those devel-
oped and supported by ISA, ANSI, NAMUR, BSI and JSA;
information technology (IT) standards, such as those developed
and supported by W3C; and industry-specific standards, such
as those developed and supported by the American Petroleum
Institute. The good news here is that, increasingly, national and
international standards organizations are collaborating to unify
(or at least harmonize) their standardization efforts.
One example would be the ANSI/ISA-18.2-2009 alarm
management standard, which defines layers of protection to
help prevent hazards such as occurred at both the BP Texas City
Refinery and Buncefield Oil Depot in the UK in 2005. Other
examples include:
• IEC 61511/ISA 84 process safety standards
• IEC 61512/ISA 88 batch control standards
• IEC 62264/ISA 95 enterprise to control system standards
• IEC 62443/ISA 99 control systems security standards
Where established international standards are not available,
a combination of industry standards (such as OPC, FOUN-
DATION fieldbus, Profibus and HART) and vendor-de facto
standards (such as Microsoft’s .NET application development
environment and SAP’s NetWeaver integration platform) can
also enhance interoperability between different vendors’ systems,
software applications and products.
In short, standards make it easier to create, manage and sup-
port a unified TAS environment and simplify interoperability with
other automation and information systems at both the plant and
enterprise levels.
ARC has published a series of reports and market studies on
both collaborative process automation systems and terminal auto-
mation systems. For more information, HP readers can visit www.
arcweb.com or send an e-mail message to info@arcweb.com. HP
Paul Miller is a senior editor/analyst at ARC Advisory Group and has 25 years of
experience in the industrial automation industry. He has published numerous articles
in industry trade publications. Mr. Miller follows both the terminal automation and
water/wastewater sectors for ARC. For more information, readers can contact the
author at pmiller@arcweb.com.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 13
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and processes to work in your
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BILLY THINNES, TECHNICAL EDITOR
BT@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
IEA seeks closer
alignment with China
After a decade of high growth led to
China becoming the world’s biggest energy
consumer, International Energy Agency
(IEA) Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka
says that closer alignment of the country
with the IEA would be of mutual benefit.
In a recent speech, the director outlined
five key reasons why increased cooperation
with the IEA would be a good move for
China. He also said that for the IEA to con-
tinue playing an effective role in the global
market, it is important to involve major
emerging economies like China.
“China’s rise is not only a case of up, but
also in,” Mr. Tanaka said. “China has risen
into international markets, into political
frameworks which guide those markets,
into joint mechanisms for managing cri-
ses, and perhaps one day, into the IEA as a
global energy governance forum.”
Mr. Tanaka spoke at the second Global
Think Tank Summit on June 25, two days
after the IEA announced that its member
countries had agreed to release 60 million bbl
of oil in the coming month in response to
the ongoing disruption of oil supplies from
Libya. Among those attending the summit in
Beijing, China, were China’s Deputy Premier
Li Keqiang and former US Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger, who played a key role in the
founding of the IEA in 1974.
Rising demand. Mr. Tanaka shared
IEA analysis regarding China’s future
importance to the global energy market
over the next few decades. China’s electric-
ity demand is projected to almost triple
from 2008 to 2035. While oil imports are
expected to jump from 4.3 million bpd in
2009 to 12.8 million bpd in 2035 (repre-
senting all of current Saudi Arabian and
Mexican production combined), natural gas
imports are expected to increase to account
for 53% of Chinese gas demand in 2035.
On top of this, China’s net imports of
coal are projected to increase to the year
2015, but depending on what government
policies are implemented, China could
become either a net exporter by 2035, or
could possibly import the equivalent of all
of today’s internationally traded coal.
Mr. Tanaka stressed that the IEA respects
the sovereign decisions of all of its partners,
and that deepening ties with non-member
countries is a long, complex and sometimes
slow process.
“But the IEA also recognizes the impera-
tive to bring major emerging economies
[like China] into its fold if credibility to
act in the name of the global market—such
as last week’s stock release—is to be main-
tained,” he added.
Reasons for closer cooperation.
Mr. Tanaka cited five reasons why closer
cooperation with the IEA would be ben-
eficial for China:
1. Enhanced energy security through
support from IEA partners as well as coor-
dination during major disruptions in the
supply of oil
2. Participation in a community that is
influential in shaping future energy security
and sustainability on a global level
3. Participation in open discussions
relating to technology policy and bet-
ter access to state-of-the-art technologies
themselves
4. The opportunity to learn and benefit
from best practices of other countries in
areas such as statistics or energy efficiency
5. The chance to demonstrate to the
world that China is reaching the point
of development where it can confidently
engage along-side other developed econo-
mies in areas of global importance.
Mr. Tanaka noted that China’s recent
evolution represents a transformation of
the global energy economy.
IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka spoke
about the IEA’s desired relationship with
China during the Global Think Tank Summit.
HPIMPACT
“At the IEA, we are proud to be able to
embrace such change, but urge the new
major emerging economies like China to
assume their role as equal partners in global
energy governance,” he said. “Together we
can ensure that the transition to a secure,
affordable and sustainable energy future is
a harmonious one.”
The full speech from the IEA’s executive
director can be found at the IEA website
(www.iea.org). —Ben DuBose
Ranking the world’s
top places for oil and gas
investment
Mississippi is ranked as the top place
in the world for oil and gas investment,
according to the opinions of international
petroleum executives and managers in the
Fraser Institute’s Global Petroleum Sur-
vey 2011. Mississippi, which was ranked
sixth out of 133 jurisdictions in 2010,
vaulted into the top spot this year. Along
TABLE 1. Top 10 jurisdictions in
the world for oil and gas investment
1. Mississippi
2. Ohio
3. Kansas
4. Oklahoma
5. Texas
6. West Virginia
7. Netherlands—North Sea
8. Alabama
9. Hungary
10. North Dakota
TABLE 2. Ten worst places in the
world for oil and gas investment
1. Venezuela
2. Ecuador
3. Bolivia
4. Iran
5. Kazakhstan
6. Uzbekistan
7. Democratic Republic of Congo-Kinshasa
8. Iraq
9. Libya
10. Russia
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 15
HPIMPACT
with Mississippi, US states dominated the
top 10 (Table 1), with Ohio finishing sec-
ond overall, followed by Kansas (third),
Oklahoma (fourth), Texas (fifth), West Vir-
ginia (sixth), Alabama (eighth) and North
Dakota (10th).
Netherlands—North Sea and Hungary
(ranked seventh and ninth, respectively) are
the only jurisdictions outside North Amer-
ica to crack the top 10. The province of Sas-
katchewan is the highest-ranked Canadian
jurisdiction, finishing 11th overall.
The survey also shows the US offshore/
Gulf of Mexico experiencing one of the
largest drops in the rankings, plummeting
to 60th place overall after finishing 11th
in the 2010 survey, which was conducted
before the Deepwater Horizon oil leak.
Scoring. Several other US jurisdictions
also earned poor scores for environmental
regulations and associated uncertainties.
US Pacific/offshore was ranked 101st over-
all, the worst among the 23 US jurisdic-
tions included in this year’s survey, after
finishing 103rd last year. California was the
lowest-ranked state, dropping to 91st from
87th in 2010.
“Survey respondents pointed to Califor-
nia’s complex environmental restrictions,
and lengthy wait times to attain drilling
approvals, as highly unattractive,” Mr.
Angevine said.
Alaska, which respondents ranked as
the second-least attractive state this year,
plummeted to 83rd overall from 68th in
2010. Survey respondents remain critical of
Alaska’s fiscal regime, environmental regu-
lations and land claims issues.
Globally, the top 10 most attractive
jurisdictions in this year’s survey are: Mis-
sissippi, Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,
West Virginia, Netherlands-North Sea, Ala-
bama, Hungary and North Dakota.
The least attractive jurisdictions (Table
2) are: Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Democratic
Republic of Congo—Kinshasa, Iraq,
Libya and Russia. All but three of these
countries (Uzbekistan, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo—Kinshasa and
Libya) were also among the group of 10
least desirable jurisdictions for investment
in the 2010 survey. The three countries
displaced from this group were Ukraine,
Nigeria and Turkmenistan, each of which
achieved somewhat better results this year
than in 2010.
Europe looks to
US for guidance on
unconventional gas issues
The latest report from the Atlantic Coun-
cil argues that Europe’s unconventional gas
future will depend upon industry adopting
best practices similar to those advocated
in the US. The report indicates that, while
markets remain positive about the promise
of natural gas reserves across Europe, there
are significant hindrances to its long term
viability. Industry hydro-fracturing practices
have come under increased scrutiny for envi-
ronmental and safety concerns as technologi-
cal advancements are progressing more rap-
idly than regulatory and industry practices.
The Atlantic Council believes that creating
a model regulatory framework is essential
to establishing industry discipline and pub-
lic acceptance of unconventional oil and
gas production. The report calls for robust
monitoring and enforcement on the local
and national level within the existing Euro-
pean Union (EU) and US regulatory systems.

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Improving industry practices. In
the US, industry developments have raised
a number of environmental concerns.
Furthermore, technological developments
have been moving faster than adjustments
to regulatory and industry practices. Some
of these, associated with the practice of
multi-stage hydraulic-fracturing of deep
horizontal wells, represent issues that can
be readily handled operationally by iden-
tifying and enforcing industry practices
that ensure well integrity to avoid fluid
migration into the shallower underground
sources of fresh water. The report suggests
that such practices would include evaluat-
ing stratigraphic confinement, establish-
ing well construction standards, evaluating
mechanical integrity of wells, and real-time
monitoring of frac jobs and well produc-
tion. Other issues associated with surface
impacts will require improved industry
practices impacting the sourcing and trans-
portation of water, the management and
treatment of wastewater, the use of pad
drilling to minimize the surface impact of
drilling locations, the siting and mainte-
nance of surface facilities and equipment,
controls over gas emissions, noise abate-
ment, and the management of truck traffic
to and from drilling sites.
The authors of the report believe that
better industry practices should be com-
bined with robust regulations, monitoring
and enforcement to ensure that the public
is protected without adversely affecting
the expansion of unconventional gas pro-
duction. Failure to act will result in a con-
tinuing string of mishaps that could stifle
development in a number of areas within
the US and abroad, and reinforce alarm-
ist attitudes that have caused much of the
negative feelings toward unconventional
gas development and that could otherwise
be answered.
European regulatory framework.
An eventual European regulatory frame-
work is expected to be similar to the US
model that relies on both state and federal
regulations that are largely administered at
the state level. In the EU, member states
must enact regulations that are consistent
with EU directives that establish guiding
principles on a wide range of issues related
to the environment. In the US, each state
implements specific permitting and licens-
ing rules and monitors operators’ perfor-
mance. In Europe, there will be a need to
strengthen the capabilities and resources of
local and national agencies. While a Euro-
HPIMPACT
pean regulatory framework is being estab- vidual EU member states. What is certain is
lished (which is likely to take some time), that approaches to unconventional gas will
the report indicates that EU member states vary widely in each country.
will be left to their own devices to manage The report says that provided a success-
this new frontier. ful completion of a common EU gas mar-
Given the early stages of unconventional ket, unconventional gas developments in
gas development, contract rigidities in one EU country would nevertheless have
European gas markets and an insufficiently a significant impact across Europe. In fact,
integrated transportation network, it is too the increase in unconventional gas produc-
early to determine the magnitude and pric- tion in the US has already impacted the EU
ing impact of unconventional gas on indi- gas market by freeing up LNG capacity. HP
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19
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SELECTED BY HYDROCARBON PROCESSING EDITORS
Editorial@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Fischer-Tropsch process
commercialization accelerates
The high throughput experimentation
(hte) company has extended its collabora-
tion with BP International Ltd. in the field
of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. The BP
Conversion Technology Centre is continu-
ing to work with hte in the field of FT catal-
ysis and process. The FT process is used to
convert syngas into synthetic fuels and lubri-
cants, and due to the global resources situ-
ation, is gaining importance. Syngas itself
can be formed from gaseous or solid-carbon
sources such as natural gas, coal or biomass.
hte has provided in-house developed
testing capacities, as well as an experi-
enced project team. Over the collabora-
tion period, hte’s technology platform has
been continuously refined and advanced
for the FT synthesis reaction, allowing BP
to perform numerous rapid and precise
data measurements in support of catalyst
and process scale-up. Used systematically,
this data rapidly generates information
on reaction kinetics, the fundamentals of
startup and activation, and the impact of
key process parameters. This builds con-
fidence in BP’s implementation of its FT
technology across various potential appli-
cations and feedstocks.
BP and its partner Davy Process Tech-
nology are now actively looking to license
this process to third parties. Using high-
throughput methods, the researchers have
built the fundamental understanding and
kinetic information required to apply their
proven FT process to a wide range of project
opportunities with greater confidence.
hte’s work in this area makes an impor-
tant contribution to catalyst quality con-
trol. Acting as an independent laboratory,
hte evaluates catalyst batches ranging from
catalyst powder up to commercial catalyst
formulations. BP and hte are now set to
extend their successful cooperation in the
field of FT for another year.
Select 1 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
Digital flow computer
offers improved performance
The Summit 8800 digital flow com-
puter from KROHNE, Inc., features a
touch-screen graphic display and is reported
to offer dramatic performance, handling
HPINNOVATIONS
and interoperability improvements over
standard flow computers. An extensive fea-
ture set supports the latest developments
in metering, data handling and system
maintenance at an extremely competitive
price. The Summit 8800 is ideal for various
custody and process applications, including
metering oil, gas, wet gas, steam and water;
bulk chemicals batching; heat-exchanger
metering and logging; and more.
Unsurpassed network support allows
users to minimize service costs and imple-
ment automatic remote metering. Auto-
matic performance monitoring increases
accuracy and reduces recalibrations.
The Summit 8800 offers improvements,
such as a dedicated microprocessor with
a fast ¼-second processing cycle for each
input/output (I/O) board, rather than using
one shared processor. Internal operations are
based on time-tested Application Builder
software. A removable multigigabyte mem-
ory card stores data with enough capacity
for several years of flow information.
Other features include the user-friendly
scroll-and-click navigation and touch-
screen control; the large, easy-to-read color
display, with multicolor traffic-light guid-
ance; and network security is enhanced
with multiple, redundant Ethernet ports,
while wide-area communication is possible
using a range of common protocols.
The digital flow computer’s modular
design allows users to plug in up to eight
I/O or communication boards as needed
for multiple flow streams, analyzers or
additional network communications.
Select 2 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
Bechtel expands licensing
technology portfolio
With the purchase of ConocoPhillips’
leading delayed-coking technology, Bechtel
Corp. is said to be uniquely positioned for
growth in the refining industry. The Thru-
Plus delayed-coking technology is a propri-
etary process for upgrading heavy oil into
high-value, light hydrocarbon liquids. The
technology was developed and improved
by ConocoPhillips during its more than
50 years of owning and operating units. It
reportedly achieves higher unit throughput,
higher service factors, superior liquid yields
and improved unit reliability.
“The purchase of the ThruPlus tech-
nology is a natural progression of our
work with ConocoPhillips, and it allows
us to deliver high-quality, technologically
superior coking units, more efficiently and
cost effectively,” said Jack Futcher, presi-
dent of Bechtel’s Oil, Gas and Chemicals
unit. “The technology sets Bechtel apart by
enhancing our capability to carry a project
from concept to completion.”
Bechtel and ConocoPhillips formed
an alliance in the 1990s that combined
Bechtel’s expertise in engineering, cost opti-
mization, procurement and construction
with ConocoPhillips’ operating experience
and technology expertise in delayed coking.
The new process will be part of Bechtel
Hydrogen Technology Solutions, Inc.’s
licensed refining technology portfolio.
Select 3 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
Efficient two-stage
turbocharging engine
With the market launch of its new, two-
stage-turbocharged MAN 18V48/60TS
engine, MAN Diesel & Turbo is said to
FIG. 1 Summit 8800 digital flow
computer.
As HP editors, we hear about
new products, patents, software,
processes, services, etc., that are true
industry innovations—a cut above
the typical product offerings. This
section enables us to highlight these
significant developments. For more
information from these companies,
please go to our website at
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/rs
and select the reader service number.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 21
HPINNOVATIONS
offer increased turbocharging efficiency,
contributing to the engine’s overall effi-
ciency and power density. The newly devel-
oped HFO-run engine also meets World
Bank 2008 guidelines for exhaust emissions
at higher efficiency.
Two-stage turbocharging is a modular
system that enables retrofitting at most
MAN Diesel & Turbo 18V48/60 power
plants. The introduction of two turbo-
chargers in sequence provides a new dimen-
sion in engine performance, NOx reduc-
tion and operating flexibility. As such, the
18V48/60TS is said to set a new bench-
mark for diesel engines in its class.
FIG. 2 MAN 18V48/60TS engine.
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I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Just a few modifications differentiate
the 18V48/60TS engine from the standard
engine. These include:
• Modified fuel-injection nozzles for
the higher power-output range
• A three-ring piston with higher com-
pression ratio
• Modified camshaft for enhanced
Miller timing
• An additional exhaust-gas bypass
valve to avoid smoke during startup.
The high-pressure turbocharger is
directly mounted to the engine with
the low-pressure turbocharger located
upstream on its own steel frame. The
combustion-air and exhaust-gas piping
between both turbochargers is fitted with
compensators, ensuring complete insula-
tion from vibrations.
Turbochargers offer lowest fuel-oil
consumption. The excess combustion air
from the turbochargers provides greater
operating flexibility. The high-charge air
pressure can be used for enhanced Miller
cycling, delivering significant fuel sav-
ings. It can be leveraged to increase engine
power output while further reducing NOx
emissions.
At the power output of 1,050 kW/cyl-
inder, the 18V48/60TS diesel engine has a
very low, specific fuel-oil consumption of
171.1 g/kWh, referenced to engine power
output without engine-mounted pumps,
at ISO 3046 conditions with a tolerance
of 5%. This is equivalent to a heat rate of
7,305 kJ/kWh or a pure engine efficiency
of 49.2%.
Referenced to an electrical genset
power-output, assuming a generator effi-
ciency of 97.5% and with engine-mounted
pumps, the heat rate emerges as 7,607 kJ/
kWh or 47.3% electrical genset efficiency.
This efficiency rate for four-stroke diesel
engines makes the 18V48/60TS engine one
of the most cost-effective in its class.
The excess combustion air can alterna-
tively be leveraged to increase the engine’s
power output up to 1,200 kW/cylinder.
Although this does not save fuel, it does
allow for a greater reduction of NOx emis-
sions within a wide operation range. NOx
emissions of 1,480 mg/Nm³ make the
18V48/60TS engine one of the cleanest
diesel engines in its power range.
Flexibility. Like the standard engines in
the 48/60 series, the 18V48/60TS engine

can be operated with a wide range of differ-
ent fuels, including:
• High-viscosity fuel oils (700+cst)
• Marine diesel and gasoil.
Two-stage turbocharging enables the
18V48/60TS engine to operate continu-
ously at shaft power outputs from 18,900
kW up to 21,600 kW. In a stationary-
power scenario, for example, this would
allow power providers to operate engines
at a normal load of 18,900 kW, taking
advantage of the low fuel-oil consumption
and allowing the possibility of a spinning
reserve up to 21,600 kW.
Two-stage turbocharging technology.
The 18V48/60TS engine deploys MAN
Diesel & Turbo’s tried and tested TCA88
and TCA77 standard turbochargers in
sequence. The TCA88 is located upstream
and provides the low-pressure turbocharger,
while the TCA77 forms the high-pressure
turbocharger, next to the engine. In this
configuration, both turbochargers can
achieve pressure ratios in the range of 6 bar
at higher efficiencies compared to a single-
stage turbocharged system.
Despite the two-stage turbocharger
modular system being an engine add-on,
HPINNOVATIONS
the 18V48/60TS does not require any The new certification joins the list of
more space than an engine with a single- others previously obtained for the EQP
stage turbocharger system. system. These include:
Select 4 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS • FM/CSA/ATEX/CE
• BRE/Loss Prevention Certification
Safety system obtains FM Board (LPCB) approval to EN54 (fire
approval with NFPA 72: 2010 alarm system/detection) and EN12094
The Eagle Quantum Premier (EQP) (extinguishing)
safety system from Detector Electronics • US Coast Guard approved to 46 CFR
Corp. (Det-Tronics) has earned certifica- 161.002.
tion to NFPA 72: 2010. Reported to be Select 5 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
suitable for industrial applications requir-
ing a hazardous-location-rated protection
system, the EQP system provides flame
and/or gas detection, alarm signaling,
notification, extinguishing agent release
and/or deluge operation. Components are
integrated on a fault-tolerant digital com-
munication network.
“NFPA 72: 2010 sets standards for gas
detectors that are used in executive actions,
such as initiating automatic- or manual-
protective procedures,” said Bill Crosley,
Det-Tronics market development manager.
“Certification means the Det-Tronics gas
detectors on the EQP network fully meet
the applicable requirements of NFPA 72: FIG. 3 EQP safety system.
2010 for use in fire-alarm systems.”
The new CP valve for small pocket, high speed compression.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 23
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Select 69 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

HELEN MECHE, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
HM@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
North America
Air Products will supply Valero Energy
Corp. with a combined additional 200 mil-
lion scfd of hydrogen for Valero’s refineries
in St. Charles, Louisiana, and Port Arthur,
Texas. As part of this award, Air Products
has also proposed developing a new world-
scale steam methane reformer hydrogen
production facility to be located in St.
Charles, which is to be onstream during
the second half of 2013.
Valero’s hydrogen demand is increasing
at both facilities with the expansion of its
hydrocracking capacity. The facility would
be connected to Air Product’s Gulf Coast
hydrogen pipeline supply network, which
supplies multiple refinery and petrochemi-
cal companies in the region.
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC has been
selected to participate in a gas-to-liquids
(GTL) engineering study on behalf of a
multibillion-dollar exploration and pro-
duction company. The study (known as
FEL1) will evaluate a 5,000-bpd–15,000-
bpd GTL facility in a North American
location, designed to convert shale gas
into finished synthetic fuels. The study is
being conducted by a major engineering
firm and will last several months with a
projected seven-figure budget. The results
will be used to select the project’s technol-
ogy providers.
Fluor Corp. has a contract to provide
basic engineering and design services on
The Dow Chemical Co.’s propane dehy-
drogenation (PDH) expansion project in
Freeport, Texas. The undisclosed contract
value will be booked in the second quarter
of 2011.
Basic engineering will be carried out in
Fluor’s Houston, Texas, office with support
from its office in Manila, Philippines. Once
construction is complete, the facility will
produce polymer-grade propylene.
Foster Wheeler AG’s Global Engineer-
ing and Construction Group has been
awarded a contract by Sasol to perform the
technical portion of a feasibility study for
a planned gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility in
Canada, on behalf of the Sasol/Talisman
Energy partnership. The feasibility study’s
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
technical portion is expected to be com-
pleted during the fourth quarter of 2011.
The facility would convert shale gas to
GTL naphtha, diesel and liquefied petro-
leum gas using Sasol’s GTL technology.
Along with the technical work on the
feasibility study, Foster Wheeler will also
develop a cost estimate to allow the joint-
venture partners to assess the planned facil-
ity’s economic viability, with a decision
expected in the second half of 2012.
NOVA Chemicals Corp. plans to grow
its proprietary polyethylene technology to
serve North American markets, which the
company is calling “NOVA 2020.” The
company has begun feasibility and engi-
neering work for the construction of two
new polyethylene assets to be located at
its sites in Alberta and Ontario, Canada.
NOVA Chemicals will also complete stud-
ies for a further debottleneck of its low-
density polyethylene line located at its
Mooretown, Ontario, facility.
The new polyethylene assets consist of
a world-scale Advanced SCLAIRTECH
technology-based line and a world-scale
NOVAPOL technology-based linear-low-
density line.
The completion of all engineering and
feasibility studies is expected by mid-2012.
Startup of the debottleneck project and
polymer expansions is targeted between
late 2014 and 2017.
South America
Argentina’s second liquefied natural gas
(LNG) import facility, a joint development
between YPF S.A., ENARSA and Excel-
erate Energy, GNL Escobar (GNLE),
began receiving cargoes on May 24, 2011,
and has already offloaded four cargoes of
LNG, using ship-to-ship transfers. Ongo-
ing operations and supply logistics of the
facility are presently coordinated jointly
between the three companies.
Located on the Paraná River about 30
miles outside Buenos Aires City, GNLE
uses Excelerate Energy’s GasPort design. It
has a baseload throughput capacity of 500
million cfd, with peak throughput capacity
at 600 million cfd, and has direct access to
the Buenos Aires region and Argentina’s
natural gas grid.
Procesadora Industrial Río Seco S.A.,
Cia. De Minas Buenaventura, a wholly
owned chemical subsidiary, and Haldor
Topsøe have a contract for supply of a wet
gas sulfuric acid (WSA) plant for producig
sulfuric acid at a new industrial operation
in Peru. The WSA plant is a multi-flexible
unit that will both clean the H2S offgases
from a MnSO4 leaching process and burn
elemental sulfur to make industrial-grade
sulfuric acid.
Haldor Topsøe will supply all the basic
and detailed engineering and equipment
and materials required for the inside battery
limits. This means that the project schedule
can be greatly reduced as procurement can
begin before the plant’s basic and detailed
engineering is finished. The engineering is
already underway and the first design pack-
age has been supplied to Rio Seco.
Apart from engineering, equipment
and materials, Haldor Topsøe’s scope of
supply also includes license, catalysts and
supervision services during construction,
commissioning and startup. Plant startup
is scheduled in 2012.
A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler AG’s
Global Engineering and Construction
Group has a process design and front-end
engineering and design (FEED) services
contract for PDVSA’s new Batalla Santa
Trend analysis forecasting
Hydrocarbon Processing maintains an
extensive database of historical HPI proj-
ect information. The Boxscore Database is a
35-year compilation of projects by type, oper-
ating company, licensor, engineering/construc-
tor, location, etc. Many companies use the his-
torical 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 depends on
the size and complexity of the sort requested.
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 needed and
receive a prompt cost quotation.
Contact: Drew Combs
P.O. Box 2608, Houston, Texas, 77252-2608
713-520-4409 • Drew.Combs@GulfPub.com
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 25
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
Construction begins for Shell Australia FLNG facility
The Technip Samsung consortium (TSC) has begun con-
struction of the first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) proj-
ect in the world, to be located at Shell’s Prelude gas field off the
northwest coast of Australia (Fig. 1). TSC is providing engineer-
ing, procurement, construction and installation for the FLNG
facility, according to officials from Shell who gave the go-ahead
for the consortium to begin work.
What it will do. Moored far out at sea, some 200 km from
the nearest land, the Prelude FLNG facility will produce gas
from offshore fields and liquefy it onboard by cooling. Detailed
design of the innovative facility will be undertaken by TSC at
Technip’s operating centers in Paris, France, and Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. It will be built at the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI)
shipyard in Geoje, Korea, where the notice-to-proceed signing
ceremony took place.
What it could mean. “This great project is a real break-
through for the energy industry and a true revolution for off-
shore natural gas developments,” said Thierry Pilenko, CEO
of Technip. “Technip is extremely pleased and proud to bring
all the expertise, know-how and skills of its three business seg-
ments—subsea, offshore and onshore—all of which will be
FIG. 1 Shell graphic of completed Prelude FLNG project.
FIG. 2 From stern to bow, the FLNG measures 488 meters. Its length is comparable to the height of iconic structures around the world.
26
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
instrumental in the success of Prelude FLNG. Within our long-
term relationship with Shell and Samsung Heavy Industries, we
hope that this project will be the first of many.”
Construction details. Financial terms of the contract have
yet to be disclosed. Analysts have valued the overall cost of the
facility as high as $13 billion. The Shell Prelude FLNG facility
will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world, with 488
meters from bow to stern—longer than four soccer fields laid end
to end, according to Shell FLNG general manager Neil Gilmour
(Fig. 2). When fully loaded, it will weigh around 600,000 metric
tons—roughly six times as much as the largest aircraft carrier.
Some 260,000 tons of that weight will consist of steel—around
five times the steel used to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The facility will be designed to withstand the severest
cyclones, including those of Category 5 strength, officials said.
Ocean-going LNG carriers will offload liquefied gas, chilled
to –162°C and shrunk in volume by 600 times, directly from
the facility out at sea for delivery to global markets. In the past,
the liquefaction of offshore gas had involved piping the gas to
a land-based plant.
Breakthrough for industry. As a result, Shell describes
floating LNG as a revolutionary innovation that will allow the
production, liquefaction, storage and transfer of LNG at sea,
helping to open up new offshore natural gas fields that are cur-
rently too costly or difficult to develop.
“Our decision to go ahead with this project is a true break-
through for the LNG industry, giving it a significant boost to help
meet the world’s growing demand for the cleanest-burning fossil
fuel,” said Malcolm Brinded, Shell’s upstream executive director.
History of Shell and FLNG. Shell has progressed with the
Prelude FLNG project at a rapid pace, it said, with first produc-
tion of LNG expected in 2017—some 10 years after the gas was
first discovered. The FLNG facility will tap around 3 trillion
cubic feet equivalent of resources contained in the Prelude gas
field, the company said. HP
An expanded version of this item can be found online at
HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
 HPIN CONSTRUCTION
Ines Refinery Phase I Hydroskimming sec- The technology applied makes it pos- of a regasification plant in the city of
tion to be built in Barinas, Venezuela. Fos- sible to produce world-class PVC of six Dunkerque, in northern France. SENER
ter Wheeler’s scope of work includes the different brands. There are two completely has been awarded this engineering,
preparation of the basic engineering design independent lines at the plant, ensuring procurement and construction (EPC)
package, FEED and early procurement process flexibility and allowing the com- contract as part of the TS LNG consortium
assistance for the crude distillation unit, pany to produce a wide range of goods. made up of SENER and Techint.
the naphtha hydrotreater, the continuous The Dunkerque (LNG) regasification
catalytic reformer, and the utilities and SENER Ingeniería y Sistemas has plant will have three 190,000-m3 storage
offsite facilities. The FEED is scheduled to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract tanks and will be able to produce 13 billion
be completed in the third quarter of 2011. with Dunkerque LNG, a subsidiary m3/yr of natural gas, equalling a supply of
company of EDF, for the development 1.9 million m3(n)/h. Construction will take
Europe
Alfa Laval has received an order for
compact heat exchangers from a refinery
in Russia. The order value is about SEK 70
million and delivery is scheduled for 2012.
The heat exchangers will be used in various
steps of the refinery process where crude oil
is refined to high-quality products, such
as gasoline. By using Alfa Laval’s compact
heat exchangers it is possible to reuse heat
from one part of the process for preheat-
ing another, resulting in a highly energy-
efficient solution.

