Conference alert & call for papers: ERTC Energy Efficiency

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” -- Peter F. Drucker (American Educator and Writer, b.1909)

On 16th April, 2015, Global Technology Forum (GTF) will host the annual ERTC Energy Efficiency' conference in Brussels. GTF has issued a call for papers. Deadline is Friday, 14^th November, 2014.

ERTC stands for European Refining Technology Conference

According to a recent email that appeared in my inbox …

“One of the many challenges for the European refining industry is the implications of, and changes in, the US refining industry due to shale gas and especially shale oil affecting the balance of products from US refineries. On the other hand, it will make heavier crudes cheaper worldwide which may affect the set-up and energy usage of European refineries. Many feel that energy-efficiency improvements are the only answer for European refineries to stay in business.”

The effort to increase refinery energy efficiency is not confined to Europe, of course.  Nor is it a new concern.

More than a decade ago, an article appearing in Petroleum Technology Quarterly-PTQ, Q3 2002 noted that “The refining industry as a whole can be classified as energy inefficient. The worldwide average refinery energy consumption is about 95 per cent higher than KBC’s best practice target. Therefore, as the starting energy efficiency of the average refinery is relatively low, it follows that the scope for improvement should be high.”
Source: http://www.digitalrefining.com/data/articles/file/1659087629.pdf

While progress has occurred since, much work remains.

GTF invites those interested to submit one or two original papers for ERTC for acceptance by their Advisory Panel. Acceptance criteria will be based on originality and technical innovation.

At this stage, the only requirements are a working title, subject area and brief description of the proposed content (typically a 200 word abstract).

Preference will be given to papers giving case histories and actual operating experience. GTF would be pleased to receive abstracts from supply companies that are co-authored with refining companies.

For details, visit …
http://events.gtforum.com/energy-efficiency/static/call-for-papers?utm_term=&utm_content=Click%20here&utm_campaign=Energy%20Efficiency%20%26%20PMS%20Call%20for%20papers&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Energy%20Efficiency

Visit www.jeansteinhardtconsulting.com for more tips and tricks on how to search for useful information.

Conference alert: Deep Space, Deep Ocean

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." -- Andre Gide, Writer

Saudi Aramco subsidiary Aramco Services Company has announced a conference titled “Deep Space, Deep Ocean: Exploring Crossover Technologies in the Space and Energy Sectors,” to be held April 7-8, 2015.

To quote a press release …

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Join a special mission to discover a whole new world of possibilities in operational excellence. Oil and gas and aerospace industry professionals are invited to participate in “Deep Space, Deep Ocean: Exploring Crossover Technologies in the Space and Energy Sectors” – an Aramco Technology and Operational Excellence Forum.
Source: http://www.aramcoservices.com/deepdives
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This is not a brand new concept. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 that created NASA called for the new agency to disseminate its technology for public benefit.  But the imperative of NASA’s technology transfer effort has become more urgent as the petroleum industry explores in increasingly hostile and challenging environments.

There are a number of potential crossover candidates.

Robotics is an obvious one.  The same technologies that enable exploration of the surface of Mars can be applied to exploration of the deep ocean floor on Earth.

Less obvious is the connection between the existence of methane hydrates in deep space and the exploitation of such a resource here on Earth. According to a 2011 US Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) report titled Energy Resource Potential of Methane Hydrate, (http://www.netl.doe.gov/File%20Library/Research/Oil-Gas/methane%20hydrates/MH-Primer2011.pdf) …

“The worldwide volume of methane held in methane hydrates is immense and poorly known. Estimates range from 100,000 to more than 1,000,000 Tcf of natural gas.”

Carolyn Ruppel (http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/staffpages/cruppel/cv.html), member of the USGS Gas Hydrates Project (http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/), has written, “Given the overall uncertainty still associated with gas hydrates as a potential resource, they have not been included in the Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model in MITEI’s Future of Natural Gas report. Still, gas hydrates remain a potentially large methane resource and must necessarily be included in any consideration of the natural gas supply beyond two decades from now.”

