Conference Alert: Saudi Aramco Global Reliability Forum

“I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them” -- Susan Sontag (American Writer, Activist and Critic, 1933-2004)

Saudi Aramco (http://www.saudiaramco.com) is the world’s largest oil producer.  During the last two decades, it has also become a major refiner, with refineries in Saudi Arabia and China.  Accordingly, when Aramco announces an upcoming conference, it makes sense to pay attention.

The upcoming “Saudi Aramco Global Reliability Forum” is worth considering for another reason … it is being held in Houston, Texas.  For those of you in the U.S., that means that you don’t even have to travel around the globe to attend.

Below is a call for technical presentations.  It includes a description of the event, as well as the person to contact for more information.

///////

Call for Technical Presentations

Planning is underway for the second annual “Saudi Aramco Global Reliability Forum” – hosted by U.S. subsidiary Aramco Services Company – and we are searching for presenters to share their innovative ideas on the reliability and efficiency of process equipment.

Last year’s forum proved to be an overwhelming success.  Several hundred engineers and others from major oil, gas and chemical companies – including Saudi Aramco and Aramco Services Company – as well as engineering services companies and manufacturing groups all joined together to share information on best practices and new technologies.

This year’s forum promises to be another landmark event.  It has been expanded to two days and scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, June 27 – 28, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Houston.

Attendees will again gather in several general sessions with acclaimed keynote speakers and then participate in one of four concurrent tracks:  Electrical Power Distribution Systems, Fixed Equipment and Materials, Instrumentation and Control Systems, and Machinery.  A vendor expo and networking reception will round out the event.

Technical presentations should focus on any one of the following areas of interest.  Additional ideas for topics on operational reliability and process equipment efficiency are welcomed.

·         Asset management systems

·         Instrumentation and control system lifecycle management

·         Reliability-centered maintenance

·         Equipment obsolescence

·         Design for reliability

·         Essential elements for a successful reliability program

·         Reliability and risk analysis

·         Next generation reliability modeling and prognostics

·         Case studies on reliability and efficiency improvements

·         Effective reliability testing

·         Failure modes and effects analysis

·         Condition monitoring/management

Are you interested in serving as a presenter?  If so, please contact Louis Archuleta, event coordinator, at ascengineering@aramcoservices.com  or (713) 432-5936 by Friday, March 9.  Respondents will be contacted with follow-up information.

///////

The Desulfurization Blog (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/) is produced by Jean Steinhardt (LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch) 

Conference Alert: 6th Refining China

“Honey is sweet! but the bee stings” -- Proverb

Today’s tip is short and sweet: register with ePTQ (http://www.eptq.com/)

Your organization probably already subscribes to ePTQ as a part of its subscription to PTQ-Petroleum Technology Quarterly.

Even so, consider registering as an individual.  Registration is free, and provides the following advantages …

·         Access to the ePTQ Technology Q&A forum.  The comments in this section are amazingly detailed.  They are like one-paragraph technical articles, written in response to specific problems encountered by forum participants.

·         Email alerts: Like the calendar reminders on your cell phone, the alerts will let you know when a new issue of PTQ is available.  And they will inform you of upcoming ePTQ affiliated conferences, like the 6^th Refining China event.

For your convenience, here is an excerpt from the 6th Refining China Web (www.refiningchina.com)

///////

6th Refining China

Beijing 28 March 2012 – 29 March 2012

The 6th REFINING CHINA conference will be held at the Regent Hotel, Bejing, 28-29 March 2012

REFINING CHINA, the only international refining technology conference held in China, has now been running for six years in partnership with SINOPEC. This partnership ensures the continuing strong level of producer company delegates not only from Sinopec but also from CNPC/Petrochina and CNOOC companies and a high level of local speakers.

Our current line-up for 2012 is as follows:

·  Cao Xianghong, Chairman, Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China Selecting refining production technology in China

·  Ling Yuqun, Vice president, Sinopec Energy saving and low emission technologies in China's refineries

·  Sun LIli, Vice General Manager, Sinopec Engineering Inc Refinery design to meet low-carbon requirements

·  Yan Shaochun, President, Luoyang Petrochemical Engineering Corporation Technological developments in the China coal liquefaction industry

·  He Shengbao, Vice President, CNPC

·  CNOOC speaker

·  ExxonMobil Producing clean fuel gas

·  BP Measuring PBS values for crude oil selection

·  Saudi Aramco Increasing energy recovery in Preflash tower preheat train network

·  Jacobs Improving refining performance: where to start?