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co.

PJSC (TAQA) has awarded MAN Die-
sel & Turbo Schweiz AG a multimillion-
euro contract for delivery of compression
technology for the Bergermeer Gas Stor- Overfill Protection with
age project in Alkmaar, the Netherlands.
The scope of delivery comprises six fully Through-Air Radar Technology
integrated, skid-mounted high-frequency
motor-compressor systems, providing emis-
sion-free and highly efficient operation.
Each 13-MW motor-compressor unit, with
a weight of more than 80 metric tons, con- VEGA Americas’ VEGAPULS 62 through-air
sists of a tandem compressor arrangement, radar sensor produces a safety high level
generating a flow of 540,000 m3/hr of gas. signal, protecting against overfill situations.
The Bergermeer Gas Storage project
With self-diagnostics and self-calibration,
will reportedly create Europe’s largest open-
the unit provides the user with measurement
access gas storage facility. It will provide
accuracy and reliability.
the Northwest European gas market with
4.1 billion m3 of seasonal storage, thereby
almost doubling the Netherlands’ total The VEGAPULS 62 through-air radar
storage capacity. supplies the following benefits:
TAQA received the final statutory
approvals and permits to construct and oper- ϶ Mountable on a ball valve assembly for
service and access
ate the facility in May 2011. Bergermeer Gas
϶ Integral self-monitoring significantly reduces
Storage operations will start in 2013 with maintenance costs
full commercial operations in 2014.
϶ Operation verification without process
interruption and system downtime
Karpatneftekhim, a member of the
϶ SIL approved
LUKOIL Group, located in Kalush, Scott Rollman
Ukraine, has launched industrial pro- Strategic Business Manager:
duction of suspension polyvinyl chloride Global Engineering
(PVC). The rated capacity of the new pro- s.rollman@vega.com
duction is 300,000 tpy of PVC. The invest- www.vega-americas.com
ments into the project reached $236 million
and its implementation started in 2007.
Select 155 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
27
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
place over a period of four years, with the
plant being operational in 2015.
Fluor Corp. has a contract to provide
engineering and business support services
for Klaipedos Nafta AB’s new floating liq-
uefied natural gas (FLNG) import terminal
in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Under the contract,
Fluor will provide Klaipedos Nafta, Lithu-
ania’s state-owned oil company, with engi-
neering, technical, risk management, safety
and environmental advisory services. As the
lead advisor, Fluor will prepare the techni-
cal development plan and assist in selecting
technologies, as well as developing a busi-
ness plan for the terminal.
Middle East
A grassroots diesel hydrotreater unit
(Prime-D), licensed by Axens, was suc-
cessfully put into production at Saudi
Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery. The
105,000-bpsd unit—reportedly one of
the world’s largest—produced ultra-low-
sulfur diesel (ULSD) containing less than
10 ppm of sulfur.
Axens’ designed Prime-D unit uses HR
600 series catalyst and EquiFlow reactor
internals, enabling the 550,000-bpsd Ras
Tanura refinery to comply with the highest
environmental standards.
Grimley Smith Associates Ltd. (GSA
Ltd.), consultant process engineers in North
Lincolnshire, UK, has a contract to engi-
neer, procure and construct site utilities
at an existing refinery in Basra, Iraq. The
South Refineries Co. (SRC) of Iraq, part of
the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, awarded GSA the
approximately $50 million contract with an
operable letter of credit in May 2011.
The turnkey project is to upgrade the
refinery site utilities over a two-year period.
GSA has taken on the role as turnkey con-
tractor and will undertake all aspects of the
design, procurement and project manage-
ment, while working with an Iraqi con-
struction company to deliver the project at
the site. The construction period is antici-
pated to be six months.
Foster Wheeler SOFCON, an unin-
corporated consortium between a subsid-
iary of Foster Wheeler’s Engineering and
Construction Group and A. Al-Saihati,
A. Fattani & O. Al-Othman Consulting
Engineering Co. (SOFCON) has been
awarded a contract by Saudi Arabian
Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco) for the front-
end engineering and design (FEED) and
project management services for the Clean
Transportation Fuels Project at the Riyadh
Refinery, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The
company expects to receive the main release
of work in the third quarter of 2011.
The company’s FEED scope includes
new isomerization, naphtha splitting and
sulfur guard-bed units, as well as the addi-
tion of new equipment, including a diesel
hydrotreater reactor, in existing units. The
FEED also includes the debottlenecking
of the hydrocracker and gas concentration
units, and replacement of crude and vac-
uum distillation tower internals.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco)
and ITT Corp. have signed a comprehen-
sive seven-year strategic partnership agree-
ment for ITT to provide products and ser-
vices to the world’s largest oil producer for
oil, gas and petrochemical projects in Saudi
Arabia and internationally. Under this
agreement, which comes into effect imme-
diately, ITT and its partner Aswad Group

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28
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com

will provide products and services through
ITT Saudi Co. Ltd., ITT’s local manu-
facturing and service operation, located in
Dammam Second Industrial City.
ITT Saudi will provide professional
expertise to support startup and commis-
sioning of all types of pumping systems. It
will also provide expert aftermarket services
to support Saudi Aramco’s operations.
Davy Process Technology and
Johnson Matthey Catalysts (JM) have
announced the startup, process perfor-
mance test and plant acceptance of the
3,600-metric tpd EMethanex methanol
plant, located in Damietta, Egypt. The
plant has met all the design requirements
for production rate, product quality and
environmental emissions, and its success is
due to the excellent teamwork and cooper-
ation between Davy and JM as technology
licensors and catalyst suppliers, EMeth-
anex, the owner and operator, and Techint
Compagnia Tecnica Internazionale, the
EPC contractor who had overall responsi-
bility for delivering a fully commissioned
and operational methanol unit.
The plant uses the Davy/JM combined
reforming technology, whereby the natural
gas feed is converted to synthesis gas by a
combination of steam methane reforming
and oxygen-blown auto thermal reforming.
The advanced methanol synthesis technol-
ogy used by the plant is jointly developed
and marketed by Davy and JM.
South Refineries Co. (SRC), a subsid-
iary of the Iraqi Ministry of Oil, awarded
Axens the basic engineering design and
license contracts for constructing the new
refinery in Maissan, Iraq. Axens will supply
a naphtha hydrotreater—35,100 bpsd; a
CCR reformer (Octanizing) for gasoline
production—24,500 bpsd; a vacuum gasoil
(VGO) hydrotreater—56,300 bpsd—pro-
ducing a moderate sulfur feedstock for the
fluid catalytic cracker (FCC); a deasphalted
oil hydrotreater based on Hyvahl technol-
ogy—27,600 bpsd; a saturated liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) treatment unit (Sul-
frex)—278,000 metric tpy; and an unsatu-
rated LPG treatment (Sulfrex)—399,400
metric tpy.
The refinery will have a capacity of
150,000 bpsd and will deliver high-quality
products mainly for the domestic market.
Asia-Pacific
SKC Co., Ltd. and Uhde Inventa-
Fischer have a contract for the supply of a
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
plant for producing high-quality polyeth-
ylene terephthalate (PET) for the manu-
facture of films in Jincheon, Republic of
Korea. The plant will have two lines with
production capacities of 144,000 tpy and
54,000 tpy of resin. The commissioning is
scheduled for the second quarter of 2012.
The plant will use Uhde Inventa-
Fischer’s efficient 2R technology, which
is based on its patented reactors ESPREE
and DISCAGE and ensures the constant
high quality of the product at minimum
consumptions of raw material and energy.
The Uhde Inventa-Fischer scope of supplies
and services includes the provision of the
2R technology and the basic engineering, as
well as the supply of proprietary equipment.
Bechtel has been selected by the
National Development and Innovation
Committee (NDIC) of the Government
of Mongolia to provide master planning
services for the development of the Sain-
shand Industrial Complex. The planned
industrial hub is considered a centerpiece of
Mongolia’s National Development Strategy.
Under the agreement, Bechtel will
develop a master plan for the complex,
incorporating infrastructure and industrial
projects, including a coal gasification power
plant, oil refinery and mineral processing
facilities. In addition, Bechtel will perform
economic analysis for each of the industrial
and infrastructure projects and review debt-
financing options.
Toyo Engineering Korea Ltd., a
Korean subsidiary of Toyo Engineering
Corp., has a contract to build a butadiene
plant with a capability of 100,000 tpy. This
is said to be the first plant in Indonesia, and
will be constructed at Cilegon in West Java
by PT Petrokimia Butadiene Indonesia,
a subsidiary of PT Chandra Asri Petro-
chemical.
Toyo-Korea will execute the project
under an engineering, procurement and
construction turnkey contract covering
engineering to construction and commis-
sioning based on Lummus/BASF technol-
ogy. The client will invest approximately
$110 million into the plant project, which
is scheduled for completion in 2013.
Shell Global Solutions Interna-
tional BV and KBR, Inc., have formed
a new alliance in which KBR will market,
sell and provide technology and design
packages with Shell Global Solutions on
hydroprocessing solutions worldwide.
Refiners use hydroprocessing technologies
to help meet the most stringent product
specifications and emissions legislation,
maximizing the value from bottom-of-
the-barrel processing, while enjoying the
higher-unit availability of owner/operator-
developed technology.
With Shell and KBR as leading licen-
sors in the refining industry, this alliance
combines the companies’ core technology
and processing strengths to provide quality
and competitive hydroprocessing solutions.
Siemens Ltd. Thailand is supporting
the need for bulk carbon media replace-
ment and carbon reactivation services at
the recently commissioned wastewater
treatment plant for the Thailand Growth
Project’s (TGP’s) Asia Industrial Estate
in Rayong, Thailand. Siemens designed,
engineered, manufactured, supplied and
constructed both the wastewater and water
plants, which were started up in February
2011. The wastewater treatment plant is
treating up to 5,500 m 3/day of process
wastewater from the Estate’s chemical man-
ufacturing facilities to meet discharge limits.
The Asia Industrial Estate’s wastewater-
treatment plant includes biological treat-
ment using jet aeration, clarifiers, sand
filters, four activated carbon filters and a
reactivated carbon storage vessel. The carbon
vessels hold approximately 18 metric tons
of carbon for treating up to 200 m3/hr of
process wastewater to meet discharge limits.
Honeywell has been selected by govern-
ment-owned Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS)
to provide comprehensive automation solu-
tions for its liquefied natural gas (LNG)
terminals. This marks another multimil-
lion dollar project order with Honeywell
Process Solutions (HPS), and it is the
latest milestone in a very successful part-
nership that started in 2000. HPS’s Over-
all Management and Automation System
offers KOGAS a complete process-control
system that allows implementation of the
latest safety measures, such as emergency
and process shutdown, disaster prevention,
plant information and operator training.
KOGAS is expanding the TongYoung
Terminal and PyeongTaek LNG Terminal
II to meet the rapidly growing demand for
natural gas in the country. The terminals
will serve several functions—including
the receiving, storing and regasification of
LNG—and will deliver vaporized natural
gas via high-pressure transmission mains
to gas users. HP
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 29
 HPI CONSTRUCTION BOXSCORE UPDATE
Company City Project Ex Capacity Unit Cost Status Yr Cmpl Licensor Engineering Constructor

AFRICA
Egypt EHC Suez Ammonium Nitrate 1.06 Mm-tpd U 2013 Carbon Holdings KBR
Libya NOC\Dow Chemical JV Ras Lanuf Petrochemical Complex EX None 2000 P 2013
Morocco IPIC Jorf Lasfar Refinery 250 bpd 5000 S 2013 SAMIR Tekfen Constr|SAMIR
Nigeria Nigerian Natl Petr Corp Lekki, Free Trade Zone Refinery 500 Mm-tpy 8000 S 2017
Repub S Africa PetroSA Coega Refinery 400 Mbpd 10500 P 2016 KBR
ASIA/PACIFIC
China Xuzhou Coal Mining Baoji Methanol TO 2 Mm-tpd U 2012 MCSA MCSA MCSA
India ONGC Ltd Dahej Petrochemical Complex TO bpd 195000 P 2012
Indonesia Kuwait Petro Corp Indramayu Refinery TO 300 bpd S 2014
Japan Nippon Oil Co Hachinohe LNG Terminal EX 300 tpy U 2015
Papua New Guinea InterOil Gulf Province Gas Stripping Unit None E 2013
Sri Lanka Ceylon Petr Corp Sapugaskanda Refinery EX 100 Mbpd 1570 H 2012 Oil Design & Construction Oil Design & Construction
EUROPE
Azerbaijan Socar Baku Processing, Oil/Gas TO 300 bpd 1300 S 2019 Technip|FW|UOP
Belgium BASF Antwerp Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) 300 m-tpy P 2014
Croatia Dioki d.d. Krk Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) 120 Mtpy P 2012
Romania Petrom Ploesti Distillation, ADU/VDU EX 1.5 MMtpy 1332 F 2014 FW
Sweden Preemraff Lysekil Lysekil Cracker, Visbreaker TO 8 Mm-tpd F 2013 Shell Global Technip
LATIN AMERICA
Brazil Petrobras Ceara Refinery 300 bpsd F 2017 FW UOP
Colombia Reficar Cartagena Refinery, Heavy Ends RE 85 Mbpd 5180 F 2014 CB&I
Ecuador Petroindustrial Esmeraldas Refinery RE 34.7 Mbpd 700 U 2013 UOP Chiyoda|Sumitomo Chiyoda|Sumitomo
Chem Eng Chem Eng
Jamaica Petrojam Ltd Kingston Hydrotreater, Kerosene TO 6 Mbpd 1300 F 2013 UOP
Mexico Braskem/IDESA JV Coatzacoalcos Polyethylene, LD 200 Mtpy 2500 E 2015 Braskem SA IDESA
Peru Petroperu Talara Wet Sulfuric Acid (WSA) 460 t/a E 2015 Haldor Topsøe
Venezuela Polimerica Jose Polyethylene LLD/HD 430 Mm-tpy H 2014 INEOS
MIDDLE EAST
Iran LNG Intl Qeshm Qeshm Island LNG 1.15 MMtpy P 2015
Iraq SCOP Karbala Refinery 140 Mbpd F 2016 Technip
Kuwait KNPC Al-Zour Utilities None H 2012
Oman Oman Oil Co Sohar Refinery 187 bpd 40 F 2015 UOP|CLG|JGC|CB&I JGC|CLG|UOP
Turkey Socar\Turcas Enerji JV Aliaga Refinery None 5000 F 2015
UAE Takreer Ruwais Aromatics Complex 600 Mtpy 1000 S 2012 WorleyParsons
UNITED STATES
Colorado Chevron Global Gas Brush Storage, Natural Gas 1.5 Bcf S 2013
Georgia Range Fuels Soperton Ethanol 20 MMgpy C 2011 Range Fuels
Michigan American Process Inc Alpena Bio-ethanol 890 Mgpy 28 F 2012
Mississippi Rentech, Inc. Natchez CTL 10 Mbpd 4000 H 2014 Rentech
Ohio BP Toledo Hydrotreater, Resid 42 Mbpd E 2012 KBR KBR
Oregon ZeaChem Inc Boardman Biorefinery, Ethanol 250 Mgpy 73 C 2011 ZeaChem Inc

BOXSCORE DATABASE ONLINE

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I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT SPECIALREPORT

Consider life-cycle costs

in specifying control valves
New approach improves sizing valves
while incorporating total ownership investment
J. KIESBAUER and D. VNUCEC, SAMSON AG, Frankfurt, Germany

T
he life cycle of a control valve is divided into different
phases. The resulting life-cycle cost (LCC) is mainly com-
prised of the acquisition investment and the follow-up costs
for operations and maintenance. Depending on the valve type
and operating conditions, these follow-up costs can account for a
major share of the total investment. Thus, assessing the life cycle
cost is increasingly gaining importance in valve sizing.
FUNDAMENTALS OF LIFE CYCLE COSTING
In the hydrocarbon processing industry, maintenance costs
make up a fundamental share of the total costs for equipment. It is
even more important than the investment to be amortized. Thus,
plant operators strive using plant components with a long service
life to minimize maintenance costs and possible plant downtimes.
An extended service life based on an optimized product almost
always means higher investment as well. This article shows that
the total costs incurred during the entire life cycle should be con-
sidered when selecting a control valve.
The total LCCs are composed of the costs that arise from
different stages in the life cycle as shown in Fig. 1. The basis of
a control valve’s LCC development is laid out at the initial stage
when the product is developed and manufactured. This stage is
characterized by the manufacturer’s potential for using its know-
how to develop and manufacture a control valve that perfectly
matches the process requirements. Due to the high-quality
Service life. During the service life, this cost behavior causes
the control valve to amortize the higher acquisition costs after a
certain point in time. Ideally, the valve should be amortized as
quickly as possible after its installation, i.e., at the beginning of
its service life, so that plant operators can achieve a high savings
potential, making the decision in favor of the control valve with
higher investment costs as the logical step. In this article, we will
show that determining the amortization time requires a very good
knowledge of the service life of the control valve components
depending on possibly critical process conditions.
CONTROL VALVE SELECTION
In the classical sense, the acquisition of a control valve only
involves buying a valve with a matching actuator and possible acces-
sories, such as a positioner. When it comes to reducing the LCCs,
however, the control valve is to be understood as a comprehensive
assembly composed of different components. Apart from the actual
hardware, further factors are of great importance including:
Version 2
Version 1
Time of
Cost

amortization
design and materials used, the valve is of better quality, which
results in higher costs arising for R&D, materials procurement
and manufacturing.
The second stage in a valve’s life cycle is its sale or acquisition.
The valve’s purchase price is composed of selling costs plus pos-
sible sales revenues. During this stage, plant operators also need Time, t
to take into account additional startup costs. As these costs are R&D/ Acquisition/
Service life Disposal
manufacturing selling
independent of the control valve’s sale or use, along with product
Manufacturer

- Development - Selling costs - Warranty costs

development, the valve’s cost development during this stage is costs - Sales revenue - Service revenue
rather similar (see Fig. 1). - Material costs
- Manufacturing
From a plant operator’s point of view, the most important costs

stage in a control valve’s life cycle is the actual service life. Apart - Purchase price - Operating costs (energy,
from the operating costs for energy and operating supplies, the
Operator

- Logistic costs operating supplies...)

- Installation costs - Maintenance costs (material,
costs incurred for service and maintenance during this usage stage - Startup costs labor, plant shutdown)
- Repair costs (material,
are major factors in the valve’s LCC. It is during this stage that, labor, plant shutdown)
depending on the existing operating conditions, the better quality
of a control valve leads to considerably lower maintenance costs FIG. 1 Total LCC and revenue.
than a lower-cost valve version would.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 33
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

• Engineering tion with as many details as possible. For valve sizing, this means
• Startup support that the process data for the normal, minimum and maximum
• Valve diagnostics and service support operating points must be specified as accurately as possible. Valve
• Product-related training. manufacturers must analyze the provided data to detect critical
As shown in Fig. 2, these factors are all equally important. If a operating and ambient conditions. To provide such an expert
valve manufacturer cannot ensure a similar quality of all listed fac- analysis of reliable quality, manufacturers must know possible
tors, then the overall quality of the entire control valve assembly critical conditions as listed in Fig. 3; the process environment may
is reduced considerably. When it comes to achieving the lowest cause wear in or on a control valve.
possible LCC, not only the engineering and resulting hardware, To size a control valve that functions optimally, the proper-
but also a comprehensive service throughout the control valve’s ties of the process medium should be considered and taken into
entire service life must be ensured. As a result, manufacturers and account. For example, the design and material used for the valve
customers must cooperate to tailor the overall package to the cus- trim must meet stringent requirements if a corrosive media or
tomers’ specific applications so that the customers feel that they media containing solids are to be handled. When handling solids,
are offered an optimal product with the lowest LCC. plug systems guided along their entire circumference are more
susceptible to dirt-induced problems, as the valve can seize up.
Engineering. Sizing a control valve to match the specific Process media. In addition, the process conditions may cause
requirements of an application is essential in selecting the optimal the medium to go through a phase transition when choked flow
control valve. This requires plant operators to provide a specifica- occurs. A temperature minimum at the vena contracta should
be taken into account, particularly when handling compressible
Startup support media. For example with vapors, this condition may contribute
Valve diagnostics to forming wet steam. In such cases, it is recommended to avoid
using thin-walled parts or hardened materials for the valve trim.
Gases and liquids. When handling gases, the valve may freeze
Valve
up so that it can become jammed if no insulating sections are
Actuator included.With liquids, the process conditions may cause the
medium to permanently evaporate at the valve outlet, which is
referred to as “flashing.” Compared to a purely liquid process
Product training
Positioner medium, two-phase flows can considerably increase the veloc-
ity as well as the risk of erosion. This can be prevented by using
hardened materials as well as by providing an unrestricted flow
Service support Engineering path and large outlet volume downstream of the vena contracta.
For the closure member, this means that multistage plug
FIG. 2 Control valve as a comprehensive assembly.
trims are totally unsuitable, as an insufficient volume is available
between the different plug stages; this increases erosion-induced
wear and can additionally lead to plug vibrations. When flashing
occurs, a valve with an angle-style body and direction of the flow-
Medium Process Place of use
to-close (FTC) would be the optimal solution as the two-phase
Phase Wet steam Ambient conditions
Corrosion Flashing Quality of air supply flow can flow off without obstruction to the outlet pipe. The
Solid particles Icing up valve body is additionally protected against wear by including an
High temperature anti-wear sleeve downstream of the vena contracta. If the condi-
tions in the plant impede installing an angle valve, a globe valve
can be used instead. When doing so, however, it is best not to use
Control valve plug versions with maximum seat diameters, as the outlet volume
Valve type, trim design between the vena contracta and the body is insufficient for the
Valve outlet velocity high bubble concentration. This poses the risk of leakage to the
Cavitation atmosphere caused by wear. When using a globe valve, installing
Deposits
Vibration the valve with direction of flow FTC should also be avoided, as this
Direction of flow causes a concentrated two-phase jet flow to hit the bottom of the
Valve load valve body, which can lead to leakage to the atmosphere as well.
Material selection
Outlet velocity. The valve’s outlet velocity is a further criterion
to be considered regardless of the process medium. Outlet velocity
Accessories has a considerable effect on the control valve’s LCC. Two-phase
Actuator sizing flow conditions, such as flashing, saturated steam or cavitation, in
Hysteresis
Control dynamics combination with excessive valve outlet velocities, cause increased
wear due to erosion. In addition, vibration can occur; vibration
Control application
can cause mechanical damage, particularly with plug types only
guided in the valve bonnet.
Control profile
No. of switching cycles/year Cavitation itself does not damage the valve components.
However, high pressure drops and high differential pressures can
FIG. 3 Partial overview of possible critical operating conditions cause cavitation erosion. As a result, it is recommended to refrain
and requirements. from using rotary valves in such operating conditions and to

34
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
rather equip the valves with multistage plug trims depending on
the differential pressure (Δp > 25 bar).
Leakage requirements. If severe seat leakage requirements
apply, i.e., a high leakage class must be met, then the normal
operating points should not be near the valve’s closed position.
Particularly in combination with two-phase flows or process
media containing solids, increased wear on the facings and,
consequently, an increased seat leakage are to be expected in
such cases.
The actuator and other valve accessories need to be scrutinized
as well. For example, it is recommended to use a relatively stiff
actuator on globe valves with direction of flow FTC to prevent
the plug from slamming into the seat due to the suction effect
and thus damaging the valve trim.
In addition, the required control dynamics must be checked.
Short actuating times in combination with a high number of
switching cycles per year or on/off applications speed up wear,
particularly on the packing, and thus cause leakage to the atmo-
sphere. These and other critical operating conditions are to be
prevented in cooperation with the customer to ensure the selected
control valve is reliable and has the longest possible service life.
Performance monitoring and service. The different
components of a control valve are characterized by their different
service lives. Depending on the application, premature failure
of a component and, consequently, the entire control valve can
occur. Preventing such failures and the resulting unscheduled
plant shutdowns makes a good plant-asset management program
indispensable. One approach to comprehensive asset management
is the predictive maintenance of plant components.
Consider control valves with automatic monitoring; they are
state of the art and are a cost-effective way to meet this require-
ment. In automatic control-valve monitoring, the intelligent
assessment of standardized signals helps detect possible signs of
wear at an early stagea, such as actuator leakage, seat leakage or
changed friction conditions. The assessed diagnostic data from
the control valve are transmitted to the associated process control
system, as shown in Fig. 4. Based on the received messages, plant
operators will have sufficient time to procure the necessary spare
parts for the next scheduled maintenance and to minimize the
time required for the actual service work.
Version 1
Medium state
Cavitation Incipient
Valve outlet velocity < 5 m/s
Plug guiding In the valve bonnet and seat
Maintenance interval One year
800 700
700 Version 1
600
Version 2
Total cost, % LCC
600
500
Cost of LCC
500
400 400
300 300
200
200
100
0 100
0 5 10 15 20 0 tenance routine. If it is detected during a
Time, year
FIG. 4 LCC comparison between two control valve versions.
36
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
A further essential aspect to be considered in connection with
maintenance, particularly unscheduled plant shutdowns, is how
close the valve manufacturer’s sales and service facilities are located
to the facility. A local inventory of spare parts at the service facilities
allows the valve manufacturers to respond quickly; thus ensuring
minimized shutdown times for maintenance. Certified service
workshops with properly trained staff are a further asset for valve
manufacturers in providing plant operators with optimal engineer-
ing and service support. These specifics, particularly the proximity
of service facilities, represent a cash-value benefit for plant opera-
tors, which becomes apparent as lower costs for plant downtime.
COST ANALYSIS
Valve manufacturers cannot calculate a control valve’s LCC
exactly, as crucial information from the plant operators—including
cost of installation, startup and operation—is not made available to
them. Rather, the LCC calculation is a means of comparing differ-
ent control valve versions. Result: It is sufficient to make a relative
assessment of the LCC by comparing the acquisition costs of a
control valve and the costs of maintenance and service that arise
during the service life. The other cost types incurred during the
acquisition stage, such as the cost of installation and startup, along
with the operating costs during the valve’s service life are relatively
constant for similar valve sizes or control valve dimensions. As a
result, they can be neglected in a relative assessment of the LCC.
In general, the cost of maintenance is calculated based on the
following parameters, which must be known for all control valve
components:
• MTBF—Mean time between failures
• b—Wear behavior over time
• LFCC—Limit for component change
• CMi—Cost of maintenance and spare parts.
To make a qualitative statement on maintenance costs incurred
throughout the control valve’s entire service life, the characteris-
tic MTBF and wear behavior over time must be known for the
assessed process. This means that, based on the mentioned critical
operating conditions, a database must be available that contains
MTBF values determined empirically for each individual control
valve component depending on its state. If possible, these state-
dependent service-life data should be determined by in-house test
series. As manufacturers may not be able to do all state-dependent
tests on their test benches, it is also possible
Version 2 to fall back on characteristic service life data
Liquid gathered in plants. However, this requires
using smart positioner systems, which detect
8 m/s and save faults throughout the control valve’s
In the valve bonnet only entire service life. The cooperation between
valve manufacturers and plant operators
then allows data to be exchanged.
Version 1
Based on the wear behavior over time
Version 2 parameter (degressive, linear, progressive)
and the specific MTBF value, the wear
condition of each control valve component
can be determined at any time. In general,
maintenance costs are divided into the cost
incurred due to failure and the cost that
arises as part of a scheduled, periodic main-
Acquisition Maintenance
maintenance interval that the wear condi-
tion of a component exceeded the permis-
sible change limit LFCC, then the affected
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
component needs to be replaced. The change limit itself depends
on the requirements placed on the control valve. For example, if
a valve is expected to meet strict requirements concerning its tight
shut-off (seat leakage), the seat-plug trim must be replaced much
earlier than if normal requirements applied.
Failure-induced maintenance is considered when calculat-
ing the LCC if a component is completely worn out before the
maintenance interval has elapsed. If this is the case, then the
calculation must also include cost of failure due to unscheduled
plant shutdowns. A suitable LCC software tool that includes
the mentioned features, particularly the characteristic state-
dependent values, can be used to compare the relevant LCC of
several control valve versions.
Fig. 4 shows the result of a LCC comparison between two dif-
ferent globe valve versions at incipient cavitation. The comparison
shows that, for a technically ideal valve version (version 1), the
total LCC for a service life of 20 years is essentially made up of
the cost of acquiring the control valve.
Version 2, however, has a smaller nominal valve size and a simpler
plug design only guided in the valve bonnet. As a result, the acquisi-
tion costs of this version are approximately 30% lower than those of
the technically ideal version. But its subsequent maintenance cost is
many times higher. The reason for the considerably higher LCC is
that the smaller nominal valve size causes a higher valve outlet veloc-
ity; in combination with incipient cavitation, it leads to increased
wear, particularly at the valve plug. As a result, the cost saved from
purchasing the second valve version is eaten up by the higher main-
tenance costs after no more than approximately one year in service.
LCC tools can offer the added benefit of determining the opti-
mal maintenance interval; this is advantageous, especially if it is
known in advance that a control valve will be operated under critical
conditions. The example illustrated in Fig. 5 shows that the LCC is
considerably lower with a one-year maintenance interval than with
a two-year interval. The reason for this is that unscheduled service
work becomes necessary with a longer maintenance interval, as all
of the costs for plant downtime increase the total LCC.
Size it right. The LCC can only be calculated properly in
advance if the characteristic service life expressed as the MTBF
of the different control valve components has been determined
empirically for all possible, above all critical, operating conditions.
Using an LCC tool enables to accrurately determine a neutral
assessment of different control valve versions. Meaningful results
900
800 Maintenance interval: 1 year
Maintenance interval: 2 years
700
600
Costs, % of LCC
500
400
300
200
100
0 GEA Process Engineering
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time, years
FIG. 5 LCC comparison between two maintenance strategies.
SPECIALREPORT
can already be achieved by comparing the acquisition costs of a
control valve and maintenance costs arising during the valve’s
service life. HP
LITERATURE CITED
1 Final report on research project no. S 705: “Developing a life cycle concept
for mechanical and plant engineering,” 2007.
2 EN 60300-3-3: “Dependability management: Application guide–Life cycle
costing,” Beuth Verlag GmbH, Berlin, March 2005.
3 Kiesbauer, J., D. Vnucec, M. Roth, and B. Stoffel, “Predicting Cavitation in
Control Valves,” Automatisierungstechnische Praxis, Vol. 47, 2005, 12 ed., pp.
54–62.
4 Kiesbauer, J., “Control Valves for Critical Applications in Refineries” (Stellventile
bei kritischen Prozessbedingungen in Raffinerien), Industriearmaturen, Vulkan
Verlag, Essen, Edition 3, 2001, p. 243–250.
5 König, G., and J. Kiesbauer, Comprehensive Asset Management for Control
Valves, Industriearmaturen, Vulkan Verlag, Essen, 4th Ed. 2005.
Dr.-Ing. Jörg Kiesbauer is member of the executive board for
Research and Development at SAMSON AG in Frankfurt am Main,
Germany. Since 1999, he has been active in Working Group 9 Final
Control Elements of the IEC SC 65B and in DKE K 963 Control Valves
(Stellgeräte für strömende Stoffe). Since 2008, Dr. Kiesbauer has
been a voting member of the ISA SP 75 Standardization Committee for Control Valves.
Domagoj Vnucec is head of the R&D Test Facilities Dept. at
SAMSON AG in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His main fields of
activity include planning and evaluation of flow and acoustic labo-
ratory tests on control valves, using CFD tools for flow calculation,
development and optimization of calculation and sizing methods
as well as their implementation in valve sizing software.
GJP4.6e11
Jet Mixer System
Liquid jet mixers are used to mix and circulate liquids. With the
jet mixers a three dimensional flow is achieved in the tank without
producing a rotating motion.
Advantages: high efficiency, high operating safety,
long life time, no turning parts so little wear and
tear, simple construction, available in any material
used in the equipment, resistant to fouling.
20 GEA Wiegand GmbH
Am Hardtwald 1, 76275 Ettlingen, Germany
Telefon: +49 7243 705-0, Telefax: +49 7243 705-330
E-Mail: info.gewi.de@geagroup.com, Internet: www.gea-wiegand.com
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37
Select 88 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT SPECIALREPORT

