Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2021 - 39

Refining Technology
the repair of dampers and seal air leaks and the performance
of regular CO breakthrough tests for turndown operations. It
has also helped in identifying capital projects such as air preheater
replacement. For a few items, sites are able to justify
investments on an expedited basis as the associated losses are
transparent to management. This has helped improve overall
corporate level fleet performance.
FIG. 9 shows the air preheater upgrade project performance.
The project was justified as the team was able to get historical performance
from the tool and visualize the issues associated with
existing technology-the technology was deemed to be outdated.
By using this approach, a one-time investment in upgrading
technology and equipment for the air preheater is justified that
avoids the associated debit due to frequent breakdowns.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the site engineers,
fired heater subject matter experts, Krishnan Chunangad, Camron Solomon,
Edward Kubis, Keen Seng, Nick Smith, Phil Melancon, Bill Hicks, Nur Hidayah Md
Nasir, et al., for providing the help and support in developing the tool.
LITERATURE CITED
1
ExxonMobil, " ExxonMobil sustainability report, " 2020, online: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/Global/Files/sustainability-report/publication/
Sustainability-Report.pdf.
2
ExxonMobil,
" ExxonMobil announces emission reduction plans; expects to
meet 2020 goals, " 2020, online: https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/
Newsroom/News-releases/2020/1214_ExxonMobil-announces-2025emissions-reductions_expects-to-meet-2020-plan
Complete
literature cited available online at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
KIRTAN TRIVEDI has more than 35 yr of experience, and worked
for Brown & Root Braun and Parsons before joining ExxonMobil
23 yr ago. His expertise is in process integration and energy
efficiency, project planning, design and development, process
simulation and reliability modeling. He has worked in
technologies related to refining, ethylene, upstream gas
processing, aromatics, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation
fuel and methanol-to-gasoline. He earned a B.E. degree from M. S. University of
Baroda, India, an M.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
India, and a PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia, all in chemical
engineering. Dr. Trivedi did his post-doctoral research at ETH Zurich, Switzerland,
and is a registered Professional Engineer in California. He volunteers in organizing
and chairing sessions for the AIChE Spring National Meeting and was the Chairman
of Process Integration Research Consortium at the University of Manchester.
SUHAS NEHETE has 15 yr of industry experience, and worked
for Reliance Industries and Shell before joining ExxonMobil
6 yr ago. His expertise is in process intensification, energy
optimization and monitoring, energy and CO2
management, and
process automation. He has worked in technologies related to
refining, olefins and aromatics. Mr. Nehete earned a B.E. degree in
chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology,
Mumbai, India. He is also registered as a Chartered Engineer by IChemE, UK.
JOHN GUNTER has worked for ExxonMobil for 31 yr, specializing
in advanced process control with recent contributions to the
deployment of operator guidance tools, such as abnormal event
detection and procedural operations technologies. He has
worked in technologies related to fuel and lubricant additives,
neo acids, oxygenated fluids, polypropylene, metallocene linear
low-density polyethylene films, and refining. He now works in a
business planning role where new energy efficiency improvements and emissions
mitigation opportunities are evaluated to support the company's goals. Mr. Gunter
earned an MS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, A.
James Clark School of Engineering, where he conducted pioneering research in
the application of partial least squares to compositional analysis for biosensors.
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Hydrocarbon Processing | SEPTEMBER 2021 39

https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/Global/Files/sustainability-report/publication/Sustainability-Report.pdf https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/Global/Files/sustainability-report/publication/Sustainability-Report.pdf https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/-/media/Global/Files/sustainability-report/publication/Sustainability-Report.pdf https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2020/1214_ExxonMobil-announces-2025-emissions-reductions_expects-to-meet-2020-plan https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2020/1214_ExxonMobil-announces-2025-emissions-reductions_expects-to-meet-2020-plan https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2020/1214_ExxonMobil-announces-2025-emissions-reductions_expects-to-meet-2020-plan http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com http://www.23WPCHOUSTON.COM

Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2021

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