·  Prague Institute of Chemical Technology Biofuel developments

·  Mangalore Refinery Leveraging carbon emissions pinch analysis

·  Hindustan Waste water management: a case study

·  Hart Energy Clean fuels outlook

·  Research Institute of the Petroleum Industry (RIPI) Tehran Evaluation of the Effects of Feed Characteristics and Operating Variables on the Naphtha Isomerization Process

·  Soteica Online utilities real time optimisation at a large Chinese petrochemical complex

·  Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Perú Diesel hydrotreating: modelling and simulation

·  Baker Hughes Heavy crudes processing

·  Intercat Reducing FCC heavy fuel oil yield

·  Air Products Technical innovations in on-purpose H2 making solutions

·  Sage Environmental Leak detection and repair techniques

·  Albermarle Achieving clean fuels with hydroprocessing

Seminar: Baker Hughes Using Petroleum Additives to Maximize Profit and Improve Product Quality

source: www.refiningchina.com

///////

Join my LinkedIn Network.  View my profile (www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch) and send me an invitation.

Winter of our great content: Recent Diesel Articles

Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York

William Shakespeare.- Richard III (1.1.1)

Below is a handful of recent diesel articles.  I found them by browsing through results from a Google® Scholar search.

The Google Advanced Scholar search string:

Diesel [in title]

Published between dates: 2011-2012

The titles shown here are all available in full text at no charge.  There are lots more articles with interesting looking titles and abstracts, but all of them require either a subscription or an online purchase.

///////

FREE FULL TEXT DIESEL ARTICLES

///////

Transactions of the ASABE. 2011 Mar-Apr, v. 54, no. 2, p. 571-579.

Specific Gravity and API Gravity of Biodiesel and Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) Blends.

Dunn, R.O.
USDA, ARS

The present study addresses the need to develop a better understanding of how blending biodiesel with ULSD affects specific gravity (SG).

Free Full Text Source: http://hdl.handle.net/10113/49609

Army Tank Automotive Research Development And Engineering Center Report, 09 AUG 2011

Accession Number : ADA547468

Military Fuel and Alternative Fuel Effects on a Modern Diesel Engine Employing a Fuel-Lubricated High Pressure Common Rail Fuel Injection System

Brandt, Adam C. ; Muzzell, Patsy A. ; Sattler, Eric R. ; Likos, William

Army Tank Automotive Research Development And Engineering Center Warren Mi

A large number of current commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) diesel engines available to the U.S. Military employ High Pressure Common Rail (HPCR) fuel injection systems. Overall performance and endurance of these HPCR systems has the potential to vary with use of military or alternative fuels.

Free Full Text Source: http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA547468

PTQ-Petroleum Technology Quarterly, 2011 Q2

Modeling for ULSD optimization

Klas Dahlgren Apex Optimisation/Dynaproc

An Rigden Chevron Henrik Terndrup Apex Optimisation

On-line coordination and optimization of refinery process units led to a 10% increase in middle distillate production. Day-to-day operation of the two downstream HTUs is challenging as throughput has to be maximized subject to a variety of process constraints

Free Full Text Source: http://www.apex-opt.com/content/documents/The%20Story%20of%20ULSD%20Optimisation.pdf

Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 2011, 1, 65-71

Case Study of Biodiesel-Diesel Blends as a Fuel in Marine Environment

Tianxi Zhang1, Yapeng Chao1, Nan Liu1, Joe Thompson2, Manuel Garcia1, Brian B. He2, Jon Van Gerpen2, Shulin Chen1*

chens@wsu.edu

1Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

2Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Idaho, Moscow, USA

Formation of insoluble material in biodiesel blends has drawn great attention as it causes clogging of filters. One reason that blends-containing biodiesel is prone to formation of insoluble material is the relatively high temperature of crystallization (or solidification) compared to petro-diesel.