Avoid failures with pump

power-end upgrades
Designing-out maintenance and failure risk starts
with simple upgrading measures
H. P. BLOCH, HP Staff

E
very month, Hydrocarbon Processing receives dozens of com-
munications from readers around the world. These messages
allow us to monitor the pulse and level of understanding,
along with present and future needs of the global hydrocarbon
processing industry (HPI). Earlier in 2011 and from relevant reader
feedback, we realized that the different lube application methods
for pumps, including oil-mist lubrication, were not always under-
stood. In particular, it seemed that more information was needed on
environmental-friendly closed oil mist systems. We encouraged an
update on the subject and were pleased with a recent article by Don
Ehlert.1 Mr. Ehlert authoritatively related decades of experience
with 155 closed- and more than 1,100 open oil-mist lubrication
systems (frequently translated as “oil fog” in Latin-based languages).
In April 2011, a group of symposium advisors opined that
there were no issues or noteworthy concerns with the drive ends of
today’s process pumps. They found “nothing new” in a proposed
presentation recommending redesigned pump-bearing housings,
but we wrote to them that we disagreed. Then, during a recent HP
Webinar,* we received several questions regarding pump-failure
avoidance and liquid oil-spray lubrication. Also known as “jet oil,”
the oil-spray application method, as shown in Fig. 1, clearly differs
from plantwide oil-mist systems.2 What finally tipped the scales in
favor of compiling this article was a request from a pump manu-
facturer’s repair shop. Although officially linked to a major pump
manufacturer with worldwide representation, this shop manager
asked us to explain how pump power ends could be upgraded and
how everyone would benefit from the process.
A convenient way of exploring the value of extending pump
mean time between failures (MTBFs) is to examine the possible
savings if we could improve the MTBF from presently 4.5 years
to a projected 5.5 years. For an HPI facility with 1,000 pumps,
that’s 1,000/4.5 = 222 repairs before and 1,000/5.5 = 182 repairs
after understanding and solving the problem. Avoiding 40 repairs
at $ 6,000/incident = $240,000. Manpower would be available
for other tasks: At 20 man-hours times 40 incidents times $100/
hr, reassigning these professionals to other repair avoidance tasks
would be worth at least $80,000.
There are also major expenses due to fires from pump fail-
ures. For example, there is approximately a $3 million fire loss
per 1,000 pump failures. That means avoiding 40 repairs would
be worth 40/1,000 ⫻ $ 3 million = $120,000. The three items
($240,000, $80,000 and $120,000) add up to $440,000.
We could examine just two other simple ways to calculate. It
would be reasonable to assume that implementing a component
upgrade (generally eliminating a weak link) can extend pump
uptime by 10%. Implementing five upgrade items yields 1.15 =
1.61—a 61% mean-time-between-repair (MTBR) increase. Con-
versely, suppose we gave up to 10% each by not implementing
six reasonable improvement items. In that instance, 0.96= 0.53,

Value of upgrading. Of the numerous process centrifugal

pumps undergoing repair at any time, an estimated 90% have failed
randomly before. Statistics dating back to the 1970s and 1980s
showed that 6% or 7% of a refinery’s pumps consumed 60% of all
pump-related expenditures. The pulp and paper industry attributes
between 30% and 55% of all pump failures to bearing-related
issues, and bearing manufacturers estimate that only 9% of all roll-
ing element bearings reach their projected design life. This should
be troubling to pump users and manufacturers alike, because the
cost-effectiveness of avoiding failures is evident and can be read-
ily quantified. Persistent repeat failures also lead to an interesting
question: Could it be that neither pump users nor pump manufacturers
really understand why so many process pumps fail prematurely?
* Failure Avoidance for Process Pumps and Reciprocating Compressors, FIG. 1 Oil spray application method considered superior by
leading bearing manufacturers.2
April 28, 2011, www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 39
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

meaning that the MTBR is only 53% of what it might otherwise stratification. Pressure equalization passages are drilled near the
be. That might explain industry’s widely diverging pump MTBRs. top of all bearings.
The MTBR gap is conservatively assumed to range from 3.6 years Most pump thrust bearings will incorporate cages (ball separa-
to 9 years in US oil refineries.3 tors) that are angularly inclined, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These
cages can act as small impellers, and impellers promote flow from
Why better pumps are needed. An over-emphasis on the smaller toward the larger of the two cage diameters. This is
(initial) cost cutting by pump manufacturers and purchasers has clearly depicted in Fig. 3, and particular attention should be given
negatively affected the drive ends of many thousands of process to the impeller-like air flow action of the inclined cage. Whatever
pumps.3 Flawed drive-end components contribute to elusive oil application method is chosen, the lubricant application must
repeat failures that often plague these simple machines. It should overcome this “windage” action.4
be remembered that repeat failures can only happen if the true
root cause remains unknown or, if the true root cause is known, Lubricant application sump levels. One of the oldest and
someone decided not to pursue remedial action. Neither of these simplest methods of oil lubrication consists of an oil bath traversed
two possibilities bodes well for achieving asset preservation and by the bearing rolling elements. However, this traditional “plowing
operational excellence goals. through the oil” (see Fig. 2) may cause the lubricant to heat up
As shown in Fig. 2, the oil level in this 1960s-vintage housing significantly and should be avoided on susceptible process pumps.
was set for low-to-moderate speed pumps. Oil throwers create a The plow-through arrangement works well at low shaft surface
spray that overcomes windage. The two throwers also prevent oil velocities. Heat generation trends are generally excessive if, in this
lube application arrangement, the product of shaft diameter (D,
Water Line bearing Oil Vent Water outlet in.) multiplied by revolutions-per-minute (N, rpm) exceeds 6,000.
shield thrower connection Thrust bearing So, at DN > 6,000, lower oil levels and different means of routing
Thrust bearing oil into the bearings are selected.
cover To gain reliability advantages, synthetic lubricants, oil-mist
Lock washer applications, oil jets and even full-circulating systems deserve to be
considered in many refinery and process plant pumping services.
Oil seal
Circulating systems are selected for large pumps utilizing sleeve
bearings. In these systems, the oil can be passed through a heat
exchanger before being returned to the bearing.
Oil level
Although shown in Fig. 2, the cooling water jacket and oil
Shaft
Thrust bearing cooling are not needed on pumps with rolling element bearings.
Oil
nut Cooling is actually harmful if it promotes moisture condensation
seal or restricts thermal expansion of the bearing outer ring.4 When,
Bearing in the late 1960s, these concerns were seen to influence pump
bracket reliability at several petrochemical plants, the jacket cooling water
Water inlet Drain Oil drain cover
passages were left open to the ambient air environment. As shown
FIG. 2 The oil level in this 1960s-vintage housing was set for low- in Fig. 3, the design attempts to apply lubricant in the direction of
to-moderate speed pumps. Oil throwers create a spray that the arrow but meet with windage (air flow) from an inclined cage.
overcomes windage. The two directions clearly oppose each other. It was determined
that, irrespective of the lube application method on rolling element
bearings, cooling will not be needed as long as high-grade synthetic
lubricants are utilized.3,4 Further improvements were realized when
effective rotating labyrinth style bearing housing seals were applied.
The oil level must be lowered whenever there is risk of exces-
sive heat generation and overheated oil is indeed found on some
pumps operating at 3,000 rpm or 3,600 rpm. Because the “plow-
ing effect” of rolling elements produces frictional power loss and
heat, a much lower oil level is selected. The oil must then be lifted
and somehow guided into the bearings; a free-running oil ring
(Fig. 4) is often chosen to do this lifting.
40°
A widely accepted empirical rule calls for lower oil levels when-
ever DN > 6,000. Another, separately derived, empirical rule
allows shaft peripheral velocities no higher than 2,000 fpm in
bearing housings where the oil sump level is set to reach the center
of the lower-most rolling element. These rules were devised for
typical field situations where it would be quite difficult to avoid
small deviations in oil viscosity, depth of ring immersion and
horizontality of the pump shaft system. The importance of oil
viscosity was thoroughly explained.5
Once the shaft peripheral velocity exceeds 2,000 fpm, the
FIG. 3 Attempts to apply lubricant in the direction of the arrow oil level should be no higher than a horizontal line tangent to
meet with windage (air flow) from an inclined cage. the lower-most bearing periphery. This means there should be

40
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT SPECIALREPORT

no contacting of the oil level with any part of a rolling element. To reiterate: If a user opts for oil rings, it would be wise to
Assume that Fig. 5 represents a situation where DN > 6,000. At understand their limitations in terms of speed, eccentricity, allow-
DN > 6,000, either oil rings (Fig. 4) or shaft-mounted flinger able immersion depth, bore finish and shaft horizontality. If the
discs (Fig. 5) are typically found in process pumps. Both arrange- user opts for a solid stainless steel disc, assembly issues might
ments are available to lift the oil and to somehow get the lubricant demand that bearings be located in a cartridge. In the overwhelm-
into the bearing. (Empirical rules and analytical results have been ing majority of cases, the incremental cost will be much less than
explained, see Refs. 6 to 8). the outlay for a single pump repair.
Fig. 5 shows a bearing housing with a cartridge containing the
thrust bearing set.4 The bearing housing bore is slightly larger than Bearing housing protector seals. Regardless of lubricant
the diameter of the steel flinger disc, making assembly possible. application, lube contamination will cause bearings to fail. Unless
This figure does not show the required oil return passage at the 6 the bearing housing is provided with suitable bearing housing
o’clock bearing position. seals, an interchange of internal and external air (called “breath-
ing”) takes place during alternating periods of operation and
Oil rings vs. flinger discs. An US pump manufacturer’s shutdown. Pump bearing housings “breathe” in the sense that
1970s advertisement points to the reliability risk associated with rising temperatures during operation cause air volume expansion,
oil rings. The advertisement emphasized the superiority of an and decreasing temperatures at night or after shutdown cause air
“anti-friction oil thrower ensuring positive lubrication to eliminate volume contraction. Open or inadequately sealed bearing hous-
the problems associated with oil rings.” 3 Field experience confirms
that oil rings are rarely (if ever) the most reliable means of lubricant
application. They tend to skip and even abrade unless the shaft
system is truly horizontal, unless the ring immersion in the lubri-
cant is just right, and unless ring eccentricity, surface finish, and oil
viscosity are within tolerance.3 Taken together, these parameters are
rarely found within close limits in actual operating plants.
Oil-ring performance was investigated by researchers at West-
inghouse in 1937 and by renowned authors that include GE’s
Wilcock & Booser and MTI’s Hooshang Heshmat.6–8 Test stand
observations at Texas A&M University culminated in a thesis on
magnetic bearing housing seals by a graduate student, Leonardo
Urbiola-Soto (2001/2002). Urbiola-Soto noted the shortcom-
ings of certain oil rings when he observed them in a transparent
bearing housing test rig originally built for an oil mist systems
manufacturer. FIG. 4 Oil rings are sensitive to shaft horizontality and other
parameters. Markings and measurement will confirm
At that time, Urbiola-Soto essentially confirmed the findings abrasive wear.3
reported by others, including the inadequacies to which the legacy
pump manufacturer had alluded in its 1970s publication. More
recently, photographic evidence of oil ring degradation was sub-
mitted in 2005 and failure data retrieved in measurements made
on oil rings removed from a defective boiler feed water pump at
a user facility in Texas.9 These oil rings exceeded allowable maxi-
mum values by a factor of 30.10
Risk-averse and reliability-focused purchasers try to avoid oil
rings; they often specify and select pumps with flinger discs, as
shown in Fig. 5. Small diameter flinger discs (Fig. 2) are used in
slow speed equipment for the sole purpose of preventing tempera-
ture stratification of the oil. Larger diameter flinger discs are used
to toss oil into pump bearings; they usually satisfy lubrication
requirements at moderate speeds. Of course, the proper flinger disc
diameter must be chosen, and dimensionally stable steel flinger
discs are preferred over plastic materials. Insufficient lubrication
results if the diameter is too small to dip into the lubricant; con-
versely, high operating temperatures are caused if the disc diameter
is so large that friction conditions produce too much heat.
Flexible flinger discs have been developed to enable insertion in
some “reduced cost” designs, i.e., configurations where the bearing
housing bore diameter is smaller than the flinger disc diameter.
But, to accommodate the preferred solid steel flinger discs, bear-
ings must be cartridge-mounted (see Fig. 5). With thrust bearings
mounted in a separate cartridge, the effective bearing housing bore
(i.e., the cartridge diameter) will be large enough for the passage FIG. 5 A bearing housing with a cartridge containing the thrust
of a properly dimensioned steel flinger disc. bearing set.4

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 41
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
Conventional labyrinth seal technology in
axial movement application
Nominal position Displaced position
FIG. 6 Old-style bearing protector seals with sharp-edged
grooves invite a dynamic O-ring to scrape on edges;
shavings then often contaminate the lubricant. Also, using
only a single O-ring for clamping the rotor to the shaft
makes the rotor less stable than if two rings are used for
this clamping duty.4
FIG. 7 Oil mist lubrication is applied to a pump bearing housing
in accordance with API-610, 10th Edition.13
ings promote this back-and-forth movement of moisture-laden,
contaminated air. (Cautionary note: Simply adding bearing pro-
tector seals could change windage patterns in unforeseen ways.)
To stop this breathing and resulting contamination, there
should be little or no interchange between the housing interior air
and the surrounding ambient air. In well-designed bearing hous-
ings, the breather vents should be removed and plugged.
More elusive oil contamination originates from vulnerable
bearing housing seal designs. Certain old-style bearing housing
seals allow an O-ring to contact an opposing groove; the damage
risk is real, as depicted in Fig. 6. Contact with sharp-edged grooves
invites dynamic O-ring to scrape on edges; shavings then often
contaminate the lubricant. Moreover, using only a single O-ring
for clamping the rotor to the shaft makes the rotor less stable than
if two rings are used for clamping duty.
In essence, suitably designed bearing protector seals can greatly
improve both life and reliability of rotating equipment by safe-
guarding the cleanliness of the lubricating oil. We must, however,
be aware that:
• Bearing protector seals add little value if the oil contamina-
tion originates with oil ring wear products from this very same seal.
42
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
• Pressure-unbalanced constant level lubricators tend to allow
air and moisture to intrude through air gaps in these normally
trusted components.
• Pressure-unbalanced constant level lubricators may be unable
to keep the lubricant in the bearing housing at the desired level.
• Lubricant may not reach all bearing components if the bearing
housing design allows windage-related pressure differences to exist.
Ranking different lube application practices. Although
oil ring lubrication is still widely used, it is maintenance inten-
sive and ranks last from the author’s reliability improvement and
risk reduction perspective. Flinger discs have been used for many
decades and allow operation at higher DN values than oil rings.
Because they are clamped to the shaft there is far less sensitivity to
installation and maintenance-related deviations; they cannot run
downhill. Flinger discs make contact only with the lubricant and
are ranked higher than oil rings.
Plantwide oil-mist (oil fog) lubrication systems have proven
superior to conventional lubricant applications in well over 1,200
plant-wide systems since the late 1960s. Pump bearing failure
reductions ranging from 80% to 90% have been reported with
pure oil mist and especially with oil mist applied in the through-
flow mode illustrated in Fig. 7. The advantages and disadvantages
of oil-mist lubrication as compared to conventionally applied oil
lubrication can be summarized here:11
Advantages:
• Reduced bearing failures of 80% to 90%
• Lower bearing operating temperatures of 10°F to 20°F
• No recirculation of bearing wear or debris particles
• Slight positive system pressure eliminates contaminant entry
and fully protects standby equipment
• Electric motor drivers are included in plantwide oil mist
systems
• Reduced energy costs by 3% to 5%
• Reduced oil consumption by about 40%
• No moving parts
• Reduced maintenance; no constant level lubricators; no oil
rings
• Simplified lube oil management.
Disadvantages:
• Higher initial investment
• Must consider cost of compressed air.
Plantwide oil-mist systems require sizeable up-front invest-
ments and have typical paybacks of 2–3 years. Oil mist ranks far
ahead of liquid oil applied by oil rings and even flinger discs. Oil
ring lubrication deficiencies are estimated to cause at least (and
probably more than) 10% of bearing-related failures, Oil rings
are prone to create wear-related contamination and/or inadequate
rates of oil feed. Spraying liquid oil into bearings is a sound alter-
native; it is a viable third option of interest to users who want to:
• Concentrate on improvements to individual pumps where
previous repeat failures have been attributed to oil ring degradation
• Reduce failure frequencies on highly loaded thrust bearings
• Lower bearing operating temperatures
• Overcome bearing-related windage issues
• Defer installation of plantwide oil mist systems.
Spray-lubricated (jet-oil) pump bearings. The world’s
premier bearing manufacturers are unanimous in ranking spray-
ing (“jetting”) liquid oil into the bearing cage superior to all other
lube application methods, including oil mist. But this top rank-
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
ing deals with lubrication alone and does not assign credit to the
preservation of standby pump and motor bearings by oil mist. To
make the point abundantly clear, oil mist excels at locations that
are interested in plantwide protection of standby (non-running)
equipment and dependable lubrication of pumps and electric
motor drivers.
However, a directed spray (or jet) of liquid oil will remove
more heat from the targeted rolling element bearing and may be
the best solution for plants that wish to selectively upgrade some
pumps by discontinuing pump configurations that incorporate
oil rings, flinger discs and constant level lubricators. Windage
concerns and internal balance holes would become non-issues.
To effectively spray filtered liquid oil into the bearing areas, the
lubricant has to be pressurized. External means of lube pressuriza-
tion are well known; they exist in auxiliary lube skids and similar
lubricating packages where oil is typically pressurized, filtered,
cooled and supplied to sleeve bearings. External means of pressur-
izing and filtering lube oil taken from the sump of a typical pro-
cess pump bearing housing have a long history and were described
in Ref 12. However, unlike external add-on pumps, pressurization
by means of small pumps internal to the standard process pump
bearing housing is more cumbersome and may require redesigned
bearing housings. Of course, redesigned bearing housings, Fig. 8,
open up limitless configurations of custom-designed rotary posi-
tive displacement and progressive cavity-style oil supply pumps
inside or outside the bearing housing.
Keeping these facts in mind, Fig. 8 incorporates a number
of very important options and recommendations for reliability-
focused users. Oil jet or spray lubrication is for facilities that are
not satisfied with oil-ring performance and are not happy with the
present consequences (unreliability) of oil rings and the (future)
consequences of oil ring failures on conventional process pumps.
Fig. 8 tries to establish that pump bearing housings need not
necessarily be symmetrically configured because:
• A box-like geometry with a flat cover and ample space to
incorporate a wide range of oil pumps is feasible. Box-shaped
bearing housings for process pumps would open up a host of new
and inventive solutions. These might incorporate shaft-driven
gear, disc flow, progressive cavity or other reliable self-contained
means of oil application pumps.
• Oil application pump would take suction from the low point
of an increased-size oil sump.
• The main process pump shaft need not be in the geometric
center of the box.
• Flat surfaces would invite clamp-on, screw-in or flange-on
oil pumps.
• Oil pressurized by the oil application pump would be sent
through a filter and hydraulic tubing to liquid oil spray nozzles
incorporated in the end caps. Therefore, the cross-section view
of a bearing housing with oil spray would be identical to the one
shown for oil mist in Fig. 7.5
• The duty cycles for self-contained oil spray pumps would
be quite undemanding compared to the duty cycles routinely and
reliably handled by oil pump technology.
• Oil filtration would be easy.
• The elimination of oil rings and constant-level lubricators
would be highly advantageous.
• Internal pressure equalization and windage issues would
never again be a concern.
• The incremental cost of superior bearing housings would be
more than matched by the value of avoided failures.
SPECIALREPORT
To think out of the box, you must
learn to think of a box. The housing
could be non-cylindrical.
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DFOUFS
BMTP
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TJEFT
BMMPX

nBOHFE
PO
PS
TDSFX
JO

TQSBZ
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FIG. 8 Proposed new generation of bearing housings. The intent
is to eliminate oil rings, flinger discs and constant level
lubricators.
• Part of the energy requirement of an oil spray application
pump would be recaptured in the form of reduced bearing fric-
tional losses.
From Fig. 7, the oil-mist lubrication is applied to a pump
bearing housing in accordance with API-610, 10th Ed.13 With
oil spray lubrication (not covered by API-610), liquid oil would
enter at the nozzles. Note: Dual mist (or, for spray lube applica-
tion, dual liquid oil) injection points. Observe dual-face bearing
housing seals that prevent oil mist (or oil spray) from escaping
to atmosphere. With neither oil mist nor oil spray would there
be oil rings or flinger discs. The mist reclassifiers shown here, or
the spray application nozzles that would have to be substituted,
would be situated relatively close to the bearings. On back-to-
back mounted bearings, the oil spray could be injected through a
spacer washer located between the bearing backs. Oil mist flow,
or a liquid oil jet, will overcome bearing cage-induced windage.14
With liquid oil spray (jet oil) lubrication, much-needed inno-
vation would benefit the drive end and thousands of repeat fail-
ures of pumps would no longer occur. Fig. 8 depicts a proposed
new generation of bearing housings. The intent is to eliminate
oil rings, flinger discs and constant level lubricators. The process
pump bearing housing could incorporate an oil pump that will
create the pressurized spray deemed most advantageous (from the
pure lubrication point of view) by all world-scale rolling element
bearing manufacturers.
Options. Oil rings have been used for over a hundred years.
Average oil rings serve well in average installations and are
accepted by plants that are satisfied with average pump MTBFs.
For maximum pump life and reduced failure risk in reliability-
focused plants, users will have to ascertain oil ring operation under
virtually ideal conditions: A lubricant of just the right viscosity,
shafts that are truly horizontal, ring eccentricities not exceeding
0.002 in. (0.05 mm), optimum depth of immersion in the oil and
an acceptable bore surface roughness. Once a few deviations from
ideal conditions combine and wear damage takes its toll, pump
bearings will fail prematurely.
Experienced, unbiased engineers believe that upgraded or rede-
signed bearing housings are of interest to risk-averse users. We also
know that, in late 2008, the purchasing entity representing a large
reliability-focused plant in the US had thoughtfully and deliber-
ately compiled an inquiry specification for better pumps. Although
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 43
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
willing to pay the anticipated incremental cost for better pumps
instead of standard products, the customer’s improvement requests
were declined by every one of the vendors that responded to the
bid invitation. The disappointed owner-user company suggested
an article or presentation that would get out the message to users
and manufacturers alike: Better pumps are possible. Understand why
reliability-focused users need them and realize why, for the value-seek-
ing purchaser, certain “standard products” are no longer good enough.
This is the article suggested by the disappointed owner-user:
Some day—hopefully soon—competent manufacturers will
accommodate forward-looking users. Meanwhile, here’s a sum-
mary of experience-based observations and minimum require-
ments for reliability-focused users in the HPI:
1. With proper protector seals, housing-internal balance pas-
sages, and pressure-balanced constant level lubricators, breathers
(or vents) will not be needed on process pump bearing housings.
2. If equipped with an external balance line, this line (on
a pressure-balanced constant level lubricator) should be con-
nected to the bearing housing. Breathers (or vents) should then
be removed and the vent opening in Fig. 2 should be plugged.
3. As a matter of routine, and to allow retrofitting or upgrad-
ing to flinger discs, cartridge-mounted thrust bearings should be
supplied.
4. The housing or cartridge bore must have a passage at the
6 o’clock position to allow pressure and temperature equaliza-
tion and oil movement from one side of the bearing to the other.
Note: These passages are needed for oil temperature equalization,
although they are not shown on Fig. 5.
5. Flinger discs can be supplied as an upgrade (for DN <
6,000). Flinger discs should be the minimum acceptable oil
thrower for DN > 6,000.
6. Modern and technically advantageous versions of bearing
protector seals should be used for both the inboard and outboard
bearings. Lip seals are not satisfactory for process pumps.
7. Rotating labyrinth seal designs with O-rings that are likely
to become a source of oil contamination (“black oil”) are not
satisfactory for critically important process pumps.
8. Understand that the implementation of true reliability-
thinking must strongly support moves away from traditional bear-
ing housings. These moves should push for serious exploration of
the alternatives alluded to in Fig. 8.
9. Implementation of one of the oil spray alternatives
described in Fig. 8 (or similar to it) will make it possible to dis-
pense with maintenance-intensive oil rings and constant level
lubricators.
10. Oil mist and oil spray are different technologies, and the
terms have not been used interchangeably by those skilled in the art.
Oil mist continues to be the application of choice whenever plant-
wide systems are found to be more economical. They are usually
more economical when a) lubrication duties include electric motor
drivers and b) when it is desired to also use oil mist for the preser-
vation of bearings in standby (non-running) pumps and drivers.
Designing-out maintenance and failure risk starts with simple
upgrade measures. Some users implemented these measures 30
years ago, although others have disregarded them to this day.
Designing-out maintenance culminates in re-thinking the entire
bearing housing configuration and will require changing the way
oil is applied to rolling element bearings. Re-designed bearing
housings will cost money, but far fewer equipment failures will
result. Experience allows us to assume that elimination of each
particular risk element—say, flawed lube application, or allow-
44
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
ing contaminants to get into the oil—will extend MTBRs by
perhaps 10%. Accepting this 10% discount factor, the continued
use of flawed oil rings, or risk-inducing bearing protector seals,
etc., would reduce MTFR from a multiplier of 1 to an MTBR
multiplier of 0.9. If each of six risk-increasing items were to reduce
MTBR by 10%, then the MTBR for that pump would be only
50% of that of an upgraded product.
Finally, reliability pursuits are for those who wish to drive
change and capitalize on opportunities. They desire to become
best-of-class and will not be satisfied with mediocrity. Of course,
there will always be vendors producing things of lesser value, “stuff”
that ultimately puts jobs at risk. Just remember that it doesn’t have
to be that way, and that for thousands of pump drive ends the solid
alternatives and options were described here in just a few pages.
Free market principles apply to process pumps just as they do to
everything else. We hope that informed purchasers will reward the
manufacturer that builds-in more features than what the traditional
purchaser requests or simply tolerates out of habit. It would be
helpful to have innovators step up to the challenge. For the indiffer-
ent and incompetent to step up, they must first educate themselves.
Meanwhile, they and their customers will find themselves locked in
a cycle of burdensome and costly repeat failures. HP
LITERATURE CITED
1 Ehlert, D., “Consider closed-loop oil mist lubrication,” Hydrocarbon
Processing, June 2011, pp.61–65.
2 MRC Bearings General Catalog 60, TRW Engineer’s Handbook, 2nd Ed.,
1982, p. 197.
3 Bloch, H. P. and A. Budris, Pump User’s Handbook—Life Extension, 3rd Ed.,
Fairmont Press, Inc., Lilburn, Georgia, 2010.
4 Bloch, H. P., Pump Wisdom, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2011.
5 Bradshaw, S., “Investigations into the Contamination of Lubricating Oils
in Rolling Element Pump Bearing Assemblies,” Proceedings of the 17th
International Pump User’s Symposium, Texas A&M University, Houston,
Texas, 2000.
6 Baudry, R. A., and L. M. Tichvinsky, “Performance of Oil Rings,” Mechanical
Engineering, 1937, p. 59; ASME, Journal of Basic Engineering, 1960, 82D, pp.
327–334.
7 Wilcock, D. F. and E. R. Booser, Bearing Design and Application, McGraw-
Hill Publishing Company, New York, 1957.
8 Heshmat, H. and O. Pinkus, “Experimental Study of Stable High-Speed Oil
Rings,” American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1984; Journal of Tribology,
Vol. 107, 1985, pp. 14–22.
9 TRICO Manufacturing Corporation, Pewaukee, Wisconsin, Commercial
Literature, also www.tricocorp.com.
10 Bloch, H. P., “Confirming consulting report for South Texas Corporation,”
July 30, 2009; excerpts published in article “Deferred maintenance causes
upsurge in BFW pump failures,” Hydrocarbon Processing, May 2011, pp.
45–47.
11 Bloch, H. P. and A. Shamim, Oil Mist Lubrication—Practical Application,
Fairmont Press, Lilburn, Georgia, 1998.
12 Bloch, H. P., “Inductive pumps solve difficult lubrication problems,”
Hydrocarbon Processing, September 2001.
13 American Petroleum Institute, API-610, Centrifugal Pumps, 10th Ed., 2009.
14 Bloch, H. P., Practical Lubrication for Industrial Facilities, 2nd Ed., Fairmont
Press, Inc., Lilburn, Georgia, 2009.
Heinz P. Bloch is a consulting engineer residing in West Des
Moines, Iowa (hpbloch@mchsi.com). He has held machinery-ori-
ented staff and line positions with Exxon affiliates in the US, Italy,
Spain, England, The Netherlands and Japan in a career spanning
several decades prior to retirement as Exxon Chemical’s regional
machinery specialist for the US. Mr. Bloch is the author of 18 comprehensive texts
and close to 500 other publications on machinery reliability improvement. He advises
process plants worldwide on equipment uptime extension and maintenance cost-
reduction opportunities. He is also the reliability and equipment editor for Hydrocar-
bon Processing. He is an ASME Life Fellow and maintains registration as a professional
engineer in Texas and New Jersey.
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 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
Control-valve seat leakage
Enhancing initial performance and extending
the service life of valves offers benefits
D. SANDERS, GE Energy, Atlanta, Georgia
T
wo of the leading causes of user con-
cern regarding control-valve perfor-
mance may surprise you. Field expe-
rience shows that the biggest contributor
to control-valve maladies is often oversiz-
ing. It is a classic example of having too
many cooks in the kitchen. Each of the
engineers contributing to the final process
specification adds what he or she believes
is a constructive safety factor, and the
resulting installed product is substantially
oversized for the application. However,
the focus of this article is what may be the
second-leading cause of concerns: shutoff
performance that does not meet the end
user’s expectations.
In all fluid-processing industries, tight-
sealing control valves are vital to ensur-
ing product quality, efficiency, safety and
environmental protection. But how do you
determine how tight is tight enough?
Tolerance of leakage can vary widely
from application to application; tight
enough in one case can be overkill in
another and insufficient in a third. And to
top it off, the various industry standards
that classify seat leakage in industrial valves
fail to address some of the practical issues
that confront valve manufacturers, specifi-
ers and end users. In fact, it is quite possible
to successfully specify, manufacture and
test a valve according to a well-established
industry standard, yet still experience less-
than-satisfactory results in the field.
This article will help address the techni-
cal and practical issues related to seat leak-
age, discussing the fundamentals behind
the governing industry standards and
offering guidance that users can apply to
enhance initial seat leakage performance
and help extend the life of their valve assets.
Defining seat leakage. Seat leakage
is defined as leakage that is internal to a
valve—between the inlet and outlet sides
of the valve—when the valve is in its closed
position. It is not limited to leakage across
the valve seat, but also encompasses all leak-
age across the valve trim when the valve
is in the closed position. Leakage across
internal trim seals, such as piston rings, and
across trim-to-body seals, such as gaskets,
can be counted as seat leakage.
It is important to note that, while
leakage through valve stem packing is of
growing concern in the industry, govern-
ing industry standards address this type of
leakage separately and do not consider it to
be a form of seat leakage.
Industry gold standard. ANSI/FCI
70-2, Control Valve Seat Leakage, published
by the American National Standards Insti-
tute and the Fluid Controls Institute, is
widely recognized as the defining standard
for leakage in control valves. It categorizes
seat leakage into six groups (Class I to Class
VI). Generally, each higher class defines
tighter or more stringent leakage criteria.
While these classes are not linear in their
progression, they follow a logical succes-
sion from lowest to highest class with some
added footnotes.
Additionally, for each leakage class,
ANSI/FCI 70-2 provides detailed test pro-
cedures and defines the maximum allow-
able leakage (MAL). The test procedures
include provisions for using water and/or
air as the test medium, along with allowable
pressure and temperature ranges. IEC Stan-
dard 60534-4, Industrial Process Control
Valves—Part 4, Inspection and Routine Test-
ing (2006), published by the International
Electrotechnical Commission, contains the
same control valve seat leakage criteria.
Class I. Class I leakage is relatively unde-
fined and is simply stated as agreed upon
between purchaser and manufacturer. It
does not identify a test procedure or specify
a standard test pressure and, therefore, does
not define the maximum allowable leakage.
SPECIALREPORT
So why does it exist? While not stated
in the standard, Class I is normally used
when the valve specification has no leakage-
specific criteria based on its application.
Possible examples include a valve that is
always in the open position, or a system in
which the control valve is always accompa-
nied by an adjacent remote-operated isola-
tion valve. In these cases, the user has no
expectation that leakage through the valve
will negatively impact the process, so Class
I may be appropriate.
Classes II–IV. The definitions of the
other leakage classes are not quite as lib-
eral. The Class II, III and IV definitions
share many common attributes and are
easily discussed as a set. For each of these
classes, there is a common test proce-
dure that permits the use of water or air
at a temperature of 50°F to 125°F and a
pressure of 45 psig to 60 psig. The maxi-
mum allowable leakage for each class is
expressed as a function of the rated valve
capacity as follows:
• Class II: 0.5% of rated valve capacity
• Class III: 0.1% of rated valve capacity
• Class IV: 0.01% of rated valve capacity.
There are two observations to note at
this stage. First, the difference between
these classes is not trivial. Class III is five
times tighter than Class II and Class IV is
50 times tighter than Class II.
Second, a value such as “0.01% of rated
valve capacity” is not of much use to some-
one who wants to know how many cups or
buckets or gallons of leakage per minute is
acceptable for a particular valve. The fact
is, “rated valve capacity” can be a rather
elusive value to those who do not crunch
valve data every day.
Fortunately, control-valve manufac-
turers rate valve capacities in terms of Cv,
the universal flow coefficient for valves as
defined by ANSI/ISA Standard S75.01.01,
and a basic conversion to Cv can help put
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 47
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

