| Section 1 |
SPECIFIC PROCESSES |
| 1. |
Crude Distillation : Does Anyone Know the Question? / A Tray Construction Error / Typical Troubleshooting Problems / Decreased Fractionation / Steam Stripping Cat Cracker Feed / Steam Stripping Summary / Leaking Draw-off Trays / Overhead Condenser Corrosion / Exchanger Train Fouling / Preflash Towers Save Energy / Rising Energy Index / Troubleshooting Checklist for Crude Unit |
| 2. |
Delayed Coking Cycles :Process Description / The Coking Cycles / Foamovers / What to do if a Coke Drum is Not Ready / Coke Quality / Common Coke Quality Questions / Fighting Long Coking Cycles / Problems in Reducing Cycles / Warm-up Condensate Recovery /Troubleshooting Checklist for Delayed Coker Cycle Problems |
| 3. |
Delayed Coking Processes : Coking Heater / Wet Gas Compressor / Combination Tower / Coke Drum Cycles Affect Combination Tower Operation / Troubleshooting Checklist for Delayed Coking Process |
| 4. |
Amine Regeneration and Scrubbing : Dirty Amine Dirty Amine Ruins Operation / Cleaning Up Amine / Reclaimer Operation / Foaming / Retrofitting Tips / Cut Reboiler Steam Usage / MDEA and DIPA / Other Problems / Troubleshooting Checklist for Amine Systems |
| 5. |
Sulfur Recovery : Sulfur Recovery Chemistry / What Can Go Wrong / Pressure Drop / Start-Up Tips / Maximizing Plant Capacity / Oxygen Enrichment / Fail-Safe with O2 / Bypass Reheat Exchanger / Increased Front-End Pressure / Hydrocarbon in Acid Gas / Sour Water Stripper Off-Gas / Water Vapor and Carbon Dioxide / Reactor Inlet Baskets / Other Modifications / Pyrophoric Iron / Tail Gas Clean-Up / Troubleshooting Checklist for Sulfur Plants |
| 6. |
Alkylation : The Alkylation Process / What Can Go Wrong / Acid Carryover / Physical Acid Carry-over / Chemical Acid Carryover / Emergency Response to Acid Runaway / Improving Alkylate Octane / Hydrofluoric Acid Alkylation / Troubleshooting Checklist for Alkylation / Safety Note |
| 7. |
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units : Catalyst Steam Stripping / Plugged Spent Cat Steam Stripper Distributor / Catalyst Poisoning Affects Wet Gas Compressor Performance / Catalyst Regeneration Problems / Catalyst Deactivation / Reducing Regenerator Temperature / Troubleshooting Cyclone Malfunctions / Air-Blower Problems / Catalyst and Feed Mixing / Troubleshooting Checklist for Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units |
| 8. |
FCCU Product Fractionation : Superheated Reactor Vapor Affects Tower Capacity / Fractionator Difficulties / Feed versus Slurry Heal Exchanger Leaks / Vapor Recovery Unit / Troubleshooting Checklist for FCCU Product Fractionation |
| 9. |
Saving Energy at Reduced Feed Rates : Steam Turbine Hand Valves / Pump Impellers / Motor-Driven Centrifugal Compressors / Reciprocating Compressors / Modify Exchanger Pass Partitions / Reduce Tray Leakage / Steam Balance / Insulation / Overfractionation / Overabsorption of Light Ends / Vacuum Ejectors / Leaks / Troubleshooting Checklist to Save Energy at Reduced Throughputs |
| Section 2 |
PROCESS EQUIPMENT |
| 10. |
Refrigeration Systems : Is Refrigeration Efficiency Falling / Diagnosing Refrigeration Compressor Problems / Refrigerant Composition; Importance of the Throttle Valve; / Evaporator Problems / Refrigerant Condenser Difficulties / Troubleshooting Checklist for Refrigeration Systems |
| 11. |
Centrifugal Pumps : What Can Go Wrong / How Pumps Work / Rattling Equals Cavitation / Oversized Pumps Surge / When Not to Pull a Pump / Internal Recirculation / Upgrading Seals for Reduced Seal Flush Flow / Balanced Seal Faces / Rough Running / Check Spare Pumps / Avoiding Motor Failures / Expanding Pump Capacity / Reduction of Line Delta Pressure Drop / Troubleshooting Checklist for Centrifugal Pump Problems |
| 12. |
Distillation Towers : Light Hydrocarbon Distillation / Control Problems / Flooding / Reboiler Problems / Reflux Problems / Distillation Tray Types / Troubleshooting Checklist for Distillation Towers / References |
