Hydrocarbon Processing-May 2009

MAY 2009
HPIMPACT
SPECIALREPORT
TECHNOLOGY
Petrochem: Chinas
new capacity
MAINTENANCE &
RELIABILITY
Planning for heat

recovery projects
Europes refinery
utilization trumps US
Techniques to improve
plant availability
Sustainable cost cuts

in capital spending
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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Select 51 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS
MAY 2009 VOL. 88 NO. 5

SPECIAL REPORT: MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY

Whats new in vertical enclosed shaft-driven sump pumps
23
Advanced designs incorporate axial-spiral design casing internals

and fully recessed impellers
H. Bloch and R. Franklin
27
Risk-based inspection, a panacea for plant failures?
31
Proper gasket removal and replacement

can reduce maintenance and increase uptime
Cover Image courtesy of Mieko Mahi,

www.energyimages.com.
Understand the limitations for an effective implementation

S. K. Pullarcot
Follow these guidelines for trouble-free performance

T. Hurley and D. Burgess
35
Improve cooling tower gear drive reliability

Applying commodity products instead of engineered solutions
can cause premature failure
J. DeBaecke
HEAT TRANSFER
Rethink planning for heat-recovery systems
47
Better early design of steam generators can save lots of money

in operating cogeneration plants
V. Ganapathy
SAFETY/LOSS PREVENTION
Facility sitingbalancing risk vs. cost
53
Companies should take a second look at identifying

and analyzing hazards associated with temporary buildings
B. A. Walker
PETROCHEMICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Consider new feedstocks for dimethyl ether production
61
HPIMPACT
15 China: New domestic
capacity to shrink some
petrochem imports
17 US refiners utilization
down 5%; East Coast
plants most vulnerable
17 Demand for plant asset
management shows
surprising resiliency
17 Renewed interest for US
IGCC, carbon-capture
coal power plant
This methanol-based petrochemical has growing options within energy markets

S. K. Ansari and S. Ansari
INSTRUMENTATION
How to select the better liquid-level measurement system
67
Here is a closer look at commonly used sensors

L. Aiken
PIPING/FLUID FLOW
New explicit friction factor equation
for turbulent flow in rough pipes
71
It is more reliable and accurate than existing equations

A. Sasan-Amiri
75
Explicit friction factor correlations for turbulent fluid flow

in noncircular ducts and polymeric fluids
New equation provides highly accurate estimates
C. T. Goudar and J. R. Sonnad
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Sustainable cost cuts in capital spending
81
A reduction program based on your companys unique nature can ensure

that budget slashes implemented today will not jeopardize the ability
to deliver projects tomorrow
A. Siddiqui
ENGINEERING CASE STUDIES

Case 50: Gearbox input shaft failure analysis
85
Make sure the same failures are not repeated at your affiliated plant sites
T. Sofronas
DEPARTMENTS
7 HPIN BRIEF 15 HPIMPACT 19 HPIN CONSTRUCTION
86 HPI MARKETPLACE 89 ADVERTISER INDEX
COLUMNS
9 HPIN RELIABILITY
Getting all the facts is
more important than
ever
11 HPINTEGRATION
STRATEGIES
Creating a sustainability
culture in HPI plants
13 HPIN ASSOCIATIONS
The US refining industry
is still alive and vital
90 HPIN WATER
MANAGEMENT
Got risk? Cut costs safely
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ARTICLE REPRINTS
EDITORIAL
Editor Les A. Kane
Senior Process Editor Stephany Romanow
Managing Editor Wendy Weirauch
Process Editor Tricia Crossey
Reliability/Equipment Editor Heinz P. Bloch
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Contributing Editor Loraine A. Huchler
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WENDY WEIRAUCH, MANAGING EDITOR
WW@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Saudi Aramco plans aggressive downstream investment, according

to Abdulaziz M. Judaimi, vice president of new business development for the company.
Speaking at a global petrochemical conference held recently in Houston, he presented an oil
market perspective and shared his corporations strategy. The company manages 260 billion
barrels of crude oil and 254 Tscf of natural gas. The future appears to offer price support,
he said, with a resumption in demand growth, further non-OPEC supply constraints and
low inventories. Saudi Aramco remains committed to rapid expansion, he reported, with
plans for 2-million bpd (MMbpd) upstream production capacity development, 1.5 Bscfd
of sales gas, 1.2-MMbpd domestic and international refining expansion and 13 MMton in
domestic petrochemicals growth.
Suncor Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada propose merger. On completion

of the transaction, the combined entity will operate corporately under the Suncor name,
while maintaining the brand presence of Petro-Canada in refined products. The combined
portfolio boasts the largest oil sands resource position, a strong Canadian downstream
brand, solid conventional exploration and production assets, and low-cost production from
Canadas East Coast and internationally, according to Rick George, president and CEO of
Suncor. He will assume the same role with the merged entity. The new company will have
a refining capacity of 433 thousand bpd (Mbpd). Year-to-date oil sands production at the
end of March averaged 278 Mbpd. The company is targeting average oil sands production
of approximately 300 Mbpd in 2009.
New nanocoatings developed for power-generation applications.
The US Department of Energy and power generation companies are interested in achieving greater power plant efficiency by increasing steam temperature and pressure. However,
the combination of high steam temperature and pressure promotes coal ash corrosion and
increases corrosion rates. To improve reliability and availability of fossil-fired boilers, scientists with the Southwest Research Institute (www.swri.org) applied computational methods to design and assess potential Fe-Cr-Ni-Al systems to produce stable nanostructured
coatings that form a protective, continuous scale of alumina or chromia. These advanced
coatings are claimed to maintain long-term stability and corrosion resistance by forming a
diffusion barrier layer that prevents Cr or Al loss from inward diffusion.
World valve and pump markets to be flat in 2009. World sales of industrial valves will remain at $47 billion this year, according to a new forecast from McIlvaine
Company. A 3% increase in demand is projected for 2010. Some industries in China will
show fairly robust growth. For example, the replacement valve market in Chinese coal-fired
power plants is now twice as large as that in the US and accounts for more than 30% of
the world market. Global sales of pumps in 2009 are forecast to remain at the 2008 level
of $32 billion. Centrifugal pumps will be the biggest product group. Rotary pumps will
edge the diaphragm segment with $1 billion more in revenues. Reciprocating pump sales
are expected to be slightly lower than sales of diaphragm pumps.
Global Web attacks in the HPI increasing. A new report from ScanSafe, a
provider of Web security solutions, finds that the energy and oil sector is the most at-risk
vertical for Internet threats. Other sectors in the top five most threatened industries are
pharmaceuticals and chemical, engineering and construction, transportation and shipping,
and travel and entertainment. Todays malware is all about stealing and harvesting data.
Cyber-criminals have moved away from defacing sites or merely designing malware as a
prank, and it is now created with commercial and criminal intent, according to Mary
Landesman, the reports author. The aim appears to be a large-scale data harvesting operation that is targeting corporate intellectual property assets. This gives rise to the likelihood
that cybercrime is proving to be a viable business opportunity in a climate where legitimate
opportunities are becoming increasingly more limited, says Ms. Landesman. HP
US refiners ending
maintenance season
By April, refiners in the US are typically
coming out of maintenance and ramping up production of gasoline for the
summer driving months. However, the
industry isnt usually at full production until sometime in May or June.
Frequently, the balance between supply and demand tightens during this
spring transition.
But this year, the US has less need
for petroleum products from domestic
refineries than usual. Falling petroleum
consumption, high gasoline import
availability and increasing use of ethanol in gasoline have reduced demand
for US refinery output.
Consider gasoline and distillate, which
together represent over 70% of refinery output from crude oil. Energy
Information Administration (EIA) data
indicate that, for the first quarter,
demand for gasoline declined 1.5% and
distillate fell 6.7%. Distillate demand,
which is mainly driven by heavy-duty
trucking, has been hit hard by the slowing economy. Gasoline from domestic
refineries is slowing due, in part, to
increased supply from gasoline imports,
much of which comes from Europe.
In this weak market, some refiners have
chosen to shut an entire refinery down
while maintenance is being done, rather than continue partial operations at
higher cost.
Even so, on the East Coast, which experienced very large refinery outages in
March, gasoline inventories grew from
53 million barrels early in the month to
over 56 million barrels by early April.
In all, the refinery maintenance program this spring is likely going to have
little impact on the supply-demand
balance, and seems to be providing
opportunities for refiners to do extra
maintenance, says EIAs analysis (www.
eia.doe.gov). HP
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HPIN RELIABILITY
HEINZ P. BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
HB@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Getting all the facts is more important than ever

An old friend once told me that even the thinnest pancake has
two sides. He meant to say there are at least two sides to any argument and listening to only one will be a mistake. In harmony with
this thinking, we believe maintenance and reliability professionals
must learn to make decisions based on solid facts. Industry already
pays a heavy price for lack of critical thinking and not acting on
facts. As a result, fortunes are spent on unexplained repeat failures of mechanical equipment.
Old products are rapidly superseded by modern technology.
Although named as the coinventor of a bearing housing protector
seal (US patent number 5,161,804, issued 10 November 1992), I
no longer recommend this outdated design for the simple reason
that superior products are available.
Know your bearing protector seals. Our example point
about old vs. new bearing housing protector seals could be expanded.
Note there are old styles of noncontacting bearing protector seals
(isolators) where the gap between rotating and stationary components is bridged by an O-ring or wedge ring (Fig. 1). If an elastomeric
O-ring or wedge ring simultaneously touches both a stationary and
nonstationary component, this elastomeric ring will either drag and
wear, or lift off and not wear. In the nonwear mode the isolator will
have an air gap that permits an interchange between the ambient
air and whatever oilair mixture exists inside the bearing housing.
We can even ascertain how much dirt is in the air and determine
the extent to which bearing life is affected by dirt and moisture.
Researchers have published these effects as life extension factors.1
As to the behavior of an elastomeric ring, we can reason that
only one of two scenarios is plausible at a time: The ring either
contacts, or it does not contact. If it makes contact with the sharp
edge of a groove, it is more likely to shred than if it contacts a
much wider surface. Simply remember that force equals pressure times area (or pressure = force divided by area contacted or
pounds per square inch), and a given force acting on a small area
will result in an undesirably high pressure.
Beware of those who market outdated stuff. While
reasonable people believe that we should all do more reading

and less listening to sound bites, we must also be careful and not
believe everything we read. Some of our readers alerted us to a
Website where a marketing guru recently labeled oil mist hype.
We assume he wanted his clients to know that compressed air
for oil mist lubrication, plus the force needed to overcoming seal
friction, consumes power. Why would that be news to a reasonable person? Ten years ago (1998) it was pointed out that the
volume of air needed by a system with 167 application points
costs $6,600/year.2 Yet, avoiding a pump failure was then already
worth about $6,000. What the uninformed either do not know,
or elect not to mention, are the associated benefits of oil mist.
These benefits include the preservation and corrosion protection
of standby equipment, energy savings due to reduced bearing
friction, extremely low maintenance requirements, elimination of
abrasion-prone and immersion-sensitive slinger rings and deletion
of constant-level lubricators. With modern oil mist application,
plant downtime risk is reduced and other revenue-favoring factors
come into play as well.3
Contrary to the aspersions cast against oil mist, every single
rolling-element bearing applied in oil refineries can benefit greatly
from oil mist so long as the application points, vent locations and
mist reclassifier configurations are correctly chosen. That said,
the right mist reclassifier might be one that converts mist to a
spray and is oriented to direct this oil spray into the bearing cage.
In other instances, the best reclassifier might be a plain orifice
that simply meters mist into a cavity.4 And if you want a besttechnology, environmentally acceptable closed oil mist system,
you must choose a suitable face-type bearing isolator.
The above examples are among the many that illustrate the need
to sort out what advice is complete and correct. Unbiased facts are
rarely contained in the anecdotes and foggy recollections of people
who make it a habit to quote data out of context and spend much
of their life spreading partial or false information. HP
1
2
3
4
LITERATURE CITED
Bloch, Heinz P., Well worth the cost, Uptime Magazine, August/September,
pp. 2628, 2008.
Bloch, Heinz P. and Abdus Shamim, Oil Mist Lubrication: Practical
Applications, Fairmont Publishing Company, Lilburn, Georgia (ISBN
0-88173-256-7), pp. 152, 1998.
Bloch, Heinz P. and Don Ehlert, Get the facts on oil mist lubrication,
Hydrocarbon Processing, August 2008, pp. 4149.
Bloch, Heinz P., Machinery Reliability Improvement, Gulf Publishing Company,
Houston, Texas. Also, revised 2nd & 3rd editions (ISBN 0-88415-663-3),
1982, 1998.
The author is the Equipment/Reliability Editor of HP. A practicing engineer and

FIG. 1
Bearing protector seals with O-ring or wedge ring

separating stationary and rotating components. Only a
single O-ring is clamping the rotor to the shaft in these
older-style configurations.
ASME Life Fellow with close to 50 years of industrial experience, he advises process
plants on maintenance cost reduction and reliability upgrade issues. His 16th and
17th textbooks on reliability improvement subjects were published by John Wiley &
Sons in 2006.
I9
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gas portfolio. www.siemens.com/oil-gas
Answers for energy.

HPINTEGRATION STRATEGIES
DICK HILL, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
DHill@Arcweb.com
Creating a sustainability culture in HPI plants

Most companies are looking to contain costs and preserve
Measure the results in dollars and cents. Chances are
cash. At the same time, manufacturers are being pressured to
youve already implemented metrics such as energy consumed per
reduce energy usage and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most
unit of product made. But, do you measure it in real time and
process manufacturers that have been around for a long time have
provide this information to the production workers that can make
already done the big things. They have taken action on most
a difference? Probably not. Chances are this metric is buried somelarge critical processes such as fired heaters, utility power boilers
where within a monthly report for the plant manager. But if you
or steam generation units. Most likely, they have added automatic
can measure energy consumption in real time, trend the informadamper controls and burner management technologies to their
tion and then display it right on the operators consoles, they can
fired heaters, load-shedding strategies to their utility boilers, and
begin to get an idea of how their actions impact energy usage.
implemented steam and energy balance monitoring and reporting
Better still, since most front-line workers are probably not engitools to keep a close eye on these items. Many manufacturers have
neers, and thus do not generally relate to engineering terms, put this
also begun installing variable-frequency
in terms of dollars (or euros, yen, etc.) saved
drives on selected pumps and motors to
According to ARC research, to get their attention.
save electricity.
Creating a healthy competition between
The energy-saving benefits to be gained most industry leaders have a
shifts might provide some benefits beyond
from approaches such as these are now wellthe normal good work that your operations
documented, and each, no doubt, started safety culture that encourages and maintenance staffs do. If you operate
with an employee having a great idea. By new ideas to improve
several facilities, why not report, on a regular
developing a sustainability culture in
basis, which facility has improved its energy
their plants and across their organizations, workplace safety. So why not footprint the most over the past month (and
HPI companies can create an atmosphere
perhaps even provide a tangible incentive?).
extend this to sustainability
in which all employees are encouraged and
Most, if not all, process manufacturing
motivated to contribute ideasboth big and energy conservation?
is controlled by operators who use digital
and smallthat can help reduce the comdisplays that tend to show information in
panys energy consumption and, with it, its carbon footprint.
engineering terms. The modern idea is to present KPIs in a perforRecognizing the importance of embedding safety into the
mance dashboard configuration. ARC has written extensively about
minds of every employee, most of these same companies have had
real-time performance management strategies, explaining that pera strong safety culture in place for many years. According to ARC
formance-related metrics dont have to be on a separate device; they
research, most industry leaders have a safety culture that encourjust need to provide a different way of looking at information.
ages new ideas to improve workplace safety. So why not extend
In the HPI, many potential cost-saving opportunities related to
this to sustainability and energy conservation?
power and energy consumption are ignored simply because people
in refineries and petrochemical plants dont have the appropriate
visibility or control.
Creating an energy conservation culture. The same
As the saying goes, employees are our most important asset.
kind of thinking used to create a safety culture can be applied to
When it comes to improvements for sustainability, this clearly
a culture that looks for opportunities to lower your companys
holds true. Creating a culture of any kind is not easy. The process
costs through energy conservation and related activities. For most
industries have worked very hard to create a culture for safety. Crecompanies, creating a safety culture has to be the number one
ating a sustainability culture is perhaps the next challenge. HP
objective. However, in todays business climate, having an energy
conservation culture could rank a close second.
The first step is to engage employees and make them aware of
The author is vice president of ARC Advisory Group, Dedham, Massachusetts,
the impact they have on energy conservation. A successful proresponsible for developing the strategic direction for ARC products, services and
gram must first create continuing awareness among all employees
geographical expansion. He is responsible for covering the advanced software business worldwide. In addition, he provides leadership for support of ARC's automaof how their actions can impact the companys ability to operate
tion team and clients. Mr. Hill has over 30 years of experience in manufacturing and
in a profitable, yet sustainable, manner. Just as well-placed safety
automation. He has broad international experience with The Foxboro Company.
first signs can help remind employees that safety is everyones job,
Prior to Foxboro, Mr. Hill was a senior process control engineer with BP Oil, developprograms to promote universal energy conservation awareness
ing and implementing advanced process control applications. Prior to joining ARC,
he was the US general manager of Walsh Automation, a major engineering concould be started.
sulting firm and supplier of CIM solutions to the pulp and paper, petrochemicals,
A successful program should also encourage employees to think
pharmaceutical, and other process and manufacturing industries. He is a graduate
creatively and contribute their ideas about measures that the company
of Lowell Technological Institute with a BS degree in chemical engineering.
can take to further reduce energy consumption and/or emissions.
I 11
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HPIN ASSOCIATIONS
BILLY THINNES, NEWS EDITOR
bt@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
The US refining industry is still alive and vital

The 107th NPRA Annual Meeting
took place in San Antonio, Texas, last
month. Global economic and political
events helped steer the conversations at
the meeting in a variety of directions.
During a press conference kicking off the
meeting, Kevin Brown, the executive vice
president of Sinclair Oil and NPRAs current
chairman, said, In these difficult economic
times, the industry is seeing hardship and is
being tested by policymakers. But I think the
industry is confronting the economic and
credit crisis in a very responsible way, which
is a testament to our ability to adapt.
Attendance at this years annual meeting was down from previous years, approximately 1214%, according to Charles
Drevna, NPRAs president. The relatively
high turnout given current market conditions showed that this industry is still
alive and vital, he said.
Now is the time for industry to show
what makes it work and help drive the economic recovery, Mr. Drevna said. We are
part of the solution, while the inside the
Beltway rhetoric looks at us as the problem.
We believe solutions to future energy challenges lie in establishing the most diverse
fuel supply possible and we intend to work
closely with the new administration.
The average American doesnt understand the economics and complexity of
the refining business, Mr. Brown added.
We need to do a better job of educating
the country about our business.
Charlie Drevna and Kevin Brown field questions

from reporters at the NPRAs annual meeting.
it doesnt know what prices really are and

what assets are really worth.
The positive that Mr. Karlgaard sees
in this scenario is that networks can go
down fast but they can also come up fast.
I think economic recovery will take place
faster than people think, he said.
All the indicators are screaming to me
that the recession fears have been oversold
and these fears have saturated our culture,
he said. I think what we are living through
is the 1970s. In 1973 and 1974, stocks fell
48% and we had a recession. Trust completely evaporated in American culture and
the national mood was sour.
Mr. Karlgaard believes the US will
see positive economic growth by the 4th
quarter of this year. The country wont see
typical growth. It will be more like 1 to
2%. However, if a cap and trade program
passes, it will knock recovery down by
to 1 point.
Safety. A portion of the meeting was
General session. Education, specula-
tion and optimism for a better future were

a focus of the meetings general session.
Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes,
led off the opening session with a brisk
talk regarding the American economy.
In my view, we are not suffering an economic collapse. It is a network blackout. It is
not a blackout of electricity or bandwidth. It
is a blackout of prices and credit, Mr. Karlgaard said. We simply dont know what the
prices are for certain sets of assets right now.
Credit is not flowing. $4 trillion sits on the
sidelines in money market accounts because
also dedicated to recognizing safety. The