the “rated valve capacity” leakage criteria
into a more tangible context.
Per ANSI/ISA Standard S75.01.01, Cv is
defined as the number of gallons of water
per min., at 60°F, that will pass through a
flow restriction with a differential pressure
of 1 psi. The equation is:
Cv Q SG /dP , where (1)
Cv = Flow coefficient
Q = Flow quantity gallons per min.
(gpm)
SG = Specific gravity
dP = Differential pressure psi.
When quantifying seat leakage, the flow
restriction is the subject valve. Assuming
that valve capacity (Cv ) is known, the equa-
tion can be solved for flow (Q) as follows:
Q C v / SG /dP (2)
The SG of water between 50°F and
125°F only varies from 1.0007 to 0.9887
and thus can be rounded to 1.0. Therefore,
the MAL for Classes II through IV can be
expressed in terms of gpm as a function of
test pressure as:
• Class II: 0.5% C v / 1 /dP (3)
• Class III: 0.1% C v / 1 /dP (4)
• Class IV: 0.01% C v / 1 /dP (5)
To illustrate how these equations play
out in the real world, consider a common
10-in. nominal, cage-guided, metal-seated
control valve that meets standard ANSI/ISA
75.10.02 face-to-face dimensions. A typi-
cal Cv for this type of valve is 950. Using
50 psi of water at 60°F, the MAL rates for
this valve are:
• Class II: 33 gpm
• Class III: 6.7 gpm
• Class IV: 0.67 gpm.

Class V. Class V represents what is com-

monly referred to as an “effectively zero-
leakage” control valve. It should be remem-
bered, however, that the Class V category
still retains some allowance for leakage.
And, as will be discussed later, a seemingly
zero-leakage shop test does not always lead
to zero leakage under service pressures and
temperatures. Class V, however, is very
tight and certainly takes a step far beyond
Class IV.
A different test procedure is used to
calculate maximum allowable leakage for
Class V. Rather than a test pressure of 45
psig to 60 psig, Class V requires the use of
water at a pressure differential that is +/-5%
of the service pressure differential, not to
exceed the 100°F-rated pressure of the valve
body. The formula for MAL is:
Class V (ml/min.): (5 ⫻ 10–4) ⫻ (seat
diameter in in.) ⫻ (test pressure in psi).(6)
For the purposes of comparison, con-
sider the 10-in. valve in the previous exam-
ple and assume that the service pressure
equals the 50-psig test pressure. The Class
V MAL would be:
Class V: (5 ⫻ 10–4 ml/min.) ⫻ (10 in.)
⫻ (50 psi) = 0.25 ml/min. = 6.6 ⫻ 10–5
gpm.
Roughly speaking, this is 10,000 times
less leakage than the same Class IV valve’s
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sented as a table of values per nominal valve
size. And, since the test pressure is fixed, the
MAL values are discrete. The values range
from 0.15 ml/min. for a 1-in. nominal
valve to 28.4 ml/min. for a 16-in. nominal
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48
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
valve. Valves that are 8-in. nominal and
smaller are also given an equivalent MAL
in bubbles per minute.
Shortcomings. Several aspects of the
ANSI standard can be confusing and frus-
trating for users. For starters, the maxi-
mum allowable leakage for Classes II, III
and IV do not vary with service pressure.
The test pressure for these classes is fixed
between 45 psig and 60 psig, while most
control valves operate at pressures above
that range. For example, the 100°F maxi-
mum working pressure of ASME B16.34
Class 2500-rated valves is in the neighbor-
hood of 6,250 psig.
It may be tempting to work around this
by always opting for a Class V valve, but
this is not a practical solution. As illustrated
earlier, a Class V valve can be up to 10,000
times tighter than its Class IV cousin.
That is obviously a huge leap in perfor-
mance—one that, understandably, comes
with a higher price tag. The frustration
comes for a user faced with a situation in
which a Class IV valve is not tight enough
but Class V performance is far more than
is required. The ANSI standard offers no
middle ground.
Note that the 2006 revision of ANSI/
FCI 70-2 permits the use of air at 50 psig
for the Class V test. While this adds con-
venience, it negates one of the attractive
attributes of the Class V criteria, which is
the use of a test pressure that matches the
service pressure.
Because the difference between Classes
IV and V is so large, it may be prudent for
the end user to consider the value of the
process fluid when making a decision on
leakage class. Over the life of a control-
valve trim, when leakage means lost reve-
nue or lost energy, the additional cost of an
upgraded trim can pay for itself in a short
period of time.
The parallel standard, IEC Standard
60534-4, does offer an intermediate step
between Class IV and Class V, known as
Class IV-S1. It uses the Class IV test pres-
sure, with MAL defined as:
Class IV-S1 MAL = (5 ⫻ 10–6) ⫻ rated
valve capacity. (7)
Solving for gpm, the equation becomes:
Class IV-S1 MAL (gpm) =
0.0001% C v / 1 /dP (8)
or 100 times less leakage than Class IV.
Returning to the 10-in. example valve at
50 psig test pressure:
Class IV-S1 MAL = 0.0067 gpm.
For Classes II through IV, neither
ANSI/FCI nor IEC supports the use of test
pressures that approach service pressures.
Class V MAL does at least use a representa-
tive (dP) value, but even it can leave the
informed user wanting.
Recall Eq. 2, the driving equation
behind the Cv definition:
Q C v / SG /dP
This is the fundamental equation that
the valve industry uses to engineer, sell and
deliver flow capacity. It states that flow
(Q)—or, for the purpose of this discussion,
leakage—is a function of the inverse of the
square root of differential pressure (dP).
Then consider the equation for MAL
for Class V (Eq. 3):
Leakage = (5 ⫻ 10–4 ml/min.) ⫻ (seat
diameter) ⫻ (dP).
Here, the flow is directly proportional
to the pressure differential. Needless to say,
Eqs. 2–3 produce diverging results.
If it can be assumed that the Eq. 2
curve reflects the fundamental relationship
between flow and differential pressure, then
even the more sophisticated Class V defini-
tion has to be taken in narrow context. It
is no wonder that ANSI/FCI 70-2 states
that “the standard cannot be used as a basis
for predicting leakage at conditions other
than those specified.” In other words, the
standard should not be used to predict leak-
age at conditions other than the test condi-
tions. This leaves the user with little or no
prediction of field performance.
Also note that the 10,000:1 example
shown previously only applies to the test
pressure of 50 psi. Due to the disconnect
between the driving equations for MAL and
classical physics of flow through a restric-
tion, comparison of the two equations at
alternate pressures yields alternate ratios.
For instance, in the previous 10-in.
example valve, the ratio at a 1,000 psi test
pressure is:
(Class IV) / (Class V) = (3 gpm) /
(0.0013 gpm) = 2,308.
This discussion of ANSI/FCI 70-2 pro-
vides some insight into the attributes to
consider when looking at another com-
monly referenced leakage standard—MSS
SP-61, Pressure Testing of Steel Valves.
MSS SP-61. The Manufacturers Stan-
dardization Society of the Valve and Fittings
Industry publishes MSS SP-61. Among
other topics, it addresses valve leakage,
although it uses the term Seat Closure Test.
It is important to begin by acknowledg-
ing that this standard, by its own defini-
tion, does not apply to control valves, but
instead to valves used in “full open” and
“full closed” service. More specifically, it is
intended for use with isolation, stop, and
SPECIALREPORT
check valves. Nonetheless, its use has been
creeping into control-valve specifications.
Thus, it is important to address its capabili-
ties and appropriate use.
Section 5 of MSS SP-61 defines test
procedures as well as acceptance criteria of
seat closure tests. The test pressure is speci-
fied as 1.1 times the 100°F rating, which, if
applied to an ASME B16.34 control valve,
means 1.1 times the cold working pressure.
The standard defines only one class of
leakage, although either liquid or gas can
be used as the test fluid. The maximum
allowable leakage is specified as:
For a liquid test: MAL = (10 ml/hr) ⫻
(valve NPS) where NPS is nominal seat
size in inches.
There are a number of modifying cir-
cumstances named in the standard that can
impact test pressure and maximum allow-
able leakage criteria. For instance, there
are provisions that, for certain sizes and
classes of valves, permit the use of 80 psi
air rather than 1.1 times the cold working
pressure. Additionally, there are provisions
that, for certain types of valves, permit the
allowable leakage to be increased by a fac-
tor of four.
Because this standard specifically applies
to on/off valves, rather than to control valves,
it is difficult to interpret the exceptions in
terms that clearly apply to control valves. To
help prevent misunderstanding when these
exceptions are applied, it is recommended
that they be specifically identified and inte-
grated into the product specification.
MSS SP-61 can be readily compared
to ANSI/FCI Class V because both stan-
dards consider the nominal seat size and,
in a roundabout way, both standards define
MAL as variable in direct proportion to
FIG. 1 An unbalanced control valve
plug. The solid plug leaves one
potential leakage path at the
seat.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 49
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
test pressure. Interestingly, the two stan-
dards converge when the test pressure is
320 psi. Any pressure above that value and
MSS SP-61 is more stringent, while test
pressures below that value show Class V to
be more stringent.
API Standard 598. A full discussion of
seat leakage would not be complete without
recognizing API Standard 598, Valve Inspec-
tion and Testing, published by the American
Petroleum Institute. Like MSS SP-61, API
598 is not intended for control valves but
has begun creeping into the control-valve
specification process, so the test parameters
are presented here for comparison.
API 598 uses test pressures that are 1.1
times the maximum allowable working
pressure at 100°F. The MAL is generally
more stringent than ANSI/FCI 70-2, to
the extreme that it is expressed in drops
and bubbles per minute. Like MSS SP-61,
this standard was not written for control
valves and further discussion of the unique
requirements of control-valve performance
will reveal why.
So now armed with the factual data
regarding the various standards, it is appro-
priate to discuss how tighter seat leakage is
obtained with various trim designs. While
FIG. 2 In double seated valves, the valve
seat geometry is arranged such
that high-pressure fluid is present
on both sides of the valve plug.
50
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
this article will not provide an exhaustive
exploration of control-valve trim designs,
the primary methods used to address seat
leakage will be treated.
Plug-to-seat interfaces. Whether for
rotary or reciprocating valves, the most
basic trim design is a simple metal-to-
metal interface between the valve seat and
valve plug. This interface is the primary
path for seat leakage, and its design and
control is the single largest contributor to
leakage differentiation.
From a broad viewpoint, it would
appear that controlling this leakage is
a simple matter of the appropriate mat-
ing of parts. However, even when mating
high-quality machined surfaces together,
microscopic imperfections can allow
leakage. Additionally, in spite of superior
plug-to-seat geometry, if the parts are not
self-aligning within the trim assembly, the
surfaces will not contact appropriately and
repeatedly across multiple open and close
cycles, and the desired seat tightness will
not be achieved.
For example, it is clear that a simple
drilled hole that is 0.12-in. in diameter
would be considered a leakage path of
unwanted magnitude. Although its equiv-
alent flow area is only 0.011 square in.,
when tested to Class V standards at 1,000
psi, this hole would lead to flow of roughly
10 gpm. However, if the same flow area
were evenly distributed around the circum-
ference of a 10-in. plug-to-seat interface, it
would amount to a gap of only 0.0004-in.,
or approximately 1/10 the thickness of a
human hair. Class V leakage for this 10-in.
valve at 1,000 psi would only allow 0.001
gpm—1/10,000 the rate of the single-
orifice flow. Obviously, there is a need for
more than simple dimensional control of
the mating parts.
For this primary seat, the plug-to-seat
contact geometry and alignment are criti-
cal. The plug should have some means of
self alignment when approaching the seat
in the closed configuration. This can be
accomplished with appropriate lead-in
angles and/or continuous guiding along
the stem or cage. The plug-to-seat contact
geometry should result in a single line of
contact around the circumference of the
parts. This creates large unit loading, which
is critical to closing the microscopic irregu-
larities of the mating surfaces.
Compliant material interfaces. One
method used to address the inherent imper-
fections in the plug-to-seat interface is to
utilize a compliant member at the inter-
face. This can be accomplished with soft
materials, such as PTFE, that are embed-
ded in either part. The compliant material
conforms to the mating imperfections and
provides the desired closure of micro-gaps.
This trim configuration would normally
be used in achieving ANSI/FCI 70-2 Class
VI leakage.
These compliant materials can be used
in applications with temperatures up to
600°F.
A variation of the truly compliant mate-
rial interface is to use a metallic member
on one component that is softer than its
mating part. This can be accomplished by
mating the softer grades of 300 series stain-
less steel to harder stainless or alloy steels.
The theory is that, when mated together
under loading, the harder material actually
causes the softer metal to deform. For this
reason, these parts are often overloaded
at assembly to create a coining effect. It is
important to note that this coining results
in a unique matched pair assembly, and
subsequent substitution of parts, and even
disassembly and reassembly, negates the
matched affect.
Key specification considerations.
A fundamental element of all plug-to-seat
interfaces is that part loading between the
two components can greatly affect leak-
age performance. This loading effect is
applied by the force of an actuator, which
is always present in control-valve applica-
tions. During the specification process, the
valve manufacturer should provide guid-
ance (based on an understanding of the
behavior of the assembled parts and their
tendency to align, mate and conform) to
ensure appropriate plug-to-seat loading.
Because the various components must
work together to deliver the required load-
ing, particular care must be taken when
pairing a control valve and actuator from
different vendors. The separate parties, or
a third-party consolidator, may not coor-
dinate the offerings. The end user must,
therefore, understand the required load and
ensure that it is provided by the actuation
platform and supply pressure.
And because actuation load is a function
of not only actuator type and size, but also
of supply pressure, it is important that the
party responsible for packaging the valve
and actuator factor in the entire range of
possible supply loads—normal, minimum
and maximum—as they can positively or
negatively impact seating performance. The
obvious misstep would be a supply pres-
sure that is too low to provide the necessary
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
part loading under service conditions. It is
equally important, however, to ensure that
the actuator does not overload the parts
and deform the trim or body components
or cause the plug and stem to engage too
tightly and become wedged together, nega-
tively impacting the control valve’s ability
to respond to an opening signal.
An additional feature of these simple
plug-to-seat interfaces is that the direction
of flow, and thus fluid pressure, can either
assist or detract from part loading. The
common terms used to determine pressure
and flow tendencies relative to trim design
are flow-to-open (FTO) and flow-to-close
(FTC).
FTO trim designs. In FTO trim
designs, the flowing fluid and its associated
static and dynamic pressures tend to force
the valve plug off of the seat, thus compro-
mising seat load and increasing leakage ten-
dency. For this type of trim, it is important
that the worst-case conditions are factored
into the design so that fluid pressures do
not relieve the necessary minimum seating
load that closes those micro-gaps. This is
especially important in applications involv-
ing metal-to-metal seat interfaces.
FTC trim designs. Alternately, FTC
trim designs are assisted by the fluid pres-
sures, potentially reducing leakage tendency.
Again, there is opportunity for misapplica-
tion when mating valves and actuators. On
one hand, the actuator must be adequately
sized to overcome the worst-case active fluid
pressure loads. However, if oversized, the
combination of actuator loading and fluid
pressure can overload a plug-to-seat inter-
face and cause damage, manifested in exces-
sive part friction and sticking.
It is reasonable to question the use of
FTO trim designs versus their FTC cous-
ins, when FTC would appear to provide
the most generous seat loading and, thus,
more effectively reduce leakage. While this
argument is valid, FTO trim designs pro-
vide other beneficial performance traits.
They are inherently more stable, as the flow
under the plug does not create the recircu-
lating flow eddies that can cause the valve
to be sucked into the closed position, a
concept known as negative gradient. Addi-
tionally, an FTO design may be preferable
based on the desired failure mode when
actuation energy is lost.
In many trim designs, the seating sur-
faces of both the valve seat and the valve
plug are in the area of flow modulation. In
fact, when a valve plug is lifted just off of its
seat, the inherently small available flow area
leads to high fluid velocity, creating prime
SPECIALREPORT
conditions for deterioration of component trim designs often require large actuation
geometry. Many designs attempt to address forces, and thus costly actuation pack-
this issue by providing geometry that ages. Early solutions included the advent
shields the critical surfaces from the erosive of double seated valves (Fig. 2). In these
effects of high-velocity flow. Proper materi- designs, the valve seat geometry is arranged
als selection is also critical to ensuring that such that high-pressure fluid is present on
these surfaces survive the rigors of modulat- both sides of the valve plug, providing the
ing flow. One of the most straightforward necessary force balancing to minimize
means to enhance service life in these areas actuation loads. These designs still exist
is to provide high-hardness materials via but their use is largely limited to smaller
base materials, process hardening or weld nominal sizes.
overlays using hardened alloys. The challenge with double seated
Collectively, the combination of plug- designs is that it is difficult to exactly match
to-seat interface geometry, materials selec- the dimensional values between the two
tion, actuation loads and pressure assist valve body seat regions and the two plug
forces all come together to create an effec- seating regions. Even when good dimen-
tive primary seating surface. The require- sional matching is provided, thermal excur-
ments for control valves and on/off valves sions during service can cause differential
are quite different, however. Control valves thermal growth and loss of seat contact.
must be able to move off of their seated Control-valve manufacturers have
position with a subtle change in instrument addressed this dimensional challenge with
signal. If the above combination creates the use of balanced trim designs (Fig. 3).
friction that is difficult for an actuator to Conventional balanced trims are avail-
overcome, or if the friction changes over able in cage-guided packages, in which the
time, then the control valve is rendered plug travels inside a ported cylinder. These
ineffective in a manner that would be less designs still depend on an effective plug-
problematic for an on/off valve. to-seat interface for their primary sealing
Balanced trim designs. As noted pre- interface, but they also have passages that
viously, these brute force, or unbalanced, provide flow, and thus pressure, communi-
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SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
cation between the top and bottom of the
plug. This permits pressure to equalize on
both sides of the plug, and actuation forces
are substantially reduced.
A complicating factor in balanced
designs is that a circumferential seal is
required between the plug and cage to
prevent flow from passing through the bal-
FIG. 3 Conventional balanced plugs
have passages that provide
pressure communication between
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minimize actuation forces.
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ancing holes, passing between the plug-to-
cage clearance and then exiting the trim.
These seals are known as the secondary
leakage path, and it is here that the various
designs show differentiation. The seal can
be either plug-mounted and work against
the stationary cage, or cage-mounted and
work against the modulating plug. They
can be compliant materials, such as PTFE
or flexible graphite, or metal seals, such as
classic piston rings.
PTFE seals. The design range of PTFE
has recently been extended into the 600°F
realm and these seals show good resistance
to the expected frictional wear of a modu-
lating seal. PTFE can also be formed to cre-
ate pressure-assisting lips that improve the
contact between the stationary and modu-
lating parts. Above the 600°F temperature
threshold, however, PTFE is not viable and
flexible graphite is the only widely available
compliant option.
Flexible graphite seals. Like PTFE,
flexible graphite provides the necessary
compliance to dynamically deform to fit
its mating parts. The primary issue with
graphite is that the normal frictional wear
of a modulating control valve quickly leads
to loss of mass, and thus volume, in the
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graphite seal, causing it to lose its radial
contacting load.
Unlike graphite stem packing, internal
trim seals cannot be adjusted by tightening
a packing bolt or using a live loading mech-
anism. Instead, the frictional wear leads to
increased leakage at the secondary plug seal,
and even though the primary plug-to-seat
geometry remains effective, the user experi-
ences unwanted leakage.
Metallic piston ring seals. For high-
temperature applications, these secondary
seals are more typically metallic. Conven-
tional piston ring designs are widely used
as trim seals for balanced designs. A key
differentiator among various piston rings is
the design of the gaps where the open ends
meet. More advanced piston ring designs
often use an inner expander ring to create
continuous radial loading of the outer ring.
Good piston ring design leans on installed
circularity, face sealing with the mating
groove, and an ability to install the ring
without deforming it.
Note also that for cage-guided valves,
these secondary piston ring seals also pro-
vide the dynamic stability that is necessary
for valve plugs with balancing holes. These
rings prevent continuous flow across the
balancing holes, which can cause pressure
pulsations between the top and bottom
of the plug and compromise valve stabil-
ity. This is one of the many areas where
control-valve trim has additional dynamic
requirements that are not required in on/
off valves.
Advanced solutions. Some recent
innovations in secondary sealing technol-
ogy attempt to combine many of the pre-
viously discussed attributes into a single
advanced seal. These include metallic
seals that are also compliant to provide
extended wear. Some compliant metals
seals have been utilized to remedy the
problems associated with double seated
valves by providing dimensional forgive-
ness between the two seating regions.
Some designs also have used separate
dynamic seals along with static seating
seals to keep the wear of modulation iso-
lated from the static seal.
Each of these secondary sealing tech-
niques has merit, but each also has its
Achilles Heel in such areas as durability,
scalable size, or temperature gradients. The
user should seek evidence of long-term
application experience in installations that
are similar to the proposed application.
Shop-tested vs. installed leakage. A
final topic that must be addressed in this
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Sulzer Chemtech

Tower Technical Bulletin

Important Tray Design Features that Improve Column Operating Reliability

Background cause of this inherently higher reliability, the through-bolt-

How often does Maintenance personnel open a column ed connection is preferred for heavy duty applications.
during a shutdown and find tray panels fallen without any
obvious damage? How about tray valves stuck in the bot-
toms pump suction? While the initial reaction may be to
blame faulty installation where the hardware was not prop-
erly tightened, the answer often lies in the design of the tray.
Reliable column designs need to produce on-spec prod-
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cycle, the tray design needs to be robust. Sulzer’s stan-
dard designs incorporate several key features to maintain
reliable operation.

Preventing Dislodged Tray Panels

In a friction washer design, one tray panel rests on the inte-
gral truss of the adjacent panel. That overlapping panel is
Keeping Floating Valves in Place
held in place by a washer, which is bolted to the adjacent
While it is easy to see how dislodged tray panels cause
panel. Note that the bolt passes through only the panel
lost efficiency, missing floating valves can also contribute
with the integral truss.
significant efficiency problems on a tray. Operators have
long found floating tray valves in mysterious downstream
places. With so many valves on a tray, are these tolerable
losses?

While trays operating at maximum capacity can gener-

ally tolerate a few missing valves without huge efficiency
losses, turndown capacity will be impacted significantly.
On top of this, replacing valves simply costs valuable man-
hours during a turndown.

For trays with round-shaped floating valves, it is not un-

common to find 10-20% of valves missing during an in-
spection. The small three-legged configuration, coupled
For the friction washer style, column out-of-roundness,
with the rotation which allows the valve pop-up movement,
weld-ins out of tolerances, and the changing forces under
makes round-shaped floating valves especially susceptible
operating conditions may cause the panels to shift position.
to detach from the tray. The resolution requires a design
When the shift directionally pulls the panels further apart
change: either adding anti-rotation tabs to the round valve
and reduces the overlap, the hardware can become loose
tray deck or replacing the round valve with a different style
and panels can be completing dislodged. The probability of
valve. Rectangular floating valves, like Sulzer’s BDHTM , or
the panel dislodging is directly proportional to the overlap
fixed valve trays, like Sulzer’s MVGTM are both inherently
dimension. Whereas some tray manufacturers keep this
more resistant to popping from the tray deck.
overlap to a minimum to reduce costs, Sulzer recommends
a minimum ¾” in all overlaps to increase the trays reliability.

In a through-bolted design, one tray panel rests on the in-

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washer design, the bolt passes fully through both panels in Sulzer Chemtech, USA, Inc.
a through-bolted design. 8505 E. North Belt Drive | Humble, TX 77396
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For the through-bolted style, the panels are less impacted TowerTech.CTUS@sulzer.com
by tray vibrations or other general upset conditions. Be- www.sulzerchemtech.com

Legal Notice: The information contained in this publication is believed to be accurate and reliable, but is not to be construed as implying any warranty or guarantee of performance.
Sulzer Chemtech waives any liability and indemnity for effects resulting from its application.