| 13. |
Vacuum Towers : Loss of Bottoms Pump Suction Pressure / High Flash-Zone Pressure / Ejector Problems / Excessive Production of Trim Gas Oil / Low Pumparound Draw Temperatures / Light Resid / Steam to Heater Passes / Projects to Improve Gas-Oil Recovery / Transfer Line Failures / A Tale of Weak Steam / Troubleshooting Checklist for Vacuum Towers |
| 14. |
Treating Liquid Hydrocarbons : Ailments / Components / Carryover Problems / Correcting Inadequate Treating / Vertical Wash Towers / Water Washing / Haze in Jet Fuel / Electrostatic Precipitator / Troubleshooting Checklist for Treating Liquid Hydrocarbons |
| 15. |
Process Heaters : Draft / Combustion Air Supply / Optimizing Heater Draft / Insufficient Air / Optimizing Excess Air / Convection and Radiation / Other Ideas to Save Energy / Spotting Hot Tubes / Oil Burning / Heater Huffing & Puffing / Expanding Heater Capacity / Troubleshooting Checklist for Process Heaters |
| 16. |
Water Coolers : Plugged Tubes / Calculating Water Flow Rate / Hydrocarbons Leaking into Cooling Towers / Warm Cooling Water / / Water-Side Fouling / Monitoring Exchanger Fouling / Evolution of Air from Cooling Water / A True Story from Lithuania / Troubleshooting Checklist for Water Coolers |
| 17. |
Alarms and Trips : Steam Turbine Trips / Liquid Levels / Distillation Tower Overpressured / Automatic Temperature Shutdowns / Water Shot Damages Trays / Low-Flow Trips / Eliminating Unnecessary Trips / Lights Out on Alarm Panel / Troubleshooting Checklist for Alarms and Trips |
|
Section 3
|
PRACTICAL PROBLEMS |
| 18. |
Additional Distillation Problems: Reboiler-Induced Foaming and Flooding / Identifying the Incipient Flood Point / Flood Control / Instrumentation Malfunctions / Excess Feed Preheat / Slug Flow in Risers / Hydrocarbons in Steam / Heat Integration Causes Upset / Composition Causes Instability / Steam Reboiler Condensate Seal / Marginal Condensate Drainage / Tower Flooding / Theremosyphon Reboiler / Turndown Problems / Troubleshooting Checklist for Distillation Problems |
| 19. |
Fouled Trays : Propylene-Propane Splitter / Amine Regenerator / Gas Absorber / Alkylation Depropanizers / HF Alkylation Iso-Strippers / Cleaning Fouled Tower Internals / Troubleshooting Checklist for Dirty Trays |
| 20. |
Dehydrating Light-Ends Towers : Alkylation Depropanizer / Water-Removal Trays / Water Trap-out Tray / Procedure Checklist for Tower Drying |
| 21. |
Vapor-Liquid Separation : Inlet Nozzle Submerged / Vortexing / Entrainment / Foaming / Troubleshooting Checklist for Vapor-Liquid Separation Problems |
| 22. |
Refinery Metallurgy for Novices : Metals Commonly Used in Refinery Service / Stainless Steel Nomenclature / Corrosion Resistance / The Dangers of Embrittlement / Metallurgy in Extremely Rigorous Service / Heat Exchanger Tube Fouling / Troubleshooting Checklist for Corrosion Failures |
| 23. |
Unusual Noises and Vibrations: Rotating Equipment / Heat-Transfer Equipment / Screeching Control Valves / Troubleshooting Checklist for Noises and Vibrations |
|
Section 4
|
GAS DRYING & COMPRESSION |
| 24. |
Natural Gas Drying : Glycol Pump Deficiencies / Flooding Dehydrator Towers / Dehydration Capacity Versus Temperature / Troubleshooting Checklist for Gas Drying |
| 25. |
Gas Compression-Centrifugal and Reciprocating : Centrifugal Compressors / Reciprocating Compressors / Compression Work versus Temperature Rise; Reducing Valve Losses / Unloading a Reciprocating Compressor / Troubleshooting Checklist for Gas Compression |
|
Section 5
|
THE PROCESS ENGINEER'S JOB |
| 26. |
Suggestions for New Process Operating Engineers : Drawing the Unit Flowsheet,/ Learning the Outside Operators Functions / The Control Board / Bottlenecks / Your First Performance Test / Look for the Small Problems First / How to Learn a Process Unit |
| 27. |
