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Connected Worker Connected Industrial Connected Plant Connected Worker CONTENTS February 2018 Volume 23 Number 02 ISSN 1468-9340 03 Comment 57 In the firing line Phani Patchipulusu and Clark Dickson, Dickson Process 05 World News Systems LLC, USA, outline a catalytic combustion technique for natural gas purification. 12 Australia: seeking balance in fossil energy dependence 61 A continuous stream Dr Nancy Yamaguchi, Contributing Editor, considers the Julie Liberti, AirSep Corp., a Chart Industries Company, future of fossil energy developments in Australia. USA, outlines how non-cryogenic air separation technologies offer economical, low maintenance, uninterrupted gas supply solutions for modern process 21 Integrating information plants. Jason Hoover, Siemens Process Industries and Drives, USA, explains how to optimise drive train availability and productivity to prevent costly downtime in hydrocarbon 66 Seeking harmony processing facilities. S. V. Seleznev, G. A. Derevyagin, A. M. Derevyagin and P. C. Lyon, Vympel, Russia, explore the problem of measuring the condensation temperature of hydrocarbons 26 The key to success in natural gas. Markus Iatropoulos, MAN Diesel & Turbo, Germany, outlines the collaborative approach that was taken at a major refinery turnaround project in Austria. 73 Laser detection Dr Lars Hildebrandt, nanoplus, Germany, provides an overview of gas sensing using semiconductor laser 32 Getting ahead spectroscopy. Michael Andrews and Tushar Patel, Atlas Copco Gas and Process, USA, explain how integrally-geared technology is making room for margin growth downstream. 77 A new generation Gijs van Heeringen and Jan Klok, Paqell, along with Peter Hauwert, Frames, the Netherlands, consider the 37 Fluid flows economic impact of next generation direct treat sulfur Yousef Jarrah and Motoyasu Ogawa, Nikkiso Cryo Inc., USA removal and recovery processes. and Japan, reveal the fluid dynamics of rotating stall in LNG pumps. 83 A collaborative success Marco van Son and Rien van Grinsven, Jacobs Comprimo® 41 Pump Q&A Sulfur Solutions, Canada and the Netherlands, and Hydrocarbon Engineering questions a number of pump Khalid S. Ghazal, Saudi Aramco ExxonMobil Refinery experts on efficiency, quality control, safety, maintenance (SAMREF Refinery), Saudi Arabia, recall a sulfur upgrade and the future of the pump market. project. 48 Innovation in gas treating 89 Filling the gap Joseph Priestley, Fahd Fathi and John Sarlis, Shell Global Innovative ceramic designs simplify field installation Solutions International B.V., the Netherlands, introduce a and address the critical manufacturing skills gap. new contacting technology for absorption columns. Heather Higgins, Will Russell and Uday Parekh, Blasch Precision Ceramics, USA, explain. 93 A root and branch approach Bahador Sadeghian, Zafaran Industrial Group Co., Iran, outlines the role that sulfur granulation drums play in the production of sulfur coated urea fertilizer. The Shell Turbo Tray, a new contacting technology THIS based on innovative tray design, is presented. The technology is applied to the removal of contaminants from natural gas. It results in significant opportunities MONTH'S for greenfield CAPEX reduction and debottlenecking of existing facilities. Case studies are available at: FRONT [email protected] and www.shell.com/ COVER business-customers/global-solutions.html 2018 Member of ABC Audit Bureau of Circulations Copyright© Palladian Publications Ltd 2018. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, JOIN THE stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. All views expressed in this follow connect like join journal are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily the opinions of the publisher, neither CONVERSATION @HydrocarbonEng Hydrocarbon Hydrocarbon Hydrocarbon do the publishers endorse any of the claims made in the articles or the advertisements. Printed in the UK. Engineering Engineering Engineering Uncaptioned images courtesy of www.shutterstock.com. FREE OWNER OPERATOR ATTENDANCE THE WORLDS LEADING DOWNSTREAM CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION WILLIAM RUH DECIE AUTIN MICHAEL FOREMAN Chief Digital O cer Vice President – Project Development, Former Astronaut GE EXXONMOBIL NASA WALTER PINTO DENISE MCWATTERS RON HUIJSMANS RANDY POUND