NPRAs highest accolade for member companies is the Distinguished Safety Award.
It is presented only to facilities with an
unparalleled commitment to safety. Before
the final selections are made, a panel of
experts examines safety records using a
strict screening criteria. According to Mr.
Brown, a facility must be exceptional just
to apply for the award.
The 2009 Distinguished Safety Award
winners were recognized in a brief ceremony before the general session. The first
recipient was ConocoPhillips refinery in
Billings, Montana. Larry Ziemba accepted

the award on behalf of ConocoPhillips.
The other award recipient was ExxonMobil
Chemicals polyolefins plant in Baton
Rouge, Louisiana. This is the seventh year
in a row the plant has been recognized
with an award, an unprecedented occurrence, according to NPRA Chairman
Brown. The honorable mention winner
was ConocoPhillips WRB Refining LLC
refinery in Borger, Texas. These and other
safety award winners will be recognized
May 13, 2009, at the NPRA Safety Conference in Grapevine, Texas.
Hospitality wrap-up. A big part of
the NPRA annual meeting is the networking that takes place during the hospitality suites in the evening. Some highlights:
KBCs suite was all about the soft chatting
murmur punctuated by the clarity of four
choices for pristine martinis that helped the
conversation flow without effort. CB&I
employed some three dimensional theatrics with cameras and big screen TVs and
protective sunglasses to project visitors into
an alternate reality of dancing television
heads. Shaws suite was rocking late to the
musical alchemy of the band known as the
Texas Tide, who summoned forth the spirit
of Otis Redding and unified all in a sing-along version of Sitting on the Dock of the
Bay. Criterion took over the conveniently
located second floor restaurant at the host
hotel and transformed it into an elegant
and relaxing atmosphere for discussing
business and reflecting on the events of the
day. BASF Catalysts was quite welcoming
in its suite as the band was not afraid to
jam off into tangents of a flamenco jazz
fusion style, the two guitarists plucking
their acoustic axes with dexterity while the
bands drummer mined the softly syncopated style of the Bill Evans Trio. It was
Buffett overload over at Albemarle, as the
Jimmy Buffett songbook was cranked up to
10 on the stereo and everyone was feeling
fine. Haldor Topse welcomed guests and
cornered the market on refined conversation punctuated with laughter. HP
I 13
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HPIMPACT
WENDY WEIRAUCH, MANAGING EDITOR
WW@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
China: New domestic

capacity to shrink some
petrochem imports
In addition, Shenhua and The Dow

Chemical Co. are planning to invest in a
large-scale coal-to-chemicals project in West
China. Nonetheless, the current weak energy
market makes coal-based chemical investment much less attractive now. The Chinese
government recently tightened the control on
coal chemical investment, Mr. Pang said.
Project activity. One aim of the overall

stimulus package is to help boost domestic
demand for petrochemicals. The majority of new projects will be developed by
Chinas two state-owned firms, Sinopec and
PetroChina. By 2013, Sinopec will add six
major new naphtha crackers and aromatics complexes. PetroChina will also build
six major naphtha crackers and aromatics
complexes in Northeast and West China.
Beside these two majors, CNOOC is
emerging as the third petrochemical major
by adding a new large aromatics complex
next to its existing cracker in South China.
There are also projects invested by private
companies in North and South China.
Coal-to-chemical projects in China have
also drawn a lot of attention, according to
Mr. Pangs analysis. During the high crude
price environment over the past two years,
a wave of coal chemical projects has been
developed. Investments have been made in
coal-to-methanol, PVC and olefins.
Among all of the coal chemical projects, the most important ones are probably
coal-to-olefins projects. Shenhua Group,
another state-owned energy enterprise,
started to build three large-scale coal-toethylene and coal-to-propylene projects in
2006. All three projects will be started up
in April 2010. By mid-2010, total olefin
production from coal is forecast to reach
1.5 million tons/year (MMtpy).
Product outlook. For the plastics sector,

domestic demand is expected to recover
slightly this year from a major slump in
2008 (Fig. 1). The infrastructure and housing projects under the economic stimulus
package will help create some new demand.
Consumption related to finished goods
for export will continue to be depressed
this year and the following year. A major
demand recovery will likely occur in
2011, according to Mr. Pang.
From the supply side, with around 15 million tons of new capacity coming onstream
from this year to 2011, the average operating
rate will drop to 70% before it can recover in
2012. With increasing domestic production,
imports will shrink to 6 MMtpy from 10
MMtpythe average during the past five
years. Thus, for international exporters, selling products into China will become more
competitive in the coming years.
The scenario for the aromatics industry
is very similar. Mr. Pangs projections show
that demand will grow very modestly this
year and the following year (Fig. 2). The
demand growth will start picking up after
2010, when the global economy recovers,
30
100
40
80
25
80
30
60
20
40
10
20
0
03
04 05 06
PE production
Total net import
PP production
07 08 09 10
PVC production
Total capacity
Total demand
11 12 13
Operating rate
Source: CMAI, 2009 World Petrochemical Conference
FIG. 1
Chinas plastics supply and demand: a recovery in domestic

consumption is forecast for 2011.
20
60
15
40
10
20
5
0
03
04
05
06
PX production
PX equivalent
PTA import
07
08
09
10
Net Bz/PX import

Bz production
Operating rate
11
12
13
Operating rate, %
100
Million ton
50
Operating rate, %
Million ton
After 17 years of continuous strong

growth, China has become the worlds third
largest economic power and the countrys
economy has been more integrated into the
global economy than ever in its history. However, the recent economic crisis in the West is
impacting certain industrial sectors in that
nation by a very large magnitude, according
to Paul Pang, managing director of CMAI
China. Speaking at the companys recent
World Petrochemical Conference, he presented his analysis of the state of Chinas general economy and import/export outlook.
As demand from overseas consumers
turned weak early last year, export-oriented
manufacturing industries such as textiles,
toys, electronics and home appliances have
been hit particularly hard. Many factories
have either closed or reduced their throughput. Approximately 40% of Chinese GDP
in 2008 was contributed directly and indirectly by export.
To cope with weak export demand,
in November 2008, the Chinese government laid out a plan for a 4 trillion RMB
economic stimulus package, equivalent to
$585 billion.
The whole package is to be implemented
in the next two years. The direct investment
in the petrochemical industry from this
package is only about $15 billion, and the
investment is expected to be mainly used for
upgrading refineries and building new petrochemical facilities.
Total capacity
Total demand
Source: CMAI, 2009 World Petrochemical Conference
FIG. 2
Chinas aromatics industry: new capacity additions reduce

operating rates to 70% until 2011.
I 15
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HPIMPACT
he said. On the supply side, several major
paraxylene (PX) complexes are expected to
be brought onstream in the next two years.
The total production capacity for benzene
and PX will increase by 11 MMton from
this year to 2011.
This large amount of new capacity
will bring the average aromatics industry
operating rate down to 70% till 2011. The
operating rate will recover after 2011 as the
demand picks up and new capacity additions slow down.
However, even with the massive domestic production growth, China will continue
to import a large quantity of PX and PTA,
according to Mr. Pang. The combined
import for PX and PX equivalent PTA is
forecast to remain at around 6 MMton.
For the international players, China will
maintain its position as the largest PX and
derivative import market.
US refiners utilization
down 5%; East Coast
plants most vulnerable
US refineries, particularly those in the
East Coast and Gulf Coast regions, are most
vulnerable to utilization cuts and will have
to reduce throughputs further as a result
of the economic downturn, according to a
new report from Wood Mackenzie.
The report examines refinery utilization in Europe, the US Gulf Coast and US
East Coast and finds that European refiners
have seen the smallest reduction in utilization rates at 0.5%. However, both Gulf
Coast and East Coast refineries in the US
have seen much larger falls in utilization of
around 2.5% (excluding the impact of the
hurricanes in September 2008) and 5%,
respectively, year-on-year in 2008.
Although we expect demand to stabilize
by 2010, utilization is expected to remain
on a downward trend, because nonrefinery
supply (e.g., NGLs and biofuels) continues
to grow and we also expect new refining
capacity to come onstream, according to
Alan Gelder, head of the companys Downstream Oil Americas.
Overall, demand is forecast to decline by
around 1.1 million barrels/day (MMbpd)
in the US and Europe between 2008 and
2010. At the same time, nonrefinery supply
in the US and Europe is projected to grow
by a combined 0.4 MMbpd over the same
period, mainly because of increased biofuels use. Refining capacity in these regions
is also forecast to grow by 0.9 thousand
barrels/day due to expansions of refineries,
which will result in additional pressure on

throughputs at existing capacity.
Historically, many refineries in the US
have been geared up to maximize gasoline
production, but Wood Mackenzie says that
a potential global surplus of gasoline and
falling US gasoline demand leaves them
more susceptible to utilization cuts than
their European counterparts.
The report concludes that new trade
flows are being established across the Atlantic basin, with a structural export of diesel
and gasoil from the US emerging. The big
change in 2008 was that gasoil (and diesel)
moved from being at broadly similar prices
in the two markets, to a marked premium
in North West Europe versus the US Gulf
Coast. The US became the marginal source
of European diesel/gasoil imports. European middle distillate prices continued to
rise, until they were high enough to attract
US refiners to switch yields to increase
middle distillate exports to Europe.
We believe that this trend will continue
in the future and that European middle
distillate prices will remain at a premium
to the US, Mr. Gelder says.
Demand for plant

asset management shows
surprising resiliency
The worldwide 2008 market for Plant
Asset Management (PAM) systems has
grown an average of over 13%/yr since 2006.
The PAM system market expanded over
$400 million dollars since 2006, according
to a new ARC Advisory Group study.
The recent massive worker layoffs have
thrust many organizations into precarious
positions that threaten both plant performance and safety. As dark clouds loom
over the economy, PAM systems will continue to grow going forward, albeit at a
slower rate, says ARC Research Director
Wil Chin, the studys principal author.
According to the study, the value proposition for PAM systems remains intact and
when combined with safety and other drivers
associated with the decline in the workforce
PAM adoption will not fall-off nearly as much
as other automation investments.
Navigate minefields. Despite the ability to work as a niche solution for specific
areas of the plant or be dedicated to certain
asset classes, PAM systems require supplier
domain and industry expertise to be successfully deployed.
PAM also continues to evolve. Exam-
ples include new systems that are more

intelligent with self-learning capabilities,
deploy multiple diagnostic technologies
for a greater number of assets, and employ
enabling technologies for online communication and remote offline analysis from
anywhere in the world.
Knowledge regarding PAM system suppliers, available solutions, and adoption and
operational strategies is increasingly important for end users and suppliers alike. To
be able to navigate the minefield-filled landscape, PAM end users need to understand
how to get the most out of their capital
assets; suppliers need to fine-tune their solution offerings and delivery mechanisms,
according to the study (www.arcweb.com).
Renewed interest for US

IGCC, carbon-capture
coal power plant
A proposal to build a futuristic coalburning power plant in central Illinois that
languished under the Bush administration
has received a fresh look from the new US
Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Supporters
of the project have pitched FutureGen as
a cutting-edge attempt to burn coal for
power and trap CO2 emissions.
Coal-fired power plants generate about
one-half of US electricity and about onethird of its CO2 emissions. In 2003, the
Department of Energy (DOE) initiated
FutureGena commercial-scale, coal-fired
power plant to incorporate integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), an advanced
generating technology, with carbon capture
and storage. The plant was to capture and
store underground about 90% of its CO2
emissions. DOEs cost share was 74%, and
industry partners agreed to fund the rest.
Secretary Chu believes that the FutureGen proposal has real merit, DOE spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller said in a statement after Dr. Chu met in late March with
members of the FutureGen Alliance.
The plant was to be built in Mattoon,
Illinois, but the Energy Department halted
plans after a faulty cost analysis put the
price at $500 million higher than it should
have been.
Earlier this year, a Government Accountability Office report (www.gao.org) reinvestigated the viability of the project. The
agencys report recommended that the DOE
should prepare a comprehensive analysis
that compares the original program, incremental changes to the original plan and the
restructured proposal. HP
I 17
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For more than eighty years, we at Costacurta have
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processes. Every day at Costacurta, we work to
improve the quality of our products and services and the
safety of all our collaborators, paying ever-greater
attention to the protection of the environment.
Within the wide range of Costacurta products you will
also find some, described below, that are used specifically
in the oil, petrochemical and chemical industries:
- RADIAL FLOW AND DOWN FLOW REACTOR INTERNALS;
- GAS-LIQUID AND LIQUID-LIQUID SEPARATORS;
- ARMOURING OF REFRACTORY, ANTI-ABRASIVE AND
ANTI-CORROSIVE LININGS.
For more information visit our website or contact the
division 'C' components for the oil, petrochemical
and chemical industries at tcsc@costacurta.it.
Costacurta S.p.A.-VICO
via Grazioli, 30
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tel. +39 02.66.20.20.66
fax: +39 02.66.20.20.99
Management systems
certified by LRQA:
ISO 9001:2000
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Gas-liquid and liquid-liquid separators
www.costacurta.it
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
BILLY THINNES, NEWS EDITOR
BT@HydrocarbonProcessing.com
North America
Mustang has completed its low sulfur
gasoline project at Placid Refining Co.
LLCs refinery in Port Allen, Louisiana.
Mustang provided the engineering, design,
procurement and construction management
for a grassroots 20,000 bpd FCC gasoline
hydrotreater to make low sulfur gasoline. The
new unit, along with other improvements,
will enable the refinery to meet all applicable
clean fuel standards for its products.
The $63 million project is part of the refinerys $300 million upgrade and expansion to
increase the refinerys capacity from 55,000
bpd to 80,000 bpd while reducing total air
emissions by about 50%. Construction and
successful startup of the new hydrotreater unit
were completed in September 2008.
Ivanhoe Energy Inc. has commissioned
its new feedstock test facility (FTF) for the
companys proprietary technology for field
upgrading of heavy oil to light oil (HTL). The
HTL testing facility will be used by Ivanhoe
Energy in coming years to support detailed
engineering and design of commercial-scale
HTL plants for Ivanhoe Energys Tamarack
project in Alberta, Canada, and Pungarayacu
project in Ecuador, and to test crudes associated with additional potential HTL projects.
The FTF was installed at Southwest
Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio,
Texas, last December. The FTF is a very
close analogue to a full-scale commercial
HTL facility and is capable of operating
under a wide range of conditions. The FTF
is multi-purpose and will be used to support
the engineering and design of commercial
HTL facilities for the Tamarack project
(Canada) and the Pungarayacu project
(Ecuador); generate commercial product
for marketing; test heavy oil from additional
target projects around the world; optimize
and enhance the HTL process; and generate
new intellectual property and patents.
The FTF will supplant the 1,000 bpd
commercial demonstration facility in
Bakersfield, California, which has served
its primary mission of proving that the
HTL process can be scaled up to a commercial size.
The maintenance division of Shaws
Power Group has been awarded a main-
tenance, small capital construction, turnaround support and specialty services

contract by Marathon Oil Corp. for its
Texas refining division, located in Texas
City, Texas. Shaw will immediately assume
current maintenance and small capital
construction work supporting Marathons
76,000 bpd refinery. Additional turnaround, specialty and engineering services
may be provided as needed.
PEMEX has awarded GTC Mxico
(GTC) an EPC contract to revamp their
ethylene oxide plant. As part of the agreement, GTC will provide major distillation
columns, mass transfer equipment, reactors,
chemicals, field engineering and installation
work. This project will conclude the final
phase of the 250,000 Mtpy ethylene oxide
plant revamp.
South America
CB&I has an approximately $50 million contract with Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (FLOPEC) to design and build
storage facilities for a grassroots liquefied
petroleum gas marine terminal in MonTREND ANALYSIS FORECASTING
Hydrocarbon Processing maintains an
extensive database of historical HPI project information. Current project activity
is published three times a year in the HPI
Construction Boxscore. When a project
is completed, it is removed from current
listings and retained in a database. The
database is a 35-year compilation of projects by type, operating company, licensor, engineering/constructor, location, etc.
Many companies use the historical data for
trending or sales forecasting.
The historical information is available in
comma-delimited or Excel and can be custom sorted to suit your needs. The cost of
the sort depends on the size and complexity of the sort you request and whether a
customized program must be written. You
can focus on a narrow request such as the
history of a particular type of project or
you can obtain the entire 35-year Boxscore
database, or portions thereof.
Simply send a clear description of the data
you need and you will receive a prompt
cost quotation. Contact:
Lee Nichols
P. O. Box 2608
Houston, Texas, 77252-2608
Fax: 713-525-4626
e-mail: Lee.Nichols@gulfpub.com.
teverde, Ecuador. CB&Is scope of work

includes the engineering, procurement,
fabrication, and construction of several
refrigerated storage tanks and spheres with
a total capacity exceeding 650,000 barrels.
The project will provide Ecuador additional
options for importing LPG. The project is
scheduled to be completed in 2010.
Europe
BASF has idled the smaller of its two
steam crackers at its site in Ludwigshafen,
Germany, due to continuing weak demand.
The temporary shutdown of the cracker,
which has a capacity of 220,000 metric tpy
of ethylene, was planned for the middle
of April and expected to last at least three
months. Overall, a total of five production lines are currently idled at the Ludwigshafen Verbund site, and an additional
60 production lines are operating at very
low capacity utilization rates. BASF has
reduced its production capacities worldwide by more than 25%.
ExxonMobil recently inaugurated its newest cogeneration plant at its Antwerp refinery
in Belgium. In addition to generating 125
megawatts, the new plant will reduce Belgiums carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 200,000 tpy, the equivalent of removing about 90,000 cars from Europes roads.
With the inauguration of the Antwerp facility,
ExxonMobil now has interests in about 4,600
megawatts of cogeneration capacity in about
100 individual installations at more than
30 sites around the world. This is enough
capacity to supply the needs of more than
5 million homes in Europe. Additional new
facilities under construction in Singapore and
China will increase ExxonMobils cogeneration capacity to more than 5,000 megawatts
in the next three years.
TurboSonic Technologies, Inc. has a
$2.3 million order from a European refinery. The refinery will incorporate TurboSonics technology for controlling particulate emissions as an integral part of an
upgrade of its physical plant. The upgrade
will facilitate the production of low-sulfur
fuels in response to environmental legislation. TurboSonic expects that delivery will
be completed in its 2010 fiscal year.
I 19
HPIN CONSTRUCTION
Middle East
Chiyoda and Technip joined with
Qatargas to celebrate the inauguration of
the Qatargas 2 project in Ras Laffan, Qatar.
The recently completed trains 4 and 5 have a
unit capacity of 7.8 million tpy. Chiyoda and
Technip were involved in all aspects of the
engineering, procurement and construction
of Trains 4 and 5 from front-end engineering
to startup. These are the first two of six LNG
trains to be inaugurated within the framework
of the three projects (Qatargas 2, Qatargas