Quoting Robin Beckwith’s article titled Exploring Deep Earth And Deep Space: What Role Does The Petroleum Industry Play? (Journal of Petroleum Technology, March 2013) …

“When and if hydrocarbons such as methane clathrates become serious objects of petroleum industry exploration and production, astrophysicists’ explanations of their presence elsewhere in the solar system and galaxy may play a role in identifying and safely exploiting them for human consumption.”

Beckwith’s article, by the way, presents an excellent review of the relationship between deep space technology and deep ocean exploration.  Read the full text at: http://www.mydigitalpublication.com/display_article.php?id=1322887.

The forum will be held April 7-8, 2015 at The Woodlands Waterway Hotel & Convention Center located near Houston. (1601 Lake Robbins Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77380).  For details, visit: http://www.aramcoservices.com/deepdives.

Tip: Click the Conferences label at the foot of this post to see descriptions of other events you may be interested in.  While the conferences in some of these posts have come and gone, many are recurring events that you may want to attend in the future.

Conference Alert & Call for Papers: Refining China

“Crude classifications and false generalizations are the curse of organized life.” -- George Bernard Shaw

The 9th Refining China Conference is coming up. If you are an expert in energy efficiency, clean fuels, or sour and heavy crudes, this is an excellent opportunity to display your expertise by delivering a paper. Here is the text of an email alerting me of the event …
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9th Refining China Conference, Regent Hotel, Beijing 8-9 April 2015
Hi Jean Steinhardt,
A date for your diary: we return to the Regent in Beijing for the 9th Refining China conference on 8-9 April 2015
Our special topics for 2015 will include Energy Efficiency, Clean Fuels and Sour and Heavy Crudes Processing. If you have a good case study in one of these areas which you'd like to present to the conference, do submit your proposal to proposals@crambethallen.com
Kind regards
Crambeth Allen Publishing Ltd
http://www.digitalrefining.com/271,events,Refining_China_2015.html#.VC7nQHAo7mQ
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By way of background, here is a list of the papers presented at the previous Refining China event …

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Papers presented Refining China 2014 included:
•Zhao Jungui  Vice President and Secretary-General, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation Opening Address
•Cao Xianghong, President, Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and SINOPEC Senior Consultant Construction of safe and reliable, clean and environmental protection in refining and petrochemical enterprises
•Liu Genyuan SINOPEC Former Vice President Oil products pricing standards and refining Industry competiveness
•He Shengbao China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Science and technology management department, Deputy director Green and clean production technology of CNPC in refining enterprises
•Hua Wei SINOPEC Yanshan Petrochemical, Vice President and Chief Engineer The green low-carbon path of petroleum refining
•Zhang Chunsheng Sinopec Jinling Petrochemical Company, Vice President Achieving clean and environment friendly production by implementing green, low carbon strategy
•Huang Ziyou CNOOC Ningbo Daxie Petrochemical Company, Vice President The establishment and perfection of rotating equipments' monitoring and early warning mechanism in refining and petrochemical enterprises
•Jin Chaokuan West Pacific Petrochemical Company, Dalan, Vice President Safe use of refining and petrochemical equipment
•Sinodata/IHS Asia and China refining and product demand outlook
•Chem1/Nexant Refinery and downstream complex synergy
•ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Environmental technologies for refinery applications
•Air Products Alternatives for hydrodon supply
•Johnson Matthey Application of catalyst additives for FCC unit SOx and NOx emissions control
•Emerson Process Management Improving performance with automation enhancements
•Foster Wheeler Multi-technology approach to optimising refinery performance
•Purolator Advanced gas/solid separation solutions
•Kinetics Technology Innovations in Gas Flaring Reduction and Sulphur Recovery
•GTC Isomalk technologies
•Norton Engineering/Severn Trent Promoting a beautiful China
•Criterion Catalysts Journey towards ULSD
source: http://www.eptq.com/conference/view_conference.aspx?intCID=16
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Here’s another useful hint … Follow the Desulfurization Blog (www.desulf.blogspot.com) to be alerted of each weekly post.  What can you lose? Or, more to the point, what can you gain?

Literature Searches (Part 7): Zotero

“The man who listens to Reason is lost: Reason enslaves all whose minds are not strong enough to master her” -- George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)

The final post in the Literature Search series covers Zotero.