HERMAN VERHOEVEN Senior Director of SVP & Chief U.S. Gulf Coast Global Manufacturing VP - Global Global Projects Compliance O cer Program Director Director – Maintenance Reliability Excellence LYONDELLBASELL HOLLYFRONTIER DOW CHEMICAL & Reliability COVESTRO OLIN CORPORATION 3 DEDICATED CONFERENCE STREAMS: ENGINEERING & MAINTENANCE & SHUTDOWNS & CONSTRUCTION RELIABILITY TURNAROUNDS Drive Transformative Change in Unlock the Savings of Asset Driven Make your Turnarounds Count, Productivity, Interoperability and Maintenance, Begin the Cultural Leverage Innovations, Integrate Performance for Downstream and Technological Shift Goals and Maximize Eciency Capital Projects 2000+ 150+ 200+ 100+ ATTENDEES EXHIBITORS SPEAKERS CONFERENCE SESSIONS www.downstreamevent.com COMMENT CONTACT INFO CALLUM O'REILLY EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR James Little [email protected] ack in 2012, shortly after I EDITOR Callum O'Reilly took on the role as Editor of [email protected] Hydrocarbon Engineering’s sister EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Anna Nicklin publication, LNG Industry magazine, [email protected] BShell began construction on a major new ADVERTISEMENT DIRECTOR Rod Hardy project that was (and still is) the talk of the [email protected] LNG sector. Five years later, the Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) facility arrived ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER Chris Atkin at its final location in the Browse Basin, Western Australia, last year. Mooring, [email protected] hook-up and commissioning activities are now underway before the project ADVERTISEMENT EXECUTIVE Sophie Barrett is expected to start operations later this year. Once up and running, the giant [email protected] Prelude FLNG facility – which is longer than four soccer fields – will have a PRODUCTION Ben Munro production capacity of at least 5.3 million tpy of liquids (3.6 million tpy of [email protected] LNG, 1.3 million tpy of condensate and 0.4 million tpy of LPG). WEB MANAGER Tom Fullerton Prelude FLNG is one of three remaining LNG projects currently under [email protected] construction in Australia that is set for completion this year, alongside DIGITAL EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Nicholas Woodroof Inpex’s Ichthys LNG project and the second train at Chevron’s Wheatstone [email protected] project. According to the latest ‘Resources and Energy Quarterly’ from the SUBSCRIPTIONS Laura White Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, these three projects are set [email protected] to bring Australia’s total nameplate capacity to 88 million t, as the country ADMINISTRATION Nicola Fuller readies itself to dethrone Qatar as the world’s largest LNG exporter. 1 The [email protected] report suggests that Australia’s LNG export volumes will reach 77 million t in CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 2018 – 2019, up from 52 million t in 2016 – 2017. Nancy Yamaguchi Gordon Cope All of this follows a “watershed year” for Australia’s LNG industry in 2017, as described by EnergyQuest’s CEO, Dr Graeme Bethune. 2 The energy consultancy recently reported that Australian LNG exports hit 56.8 million t in 2017, rising 26.3% from 2016, on the back of increased demand from China (up 40.5% from 12.4 million t to 17.5 million t). Higher oil prices and increased volumes pushed the country’s LNG export revenue up 44.1% to SUBSCRIPTION RATES Annual subscription £110 UK including postage AUS$25.8 billion last year. /£125 overseas (postage airmail). Despite the rosy outlook for the country’s LNG sector in the short-term, Two year discounted rate £176 UK including postage/£200 overseas (postage airmail). a number of uncertainties remain. The Department of Industry, Innovation and Science warns that as competition intensifies in global LNG markets SUBSCRIPTION CLAIMS Claims for non receipt of issues must be made within 3 months of (particularly from the US), the cost competitiveness of Australian LNG publication of the issue or they will not be honoured without charge. projects and the amount of flexibility in its contracts remain cause for APPLICABLE ONLY TO USA & CANADA concern: “LNG contracts often include clauses which allow buyers to reduce Hydrocarbon Engineering (ISSN No: 1468-9340, USPS No: 020-998) is published monthly by Palladian Publications