3 and 4 and RasGas 3) ongoing at the Ras
Laffan Industrial City. 240 million man-hours
have been expended to-date in the construction and commissioning of Trains 4 and 5.
Fluor Corp. has received notification
from Kuwait National Petroleum Co. to
stop work on the utilities and offsites for
the al-Zour refinery. Fluor has approximately 300 employees performing engi
by
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neering work on the project. The remaining contract value of approximately $2.1
billion will be removed from the companys
backlog in the first quarter.
The Shaw Group Inc.s Energy &
Chemicals Group has been selected to provide engineering services for Sonatrachs
planned 24 million m3/d grassroots liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) recovery facility
in Algeria. The facility, located near Hassi
Messaoud, is expected to be completed in
the first half of 2012. Shaw performed the
front end engineering design work and will
be a subcontractor to Saipem S.p.A. for
this subsequent phase.
Asia-Pacific
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals
Ltd. (MRPL) has awarded Larsen & Toubro (L&T) two large project orders for Rs
1344 crores, including a 3.7 MMtpy diesel
hydrotreating unit and a 70,000 tpy hydrogen generation unit (HGU). The projects,
located in India, will enhance capacity and
upgrade fuel quality to meet Euro IV specifications. With this announcement, L&T has
booked large orders valued at Rs 5177 crores
this week.
The Linde Group has a contract with
Sinopec Sichuan Vinylon Works (SVW)
to jointly build gas plants and produce
industrial gases for the long-term supply to
SVWs chemical complex. This collaboration will result in an initial investment of
approximately 50 million.
This partnership will establish a joint
venture between Linde Gas (Hong Kong)
Ltd. and SVW in Chongqing Chemical
Industrial Park (CCIP), China, by June
2009. SVW in Chongqing is mainly
engaged in producing natural gas-based
chemical and chemical fiber products, and is
currently expanding its vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production capabilities.
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20
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has

a contract from Hindustan Petroleum
Corporation Limited (HPCL) to provide
project management consultancy services
for a diesel hydrotreater (DHDT) project at
HPCLs refining complex in Mumbai, India.
Officials estimate the overall total installed
cost for the DHDT at $650 million. Jacobs
will perform front-end engineering design and
supervise the lump-sum turnkey contracting
for the DHDT project. Work includes the
installation of a DHDT and associated facilities in HPCLs Mumbai refinery. HP
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MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY
SPECIALREPORT
Whats new in vertical enclosed

shaft-driven sump pumps
Advanced designs incorporate axial-spiral design casing internals
and fully recessed impellers
H. BLOCH, HP staff; and R. FRANKLIN, Emile Egger & Cie, Cressier, (Neuchatel),
Switzerland
stand that recessed impellers promote vortex flow. The impeller

is of the semi-open type; the vanes are integral with the disk and
there is no impeller shroud. On the side away from the vanes the
disk incorporates integrally cast back pump-out vanes (balancing
vanes). Recessed-impeller designs are particularly suitable for handling free-flowing slurries and sludge. A modern impeller design
can handle solids with dimensions essentially equal to the diameter of the discharge port. However, explosion-proofing measures
sometimes require a spark arrestor in the pump discharge (Fig. 1)
and, when fitted, this arrestor restricts the permitted solids size.
Selecting an appropriate suction strainer will limit the solids-size
to allowable diameters.
Most recessed-impeller pumps rotate the liquid and solids
inside the casing until the solids reach a velocity at which they exit
the casing. Recirculation of solids will occur below this exit velocity; it creates wear in the casing and also increases damage to soft
solids. This problem has been overcome by designing and casting
the pump casing with an axial spiral. Visualize an automobile
Examining modern vertical pump designs. Several
tire to represent the basic design of a recessed-impeller casing.
other design features deserve to be highlighted after first examinCutting the tire at the top and then twisting it yields a spiral. In
ing a fully recessed impeller cross-section view (Fig. 2). Underlike manner, the spiral contour helps guide solids out of the casing; it prevents pump internal recirculation
of solids.
It has been demonstrated on many occaSpark
Maximum
Pipe
Pipe
sions
that this design substantially improves
arrestor
liquid level
support
support
the true overall pump hydraulic efficiency.
probe
Additionally, the axial-spiral twist has
greatly reduced component wear and damage to solids being pumped. As a further
point of interest, the minimum flow capaZone 1
Ball valve
bility of a recessed-impeller pump is much
Zone 0
lower than that of conventional radial-spiral
Minimum liquid level probe
casing design pumps. On the minus side,
By-pass
top centerline discharge implies a measure
Minimum
liquid level
of vulnerability when pumping large hard
solids. Solids such as rocks might, on rare
Vortex pump type
Strainer
occasions, smash through the casing neck.
In some rock feed applications, tangential
discharge might be viewed as an advantage.
Where solid size is reduced (such as with the
FIG. 1 A modern vertical enclosed shaft-driven sump pump with a recessed impeller.
Zone Zero pumps) this vulnerability is no
longer applicable.
ertical enclosed shaft-driven sump pumps are selected

in many processes where safety and reliability concerns
prompt the reliability-focused to question certain lesswell-designed pumps. We now find vertical enclosed shaft-driven
pumps applied in chemical, petrochemical, gas production, fuel
storage and other industries. They are especially important in
explosion-proof areas where only the best-engineered pumps merit
closer consideration.
One such thoughtfully engineered pump design (Fig. 1) is
comprised of a single-stage, end-suction back-pull-out-type
casing. Its hydraulic end is located below the liquid level and connected to the motor by means of an extended shaft. This shaft is
housed and supported in a rigid tubular intermediate pipe. The
design described here is certified for explosion-proof areas that
are classified as Zone Zero. Its drive motor conforms to regulations found in the European Electrical Standards and described
in EN 50014.
I 23
SPECIALREPORT
85%
FIG. 2
15%
Recessed impeller principle.

FIG. 4
FIG. 3
Impeller mounting provisions include washer and O-rings

to reduce risk of product seeping into the impeller bore.
So, reliability professionals are encouraged to look for unique

casing design features in an advanced vertical pump. Only the
most modern vertical pump casings incorporate an internal semiaxial spiral; this contour contributes to improved hydraulic efficiency while maintaining open and free flow throughout the
internal spaces of these advanced recessed-impeller pumps.
Look for completeness of installation. For ease of main-
tenance, all machined mating faces must incorporate locating

registers or rabbeted fits. A tapered adapter piece forms the transition from pump to drive motor; it too has locating tabs to ensure
correct and fully aligned centerlines of both motor and pump.
Access ports to a nonsparking flexible coupling are provided on
opposite sides of the adapter piece. These ports are designed with
perforated metal safety covers or personnel guards; the operators
hands stay out of rotating parts range.
Locating tabs and rabbeted fits goes a long way toward simplifying
and speeding up maintenance. Thus, when a modern vertical pump
is reassembled, its components are self-aligned by design. Impellers
24
Weld-neck flange detail illustrates attention to userfriendly installation.
are typically fastened to the shaft by a parallel key and locked into
position with an impeller screw and sealed washer (Fig. 3), thereby
completely sealing the shaft end from the pumped liquid.
Note the large sole plate in Fig. 1; it also serves as a pit cover,
which facilitates mounting the unit on top of a tank. The discharge
pipe is secured to the sole plate by a weld-neck flange (Fig. 4); the
pipe passes through the sole plate and terminates in a loose flange
above the sole plate. This provision both ensures and simplifies
matching the pump discharge pipe to the customers piping.
Compliance with many existing industry regulations mandates fitting the pump with a minimum flow bypass. The bypass
pipe branches off from the discharge pipe and is led back into
the tank through the sole plate. The design highlighted in Fig.
1 also includes two explosion proof-rated minimum liquid level
probes mounted on the sole plate. One probe monitors the liquid level in the tank, the other monitors the liquid level in the
column pipe.
The spark arrestor was mentioned earlier; note that ball valves
are fitted on either side of the arrestor. Modern vertical pump
designs are typically provided with a single mechanical shaft seal
behind the impeller and seals are often mounted on a replaceable shaft sleeve. A bottom journal bearing is used and it, too,
is mounted on a separate, replaceable shaft sleeve. When necessary to accommodate greater pump lengths, intermediate bearings are employed and located between the flange joints of the
intermediate pipes. As was done with the bottom journal bearing, these intermediate bearings are also mounted on separate,
replaceable shaft sleeves.
The intermediate column pipe is filled with oil; this liquid column provides lubrication to the journal bearings and also encases
the drive shaft. Two angular contact ball bearings are fitted at the
drive shaft end. Whenever more than one shaft section is required to
accommodate the pump length, rigid intermediate flange couplings
are used. To prevent fluid traveling up the shaft, a liquid thrower
(flinger disk) is fastened to the shaft.
Why recessed impellers are used. Many processes
require handling free-flowing slurries, sludge and fibrous materials. If used in these services, a standard centrifugal pump may
clog, become vapor-bound or wear excessively. In contrast, fully
recessed impellers (Fig. 1) exhibit gentle pumping action. Only
an estimated 15% of the total throughput makes contact with

the fully recessed impeller. These pumps are typically available
in flow capacities approaching 100 l /sec (1,580 gpm) and heads
ranging to 130 m (430 ft).
Recessed-impeller pumps have been around since the 1930s.
Unfortunately for the user, a number of manufacturers offer
recessed-impeller pump configurations that have not advanced
from their respective configurational or hydraulic performance
constraints for 40 or more years. It is also fair to point out that
some models require maintenance involvement to an extent that
was considered acceptable decades ago, but is no longer tolerated
in todays best-of-class facilities.
In essence, a number of important characteristics and
advancements separate one make or design of recessed impeller
from another. The very best manufacturers
of vertical enclosed shaft-driven sump pumps
with recessed impellers have set themselves
apart from the rest by important design
advances. Good commercial models first
became available in the mid-1950s. Since
then, even the good original designs have
experienced a number of seemingly small,
yet important, upgrades. Only the overall
vortex-type operating principle has remained
the same for best-of-class manufacturers. Successive iterations have consistently advanced
relevant efficiency and the ability to handle
solids with minimum damage to either the
pump or the material being pumped.
It is thus worth understanding and considering how some recessed-impeller pumps command a slight premium in initial cost. These
are the ones that quickly return the incremental outlay by lower operating, maintenance and
life cycle costs.
Beware of misunderstood efficiency
quotes. In many cases users and engineering
design contractors elect to place emphasis on

pump efficiency. When asked to define efficiency, they inevitably refer to power draw.
That, unfortunately, is seriously wrong. Some
pumps achieve seemingly high hydraulic efficiency by simply letting the impeller edge protrude into the casing. Protruding impellers,
of course, limit unimpeded passage of solids
through the pump. Reliability professionals are
urged to re-think what is of true importance
here: the efficiency with which both liquids
and solids are being transported. Many old
style recessed-impeller designs have simply
not progressed much since their initial introduction to the marketplace. Their best operating points (BEPs) are typically in the range
of 30 to 40%. On the other hand, advanced
designs incorporating axial-spiral design casing internals and fully recessed impellers will
have true and effective BEPs around 50 to
60%. Less energy goes into the liquid and less
power is consumed to forward-feed the solids.
In addition, there is less wear sensitivity with
fully recessed impeller configurations. HP
SPECIALREPORT
Heinz P. Bloch is HPs Equipment/Reliability Editor. A practicing

engineer and ASME Life Fellow with close to 50 years of industrial
experience, he advises process plants on maintenance cost-reduction
and reliability upgrade issues. His 16th and 17th textbooks on reliability improvement subjects were published in 2006.
Ron Franklin is the export sales manager of Emile Egger &

Cie (Switzerland) with whom he has been working for the past
22 years. During his 37 years in the pump industry, he has been
involved in sales and marketing and by utilizing his hands-on
experience has also contributed to decades of commissioning and
after-sales support. Mr. Franklin initially spent 11 years selling pumps to industry in
the UK and 22 years selling internationally with primary emphasis on North America
and the Far East.
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SPECIALREPORT
Risk-based inspection,
a panacea for plant failures?
Understand the limitations for an effective implementation
S. K. PULLARCOT, International Inspection Centre W.L.L., Kuwait
isk-based inspection (RBI) acquired momentum in the late

90s and is being implemented in almost all the industries
across the world. RBI is a powerful scientific management
tool in optimizing inspection manpower and equipment resources.
However, its unscrupulous implementation without identifying the
real limitations of the systems will only yield surprising results after
a period of time, which will give the impression that RBI is not an
effective tool. Therefore, RBI should be implemented with utmost
dedication and sincerity, and by duly identifying and acknowledging the inherent deficiencies of the system which shall be given due
consideration and remedied accordingly while implementing.
I would like to highlight the various deficiencies associated
with RBI. Consider the case of a pressure vessel in hydrocarbon
service that operates at a certain temperature and pressure. What
is the risk it poses to the surroundings? How can it be quantified?
As such, the guidelines provided by the American Petroleum
Institute (API) are general and not specific to any industry, leaving out the specifics that are unique to the said equipment for
specific service. Moreover, the assessed risk of any operating
vessel could be different when assessed by two different individuals. This becomes worse when these two individuals assess
the risk with two different methods for arriving at a quantified
risk figure. But what is reality? Under certain service conditions,
the risk associated with an operating pressure vessel is the same
irrespective of who evaluated the risk and what methodology was
used. This eventually leads to two different risk figures that may
be widely different, if based on different methodologies used for
assessment as well as the level of competency of the evaluator. In
such instances, the basis on which the RBI is built is bound to
collapse at a later date. Though RBI is based on mathematical
models that are sound and logical enough, the reliability and
dependability of the same is affected by the basic input data. In
all probability, the input data will be deficient because of the
reasons stated which will question the very credibility of RBI
itself, when failures occur contrary to predictions.
In addition, during the equipment service life, deterioration
of varying magnitudes takes place based on the severity of service
such as the pressure and temperature conditions, cyclic loading,
corrosion rate of fluids contained, etc. The guidelines for RBI,
API 580 and 581, list various damage mechanisms operating in
the oil industry. However, those mechanisms may not be the only
ones contributing to deterioration. For example, a stainless steel
vessel situated near a seashore experiences external deterioration
from a chloride atmosphere prevailing in that area in addition
to the usual deterioration mechanisms acting inside the vessel or
piping. So a more judicious thinking and application of logic by

the evaluator of the failure mechanisms are required. Therefore,
any RBI methodology that relies only on API guidelines is not
going to provide a realistic picture of the actual deterioration taking place in the vessel. The resulting error that can creep into the
system further affects the credibility of RBI which may only be
realized 10 or 15 years after introducing RBI.
An overview of the typical RBI implementation strategy
adopted by the oil and gas industry is shown in Fig. 1.
The principal areas of concern in RBI are shown in Fig. 2.
To improve the reliability and dependability of RBI as an effective and rewarding program, serious consideration shall be given to
aspects identified as A and B in Areas 1 and 2 respectively.
Therefore, every industry implementing RBI has to pay attention to the areas of concerns and the following approach is proposed to alleviate the issues to a great extent. As desired in RBI
guidelines, this shall be applied to all static equipment and piping
to make it comprehensive for the entire plant.
As mentioned earlier, the impediment to a reliable RBI is the
subjectivity of the individual assessing the risk (initial/in-process)
associated with equipment and piping. The only way to reduce
the subjectivity is by increasing the database and to arrive at the
Baseline data
collection
Probability
of failure
Risk ranking
Consequence
of failure
Inspection
program
Mitigation
program (if any)
Maintenance
inspection data
Reassessment
FIG. 1
Typical RBI implementation strategy.
I 27
Process
description
Process and
inst. diagram
Material of
construction
initial/in-process risk figure of the equipment and piping and so

also the consequences of failure.
The first step to achieve this is to list the various risk elements associated with the equipment/piping under study. Upon listing all the
risk elements, severity of each element should be rated in a numerical
scale. This numeric figure shall be based on a qualitative quantification made by the evaluator based on guidelines to be developed for
the purpose depending on the unique process peculiarities.
As the number of parameters identified increases, the reliability, and thereby the dependability of the figures improves,
resulting in more reliable risk values. Since the whole RBI scheme
is built on these figures, the reliability of the primary risk values
plays a vital role in the reliability of the RBI system itself, which
can be termed as a semiquantitative methodology.
Therefore, asset owners should carry out a risk evaluation associated with each vessel in a detailed manner that shall be worked
out based on the working parameters, design philosophy and
construction of their plants.
For example, the risk associated with a vessel is different when a
safety valve is provided compared to another vessel operating at the
same operating parameters without it. Similarly, when a trip system
from a DCS is enabled, its risk value reduces considerably.
Such a study requires the involvement of a learned engineer
who is conversant with the design/operating considerations and
parameters. The group has to develop a questionnaire with multiple-choice answers based on these considerations. The question
and answers shall be designed in such a fashion that any engineer
or operator with a bit of experience (two or more years) shall be
Conguration of
eqmt./piping
SPECIALREPORT
Process data
sheet
Eqmt./piping
data sheet
Initial risk assessment

A
Likelihood of failure
Consequence of failure
Risk assessment
Development of
RBI program
Area 1
Area 2
Inspection
Corrective
action
Findings
Apply D
factors
Apply E/D
factors B
Risk assessment
Modied likelihood
of failure
FIG. 2
Modied consequence
of failure
Principal areas of concern in RBI.
able to feed in the required data with reasonable accuracy. The

documents they need to answer this questionnaire are the data
sheet and drawing pertaining to the equipment and also the material specification and isometric drawings for the piping. However,
for answering a few questions, they may need the help of the
operations group which can be concluded quickly, provided they
consult with the right operating staff.
Since the subject proposed involves many disciplines from
engineering and management, the expertise of all these groups
is required. However, if the questions are broken down into the
simplest possible level, answering them can be made very simple.
Moreover, because of the extended database questionnaire generated against each vessel/piping loop, the subjectivity of the individual is reduced considerably in the assessed component risk values,
thereby resulting in improved reliability of the assessed risk.
Increasing the database of attributes to risk alone would not
improve reliability of the risk figures for equipment and piping.
Therefore, the obvious second step shall be to arrive at a realistic
weighting factor for these attributes that also have significant
bearing on the risk figures arrived at for each vessel and piping
loop. This is not easy since it involves concerted efforts of process, mechanical and instrumentation engineers from disciplines
like operation and technical services, maintenance, inspection
and instrumentation. This has to be accomplished in the study
28
MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILTIY

through a sample survey to be carried out by qualified and experienced engineers/technicians from these disciplines.
When steps 1 and 2 are completed, one can arrive at realistic risk
figures (initial risk) for all process equipment and piping systems.
As the third step, the risk figures shall be revalidated periodically based on inspection findings from routine and periodic inspection activities. For example, the actual corrosion rate
observed during periodic inspection may be less or more than that
predicted initially. Therefore, this rate has to be revalidated based
on inspection findings.
Lastly, the inspection methodologies proposed for each equipment and piping loop shall be critically evaluated to ensure that
they are capable of revealing the deteriorations predicted. Past experience with similar
equipment/piping and an awareness of the
predominant damage mechanism in such
systems would be an added advantage in
this regard.
SPECIALREPORT
Mr. Pullarcot has more than 27 years experience in the manufacture and QA/QC
of pressure vessels, heat exchangers, storage tanks, plant and offsite piping and
construction activities of fertilizer, chemical, petrochemical and oil/gas projects.
He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, and a member of the Nondestructive
Testing Society of India and the Indian Institute of Welding. Mr. Pullarcot received a
BSc degree in 1981 in mechanical engineering from the University of Kerala, India,
and an MTech degree in production engineering in 1990 from the Cochin University
of Science and Technology, Kerala, India. He is the author of the book Practical
Guide to Pressure Vessel Manufacturing, published by M/s Marcel Dekker Inc., New
York, in January 2002 under ISBN 0-8247-0740-0. His second book, Practical Guide
to Construction, Inspection and Testing of Above Ground Storage Tanks, is in an
advanced stage of publishing. He is a well-known trainer on QA/QC, welding and
NDT, and is recognized as a global instructor by the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME).
Since the cost involved
in implementation is only
the additional manpower
required, the benefit by
way of increased plant
reliability is expected to be
much in excess of the cost.
If these RBI aspects are taken care of in a
detailed manner, it would definitely improve
plant reliability. However, it shall be noted
that every requirement has its implications
with regard to money and time. Since the
cost involved in implementation is only the
additional manpower required, the benefit by way of increased plant reliability is
expected to be much in excess of the cost.
Therefore, this proposal is a worthwhile
exercise by which RBI reliability can be substantially increased. I am in the process of
developing such a system for a surface production facility in oil and gas. The system
thus developed shall be more or less applicable to almost all surface production facilities
across the world with minor modifications
to customize it to the specific environment
of individual producers. HP
Sunil Kumar Pullarcot works