Select 68 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
discussion of secondary seals is the issue
of shop-tested leakage versus installed
leakage. A graphite seal in a new assem-
bly, for example, will typically pass a shop
test with ease, even when designed to meet
ANSI/FCI 70-2 Class V or MSS SP-61 cri-
teria. However, a short time in modulating
FIG. 4 Pilot-balanced designs have a
small unbalanced plug that is
integrated into the larger primary
plug to create a hybrid balanced
design.
Select 163 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
54
service can lead to loss of graphite mass
and compromised leakage performance.
The fact remains that none of the seat
leakage standards makes any guarantees
regarding in-service leakage. They simply
represent stand-alone shop tests of new
components, and thus can be misleading
if the user attempts to equate them to field
service performance.
Pilot-balanced plugs. A popular
option for high-temperature applications
that cannot use nonmetallic compliant
seals is the pilot-balanced plug (Fig. 4).
This design is a hybrid of unbalanced and
balanced designs, incorporating the best
attributes of both.
In the pilot-balanced concept, a small
unbalanced plug is integrated into the
larger primary plug. When the pilot plug
is opened, it provides a balancing path for
pressure equalization across the primary
plug. When both the pilot plug and pri-
mary plug are closed, the assembly is effec-
tively unbalanced.
Pilot-balanced plugs are time-tested
and in widespread use. The greatest chal-
lenge in working with them is ensuring
that the proper stiffness is maintained
during mid-travel modulation, as inad-
equate stiffness can lead to instability.
Most designs use internal springs, either a
coil or Bellville type, to maintain a target
stiffness between the pilot plug and the
primary plug. Others incorporate pressure
ports to utilize the adjacent high-pressure
fluid in a chamber with a pressure area
biased toward stiffness.
The positioner’s role. In addition to
the mechanical variations that can impact
seat leakage performance, the “brain” on
top of the control valve—the positioner—
can be an important tool in protecting
critical seating surfaces. As mentioned
earlier, valve trim that operates just off of
its seat creates small flow passages and the
resulting high velocities within the trim are
highly erosive, even in “clean” fluid appli-
cations. Many of today’s digital positioners
have options for an override that prevents
the plug from operating in this unfavorable
travel position. These overrides are typi-
cally user-configurable, allowing the user
to determine the desired minimum travel
position relative to both trim protection
and required low-end capacity.
Additionally, the most advanced digi-
tal positioners can remember their shop-
tested attribute of stem position when the
trim is seated. This is quite useful if foreign
material or damaged trim components pre-
vent the plug from properly seating on the
valve seat. Even though the actuation force
may suggest that the plug has reached its
proper travel stop, these smart positioners
know that this position does not signify
true seating and can provide the necessary
alarm to process control personnel.
Clearly, there are a multitude of factors
that influence seat leakage measurement
and performance in control valves. While
there are various industry standards that
can be utilized in the specification pro-
cess, ANSI/FCI 70-2 is the most widely
used despite its shortcomings. Given that
a shop-based seat leakage test provides lim-
ited prediction of field performance, the
end user is wise to understand the more
durable attributes that lead to satisfactory
seat leakage performance over the installed
life of a control valve. HP
Don Sanders is product manager for engineered
products and the severe service segment for GE Energy,
www.ge-energy.com. A 29-year veteran of the control-
valve industry, he has held positions in engineering,
manufacturing, marketing and management. He has a
BS degree in mechanical engineering from the Georgia
Institute of Technology.
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Select 89 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
Decrease vibration in piping with
reciprocating compressors
Case study identifies problems in new compression unit
M. G. CHOUDHURY and R. TRIPATHI, RPTL Engineering, India
I
n the hydrocarbon processing industry, piping systems are
connected to reciprocating compressors. These systems are
subjected to vibrations; in many cases, the piping experiences
high vibration levels due to poor design. Over the service life of
the piping, many stress incidents can lead to failures such as pip-
ing components, branch connections especially small bore lines,
etc. High vibration levels should be kept within the permissible
limit by proper analysis approach during the initial design phase.
Design approach. As per API 618 5th edition (clause 7.9.4.2),
there are three design approaches for pulsation and vibration con-
trol of reciprocating compressors and connected piping systems.
The most comprehensive analysis is the “acoustic simulation and
piping restraint analysis” plus the mechanical analysis (with forced
mechanical response analysis if necessary). This analysis is gener-
ally done by compressor manufacturer or specific analysis compa-
nies associated with compressor vendor. This analysis type is done
by special design tools. These analyses consume a lot of time and
do not involve thermal analysis with actual support conditions at
site, i.e., it considers the limit and guide gap as 0 mm irrespective
of the support gaps that may exist. It then becomes the responsibil-
ity of a detailed engineering company to ensure code compliance
for basic design conditions including thermal, sustained, etc.
Input from the specialist company regarding mechanical fre-
quency aspects can affect the need for additional supports and
stiffness changes for structural supports. Such requirements may
be discovered later and cause delays in project completion.
However, the detailed engineering design team can use a
mechanical (natural) frequency analysis method upfront such
as modal analysis along with normal static analysis of the piping
system. This approach can avoid (minimize) changes for sup-
port additions and stiffness of structural supports. Such design
changes can arise due to mechanical aspects determined by a
specialist company.
Modal analysis is done to keep the system’s natural frequen-
cies away from the excitation frequency. This is achieved by
increasing the piping system’s rigidity, support/structure stiffness
and adding new restraints.The modal analysis is done through
standard software. However, accuracy of the simulation over
various actual conditions is most important, as improper simula-
tion and simplifying assumptions can undermine the accuracy
of the values of natural frequency. Consequently, the inference
of adding and/or changing support or selecting proper structural
stiffness can be wrong.
SPECIALREPORT
We will discuss the comparative effectiveness for two
approaches—one with proper simulation of support boundary
conditions and a case study to reduce the vibration problems in
a piping system connected to a reciprocating compressor. The
necessary steps for a proper modal analysis simulation will be
discussed. Analysis with modal analysis based on usual simplis-
tic assumption of support boundary conditions such as default
stiffness and the effects from inaccuracies for natural frequencies
values are also shown here. Before proceeding, here are several
terms that are vital to the discussion:
Mode shapes is the description of vibration amplitudes and
phase angle relationship at various points within the piping sys-
tem. Knowledge of the mode shape allows the analyst to under-
stand the vibration pattern within the piping system.
Modal analysis is a process in which a piping system or struc-
ture can be represented in terms of its natural characteristics—
frequency, damping and mode shapes. Modal analysis of a system
gives the system’s dynamic response when it executes free vibration
on receiving excitation.
Natural frequency is the frequency of free vibration. This is
the frequency at which the system loses its restraining forces of
inertia and stiffness against an excitation force. Result: The system
will exhibit high amplitude vibrations at this particular frequency.
Stiffness, mass and damping are the three fundamental traits
of the system, which can combine as per phase angle to determine
how the system will react to an excitation force. These traits actu-
ally represent forces inherent to every system or structure that tend
to resist or to oppose vibration.
Methodology. The natural frequency of a piping system can be
obtained using modal analysis through standard computer software.
A piping system has an infinite number of natural frequencies, and
thus, there are infinite numbers of possibilities in which a system
may vibrate on receiving excitation. So, modal analysis in isolation
cannot identify the modes that will get excited in service. Primarily,
there are two ways to mitigate vibration problems by modal analysis:
• Matching mode shape technique along with gathered field
vibration data
• Retaining the natural frequency of the system over the exci-
tation frequency and also maintaining the frequency 20% away
from the first harmonic and, if possible, away from the second
harmonic of the excitation frequency.
The matching mode shape technique is not used for this spe-
cific case study because the plant considered here was in outage
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 57
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

condition and the matching mode shape technique of vibration
mitigation is more dependent on field vibration data. Therefore,
a second approach is adopted. The excitation frequency is con-
sidered as the frequency of the operating cycle of the compressor,
i.e., 5 Hz is the first harmonic.
Case study overview. This case study will discuss a severe
vibration problem and its solution via modal analysis. In this
example, the piping connected to a reciprocating compressor was
experiencing high vibration levels after the startup. The unit was
immediately shutdown to avoid causing any major fatigue failure
in the piping system.
A basic thermal analysis of the system was performed by a
detailed engineering company. An acoustic simulation and piping
restraint analysis plus mechanical analysis was done by a specialist
company at the request of the compressor vendor. The vendor
had provided a pulsation study report to the detailed engineering
company, in which the minimum stiffness required for support
structure and additional support requirements were listed.
However, on startup, severe vibration was encountered along
with some small bore-joint failures. After reviewing the piping
system model along with a pulsation study report, it was observed
that the detailed engineering design team could not interpret those
voluminous analysis reports properly. So, they could not transfer
those recommendations into the detailed engineering design,
which is necessary for mitigating the effects from the shaking force.
North
Compressor
nozzle
Compressor
nozzle
Compressor
nozzle
Piping system parameter
Design temperature: 125°C
Oper. temperature: 97°C
Design pressure:
Material:
Pipe size:
FIG. 1 Reciprocating compressor discharge piping system with as
installed support configuration.
Natural frequency report
14
12
10
Frequency, Hz
A case study was done for the third-stage outlet of the com-
pressor piping system, as shown in Fig. 1. The lines connected
to the fin-fan cooler and PSV are omitted to simplify the piping
system modal because their inclusion in the analysis would cause
a longer solution time without a significant improvement in the
analysis accuracy. The lines connected to PSV and fin-fan cooler
were analyzed separately for vibration problem; thus, they are not
part of the case study model.
Standard solution approach. In this case, the standard
solution approach adopted for mitigating the vibration problem
included:
• A model review of the plant to identify potential problems
in the piping system such as less stiff supporting structure; lack
of proper spring hold down; a long unsupported pipe span and
requirement for directional restraint, etc.
• A review of the pulsation study report and recommendations
given through vendor’s specialist design team at the time of detailed
engineering. After this review, several points were observed:
 Support stiffness was far less than the minimum values
indicated from the pulsation study report
 Support type and/or location were different in some cases
• As observed, the support/structure stiffness was far below
than the recommended values; thus, the structural design group
had reviewed a first-cut possibility to increase the stiffness as close
as possible to the recommended value. The required changes in the
structure or supports were issued to the site for implementation.
The stiffness of the original structures was increased by bolted con-
nections so that the stiffness can be altered at a later stage if required.
Compressor
nozzle • To compare the actual design with respect to the installed
conditions, a site walk-down study was done. Through the walk-
down study, the actual design documents (IFC isometric, support
drawing, etc.) were compared with as-built site condition. The
differences between design and installed site conditions were
noted. Several action items were adopted to omit the differences
between the design and site conditions:
 Install modifications that can be easily done, e.g., chang-
ing of limit and guide gaps and adding supports without direct
89 kg/cm2(g)
A106 Gr B welding to pipes.
10 in. and 12 in.  Verify overall effects from omitted design changes that can
only be done on a plant shutdown—direct welding of pipe. If the
effects from the omitted item are not significant, then the design
will be changed to comply with as-built site condition.
• A standard operating procedure (SOP) for simulation of
actual site condition was developed in standard computer software
so that calculated natural frequencies do not exceed actual values.
• The modified file was reviewed again with new structural
stiffness in static conditions. After getting design compliance in
static condition, the modal analysis was done, and various system
natural frequencies were extracted. Each mode with frequencies

8 in the +-20% of first and second harmonic was reviewed in the

dynamic plot option of the software. After reviewing the dynamic
6
behavior, several modifications were done to make the system
4 rigid so that the vibration level can be reduced/omitted:
 Adding new axial and transverse restraints in the direction
2
in which the vibration occurs
0  Increasing the stiffness of the support and the supporting
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
Mode
structure, if required.

FIG. 2 Natural frequency report for various modes considering Step-by-step procedure for modal analysis. First, a
standard operating procedure for stress modeling. SOP for the piping system model in stress analysis software was

58
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT
FIG. 3 Mode 1 at 4.727 Hz.
FIG. 4 Mode 4 at 6.112 Hz .
developed; site-condition simulation was done to calculate natural
frequencies that do not exceed the actual values. In the SOP, a
modeling technique is developed to include the proper simulation
of spring hold-down supports, lateral stiffness with friction, etc.,
so that actual site conditions are simulated. The main points of
the SOP stress modeling are presented here:
• The actual support structure stiffness (vertical and lateral) is
considered at all support location.
• The feasibility to provide zero-mm gap at all guide and limit
stop supports is checked for static analysis, which was considered
for the pulsation study. Wherever zero-mm gap is not possible, the
compressor vendor must be notified so that this can be considered
in their analysis.
• Real simulation for the hold-down support. For example,
assume that we model a spring hold-down support at Node 10. So
for that link, this node 10 with CNode say 20010 with stiffness in
all directions. +Y , Z and X stiffness are from structure itself and
–Y stiffness is of the spring of Spring hold down. Now, introduce
an element 20010 to 20011 of unit length (e.g., 1 mm.) At node
20011, actual surface sliding conditions are entered. This will
normally be Y support for a spring hold down with a clamp spring
force and X and Z restraint, if any. Rotational restraint is provided
in all three directions at node 20011 to avoid a large increase in
the solution time. The same procedure is followed for each spring
hold down support.
• Unidirectional rest support is modeled as –Y with support
stiffness along with guide and limit if any.
After checking all the stresses and loads and ensuring that
design compliance in static condition, a modal analysis was done.
SPECIALREPORT
FIG. 5 Mode 3 at 6.159 Hz.
FIG. 6 Mode 4 at 6.179 Hz.
TABLE 1. Various critical modes and their respective
natural frequencies
Modes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Frequency, Hz 4.727 6.112 6.159 6.179 6.516 6.550 6.816
Developing the natural frequency report through modal analysis, it
is found that the minimum natural frequency in all modes is 4.727
Hz, which is less than 5 Hz. Fig. 2 lists the various natural frequen-
cies as per different modes. Following a review of the various mode
shapes, it was observed that system is highly susceptible to vibra-
tion mainly at seven modes, which are close to the first harmonic
of excitation frequency. The mode shapes at which system seems to
be highly susceptible to vibration are listed in Table 1. The system’s
dynamic behavior at these frequencies are shown in Figs. 3–9.
Modes 1–4. The system’s dynamic behavior at modes 1–4 are
shown in Figs. 3–6. The system is susceptible for vibration in the
E/W direction. So, the system’s rigidity was increased in the E/W
direction by increasing the structure/support stiffness and provid-
ing new directional restraint in the E/W direction.
Modes 5–7. The system’s dynamic behavior at modes 5–7 are
shown in Figs. 7–9. The system is susceptible for vibration in the
N/S direction. So, the system’s rigidity was increased in the N/S
direction by increasing the structure/support stiffness and provid-
ing new directional restraint in the N/S direction.
After doing all of the modifications in the computer model,
the problematic natural frequencies in the range of +–20% of the
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 59
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

Natural frequency report

14

12

10

Frequency, Hz
8

2
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Mode
FIG. 7 Mode 5 at 6.516 Hz.
FIG. 10 Natural frequency report for various modes with standard
operating procedure and modification.

Natural frequency report

14

12

10
Frequency, Hz

2
0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31
FIG. 8 Mode 6 at 6.550 Hz. Mode
FIG. 11 Natural frequency report for various modes considering
normal modeling of supports and rigid stiffness of support.

Implementing recommended modifications. Based on

FIG. 9 Mode 7 at 6.816 Hz.
first harmonic of excitation frequency were omitted. However,
further modifications to eliminate the frequency in the range of
the second harmonic were not possible due to constraint from
the design compliance of a system in static condition.
With the updated computer model, the new mode shapes
with natural frequency are shown in Fig 10. From Fig. 10, it is
clearly seen that the number of modes are reduced from 34 to
23, and the minimum frequency value is increased from 4.727
Hz to 7.025 Hz, which is 20% away from the first harmonic of
excitation frequency.
the modal analysis results, the list of required modifications (sup-
port requirement and structural modifications, etc.) was separated
into four different categories:
• Category 1. Modifications that can be easily carried out,
e.g., changing the guide or limit stop gap
• Category 2. Changing the support or structure stiffness that
does not require a plant shutdown
• Category 3. Adding supports that do not require direct
welding to pipe.
• Category 4. Adding supports that require a significant out-
age of the compressor unit. However, these modifications will
be done later if the vibration is still present in the piping system.
After implementation of the necessary modifications from
Categories 1–3, it was observed that the vibration level decreased
considerably. The vibration level fell well within the acceptable
criteria as per API 618 5th edition, clause 7.9.4.2.5.2.4. After that,
all current as built condition of the site is transferred to vendor’s
specialist team for a pulsation study and fatigue stress evaluation
(if required). As per vendor’s new pulsation study and fatigue
stress evaluation report, the current modified as built piping
conditions are acceptable.
Effect from improper simulation modeling. In this
case, the simulation approach used earlier at the initial design

60
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 FLUID FLOW/ROTATING EQUIPMENT

phase of the piping system was explained. The detailed engineer-

ing group did a thermal analysis with the help of standard stress
analysis software. The important points of the modeling and
analysis are:
• Support stiffness was considered very high 1x 1012 N/mm
(normal default stiffness) while the actual support stiffness was
comparatively very low.
• At many rest support locations, the friction factor was not
considered.
• The spring hold-down support was modeled as a simple
bidirectional restraint with default rigid stiffness.
• The guide and limit stop gaps were considered as 2 mm for
most of the support locations.
The mentioned simulation modeling does not simulate the
actual site condition in the computer model. Therefore, the
extracted mode shapes through modal analysis will not show the
exact dynamic behavior of the system in the computer model that
was happening at the site. Also, these unrealistic mode shapes
may mislead the stress analysis personnel in wrong direction;
thus the ineffective modification at the site may not resolve the
vibration problem.
The extracted natural frequencies of the different modes for
this simulation technique are shown in Fig. 11. From Figs. 2 and
11, the natural frequencies for different modes totally depends on
the correct simulation of site conditions in the analysis software.
The minimum extracted frequency for this simulation technique
is 5.18 Hz, while the natural frequency from SOP is 4.727. This
shows that the effectiveness of a modal analysis method depends
upon the simulation technique used for analysis.

Options. The responsibility of the detailed engineering company

for large reciprocating computer systems is to ensure design com-
pliance in static conditions and proper interpretation and incorpo-
ration of all recommendations received in the detailed engineering
phase, as given by the vendor in the pulsation study report.
However this comprehensive approach for vibration and
pulsation control of a reciprocating compressor piping is acous-
tic simulation and piping restraint analysis plus mechanical
analysis (with forced mechanical response analysis if necessary)
is received a number of times at a quite late stage of the project
implementation stage.
If the detailed engineering company does the design along with
the static analysis and modal analysis with proper simulation of
the actual support boundary conditions, take action regarding
support addition/stiffness change, etc., can be taken at the design
stage. Late stage modifications may occur after receipt of the
comprehensive analysis report from vendor’s specialist team and
can be decreased to quite an extent. HP

M. G. Choudhury is a senior vice president and head of Pip-

ing Engineering of RPTL Engineering (formerly BecRel Engineering
Pvt. Ltd). He has around 40 years of working experience in piping
design engineering ,especially in pipe stress. He has also worked
for companies like EIL, TOYO, CHEMTEX and SABIC.

Radharaman Tripathi is a mechanical engineering graduate

and has been associated with piping stress analysis in RPTL engi-
neering, (formerly BecRel Engineering Pvt. Ltd), Mumbai ,India. He
is involved in pipe stress analysis of various Reliance plants.

Select 164 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS 䉴

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inter-stage bearing

Vespel CR-6100
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 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT SPECIALREPORT

Use a new calibration

method for gas pipelines
An advanced method improves calibrating orifice
flowmeters while reducing maintenance costs
M. GUEMANA and S. AISSANI, University of Boumerdes, Algeria;
and A. HAFAIFA, University of Djelfa, Algeria

A
novel calibration approach can save on maintenance calibrated in the workshop facilities, which are approved by the
costs for industrial gas pipeline systems. A new intelligent competent authorities. Among these calibrations, we can also use
measurement technique for gas flow uses a sonic nozzle the venturi-necked sonic nozzles.10
sensor. A case history examines the application and test validity The principle of gas flow measuring through the venturi-
for such measurement technology on a high-volume natural gas necked sonic nozzle is based on the determination of the pressure
pipeline system. ratio between the upstream and downstream and the necked sec-
tion of the nozzle. The accuracy of the flow determination is about
Background. There has been increased interest by nozzle manu- 0.5%, which is appreciable. The aim of our work is the study of an
factures to design nozzles that will effectively reduce the volume installation using the benefits of sonic nozzles mounted in parallel
flow in gas compression systems.1 Compressible flow dynamics are to determine the gas flow, which is transported by the pipeline
a critical aspect of many engineering applications in processes and under in-situ conditions.
equipment, such as expansion processes, high- and low-pressure
nozzles, valves and compressors.2–4 This study is focused on mea- Sonic nozzle technology. The sonic nozzle is a fluid-flow
suring the mass flowrate of a compressible fluid through a con- measurement device used in many industrial applications, and
vergent divergent nozzle with respect to inlet and outlet pressures. it is based on the principle that gas flow accelerates to a criti-
cal velocity at the nozzle throat.6,10–12 At critical velocity, the
Gas flowmeters must operate properly and reliably because mass flowrate of gas flowing through the nozzle is the maximum
the measurement data constitute not only the basis for billing possible for the existing upstream conditions.13 Because it has
quantities of delivered gas, but also for rational exploitation of no mobile parts, it is very stable and stress-resistant, and it can
the pipeline network. With pipeline transport of natural gas, be used repeatedly, with very low maintenance. Due to their
small measurement errors can have serious consequences.5 When high repeatability and reproducibility, sonic nozzles are consid-
using gas flowmeters in commercial transactions, it is necessary ered to be very precise. Sonic devices operate on the principle
to ensure correct metering, as prescribed by competent authori- that as fluid flows through the meter, the fluid accelerates as it
ties. Each meter must be properly certified and calibrated to the approaches the throat. As the differential pressure increases, the
operating conditions.6,7 velocity at the throat increases. When the velocity of the fluid
In connection with the increasing demand of natural gas as a reaches the speed of sound, it is considered choked, sonic or criti-
primary energy supply and connected higher demands on mea- cal.14 Once the flow has reached the critical state, increasing the
surement and test rig technology, sonic nozzles, which are already
established in the low pressure area get more important also for
high pressure.8 1.1
––– D
1.1
––– D Throat
Sonic nozzles are recommended in many engineering appli- 0.9 0.9
7D < L < 10D
cations—for example, in the turbine-meter standard for meter T P
Temperature Pressure Tangent point P”
calibration, etc.9 This article examines the performance for onsite tap tap
calibration of a sonic nozzle sensor installed in a gas pipeline
system. The regulation of the sonic nozzle sensor during the
periodic checks, measuring instruments is compared to the stan- D ≥ 4d Flow
2.6
––– D d +/- 0.001 P’ 3°~4°
dards to verify their performance; these calibrations are generally 2.4
2.2
performed onsite. R= ––– D
1.8
For a gas pipeline system, onsite calibration is generally dif-
ficult because it requires providing a headline to install a standard
meter and the flexibility to impose flowrates that correspond FIG. 1 Measurement solutions for a venturi-type nozzle.
to the points defined by the rules. In practice, these sensors are

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 63
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

Using some transformations of fluid, we obtain the important

Temperature relation of Hugoniot:11
transmitter Pneumatic
Pressure Analysis control valve ds du
transmitter of gas + (1− M 2 ) = 0 (5)
composition s u
Sonic
Measured
nozzle
Gas flow Where u / a = M is the local Mach number.17
steam flow input
Analyzing this equation to the main sections of the nozzle
gives us:
Separator • In the convergent nozzle, when ds < 0, then du > 0 and the
Differential speed increases, subsonic flow.
pressure
• At the neck ds = 0 so:
Q1 Controller du
(1− M 2 ) = 0
Gas flow
Q2 computer (6)
measurement u
Qn
Two cases may arise, either:
1. dU = 0, and the velocity reaches a maximum and then
Sonic nozzle
of flowrates decreases
2. M 2 = 1 and the velocity becomes sonic at the neck.
FIG. 2 Gas flow measurement and control in gas pipeline system • Finally, in the divergent part, ds > 0. In this case there, are
using an intelligent sonic nozzle sensor. two outlets. If M < 1, then du < 0 and the velocity decreases,
subsonic flow.
differential pressure will not affect the fluid flowrate.15 Several Eq. 6 shows that in given piping with an isentropic flow, the
components are important to a sonic-device metering system; fluid velocity cannot be equal to sound (M = 1), except at the
upstream and downstream piping, pressure sensors, temperature neck of the venturi nozzle. (In this piping section, the area has a
sensors and flow computers.10,16 Measurement solutions are maximum or minimum.)
shown in Fig. 1.
The sonic nozzle is similar to a subsonic variable head type Mass-flow venturi nozzle. The mass-flow venturi nozzle
flowmeter in which a constriction is present in the flow stream.7 is passing through a slice where, Q =  Su in which a section of
As the gas flows through the converging section of the nozzle, the well-defined and constant to calculate the flow simply determine
inlet pressure is converted to velocity, which reaches a maximum with good precision the values  and u. By integrating the ther-
at the throat. When the fluid velocity reaches the speed of sound at modynamic Eq. 3, we have the equation of Zeuner:11,12
the throat, the flowrate will vary linearly with the inlet pressure and
u2
will not be affected by downstream pressure fluctuations.13 The + h = Cte (7)
pressure drop across the nozzle must be sufficient to maintain sonic 2
flow at the throat. Normally, sonic flow occurs when the down- Similarly, for an ideal gas, we have the following relation:
stream pressure is not greater than one-half the upstream pressure. γ p
h= (8)
γ −1 ρ
Example. Assume that the flow is permanent, one dimensional,
compressible and isentropic for an ideal gas in a venturi nozzle. The And replacing in Eq. 8, we get:
general equations of fluid motion in a net current can be written as: u2 γ p
Differential equation of continuity: + = Cte (9)
2 γ −1 ρ
∂ρ ∂s ∂u
+ + =0 (1) The application of this equation for the upstream section in
ρ s u which u = 0 and any section of the nozzle, gives us:
Equation of dynamics: u2 γ p γ pam
⎛ u 2 ⎞ dP + = (10)
d ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟⎟ + =0 (2) 2 γ −1 ρ γ −1 ρam
⎝⎜ 2 ⎠⎟ ρ Given that the flow is isentropic, we will have speed in a sec-
Equation of energy: tion equalling:
⎛u2 ⎞
d ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟⎟ + d (CpT ) = 0 ⎛ ⎞⎟
γ −1
(3)
⎜⎝ 2 ⎟⎠ 2γ pam ⎜⎜⎜ ⎛⎜ p ⎞⎟ γ ⎟⎟
u= 1− ⎜ ⎟ ⎟⎟ (11)
Equation of state of ideal gas: γ −1 ρam ⎜⎜⎜ ⎜⎝ pam ⎟⎟⎠ ⎟⎟
⎟⎠
⎝
p
= rT (4) This relationship gives the equations of fluid motion are
ρ
often expressed in terms of Mach number, then Eq. 11 can be
Note: For an ideal gas, the specific heat Cp at the constant written as:
pressure is given by the relation: γ −1
γ −1
γr γ −1 2 Tam ⎛⎜ pam ⎞⎟ γ ⎛ ρam ⎞⎟
⎜ (12)
1+ M = =⎜ ⎟ =⎜ ⎟
Cp = 2 T ⎜⎝ p ⎟⎟⎠ ⎜⎝ ρ ⎟⎟⎠
γ −1

64
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

2γ pam
uc = (16)
γ −1 ρam

Substituting Pam , ␳am the values of dependent parameters col-

lar, we have finally:
pc
uc = γ
ρc
which is the speed of sound in the neck of the venturi nozzle and
the mass flow will be:
γ +1
(17)
γ ⎛⎜ 2 ⎞⎟2(γ −1) p
Q = Sc ×⎜ ⎟⎟ × am
FIG. 3 Computers used in gas-flow measurements. r ⎜⎝ γ + 1⎟⎠ Tam
Denotes the relaxation coefficient magnitude
γ +1
γ ⎛⎜ 2 ⎞⎟2(γ −1)
A= ×⎜ ⎟
r ⎜⎝ γ +1⎟⎟⎠
Flow venturi Flow venturi
FV01 FV02
and we write:
p
Q = Sc A am (18)
Flow Tam
PT TT PT TT
Test chamber Thus, we see that the mass flow of a sonic flow depends only
PT TT sonic nozzle
on parameters upstream of the venturi nozzle. This value repre-
Controller sents a maximum possible flow nozzle. For example, assume the
characteristics of the critical state of a nozzle without a diverging
natural gas (␥ = 1.22):
Flow PT: Pressure transmitter 1
TT: Temperature transmitter
computer pc 2 1
c 2 1
0.561; 0.622
pam 1 am 1
FIG. 4 Experimental test.
1
Tc 2 ac 2 2
0.901; 0.949
T 1 aam 1
Eq. 12 is very important; it can be used to determine critical  am
parameters of the flow. And, finally, by substituting u in Eq.10, Flow computers. Flow computers are electronic devices that
we have: can use various process measurements to calculate flow. The flow
⎛ γ −1 ⎞ computers have been applied to solve various linearization and
2γ pam ⎜⎜⎜ ⎛⎜ p ⎞⎟ γ ⎟⎟⎟ (13) compensation equations that were previously done using other
Q = ρS 1− ⎜ ⎟ ⎟
γ −1 ρam ⎜⎜⎜ ⎜⎝ pam ⎟⎟⎠ ⎟⎟⎟⎟ methods.16, 18–21 They are especially convenient to operators who
⎝ ⎠ need standalone devices to be configured and that are able to add,
Given that the flow is isentropic, we have: subtract, multiply, divide, drop out, square root, linearize, totalize,
1 γ −1 solve for exponents, algorithms, etc.
2γ pam ⎛⎜ p ⎞⎟γ ⎛ p ⎞⎟ γ (13a) In this application, the sonic nozzle in a gas compression sys-
Q = ρam S ×⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ × 1− ⎜⎜ ⎟
γ −1 ρam ⎝ pam ⎟⎠ ⎜⎝ p ⎟⎟⎠ tem may be calibrated to measure accurately when it is operated
am
at a particular pressure and temperature. The flow computers
By maintaining constant conditions, generating the mass flow can make corrections for Reynolds number effects and changing
is based on grouping Y = f (P / Pam ). fluid density, as well as, remove non-linearity.22,23 Because the gas
can be compressed, measurement error will occur when the sonic
Critical flow. From Eq. 13a, we see that maintaining constant nozzle is operated at a different pressure and temperature.
upstream conditions implies that the flow depends only on the When provided with the raw flow, operating pressure, and
function: operating temperature measurements, a flow computer can be used
1 γ −1
(14) to mathematically correct the raw flow measurement to account
Y = W γ 1−W γ for real-time changes in operating pressure and temperature. The
In turn, this function depends only on (P / Pam = W) reaches gas flow measurement and control in gas pipeline systems using
a maximum when we have then: intelligent sonic nozzle sensor proposed is shown in Fig. 2.
γ The flow computer provides the intelligence and the controls
p p ⎛ 2 ⎞⎟γ −1
= c = ⎜⎜ ⎟ (15) necessary to run the proving process and to calculate the cor-
pam pam ⎜⎝ γ +1⎟⎟⎠ rect sonic nozzle flowrates. The prover uses modern electronics
and a sophisticated computer technology, as shown in Fig. 3.
This parameter is called the critical ratio of relaxation (Wcr ), This flow computer can be applied when the measurement error,
and the corresponding speed to this ratio is equal to: due to actual operating conditions, becomes large enough to be