Zotero  is a free tool that collects, manages, and cites research sources. It's easy to use. Just click the Zotero icon located in your web browser. It automatically downloads all the date you need to organize and cite your reference sources.  According to Wikipedia …

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Zotero is free and open-source reference management software to manage bibliographic data and related research materials (such as PDF files). Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, OpenOffice.org Writer and NeoOffice. It is produced by the Center for History and New Media of George Mason University (GMU).
The name 'Zotero' is loosely derived from an Albanian verb meaning "to master".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zotero
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Let’s use the following article to explore Zotero’s features. The data items as they appear on the Taylor & Francis Online site are reproduced below, sans the Taylor & Francis formatting …

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Petroleum Science and Technology
Volume 32, Issue 11, 2014
Deep Desulfurization of Model Oil by Extraction with a Low-viscosity Ionic Liquid [BMIM]SCN
Access options
DOI: 10.1080/10916466.2011.653466
L. Gaoa, H. Wana, M. Hanb & G. Guana
pages 1309-1317
Published online: 01 Apr 2014
Abstract
In this work, a low-viscosity ionic liquid 1-buthyl-3-methylimidazole thiocyanate ([BMIM]SCN) was utilized as extractant for the extractive desulfurization of thiophene in model oil. Several conditions were investigated respectively, including extraction time, temperature, and volume ratio of ionic liquid to model oil. Also the kinetics of extraction of thiophene were proposed. Under the optimal extractive conditions, the removal of thiophene in model oil was 55.6%. Other sulfur compounds and real oil were also investigated. Furthermore, the total desulfurization efficiency could reach 98.3%. In addition, the ionic liquid could be recycled seven times with negligible decrease in activity.
Author affiliations
a College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing , China
b College of Sciences , Nanjing Tech University , Nanjing , China
Source: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10916466.2011.653466#preview
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Here is what Zotero extracts when you click the Zotero icon located in the URL box near the top of your browser window …
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Deep Desulfurization of Model Oil by Extraction with a Low-viscosity Ionic Liquid [BMIM]SCN

Type	Journal Article
Author	L. Gao
Author	H. Wan
Author	M. Han
Author	G. Guan
URL	zotero://attachment/1810/
Volume	32
Issue	11
Pages	1309-1317
Publication	Petroleum Science and Technology
ISSN	1091-6466, 1532-2459
Date	2014-06-03
DOI	10.1080/10916466.2011.653466
Accessed	9/26/2014, 9:54:00 AM
Library Catalog	CrossRef
Language	en
Date Added	9/26/2014, 9:54:00 AM
Modified	9/26/2014, 9:54:00 AM

Attachments
Taylor & Francis Online :: Deep Desulfurization of Model Oil by Extraction with a Low-viscosity Ionic Liquid [BMIM]SCN - Petroleum Science and Technology - Volume 32, Issue 11
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To the Zotero basic record, you can add notes.  For example …

Highlight this item in the Desulfurization post titled: "Literature Searches (Part 7): Zotero"

Of course, if you are writing a dissertation, your note could indicate, for example, the page and paragraph of the relevant quote, and how it would apply to your dissertation ntopic.

You can also Tag the item. For example …

DEEP DESULFURIZATION
IONIC LIQUIDS
NANJING TECH UNIVERSITY

Choose tags that make sense to you.  I chose to add NANJING TECH UNIVERSITY, because I am interested in author affiliations. Creative use of tags can help you sort your research results in all sorts of useful ways.

By right clicking on an item, or an entire collection, you can produce a bibliography in any of the major citation styles.  Here is the APA formatted cite of our sample article …

Gao, L., Wan, H., Han, M., & Guan, G. (2014). Deep Desulfurization of Model Oil by Extraction with a Low-viscosity Ionic Liquid [BMIM]SCN. Petroleum Science and Technology, 32(11), 1309–1317.

We have just scratched Zotero’s surface. There are a number of useful guides to get you started using Zotero.  Here are two of them …

Using Zotero
Alli Buchler & Stephanie Willen Brown
Park Library
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP5AzJHXfIA

How to manage a research library with Zotero
http://blog.oceans-campus.com/blog/bid/381943/How-to-manage-a-research-library-with-Zotero

Visit www.JeanSteinhardtConsulting.com for more tips and tricks.