as a specialized inspection consultant
with the inspection and corrosion team
of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). Prior to
this, he worked with FACT Engineering
and Design Organization (FEDO), India, a premier consultancy organization in South India in various capacities.
29
SPECIALREPORT
Proper gasket removal and

replacement can reduce
maintenance and increase uptime
Follow these guidelines for trouble-free performance
T. HURLEY and D. BURGESS, Garlock Sealing Technologies, Palmyra, New York
he gaskets that keep flanged joints

in piping systems from leaking
are relatively low-cost but highconsequence components that can spell
the difference between efficient, profitable operations and unscheduled outages,
lost production and penalties for noncompliance with environmental regulations.
However, they often do not receive the
attention they warrant from plant operations and maintenance personnel.
Gaskets perform two basic functions
creating an initial seal and maintaining that
seal over an extended time. To perform
these functions effectively, they must retain
their integrity during handling and installation, and be sufficiently deformable to flow
into imperfections in flanges. And, they
have to be strong enough to resist crushing
under applied loads and blowouts under
system pressures.
Moreover, gaskets in flanged joints have
to be chemically compatible with system
fluids, withstand extreme temperatures,
and be resilient and creep-resistant to maintain adequate load. It is important that they
not contaminate the system or promote
corrosion of the seating surfaces, and can
be easily and cleanly removed at the time
of replacement.
Removal of spent gaskets can be a tedious,
laborious and often time-consuming task
that can damage equipment and extend outage schedules. Flanged joints are often in
difficult-to-access areas. In addition, flanged
joints can be hard to separate, making it difficult to see where the gasket is located and
remove it with flange gaps of in. or less.
Under such conditions, it is small wonder
there have been instances, however ill-advised,
of new gaskets being installed directly over old
oneswith predictable results.
Even a small fragment of gasket left on

a flange can make it impossible for the new
gasket to conform properly, resulting in an
immediate leak. Or it might produce a high
stress point, around which sufficient load
cannot be developed to maintain an effective seal for the useful life of the gasket.
Besides causing premature gasket failure,
such fragments can break loose from the
flange and contaminate the fluid in the system or impair performance of downstream
equipment such as pumps and valves.
Removal of spent
gaskets can be a tedious,

laborious and often timeconsuming task that can
damage equipment and
extend outage schedules.
Avoid use of lubricants. In some
cases, installers apply bolt-thread lubricants
to gaskets to facilitate removal. If the gaskets contain nonoil-resistant binders, such
lubricants can chemically attack them, softening the binders and reducing their crush
strength. These lubricants also reduce the
friction between the flange and the gasket,
causing the gasket to extrude and eventually blow out. Metal in the lubricants can
bond to flanges and fill in surface serrations
that bite into the gaskets and hold them in
place. In addition, the lubricants can enter
the process stream and contaminate the system fluid, and they can bake off at elevated
temperatures, leaving a problematic void
between the gasket and flange.
Some installers use caulk to affix gaskets

to flanges or to compensate for damaged
or irregular flange surfaces. However, some
caulks contain acetic acid-based cure systems that can attack elastomeric gaskets and
gaskets containing rubber binders. Because
of their lubricity, caulks also can cause gaskets to shift within the flange assembly and,
as with the lubricants, can lead to the same
loss of friction, crush strength and blowout
resistance. Gaskets should be installed as
received, or using only products specifically
designed to hold them in place. Any flange
inconsistencies should be corrected prior to
installation of the gasket.
Many gaskets, except those made of
PTFE which do not require it, are coated
with antistick agents. If it is necessary to
apply more of these compounds to a gasket
before installation, it is always advisable to
use dry materials, such as talc, graphite or
mica. Metallic-based agents should never
be used because, as with certain lubricants,
metal particles may accumulate in surface
serrations, making the flange surface too
smooth to be effective.
A proprietary, antistick agent is now
available to speed removal of gaskets from
flanged joints.
The new material is a high-temperature,
inorganic coating that dramatically reduces
the time and effort required to remove
gaskets after extended servicein most
cases seconds versus hours and with just
a fraction of the force required to remove
untreated gaskets.
Unlike most antistick agents, the material is fused to the surface of the gaskets and
does not contain chemicals that can cause
them to crack or otherwise degrade.
In the process of developing the material,
it was learned the binders in compressed
I 31
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Because it has all the tools to produce

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sheet gaskets act as visco-elastic materials

that tend to flow at elevated temperatures
and pressures. As the binders wet out and
make intimate contact with the metallic
flange face, chemical adhesion, mechanical
interlocking and other modes of adhesion
come into play. The new antistick compound acts as a barrier that prevents the
binders from wetting out, and because
they can be removed intact, gaskets treated
with it are easier to dispose of properly.
Proper gasket removal. Replacing
used gaskets begins with removing all flange
fasteners, including bolts, studs, nuts and
washers, and replacing any that are worn,
corroded or otherwise damaged. The flanged
joint should be carefully opened using a special flange-spreading tool or soft wedges so
as not to damage the flange seating surfaces.
The old gasket can then be removed.
This is best accomplished by using an
aerosol gasket remover or, if necessary, a
brass scraper that will not nick, scratch
or gouge the flanges, the surface of which
is critical to achieving the necessary friction for an effective seal. After removing
the old gasket, the flange facings should
be inspected for imperfections that can
adversely affect the new gaskets ability to
seal. If surface damage exists, it may be
necessary to re-machine or replace the
flange. Acceptable surface finishes should
range between 125 and 250 micro-in.
Flanges should be free of foreign material. Residual debris can be removed from
the serrations by scouring the flange surface
with a brass wire brush in a rotary, not linear, motion. After the old gasket has been
removed and the flange faces cleaned and
conditioned, the replacement gasket can
be installed.
Selecting the new gasket depends upon
a number of variables. Whenever possible,
thinner gaskets should be used unless the
flanges are warped, bowed or severely pitted,
in which case a thicker gasket will be needed
to compensate for these irregularities. It
should be noted, however, that thicker
gaskets require higher compressive loads,
which may not be obtainable in the application. Use of ring gaskets is preferable to
full-face gaskets, which typically cover twice
the area. This extra material also requires
greater torque to compress. Where one or
both flange faces are flat and made of soft or
brittle material, a full-face gasket might be
needed to prevent flange rotation.
Once the replacement gasket has been
selected, it should be inspected for correct
ID, OD and appropriate thickness. If it has
cracks, gouges, folds or other surface damage, it should not be used. For ease of installation, all fasteners should be lubricated with
an oil-and-graphite mixture or other suitable
thread lubricant, being careful not to allow it
to come into contact with the gasket. Flanges
with vertical seating surfaces should have at
least two fasteners inserted into the bottom
holes to support the gasket.
Proper gasket replacement. The
gasket can now be inserted between the
flange seating surfaces, however, care
should be exercised to avoid damaging the
gasket. The flange spreader can then be
carefully removed, allowing the flanges to
come together, and the remaining fasteners
inserted and tightened or snugged.
The pattern in which the bolts are
tightened is extremely important. If done
improperly, the flange can move out of
parallel. Refer to the gasket manufacturers literature to determine the appropriate bolting pattern for the application.
Using calibrated torque and box-end type
wrenches, tighten each fastener to no more
than one-third of the desired torque value
to uniformly compress the gasket. Repeating the same pattern, increase the torque
wrench setting to two-thirds of the desired
value.
To achieve the final torque value, repeat
the pattern again at the target torque value,
and finish with a circular check pass,
moving from one fastener to the next in a
counter-clockwise sequence to ensure each
fastener is applying the same load. The gasket
should now be properly installed and capable
of operating at a high performance level.
The process of removing and replacing
used gaskets is every bit as critical as initial
gasket selection and installation. Antistick
agents, aerosol gasket removers and specialized tools all can facilitate gasket removal
without damaging flanges. Provided flanges
have been cleaned, repaired or replaced as
needed and the replacement gasket has been
installed properly, the flanged joint should
provide trouble-free performance until the
next changeout is scheduled. HP
Tim Hurley is senior product
manager, gasketing for Garlock Sealing Technologies.
Dave Burgess is senior applications engineer for Garlock Sealing

Technnolgies.

Thousands of CCC customers worldwide dont think so.
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Preventing unnecessary process trips and downtime

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We are on your side, at your site and at your service,
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Producing Solutions
SPECIALREPORT
Improve cooling tower

gear drive reliability
Applying commodity products instead of engineered solutions
can cause premature failure
J. DeBAECKE, Philadelphia Gear Corp., King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
ooling tower applications can present a unique dilemma.

Large cooling towers typically contain a number of cells;
each cell contains a fan unit or fan train made up of a
drive motor, gearbox and the actual cooling fan assembly (Fig.
1). Because they are identical, the motor-gearbox-fan trains in a
given cooling tower are sometimes collectively viewed and treated
as mass-produced commodity items. Suffice it to say that commodity items often differ from thoughtfully engineered and reliability-focused products.
The focus of this article is primarily on larger multiple-fan
cooling towers that employ double-reduction enclosed gears
(called gearboxes) in each train. The gearing in a train receives
its input from the motor and the gears reduce this speed to fan
speed. Multicell cooling towers and their respective equipment
trains are primarily found in power plants and refineries. The
gearbox typically consists of a first-stage reduction-bevel gear set
and a second-stage reduction parallel-shaft gear set. This doublereduction configuration transmits rotational torque from a horizontally oriented motor to a vertically oriented fan shaft.
However, many of the concepts and ideas discussed are also applicable to single-reduction cooling tower gear drives. These consist of a
single-reduction bevel-gear set that transmits power from a horizontally oriented motor directly to a vertically oriented fan shaft.
Either waymost cooling tower applications are quite
demanding. The service often requires unique component capa-
bilities to meet a number of environmental and operational objectives. Yet, with price being the key factor, the various parties (seller,
user and purchaser) often concentrate on low-cost and quick-fix
product solutions. In most cases, these solutions conflict with the
users ultimate need for high reliability and long equipment life.
Operational challenges explained. Almost all fan drive
systems or trains are mounted at the top of the cooling tower

structurewell above ground level. The gearbox is located in the
center of the cooling tower cell and directly under the large fan
(Fig. 2). In addition to being relatively inaccessible, the gearbox is
enveloped in water vapor. On commodity-style equipment, even
the simplest preventive maintenance activity (such as checking the
oil level in the gearbox) can be difficult. Moreover, the oil level
cannot be monitored while the fan is operating and much of the
train is difficult to access even if the fan is stopped.
Another operational challenge that the drive components
may have to face is weather related. In some geographic locations the fan blades may end up covered with ice. Therefore, the
gearbox and other parts will have to be sized and designed for
the additional loads attributable to substantial weight increase
and/or mass unbalance. The same gearbox that was primarily
designed to be cost-competitive is now subjected to actual operat-
Breather line:
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FIG. 1
A cooling tower with nine identical cells. Each cell contains

a fan and double-reduction gear; the electric drive motors
are situated outside the cells (Source: Lubrication Systems
Company, Houston, Texas).
Note: Any SAG left in the breather line will result in

trapped condensate and positive pressure in the reducer.
FIG. 2
The gearbox is located directly under the fan.
I 35
SPECIALREPORT
Groove in shaft
from lip seals
FIG. 3
Evidence of moisture intrusion and lip seal damage.

Rotary seal
position
ing conditions that are beyond the range of initial expectations

and specifications.
Visual determination of shaft seal integrity. Com-
modity gearbox designs operating at relatively low speeds, i.e.,

9001,800 rpm input speeds and output speeds not exceeding
100 rpm, will usually contain lip-type shaft seals on both input
and output shafts. The inside diameter of a lip seal tapers to a
point where the stationary rubber lip rides on the rotating shaft.
A circumferential spring is employed to exert pressure on the
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Not for all. One for you:
Lip seal (upper portion) and modern rotating labyrinth seal

(lower portion).
rubber to seal against the shaft. The key to obtaining maximum

lip seal life is to ensure that it is always lubricated. Lip seals are
cost effective and, when properly applied, can last for two years.
Yet, they are susceptible to several possible failure modes. If they
do not receive a constant minimum amount of lube oil or grease
(grease would have to be applied externally), the seals will wear
and begin to leak (Fig. 3). Unless the leakage is stopped, the oil
level in the gearbox will drop and gear and bearing failures may
result. If the leaking shaft seal cannot be seen from ground level
or from the drive motor location, gear or bearing failure will occur
before lack of lubrication can definitely be identified as having
caused the problem.
Fortunately, superior seals with dual O-rings doing the clamping to the shaft and a special dynamic O-ring sealing against a
generously contoured stationary surface (Fig. 4, lower portion) are
now available. Protector seals with these design features are more
stable and will last longer than lip seals or earlier-vintage rotating
labyrinth seals. Advanced bearing housing seals are certainly very
often considered by reliability-focused users.
Operating with dirty oil. Low-speed commodity gear
drive designs are often splash lubricated. With splash lubrication, a gear element or flinger disc attached to a rotating shaft
dips in the sump oil and either directly throws oil to bearings
and gear meshes, or splashes the oil into a series of oil troughs or
flow passages that lead to bearings and gear meshes. Commodity
gear drives also typically are not supplied with lubrication oil

filters. All submerged bearings need no further special attention other than maintaining lubrication oil in the gear housing
because the rationale is that seals and breathers will keep out
dirt, and periodic oil changes will remove any contamination
generated within the gearbox. But typical lip seals will only function as designed if they are properly lubricated with clean oil.
Neglecting to change gear oil on a regular schedule will lead to progressive increases in lube oil contamination. Due to the inaccessible
location of the gearbox and compromises often made on its overall
configuration, changing oil becomes difficult. Dirty oil will in time
abrade the lip seal material and begin the leaking discussed and oil
deprivation will cause lip seals to degrade even more rapidly.
SPECIALREPORT
changes in sound patterns. However, the operator has to be in

reasonable proximity to the unit to hear relevant changes. It would
not be practical for the operator to stand next to an in-service gearbox located four stories above ground level and operating under
a set of rotating fan blades. With traditional ways of monitoring
equipment noise being fruitless on cooling tower fan trains, one
often waits until the fan blades stop turning or the drive motor
trips out on overload. Short of these events it is typically reasoned
that the gearbox must be in good working order.
Remote equipment monitoring. Remote equipment
monitoring is among the best ways of assessing equipment con-
Water in the lubrication oil. Water

in lubrication oil can generate a multitude
of problems and Fig. 3 gave us a glimpse
of corrosion damage. Water will adversely
affect lubricant viscosity and its heat
removal capability; it will also negatively
influence oil film thickness and gear mesh
and bearing component protection. Rust
formation during downtime as well as temperature changes that promote moisture
condensation on gearing, bearings and
housing internal surfaces represent potentially serious contamination generators.
They morph into a destructive presence
that leads to drastically reduced gear life.
There are several other conditions that,
if combined with water, can shorten gear
drive lifespan. If water is present at elevated
operating temperatures in conjunction
with an extreme pressure (EP) additive
oil, there are many deleterious possibilities. Typical EP additives are phosphorous
and sulfur. At sufficiently elevated operating temperatures a typical EP mineral oil
may create a solution of water (hydrogen
and oxygen), free sulfur and phosphorous.
Molecular activity and ionization may take
place. Even a small amount of salt water
has the potential of generating different
kinds of corrosive acids and compounds
that can ruin a gear set in a period of only
a few hours to a couple of days.
Modern plants have often placed a blanket of oil mist in the free vapor space above
the liquid oil in the gearbox sump. At a very
slight positive pressure, the oil mist (a mixture of 200,000 parts of instrument-quality
air with one part of oil) prevents influx of
atmospheric contaminants. Together with
well-engineered gears, couplings, support
bearings and cooling fans, some gear units
have successfully operated for 20 years.
Noisy operation. Perceptive operators
are among the most valuable plant assets.
Operators who are consistently patrolling and monitoring noise from the same
operating equipment can often hear subtle
37
SPECIALREPORT

there are usually several fan drive trains and more than one piece
of monitoring equipment may be required per train.
We have discussed some of the more obvious challenges posed
by cooling tower applications. Some of the remedies are costly
and may not be good investments for the long term. However,
there are many cost-effective actions that can be taken during the
initial purchase of the cooling tower system; there are also some
that can improve operation of units already purchased and presently in service.
EXISTING COOLING TOWER GEAR DRIVES
Some of the components shown in Fig. 2 can be retrofitted and

constitute important upgrades.
ut
ion
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1942
Proper enclosed gear drive breathing. Like living creatures, most enclosed gear drives need to breathe to attain their
full lifespan. Included in the scope of supply of these gearboxes
FIG. 5 Poor lubrication often affects the upper cooling tower
is usually some sort of breather to permit internal gear casing
gear drive output shaft bearing first.
pressures to equalize with atmospheric pressure when the gear
drives operating temperature causes the air in the gear housing
dition. It pre-warns of impending problems and presents an
to expand. If the expanding air volume cannot equalize with the
opportunity to fix a small problem before it turns into a big one.
ambient atmospheric pressure, or unless suitable face-type seals
However, remote monitoring requires suitable sensing equipment,
are provided, elevated internal gearbox pressures can cause certain
vibration probes, temperature probes, etc., and the ability to read
shaft seals to leak. To avoid this condition, the breather allows
the measured parameters at a remote and safe location. Unfortucontinuous pressure equalization so oil leakage does not become
nately, most cost-competitive commodity gear drives come with
a problem. The type of oil breather chosen and how it is installed
little to no monitoring equipment; there are no vibration sencan make a significant difference in gear drive long-term health.
sors, no temperature probes and no pressure monitors. Another
In most cases, commodity-type gearboxes are furnished with
impediment to cooling tower gear drive surveillance is the cost
commodity-type breathers. The breather does the minimum job
associated with such instrumentation. As was brought out earlier,
of allowing air pressures between the gearbox
internals and the surrounding atmosphere to
equalize. Any moisture in the air is permitted
to enter or exit the gearbox based on prevailing conditions. Once moisture has entered
the gear housing, it may condense on bearl
ings, gear elements, housing surfaces, and
So
l
a
mic
Safe Che
into the lubricating and cooling oil itself. An
upgrade from the commodity-type breather
is the oil bath breather that forces the atmosphere through a small volume of oil. This oil
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gear drive housing. Because of the gearbox
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breather cleaning maintenance with ease.
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There is, however, a simple piping
arrangement that can make breather draining of moisture simple and safe. It is possible
to pipe the breather through a pipe tee and
angling a pipe run to drain from the unit
29$,9-%ISSPECIlCALLYDESIGNEDTODISSOLVETHE
directly under the fan to an accessible area
TOUGHESTWATERSCALELIMEMUDANDRUSTDEPOSITS
near the externally located drive motor. A
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small petcock can be opened periodically near
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the drive motor to drain accumulated moiswww.RYDLYMECOM
ture that collects in the breather and drains
into the angled pipe. The long pipe acts as
3HORELINE$RIVEs!URORA)LLINOISs s&AX
both a reservoir for moisture collected by the
breather and a gravity conduit to remove the
38
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moisture before it reaches the gear drive.