66
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT SPECIALREPORT

1.00

0.95

0.90

0.85

0.80

Wcf
0.75

0.70

FIG. 5 Experimental test. 0.65

0.60
unacceptable in the application. The measurement error can be
estimated by calculating the worst-case operating conditions. 0.55
The calculations presented here are for nozzles carrying a liq-
0.50
uid as described in ISO 3500. The ISO equations are used in the 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.0
calculations. Ø
FIG. 6 Reports critical function of the angle of divergence.
Results and discussion. The experimental test setup is
shown schematically in Figs. 4 and 5; two flow venturi venturis
(FVs) are installed upstream of the chamber in the gas pipeline.
They are identified as FV01 and FV02. The objective of adding 1.00
the third FV is to isolate the source of any observed variance in
the test chamber of the sonic nozzle in parallel montage. This is 0.95
accomplished by comparing the results of any two FVs relative to
the third. Determining the variance contributed by the multiple 0.90
FV chamber in parallel montage compared to that contributed by
a single unit is of particular interest. 0.85

0.80
Venturi nozzle test. According to the assumption of isen-
tropic flow, the sonic and subsonic elsewhere neck, leaving the
Wcf

0.75
continuity equation at the neck and out of the venturi nozzle,
was obtained for Eq. 14: 0.70
2
⎛1 1 ⎞⎟ ⎛ 2 ⎞ γ −1 ⎛ γ −1⎞⎟ ⎛ Sc ⎞⎟
2
⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎟×⎜ ⎟
W ×⎜⎜W −Wcr ,s ⎟⎟⎟ = ⎜⎜
γ γ
×⎜⎜
⎜⎝ γ + 1⎟⎟⎠ ⎜⎜⎝ S ⎟⎟⎠
0.65
⎟⎠ ⎜⎝ γ +1⎟⎟⎠
cr ,s cr ,s
⎜⎝ s
(19)
0.60
As the geometry of the venturi nozzle, we have adopted:
0.55
ds ⎛L ⎞
= 1+ 2 ⎜⎜⎜ t − 2⎟⎟⎟×Tgθ
dc ⎝ dc ⎠ 0.50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
And ␪ = 3°30’. L t /dc
It takes time:
⎛ 2 ⎞ FIG. 7 Reports critical function of Lt /dc.
⎜⎜ ⎛ 2 ⎞⎟γ −1 ⎛ γ −1⎞⎟ ⎟⎟⎟
⎜⎜ ⎜⎜ ⎟ ⎜ ⎟ ⎟
Lt Cotgθ ⎜⎜⎜ ⎜⎝ γ +1⎟⎟⎠ ⎜⎜⎝ γ + 1⎟⎟⎠ ⎟⎟⎟ (20)
= 2+ ×⎜ 1 ⎛
−1⎟⎟⎟ ibility factor on the rate flow, for the pressure and temperature, in
dc 2 ⎜⎜ 1 ⎞⎟ ⎟⎟
⎜
⎜⎜ Wcrγ,s ⎜⎜Wcrγ,s −W cr ,s ⎟⎟⎟ ⎟⎟ the intelligent sonic nozzle sensor is shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
⎜⎜ ⎝⎜ ⎠⎟ ⎟⎟
⎝ ⎟⎠
Conclusion. To savings on maintenance costs for pipeline
By giving values to the report Lt /dc, you can calculate the cor- systems, the flow venturi sonic nozzle can be used as a single unit
responding Wcr report. The results obtained for the reports critical in gas pipeline, or several units can be installed in parallel within
function of the angle of divergence are shown in Fig. 6. The results a chamber. It is more complicated than the flow venturi sonic
for the critical function of Lt /dc are shown in Fig. 7. nozzle limiting orifice, but it has better performance because the
Other tests results investigated in the examined gas pipeline sys- divergent section of the sonic nozzle can recover some pressure.
tem are presented in this section. The influence of the compress- Using venturi nozzle collar sonic requires knowledge of critical
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 67
SPECIALREPORT FLUID FLOW AND ROTATING EQUIPMENT

0.94 0.82

0.93 Z (AGANX 19) Z (AGANX 19)

Z (GERG 88) 0.82 Z (GERG 88)
0.92
0.82
0.91
Compressibility factor, Z

Compressibility factor, Z
0.90 0.82

0.89 0.82

0.88
0.82
0.87

0.82
0.86

0.85 0.82
-10 0 10 20 30 40 50 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
Temperature, °C Pressure, bar
FIG. 8 Influence of the compressibility factor on the flowrate for FIG. 9 Influence of the compressibility factor on the flowrate for
the temperature. the pressure.

reports. The great advantage of these nozzles is determining flow
measurements with great precision that makes them indispensable
as regulators and stabilizers of flow during the calibration of the
other measuring means. The design parameters of the sonic nozzle
were optimized with a flow computer to determine the math-
ematically correct raw flow measurement to account for real-time
changes in operating pressure and temperature. With this method,
this optimized design enables a constant flowrate control to be
attained with a substantial reduction in the gas pipeline capacity
requirements and cost. HP
LITERATURE CITED
1 genius of hydrocarbons where he worked with the measurements
Bignell, N., “Using small sonic nozzles as secondary flow standards,” Flow
Measurement and Instrumentation, Elsevier, 2000, Vol. 11, No. 04, pp.
329–337.
2 Nakao, S. I., Y. Yokoi and M. Takamoto, “Development of a calibration
facility for small mass flow rates of gas and the uncertainty of a sonic venturi
transfer standard,” Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Elsevier, 1996, Vol.
07, No. 02, pp. 77–83.
3 Hayakawa, M., Y. Ina, Y. Yokoi, M. Takamoto, S. Nakao, “Development of a
transfer standard with sonic Venturi nozzles for small mass flow rates of gases,”
Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Elsevier, 2000, Vol. 11, No. 04, pp.
279–283.
4 Wright, P. H., “The application of sonic (critical flow) nozzles in the gas
industry,” Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Elsevier, 1993, Vol. 04, No.
02, pp. 67–71.
5 Zheng, Y., J. R. Pugh, D. McGlinchey and R. O. Ansell, “Simulation and
experimental study of gas-to-particle heat transfer for non-invasive mass flow
measurement,” Measurement, Elsevier, 2008, Vol. 41, No. 04, pp. 446–454.
6 Choi, Y. M., K. A. Park, J. T. Park, H. M. Choi and S. O. Park, “Interference
10 Guemana,
M., S. Aissani and A. Bennani, “The compressibility effect on the
counting gas method choice,” International Review of Mechanical Engineering,
IREME, 2009, Vol. 03, No. 01, pp. 104–109.
11 Aissani, S. and E. Mikaelian, “Operational characteristics for gas pipelines in
Algeria from 1976 to 1980,” Oil & Gas Science and Technology, Revue of IFP,
1982, Vol. 37, No. 06, pp. 847–852.
Complete literature cited available online at HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
Mouloud Guemana received a graduate engineer degree
in mechanical engineering from the National Institute of Hydro-
carbons and Chemistry INH, of Boumerdes, Algeria, in 1998. After
little time spent in the industry, he joined the physical laboratory of
for large natural gas pipelines. From May 1999 to January 2003, he was an associ-
ated postdoctoral researcher the University of Boumerdes, and became an associate
professor beginning in 2004. He has authored co-authored many technical and
research papers. His research interests include optimization of measuring equipment
the transport of natural gas.
Prof. Slimane Aissani earned a graduate degree in mechanical engineering
de cycle, from the National Institute of Hydrocarbons and Chemistry INH in 1976. He
received his PhD in 1986 from the University Pierre and Marie Curie Paris VI, France.
In 1988–2002, he was a researcher and the president of the scientific company. In
1999–2005, he became the director of the Research Laboratory and Development in
Genius Physiques of Hydrocarbons. Dr. Aissani was responsible for post graduation
at the University of Boumerdes, Algeria. He has broad interests in optimization flow
measurement for natural gas transmission, thermal coupling, improved performance
of energy systems and various environmental subjects. He has supervised several
master students and authored many technical papers.

effects of three sonic nozzles of different throat diameters in the same meter
tube,” Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Elsevier, 1999, Vol. 10, No. 03,
pp. 175–181.
7 ISO 9300:2005: Measurement of gas flow by means of critical flow Venturi
nozzles.
8 Chung Hu, C. and Win-Ti Lin, “Performance test of KOH-etched silicon
sonic nozzles,” Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, Elsevier, 2009, Vol. 20,
No. 03, pp. 122–126.
9 Bouam, A., R. Kadi and S. Aïssani, “Gas turbine performances improvement
using steam injection in the combustion chamber under Sahara conditions,”
Oil & Gas Science and Technology, Revue of IFP, 2008, Vol. 63, No. 02, pp.
251–261.
Dr. Ahmed Hafaifa is a graduate engineer from the National
Institute of Hydrocarbons and Chemistry INH, of Boumerdes, Alge-
ria, in 1999. From May 1999 to June 2002, he was a postdoctoral
research associate at the University of Boumerdes, doing research
on robust control and fuzzy control of compression systems in col-
laboration with the Department of Electrical Control of DJELFA, Algeria. He became
an associate professor beginning in July 2003 to the present. He is currently with the
Industrial Automation and Diagnosis Systems Laboratory, Science and Technology
Faculty, University of Djelfa. Dr. Hafaifa has authored and co-authored many scientific
papers and research projects.

68
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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Reevaluate the activity
of your catalyst system
Selecting optimum conditions for fluid catalytic cracking
requires micro activity testing through an improved method
M. A. SIDDIQUI, R. K. VOOLAPALLI, N. V. CHOUDARY, N. RAVICHANDER,
D. T. GOKAK and T. CHIRANJEEVI, Bharat Petroleum Corp., Ltd.,
Udyog Kendra, Greater Noida, India
T
he fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit is a major contribu-
tor to a refinery’s profitability. It handles a diverse quality of
heavy feedstocks and converts them into high-value distil-
lates. This unit can swiftly respond to changing market demands
through efficient use of catalyst and additives.
Exploiting this flexibility is a major aim of refiners while
attempting to operate the unit under optimum conditions. Due
to severe temperatures and hydrothermal conditions, FCC cata-
lysts do lose activity, and fresh catalyst is added often on a daily
basis. FCC catalyst in the unit is often referred to as equilibrium
catalyst or Ecat. The authors discuss ways to optimize measuring
Ecat activity to improve FCC unit operations.
Background. The FCC unit is the workhorse of complex,
integrated refineries. This processing unit processes a wide range
of feeds and yields value-added distillate products such as gasoline,
light cycle oil (LCO) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Maintaining efficient and reliable operations is key to a refin-
ery’s profitability. Accurate modeling and simulation coupled with
micro reactor catalyst activity studies play a crucial role in achiev-
ing these goals. Working under high temperatures, FCC catalysts
eventually deteriorate—physically and activity wise. Thus, fresh
catalyst is added to sustain a desired activity level. The catalyst
inventory and its properties are a combination of catalyst addition
and withdrawal rates, feedstocks to FCC and process conditions.
The Ecat activity is basically the averaged activity of particles with
different ages. Micro reactor units can measure this average activ-
ity for diverse catalyst inventory within the Ecat.
Ecat activity testing. Small-scale fixed or fluidized bed units
are the most common units used to measure the equilibrium
catalyst activity.1–3 The micro activity test (MAT) experiments
are batch experiments with feed introduced over a short period.
To alter conversion, the weight of the catalyst or oil amount used
is varied. This ratio is often referred to as the catalyst to oil (C/O)
ratio in FCC literature. Since the oil feed is injected for few sec-
onds, the injection rate is also important; it controls oil delivery
or onstream time. The onstream time is the ratio of amount of oil
used to the oil feedrate:
Oil (g) = Weight of catalyst / (C/O) (1)
PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS
Time onstream (s) = Oil (g) / Feedrate (g/s) (2)
By carefully selecting the operating variables, the MAT con-
version and yields are often correlated with plant values. Thus,
refiner can use this information in decision-making. Although
monitoring of Ecat does provide valuable insight on catalyst
health, too much time is used before a remedial action is taken
based on feedback. This is due to the slow response of FCC cata-
lyst systems to operational changes. For example, if a refiner starts
processing more metal-laden feeds or switches to a new catalyst,
it will take at least a few days to several weeks before significant
changes are noticed in the Ecat activity and its properties. This
is more severe with FCC units with large inventories or practic-
ing low-catalyst addition rates (long residence time in the unit).
Thus, the MAT must provide a more sensitive response even with
small changes in the catalyst.
Standard testing. The ASTM proposed standard micro
activity test (ASTM D3907) is based on Kuwait vacuum gasoil
(VGO) feed in a fixed-bed reactor. However, several vendors and
researchers continue to follow their own methods or migrated
to new testing tools, such as fluid beds (FST, ACE), and fluid
beds with short contact times (SCT-RT), with modified testing
conditions. The feeds used by these researchers were also dif-
ferent, perhaps due to the availability of in-house feeds or for
establishing direct correlation with the plant. The activity results
or responses of these MAT tests would differ depending on the
operating conditions and feeds used for testing.
Ideally, MAT tests should warn the refiner about potential
changes in the unit so that timely actions can be taken. Since
changes in the catalyst activity due to catalyst or process condi-
tions are gradual, initially a small fraction of the catalyst inven-
tory will be affected. Therefore, the MAT test should correctly
reflect the inventory status with swift response. The feed used
and process conditions selected for the micro activity test play
a vital role.
Operating conditions on Ecat testing. Feed conversion
and coke yield are two important parameters that are closely
monitored during micro activity tests. They are primarily influ-
enced by the feed and temperature conditions used for testing.
The conversion characteristics of a catalyst are better exemplified
under low-temperature conditions. Typically, saturates require
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 71
PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS

milder cracking severities, while aromatic feeds require more feed saturate content and practical limitations of the MAT unit,
severe cracking conditions. However, very low temperatures the appropriate temperature conditions must be selected.
would lead to poor feed vaporization and higher coke make. Apart from temperature and feed properties, coke yield is a
Therefore, certain minimum reactor temperature must be main- function of the catalyst exposure time to the hydrocarbon (Tc ).
tained for efficient feed vaporization. The coke yield can be correlated through Eq. 3, where b and n are
For a given conversion, low-temperature operation produces empirical constants that depend on feed and catalyst properties:4
higher coke make as compared to high temperatures. This is due Coke yield (%) = bTcn (3)
to more favorable hydrogen transfer reactions under low-temper-
ature conditions, which are responsible for the higher coke make. To match the plant conversion and coke yields closely, the
Similarly, aromatic feeds produce more coke.1 Accordingly, the micro reactor severity conditions (temperature, C/O ratio and
catalyst’s coke selectivity characteristics can be more clearly elu- onstream time) must be tuned with the selected feed. The purpose
cidated with aromatic feeds under low-temperature conditions. of micro activity tests are not only to match the present plant
However, aromatic feeds require severe temperature conditions yields but also to track changes in the catalyst-inventory perfor-
as they are more difficult to crack. Therefore, depending on the mance efficiently and provide early warning for corrective action.
Most present-day FCC catalysts are very active and highly
TABLE 1. Micro activity test (ACE) experimental yields coke selective (producing less coke). Testing these catalysts with
highly saturated feeds results in much lesser coke yield compared
with two different feeds and different operating severities
to aromatic-rich feeds. As catalyst activity is affected by coke
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 Test 5 Test 6 deposits on catalyst, lower coke make with saturated feed makes
it difficult to distinguish small changes in catalyst activity (con-
Feed UCO UCO UCO AEL AEL AEL
version potential), i.e., less sensitive data, through micro reactor
Feed density 0.8552 0.8552 0.8552 0.9068 0.9068 0.9068 studies. In contrast, a highly aromatic feed can lead to higher coke
Temperature 520 500 520 520 500 520 make and faster catalyst deactivation. Small changes in activity
are difficult to distinguish due to severe catalyst deactivation
Catalyst to oil 6.5 6.5 4 6.5 6.5 4
during testing. This warrants testing at higher temperatures, thus
Gas, wt% 1.4 1.1 1.3 1.8 1.4 1.6 partially compromising the conversion sensitivity information.
LPG, wt% 27.1 25.5 27 22.3 20.9 22.3 A micro activity test must be capable of robustly tracking small
Gasoline, wt% 56.4 57.0 55.1 50.3 49.6 46.3
changes in both conversion and coke selectivity, apart from low-
temperature operation, optimal feed quality, i.e., saturate content.
Coke, wt% 2.1 2.1 1.5 4 4 3.2 This is illustrated in detail through laboratory and plant data, as
Conversion 86.9 85.6 84.9 78.4 75.9 73.3 shown in Table 1.
∆ Conversion – 1.3 2 – 2.5 4.9
Optimum feed quality for Ecat testing. Table 1 presents
micro activity test results with two different feeds. One is rich in
saturates, i.e., hydrotreated feed—unconverted oil (UCO)—while
6 the other is VGO from Arab extra light (AEL) crude, which con-
tains a moderate level of saturates. The experiments were done in
5
an advanced catalyst testing unit (ACE), which is a fixed fluidized-
4 bed micro unit. In all of the experiments, the same equilibrium
Δ conversion

catalysts (zeolite rich) were used. The experiments were done at

3
three different operating severities, changing temperature and
2 C/O ratio.
Test 1 was the Base Case for UCO feed with C/O of 6.5 and
1
micro reactor temperature of 520°C. In Test 2, the temperature
0 was reduced to 500°C at constant C/O of 6.5, while in Test 3,
0.85 0.88 0.90 0.93 0.95 the severity was decreased by decreasing C/O to 4 at constant
Feed density, g/cc
3.5
temperature. Tests 4–6 correspond to Arab extra light feed with
similar severity variations. Note: With change in operating sever-
3.0 ity, the conversion change (Δ conversion) was much smaller with
2.5 the hydrotreated feed (UCO), whereas the Arab extra light (AEL)
Δ conversion

2.0 feed produced had more variation in conversion. The Δ conver-

sion is defined as:
1.5 Δ Conversion = (Conversion at base C/O – Conversion at
1.0 new C/O) at constant temperature
0.5 or
(Conversion at Base Temperature – Conversion at new
0.0
0.85 0.87 0.89 0.91 0.93 0.95 temperature) at constant C/O
Feed density, g/cc When C/O decreased from 6.5 to 4, the Δ conversion with
AEL feed was more than double compared to UCO feed. Simi-
FIG. 1 Variation in Delta conversion with changes in C/O ratio and larly when the temperature was reduced by 20°C, under constant
temperature and 1B with different feed densities. C/O severity, the response was more significant with AEL feed.

72
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS

From these simple experiments, a certain (optimal) amount
of aromatics is beneficial for maximizing the activity response.
To arrive at optimum feed quality, ACE experiments were done
by changing feed density, which is an indicator of feed saturates.
Base experiments were carried out at 520°C and C/O of 6.5. To
alter the severity, either temperature or C/O (one variable at a
time) were changed to 500°C or 4, respectively. Fig. 1 shows the
Δ conversion variations with changing feed quality with changes
in either C/O or temperature severity.
When C/O was changed from 4 to 6.5, the increase in Δ con-
version was much higher compared to the temperature change by
20°C. The scatter in experimental data may partly be attributed
to differences in feed nitrogen, sulfur, CCR content, etc., besides
experimental accuracy.
In both cases, the maximum sensitivity was noticed when
feed density was approximately 0.9. This clearly suggests that
moderately saturated feeds are more likely to produce sensitive
response compared to aromatic-rich or highly saturated feeds.
This is further illustrated by Ecat monitoring data from two dif-
ferent commercial units.
Ecat activity during catalyst change. In this example,
an FCC unit Ecat monitoring data during catalyst change over is
presented. The unit was operating with Al2O3 rich catalyst (42%)
and opted to change over to a low-alumina catalyst. Significant
changes in Ecat activity are expected during catalyst change overs.
However, these changes were difficult to realize rapidly since this
unit had a large catalyst inventory (180 tons), while the catalyst
addition rates are low (approximately 1 ton/day). This is equiva-
response observed with Feed-2 was much sharper as compared
to Feed-1. Interestingly, Feed-2 is very close to the optimal feed
estimated through the experiments, and it clearly highlights the
effectiveness of tracking changes efficiently.
Activity changes with metal content and surface
area. FCC catalyst activity is negatively affected by metals such
as nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), etc., due to catalyst poisoning. The
FCC feed is a source for metals, and these metals (Ni and V)
destroy the zeolite content leading to catalyst activity reduction.
To compensate for the loss, catalyst addition rates are increased
whenever feed-metal levels are high. Ecat metal levels are basically
balanced between the incoming metal levels and the catalyst addi-
tion rates. Fig. 3 presents the micro activity data with different
levels of Ni content on the catalyst. This data was compiled for
a nine-month period. During this time, the FCC unit was pro-
cessing portions of atmospheric residue (AR) along with normal
VGO feed; there was an increase in feed-metal levels. The Ecat
conversion values started decreasing with rising metal levels on
the Ecat. The Ecat activity during this period was monitored,
and the activity data with two different feeds was presented in
Fig. 3. Clearly, the micro activity test response with optimal feed
72
70
y = -0.0007x + 71.631
Conversion %

68
lent to average catalyst residence time of six months. In the first
six months, 63% of the inventory would be replaced with new
catalyst, while it takes more than a year to completely replace the 66
entire inventory. Since the majority of the changes are expected y = -0.0023x + 75.5
during the first six months, the effect of the feed on Ecat monitor- 64
ing data was studied over this period. Feed-1
Fig. 2 shows conversion results of micro activity tests with two Feed-2
62
different feeds during catalyst changeover. Feed-1 was aromatic 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000
-rich feed (density: 0.928) while Feed-2 was slightly saturated Ni, ppm
feed (density: 0.9035). The micro reactor used with Feed-1 was a
fixed-fluid bed while the other was a fixed bed similar to ASTM FIG. 3 Micro activity test results with two different feeds as a
function of Ni level on catalyst (Feed-1 density : 0.928,
MAT unit. Inline with the feed quality, the labs adopted higher Feed-2 density : 0.9035).
temperature severities with Feed-1 while with Feed-2, the tem-
perature severity was less severe. From the lab data, the activity
78

70 45 76

68 43 74
y = 0.1563x + 54.546
Conversion %
Conversion %

72
66 41
Al2O3 %

70
64 Feed-1 39
Al2O3 % 68 y = 0.1006x + 55.662
62 Feed-2 37
66 Feed-1
Feed-3
60 35
0 3 6 9 12 15 64
100 110 120 130 140
Time, months SA, m2/g

FIG. 2 Micro activity test results with two different feeds during FIG. 4 Micro activity test results with two different feeds as a
catalyst changeover period. (Feed-1 density : 0.928, Feed-2 function of catalyst surface area (Feed-1 density : 0.928,
density : 0.9035). Feed-3 density : 0.9082).

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 73
PROCESS DEVELOPMENTS
was much superior compared to the aromatic-rich feed. Higher
activity response is vital for optimizing the catalyst addition rates
based on metal content.5
In another FCC unit, the catalyst formulation was being
optimized. During this period, there were significant changes in
catalyst activity, surface area and other properties. Fig. 4 shows
the monthly average data of surface area and conversion values
for an 18-month period. Feed-3 was moderately saturated feed
while Feed-1 was an aromatic feed. The micro reactors used were
fixed fluid-bed units (ACE). Similar to earlier cases, the micro-
activity test response with Feed-3 was much higher compared to
Feed-1, which was more aromatic.
Options. For monitoring the equilibrium catalyst, it is com-
mon practice to use the same feed as that processed in the refin-
ery. Establishing yield and conversion correlations with the refin-
ery is a key objective. Nevertheless, such correlations can be made
even with different feeds. The directional inputs of micro reactors
are valid over a limited range. For reliable performance estimates,
besides micro activity inputs, modeling and simulation tools are
inevitable. Monitoring data ideally should be as sensitive as pos-
sible so that timely corrective actions can be taken for optimizing
or troubleshooting or other decision-making purposes. Unfor-
tunately, FCC Ecat response is slow due to large inventories and
catalyst residence times. Therefore, it is suggested that refiners
use an optimal feed for monitoring so that more sensitive data is
available for timely decision-making even if it is different from
the operating feeds. HP
Select 165 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
74
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors express their sincere thanks to Bharat Petroleum Management
for giving permission to publish this article and refinery colleagues for useful
discussions.
LITERATURE CITED
1 Reza, S., Fluid Catalytic Cracking Handbook, 2nd Edition, Gulf Publishing
Co., Houston, Texas, 2000.
2 Wallenstien, D., R. H. Harding, J. Witzler and X. Zhao, “Rational assessment
of FCC catalyst performance by utilization of micro-activity testing,” Appl.
Catalysis, Vol. 167, pp. 141–155, 1998.
3 Kayser, J. C. and Kayser Technologies, Inc., Versatile fluidized bed reactor, US
Patent 6069012, 2000.
4 Voorhies, A., “Carbon formation in catalytic cracking,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.,
Vol. 37, p. 318, 1945.
5 Voolapalli R. K., N. Ravichander, C. Murali, D. T. Gokak, N. V. Choudary
and M. A. Siddiqui, “Fine-tune catalyst addition rates,” Hydrocarbon
Processing, August 2007, pp. 109–112.
M. A. Siddiqui was formerly the head of the Corporate R&D
Centre, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., India. He is a chemical engi-
neer and holds a PhD from Leeds University, U.K. Dr. Siddiqui has
over 35 years of professional experience spanning several petro-
leum and petrochemical companies/research institutions. At pres-
ent, he offers consultancy services in the areas of petroleum refining, petrochemical
processes and energy conversion/utilization processes.
Ravi K. Voolapalli is a senior manager at Corporate R&D
Centre, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., India. He has 21 years of
research experience. His areas of interest are refinery processes,
coal-to-liquid technologies, modeling, scale-up and optimization.
Dr. Voolapalli holds a BTech degree in chemical engineering from
Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, MTech degree in chemical engineering from
the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a PhD in chemical engineering from
Imperial College of Science Technology and Medicine, London.
N. V. Choudary holds an MSc. degree and PhD in chemistry
from Sri Venkateswara Univeristy, Tirupati, India. He holds over
25 patents and has authored 60 international publications. Dr.
Choudary has about 29 years of research experience in petroleum
refining, petrochemicals, catalysis, adsorption and thermodynamics.
N. Ravichander holds a BTech degree in chemical engineering
from Osmania University, Hyderabad, and an MTech degree in chem-
ical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He
has 17 years experience in research, technical services and operations
in petroleum refining, petrochemical, fertilizer and rayon industries.
D. T. Gokak is a senior manager at the Corporate R&D Centre
Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., at Greater Noida. He holds a PhD and
an MS degree from University Of Baroda, India and MS degree in
chemistry from Karnatak University, Dharwad, India. He has vast
experience in heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. At pres-
ent, Dr. Gokak is working in the areas of refinery catalysts, additives and catalytic
processes. He has over 30 years of research experience and has published 50 research
papers both in journals and conferences. Dr. Gokak holds has six patents.
T. Chiranjeevi is the deputy manager of R&D at Corporate
R&D Centre, Bharat Petroleum Corp. His areas of interest include
refinery catalysts and catalytic processes. He holds a PhD from
Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun and an MS degree in
chemistry from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. Dr. Chiranjeevi
has over 14 years of research experience and has authored 36 journal articles and
seminar research papers. He holds two patents.
SAFETY, SECURITY
AND ENVIRONMENT
2011