Planning a Performance Test : How to Start / The Day Before the Test / The Day of the Test / Correlating the Data / Capital Projects /
Performance Test Checklist |
| 28. |
Understanding Control Board Instruments : Computer Control Consoles / Data Monitoring on Computer Consoles / Zeroing an Instrument / Tuning Instruments / Tuning Summary / Control Room Instrument Checklist |
| 29. |
How to Make Field Measurements : Pressure Surveys / Differential Pressure Measurement in Distillation Towers / Temperature / Flows / Drilling out Bleeders / Sampling Techniques / Levels / Troubleshooting Checklist for Field Measurements |
| 30. |
Turbines, Expanders and Variable Speed Motors : Steam Turbines / Thermodynamics in Action / Windage Losses / Adjusting Turbine Speed / Malfunctions / Calculating Turbine Horsepower / Overspeed Trip / Condensing Steam Turbines / Variable AC Motors /Roto-Flow Turbo-Expander/ Gas Fired Turbine/ Effect of Rotor Fouling / Power Recovery Turbine / Troubleshooting Checklist for Turbines, Expanders, and Variable Speed Motors |
| 31. |
Forced Draft Air Coolers : Effect of Air-Side Fouling / Excessive Shroud-to-Fan Tip Gap / Other Methods to Increase Air Flow / Water Spray / Slipping Belts / Air Leaks / Process-Side Problems / Tube-Side Fouling / Air Louvers / Troubleshooting Checklist for Forced Draft Air Coolers |
| 32. |
Advances in Heat Exchanger Design: Stainless Steel Tubes / Low Fin Tubing / Sintered Metal Tubes / Unequal Seal Strips / Advanced Techniques / Tube Inserts / Twisted Tubes / Helical Tube Support Baffles / Spiral Heat Exchangers / Practical Ideas to Enhance Heat Transfer Efficiency / Troubleshooting Checklist for Advances in Heat Exchanger Design |
| 33. |
Positive Feedback Loops: Surging Centrifugal Compressor / Exploding De-Aerator Atmospheric Vent / Inherent Instability / Fired Heaters Stalling / Stalling a Thermosyphon Reboiler / Our Little Planet / Troubleshooting Checklist for Positive Feedback Loops |
| 34. |
Troubleshooting Control Loops: Troubleshooting Condenser Level / Override Control – Colorimeter to Tower Pressure / Flow Control Gone Wild / Misleading Differential Temperature / Coke Drum Overpressure Incident / Summary / Troubleshooting Checklist for Control Loops |
| 35. |
Texas City - BP Refinery Fire: The Start-Up / Engineering Aspect of Failure / Vapor Lock / Summary / What Should have been Done ? / Comments on the Actual Incident / Troubleshooting Checklist for Texas City-BP Refinery Fire |
| 36. |
Environmentally Friendly Process Concepts: Wasting Seal Flush / Optimizing Pump Impeller Sizing / Variable Speed Centrifugal Pumps / Turbine Hand Valves / Flare Sweep Gas / Wasting Hydrogen / Insulation Integrity / Sampling Residuals and Asphalt / Convective Section Air Leaks / Air-Fuel Mixing Efficiency / Air Preheaters / Optimizing Excess Oxygen / Calcining Cement / Exchanger On-Line Spalling / Distillation Tower Pressure / Methane Emissions at the Wellhead / Centrifugal Compressors Using Gas Turbine or Turbine Drives / Slug Washing Exchangers / Troubleshooting Checklist for Environmentally Friendly Process Concepts |
| 37. |
The People Problem: Working with Shift Operators / Reporting to Refinery Management / Theft / Working with Operating Superintendents / Role of a Process Consultant |
|
Section 6
|
REDUCTION OF CO2 EMISSIONS |
| 38. |
Reducing Atmospheric CO2 Emissions: Scope of Work / Summary of Short Term Reduction CO2 Emissions from Refineries and Petrochemical Plants /My Progress to Date / Mankind Methan and CO2 / Main Location of Methane Deposits / What’s to Be Done / Top Ten Ideas for Reducing CO2 Emissions TODAY / CO2 Emission Reduction Checklist |
| 39. |
Fired Heaters – Burner Efficiency: Reduction of Vacuum Heater Fired Duty / Vacuum Tower Hot Well Seal Leg Clearance / Origin of Sludge / Seal Leg Lack of Clearance / Increasing Seal Leg Clearance / Increased Seal Leg Clearance / Eliminating Fired Heater Convective Section Tramp Air Leaks / Stack Excess Oxygen Analyzer / Refinery Application / O2 Analyzer in Radiant Section / Improving Fired Heater Burner Efficiency / Secondary Air / Afterburn from Heater Stack / Bad Ideas and Practices – Combustion Air Preheat |
