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HYDROCARBON ENGINEERING April 2013 April 2013 Treating Solutions Proven Results www. energyglobal Merichem Company: a global leader in licensing patented process technologies for .com hydrocarbon treating solutions and by-product management services. SCAN THE QR CODE WITH YOUR MOBILE DEVICE TO SEE OUR COMPLETE PORTFOLIO OF TREATING SOLUTIONS. We create chemistry that makes building blocks love strong foundations. Today’s petrochemical industry provides the building blocks for a wide range of materials. As the global leader in catalysis, BASF provides a strong foundation of product and process innovations across the petrochemical value chain. The result is a broad petrochemical catalyst and adsorbent portfolio backed by dedicated customer and technical service and enabled through the strength of BASF – The Chemical Company. At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. www.catalysts.basf.com/petrochemicals April 2013contents Volume 18 Number 4 ISSN 1468-9340 03 COMMENT 47 ON A MISSION Paul Shields, Chart Energy and Chemicals Inc., USA, discusses the development of brazed aluminium heat exchanger technology for 05 WORLD NEWS gas processing applications Contract awards, project updates, industry latest, news digest, diary dates, mergers and acquisitions 52 THE UNSTOPPABLE ADVANCE Riccardo Martini, Fabio Podestà and Carmelo Bongiorno, ABB, 12 LOOKING FORWARD Italy and Mario Abela, Dario Giannobile, Enrico Majuri, Isab Energy Steven Kantorowicz, KBC, USA, assesses the future of the Services, Italy, talk about advanced process control for integrated petrochemical industry of the key countries in Asia gasification and combined cycle plants 24 HONED FOR PURPOSE 59 PACKED FOR OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE In the second article in Hydrocarbon Engineering’s Izak Nieuwoudt, Koch-Glitsch, USA, discusses the ways in Recruitment and Employment series, Bill Glasscock, Solomon which the microscopic and macroscopic geometric variables Associates, USA, argues that cutting costs at all costs is not of structured packing can be used to design a packing with the a helpful strategy; streamlining staff to achieve sustainable desired efficiency and capacity performance is a much more constructive tactic 63 MINI VALVE, BIG EFFICIENCY Mark Pilling, Sulzer Chemtech USA Inc., USA and Giuseppe Mosca, Sulzer Chemtech AG, Switzerland, discuss the design of a new tray valve that provides high performance 68 END TO END SOLUTIONS Hans-Georg Pohle, Sandvik, Germany, looks at how the company plans to meet future demand for end to end solutions as global sulfur output continues to rise 73 GETTING A HANDLE ON SULFUR Les Lang, Brimrock Group Inc., Canada and Gordon J. Johnson, WorleyParsons, delve into the considerations behind successfully handling, forming and storing sulfur 24 79 SULFUR REVIEW SRSR20132013 Hydrocarbon Engineering provides a comprehensive overview of the key sulfur technologies available to plant/refinery operations 29 RESPONSIBLE SPENDING James F. McGehee, Merichem Company, USA, talks about the company's latest generation of low cost spent caustic 104 15 FACTS ON CHINA treatments 37 FOUL PLAY Berthold Otzisk, Kurita, Germany, discusses the chemical treatment programmes that can be applied to ethylene production in order to avoid fouling, corrossion and the formation of unwanted emulsions 42 THE CUTTING EDGE OF ADDITIVE DEVELOPMENT on this month’s cover Bettina Siggelkow and Werner Reimann, Clariant Refinery Services, Germany and Michael Feustel, Process Chemicals at Clariant, Germany present the ways in which new additives can help refiners to stay ahead of environmental regulations Merichem Company provides a diversified portfolio of products and services to a wide range of operations, including the refining and petrochemicals industries. Merichem is a global leader in licensing patented process technologies and supplying proprietary equipment to provide Member of ABC Audit Bureau of Circulations hydrocarbon treating solutions and byproduct management Copyright© Palladian Publications Ltd 2013. All rights reserved. services that remove sulfur No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a and other impurities from retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, hydrocarbon liquids and gases. electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All views expressed in this journal are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily the opinions of the www.energyglobal.com publisher, neither do the publishers endorse any of the claims made in the articles or the advertisements. Printed in the UK. Uncaptioned images courtesy of www.bigstockphoto.com. 1211_e +VLZ`V\YYH^UH[\YHSNHZJVU[HPUO`KYVNLUZ\SÄKL