Since the pipe run is fairly long, several
days or weeks worth of moisture can be
collected and stored by the pipe before the
accumulated water might enter the gear
drive housing. Of course, an oil-mist purge
(see above) would be superior in some
installations and locales; it, too, should be
considered, if cost-justified.
Maintaining lubrication oil. Operat-
ing the gear drive with dirty, low or no lube

oil can reduce or drastically shorten gear
drive service life and increase the chances of
surprise catastrophic failure and unscheduled
downtime. Such failures have often affected
the upper cooling tower gear drive output
shaft bearing first (Fig. 5). Chances are that
a failed upper bearing was splash lubricated
by either a flinger attached to a rotating element or a dipping gear that was no longer
throwing or dipping because of low levels or
no oil at all.
How can we ensure that checking oil
levels and replenishing lost or consumed
oil is safe and practical? By running another
pipe from a cooling tower gear housing tap
in the bottom half of the housing out to the
drive motor area, an oil sight gage and fill
tap can be located in an area remote from
the rotating fan blades where oil level can
be checked and restored. With only minor
piping modifications, operators can drastically reduce or at least partially neutralize
the two major causes of cooling tower gearbox failure: lack of lubrication and water
contamination of the oil.
Using synthetic lubricants. Syn-
thetic lubricants offer several key advantages over typical refined mineral oil products, whether they are rust and oxidation
inhibiting or EP additive mineral oil formulations. Synthetic oils are man-made
synthesized hydrocarbon liquids that are
extremely difficult to break down due to
their strong molecular bonds. Ordinary
mineral oils lose their structure and decompose at relatively low temperatures, as low as
325F. State-of-the-art high-power-density
gear drives run hotter by design. Because
of their relatively low breakdown temperatures, mineral oils are not as good a choice
for high-power-density drives. Compared
to synthetic lubricants, mineral oils have a
considerably reduced differential between
maximum allowable operating temperature and oil breakdown temperature. Hightemperature operation and lubrication oil
breakdown can lead directly to both shaft
seal leaks and inadequate bearing and gear
lubrication. Needless to say, oil leaks can

lead to shortened gear drive service life and
catastrophic gear and bearing failures.
Another advantage of using synthetic
lubricants is their more favorable viscosity index as compared to the indices of
corresponding mineral oils. Synthetic oils
possess flatter viscosity indices. That is,
the synthetic oil viscosity does not reduce
as much as the mineral-based oil viscosity with the same corresponding increase
in temperature. In other words, one type
of synthetic oil can provide an acceptable
operating viscosity range over a wider temperature range without sacrificing lubrication capability. Mineral oils that perform
satisfactorily at 40F will often be too thin
to operate at 125F. At the elevated temperature, they may no longer provide an
oil film in bearings and gear tooth meshes
that will be sufficient to prevent metalto-metal contact. Metal-to-metal contact
relates directly to accelerated bearing and
gear wear and a drastic reduction in service
life. To guarantee long gear life, two different viscosity mineral oils would have to be
used, depending on whether the temperature was 40F or 125F.
The price for synthetic oil can approach
four to five times as much as a corresponding mineral-based oil. However, as with all
products, one must weigh cost versus value.
Although synthetic oil is extremely resistant
to high-temperature breakdown, it is still
susceptible to particulate and water contamination, and often the most expeditious
way to remove that contamination is via an
oil change unless sophisticated centrifuging
and filtration equipment is available. Again,
and in conjunction with proper bearing
housing protector seals, an oil-mist blanket
tends to vastly reduce contamination risk
and will often be easier to cost-justify than
other alternatives.
Case history. This case study represents
several techniques that a resourceful user
employed to keep very old cooling tower
gear drives operating well beyond their
expected service lives. This particular user
was located in South America, far away
from convenient technical support. The
personal safety conditions in this particular
area were also in serious question. Being
resourceful, this user became very adept at
gearbox maintenance.
In this particular refinery, there was a
large bank of double-reduction cooling tower
gear drives, about 20 units. These units were
originally supplied with independent sumps
and shaft-driven lubrication oil pumps.

While walking through the repair shop, one would notice several low-speed output shafts and gear assemblies laying around.
The gearing was all single helical, and both gear faces on many of
the low-speed gear assemblies exhibited significant usage contact
patterns. Of course, cooling tower drives are typically expected to
rotate in only one direction. These gear patterns indicated many
hours of logged operation on both gear faces. This user had discovered the trick of removing the single-helical gear from its shaft,
turning the gear over and reinstalling it back on the shaft again to
use the gear face that previously was the coast side. While this can
be done, it also can be risky, especially if both gear flanks are not
machined identically. The user had taken the chance of the flipped
gear making insufficient contact with its mating pinion. However, given the situation surrounding this user, the risk was warranted.
The user was fortunate in that the original
gear came from a quality supplier; both gear
element loaded and coasting side flanks
were fairly consistent. In this instance, flipping the low-speed gears was successful most
of the time. The users practice resulted in substantial service life extension and fewer spare
parts orders. The refinery maintenance group
had acquired much knowledge and was proficient enough to know the proper shrink fit
between the low-speed gear and shaft. Among
other appropriate work processes they had
also determined suitable run-out tolerances
between the low-speed gear and shaft.
If someone inspected the cooling tower
proper, it was evident that the refinery crew
had used its knowledge to work on the lubrication oil supply system to all 20 gear units.
The original units were each individually
lubricated by their own shaft-driven lubrication oil pump, but there was a large centralized cooling tower lubrication system servicing all of the drives. This common lubricating
system was conveniently located at ground
level and was complete with multiple pumps,
coolers and filters that supplied all units with
cool and clean lube oil. The remote location
of the system permitted easy access for maintaining clean filters and properly operating
pumps, coolers, relief valves and other critical
lubricating system components.
SPECIALREPORT
This article has explored some positive
action steps that the user can take on

existing cooling tower gear drives that are
now in service. Of course, the preceding
paragraphs also dealt with things that can
be done if a facility is fortunate enough
to start with new equipment.
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COMPREHENSIVE SPECIFICATIONS
This article has explored some positive

action steps that the user can take on existing cooling tower gear drives that are now in
service. Of course, the preceding paragraphs
also dealt with things that can be done if a
facility is fortunate enough to start with new
equipment. In this instance, the users project
team might combine forces with maintenance
and reliability personnel to specify and allocate
funding for an engineered fan drive train that
will pay back the small incremental investment
many times over. Certainly, the quality of such
product greatly exceeds that of a commod-
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41
MORE THAN 60 YEARS

OF SUCCESS IN
MANY INDUSTRIES
ity product designed and manufactured to

barely make it through the warranty period.
What should such a specification
address? Below we explore some of the
more desirable cooling tower gear drive
value-added features that have the potential
to significantly reduce unit life cycle cost
with only a modest up-front cost.
Anticorrosion protection. Cool-
Our Vision is to be your

partner of choice based on
your confidence in our
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technology
Emile EGGER & Cie SA

Pump & Valve Manufacturer
Route de Neuchtel 36
CH 2088 Cressier Switzerland
Phone +4132 7587111
Fax +4132 7572290
www.eggerpumps.com
Graz (A) Mannheim (D) Warsaw (PL)
Barnsley (GB) Hilversum (NL)
Stenungsund (S) Lyon (F)
Coimbatore (IN) San Sebastian (E)
Salt Lake City (US) - Marano (I)
ing towers with fan drives operating in an

enclosed cell function in one of the worst
environments. Hot moisture surrounds
the train components like dense and
almost impenetrable fog. Even the adjacent and occasionally nonoperating cells
are affected by heat and moisture. Repairs
often require cranes and hoists. Before the
maintenance person gains access to the
fan and gear, the large fiberglass enclosure has to be removed and planking must
be placed inside the cell. Designing-out
maintenance requirements and building-in
failure avoidance pay sizeable dividends
and much soul-searching should be done
before ever buying commodity components for cooling towers.
A stainless steel housing might be the
ultimate answer if an unlimited budget were
available, but a better value proposition
might be utilizing a self-curing inorganic
zinc paint system to avoid rust formation
on gear drive externals. For a reasonable
premium, a three-part paint system consisting of a zinc primer coat (two to three mils
thick), an intermediate epoxy coat (four
to six mils thick) and an epoxy finish coat
(three to four mils thick) can be applied to
provide many years of protection.
cially in the cramped space immediately

under the cooling fan. Fragile external protrusions from the gear drive are undesirable. Think of small-bore tubing and how
it is incapable of supporting the weight of a
human being, or think of the damage that
can be caused by careless hammer blows.
Wherever proper engineering expertise has
been used, all bearing and gear mesh lubrication and cooling oil paths will have been
contained within the housing. There will be
no external lines and the cost of providing
such an advantageously designed gearbox
or housing will reflect in a one-time charge.
Once the design exists, the incremental cost
of providing internal ported oil passages
is relatively small. If a particular cooling
tower incorporates several identical trains
(as most do), the additional engineering
development cost is amortized over the
total number of assemblies. Its cost then
becomes insignificant and the benefit-tocost ratio is overwhelmingly large.
Redundant lubrication system. As
discussed, generally, low-speed gear drives

are splash lubricated. Other, often larger,
gear drives utilize a shaft-driven pump to
force feed oil to bearings and gear meshes.
For a nominal cost, the cooling tower
gear drive lubrication system can be made
redundant by employing a dual system
consisting of dipping gears and/or flingers and a shaft-driven oil pump supplying
oil under pressure. This setup could one
day safeguard the long-term availability of
a cooling tower gear drive system. If the
pressurizing pump is arranged so that its
oil suction port is at the extreme bottom
of the housing sump, even a receding oil
Avoiding external piping. External level would not cause an instant calampiping invites breakage and bending, espe- ity. With the suction port so located, oil
would be supplied
for the longest possible time. Since
leaking seals are most
often responsible for
oil loss, oil levels in
housings are sometimes just below the
lowest point of the
lower-most rotating shaft. If this ever
happens the pressurized redundant
pumping system will
avoid catastrophic
failure by continuing
to supply oil to all
FIG. 6 Some designs incorporate a built-in filter housing.
critical components
even though dipping
SPECIALREPORT
gears and flingers are no longer performing their intended lubricant distribution duties.
Filtration. Filtration is one good way to keep your oil clean.
Since user-purchasers have the option of specifying upgraded

cooling tower gear housings, they also have the ability to require
designs that incorporate in the gearbox enclosure or casting a
built-in filter housing (Fig. 6). There would be associated oil
ports with a stainless-steel cover plate accessible from the top of
the housing for quick-changing purposes. Additionally, specifying entities and designers have the opportunity to make the filter
size large enough so that periodic changing can be accomplished
during scheduled tower maintenance. In addition, in case the
filter does get dirty, they can install a filter with bypass capability.
Dirty oil is certainly better than no oil at all. And never forget
the merits of keeping dirt out altogether. Read about the many
decades of highly successful service enjoyed by best-of-class oil
mist users. Purge mist is used on the cooling tower gearboxes and
pure (dry-sump) oil mist lubricates the drive shaft pillow block
support bearings and all electric motor bearings.
Cooling fins. Users should consider one more enhancement
beyond those mentioned. State-of-the-art enclosed drive gear

designs are of the high-power-density variety. Use of highly loaded
case-carburized and precision ground-tooth gearing in a housing
sized to match the gears may mean that everything is operating
up to maximum limits, whether it be tooth bending and contact
stresses or housing operating temperature. A smaller housing
could mean there is less surface area available to dissipate heat

generated by working gears and bearings, and reduced surface
areas could result in higher housing skin temperatures. Higher
housing skin temperatures often lead to hot lip seals and shorter
lip seal life. Higher temperature could also lead to mineral oils
having a much higher probability of breaking down prematurely
and coke being formed. For a few extra dollars, cooling fins can
be added to certain cast housing designs. With a relatively small
addition of material, gear housing skin temperatures might go
down, which would benefit lip seals and lubrication oil. Again, all
of these beneficial steps work toward increasing equipment service
life. The message: Small improvements add up.
High-end shaft seals. Lip seals were profiled as being cost
effective but susceptible to several possible failure modes. In

todays market, single- as well as dual-face mechanical seal alternatives have potentially much longer service life and are significantly
more tolerant of misalignment. In addition, they can seal where
a positive head of oil exists or where oil is directly impinging on
the seal. For a few hundred dollars, these seals can be easily incorporated, not only in new designs, but also retrofitted into designs
originally containing lip-type shaft seals.
A face-type seal typically consists of rotating and static members that are separated by an oil film. Usually one member is held
against the other by a spring or magnetic force, the two members
being separated by only the oil film. Due to the fact that magnetic
and spring-loaded face seals dont operate well under misaligned
conditions typical of many cooling tower installations, they arent
a preferred solution in these instances.
We had also alluded to rotating labyrinth seals and the most
stable and advanced configuration was shown earlier in Fig. 4.
Its two-fold purpose is to keep out external atmospheric contaminants and to prevent lubricants from escaping. A series of
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Output shaft umbrella. Another design enhancement
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HEAT TRANSFER
Rethink planning
for heat-recovery systems
Better early design of steam generators can save lots of money
in operating cogeneration plants
V. GANAPATHY, Consultant, Chennai, India
eat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs) in cogeneration plants differ from those in combined cycle plants
in several ways. Steam pressure levels, steam temperatures and reheat parameters for many large steam turbines are
standardized. Thus, large combined cycle plants apply steam
parameters. Result: HRSG designs are optimized to generate
these steam parameters.
However, in the case of cogeneration plants, steam pressure,
flow and temperature can vary tremendously and there can be a
wide range of operating pressure levels. Cogeneration plants have
the flexibility to import or export steam to or from the HRSG to
be superheated in or outside the HRSG. High-pressure (HP) and
low-pressure (LP) steam parameters will vary depending on plant
needs. Firing temperatures will differ depending on the turbine
selected and on facility steam demand. Fresh air can be used to
augment steam production should the gas turbine trips or part of
the exhaust gases can be bypassed for other processing needs.
tube sizes, fin configuration, etc. The pinch and approach points
for the evaporator alone can be applied to determine the gas/steam
temperature profiles and duty for each heating surface.
Case history. A cogeneration plant requires 200,000 lb/h of
steam at 600 psig and 700F and LP steam of 25,000 lb/h at 150
psig saturated. The feedwater is at 230F. A gas turbine with an
exhaust gas flow of 1 million lb/h (MMlb/h) at 1,000F is available. The question is whether the HRSG should be a simple, sin-
Site-specific evaluations. Cogeneration plants, refineries
and petrochemical/chemical plants acknowledge that HRSG

configurations are very site specific. Plant engineers should evaluate the HRSG and site steam parameters. The engineering team
should determine the type of HRSG required and its configuration before developing purchase specifications of the unit. Early
engineering work on the HRSG will save substantial monies over
the long-term operation of the unit.
FIG. 1
Design of a single-pressure HRSG.
FIG. 2
Design of a multiple-pressure HRSG.
Design and discovery exercises. Simulation is a valuable
tool; it helps engineers evaluate the gas/steam temperature profiles

in a multiple-pressure unfired or fired HRSG units. Engineers
can evaluate the design and off-design performance for complex
HRSGs using simulation tools without specifically designing the
HRSG.1 The plant engineer can rough out an HRSG configuration and optimize this configuration (whether single or multiple
pressure) before sending bids to the HRSG suppliers. This exercise
is typically not done by HRSG suppliersthey are busy with
equipment bids and inquiries. Too often, HRSGs are built based
only on specifications; the designers do not have the time to optimize system parameters or determine the units configuration.
The following example illustrates the design/optimization benefits for a cogeneration unit by performing simulation studies on
the HRSG configuration during the conceptual design phase. The
designers do not need to know the HRSGs physical dimensions,
I 47
HEAT TRANSFER
HRSG performance-design case
Project-study units-British case-case1d remarks- amb temp.-F=70
heat loss- %=1 gas temp. to HRSG F 1,000 gas ow-lb/h=1,000,000
% vol. CO2=3, H2O=7, N2=75, O2=15, ASME eff-%=70.14 tot dutyMM Btu/h=175.
HRSG performance: Off-design case

Project-study1 units-British case-case2d remarks- amb temp.-F=70
4 vol. CO2=3, H2O=7, N2=75, O2=15, ASME eff-%=80.54 tot dutyMM Btu/h=257.
Surf gas temp.

in/out F
sh 1,000 930
evap 930 505
eco 505 345
Surf
wat/stm duty pres ow pstm pinch apprch US

module
in/out F MMb/h psia lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF
no.
490 700 19.12 615 129,907 100
52,299
1
480 490 114.36 622 154,907 100 15
10 908,790
1
230 480 41.48 632 156,456
701,552
1
sh
FIG. 3
evap
wat/stm
in/out F
0 0
491 700
640 587
453 491
333 453
333 366
230 333
duty
MMb/h
69.82
35.98
0
149.7
25.42
22.54
23.31
pres
psia
0
615
621.6
628.1
638.1
165
700
ow pstm pinch apprch US module

lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF no.
3,253 0
200,210 100
62118
1
6,190 0
194,020 100 68
37 598,632 1
195,960
216,574 1
25,278 100 9
33 600,344 2
221,491
481,933 3
stack gas ow=1,003,253 % CO2=3.55 H20=8.09 N2=74.57 O2=13.77.

Fuel gas: vol%
methane=97 ethane=3
LHV-Btu/cuft=934 LHV-Btu=21460 aug air-lb/h=0
eco
Unfired single pressure case25,000 lb/h LP steam.

% vol. CO2=3, H2O=7, N2=75, O2=15, ASME eff-%=78.22 tot dutyMM Btu/h=257.
Surf gas temp.
in/out F
burn 1,000 1,263
sh 1,263 1,138
desh 1,214 1,214
evap 1,138 512
eco 512 314
wat/stm
in/out F
0 0
491 700
638 589
449 491
230 449
duty
MMb/h
79.12
35.55
0
170.29
51.14
pres
psia
0
615
622.5
629.9
639.9

lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF no.
3,687 0
200,456 100
58,637 1
5,728 0
219,727 100 20
41 939,130 1
221,924
700,462 1

Fuel gas: vol%
methane=97 ethane=3
LHV-Btu/cuft=934 LHV-Btu=21460 aug air-lb/h=0
FIG. 4
burn
sh
desh
evap
eco
evap
eco
gas temp.
in/out F
1,000 1,237
1,237 1,110
1,187 1,187
1,110 559
559 462
462 375
375 284
Single pressure HRSG fired case200,000 lb/h HP steam

and 25,000 lb/h process steam.
sh
FIG. 6
evap
eco
evap
eco
Multiple pressure-fired HRSG case-25,000 lb/h process.