| 40. |
Distillation – Tray Efficiency: Saving Energy by Improving Distillation Tray Integrity / Efficient Stripping Reduces Energy Waste in Process Plants / Protecting Steam Stripping Trays from Slugs of Water / Chevron, El Segundo, California / Restrictive Steam Sparger / Sparger Construction / High-Pressure Steam Trip / Resetting the Steam Trip Valve / Tray Integrity / Explosion Doors / Optimizing Feed Preheat to a Distillation Tower / Improving Recovery of Heat from a Distillation Tower / Increasing Pumparound Draw Temperatures / Computer-Aided Calculations / Additional Gas Oil Drawoff to the Side-Stream Stripper / Boiling Range of a Pumparound Draw / Improved Fractionation / Fractionator – Dual Tangential Inlet Vapor Horn Distributor / Dual Tangential Inlet Vapor Horn Distributor / High Localized Velocities Promote Entrainment / Texaco Refinery / Double Tangential Entry / Saving Energy with a Crude Unit Preflash Tower / Purpose of Reflux / Crude Tower Revisions / Time Marches On / Summary |
| 41. |
Heat Transfer – Shell and Tube Exchangers: Air Rumbling During Water Cooler Back-Flushing / Overhead Condenser – Leaking Hot Vapor Bypass Pressure Control Valve / Sludge in Feed Tanks Fouls Heat Exchangers / Optimizing Pumparound Heat Recovery in Distillation Towers / Online Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Cleaning / Increasing Vacuum Surface Condenser Efficiency / Superheated Steam Condensation / Steam Ejector Discharge / Application at Asphalt Plant / Steam Turbine Surface Condenser – Final Vacuum Condenser Deletion |
| 42. |
Steam Saving – Reboilers and Steam Vacuum Jets: Steam Condensate Recovery – Steam Reboiler Channel Head Non-Condensable Vent Location / Steam Losses – Reduction of Heat Loss from Vessel and Piping Surfaces / Avoiding Wasting Motive Steam in Parallel Vacuum Ejector Systems / Effect of Running Jets in Parallel / Saving Steam Condensate / Steam Reboiler Channel Head Vent / What Are We Trying to Vent / Preventing Corrosion / Common Refinery Practice / Benefits of Reducing Supply Steam Pressure in Reboilers / Wet Steam Wastes Energy in Process Units / Hydrocarbon Steam Strippers / Steam Turbines / Vacuum Towers / Kettle-Type Steam Generators / Thermosyphon Circulation Boilers / Conclusion |
| 43. |
Centrifugal Pumps – Turbine, Motor Drivers, and Control Valves: Variable – Frequency Drive Pumps and Control Valves / Centrifugal Pump Seal Flush on Idle Pumps / Steam Turbine Drivers on Centrifugal Pumps / Results / Suction Pressure Control of Pumps Reduces Cracked Gas Formation / Suction Pressure Control / Observing Incipient Cavitation / Suction Pressure Transmitter / Application in Columbia, South America / Details of Installation / Improved Vacuum Tower Performance / Controlling Flow from a Centrifugal Motor-Driven Pump / Reduction of Pump Impeller Size / Cracked Gas Flaring |
| 44. |
Hydrogen Losses to Fuel Gas and Hydrocarbon Losses to Flare: Minimizing Hydrogen Content of Refinery Fuel Gas / Saving Hydrogen Also Reduces CO2 Production / Leaking Vent Valves to the Flare / Maintaining Flare System Positive Pressure / Measuring Total Flare Losses / Reciprocating Compressor Flow Control Energy Savings |
| 45. |
Reducing CO2 Emissions from Sulfur Recovery Plants and Sour Water Strippers |
| 46. |
Compressors – Centrifugal; Reciprocating Electrical Power Savings: Centrifugal Compressors – Controlling Flow for Energy Savings / Fuel Oil Consumption Needed to Generate Electric Power to Drive Compressors / Reduced CO2 Emissions – Electric-Powered vs. Gasoline-Powered Vehicles |
| Appendices |
Appendix 1 - Tray Delta P, Water Dew Pt., Bubble Pt. Calculations
Appendix 2 – Suggested Readings
Appendix 3 – About the Author
Appendix 4 – References
Appendix 5 - Index |