Free Full Text Source: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperDownload.aspx?paperID=4612

Fuel, 30 September 2011 (Uncorrected proof)

Diesel engine gaseous and particle emissions fueled with diesel–oxygenate blends

Xiangang Wang a, C.S. Cheung b, Yage Di a,b, Zuohua Huang a,⇑

a State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, PR China

b Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, PR China

It is difficult using traditional methods to simultaneously reduce NOx and PM in diesel engine due to the existing of trade-off curve between NOx and PM. One possible method to solve this issue is to use oxygenated fuels or to blend oxygenated fuels with diesel to provide sufficient oxygen and promote combustion and decrease emissions.

Free Full Text Source: http://gr.xjtu.edu.cn:8080/upload/PUB.1643.4/JFUE+5553.pdf

PATENT

Hydrotreating and hydrocracking process and apparatus

Patent number: 8002967

Issue date: Aug 23, 2011

Application number: 12/067,611

Inventors: Michael Glenn Hunter, Angelica Hidalgo Vivas, Lars Skov Jensen, Gordon Gongngai Low

Original Assignee: Haldor Topsøe A/S

Partial conversion hydrocracking process comprising the steps of (a) hydrotreating a hydrocarbon feedstock with a hydrogenrich gas to produce a hydrotreated effluent stream comprising a liquid/vapor mixture and separating the liquid/vapor mixture into a liquid phase and a vapor phase, and (b) separating the liquid phase into a controlled liquid portion and an excess liquid portion, and (c) combining the vapor phase with the excess liquid portion to form a vapor plus liquid portion, and (d) separating an FCC feed-containing fraction from the controlled liquid portion and simultaneously hydrocracking the vapor plus liquid portion to produce a dieselcontaining fraction, or hydrocracking the controlled liquid portion to produce a diesel-containing fraction and simultaneously separating a FCC feed-containing fraction from the vapor plus liquid portion. The invention also includes an apparatus for carrying out the partial conversion hydrocracking process.

Bull. Korean Chem. Soc. 2011, Vol. 32, No. 6, pp. 1965-1969

Synthesis and Evaluation of Stearic Acid Derivatives as Cetane Number Improvers

Ambadas B. Rode, H. Thajudeen, Keunwoo Chung,† Young-Wun Kim,† and In Seok Hong*

ishong@kongju.ac.kr

Department of Chemistry, Kongju National University, Chungnam 314-701, Korea.*

†Green Chemistry Research Division, Surfactant and Lubricant Research Team, KRICT, Daejeon 305-600, Korea

The cetane number (CN) measures the readiness of the fuel to auto-ignite when injected into an engine. It is one of the most important properties to specify the ignition quality of any fuel for internal combustion engines. An increase in CN decreases the delay time between fuel injection and ignition. Shorter ignition delay times have been directly correlated with a faster startup in cold weather, reduced NOx and particulate matter emissions from diesel engines, and smoother engine operation.1,2

Free Full Text Source: http://newjournal.kcsnet.or.kr/main/j_search/j_download.htm?code=B110623

2011 Ndia Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering And Technology Symposium

Power And Mobility (P&M) Mini-Symposium, August 9-11 Dearborn, Michigan

Autoignition Characteristics Of Low Cetane Number Jp-8 And Approaches For Improved Operation In Military Diesel Engines

Naeim Henein, PhD

Walter Bryzik, Ph.D.

Chandrasekharan Jayakumar

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI

Eric R. Sattler

Nicholas C. Johnson

Nichole K. Hubble

U.S. Army RDECOM –TARDEC, Warren, MI

Problems resulting from the use of low-Cetane Number (CN) JP-8 in military diesel engines are mainly caused by the poor autoignition quality of the fuel that requires a long period between the start of injection and the start of combustion. A detailed analysis of the processes which occur during the ignition delay period clearly shows that the start of combustion is preceded by a long period where the Low Temperature (LT) combustion chemistry (cool flame) prevails in which the rates of burning are very limited.

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA547470

///////

By the way, the Desulfurization Blog (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/) is also free … and it’s a great way to keep abreast of desulfurization technology AND effective online search tips.  Bookmark it, follow it, add it to your Intranet.

Conference Alert: Downstream Technology Conference

“Quotation, n: The act of repeating erroneously the words of another.” -- Ambrose Bierce (American Writer, Journalist and Editor, 1842-1914)

Although I’ve said so before, it bears repeating that this blog is not just about desulfurization ... it is about effective online research on ANY technology of interest.  So, for example, if you want to identify upcoming conferences that pertain in some way to desulfurization, you can Google® the following ...

