Excellence in safety is the key to address the increasing complexity of industrial production processes and the increase of rules and regulations both in Europe and internationally.
Ageing infrastructure in process manufacturing industries and changes in operating regimes can adversely affect equipment integrity and reliability. Experts in the field of plant operation will give an overview of new methodologies and techniques to improve process safety in the chemical industry and related sectors.
The 34th European AIChE seminar is an effective platform for interacting and sharing insights
Ageing and Corrosion - Arjen Reinders, McDermott
Many petrochemical plants are past their original design lifetime but are still being operated for many years to come. Whilst these plants are inspected and maintained in various ways, this may impose risks. Depending upon the applicable process conditions involved it may result in specific damage mechanisms. The plant design is based on the damage mechanisms and design life but several damage mechanisms are time dependent and therefore in the light of lifetime extension, it is important to assess the current situation of these plants and to make estimates of residual lifetime. For more than 25 years McDermott has developed and successfully applied a specific methodology called ”Plant Life Expectancy Study”, which is assessing the current situation of a plant asset and evaluating the possibility to extend lifetime. This presentation will outline the plant life expectancy study and the underlying principles as provided by McDermott as a support for investment decisions or future plant operation.
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Normalization of Deviation - Tijs Koerts, Operation Director of the European Process Safety Centre
Many large industrial accidents with hazardous chemicals have in the root cause a contribution from human involvement. Sometimes people deviate for very good reasons from a developed procedure, while not fully understanding the hazard and while not being corrected by pears or leaders. A famous example is the Texas City refinery incident (see the CSB film Anatomy of a Disaster – available on YouTube). This phenomena has obtained its own name: “Normalization of Deviation”. Some examples will be discussed as well as manners how to recognise these and improve behaviour.
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Ageing Operators: Is the best yet to come? - Prof. Dr. Jop Groeneweg, Leiden University
In this presentation various apspects of the influence of ageing on cognitive performance are discussed. In general it is believed that ageing has only negative effects. In this presentation a more nuanced picture is presented.
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By Jelle Gerard Wijnja, Technology Manager Ethylene Furnaces, TechnipFMC
TechnipFMC is a world leader in designing steam crackers, from concept stage through construction and commissioning for both grassroots plants (including mega-crackers) and plant expansions using its proprietary technologies. TechnipFMC provides a wide range of services to the ethylene industry.
TechnipFMC has innovated its cracking furnace design, in which the chemical cracking reactions take place. Some of these innovations that improve the cracking process like the three-lane radiant coil, Swirl Flow Tube (SFT®) and the Large Scale Vortex (LSV®) burner have been applied in both new furnaces and/or cracking furnace revamps.
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By Herman van Roost, Business Development Manager Recycling, Total Refining & Petrochemicals
With the circular economy at everyone’s attention and with the EC’s Plastics Strategy published, the plastics sector is entering a new era. A lot of innovation effort is focused on sorting and recycling technology, even more since China shuts its borders for most plastic waste.
But why are plastics less mature in terms of circularity compared to paper, glass and other commodities ?
Is our recycling technology up to the task ? How to steer innovation ? Is there a role for the virgin resin industry ?
How are fundamental scientific principles interfering with ‘design for recycling ‘?
A need for engineers to step in!
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By Maurice Korpelshoek, Technology Marketing Director, CB&I
Alkylate product remains one of the most favored octane blending components in the refining industry. CB&I and Albemarle have developed and commercially proven a unique solid acid alkylation process, called AlkyClean®, which is the most environmentally advanced and safest processing option to produce alkylate, and an excellent alternative to retrofit existing HF alkylation units. After several years of process development and pilot plant testing, this novel alkylation process was licensed to Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical Group in China. This unique technology is the only demonstrated technology for solid acid alkylation. The results of more than a year of successful operation, together with application of this technology in existing refineries will be discussed.
Alkylate continues to be preferred gasoline blendstock for refiners.
First commercial demonstration of solid acid alkylation technology!
AlkyClean technology is innovative and proven solution for solid acid alkylate production.
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By Marcel Kelder, Sales Manager Advanced Solutions at Yokogawa Europe B.V.
Vertical integration and information sharing is a way of providing correct information throughout the vertical supply chain of a company. Vertical integration is a powerful technology with great potential to help companies sharing their data to answer business questions that traditionally were too time consuming to resolve. The success of a vertical supply chain critically depends on effective ways to share logistical information.
Improving the vertical information flow is a key success factor for vertical supply chains. It makes companies more agile and flexible regarding changing market conditions and provides the single truth to shareholders and other stakeholders. Although the justification for integration may sound logical, the brutal fact is that many companies in Europe are struggling with integration. The question is why.
This presentation explains the importance of vertical integration for companies. It is discussed why it is so difficult to initiate integration programs. Examples will be given of companies that decided to integrate business and operational applications. Best practices to establish vertical integration to complete the project successfully are discussed.
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- process safety - Introduction into incident investigation