% vol. CO2=3, H2O=7, N2=75, O2=15, ASME eff-%=69.93 tot dutyMM Btu/h=173.1.
Surf gas temp.
in/out F
sh 1,000 926
evap 926 505
eco 505 347
wat/stm
in/out F
490 700
480 490
230 480
duty
MMb/h
20.17
115.24
40.71
pres
psia
615
622
632

lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF no.
137,040 100
55468
1
152,040 100 15
10 898,666 1
153,560
681,768 1

Project-study units-British case2d remarks- amb temp.-F=70
Surf gas temp.
in/out F
sh 1,000 925
evap 925 540
eco 540 468
evap 468 376
eco 376 295
sh
FIG. 5
wat/stm
in/out F
490 700
475 490
350 475
350 366
230 350
evap
duty
MMb/h
20.37
102.95
19.07
23.67
20.53
pres
psia
615
622
632
165
700

lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF no.
138,366 100
56,054
1
138,366 100 50
15 578,395
1
139,749
215,049
1
27,022 100 10
16 598,320
2
16,742
481,035
3
eco
evap
eco
Multiple pressure HRSG unfired case-25,000 lb/h process

steam.
gle-pressure HRSG unit or a complex, multiple-pressure HRSG,

which is more expensive.
At first sight, a multiple-pressure HRSG unit would be suggested
by any consultant. However, the purpose here is to show that it
sometimes may not be economical to use a multiple-pressure HRSG
when a single-pressure HRSG can perform well in this situation.
48
sh
FIG. 7
evap
eco
Single pressure HRSG-unfired case15,000 lb/h process.
Options. In this example, the design options include:
Single-pressure HRSG. As shown in Fig. 1, a single-pressure

HRSG unit should be considered. The steam required for process
or LP steam may be taken off the steam drum and the pressure
reduced. This may appear inefficient; however, depending on the
plant parameters and the ratio of HP to LP steam pressures and
flows, this may be a good and an inexpensive option.
Multiple-pressure HRSG. Another possible solution is to
use a multiple-pressure HRSG, as shown in Fig. 2, with the HP
stage followed by the LP evaporator and a common economizer,
which feeds the two modules. This is a more complex HRSG and
it is more expensive. But this HRSG offers a higher efficiency and
lower fuel consumption.
In some cases, the multiple-pressure HRSG option may be the
only choice. However, it is possible that the single-pressure HRSG is
equally effective as the more complex multiple-pressure HRSG and
is less expensive. Steam parameters and the ratio between HP and
LP steam flows and pressures determine which design is the better
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technology
engineering
procurement
construction
HEAT TRANSFER

Project-study1 units-British case3d remarks- amb temp.-F=70
Surf gas temp.

in/out F
burn 1,000 1,232
sh 1,232 1,106
desh 1,182 1,182
evap 1,106 511
eco 511 319
Surf gas temp.

in/out F
sh 1,000 925
evap 925 540
eco 540 468
evap 468 411
eco 411 335
wat/stm
in/out F
0 0
491 700
637 589
453 491
230 453
duty
MMb/h
69.69
35.4
0
161.38
49.62
pres
psia
0
615
621.7
628.4
638.4

lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF no.
3,247 0
199,986 100
61509
1
5,576 0
209,409 100 20
37 928109
1
211,503
682311
1
wat/stm
in/out F
490 700
475 490
350 475
350 366
230 350
duty pres ow pstm pinch apprch US module

MMb/h psia lb/h %
F
F Btu/hF no.
20.37 615 138,366 100
56,054
1
102.95 622 138,366 100 50
15 578,395
1
19.07 632 139,749
215,049
1
14.67 165 16,786 100 45
16 211,245
2
19.26 700 156,703
236,999
3
stack gas ow=1,003,247 % CO2=3.55 H20=8.09 N2=13.77.

Fuel gas: vol%
methane=97 ethane=3
LHV-Btu/cuft=934 LHV-Btu=21,460 aug air-lb/h=0
sh
FIG. 9
sh
FIG. 8
evap
evap
eco
evap
eco
Multiple-pressure HRSG unfired case15,000 lb/h process.
eco
Single-pressure HRSG-fired case15,000 lb/h process.
choice. The plant engineer must understand the needs of the facility
to make the best decisions regarding the HRSG configuration.
Evaluating HRSGs. Using an HRSG simulation program, the
single-pressure HRSG was designed with a pinch and an approach

point of 15F and 10F and the 25,000 lb/h steam was taken off

Project-study1 units-British case-case3P remarks- amb temp.-F=70
Surf gas temp.
in/out F
burn 1,000 1,238
sh 1,238 1,110
desh 1,187 1,187
evap 1,110 559
eco 559 459
evap 459 407
eco 407 326
wat/stm
in/out F
0
491 700
641 587
451 491
327 451
327 366
230 327
duty
MMb/h
69.99
36.06
0
149.93
26.07
13.52
20.96
pres
psia
0
615
621.5
627.9
637.9
165
700

lb/h % F
F Btu/hF no.
3,261 0
200,183 100
62,218
1
6,278 0
193,905 100 67
39 600,711 1
195,844
217,989 1
15,061 100 41
38 211,364 2
211,055
238,405 3

Fuel gas: vol%
methane=97 ethane=3
LHV-Btu/cuft=934 LHV-Btu=21,460 aug air-lb/h=0
sh
FIG. 10
evap
eco
evap
eco
Multiple-pressure HRSG fired case15,000 lb/h process.
from the drum. In the off-design fired case, the program computes
the fuel input and firing temperature once the steam demand is set
at 200,000 lb/h. The simulation results are shown in Figs. 3 and 4
for both unfired and fired cases. Figs. 5 and 6 show the design and
performance with a multiple-pressure HRSG.
To study the need for complex HRSG configurations, the
process steam demand was reduced to 15,000 lb/h from 25,000
lb/h. The HRSG design and performance for a single-pressure
unit is shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Figs. 9 and 10 show the simulation
results for a multiple-pressure HRSG.
Analysis. Table 1 summarizes the design and performance for
all three operating cases.
From the simulation results, when the LP steam demand is
25,000 lb/h, the multiple-pressure option provides a fuel savings
of over 9.2 MM Btu/h on a lower heating value basis. Based on
fuel cost of $10/MM Btu, the annual savings for this design is:
50
HEAT TRANSFER
HRSG installations. Before developing specifications for the HRSG, the consultant should
be aware of facilitys operating possibilities
and options. Specifying a multiple-pressure
unit without performing such analysis can
yield high capital investments as well as higher
operating costs for the plant.
In situations such as when the ratio of HP to
LP steam pressure increases, and if the ratio of LP
to HP steam flow increases, a multiple-pressure
HRSG is a better choice. However, for quantitative evaluation and analysis of results, the simulation program is extremely useful. HP
TABLE 1. Summary of design and off-design performance

Single-pressure
Unfired Fired
Multiple-pressure
Unfired Fired
Single-pressure
Unfired Fired
Multiple-pressure
Unfired
Fired
HP steam,
lb/h
130,000 200,000
138,000 200,000
137,000 200,000
138,000
200,000
LP steam,
lb/h
25,000
25,000
27,000
25,000
15,000
15,000
16,700
15,000
Firing temp.,
F
1,263
1,237
1,232
1,238
Burner duty,
MM Btu/h
79.2
70
69.7
70
Exit gas, F
345
314
295
284
347
319
335
326
Case
Data: HP steam: 600 psig, 700F; LP steam at 150 psig sat. Feedwater = 230F, 1% blowdown. Exhaust gas flow = 1 MM lb/h
at 1,000F. % vol CO2 = 3%, H2O = 7%, N2 = 7%, O2 = 15%. Heat loss = 1%.
9.2!10!8,000 = $736,000, assuming the unit operates in

the fired mode at all times. However, if the unit operates in the
fired mode only part of the time, then it is possible that the singlepressure option with its lower capital cost is more attractive.
When process steam demand drops to 15,000 lb/h, then the
multiple-pressure option is not attractive. The single-pressure unit
is as efficient as the multiple-pressure unit. A slight increase in LP
steam is seen in the unfired mode. However, if we compare the
complexity of the design and costs, the single-pressure unit can
come out as the better choice.
Optimize design and performance of HRSG. Design
engineers should consider applying simulation models when
choosing between multiple-pressure design or single-pressure
LITERATURE CITED
Ganapathy, V., Simplify heat recovery steam generator evaluation, March 1990, Hydrocarbon Processing, pp. 7782.
1
Viswanathan Ganapathy is a consultant on boilers and

heat recovery and is based in Chennai, India. He has over 35 years
of experience in the engineering of steam generators and wasteheat boilers, with emphasis on thermal design, performance and
heat transfer aspects. He has also developed software on boiler
design and performance. He holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from
I.I.T.Madras and a MS degree in engineering from Madras University.
Mr. Ganapathy has published over 250 articles on steam generators and thermal
design and has also authored five books on boilers, the latest entitled, Industrial Boilers and HRSGs, published by Taylor and Francis. He also conducts courses on boilers.
Mr. Ganapathy has contributed several chapters to the Handbook of Engineering
Calculations, published by McGraw Hill, and Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing
and Design, published by Marcel Dekker.
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I 51
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Facility sitingbalancing risk vs. cost

Companies should take a second look at identifying and analyzing
hazards associated with temporary buildings
B. A. WALKER, Brad Adams Walker Architecture, P.C., Denver, Colorado
Previously, safety issues were considered to have little direct

added value. The economic benefits of implementing safety are
hard to measure. As a result of the British Petroleum (BP) explosions, the petrochemical industry recognized that it must do more
to ensure that refinery employees are safe. But safety comes at a
price, and the safety costs must be weighed against consequence
costs. Facility sitingthe process of identifying hazards in a refinery, assessing the potential consequences of those hazards and
managing the risks of those hazardsprovides refineries with the
information they need to better balance risk and cost.
REGULATING RISK
Anywhere there are flammable or explosive chemicals, there

is a potential for catastrophic release of those chemicals that can
kill people. In response to several serious explosions occurring in
US refineries in 1989 and 1990, the federal Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) began regulating the use of
these chemicals. In 1992, OSHA published 29 CFR 1910.119,
the standard Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous
Chemicals (PSM) or more commonly referred to as the PSM
standard. The requirements were designed to reduce injuries and
fatalities to building occupants near explosion sites.
Safety standards. The PSM standard requires companies to
analyze the hazards associated with each aspect of their processing facilities. The standard does not, however, impose a specific
methodology for doing this, nor does it define an unacceptable risk
level. Therefore, a refinery was not required to take specific steps to
mitigate identified risks. To help refineries identify the siting issues
for process plant buildings, understand the associated hazards
and manage these risks, the American Petroleum Institute (API)
published a recommended practice in 2003 known as API RP 752,
Management of Hazards Associated with Location of Process
Plant Buildings. It was the guiding document prior to the Texas
City incident. API RP 752 provided a methodology for evaluating
hazards associated with process plant buildings and it included risk
management decision-making concepts. It helped design engineers
and managers to balance risk-reduction benefits with design costs
without compromising overall safety. Although it helped identify
hazards associated with process plant buildings, it did not specifically address temporary portable buildings and trailers.
Buildings. Occupied permanent buildings such as control rooms
and operator shelters are located near process areas and typically
constructed to be blast resistant. In contrast, conventional portable
buildings are light wooden trailers and usually not constructed to
ACCIDENT AT TEXAS CITY, TEXAS
In March 2005, the petrochemical industry was literally

rocked by several explosions and a fire that occurred at the BP
refinery in Texas City, Texas. During an isomerization process
unit startup, flammable hydrocarbon liquid overfilled the
blowdown drum and stack. The liquid erupted out of the stack
top and into the atmosphere. As the flammable hydrocarbons
fell to the ground, a vapor cloud formed and was ignited by a
nearby truck. The blast pressure wave and resulting fires killed
15 workers and injured another 180.
The fatalities and serious injuries occurred in and around
temporary portable buildings and trailers. It is common practice for refineries to use temporary structures as office space for
contract workers and support staff. These building types are
not designed to withstand a blast, yet are usually located close
to refinery processes. At the time of the accident, there were
few regulations or best practices governing temporary building
placement in a refinerys hazardous-blast areas. The BP tragedy created a level of public and governmental scrutiny that
galvanized the petrochemical industry to increase measures in
protecting refinery personnel.
The petrochemical industry recognized that, if such a
tragic accident could happen to BP, considered a leader in
refinery safety, then the potential of it occurring to other refineries may also exist. Until the BP incident, many companies,
while not intentionally disregarding safety issues, placed safety
behind other competing priorities, such as production.
be blast resistant. Occupants of portable buildings are more likely
to be injured by structural failures, building collapse and fallout
from building debris than occupants in permanent buildings.
Even buildings that are not blast resistant have better blast capacity
and provide greater protection than trailers. API RP 752 did not
prohibit trailer placement in close proximity to hazardous process
units. In retrospect, this was a significant and deadly omission. API
RP 752 allowed refineries to define their own risk and occupancy
criteria for trailers. Prior to the 2005 explosions, BP regarded
temporary trailers located close to a process unit as an acceptable
risk. BP approved trailer locations at the Texas City facility (US
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, Final Investigation Report, Report No. 2005-04-I-TX, March 2007).
Because BP conducted hazard analyses of its processes and
buildings while regularly updating them, it met OSHAs 29 CFR
I 53
1910.119 requirements for facility siting. Since it identified the
hazards to permanent buildings sited in blast areas and defined criteria for managing the risk to employees working in those buildings,
it met the facility siting guidelines in API RP 752. The 15 deaths
and 180 injuries that occurred in BPs temporary trailers signaled
a clear need for additional guidelines that would manage the risk
to employees working in temporary structures. In response, API
developed a second recommended practice in June 2007, entitled
API RP-753, Management of Hazards Associated with Location
of Process Plant Portable Buildings. This document specifically
addressed temporary facilities, such as portable trailers and it:
Minimizes the use of occupied portable buildings in refinery
process areas
Establishes a portable buildings minimum safe distance
from hazardous areas within a refinery
Provides step-by-step procedures for identifying hazards to
people in portable buildings
Stipulates that nonessential personnel should not be near
hazardous areas.
In addition to the API response, on June 7, 2007, OSHA
implemented its National Emphasis Program whereby it would
regularly inspect refineries to determine if they were in compliance
with the 1992 PSM standard.
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OSHAs PSM standard requires a refinery to analyze its hazards and determine
some measurement of the risk to employees, equipment and buildings. This analysis
is referred to as risk assessment. The more
detail a refinery is willing to put into a risk
assessment, the closer the refinery can place
its portable buildings to the processing units,
as defined in API RP 753. Conversely, if the
refinery chooses to do a simplified analysis,
then it must be very conservative in trailer
placement. This need for detailed information finally compelled refineries to measure
the risk associated with their process areas to
understand how to effectively manage the
costs involved in minimizing that risk.
There are many different approaches to
doing a risk assessment, but all share these
four general steps:
Identify hazards that may affect process plant buildings (e.g., toxins, fire and
explosion)
Establish hazard scenarios and the likelihood of occurrence
Assess the buildings themselves (location, construction and function)
Assess potential consequences.
Qualitative risk as s es s m e n t .
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54
Oceania
Although the PSM standard describes what

must be analyzed, it lacks specific details of
how to measure the risk levels. Thats because
the standard permits a qualitative analysis.
A qualitative analysis evaluates the likelihood of an occurrence and the potential
consequences by using descriptive measurements, such as high, medium or low,
versus numeric measurements. If the analysis
determines a low risk, then the company
doesnt need to do anything more; if there is
medium risk, it may decide to study it further; if there is high risk, then changes need
to be made immediately. This analysis type
is very subjective and may not adequately
identify unacceptable risk.
Quantitative risk assessment. Refiners recognize that they need to measure risk
using more objective methodologies and they may prefer to use
a quantitative risk assessment (QRA). A quantitative approach
seeks to assign a numerical measurement to risk rather than the
descriptive measurement used in a qualitative analysis. There are
several different approaches to a QRA and often an analyst uses a
combination of approaches in the risk assessment. The most common practice is to use a deterministic approach where one assumes
that an explosion will occur and then evaluates the possible consequences numerically. This approach is commonly referred to as a
consequence-based approach. For example, a refinery may analyze
a processing unit by assuming that a 2-in. hole will open somewhere in the process and that flammable dispersion will occur. The
analysis assumes that the resulting vapor cloud is ignited, causing a
vapor cloud explosion. Flammable dispersion prediction will occur
all over the plant for various line breaks, predict specific blast loads
and analyze the buildings response using vulnerability functions
such as pressure-impulse diagrams. These measurable predictions
will indicate the degree to which the refinery must mitigate the
risks to refinery personnel.
Deterministic approach. Eliminates the need to explicitly
define the probability of an occurrence. However, an analyst
may still make decisions about the probability or frequency of an
occurrence based on which scenarios the analyst selects for analysis. For example, the release of a process vessels entire contents
or a break in a 6-in.-diameter line may be considered so unlikely
as to be incredible (probability approaching 0) and thus would
not be considered. In this way, the analyst is implicitly including
probability of occurrence.
Traditional approach. This approach to a QRA is a probabilistic risk assessment. Whereas the deterministic approach assumed an explosion will occur (probability = 1), a QRA
actually computes the probability that
an explosion will occur and provides a
numerical estimate of the risk exposure.
Risk, in this case, is the probability of a
fatality or severe injury and may be computed for an individual or for a larger
population. When evaluating the risk
caused by a process or risk for an entire
building, risk may be expressed in terms of
the number of expected fatalities per year
(aggregate risk).
Here is a simple sequence included in
a QRA analysis of a potential vapor cloud
explosion:
Define scenarios in which flammable
material leaks may occur
Assign a probability of occurrence to
each leak scenario
Perform dispersion modeling of each
leak scenario
Compute flammable mass
Perform blast calculations to determine loads on occupied buildings for
each scenario using BakerStrehlowTang
(BST), TNO or computational fluid
dynamics (CFD)
Analyze potential structural damage
that might occur during an explosion
Determine potential fatalities or seri-
ous injuries that might occur

Compute individual and aggregate risk for each process or
each building
Compare the result with risk acceptance criteria.
If computed risk is greater than what was determined to be
acceptable risk (risk tolerance criteria), then a company must decide
how to mitigate the risk. Without tolerance criteria, a company cannot make rational risk decisions. The deterministic and probabilistic
methodologies differ in the amount of detail required to perform the
analysis and, thus in the level of conservativeness that a refinery must
employ when using the analysis results. Deterministic methods are
most commonly used because of the difficulty in determining probability of occurrence and the lack of risk tolerance criteria.
Of the two risk approaches, only QRA develops a risk value
that can be compared to tolerance criteria to determine if the risk
is acceptable. Although QRA is more costly and time consuming
to perform, the results offer a rational approach for determining if
hazards are acceptable and if they are not, how much mitigation is
required. Therefore, a refinery may find the QRA a better tool for
determining cost-effective methods to reduce risk.
BALANCING RISK VIA FACILITY SITING
To comply with OSHAs PSM standard, a refinerys primary

challenge is to answer this question, For the existing building that I have, do I have a problem? The risk assessment will
identify the hazards associated with a specific process or building
and provide some measure of the inherent risk. A company must
then evaluate various alternatives that will reduce the risk while
balancing the cost of each alternative. In many situations, chang-