Conference desulfurization 2012

Browsing the results, you may find …

///////

Downstream Technology Conference

19-22 February 2012 Hilton Kuwait Resort, Fahaheel, Kuwait

///////

One item featured in the conference is …

///////

Pre-conference workshop A: Sunday 19 February 2012

10:00 - 16:00 Workshop A: Heavy oil upgrading and desulfurization

Environmental considerations, including the reduction of sulfur emissions, are growing factors that affect refining efficiencies. When processing heavy oil, refineries and petrochemical plants are implementing new technologies, such as residue desulfurization, to produce cleaner, environmentally friendly fuels and to partly convert the residues to produce low-sulfur fuel oil and hydrotreated feedstocks.

By attending this workshop you will :

Learn necessary methods for reducing sulfur to ppm levels during the production of lighter fuel to save costs and minimise environmental harm

Gain knowledge about the latest technologies in heavy oil upgrading

Reduce the challenges of minimising sulfur gas emissions in refineries

Evaluate all major environmental factors to mitigate energy wastage and increase ROI

Workshop leader:

Dr. Haitem Hassan-Beck

Senior Process Engineer

Takreer

source: http://www.iqpc.com/Event.aspx?id=646506

///////

As interesting as the above may be, today’s tip is that you can use the same strategy to search for upcoming conferences on ANY technology.  Take “geothermal,” for example.  Substituting “geothermal” for “desulfurization,” one of the items in the results is …

///////

GEA Geothermal Events

January 18, 2012, GEA Geothermal Energy Finance and Development Forum - San Francisco, CA

February 14-16, 2012, Renewable Energy World Conference and Expo - Long Beach, CA

May 23, 2012, GEA International Geothermal Energy Showcase - Washington, DC

August 7-8, 2012, GEA National Geothermal Summit 2012 - Sacramento, CA

Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2012, GEA Geothermal Energy Expo® and GRC Annual Meeting - Reno, NV

Source: http://www.geo-energy.org/

///////

So, at the risk of repeating myself, remember that every search tip and technique that appears in the Desulfurization Blog (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/) is applicable to whatever technology you and your colleagues are pursuing.

Speaking of which, please consider becoming my colleague … visit my LinkedIn profile (www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch) and send me an invitation to join your network.

s

Sulfur Limits For Marine Bunker Fuel Oils

“Fortunately in my work there's always a choice: I can choose to do it willingly or unwillingly” -- Ashleigh Brilliant (English Author and Cartoonist, b.1933)

Hydrocarbon Engineering (http://www.energyglobal.com/magazines/latestissue/hydrocarbon-engineering.aspx) is one of my favorite magazines.  It provides a continuing stream of articles describing the latest proven technologies in the field of hydrocarbon processing.

UNfortunately, the magazine’s publishers have chosen to make it very difficult to access without a paid subscription to the magazine.  It is not available in any of the online subscription databases.

FORTUNATELY, every once in a while you can find an article or two on an engineering company’s Web site

For example, an article authored by Garu M. Sieli, Chevron Lummus Global, USA, “explores process options designed to address the International Maritime Organization's fuel oil sulfur limits.”

You can find a PDF version of the article at http://www.cbi.com/media-center/publications/technical-articles-conference-papers/, courtesy of CB&I.  CB&I (www.cbi.com) is, according to its Web site, “one of the world’s leading engineering, procurement and construction companies and a major process technology licensor.”

The author points out that sulfur limits for marine bunker fuel oils are set to go into effect soon.  He offers refiners a number of potential residue treating processing solutions.

He provides, among other things, a list of options available to refiners as they prepare to address the new limits …

1) Continue business as usual. While a change to lower sulfur crude is possible, the higher cost of these crudes makes this a costly option.

2) Exit the residue fuel oil market completely.  Refiners may decide to implement bottom of the barrel upgraders, such as delayed coking and residue desulfurization (RDS) and residue fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) combination, enabling production of more low sulfur distillates, including marine diesel.