CONTENTS Special Supplement to

Limit the damage from a vapor cloud loss S–77

Corporate Profiles
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 SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011
Limit the damage from a vapor cloud loss
G. ALLEN, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Energy, Houston, Texas
Risk reduction ideas from personal experience
Over 35 years of loss prevention and loss investigation experience in hydrocar-
bon processing facilities has led me to believe in the philosophy that I like to call
rule number one: “If you do not pass on your experiences, someone else will have
the same experience with the same bad results.”
There are a few simple principles that could limit the damage of a vapor cloud
event in a facility. It must be assumed that every plant operator is doing all the
“keep it in the pipes” programs, like piping and vessel inspection, process hazard
analysis reviews, corrosion under insulation and all the other parts of a good
mechanical integrity program. The focus here is not on prevention of the release.
Anyone involved in the processing or storage of light hydrocarbons, even with all of
the best practices programs in place, still faces the possibility of a vapor cloud event.
Every plant should be prepared to minimize the damage from such an occurrence.
This is a history lesson of vapor cloud losses, including detailed explanations of
one of the major damage mechanisms at work. Included within the lesson are some
basic loss prevention ideas that can limit plant damage and human exposure to
these events. These risk reduction ideas were formed from my personal experiences
with actual vapor cloud losses.
Previous investigations. My real-world-based experiences include
the onsite investigation of seven large vapor cloud losses, and the opportunity
to do detail studies of nine larger vapor cloud losses. The onsite investigations
were for the development of recommendations to help prevent future releases
and to minimize damage at other plants with similar types of releases. These site
visits included large vapor cloud releases and ignitions at hydrocarbon processing
plants, tank farm overfills, including Buncefield 20052 and New Jersey 1983,1 and
transportation events outside of processing plants. During these investigations, I
conducted hands-on inspections of the results of vapor cloud explosions on: many
process units; more than 18 large pressure vessel failures from shrapnel damage
or from boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVEs); and an untold number
of piping failures.
This discussion addresses the vapor cloud phenomenon that involves the mate-
rials most likely to be released from a typical plant, such as saturated hydrocarbons
like propane, butane and naphtha, not highly reactive intermediate materials like
ethylene, propylene and butadiene. A vapor cloud of these more unstable materi-
als can easily have explosion-like overpressures. Loss prevention in facilities with
these materials must revolve around reducing inventory, best-in-class spacing and
hardening of buildings to reduce the damage.
Flixborough. The first widely studied hydrocarbon-based vapor cloud loss
was the total destruction of the Nypro chemical plant in Flixborough, UK, in 1974.1
FIG. 1. Ignition of a propane open-air-vapor cloud, where the flame front burned through the cloud with a mostly calm, moderately slow action. The leak lasted
approximately 20 minutes.
After that event, a hastily formed acronym—unconfined vapor cloud explosion
(UVCE)—was developed to describe the then-underestimated phenomena. A
short time after the UVCE term was born, a mathematical model surfaced to try
to predict the monetary damage caused by a UVCE. These mathematical models
were soon computerized and began being used in the property insurance industry
for monetary loss from an UVCE event in every hydrocarbon processing plant.
These early models used a simple trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalent of Btus of the
released material, and post-World War II, the US government utilized blast wave
destruction predictions.
Currently, there are several versions of the TNT-equivalent model and other
newer, more complicated programs being sold. All of the older and most of the
new models use the theory that there will be a single point explosion or overpres-
sure and the destructive pressure waves will radiate outwardly from it, with the
post-World War II predicted destruction.
However, about 20 years ago, after several more vapor cloud explosions (VCE)
losses, the term was quietly changed by dropping the word “unconfined.” These
newer losses were clearly indicating that there was almost no unconfined vapor
explosion,5 and, therefore, damage was being caused by something else.
Fig. 1 shows the ignition of a propane open air vapor cloud, where the flame
front burned through the cloud with a mostly calm, moderately slow action. This
was a large propane pipeline leak that occurred after being struck by earth moving
equipment. The leak lasted an estimated 20 minutes before one of the fire trucks
ignited the cloud on the left of the figure. The photos were taken with a hand
advanced camera, meaning it could have been around a second between the
frames. They clearly show the flame front and its flame front reaction zone slowly
working its way through the very large vapor cloud.
Major destruction mechanism. If it is not an unconfined explosion, then
what is the major destruction mechanism? It is currently thought that the vapor
cloud composition, physical form, wind speed, humidity, delayed ignition, conges-
tion and very high pressures in the flame front reaction zone all affect the overall
damage. One reason the answer is not immediately clear is that the massive fire
damage following a VCE, particularly in a processing plant, destroys or hides the
evidence. These overpressure destruction mechanisms are much more obvious
when a VCE happens in a non-processing area like a terminal, or in a transportation
environment such as a railroad switching yard.
Here lies the basic problem for loss prevention engineers: If the cloud does
explode from typical conditions and is going to destroy the plant, the only loss
prevention recommended changes must be for prevention of the release or to
limit the volume of released materials. This type of loss prevention started almost
immediately after the Flixborough loss in 1974. The standard loss prevention
recommendation was to install emergency isolation valves (EIVs) on the liquid
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011
I S-77
SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011
FIG. 2. The Texas City tragedy in March 2005 was a process safety accident.
Photo: Chemical Safety Board.
FIG. 3. At the Englewood rail yard in 1974, the force of the explosion
propelled the bottom of the boxcar upward and out the roof.
FIG. 4. Any empty boxcar (with one or both of its doors open) located
in the main part of the vapor cloud, experienced a “partial containment”
explosion that blew off the roof and/or the walls to relieve the overpressure
in the enclosure.
lines of process vessels with large liquid holdups. This recommendation (with
some modifications) is still made today, at great cost to facilities and with a limited
history of reducing losses.
Shallow knowledge pool. If the installation of these EIVs on the large
liquid holdup vessels has not proven effective in the last 30 years, why are they
still being recommended today? VCE losses are limited in frequency and happen
S-78
I SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
FIG. 5. Newark, New Jersey, was the site of a low-grade explosion that took
place under several empty aluminum gasoline road transport trailers in 1983.
to different companies, so the knowledge pool of people who actually see the
damaged sites changes almost every time, except for the contractors selling the
analysis programs. Another consideration is that the layout of the event-exposed
sites vary greatly, making it hard to determine if the damage is overpressure
related or just the massive fire that followed. In my case, it was four years after a
VCE at the Englewood rail yard in Houston, Texas, and after several other losses,
before the basic explosion damage principle started to become clear to our team.
So why is it still recommended that the EIVs on large liquids hold up process
vessels? Because no one with the actual site loss investigation experience has the
opportunity to convince the vapor cloud experts that there are some simple ways
to limit the damage (remember rule number one).
Texas City. It is now commonly accepted that the more obstacles, partial
containments or buildings that vapors can get inside or under, the more likely
there will be explosive overpressures. Yet, it is not underestimated how much area
damage is caused by these explosions. When an enclosure explodes in a process
unit, all of the area equipment will be exposed to the pressure and shrapnel which
can easily cause leaks, adding to the chain reaction and spreading of the fire.
When it happened under a portable building at BP Texas City on March 23,
2005, 15 people were killed. At this loss incident, several portable trailers were
about 3-ft off the ground, with the area under the floor of the trailers open on
all four sides. The vapors that drifted under the trailers contributed to a “partial
containment explosion” powerful enough to turn the wooden trailers into a pile
of broken splinters. Notice that the flame front of the explosion was so fast that
the splintered wood did not ignite into a fire (Fig. 2).
Englewood rail yard. On Sept. 21, 1974, the area under a boxcar was filled
with butadiene vapors from a butadiene railcar puncture at the Englewood rail yard
in Houston, Texas.1 When the captured vapors ignited from an outside source, the
“partial containment” explosion was powerful enough to blow the floor upward
and out the top of the boxcar, and the walls of the car, still in a continuous loop,
fell down off to the side (Figs. 3 and 4).
Newark. “Partial containment” was also the story in 1983 in Newark, New
Jersey,4 when a low-grade explosion took place under several empty aluminum
gasoline road transport trailers. The explosion caused one trailer to flip over back-
wards while another was jarred upright by the blast (Fig. 5). Here, it was clearly
evident that the explosive pressures stopped at the edge of the vapor cloud. One
of the trailers was badly deformed at the front, where it formed a “partial con-
tainment” from being in the edge of the vapor cloud, but no damage occurred to
the thin aluminum parts at the back. The damage ranged from very severe to no
damage at all within a distance of only 1-ft.
The exact amount of containment cannot be estimated because it is also
affected by the amount of air that is mixed with the hydrocarbon vapors at the
point of containment. In the case of the uprooted Englewood rail boxcar, it was
 SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011

located on the very outside limit of the vapor cloud, where there would have been
more air in the mix. There were hundreds of other boxcars deeper in the vapor
cloud where the vapors simply burned around them and created no pressure
waves. The only commonality seemed to be when the car was at the outer limits
of the vapor cloud. The same was true with the truck transport tanker trailers in
New Jersey, located at the outside limit of the vapor cloud.
However, when the vapors enter a building or a complete enclosure, regardless
of the location in the cloud, a large explosive overpressure is almost assured. This
is sometimes referred to as the “bang box” effect.
Buncefield. There were five enclosures that exploded during the Buncefield,
UK,2 terminal vapor cloud loss event. In this loss, the overfilling of a gasoline stor-
age tank resulted in a huge vapor cloud that traveled to the adjacent terminal.
The vapors entered the firewater pump building that was constructed from hollow
red tile bricks. After the flame front reached the vapors in the building, it exploded
with overpressure waves that severely damaged a sheet metal building about 500
ft. away. In Fig. 6, you can see the pump and diesel driver surrounded in the open.
The pieces of the red brick from the building walls are now covering the parking
FIG. 6. Five enclosures exploded during the Buncefield, UK, terminal vapor
lot and are also in the firewater reservoir.
cloud loss event.
Jaipur. Perhaps a much more drastic example is Fig. 7, a photo of the struc-
tures damaged from internal explosions in 2009 at an Indian Oil terminal in Jaipur,
India. The terminal had a large release of gasoline next to a storage tank. The
resulting gasoline vapor cloud had spread into many buildings before the ignition,
causing them to eventually explode and damage other objects in the area.
The knowledge that explosions readily occur in enclosures is widely accepted
because of loss studies that show where flammable mixtures in pipes have
exploded in the pipeline industry. Why has it taken this long to see that explosions
in buildings and partial containment will cause widespread damage? Again, the
massive ensuing fire damage can mask the evidence even if you are looking for it.
And if you are a believer of the single point open-area explosion mechanism, the
obvious differences will be missed every time.

Holding out hope. When the Buncefield loss study was completed,
the over pressure patterns were so different from the expected single point
vapor cloud explosion mechanism, something else had to be acknowledged.
The Buncefield Investigation Third Progress Report stated that, “The magnitude
of the overpressures generated in the open areas of the Northgate and Fuji car
parks is not consistent with current understanding of vapor cloud explosions.”
Today, academics are still studying the Buncefield loss, so there is hope that the
problem of building explosions and partial containment explosions will be better
understood in the future.
Vapor cloud explosion damage can be limited by removing empty buildings,
sheds or enclosures that vapors can get into or under. With the structures that
must remain (like control rooms and MCC buildings), the doors, windows, cable
penetrations and other openings in and under the structures should be closed
as much as possible. The structures should then be pressurized with air from an
elevated source. The pressurization system should maintain a pressure of 0.10-
in. of water. The system should have an alarm that would sound in an attended
location if the pressure was less that 0.10-in. for over 20 seconds. This delayed
alarm of 20 seconds should allow people to enter and exit without unnecessary
alarm trips.
Implementing these common sense measures should significantly help a plant
limit the damage from a vapor cloud loss. As the old saying goes, “It’s not just about
having knowledge; it’s what you do with it that counts.” HP
LITERATURE CITED
1 Lewis, D. J.. “Unconfined vapor cloud explosions,” Prog. Energy Comb. Sci.
Vol. 6, pp. 151–165.
FIG. 7. Photo of the structures damaged from internal explosions in 2009 at
an Indian Oil terminal in Jaipur, India.
2 Buncefield Major Incident Investigation, “Report to the Health and Safety
Commission and the Environment Agency of the investigation into the explo-
sions and fires at the Buncefield oil storage and transfer depot, Hemel Hemp-
stead, December 2005,” July 13, 2006.
3 “Hazardous materials accident at Southern Pacific Transportation’s Engle-
wood Yard in Houston , Texas,” September 21, 1974, NTSB Report Number:
RAR-75-07.
4 Bouchard, J. K., “Gasoline storage tank explosion and fire,” National Fire
Protection Association Summary Investigation Report, Newark, New Jersey,
Jan. 7, 1983.
5 AIChE Guidelines for Chemical Process Quantitative Risk Analysis, 2nd Ed.,
2.2.1. Vapor Cloud Explosions (VCE) 2.2.1.1, 2000.
Gene Allen joined the Oil Insurance Association, after graduating from Texas
A&M, as a loss prevention engineer in 1974. Since then, he has continuously
been involved with loss prevention activities at refining, manufacturing, storage
and distribution facilities. His experience covers the entire spectrum, from plant
operations and emergency procedures to fire brigade training and staffing, review
of tactical preplans and fire equipment testing. Mr. Allen has been an active mem-
ber of several industrial fire brigade and standards groups, including the National
Fire Protection Association 11 Foam Technical Committee and the Society of Fire
Protection Engineers.

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011

I S-79
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 CORPORATE PROFILE: DOLLINGER FILTRATION
SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011

Filtering everything…
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In 1921 Dollinger laid its foundation with the development of the world’s first
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 CORPORATE PROFILE: DETECTOR ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011

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 CORPORATE PROFILE: FabEnCo
SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENT 2011

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Select 59 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

Pre-engineered solutions
drive down advanced control costs
Process control can improve quality and operating efficiency
P. SHARPE and G. HAWKINS, Emerson Process Management, Austin, Texas
M
ost companies today have honed their process control
staff down to the minimum required to maintain a
control system that can safely operate the process units.
This leaves little time for the internal development of strategic
applications that can improve process and safety performance.
While some refineries and major petrochemical sites are able to
justify dedicated teams of engineers to take care of advanced pro-
cess control (APC) systems, many processing sites are still depen-
dent on outside help for implementation, revamps and ongoing
maintenance of APC systems. As a result, traditional APC initia-
tives have been stalled by the organization’s lack of capacity to
identify, fund, staff and maintain advanced automation invest-
ments, even though the cost can almost always be justified.
Most process control managers recognize that there are oppor-
tunities to use APC to improve quality and operating efficiency,
but feel constrained by economic and resource realities. Pre-engi-
neered, packaged solutions provide a unique way to kick-start
implementation of these applications for the most common process
units found in industry. Reusable, built-for-purpose applications
drive costs out of the design, implementation and maintenance
efforts, much as pre-fabricated housing takes costs out of building
construction. These are simple, straightforward applications that
can be put online in a matter of a few weeks, once all the basic
instrumentation and control issues have been resolved.
Two packaged applications (one for distillation columns and
one for boilers) are discussed in this article. What the discussion
will illustrate is that pre-engineered APC applications can be
utilized to obtain maximum benefit at a fraction of the historical
cost of traditional APC projects.
Benefits of APC. Many companies today have implemented
initiatives to reduce energy consumption. For most plants,
energy is the second largest operating cost behind feedstock.1
And because improving energy efficiency is the best way to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, environmental considerations are driv-
ing a refreshed look at energy conservation projects in the devel-
oped countries. According to the US Department of Energy, there
are more than 40,000 distillation columns in the US alone that
consume roughly 19% of all energy used in the processing indus-
tries and 6% of the total US energy consumption.2
It turns out that distillation columns are a classical applica-
tion of advanced control, in which long time constants, interact-
ing control loops and multiple equipment constraints can cause
operators to run more conservatively than the optimum. In the
case of distillation, this usually means: using more energy than
PROCESS CONTROL
necessary; reducing product recovery; and/or higher product
quality “giveaway.”
Incremental energy usage skyrockets for high-purity columns
the closer they get to 100%. A 2008 case study on a styrene column
shows that the incremental steam cost to increase the purity from
99.6% to 99.7% represented more than 13% of the total energy
used by the column, as shown in Fig. 1. That’s roughly $600,000
annually in unnecessary expense.3 Yet while over-purification of
distillation column products can be expensive, both in terms of
energy and product recovery, it is often not readily visible to the
operators. Reducing the energy consumed per unit of distilled prod-
uct is imperative for producers to operate the most efficient plants.
While not every column requires operating to high-purity
specifications, the principal is the same. The closer you can oper-
ate to the product specification (without violating the limits),
the more profitable the operation. APC can improve column
operations because it continuously predicts how the control and
constraint variables will respond in the future and makes multiple
adjustments every minute to keep the system optimized. This, of
course, is not a task that even the most experienced operators can
feasibly accomplish in their heads.
APC can also help boiler management. According to a study
prepared for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, there are almost
163,000 industrial boilers in the US larger than 10 million Btu/
hr that consume almost 37% of all energy (excluding electricity)
used by industrial facilities.4 Optimal boiler usage can slash the
fuel bill of any industrial plant. Operating available equipment
Distillation separation of ethyl benzene-styrene
12
11 $10.4 MM/yr
Energy cost, $ million/yr
10
9 $8.6 MM/yr
8 $7.6 MM/yr
$7.0 MM/yr
7
$5.9 MM/yr
6
5
*Basis: Energy cost = $6/MMBtu Average relative volatility = 1.4
4
99.0 99.1 99.2 99.3 99.4 99.5 99.6 99.7 98.8 99.9 100
Styrene product purity, wt%
FIG. 1 Energy cost vs. product purity in a styrene column.3
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 87
PROCESS CONTROL

at maximum efficiency, shifting loads to more efficient produc- • Minimize energy usage
ers, maximizing use of waste fuels and optimizing the site’s steam • Minimize column pressure (to improve relative volatility)
headers can be worth millions annually, often representing more • Operate within all equipment and process limits.
than 8% of the site’s fuel purchases.5 As shown in Fig. 2, these distillation columns may have up to
Pre-engineered solutions. Distillation columns, boilers, fired four manipulated variables, two to four controlled variables, and
heaters, cracking furnaces, fractionators and blenders are examples a common set of constraints such as valve and column hydraulic
of very common unit operations that lend themselves to a more limits. Most columns will have the key measured variables shown
standardized, packaged approach. While each plant will be dif- in Fig. 2 that are inputs to a standard set of calculations such as
ferent in its layout and design, the fundamentals of the processes, pressure-compensated temperatures, internal vapor and liquid
typical measurements and control objectives will be similar from traffic, reboiler and condenser duties, and key performance indices
one site to the next. A typical two-product distillation column is (KPIs) like material balance error or cost per unit product.
shown in Fig. 2. Similarly, boilers also represent common unit operations that
For these columns, one can generalize the column operating lend themselves well to pre-engineered solutions. Common boiler
objectives as: control objectives include:
• Maintain overhead and bottoms qualities within target range • Generate the target steam demand
• Maximize yield of most valuable product • Minimize excess combustion air
• Maximize use of lowest cost fuel
• Control steam-drum level
TI • Maintain steam supply pressure
• Operate safely within all operational and equipment limits.
PC
In general, the boiler advanced control strategy manipulates
LC
Top
impurities fuel, combustion air and boiler feedwater to achieve these objec-
Reflux TI
QR
tives. These units also have a typical set of KPI calculations used
Top product to monitor the performance, including boiler efficiency, heat rate,
PC steam cost and emissions.
FI Candidates for pre-engineering. Successful APC projects
FC TC
use a holistic approach that starts with a review of the regulatory
Control control layer and its dynamic performance. As part of any APC
temperature Manipulated
Feed flow variables
TI
FC project, it is important to address issues with control valves, loop
Steam Controlled tuning and process measurements to obtain stable, responsive
variables
TI
Constraint performance in all key control loops. Experience has shown that
variables significant performance and reliability improvements can be
obtained just through resolving issues at the regulatory control
layer. An APC project is often the driver for fixing problems that
Bottom QR
TI
impurities may have existed for years.
Bottom product Instrumentation. Most process plants were designed and built
with the minimum amount of instrumentation—just what was
FIG. 2 Advanced control of distillation columns like this one can
be generalized from one site to the next. essential to operate the unit safely. However, improving reliability
and energy efficiency often requires addi-
tional process measurements. For example,
one would expect at least those measure-
ments indicated in Fig. 2 for a typical distil-
lation column. If any of these monitoring
points are not available, they can be added
wirelessly. In mature operating units that
have been running for several years or even
decades, instrument engineers may have
already used much of the original spare wir-
ing as instruments were added or replaced
or as existing wiring failed. Current wireless
measurement devices offer an alternative
that greatly minimizes engineering, instal-
lation and commissioning costs for new
process measurements.
Calculations and control functions.
Given a set of typical inputs, it is possible to
standardize calculations and control func-
tions so that project teams do not end up
FIG. 3 The column model predictive control strategy, in terms of manipulated, control and re-engineering commonly-used function-
constraint variables, will be similar from one column to the next and is easily edited. ality on every project. This standardiza-
tion moves dramatically away from the old

88
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 PROCESS CONTROL

paradigm, in which new projects were based on the functional A typical boiler display is shown in Fig. 5. In this example, an
designs from the last project, to a productized approach with operator can quickly see which parameters on the screen are not
pre-engineered and tested function libraries, documentation and in their normal state.
software support. On a modern control system, the user simply Documentation. While project documentation will always
wires the inputs using drag-and-drop actions to the distillation require some level of customization, using standard applications
block and all the standard calculations are performed automati- reduces the documentation effort to more of a “cut-and-paste”
cally, with no need for further engineering. exercise. Reference documentation for the calculations and con-
In addition to the standardized calculations, advanced control trol logic can be done once. User documentation can be leveraged
tools needed to optimize the column can be included and pre- across multiple projects.
defined for a typical column. While the advanced control con- Maintenance and support. Using standard, pre-engineered
figuration for a particular column will need to be adjusted based solutions rather than custom, “one-off ” projects allows the vendor
on the regulatory controls, the column model predictive control to offer a more complete support service. Now there are multiple
(MPC) strategy, in terms of manipulated, control and constraint resources besides the individual who performed the installation
variables, will be similar from one column to the next and is easily to help with any troubleshooting, support and upgrades. Sup-
edited, as shown in Fig. 4. port help line staff can direct technical calls to resources that are
An important note with respect to the APC scope: There are knowledgeable about that application.
those who suggest that one must implement a single, large MPC Savings. How much can you save using pre-engineered solu-
strategy that spans an entire process unit or distillation train. In tions? That depends on your basis for comparison. Compared to
practice, we have found many successful applications that break doing nothing, the savings can be substantial. In one case, a distil-
the problem down into smaller, easier-to-understand components. lation application was implemented for a Midwest US refiner in
Implementing one MPC strategy per column simplifies step a total of two weeks and it paid for itself in less than two months.
testing, model identification and troubleshooting, and improves At a site in Texas, a chemicals manufacturer claimed steam reduc-
long-term utilization. Since a single column controller is easier for tions and product-recovery savings worth more than $700,000
an operator to understand, such arrangements tend to have higher annually for the first application on its high-purity distillation
online times. When required, MPC outputs can be easily used as train. This project was also configured and implemented in only
disturbances or cascaded to secondary MPC controllers to accom- two weeks onsite. While company names have been withheld at
modate interactions and constraints that cross column boundar- their request, the savings are real.
ies. The approach of networked MPC controllers is also an ideal
way to handle site-wide energy management systems, including
automatic shedding strategies for steam-limited operations.
Configuration tools. With a standard package, the configu-
ration effort can also be automated somewhat with a set of tools
that performs a complete system-wide search-and-replace for all
the main elements like tag names and equipment IDs. These tools
can be populated with standard descriptive tag names (used by the
base module) and descriptions that can be edited by the user for
that particular instance.
User interface. Every site will have its own specific graphics FIG. 4 Embedded MPC configuration can be easily edited to
standards that dictate the color scheme and the look and feel of the accommodate the specific project needs.
process graphics. On the other hand, graph-
ics and templates that have been field-tested
and enhanced across many projects make a
great starting point for customizing to a site’s
requirements. And the standard user inter-
face comes with a user manual already com-
pleted. Graphical elements provided with a
standard solution can make use of the lat-
est technology and human-centered design
(HCD) concepts to potentially improve
operator effectiveness. HCD is an interna-
tional standard (ISO 9241-210:2010, Ergo-
nomics of human-system interaction—Part
21 ) that goes far beyond just screen designs
to focus on the most common user tasks,
making their access more intuitive and easy.
One example of this would be minimizing
the number of clicks required to get to the
most commonly used functions. The latest
operator graphic standards suggest using
bold colors only when necessary to draw the FIG. 5 Typical HCD boiler display.
operator’s attention to something abnormal.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 89
PROCESS CONTROL
Similar savings for implementing advanced boiler control
applications have been experienced in powerhouses across many
industries. For example, Monsanto estimates that it saved more
than 8% of the natural gas used in its Luling, Louisiana, produc-
tion facility by maximizing usage of a hydrogen-rich waste stream
as boiler fuel.5
Compared to the traditional methods, where APC is imple-
mented in a separate supervisory computer connected to the
regulatory control system using OPC, embedded tools essentially
eliminate the need for extra computer hardware, communica-
tions and databases. Pre-engineered solutions reduce the initial
engineering cost by as much as 30% and provide a platform that
can be supported across multiple installations.
For process control managers with APC as part of their busi-
ness objectives, opportunities abound for small, dedicated MPC
controllers that don’t require a lot of effort to implement and
maintain. Pre-engineered, built-for-purpose APC solutions lead
to quicker installation, better long-term maintenance and higher
onstream factors.
Current modern control systems have capabilities that were
unimaginable in the past. These systems are truly much more
than a DCS. Built-in APC tools provide control engineers with
additional algorithms to solve tough control problems. No doubt,
there are certainly many opportunities where a large-scale, multi-
unit, supervisory MPC system (and the team to keep it running)
makes sense. However, there is a whole class of control problems
in which a small, dedicated MPC algorithm running in a high-
speed, redundant controller environment can have a huge impact
at a much lower cost. HP

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Select 166 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
90
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
LITERATURE CITED
1 White, D., “Trading silicon for carbon: How to reduce energy usage through
automation,” Hydrocarbon Processing June, 2010, pp. 61–70.
2 “Distillation column modeling tools,” Office of Industrial Technology:
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, US Department of Energy,
Washington, DC, September 2001.
3 Humphrey, J. L., F. Seibert, C. Lewis, and J. Farone, “Smart distillation pre-
vents problems before they happen,” AIChE Spring Meeting, New Orleans,
Louisiana, April 2008.
4 Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc.,“Characterization of the US
industrial commercial boiler population,” submitted to Oak Ridge National
Laboratory, May 2005.
5 Henderson, J., “Waste not, want not: Optimized combustion of hydrogen and
natural gas,” Emerson Exchange, September 2009.
Pete Sharpe is currently the director of industry solution appli-
cation development for Emerson Process Management. He holds a
BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado
and an MBA degree from the University of Houston. He has over 33
years of experience in the process control industry, in both techni-
cal and management roles, specializing in advanced process control. He has helped
refiners, petrochemical manufacturers, utilities and polymer plants design, justify and
implement major automation projects and control system upgrades. He has authored
or co-authored more than 25 technical papers, and holds two patents on abnormal
situation prevention techniques.
Gary Hawkins is a consultant within the PlantWeb global
refining industry group of Emerson Process Management. Before
Emerson, Mr. Hawkins worked 30+ years for a process technology
licensor as a process control specialist, including field startup work,
process engineering and technical services. He is active with the
API Refining and Equipment Standards Committee and has a BS degree in chemical
engineering from the University of Illinois.
EMISSIONS
REDUCED FUEL CONSUMPTION
Cudd Energy Services’ innovative Dual Mode Pump (DMP)
provides a wide range of pump rates and pressures when
an open flame is not permitted on site.
The following are some of the capabilities of the DMP:
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www.cudd.com

Climate change 101:
Impact on refiners
Here’s a different viewpoint on global warming
J. C. GENTRY, GTC Technology US, LLC; Houston, Texas
I
n some industrialized countries, there is
a widespread view that greenhouse gases
produced from burning fossil fuels will
lead to ever increasing global atmospheric
temperature changes. The scientific case
for man-made global warming or climate
change is not proven. If unchecked, global-
warming advocates will burden the global
economy with costly regulations on carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions, penalties on fuel
consumption, premature introduction of
unproven and uneconomical alternative
energy schemes, and food shortages due
to mandated use of bio-based fuels. The
outcome will result in irreversible damages
to many manufacturing industries and a
decline in the global standard of living.
Refiners and petrochemical operators
should be aware of the political trends in
the industry and prepare to make prudent
investments into cost-effective energy
reduction projects. Likewise, these industry
operators have a responsibility to maintain
the low level of harmful emissions and even
reduce these to further enhance our collec-
tive physical well-being. However, industrial
participants should also rightly resist the
promptings to accept unreasonable controls
over consumption of fossil fuels based on
spurious data and contrived emotion.
Introduction. This present article
intends to open the debate on the phe-
nomenon of global climate change, which
reportedly has been closed by its proponents
and a compliant media. The goal is to pres-
ent a commonsense viewpoint based on
practical scientific observations and how the
evidence is treated. What mankind is striv-
ing to control through manipulating energy
consumption, falls short of the established
natural balance in play since earth’s creation.
Most published articles on climate
change are based on drama and hype,
with a hint of scientific assertion to appear
plausible. Often, there is some connection
suggested to a recent catastrophic weather
event. Fig. 1 is an article published in 1922
that was emblematic of the news about this
topic. Most climate change articles are full
of clear inferences to glaring problems that
have been caused by humans, which can
supposedly be corrected with some collec-
tive action.
During the 1970s, there was a fear that
the world was headed toward a period of
global cooling and that there needed to be
drastic action to avert this impending disas-
ter. Scenes of frigid conditions and cold-
inspired deaths were portrayed, even though
the year-round cooling was expected to be
only 1°C–2°C below the prevailing norm
(Fig. 2). The technical explanation offered
for the cooling effect was radiation back
into the solar energy space due to soot par-
ticles in earth’s upper atmosphere.
In the 1980s, the concern shifted
toward global warming due to the postu-
FIG. 1 “The Changing Arctic” by George
Nicolas.
ENVIRONMENT
lated greenhouse effect from certain atmo-
spheric gases (Fig. 3). Data were gathered
and models constructed to prove that this
period in time was different than previous
history, because mankind was consuming
much higher quantities of fossil fuels, and
the resultant CO2 released from this com-
bustion was the culprit behind pervasively
rising global temperatures.
Coincident with this viewpoint was a
series of ulterior motives from an odd mix
of compatriots, designed to promote one
agenda or another, usually for social adjust-
ment or personal profit. These included
those who truly believed we were headed
toward a manmade disaster because of an
uncontrollable increase in temperatures;
those who resented the Western world’s
dependence on imported energy from
politically unstable regions of the world;
FIG. 2 December 1979—Public concern
that the earth was cooling and
lifestyle changes needed to be
made.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 91
ENVIRONMENT
those who object to the byproducts of oil
consumption and environmental pollu-
tion; and those who want to reallocate
some of the resources away from the indus-
trialized world toward developing coun-
tries. The common element linking these
agendas was CO2.
FIG. 3 The sentiment changed, and
concern swung toward the need
to combat warming.
FIG. 4 Current phrasing for all actual or
potential climate issues: warmer,
wetter, drier, more eventful, less
eventful.
FIG. 5 Is this polar bear in peril or
simply searching for food from an
advantage viewpoint?
92
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
During the 2000s, evidence of global
warming failed to match the predic-
tions, so a new phraseology, Global Cli-
mate Change was introduced. This term
was deliberately broad so that one could
be correct when predicting temperature
increases or temperature decreases; or cli-
mate shifts from one region to another.
Most recently, in 2010, a new term was
introduced—“Global Climate Disrup-
tion” (Fig. 4). This latest designation lends
itself to a negative connotation about any
changes in weather patterns, to more con-
veniently promote reductions in energy
consumption and to justify governmental
intervention into this policy.
In exchange for favorable coverage,
media outlets have conveyed specific
choreographed messages reporting all the
extremes in nature as if these had not been
happening throughout earth’s history.
Regional droughts in Africa, flooding in
Southeast Asia, hurricanes in the Gulf of
Mexico, and the polar bears stranded on
a broken iceberg have all been blamed on
global climate change (Fig. 5). In addition,
well-known politicians and celebrities have
taken sides to pronounce global climate
change upon us. Al Gore for example, has
effectively secured the media’s attention,
persuaded some in the public and even won
the Academy Award and other recognitions
for his support of global warming (Fig. 6).
Some scientists have claimed to uni-
versally accept the fact of global warm-
ing, further eroding the opportunity for
debate. Is global climate change the most
pressing problem facing mankind, which
requires intergovernmental cooperation to
avoid disaster?
FIG. 6 Global warming proponents include former Vice President Al Gore.
To understand the problem, let’s look at
the primary issues:
• Does the phenomenon of global
warming exist? Is there global climate
change?
• If so, is industrial activity the primary
factor? Is CO2 the main proxy for changing
global temperatures?
• Is it reasonable, or even possible, to
shift global climate patterns by changing
human activity?
• Does it make any difference in any
case?
In general, the public has been misled.
The public is accepting things “green,” but
the transforming policy discussions center
on CO2. Even the word green is confusing.
Today’s “green” is anything one purports to
be natural or environmentally benign. The
definition is set by the marketer or promoter
of a particular good, practice or political
agenda. Often, what is designated “green”
is not helpful to society or the environment.
Biofuels are reported to be “green,”
(Fig. 7) but the raw material for ethanol
or biodiesel is a food source for man or
animals. Furthermore, the life cycle on
carbon emissions is only marginally lower
than traditional fossil fuels. Biofuels require
large areas of land, water and fertilizers that
compete for these alternative resources.
Except in very few cases, biofuels are never
economical to use for mass consumption in
transportation or power generation com-
pared to traditional fuels.
Energy saving light bulbs are an icon
of “greenness” (Fig. 8). The present bulb
prices are 20 times higher than conven-
tional bulbs. The economic payback on
replacing light bulbs is much longer than

other actions we could take for saving
energy. The light bulbs also contain mer-
cury. Will mercury leakage from bulb dis-
posal become the next environmental disas-
ter? Is the energy savings by using the light
bulbs more valuable than the capital which
could be deployed toward economically
properous enterprises or social benefits?
Chemical production plants and oil
refineries are generally not considered
“green.” But even in this sector, the manu-
facturers have set up a system to make com-
parisons and denote a particular practice or
site to be “green,” usually for the purpose of
obtaining operating permits.
What is “green”? There are many
shades of green, without a universal stan-
dard. In truth, “green” should relate to the
practice of photosynthesis, which produces
the characteristic color during the conver-
sion of CO2 and light into plant growth with
oxygen (O2 ) as a byproduct. This symbiosis
of O2 generation by plant life and CO2 by
animal life is the fundamental core of our
physical existence. What has happened in
the last three decades is that CO2 has been
demonized as the culprit for all disagreeable
climate patterns within the world. Terms
such as carbon footprint, cap and trade and
greenhouse effect conjure images of worldwide
disaster, with CO2 as the root cause.
What is CO2? By definition, CO2 (Fig.
9) is a heavy colorless gas that does not
support combustion; is formed especially
in animal respiration and in the decay of
combustion of animal and vegetable mat-
ter; is absorbed from the air by plants in
photosynthesis; and is used as a food addi-
tive in the carbonation of beverages. CO2
is a nontoxic trace component in the atmo-
sphere and a natural part of the biosphere.
Let’s open up to the real debate to
untangle the various motives and agen-
das from the scientific substance at hand.
There is consensus based on evidence
that the earth’s temperature has increased
approximately 1°C over the last 100 years;
and that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have
increased from approximately 280 ppm in
the middle of the last century to 390 ppm
today. The temperature measurements on
land vs. water, upper atmosphere vs. lower
atmosphere, polar vs. tropical, etc., have
a natural variation and range of accuracy.
Beyond this, there is great divergence of
opinion about the causes of these devia-
tions and resultant effect on mankind.
Regarding temperature, there has been
at least three (100+ year) periods in history
ENVIRONMENT
where global temperatures were higher than Concerning the greenhouse phenom-
they are today (Fig. 10). This includes the enon, water vapor is actually the dominant
13th century, when the Vikings colonized component, comprising 95% of green-
Greenland. Woodlands once covered the house gases (Fig. 13). CO2 is a small por-
tundra region in Northern Canada, and tion of the greenhouse gas mixture; and
animal life patterns were different than anthropogenic-derived CO 2 is an even
today. During this time, man-made CO2 smaller portion. The mere validity of the
was largely absent from the equation. The greenhouse effect as a significant factor in
historical temperature record can also be explaining incremental global tempera-
questioned, since modern instruments for ture increases is questionable. Consider-
measuring temperature on a consistent, ing the multiple contributing factors that
global scale did not exist prior to the past affect global temperature, CO2 levels in
100 years. Today, many official measure- the atmosphere have virtually no influence.
ment sites are compromised by the heat The blame is simply on the wrong target.
island effect, located in urban areas with Kyoto, Bali, Copenhagen and Cancun
street paving or other artificial heat sources. have been sites of international meetings
Global temperature correlations have designed to promote the premise of CO2-
been made with CO2 and other param-
eters (Fig. 11). Sometimes the CO2 shows
a direct correlation, and other times not.
Certainly, there are many different factors
that influence global temperature. The
most direct correlation seems to be solar
activity. The sun is overwhelmingly the
largest energy and heat source to our envi-
ronment. Evidence also shows on a macro
scale that CO2 rises after global tempera-
ture increases, because of the lower solu-
bility of CO2 in the ocean storehouse at
elevated temperatures (Fig. 12).
FIG. 8 Make more prudent use of
resources.
FIG. 7 Are biofuels “green”? FIG. 9 CO2—Focus of debate.
Vikings colonize Greenland
2
Today
1
Little ice age
°C
Medieval warm period
-1
-2 Vikings leave Greenland
River Thames
freezes each year
1,000 1,300 1,600 1,900
Year
FIG. 10 European climate change over the last 1,000 years.
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011
I 93
ENVIRONMENT

