Hydrocarbon Processing - May 2021 - 7

Editorial
Comment

LEE NICHOLS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Lee.Nichols@HydrocarbonProcessing.com

Maintenance and reliability: A cornerstone
of safe and efficient plant operation
Refineries and petrochemical plants are
comprised of a series of crucial processes
to produce transportation fuels, products
and chemicals demanded by the global
market. These processes consist of capitalintensive units that must be maintained to
provide reliable performance. Failure to
adequately maintain these assets can have
a detrimental effect to not only operations
and profit, but also to worker safety.
It is imperative to maintain a robust
maintenance strategy to ensure these units
are operating effectively. Equipment failures can lead to unit downtime, severely affecting the plant's profitability. Therefore,
maintenance should not be considered an
expense, but rather a value-added operation to ensure unit reliability and uptime.
Maintenance and reliability special
focus. Hydrocarbon Processing has dedi-

cated an entire Special Focus section of
this issue to this topic-the publication
also highlights this topic in more than
60% of the editorial lineup.
Within this issue, the editors of Hydrocarbon Processing have assembled
seven technical articles focusing on how
maintenance can lead to equipment and
plant reliability:
* SK Energy provides a detailed study
on hot spots that occurred in the
catalysts of the reactors of its residue
hydrodesulfurization process. This
phenomenon happened during
the unit's end-of-run in early 2019.
The company's study modeled the
hot spots occurrences to analyze
the temperature effects of the
catalysts, reactor shells and internal
parts. The purpose of the study
was to assess structural stability by
estimating the exposed temperature
of reactor internals and the shell
in the event of similar hot spot
phenomena in the future, as well
as to predict corrosivity and devise

measures during operation.
* Tüpraş details a new method for
the maintenance of the preflash
distillation column to prevent
flooding problems.
* Wood Plc. provides a description
of fundamental concepts, practices,
challenges and process checklists
involved in the process of rerating/
restaging centrifugal compressors.
This practice is necessary to
ensure the equipment meets any
new operating requirements, such
as increased or decreased flow,
increased or decreased head or a
combination of both.
* Engineers at Kuwait Oil Co. and
The Welding Institute present the
detrimental effect of a tack weld in a
pressure vessel fabrication, leading
to fatigue cracking and the eventual
breach of containment. Welding
best practices are also showcased
in Central Mechanical Research
Institute's article.
* Servomex describes how maintenance and reliability in gas analysis
equipment increases industrial
plants' efficiency and safety.
* Finally, an investigation into issues
with high-velocity gases in piping
systems-known as isentropic
or kinetic effects-details several
case studies to help identify the
characteristics of isentropic effects
and how to physically address them,
thus leading to more reliable and
safer operations.
A life-long legacy. The topic of maintenance and reliability has been a staple in
the pages of Hydrocarbon Processing since
its founding more than 99 yr ago. Due to its
crucial nature of ensuring reliable, efficient
and safe processing, maintenance and reliability will continue to be a primary focus
of this publication for another 100 yr.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE
and
18 Maintenance
Reliability.

Maintenance and
reliability are an integral part of the
downstream HPI. Companies must
maintain the mindset that spending
to improve reliability and equipment
conditioning is beneficial to the
organization. This month's Special Focus
provides several ways plants have and
can optimize reliable operations.

Pumps and
61 Valves,
Turbomachinery.

Additional demand and increasing
complexity of chemical processing plants
can put considerable stress on pumping
systems. Considerations to select,
monitor and maintain pumping systems
in chemical plants are discussed here.

69 Instrumentation.

The makeup of natural gas
is of great concern to petrochemical
producers. Contaminants can cause
a variety of problems, especially when
combined with water. New analyzers more
accurately and reliably measure water
content in natural gas streams.

81 Safety.

The human factor
has played a significant role
in processing plant accidents and
production loss incidents over the past
60 yr. This article identifies certain
critical plant activities where mobile
technologies can advance humanemachine interaction.

85 IRPC Process Technology.
A sneak-peek of Hydrocarbon
Processing's global, virtual International
Refining and Petrochemical Conference,
which will focus on the latest
conventional and energy transition
processing technologies in the global
refining and petrochemical industries.

Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 2021 7

Hydrocarbon Processing - May 2021

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