JHYIVUKPV_PKLTLYJHW[HUZVYTVYL& Whatever the impurity, whatever the composition, Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions has the right treatment. The composition of natural gas varies PZJY\JPHS>LHZ`V\YWHY[ULYVMJOVPJL tremendously: almost every source provide solutions for all types of natural gas, JVU[HPUZHKPɈLYLU[ISLUKVMPTW\YP[PLZ including associated and unconventional The options for treatment are almost NHZMYVTHZPUNSLZV\YJL*\Z[VTPZLK HZKP]LYZL;OH[»Z^O`VɈLYPUNHZVS\[PVU HUKLɉJPLU[ ZWLJPÄJHSS`KLZPNULKMVY`V\YNHZÄLSK www.engineering-solutions.airliquide.com comment Claira Lloyd Editor S energy self suffi ciency has been a topic of The above question can possibly be answered pretty discussion for a long time, and now that shale quickly. Yes, heavy crudes will of course still be needed, oil and gas are on the scene, it appears that this however, there has been a drop in imports from over scenario could become reality. Advancements in seas, especially Nigeria and Angola. The supply has horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have been coming from the Canadian oilsands due to the Uunlocked vast reserves of previously unattainable oil and gas. increase in pipeline and rail infrastructure volumes in Shale oil is a light sweet crude, which can be very light, and the US (as mentioned above) and the fact that oilsands the US oil industry is taking full advantage from infrastructure projects such as Saskatchewan have reached the point to refi ning. Both rail and pipeline infrastructure is being of production. Even though the majority of heavy crude utilised to the max in order to ship this crude to the major being supplied to the US is imported from Canada, it is refi ning hubs. However, when it does in fact get to its fi nal an immediate neighbour so does contribute to the self refi nery destination, is there the capacity to process such vast suffi ciency of North America as an entire continent. quantities? Whilst I have voiced some reservations about the The age of light sweet crude was thought to be drawing refi ning industry and the fast paced increase in sweet to an end in the 2000s, so many refi neries increased their crude as a feedstock, an article in the Financial Times complexity and spent vast sums of money on upgrading has said that ‘the US refi ning industry has been infrastructure to include hydrocracking and coking facilities. enjoying a remarkable revival’, due to the cheaper As a result, many plants are no longer confi gured to process price of domestic sweet crude and the fact that, ‘up such light crude and this can result in lower effi ciency levels until recently, oil was imported, refi ned on the coast and processing capacity, as well as making some units at certain and then transported inland. Now the crude is being facilities completely redundant. Also, shipping so much light produced inland and sent to the coasts and it’s a gold sweet crude to US refi neries for processing creates a problem mine for the refi neries that have access to it.’ Of course, for distillate production levels. With such an abundance of this is not something to disregard, however, there is light crude available, refi neries are likely to blend it with heavier always the fact that the refi ning industry is cyclical due crudes, therefore creating a gap in demand and supply levels to fossil fuels being a fi nite resource and ‘even if the for distillates. Does this mean that there is still room in the US shale boom persists, the boost it gives to refi ners may downstream industry for foreign imports? not last too much longer.’ contact info MANAGING EDITOR James Little PRODUCTION Peter Grinham [email protected] [email protected] Palladian EDITOR Claira Lloyd WEB EDITOR Callum O’Reilly [email protected] [email protected] Publications Ltd 15 South Street Farnham Surrey CIRCULATION MANAGER Victoria McConnell GU9 7QU ENGLAND EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jack Davidson [email protected] [email protected] Tel: +44 (0) 1252 718 999 SUBSCRIPTIONS Laura Cowell Fax: +44 (0) 1252 718 992 ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Rod Hardy [email protected] [email protected] REPRINT/MARKETING ASSISTANT Catherine Gower ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Chris Atkin [email protected] [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Energy Global Nancy Yamaguchi David Hayes Gordon Cope ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER John Baughen Bringing you the power of information [email protected] PUBLISHER Nigel Hardy www.energyglobal.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES SUBSCRIPTION CLAIMS Annual subscription £110 UK including postage Claims for non receipt of issues must be made within 3 months of publication of the issue or they will not