Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2022 - 7

Editorial
Comment
LEE NICHOLS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Lee.Nichols@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Advancing maintenance ultimately
leads to increased reliability
This year, Hydrocarbon Processing is celebrating
its 100th anniversary. Throughout
this year, the editors are publishing
excerpts from past issues. These articles
(HP Flashback) are in the History of the
HPI section. HP Flashback is a mixture of
technical articles, headlines and columns
published throughout various decades.
For example, this month's HP Flashback
features material that was published in the
1950s of Petroleum Refiner, the forerunner
to Hydrocarbon Processing.
Throughout our 100-yr history, the
topics of maintenance and reliability have
always been prevalent. Refineries and
petrochemical plants are a collection of
highly-technical process units that undergo
the harshest environments on the
planet. These units operate under intense
pressures and temperatures and must be
maintained to ensure proper operation.
Failure to do so could result in off-specification
production, decreased efficiency,
increased energy needs and emissions,
unit shutdown or, in a worst case scenario,
a safety incident or possible explosion.
Process unit maintenance and reliability
are crucial to ensure safe and efficient
operations; a robust maintenance strategy
promotes optimal performance. Maintenance
should not be considered an expense,
but rather a value-added operation
to ensure unit reliability and uptime.
Maintenance spending. In Hydrocarbon
Processing's HPI Market Data 2022
report, the editors forecast global maintenance
spending to reach nearly $70 B. As
refineries and petrochemical plants age,
maintenance plans and strategies become
even more important. These programs
help maintain unit effectiveness and provide
a safer and more reliable working
environment.
Special focus. New tools, technologies
and services are continuing to advance
maintenance programs around the world.
For example, new digital technologies can
provide plant operators with more data
and insight into the health of equipment,
greatly enhancing operations by providing
a detailed look at how equipment is
operating and when it will need to be serviced
and/or replaced.
These new digital tools are even making
incredible strides in training refining
and petrochemical plant personnel on
many aspects of maintenance, operations
and safety. Digital technology adoption
can provide plant personnel with multiple
benefits at their fingertips, changing the
way the hydrocarbon processing industry
operates and making operations safer for
plant personnel.
Because of the seriousness of maintenance
and reliability programs, Hydrocarbon
Processing continues to provide an
in-depth look at this topic throughout its
editorial lineup. This month's Special Focus
section features several technical articles on
how operators, vendors/suppliers, consultants
and technical teams are advancing
the practice of maintenance to boost the
reliability of process units and equipment.
These articles include the following topics:
* Investigating and diagnosing
foaming issues during the startup
of a tail gas treating unit
* Using reverse engineering to
repair obsolete equipment that
has no existing original equipment
manufacturer or spare parts
* Rerating processing equipment to
adhere to new plant conditions to
ensure proper operation
* Troubleshooting and using failure
analysis to find the root cause of
failures to remedy the situation or
avoid future occurrences.
Refinery and plant maintenance is inultimately
evitable.
Advancing the way the industry
conducts maintenance will
lead to improved reliability.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
14 Maintenance and
Reliability. Maintenance and
reliability are an integral part of the
downstream HPI. Since equipment
failures can result in expensive unit
shutdowns, companies must maintain
the mindset that spending to improve
reliability and equipment conditioning
is beneficial to the organization.
65 Sustainability. As energy
and chemical companies
shift capital to decarbonization
strategies, leading EPC companies
are following suit. However, EPC firms
must not only pivot operations toward
short term strategy, but also the longterm
strategy where areas like broader
electrification, the hydrogen economy
value chain and advanced recycling
become increasingly important.
48 History of the HPI.
This installment details
the technologies discovered during
the 1950s, including high-density
polyethylene, polypropylene,
polycarbonate, the Ziegler-Natta
catalyst, the adoption of computers in
refining operations and the evolution of
rocket fuel technology.
29 Process Optimization.
describe different corrosion factors
faced in the CDU and how they
mitigated these challenges without
capital investments.
67 Green Petrochemicals.
This article demonstrates how
additivation in the recycling process
can play a crucial role in providing
the required recyclate quality for
achieving a circular economy and how
industry collaboration is a key enabler
to developing new solutions and
technologies to achieve these goals.
Hydrocarbon Processing | APRIL 2022 7
Process engineers at Tüpraş
Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2022

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