1.0
World temperature falls, while CO2 keeps rising
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1998
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2000
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2002
2002
2003
2003
2004
2004
2005
2005
2006
2006
2007
2007
2008
FIG. 13 CO2 is the trace component in the
FIG. 11 Earth’s temperature does not correlate with CO2 concentration. atmosphere.

t
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– There are changes in our global climate
2 1,374
dating far back into history before Christ
Arctic air temperature deviation, °C

t
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1 1,372 models
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-1 Arctic air were reduction in CO2
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FIG. 14 Problem: Comingling of political
objectives with the scientific
-2 Temperature correlates with 8
carbon used, billions

sun, not hydrocarbon use Gas method.

Metric tons of

1880
FIG. 12
based global warming and to compel global
nations to make commitments to reduce
the greenhouse gases. The pathways to this
opinion seems logical enough, including:
• Observation that the earth is getting
warmer
• Scientists gathering and studying data
• Consequences of the global warming
progression being presented
• Attempt to garner and capture public
support for changes that need to be made.
However, there are fundamental flaws in
these points. Before making a rational deci-
sion about man-made global warming, one
must use common sense and understand
all the facts:
1. Modern meteorological science has
only existed for the last 100 years (Fig.
14). Therefore, historical data on global
temperatures are largely based on indirect
Oil
World hydrocarbon use
Coal
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year
Temperature correlates with the Sun, not hydrocarbon usage.
evidence and adjusting the various input
sources to a common basis. Using these
data, the variance in global temperatures is
1°C–2°C over extended time periods. The
global average today is approximately 1°C
above the 1,000-year normal average.
2. Scientists have made a tremendous
effort to gather data related to global tem-
perature changes and to develop climate
models that encompass the data and indi-
cate cause and effect. The models include
the famous hockey-stick prediction of a
sharp, uncontrollable increase in global
temperature. All the models are wrong, at
least in their predictions on account of
CO2 (Fig. 16). In 2010, the Earth’s global
temperature was 0.62°C lower than in
1998; and CO 2 increased 20 wppm in
the same period. No models predicted the
2000–2010 downward trend in tempera-
6
4 tures. In contrast, long-term temperature
2 trends closely follow solar activity. Climate
scientists do not know the full extent of all
0
the contributing factors to global climate.
3. The consequences of global warm-
ing are presented as polar caps melting,
with a rising sea level; regional droughts
in Africa, causing wars and mass disloca-
tions of the population; increased hurri-
cane activity in the Gulf of Mexico and
typhoons in Southeast Asia; polluted air
over cities; and polar bears driven out of
their natural existence. Does CO2 cause
smog, or is this smog rather caused by soot,
particles and nitrogen oxides (NOx )? Are
hurricanes predictable? Is the Darfur con-
flict in Sudan a result of higher tempera-
tures across the African plains? Are polar
bears not able to adapt to a changing envi-
ronment; and are they in decline at all?
4. All marketing campaigns focus on
changing the perception about a product
or an issue to gain favorable support. The
campaign in favor of man-made global
warming is no different. We are presented
with images of starving children, hurricane
damage and polluted cities (Fig. 17). Sup-
porting data are selectively shown, or even

94
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 ENVIRONMENT

-3.0

-2.5 Predicted IPCC temperatures

vs. real global temperatures
-2.0 IPCC
prediction
ΔT, °C

-1.5

-1.0 Normal
-0.5 0.5 variation
0.0 0.0 Current
°C

temperature
-0.5
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1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080 2100

FIG. 15 Climate models are inadequate.

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overwhelming majority supports the asser-
tion of man-made global warming. Absent
political motives and given an unbiased view
of the relevant data, scientists do not share
this view but have the opposite conclusion.
The real questions we should pursue are:
• As a global community, are we far FIG. 16 Di-hydromonoxide emissions from
better off in all categories of quality of cooling towers at a petrochemical
plant. The public is mislead to
life based on economic progress, than we
would have been under a regime of limited
believe that simple water vapor
from the facility is a pollutant.
Leading
CO2 emissions? Would people in Central
Africa choose to build a single CO2 capture • Results which are measurable
Technology for
plant in their country, or would they rather • Investors of the capital and resources Innovative
spend this capital and incremental energy who are rewarded.
costs to drill 100,000 new water wells, add Proponents of CO2 restrictions would Solutions
thousands of school buildings, modernize violate every tenet of business and eco-
RECIPROCATING COMPRESSORS
the public infrastructure, and have virtually nomic well-being by having: for Process Gases
unlimited medicines? • Uncertain outcome The compressors are of modular design and com-
• Has any artificial shifting of resources • Infinitely high risk ply with the API 618 design standards. The series
has been developed for the heaviest continuous
toward non-economic areas ever yielded • No measurable impact on temperature operation.
overall positive results? • No one is rewarded; everyone is Discharge pressure:
Capacity/flow:
10 ... 1,000 bara
100 ... 115,000 m³/h
• Has human nature changed in its penalized. Power: 50 ... 16,000 kW
desire for power and control, to the point The constraints on capital are particu-
CENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSORS
that we are willing to entrust ourselves to larly limiting. In a petrochemical plant or for Process Gases
the pure motives of some governmental or refinery, the approval criteria for projects The BORSIG ZM “T-Jet”-series comprises multi-
regulatory entity to control our environ- are usually a time period for payback of stage integrally geared centrifugal compressors
which comply with the corresponding API design
ment and economic destiny? less than one year. Many households use standards, such as API 617.
The wonder to behold is that the sun (or should use) similar criteria. Compelling
Other BORSIG Products:
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at 5,500°C such that the temperature devia- poor or less favorable economic return is Stations, Compressor Valves, Pressure Vessels,
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tion at any one location on the planet 150 an unwise use of resources. Ultimately, the and Power Plant Technology, Industrial and
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ENVIRONMENT

Postulation: The poorest in the world
will benefit the most by stopping global cli-
mate change. The reality is that the poorest
will be disproportionately hurt by legislation
that makes the cost of fuel and general liv-
ing expenses increase.
Limiting CO2 will be absolutely harm-
ful to our existence. CO2 reduction is com-
pletely unnecessary and would result in
higher costs due to a misallocation of resources.
There are no environmental benefits from
reducing CO2 emissions, only very high
costs. One could make a reasonable coun-
ter-argument that increased CO2 in the
atmosphere allows plant life to grow faster
to help alleviate a global food shortage; or
that higher year-long temperatures have led
to more prosperity and better quality of life
across the globe.
The other reasons for reducing fos-
sil fuel consumption—such as national
energy security, supporting the farm-
ing community; or managing finite
resources—should be debated on their
own merits. There are very different pub-
lic policies to appropriately address these
separate concerns.
If refiners and petrochemical opera-
tors are nonetheless compelled to reduce
energy consumption or otherwise limit
CO2 emissions, then the choices are:
• Substitute nontraditional energy
sources such as wind, solar or biomass.
These are already tapped out with present
technology and capital costs, and logisti-
cal limitations. More can be done, but at
significantly higher incremental cost.
• Switch from traditional fossil fuel
sources such as coal to natural gas, which
has a lower carbon intensity. This can be
done to some extent, but nowhere near
the requirement to have any meaningful
impact on atmospheric CO2 levels. This
also penalizes the coal industry, which pro-
duces the most abundant and accessible
energy resource on Earth.
• Capture and sequester CO2. Carbon
capture will directly reduce CO2 emissions,
but at a high cost. The cost is estimated at
approximately 30% of the power output
from a coal-fired electrical generating plant,
notwithstanding the very high capital cost.
All these solutions have high economic
costs; therefore, they haven’t been imple-
mented. The best approach is to focus on
sustainable processes and practices that:
• Preserve or replenish natural resources
• Reduce operation costs
• Are economically viable with capital
constraints
• Are inherently safer with respect of
human life.
Some reasonable examples of sustain-
able processes and practices that should be
supported include:
1. Reducing energy consumption by:
• Using high performance mass trans-
fer and adsorption devices in distillation
operations
• Eliminating obsolete technology such
as glycol solvents for aromatics extraction
• Performing regular online heater
cleaning instead of shutting down after a
period of declining operation.
• Adopting modern operational prac-
tices related to startup/shutdown, flaring
and process control.
2. Making higher-value products,
including:
• Steam cracker byproduct upgrades
• Fluid catalytic cracking gasoline to
aromatics
• Recycle wastes to fuel
3. Reducing noxious compounds to the
environment by:
• H2S and SO2
• Benzene in gasoline
In conclusion, there is no scientific basis
that warrants reductions in CO2 to miti-

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25 MMCFD x 1100 PSIG PROPAK REFRIGERATION PLANT
28 TPD SELECTOX SULFUR RECOVERY UNIT
1100 BPD LPG CONTACTOR x 7.5 GPM CAUSTIC REGEN
NGL/LPG PLANTS: 10–600 MMCFD
AMINE PLANTS: 60–3300 GPM
SULFUR PLANTS: 10–180 TPD
FRACTIONATION: 1000–25,000 BPD
HELIUM RECOVERY: 75 & 80 MMCFD
NITROGEN REJECTION: 25–100 MMCFD
MANY OTHER REFINING/GAS PROCESSING UNITS
We offer engineered surplus equipment solutions.
Bexar Energy Holdings, Inc.
Phone 210-342-7106 s Fax 210-223-0018
www.bexarenergy.com s Email: info@bexarenergy.com

Select 204 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

WABASH SELLS & RENTS

BOILERS & DIESEL GENERATORS
FAST EMERGENCY SERVICE

800-704-2002
www.wabashpower.com Select 205 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS Select 206 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

FAX: 847-541-1279
Call 713-520-4449 for details about Hydrocarbon Processing’s
847-541-5600
Recruitment Advertising Program
Use a combination of print, recruitment e-newsletter, plus Website
to reach our total audience circulation of more than 100,000!
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98
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 HPI MARKETPLACE
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• jacketed-pipe heat exchangers • air coolers
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• hairpin heat exchangers • economizers
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NOISE Interfaces with many process simulator and physical property
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E-mail: info@hfpacoustical.com
Internet: www.hfpacoustical.com College Station, Texas 77845, USA
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Pattaya Istanbul Quebec City Ft McMurray Select 212 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
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Select 211 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 99
 SALES OFFICES—EUROPE BRAZIL—São Paulo
FRANCE, GREECE, NORTH AFRICA, MIDDLE Alfred Bilyk
EAST, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, SOUTHERN Phone/Fax: 11 23 37 42 40
Mobile: 11 85 86 52 59
BELGIUM, LUXEMBOURG, SWITZERLAND,
E-mail: Brazil@GulfPub.com
GERMANY, AUSTRIA, TURKEY
Bill Wageneck, Publisher Catherine Watkins INDIA
Phone: +1 (713) 529-4301 Tél.: +33 (0)1 30 47 92 51 Manav Kanwar
Fax: +1 (713) 520-4433 Fax: +33 (0)1 30 47 92 40 Phone: +91-22-2837 7070/71/72
E-mail: Bill.Wageneck@GulfPub.com E-mail: Watkins@GulfPub.com Fax: +91-22-2822 2803
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com Mobile: +91-98673 67374
ITALY, EASTERN EUROPE E-mail: India@GulfPub.com
SALES OFFICES—NORTH AMERICA Fabio Potestá
Mediapoint & Communications SRL JAPAN—Tokyo
IL, LA, MO, OK, TX Phone: +39 (010) 570-4948 Yoshinori Ikeda
Josh Mayer Fax: +39 (010) 553-0088 Pacific Business Inc.
Phone: +1 (972) 816-6745, Fax: +1 (972) 767-4442 E-mail: Fabio.Potesta@GulfPub.com Phone: +81 (3) 3661-6138
E-mail: Josh.Mayer@GulfPub.com Fax: +81 (3) 3661-6139
RUSSIA/FSU E-mail: Japan@GulfPub.com
AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, Lilia Fedotova
Anik International & Co. Ltd. INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE,
IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MS, MT, ND, NE, NM,
Phone: +7 (495) 628-10-333 THAILAND
NV, OR, SD, TN, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY,
WESTERN CANADA E-mail: Lilia.Fedotova@GulfPub.com Peggy Thay
Publicitas Singapore Pte Ltd
Laura Kane UNITED KINGDOM/SCANDINAVIA,
Phone: +65 6836-2272
Phone: +1 (713) 520-4449, Fax: +1 (713) 520-4459 NORTHERN BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS Fax: +65 6634-5231
Mobile: +1 (713) 412-2389 Michael Brown E-mail: Singapore@GulfPub.com
E-mail: Laura.Kane@GulfPub.com Phone: +44 161 440 0854
Mobile: +44 79866 34646 PAKISTAN—Karachi
CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY,
E-mail: Michael.Brown@GulfPub.com S. E. Ahmed
OH, PA, RI, SC, VA, VT, WV, Intermedia Communications
EASTERN CANADA SALES OFFICES—OTHER AREAS Phone: +92 (21) 663-4795
Merrie Lynch Fax: +92 (21) 663-4795
Phone: +1 (617) 357-8190, Fax: +1 (617) 357-8194 AUSTRALIA—Perth
Mobile: +1 (617) 594-4943 Brian Arnold
E-mail: Merrie.Lynch@GulfPub.com Phone: +61 (8) 9332-9839, Fax: +61 (8) 9313-6442 REPRINTS
E-mail: Australia@GulfPub.com
Rhona Brown, Foster Printing Service
DATA PRODUCTS AND CLASSIFIED SALES CHINA—Hong Kong Phone: +1 (866) 879-9144 ext. 194
Iris Yuen E-mail: RhondaB@FosterPrinting.com
Lee Nichols, Gulf Publishing Company Phone: +86 13802701367, (China)
Phone: +1 (713) 525-4626, Fax: +1 (713) 520-4433 Phone: +852 69185500, (Hong Kong)
E-mail: Lee.Nichols@GulfPub.com E-mail: Iris.Yuen@GulfPub.com

NPRA's 2011 Q&A and Technology Forum

Hydrocarbon Processing will be publishing the daily newspapers for the NPRA Q&A and Technology Forum
in San Antonio, Texas, October 9–12. The on-site coverage and in-room delivery of the newspaper can help
increase your company’s name recognition at this high-profile event.
in

TThese newspapers will feature articles and photographs from the previous day’s events, sessions, hospitality
events and speeches. The first day's paper will be in each delegate’s bag as they register. The second day's
e
paper will be delivered to each delegate’s hotel room at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa and
p
will also be at the media wall in the registration area. The third day's paper will be a special wrap-up issue
w
delivered electronically via the HPInformer e-newsletter. The readership that these newspapers receive is
d
extremely high and will boost your company's visibility at these events. Each day’s issue is posted to the
e
HPInformer blog with a special edition of the HPInformer e-newsletter sent out alerting global subscribers
H
to its availability. Hydrocarbon Processing is pleased to offer you this opportunity to deliver your corporate
message to the 2011 NPRA Q&A and Technology Forum with unprecedented coverage.
m

(Mockup) Feature your company at the 2011 NPRA Q&A and Technology Forum
F
• Highlight your hospitality suite
• Reach highly influential attendees from operating companies with buying authority
• Increase awareness of your company, products and services

Bill Wageneck Billy Thinnes

Publisher Technical Editor
+1 (713) 520-4421 +1 (713) 520-4431
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com Bill.Wageneck@gulfpub.com Billy.Thinnes@gulfpub.com
+1 (713) 525-4615

100
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
FREE Product and Service Information—AUGUST 2011
HOW TO USE THE INDEX: The FIRST NUMBER after the company name is the page on which an This information must be pro-
advertisement appears. The SECOND NUMBER, appearing in parentheses, after the company vided to process your request:
name, is the READER SERVICE NUMBER. There are several ways readers can obtain information: PRIMARY DIVISION OF INDUSTRY
1. The quickest way to request information from an advertiser or about an editorial item is to go to www. (check one only):
HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS. If you follow the instructions on the screen your request will be forwarded for A 䊐-Refining Company
immediate action. B 䊐-Petrochemical Co.
C 䊐-Gas Processing Co.
2. Go online to the advertiser's Website listed below. F 䊐-Equipment Manufacturer
G 䊐-Supply Company
3. Circle the Reader Service Number below and fax this page to +1 (416) 620-9790. Include your name, company, complete
H 䊐-Service Company
address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address, and check the box on the right for your division of industry and
J 䊐-Chemical Co.
job title.
P 䊐-Engrg./Construction Co.
Name ________________________________________________________ Company ________________________________________________________ JOB FUNCTION
Address ______________________________________________________ City/State/Zip ____________________________________________________ (check one only):
B 䊐-Company Official, Manager
Country ______________________________________________________ Phone No. _______________________________________________________
E 䊐-Engineer or Consultant
FAX No. ______________________________________________________ e-mail ___________________________________________________________ F 䊐-Supt. or Asst.
G 䊐-Foreman or Asst.
This Advertisers’ Index and procedure for securing additional information is provided as a service to Hydrocarbon I 䊐-Chemist
Processing advertisers and a convenience to our readers. Gulf Publishing Co. is not responsible for omissions or errors. J 䊐-Purchasing Agt.

ADVERTISERS in this issue of HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

Company Page RS# Company Page RS# Company Page RS#
Website Website Website

ABB Automation AB . . . . . . . . . . 17 (65) Emerson Process Management International Exposition Co . . . . . 70 (62)

www.info.hotims.com/35906-65
ADT Advanced Integration . . . . . . 76
www.info.hotims.com/35906-77
Aggreko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 (152)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-152
Ametek Process Instruments . . . . 48 (160)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-160
Asco Valve Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
www.info.hotims.com/35906-64
Axens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
www.info.hotims.com/35906-53
BASF Catalysts LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
www.info.hotims.com/35906-91
Bently Pressurized Bearing Co . . . 54 (163)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-163
Borsig GmbH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 (167)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-167
Burckhardt Compression Ag . . . . 35
www.info.hotims.com/35906-79
Carver Pump Company . . . . . . . . 19 (153)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-153
Cudd Energy Services . . . . . . . . . 90 (166)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-166
Curtiss Wright Flow Control Company,
DeltaValve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 (54)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-54
Det-Tronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 (168)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-168
Dollinger Filtration,
An SPX Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
www.info.hotims.com/35906-84
DuPont Perfomance Polymers . . . 62
www.info.hotims.com/35906-82
(Fisher Controls) . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
www.info.hotims.com/35906-69
(77)
Elliott Company. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
www.info.hotims.com/35906-67
eni SpA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6–7
www.info.hotims.com/35906-70
FabEnCo, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 (169)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-169
(64) Flexim Americas Corp. . . . . . . . . . 52 (162)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-162
(53) Flexitallic LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
www.info.hotims.com/35906-93
(91) Flowserve Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
www.info.hotims.com/35906-83
Gas & Air Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
www.info.hotims.com/35906-71
GEA Wiegand GmbH . . . . . . . . . . 37 (159)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-159
(79) Greene, Tweed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
www.info.hotims.com/35906-61
Gulf Publishing Company
Circulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Construction Boxscore . . . . . 30, 84 (157)
Events WGLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
GPC Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
HPI Marketplace . . . . . . . . . 98–99
NPRA Show Daily . . . . . . . . . . 100
Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Hermetic Pumpen GmbH . . . . . . . 28 (156)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-156
(84) Hoerbiger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22–23 (154)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-154
(82) HyTorc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 (158)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-158
(69) www.info.hotims.com/35906-62
ITT Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 (86)
(67) www.info.hotims.com/35906-86
K-Tek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 (151)
70 www.info.hotims.com/35906-151
KBR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 (60)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-60
KTI Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 (89)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-89
LA Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 (164)
(93) www.info.hotims.com/35906-164
Linde Process Plants . . . . . . . . . . 17 (81)
(83) www.info.hotims.com/35906-81
Mogas Industries Inc . . . . . . . . . . 38 (88)
(71) www.info.hotims.com/35906-88
Quest Integrity Group LLC . . . . . . 51 (161)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-161
Rentech Boiler System . . . . . . . . . . 2 (52)
(61) www.info.hotims.com/35906-52
Rosemount Tank Gauging . . . . . . 55 (73)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-73
Sulzer Chemtech, USA Inc.. . . . . . 53 (68)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-68
Swagelok Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 (63)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-63
Team Industrial Services . . . . . . . 97 (95)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-95
Trachte USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 (165)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-165
Vega Americas, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . 27 (155)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-155
Weir Minerals - Lewis Pumps . . . . 18 (92)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-92
ZymeFlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 (59)
www.info.hotims.com/35906-59

For information about subscribing to HYDROCARBON PROCESSING, please visit www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

HYDROCARBON PROCESSING AUGUST 2011

I 101
 HPIN WATER MANAGEMENT
LORAINE A. HUCHLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Huchler@martechsystems.com
Be a saavy buyer of water treatment chemicals
Suppliers for water treatment chemicals are a critical part of
managing the reliability of utility water assets. In the petrochemi-
cal industry, the water treatment supplier provides chemical addi-
tives, applications knowledge and a variety of technical and moni-
toring services. It takes an educated buyer to ensure the optimal
quantity and quality of chemicals and services. Here are some keys
to successful transactions.
; Make the qualifications of the service represen-
tatives critical elements. The most important criteria for
success are the technical knowledge, commitment and capabilities
of the technicians and engineers conducting routine service and
providing engineering analysis to the plant. Competency is so
important that some plants contractually require explicit approval
for all supplier staffing decisions for their site.
; Structure the contract to control the quality and
quantity of services. Historically, water treatment contracts
specified the “bundled” price of chemicals and services, with terms
and conditions for escalation of prices. These contracts allowed
the supplier, not the customer, to specify the scope and quantity
of services delivered to the plant.
• Savvy buyers should consider “unbundling” the chemicals
and service costs to simplify the analysis of costs and to ensure
transparency on individual escalation factors for chemicals and
service costs.
• Buyers should also consider specifying the minimum service
requirements and the quantity and types of engineering services
required to provide a higher level of accountability for the sup-
plier’s service personnel.
; Define the roles and responsibilities of your
staff. Operations personnel interface on a daily basis with the
chemical supplier and must effectively communicate critical issues
and suggested solutions. Tech service engineers have responsibility
for ensuring contractual compliance to the technical specifications
and the supplier’s service requirements. Purchasing personnel have
responsibility to craft enforceable performance provisions in the
contract and to negotiate price and delivery terms.
; Understand that the quality of the relationship
between the supplier and plant personnel will
determine the supplier’s effectiveness. The most
stringent contract cannot efficiently define or control human
behavior. Plant management must communicate clear expecta-
tions about behaviors and values such as trust and manage the
supplier–plant relationships.
; Identify the most important corporate capabili-
ties. Use these most-important corporate capabilities as critical
102
I AUGUST 2011 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
rating points during vendor qualification. Analytical expertise,
inventory management and emergency services are some of the
capabilities that may be of critical importance to your plant.
; Accurately calculate the cost of supplier change.
Threatening change is an expensive reaction to dissatisfaction
with the performance of a chemical supplier. Effective contracts
have penalty clauses and corrective actions for nonperformance
to minimize the likelihood of an unwise decision to change. A
typical strategy to manage supplier performance is to conduct
periodic reviews of compliance to contract requirements. Dur-
ing the bidding process, plant personnel should comprehensively
analyze their internal cost of change for each proposal and use
that information to negotiate the final contract price.
; Analyze the trade-off between corporate pur-
chasing and local control. Many plants have adopted the
strategy of centralizing vendor selection for water treatment at
the corporate level to achieve volume-based pricing discounts.
These actions often limit or eliminate local control over vendor
selection with disastrous results. Individual plants need some
authority to change suppliers for nonperformance when all other
corrective actions fail.
; Know the risks of cutting costs. Cost-cutting has
been the siren song of water treatment because negative impacts
typically occur over a long period of time. Cutting costs by reduc-
ing chemical feedrates (under-treating) in utility water systems
can cause equipment failure and/or large liabilities for lost pro-
duction, and possible injuries or fatalities. Plant personnel should
carefully analyze the economies of cost cutting and take the
appropriate risk.
Ultimately, successful sourcing of water treatment chemicals
is about creating and sustaining a partnership between plant
personnel and professionals in a water treatment supplier. Long-
term partnerships allow the creation of strong relationships of
trust, high levels of accountability, and agreement on mutual
objectives and goals. For more insights into raising the value
of supplier relationships, visit our blog at www.martechsytems.
com/blog. HP
The author is president of MarTech Systems, Inc., a consulting firm that
provides technical advisory services to manage risk and optimize energy and
water-related systems including steam, cooling and wastewater in refineries and
petrochemical plants. She holds a BS degree in chemical engineering, a profes-
sional engineering license in NJ and MD and is a certified management consultant.
She can be reached at huchler@martechsystems.com.
 REGISTER TODAY

proudly presents

2011 WOMEN’S

HOUSTON
HOUSTON
15–16 November 2011 • Hyatt Regency Downtown • Houston, Texas USA

Since its inception, The Women’s Global Leadership Conference in Energy and Technology
continues to grow in recognition, attendance, sponsors and support. In its eighth installment, the
2011 conference continues to serve as a catalyst in encouraging growth and leadership of women
in the industry. The theme of this two-day event will be Energy Without Borders: a paradigm
shift in the energy industry. Experts will cover topics from geopolitics to economics of refining
discussions to relocation and cross cultural issues. To view the agenda, get additional details and
register, visit www.WGLNetwork.com.

Register today and Save!*

www.WGLNetwork.com
Regular Early Bird
(before 11 September 2011)
Single attendee: ....................................................USD $800 ..................................USD $680
Team of two: .......................................................USD $1,450 ...............................USD $1,325
Small Group of 5: ...............................................USD $3,000 ...............................USD $2,875
Leadership Pack of 10*: .....................................USD $5,750 ...............................USD $5,250
* Discounts and Recognition for Groups of 10 or more: Purchase a “Leadership Pack” and receive 10 delegate passes
at a discounted rate and a listing in the program as a Leadership Pack sponsor.

Platinum sponsor: Silver sponsors: Wine tasting sponsor: Program print sponsor:

For sponsor opportunities contact,

Hadley McClellan, Director of Events
+1 (713) 520-4475, Hadley.McClellan@GulfPub.com

EVENT
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Select 53 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS