In the processes that are carried out, both in refineries and in chemical plants, to obtain different products, we can verify the formation of a multitude of reactions that are necessary to achieve the proposed objectives. The main objective of these process reactions is to obtain a final product free of all types of contaminants […]
Pumping devices have been used to move liquids since ancient times. The first of them were waterwheels, reciprocating or screw pumps. The appearance of the centrifugal pump dates back to 1600, reaching our days after successive modifications and improvements. Basically, a centrifugal pump is a kinetic machine that converts the mechanical energy received from the […]
In many engineering companies, each individual discipline is usually challenged to work within the lowest possible budget – both for workhours and for material costs. The lowest possible cost at the discipline or material level is not always the least expensive overall (both in terms of cost, but also in time in the fabrication shop […]
Vibration is one of the major causes of failure in piping systems connected to turbomachinery equipment. Piping systems are subjected to excessive vibration levels whenever the mechanical natural frequency of the system is excited by a pulsation or by a mechanical source. If the frequency of the load excitation is the same or in the […]
Electrical designs -from small cables to big networks- must follow the guidelines provided by local and/or international standards and should contemplate particularities of the electrical network and client preferences. Becoming an expert on local standards is not an easy task; regulations tend to change from place to place. However, becoming knowledgeable on international standards is […]
Continuous Operational Tune-up (COT) of process furnaces is the fastest and cheapest option to mitigate CO2 emissions in oil refineries. CO2 emissions in petroleum refineries Process heaters in petroleum refineries consume large volumes of fossil fuels and emit proportional amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Most of these heaters have a natural draft design and […]