55
ing the process itself may be the least costly
alternative: For instance, a refinery could
follow these guidelines:
Reduce the quantity of material
available, thus reducing the potential blast
load
Release a water spray if an explosion
occurs, to reduce explosive output
Improve its maintenance program by
inspecting the lines more frequently or conducting nondestructive testing
Improve training.
When these types of process changes

are impractical or simply will not reduce
risk to an acceptable level, a company may
need to weigh the capital costs involved
with changing the building that houses the
process or moving its personnel away from
the process altogether. Prior to the Texas
City explosion and the 2007 publication of
API RP 753, many companies, particularly
the second- and third-tier refineries and
chemical plants, simply put such projects
on hold due to the costs involved. Whether
the BP explosion is seen as an it-could-happen-to-me event, or whether companies are

reacting to OSHAs new National Emphasis
Program and ensuing inspections, companies are taking a much more proactive
stance in terms of bettering their facilities
and evaluating the merits of facility siting as
a way to reduce risk to personnel.
Mitigating explosion hazard risks can
involve one or more of the following
approaches:
Retrofitting an existing building in a
blast area to make it blast-resistant
Building a new building in or near
a blast area, using an appropriate level of
blast design
Moving people to a different building
out of the blast area entirely.
Retrofitting. If the blast magnitude load
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56
exceeds what a building can handle, one

relatively inexpensive approach is a simplified retrofit, such as wall strengthening.
If the blast load is sufficiently high, then
it may be necessary to build a blast-resistant shell around the entire building. This
approach can reduce new construction and
equipment costs while providing a safer
environment for personnel. While retrofitting can often be done without shutting the
facility down and disrupting the process,
both events impact profitability.
To understand the full impact of retrofitting an existing operation and the associated
construction and equipment costs, many
companies involve an architect who understands the complexity of moving and housing people and who may take a non-linear,
non-engineering approach to building
design. There has been an increase in retrofitting activity in the last year. In the past,
the trend had been toward building new
control rooms. A new control room is a big
project and a long-range capital improvement plan. Since API RP 753 inception,
companies recognize that they have to do
something sooner rather than later. They
will need to seek more short-term solutions,
such as retrofitting an existing building to
enable them to quickly move people out of
trailers and into a safer work environment.
Is retrofitting practical? Sometimes
an analysis will indicate that retrofitting
an existing building isnt practical or isnt
a sufficient solution to reducing risk to
personnel. Interruptions to operations can
be another serious obstacle. The refining
industry generally runs at full capacity. If
retrofitting a building interrupts a refinerys
operations, the downtime can significantly
affect profitability.
New construction. In such cases,
building an entirely new building may be

the best alternative. A new building may
enable a company to combine several
functional areas in one building, making
it a multi-purpose facility. A new building may be sited outside a blast zone, thus
eliminating risk to personnel altogether.
Centralized control rooms offer additional
advantages, such as increased communication between process areas and, as a result
of consolidating space and equipment, an
opportunity to reduce costs by employing
fewer operators.
However, a new building probably will
require new real estate. Adjacent land may
not be available, may be too near or too far
away from the primary processing area, and
will certainly be very expensive. If a process
has relatively modern control equipment, it
may be fairly easy to move it, but if it uses
older systems, it may cost more to purchase
new control equipment than it would to
build the new control room itself. Nevertheless, API RP 753 created an imperative need
for companies to move all nonessential personnel away from blast zones as soon as possible. Building a new facility may be a sensible long-term solution, but realistically it
will take at least two years to implement and
may not provide the short-term risk reduction that is required. The capital expenses
involved with constructing a new building
and the length of time it takes, often make
new construction an unaffordable option.
Relocation. Since the publication of API
RP 753, there is a substantial increase in the
number of companies who choose to move
their personnel out of temporary trailers
altogether and into leased, off-site facilities. Their attitude is to get their employees
into safe housing quickly and at any cost
and then to take whatever time is necessary
to figure out a longer-term strategy. One
major US oil company responded to the
new API RP 753 by committing its domestic refineries to full compliance by June 30,
2008. Based on the results of an exhaustive QRA, one of its facilities relocated 600
employeeshalf to a leased office building offsite and the other half to permanent
structures inside the refinery or to other
temporary structures outside the blast
zone. Not all 600 people were nonessential
temporary support personnel working in
trailers. Management executives understood that moving these contractors would
impact other support personnel working in
field offices, control rooms, administration
buildings and tech centers onsite. They fac-
tored the needs of this mixture of essential

and nonessential personnel into the move.
The company leased a five-story commercial office building nearby the refinery
to house process and design engineers,
senior management, maintenance planning resources and capital projects personnel. Their operations infrastructure, field
maintenance employees, supervisors and
construction resources remained on site.
The company gutted the leased office building and rebuilt it into a professional new
office environment with many amenities
that werent previously available to employees. In addition to safely housing these relocated employees, the company reorganized
its console operators, short-range planners,
control engineers and master process engineers into more productive work groups.
It housed cooperative groups of people on
separate floorsone for capital projects and
their accounting resources, one for maintenance planning resources, one for training
and conference facilities, and one for futurefocused projects. Maintenance and operations personnel feel more valued as a result
of being chosen to move to the new facility,
providing an unexpected boost in moral.
Productivity increased because they were

happy to be in a more professional and comfortable work environment than they were
accustomed to. The company sees elevating this standard in the professional work
environment as a long-term benefit to its
recruitment of top-quality employees.
Large-scale relocation. When this type
of effort is made, there will be considerable
disruption to employees workflow and a
refinery must address change management
and communications early in the planning
stages. Many employees believe their type of
work cannot be moved offsite. For instance,
maintenance planning personnel who plan
major plant turnarounds believe they absolutely cannot move offsite and still perform
their duties. However, that may not be the
actual case, and a company must balance
its sensitivity to employee preferences with
the reality that change is required and then
manage the transition effectively. In addition
to handling the facilities perspective of getting people moved, a company may need to
change its meeting structures and communication vehicles to make sure that people are
able to attend meetings and communicate
via audio and video technologies. It may need
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57
to create a Web site, schedule the delivery of
informative phone messages or provide town
hall meetings to help educate employees and
elicit their cooperation. These efforts will
increase the costs involved with a relocation
effort, but attending to the cultural needs of a
workforce is critical to the projects success.
Type of costs. When balancing the relative costs of short-term lease arrangements
with a long-term investment in a new onsite building, a company will likely base
its decision on capital availability. Most
refineries will lose money this year. Tight
profitability margins will make it difficult
to justify the costs that would be incurred in
any capital project designed to mitigate risk
to personnel. Although oil exploration and
drilling projects are very active in response
to the global demand for new resources of
crude oil, the high cost for that raw crude
oil makes it difficult for refineries to recoup
their expenses in their downstream sale of
refined product. In this age-old balancing
act between capital investment and operating expense, a company must decide if it
makes more sound financial sense to continue to lease office space long-term or to put
its capital funding into pay-off projects and
compliance-driven projects. It may be more
profitable long-term to extend an offsite

facility lease for another 15 to 20 years and
to channel capital funding to more immediate needs, such as plant automation and
technology improvements in the refinery.
For example, a new 400-seat administration building constructed onsite that would
have an average 30-year life span would cost
about $50 million. That same $50 million
might yield only 12 to 15 years of lease payments for an equivalent building offsite. It
might seem more sensible to invest in a new
building that would last longer (but have
no immediate payout). However, it may be
wiser to spend that money debottlenecking a
crude unit or building another cogeneration
train that might pay for itself in three years.
These latter types of capital constructions
will create a long-term net income that may
actually pay for the yearly lease expenses.
Measuring ROI. When and how will a
company know if their efforts to mitigate

the risk to their employees were successful?
It is easy to answer if success is defined by
simply moving people out of harms way
in compliance with the new API standard.
It is much harder to assign a value to the
cultural, personnel productivity, and busi-
ness impact issues. From a learning development context, one method to measure
the return on investment (ROI) of these
relatively intangible factors is to approach
the question in sequential levels.
Level 1 asks if people liked the change
and how they feel about the change. That
kind of emotional, experiential response
will let management know if people are
happy and satisfied with the solution that
management chose.
Level 2 asks if employees got it. Is
there evidence that the business or personal impact that a company was trying
to elicit from its employees was achieved?
For instance, in a relocation effort, the only
thing an employee might be expected to
get is an understanding of why he/she
was moved. Measuring this kind of understanding may be difficult.
Level 3 measures the actual organizational impactdid the organization itself
get it? Are there more meaningful contact
points between engineers and operations
supervision? Are there fewer unplanned shutdowns or process upsets? One can measure
plant health performance and the human
impact on those things over time, once the
new operating posture has settled.
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Level 4 measures the money that was
spent and can identify whether there is a
measurable ROI. To do this, management
must develop a method for determining
direct and indirect impacts of an event. Perhaps it can identify what the productivity
increases are, or the savings that result from
fewer unplanned shutdowns. Unfortunately,
in practice, companies very rarely invest the
time and resources necessary to identify the
actual ROI of its risk mitigation efforts.
Safe environment. In most companies,
high-level management is strongly committed to providing a safe working environment for their employees. Sometimes,
however, that commitment appears only
on paper. They may dutifully report their
safety issues to OSHA, but shelve efforts to
mediate the hazards identified in the reports
because of budgetary concerns. When
OSHA announced its implementation of
the National Emphasis Program in directive
number CPL 03-00-004 on June 7, 2007, it
stated that OSHA has typically found that
these employers have extensive written documentation related to process safety management, but the implementation of the written
documentation has been inadequate.
There is considerable disconnect regard-
ing risk and cost between upper- and midlevel management at many companies. Production managers and supervisors at the
working level are often pressured to turn
out product without being given sufficient
funding or support for safety. This was the
case at BP where supervisors were expected
to work safely, do whatever was necessary
to implement safety projects, and not let
production levels drop.
OSHA itself has been part of the problem. By not enforcing its 1992 regulations
with regular inspections, OSHA relied
almost exclusively on a refinerys self-reports
and risk assessment updates. In its March
2007 final investigation report, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
concluded that the BP explosion was caused
by OSHAs failure to frequently inspect
plants and by BPs cost-cutting efforts and its
organizational and safety deficiencies. There
is an old saying that if you think safety is
expensive, try an accident. Over 4,000 lawsuits have been filed seeking damages from
the BP refinery explosion, and more than $2
billion is expected to be paid out in settlements (Lawmakers Look at Injured Worker
Ruling, Associated Press, ABC Network
Affiliate KVIA-TV, April 28, 2008).
Safety first. Numbers like that will most

certainly motivate refinery owners to step-up
efforts to ensure that their employees have a
safe work environment. In addition, pending and existing governmental regulations
provide additional incentivesOSHA fined
BP $21 million for safety and health violations following the explosion investigation.
Facility siting assesses process buildings in
terms of location, construction and function
based on the consequences to personnel in
the event of a fire or an explosion. It can
provide refineries with detailed information
necessary to balance the costs of safety with
the costs of the consequences. Over the long
run, companies recognize that a safer operation has less downtime, less interruptions
and less litigation. Those factors must weigh
heavily in the balance of risk and cost. HP
B. A. Walker co-founded Brad
Adams Walker Architecture, P.C.,
(BAW) in 1992, located in Denver,
Colorado. He is a licensed architect
and has been working in the industry for 25 years. BAW has a concentrated expertise in
the design of command and control centers, including
ancillary facilities. Mr. Walker holds a BA degree from
Colorado State University and an MA degree in architecture from the University of Colorado at Denver.
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I 59
K T I C O R P : F I R E D H E AT E R S & S C R S Y S T E M S
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Consider new feedstocks

for dimethyl ether production
This methanol-based petrochemical has growing options
within energy markets
S. K. ANSARI, International Chemplast (Pvt.) Ltd., Karachi, Pakistan; and S. ANSARI,
Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan
oday, two main crisis capture the attention of the global

economies. They are 1) petroleum supply/demand imbalances, and 2) the environment. Alternative fuels, other
than refinery products, are becoming essentials as global governments seek energy independence and energy security. High
crude oil prices ($100+/bbl) has strengthen this position held by
many nations.
New energy developments promoting clean energy, mitigating pollution emissions and protecting the environment have
become urgent. China is dependent on foreign oil. Yet, this nation
has vast coal reservesthe largest in the world. More importantly,
China is developing coal-based alcohol, fuels, liquids, etc. The
direct and indirect substitution of alternative feedstocks is an
important strategic development direction. Coal-based fuel alcohol ethers (referring to methanol, dimethyl ether, etc.) are being
fast-tracked by the Chinese government as part of its alternative
energy source programs.
The long- and medium-term energy demand in the Asian
region is increasing. In fact, the growing energy demand/supply and potential environmental problems will create substantial
obstacles when achieving sustainable development in this region.
Reserves of oil and natural gas (NG) resources in China are
only 5%, and there are very few large-scale NG fields that are
adequate to support liquefied natural gas (LNG) installations.
This region (China) is richly endowed with coal reserves31%
of the worlds coal reserves. However, most of Chinas coal reserves
are considered low-value coal such as sub-bituminous coal or
lignite. These coal grades have high moisture content and have
a tendency to spontaneously ignite during drying. Such qualities
curb their demand and usage.
Future clean fuel. Dimethyl ether (DME) is an innovative
clean fuel; its properties are similar to liquefied petroleum gas

(LPG). At present, DME is primarily used as an alternative fuel
for power production in home heating, a replacement for LPG
as a transportation fuel and as a diesel-fuel substitute or combustion supplement.
Basically, DME can be produced through both direct and
indirect methanol (MeOH) dehydration routes. In the indirect
route, conventional MeOH production technology is used. Next,
the MeOH is dehydrated in a separate reactor where DME is
synthesized and then purified in a distillation column. In the
direct DME synthesis route, which is under commercialization

proceedings, synthesis gas is directly converted into DME via
one step.
DME would be an innovative clean fuel. From the global perspective, the increasing share of NG in the energy market is one
good reason for DME to be considered as an alternative fuel.
Fuels for the future. Tighter environmental regulations,
especially in Europe and Japan, have provided a good platform

to promote new clean fuels. Supply limitation coupled with
increasing LPG demand is another reason for DME to be considered as a substitute for LPG, especially in Southeast Asian
countries, including India and China. For Iran, production,
domestic utilization and export of DME is another way of monetizing NG along with other options including gas-to-liquids
(GTL) and LNG.
The physical properties of DME are very similar to LPG. Its
molecular structure, physical properties and fuel performance,
as well as its ability to be converted into other chemicals such
as olefins, has created a unique position for this petrochemical.
Conversely, DME is nontoxic with a short half-life in the troposphere and has very low reactivity. After combustion, DME does
not produce soot and has low emissions of NOx , hydrocarbons
and carbon monoxide (CO).
Natural gas. World NG reserves are larger than the oil reserves,
and are currently estimated at 368x1012 m3, or 3,390x1012 kWh.
These proven reserves amount to 1,380x1012 kWh. In 1995, 39%
TABLE 1. World methanol demand in million tpy

World methanol demand by usage
Petrochemicals,
MMtpy
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
2009 2010
Formaldehyde
12
14
14
14.5
16
17
17
17
MTBE
4.5
4.5
4.5
Acetic acid
3.5
5.5
5.5
5.5
MMA/DMT
Fuels
1.5
2.5
3.5
3.5
Other
Total
35
34
35
36
38
39
39.5
40
I 61
450
Global methanol demand
20
400
MeOH contract prices, US$/ton (US)

MeOH contract prices, US$/ton (EU)
350
MeOH demand, MMtpy
300
15
250
200
150
100
10
1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

Year
5
FIG. 2
0
2003
2004
2005
2006 2007
Year
Formaldehyde
MTBE
Acetic Acid
FIG. 1
2008
2009
2010
MMA/DMT
Fuels
Other
Global MeOH demand by petrochemical product.
of the NG reserves were located in the former Soviet Union (CIS),

14% in Iran, 5% in Qatar, 4% in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia,
and 3% in the US. The remaining 31% is distributed among all
NG producing countries.
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reactors and drums.
From refineries, chemical plants to ethanol, gas
and fabrication shops, Tray-Tec is ready and
able to work safely in your facility.
Contract prices for MeOH shipments in US and Europe,

19912008.
TABLE 2. Methanol prices from 19902008 for US

and European markets
Year
MeOH contract prices,

$/ton (US)
MeOH contract prices,

US$/ton (EU)
1990
125
125
1991
175
175
1992
150
125
1993
150
125
1994
280
280
1995
200
269
1996
150
150
1997
200
200
1998
125
135
1999
115
115
2000
180
175
2001
200
190
2002
175
175
2003
240
260
2004
260
260
2005
300
275
2006
400
375
2007
400
400
2008
170
170
Based on the NG output for 1995 (25.2x1012 kWh), the

proven worldwide reserves should last for almost 55 years. In
1995, North America and Eastern Europe are the largest producers and supply 32% and 29%, respectively, of NG globally.
NG consumption has steadily increased over the last two
decades. Until recent times, NG could only be used where the
corresponding industrial infrastructure was available or where the
distance to the consumer could be bridged by means of pipelines.
NG transportation over greater distances from the supply source
to consumption areas is being addressed through LNG. Both
features, intercountry pipelines or LNG shipment and unloading,
are very expensive.
Methanol. MeOH is one of the most important industrial
petrochemicals. Worldwide, about 90% of the MeOH supply is

used in the chemical/petrochemical industry, and the remaining
10% is used for energy. Table 1 shows the global MeOH demand.
From this table, we can assume that Chinas demand for fuels,
62
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of our products, services, and contacts.
including DME, is about 3 million tons
(MMton) in 2003, which is consecutively
increasing as shown in Fig. 1. It may seem
that MeOH capacity exceeds demand. This
is true for the present.
Using 2007 data, China is probably
consuming about another 2 MM mton of
MeOH for fuels than anticipated. Assume
that MeOH demand will be about 40 MM
mton in 2010. Table 2 and Fig. 2 list the
methanol prices from 19902008. From
Table 2 and Fig. 2, MeOH prices show a big
variation, which approaches $170/mton.
17
2
CW
Distillation
column
DME
12
WT
8
4
T
101
Waste
treatment
CW
11
T
102
Dimethyl ether. DME is used primar-
ily as a propellant. It is miscible with most

organic solvents and has a high solubility in
water. Recently, this petrochemical has been
used as a fuel additive for diesel engines due
to its high volatility (desired for cold starts
and high Cetane numbers.
16
CW
CW
T
103
10
Impurities
distillation
column
6
5
14
Ips
Waste
treatment
13
15
WT
Methanol distillation column
Production of DME from MeOH.
2CH3OH CH3OCH3 +H2 O

Under normal operations, there are no significant side reactions, and the equilibrium conversion for pure MeOH feed
exceeds 92%. Therefore, the reactor is kinetically controlled
within the normal operation temperature range. Above 250C,
the rate equation is given by Bondiera and Naccache as:
Ea
P
rmethanol = k0 exp
RT methanol
Where k0 = 1.21!106 kmol/(m3 reactor h kPa)
Ea = 80.48 kJ/mol
Pmethanol = partial pressure of methanol, kPa.
Note: Significant catalyst deactivation occurs at temperatures over
400C, and the reactor should be designed so that this temperature is
not exceeded anywhere in the reactor. Since the DME reaction is not
highly exothermic, proper temperatures can be maintained by preheating the feed to 250C and running the reactor adiabatically. The
process was simulated using the non-random two liquids (NRTL)
thermodynamic package for K-values, and Soave, Redlich, Kwong
(SRK) values for enthalpy. Note: NRTL models and extensions use
the Wilson equation and can be applied to mixtures that can form
two immiscible liquid phases. The SRK temperature is in full-range
and pressure (P, psia) range of <5,000.
Catalyst information. This process uses a crystalline silicon-
aluminum oxide catalyst known as a zeolite. This particular catalyst performs well in the 200C to 400C range, but deactivates
64
Catalyst activities
Fig. 3 is typical process flow diagram of the

FIG. 3 Process flow diagram of DME from MeOH.
processing methods to produce DME from
MeOH. The essential operations in this process are preheating raw materials (nearly pure MeOH), reacting
MeOH to form DME, product separation, contaminant separa1.0
0.9
tion, and MeOH separation and recycle.
0.8
DME is produced via the catalytic dehydration of MeOH
0.7
over an amorphous alumina catalyst treated with 10.2% silica.
0.6
Approximately 80% of the MeOH is converted in the reactor.
0.5
DME is produced by this reaction:
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
FIG. 4
10
60
100
Catalyst activity in days
200
220
Catalyst service in DME production via MeOH.
rapidly if heated above 400C. The process design, as shown in

Fig. 3, uses a single, packed-bed reactor. The reactor is insulated;
thus, heat produced by the exothermic reaction raises the catalyst
temperature. At 80% conversion with fresh catalyst, the reaction
temperature rises from 244C at the inlet of the catalytic reactor
to 364C at the outlet.
Fractional conversion of MeOH. An operating equation
has been developed for this specific reactor and relates to the
fractional conversion of MeOH to the outlet temperature of the
reactor and the run-length of the catalyst. This relationship is:
fm
= 4840 (0.00003)(T 520)t + 8.9370
Ln
1 fm
T

