Refineries have increased focus on processing unfamiliar opportunity crude oils to improve profitability. However, the introduction of these new crude slates brings uncertainties that can impact refinery operations. One major challenge is crude incompatibility due to asphaltene instability, which affects desalters, emulsion stability, preheat trains and furnace fouling.
For decades, the industry has recognized the importance of tracking asphaltene stability. Suppliers and refineries employ diverse equipment to assess feeds stability including benchtop microscopy and titration equipment. Unfortunately, those methods can require time-consuming offsite laboratory testing.
Now, utilizing a portable, handheld near-infrared (NIR) analyzer, crude oil tanks and other refinery feeds can be assessed for stability and blending suitability with near instantaneous results. NIR spectra from crude oil samples are collected and compared against a database of crudes and crude unit feeds with known asphaltene stability parameters. Asphaltene stability parameters are modeled and reported with a stability assessment.
In the presentation, we will delve into the fundamentals of these available tools, showcasing real-world case studies where they have been successfully applied for crude blends and crude pretreatment to improve and optimize desalter operations and crude preheat train fouling.
Facilitators:
Lance Cox, Nalco Water
Dean Roberts, Ergon Refining, Inc
Speaker:
Raúl Romero, Nalco Water
In this session we will discuss different aspects related to the design, operation, troubleshooting and maintenance of different wash water systems operating in different units of a refinery. Since it is a critical application from the reliability point of view, different practices and criteria are applied based on experience.
Learn from an incident where a sand blast pot was opened under pressure. We will discuss how the site was effected by this incident and how Motiva partnered with onsite contractors to create an onboarding document and video to ensure this type of incident is not repeated.
Facilitators:
Bill Clark, Phillips 66
Mike Tremblay, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP
Speakers:
Nagappan Muthiah, Phillips 66
This presentation will show how Phillips 66 was able to define a strategy to benefit from the digitalization of their Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) information. After multiple attempts, it became evident that using a single tool or solution for the entire safety lifecycle was too challenging because of the established work processes and existing tools. Instead, we identified solutions that connected data between the tools and then leveraged the benefits of digital data to provide useful insights.
Speaker:
Andrew Craig, Great Southern Technologies
In this session, GST’s will show how they worked with Ergon in order to avoid some of the pitfalls encountered while designing or troubleshooting new or existing fired heaters. The session will provide means to increase operability and reliability of fired heater systems. GST will also present their patented innovative technology that creates flameless combustion at radiant flux rates and flue gas temperatures common to refinery process heaters. GST’s new technology also meets the industry's stringent requirements for environmental, safety, reliability, operability, and maintainability. This session will also present the benefits of having cooler and more controlled combustion and offer technological solutions, thus providing a peak into GST’s most recent advancements in heater technology. Their latest advancements affords a much improved controllability for units that require a large range of operation.