3) Continue to serve the bunker market by investing to reduce the sulfur content of the fuel oil.  Investments should be carefully evaluated to take full advantage of available process options and the associated benefits of these options.

You can find the full text of other articles provided by other companies by Googling “Hydrocarbon Engineering” and browsing the results.

Another thing you can do … add the Desulfurization Blog (http://www.desulf.blogspot.com/) as a feed to your organization’s Web page.

Choosing Online Databases - A Cheat Sheet

“No, we don't cheat. And even if we did, I'd never tell you.” -- Tommy Lasorda (American Baseball Player and Coach, b.1927)

Any organization that conducts serious research has to provide its researchers with one or more subscribed online databases.  The problem is that there are so many to choose from.  How do you determine the products that are best for your organization?

A place to start is to see what your local university library subscribes to.  Here, for example, is an excerpt from the engineering related databases that the University of Southern California subscribes to.

///////

Choosing Online Databases-University of Southern California

Engineering

Applied Science & Technology Full Text

The complete contents of approximately 200 full-text journals indexed in this database are included in OmniFile Full Text.Topics include chemistry, engineering, geology, physics, math, robotics, and neural networks.

Access is through WilsonWeb (choose OmniFile Full Text, then "Applied Science & Technology" under the subject area to specifically search this database).

ArticleFirst

Contains the table of contents pages and holdings information from more than 13,000 journals in science, technology, medicine, social science, business, the humanities, and popular culture. Although most of the journals are published in English, journals in other languages are also included. Updated daily.

Compendex

CompendexWeb is the most comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research literature, containing references to over 5000 engineering journals and conferences. It covers literature that makes a definite contribution to knowledge in the subject areas of engineering and applied science. About half the citations (from 2600 journals and conferences) include abstracts and indexing in the records. Online coverage is from 1884 to the present, and files are updated weekly. The highest percentages of journal literature are in the fields of chemical and process engineering (15%), computers and data processing (12%), applied physics (11%), and electronics and communication (12%) In addition Compendex includes civil engineering (6%) and mechanical engineering (6%).

eBooks on EBSCOhost (previously NetLibrary)

This web site provides access to the full-text content of 4,274 e-books purchased by the USC Libraries from netLibrary. The books are searchable by both author and title. In addition, all books included in this collection are accessible through Homer.

Engineering Research Database

Bibliographic coverage of the international serial and non-serial literature for research in civil, earthquake, environmental, mechanical, transportation engineering, forensic engineering, engineering services, education, theoretical mechanics and dynamics, mathematics/computation, design, construction, and latest technological developments. ProQuest Deep Indexing: Engineering supplements the database with access to millions of indexed charts, figures, graphs, maps, and tables from the scholarly research and technical literature.

Engineering Village 2

Ei CompendexWeb is the most comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research literature, containing references to over 5000 engineering journals and conferences. Ei covers literature that makes a definite contribution to knowledge in the subject areas of engineering and applied science. About half the citations (from 2600 journals and conferences) include abstracts and indexing in the records. Online coverage is from 1884 to the present, and files are updated weekly. The highest percentages of journal literature are in the fields of chemical and process engineering (15%), computers and data processing (12%), applied physics (11%), and electronics and communication (12%) In addition Compendex includes civil engineering (6%) and mechanical engineering (6%). USC's subscription to the Engineering Village 2 (EV2) platform includes access to the Compendex and Inspec databases.

Scirus

Scirus searches an international collection of institutional repositories and other resources, so it can be a good way to find technical reports, preprints, and other less common publications. Scirus includes basic and advanced search functions, and sorts results into journals vs. web sites. Elsevier ScienceDirect journals are prominently featured in the journal results, with direct links. USC subscribes to the majority of ScienceDirect titles, so Scirus is a good way to search those online journals. For more detailed information, see this electronic resources review in the online peer-reviewed journal Issues in Science and Technology Libraries

source: http://www.usc.edu/libraries/databases/category.php?cat=17154

///////

Visit the USC site to see descriptions of the other databases to which the university subscribes.  Better yet, take a few hours to visit your local university library.  You may be able to search some of the databases directly, which will help you decide whether they are right for your organization.

Are you a LinkedIn member?  Visit my LinkedIn profile (www.linkedin.com/in/jeansteinhardtresearch), and send me an invitation to join your network.