Where:
fm = fractional conversion of methanol
T = reactor outlet temperature, K
t = catalyst time on stream, days.
0.9
Cost of DME in market, $/Mton
DME production price, $/Mton of DME
800
600
400
DME cost price
200
100
0.8
0.7
NG
0.6
0.5
MeOH
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0
100
FIG. 5
150
200
250
Methanol price, $/Mton
300
350
FIG. 6
50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Cost of MeOH/NG, $/Mton
Cost of DME market against MeOH and NG prices.
DME production costs from Methanol.
Operating costs of MeOH. The operating costs for this

calculation are based on these assumptions:
($/lb of CH3OH in Stream 2) = 0.052=0.00020 (T523)
where T is the temperature in K.
If the operating temperature is 400C . Converting into Kelvin is
400=273 = 673K
$/lb of CH3OH = 0.052=0.00020 (673523)
= 0.052=0.00020(150)
= 0.052=0.03
= 0.083 $/lb is the operating cost for
methanol.
Catalyst deactivation function. The equation relating
temperature and fractional conversion includes a catalyst-aging

function (Fig. 4). This function remembers catalyst history. This
function form is:
Catalyst aging function = (3.0105)(T520)t
Where T is the temperature, K
Operating temperature, T = 400C or 673K
t = the catalyst service time. If t time is zero, then the catalyst
life will be from the given as:
Catalyst aging function when t =0, then = (3.0105)(T520)t
= (0.00003)(0) = 0.00 as fresh
If t = 1 day, then the equation will be: 0.00003(673520)t or
= 0.00003(153) = 0.00459
When catalyst is fresh, its life is full; after one day of use, it
becomes 0.00459.
If t = 10 days, then the equation will be:
0.00003(673520)t or 0.00003(153)(10) = 0.0459
0.00003(153)(60) = 0.2754
0.00003(153)(100) = 0.459.
If the value approaches 1, then it will ineffective, and there will
be no conversion.
Catalyst replacement: New catalyst costs $100,000 and
requires five days of operating time for installation and startup.
Costing of NG relative to DME. For our purposes, we will
assume the price for NG is $10/MMBtu.
Basis: $10/MMBtu
1 ft3 = 1000 Btu or

1,000 ft3 = 1000,000 Btu or MMBtu
Average density of NG avg. = 0.0432 lb/ft3
Taken as 1,000 ft3 of NG per $10
Therefore avg. = M/V or M = avg.!V
M = 0.0432 lb/ft3 x 1,000 ft3 = 43.2 lb of NG
Therefore, 1kg = 2.20462 lb.
Then 43.2 lb of NG in kg will be 43.2 / 2.20462 = 19.6 kg
of NG/$10
In metric tons, it will be $510/mton as shown in Fig. 6. HP
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Satterfield, C. N., Heterogeneous Catalysis in Industrial Practice, Second Ed.
Arpe, H.-J. and K.Weissermel, Industrial Organic Chemistry, Third Ed.
DuPont Talks About Its DME Propellant, Aerosol Age, May and June, 1982.
Bondiera, J. and C. Naccache, Kinetics of Methanol Dehydration in De-Aluminated
H-Mordenite: Model with Acid and Basic Activities Centres, Applied Catalysis.
Hydrocarbon Processing, November 2008, p. 21.
Shamshad Khalid Ansari is a consultant/manager of technical and development at International Chemplast (Pvt.) Ltd. (ICPL),
Karachi, Pakistan. During his 29-year career, he has held various
positions, starting in the US as a process engineer, and then gaining increasing responsibilities to project director for mega projects.
His experience successively with Sunway Paint Chemicals Inc.; National Petrocarbon
Ltd, a unit of state petroleum Refining & Petrochemicals Corporations Ltd. (PERAC),
Stratco Chemicals Pvt Ltd., S. G. Rayon Mills Ltd. and Pakistan Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research (PCSIR.) Mr. Ansari was a senior research engineer for Dow Chemical Co. US and BASF Pakistan Ltd. and was a research and development manager and
process/production manager. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from NED
University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan.
Seema Ansari is an associate professor/head of department at

College of Engineering and Computer Science at Karachi Institute
of Economics and Technology (PAF-KIET), Karachi, Pakistan. She is
also a thesis/research supervisor for MS/MPhil students. Dr. Ansari
has authored numerous research papers. During her 25-year career,
she has held various positions in the field of education, starting as a lecturer and
then assistant professor at Dawood College of Engineering and Technology. She was
the CEO with Educational Consultant Pvt. Ltd., dean and director with Asia Pacific
Institute of Information Technology, Karachi. She has been a visiting Professor at NED
University, Greenwich University and IQRA University, Karachi, Pakistan. Dr. Ansari
holds a PhD in telecommunication engineering from Hamdard University, Karachi, an
MS degree from the University of Missouri, and a BS degree in electrical engineering
from NED University of Engineering and Technology.
I 65
INSTRUMENTATION
How to select the better liquid-level

measurement system
Here is a closer look at commonly used sensors
L. AIKEN, MTS Sensors, Cary, North Carolina
here are many physical and environmental variables that

for environmental protection. Within the sensing element, a
affect selection of optimal level-monitoring solutions for
sonic strain pulse is induced in a specially designed waveguide
industrial applications. The selection criteria includes temby the momentary interaction of two magnetic fields. One field
perature, pressure or vacuum, chemistry, dielectric constant of
is generated by a permanent magnet sealed inside a float while
medium, density or specific gravity of medium, agitation, electrithe other field is generated from an interrogation current pulse
cal noise, vibration, and the tank or bin size and shape. There are
applied along the waveguide. The resulting strain pulse travels
also application-specific price constraints, accuracy, response rate,
at ultrasonic speed along the waveguide and is detected at the
physical size and instrument mounting, and agency approval. All
head of the sensing element. The magnet position is determined
these factors are important when choosing a liquid level sensor.
by accurately measuring the elapsed time between the interrogaThe varying environmental conditions
tion pulse application and the arrival of the
and application challenges have caused the The varying environmental resulting strain pulse. An absolute position
level measurement industry to be quite conditions and application
reading that never needs recalibration or
complex. When considering a specific
re-homing after a power loss is provided.
application, the end user is also challenged challenges have caused the
Ideal for high-accuracy and continuwith understanding multiple technologies
ous level measurement of a wide variety of
and jargons. It would be too extensive to level measurement industry
liquids in storage and shipping containers,
discuss every technology and characteris- to be quite complex.
magnetostrictive transmitters require the
tic, so, the focus of this article will be on
proper choice of float based on specific
three specific technologies that have applications throughout the
liquid gravity. When choosing a float and/or wetted material for
oil and gas industry. These commonly used level technologies are
these level transmitters, it is imperative to match the material
magnetostrictive transmitters, hydrostatic pressure sensors and
requirements with the liquid being measured.
radar level transmitters. Table 1 summarizes the pros and cons
Magnetostrictive transmitters have the unique feature of meaof each sensor.
suring multiple process variables from a single opening in the vessel. A single transmitter can be used to measure the product level
Magnetostrictive transmitters. Magnetostrictive level
and interface level in a tank when equipped with two floats. Some
transmitters use a time-based magnetostrictive position sensmagnetostrictive transmitters can be equipped with temperature
ing principle. The magnetostrictive level transmitters consist of
measurement from the same transmitter, giving the user the ability
electronics, a sensing element, magnets and mechanical housing
to measure up to 12 temperature points along the transmitters.
TABLE 1. Pros and cons with commonly used sensors
Sensor
Advantages
Disadvantages
Magnetostrictive
Ease of installation
Ability to combine sensing capabilities (level and temperature)
Invariable to variations in vapor, foam, dust and dielectric
High degree of accuracy
Contact measurement technology

Product misconceptions
Lack of awareness by end-users
Hydrostatic
pressure
Extreme lengths up to 950 m

Technological advancements and adaptations to improve
design and performance
Contact measurement technology

Not suited for changing densities
Errors can occur if the probe is not stationary and a second
sensor may be required if reference pressure from
the tanks top is needed
Radar
High accuracy
Works in light foam and/or dust
Has a niche application that expands
High price
Calibration and setup are needed
Other variables such as interface or temperature require
separate devices and additional tank openings
I 67
INSTRUMENTATION
With a high level of accuracy, mag- More than one pressure sensor can in the tank. There may be a need
netostrictive transmitters are popular
to measure the air above the liquid
for inventory-grade applications for be used to form differential pressure
with another sensor if the tank is
tank farms. They have two advantages sensors. Differential pressure sensors pressurized. The built-in circuitry
when used in tank farm applications.
correlates the pressure into a 4 mA
The first advantage is that magneto- calculate the measurement based on
to 20 mA output signal proportional
strictive transmitters are available with each sensors input to gain higher
to the liquid level.
flexible sensing elements that allows
Submersible pressure sensors are
for lower shipping costs and easier accuracy and the ability to measure
for use in open-air applications where
installation. The second advantage is mass, density and volume.
the sensor cannot be mounted to the
that magnetostrictive transmitters can
tank bottom. The sensor is specially
be installed to allow for automated tank gauging to occur along with
designed to seal the electronics from the liquid environment. For
manual gauging and sampling from the same stilling well.
these sensors, using chemically compatible materials is important to
Another unique application for magnetostrictive transmitters
assure proper performance. These sensors can reach extreme depths
is the magnetic sight-glass gauges. In this variation, the magnet
for measurements in wells, lakes and the like, but they are not highly
is installed in a float that travels inside the bypass chamber. The
accurate, especially if the sensor is not fixed in place.
magnet operates both the sight-glass visual indicator and the magMore than one pressure sensor can be used to form differential
netostrictive transmitter that is mounted externally to the bypass
pressure sensors. Differential pressure sensors calculate the meachamber. The sight-glass method of installation is typically used
surement based on each sensors input to gain higher accuracy
for high-temperature and/or high-pressure applications.
and the ability to measure mass, density and volume. Since these
sensors measure increasing pressure with depth and because the
Hydrostatic pressure sensors. There are two main types of
specific gravities of liquids are different, the sensor must be prophydrostatic pressure sensors: externally mounted pressure sensors
erly calibrated for each application. In addition, large variations
or submersible pressure sensors made for liquid level applications.
in temperature cause changes in specific gravity that should be
Externally mounted pressure sensors are attached to the tank
accounted for when the pressure is converted to level.
side or tank bottom. The measurement is based on the distance
Pressure sensors are typically used for level applications that
from the tank bottom, the pressure exerted by the liquid in the
do not demand a high degree of accuracy or as a secondary sentank and the reference pressure from the air above the liquid
sor to provide a density measurement for a different type of level
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68
INSTRUMENTATION
Lee Aiken is a product marketing manager for MTS Sensors.

His previous roles have been in market research and research and
development. Mr. Aiken received a masters in business administration and a BS degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina
State University.
WORLD LEADER
Radar. Radar level transmitters are one of the newer technologies

and include continuous improvements in performance and capabilities. The basic operation of the radar level transmitter is a measurement of time of flight divided by the speed of light. The reflection
intensity is dependent on the dielectric constant of the material. The
higher the dielectric constant, the stronger the reflection will be.
Each unit has the ability to work with materials that have a dielectric
constant greater than two.
For materials with dielectric constants less than two, a different technique is used, the Tank Bottom Following Principle. For
these materials the measurement is based on the difference in time
of flight between an empty tank and the time of the signal going
through the liquid and off the tank bottom. As the pulse speed
through the product depends on the dielectric constant, this value
has to be programmed into the unit in order to calculate the level.
Since this measurement is largely dependent on the dielectric constant, the accuracy will be less than in the direct mode.
Radar can also be used to find the interface level by timing the
residual wave after the first reflection. This part of the wave moves
further down along the conductors through the first product layer
until reflected on the interface level. The wave speed depends fully
on the dielectric constant of the first product. The instrument
measures time between emission and second reflection. Since the
time is known between emission and first reflection, the difference between the two gives the transit time through the first layer.
Interface measurement can only be made if the first layer has a
lower dielectric constant than the second and if the difference
between the two dielectric constants is larger than 10.
Radar transmitters can also come with rod or rope probes and
are referred to in this configuration as guided wave radar (GWR).
While these probes eliminate the radar transmitters benefit of
being a non-contact sensing technology the guide minimizes signal loss and eliminates false echoes. However, probes are plagued
by material buildup and compatibility between the probe material
and the liquid being measured.
Radar and GWR are used in numerous applications throughout the oil and gas industry. Non-contact radar is used in inventory grade measurements at terminals and in harsh applications
where a non-contact solution is preferred. GWR is used with
broader applications due to guide benefits with installations similar to the magnetostrictive technology.
When choosing liquid-level measurement techniques for oil and
gas applications, there are many technology choices that should not
be evaluated on a single factor such as cost or accuracy. Not every
method is equally smart for all applications, so it is important to
carefully weigh the most significant needs across the board and
to choose a technique that is able to stand up to the chemicals
and processes involved. The best advice is to discuss these issues
with several manufacturers to see what technology is most recommended. Reputable manufacturers will guide you in the right
direction even if it is not their brand or technology. HP
w
flo s
to ce
Ro rvi
in e
ts d S
er an
xp rt
e E po
Th Sup
technology. Pressure sensors have been adapted by at least one

company to form a series of pressure sensors to perform level
measurements in large storage tanks at terminals.
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PIPING/FLUID FLOW
New explicit friction factor equation

for turbulent flow in rough pipes
It is more reliable and accurate than existing equations
A. SASAN-AMIRI, Bouali Sina Petrochemical Company, Khuzestan, Iran
arcy-Weischbach introduced the

basic equation (Eq. 1) to determine
key parameters of a piping system
design like pipe diameter, pressure drop and
volumetric flowrate. In addition to fluid
density and velocity and pipe length, friction factor, , estimation under laminar or
turbulent flow in smooth or rough pipes
is an important step to calculate the mentioned items accurately.
Fig. 1 shows the Moody diagram that is
used for graphical estimation both under
laminar and turbulent flows for smooth and
rough pipes. For laminar flow, values are
easily determined from Fig. 1 or by Eq. 2
but, for turbulent flow, graphical estimation of values are highly dependent on the
designers accuracy and related basic equations (Eqs. 3 and 4). Also, value calculation requires an iterative procedure that
takes a long time especially for more complicated piping networks design.
0.1 0.2 0.4 0.8
10,000
4 6 10
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
0.10
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
Complete turbulence, rough pipes

0.050
0.030
0.04
0.03
0.025
0.02
Sm
0.015
oot
0.01
0.008
103 2(103)
(2)
FIG. 1
1/
f = 4.0 log10 Re f 0.4
1/
f = 2 log10 ( / D) / 3.7 + 2.51 / Re f
hp
ipe
E
Relative roughness
d
Friction factor, f = hf /(L/d)(V 2 /2g)
Laminar ow Critical zone Transition zone
f = 64 / Re
4,000
VD values for atmospheric air at 60F
(1)
4 6 10 20 40 60 100 200 400 1,000
VD values for water at 60F (velocity in fps x diameter in inches)
P = f LV 2 / Re
0.015
0.010
0.006
0.004
0.002
0.001
0.0004
0.0002
0.0001
0000.05
0000.01
E =108
5 105 2(105) 5 106 2(106) 5 107 E
d
0
=
0
d
Vd
0
000
0.00 0.005
Reynolds number R = (V in fps, d in ft, Y in ft2 per sec.)
1
Y
5 104 2(104)
Friction factors for laminar and turbulent flows in pipes (Moody diagram).4
(3)
))
(4)
A few equations have been represented to determine explicitly and Goudar, and Sonnad1 (Eq. 5) have recently evaluated
many explicit equations and compared maximum absolute percent errors in that vary from 28.23%2 to 1.42%3 and introduced
a new equation with less than 1% error and the accuracy is compared with Haalands equation separately.
f = 0.8686 ln (0.4587Re) / (s s /(s+1) )

s = 0.124( / D)Re + ln(0.4587Re)
1/
(5)
New explicit equation. To prevent a new equation repre-
sentation for /D and Re relation, the s factor configuration of the

Goudar and Sonnad equation is kept, then the right side of Eq. 4
is calculated in the 106 < /D < 101 and 4,000 < Re < 108 ranges
To prevent a new equation representa-
tion for /D and Re relation, the s factor

configuration of the Goudar and Sonnad
equation is kept, then the right side of
Eq. 4 is calculated in the 106 < /D < 101
and 4,000 < Re < 108 ranges for more
than 1,000 points and a mathematically
equivalent equation is derived to meet
the factor estimated from Eq. 4.
for more than 1,000 points and a mathematically equivalent equation is derived to meet the factor estimated from Eq. 4. The final
form of the derived equation that has lower error is:
I 71
PIPING/FLUID FLOW
Maximum absolute f errors, %
1.2
1.0
0.8
Max absolute errors for Eq. 6
Max absolute errors for Goudar
and Sonnad equation
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.000001
FIG. 2
0.000010
0.000100
0.001000
E/D
0.010000
0.100000
Maximum absolute error comparison for the Goudar and

Sonnad and new equations (1,070 values in the 4,000 <
Re < 108 range).
s = 0.124( / D)Re + ln(0.4587Re)

(Goudar and Sonnad,1 s factor)
= 0.87034161+ 0.270329245( / D)Re +
ln(0.182855243Re 2.180074559 ) 2.260098975 ln s
1.008058
H = 0.005769895 + 0.867511548 ln(Re / )
1/
f = 0.0012471502 + H
(6)
BOLTING PROBLEMS?
Meet the solution:
Comparison with Goudar and Sonnad equation. To
evaluate the accuracy of the new introduced equation, equal logarithmically spaced values in the 16 < < 11 range are selected
and the corresponding Re values are chosen for each value, then
the same procedure is done for Eq. 5 and the results are used to
calculate maximum absolute percent error compared with the
empirical approximation of Eq. 4. Finally, the maximum absolute
percent error values associated with for the Goudar and Sonnad
equation (Eq. 5) and this study (Eq. 6) are shown in Fig. 2.
As shown in Fig. 2, the maximum absolute error values have
a smoother profile and are a little lower than the Goudar and Sonnad equation corresponding characteristic. HP
1
2
3
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72
LITERATURE CITED
Goudar, C. T. and J. R. Sonnad, Explicit friction factor correlation for turbulent flow in rough pipe, Hydrocarbon Processing, April 2007, pp. 103105.
Wood, D. J., An explicit friction factor relationship, Civil Eng., 36, 1966,
pp. 6061.
Haaland, S. E., Simple and explicit formulas for friction factor in turbulent
pipe flow, Trans. ASME, J. Fluids Eng, 105, pp. 8990, 1983.
Moody, L. F., Friction factors for pipe flows, Trans. ASME, 66, pp. 671
684, 1944.
Colebrook, C. F. and White, C. M., Experiments with fluid friction roughened pipes, Proc. R.Soc. (A), 161, 1937.
Amir Sasan-Amiri works in the paraxylene unit in the process engineering department of Bouali Sina Petrochemical Co.
as a process senior engineer. He holds a BSc degee in chemical
engineering from Arak Azad University, Iran, and an MSc degree in
construction management from Grenoble University in France. Mr.
Sasan-Amiris interests include fluid mechanics, heat transfer, separation processes
and process simulation.
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PIPING/FLUID FLOW
Explicit friction factor correlations

for turbulent fluid flow in noncircular
ducts and polymeric fluids
New equation provides highly accurate estimates
C. T. GOUDAR,* Bayer HealthCare, Berkeley, California; and J. R. SONNAD,
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
The friction factor for flow of a Newtonian fluid in circular

pipes is defined as:1

D P

(1)
f =
L 1 2

2
where f is the Moody friction factor,2 D the pipe diameter, L
the pipe length, P the pressure drop, the fluid density and
the fluid velocity. The friction factor in Eq. 1 is a function
of the Reynolds number alone for smooth pipes and under
laminar flow conditions (Re < 2,100), this relationship can be
expressed as:
16
(2)
Re
where Re is the Reynolds number.
For turbulent fluid flow in smooth pipes, the NikuradsePrandtl-von Krmn (NPK) equation35 has been widely accepted
as the standard approach for describing friction factor:
1
= 4.0 log10 Re f 0.4
(3)
f
f =
Unlike Eq. 2 that explicitly relates the friction factor to the

Reynolds number, Eq. 3 is implicit in the friction factor. Hence,
graphical approaches such as the one proposed by Moody 2 are
still used for estimating f from Eq. 3. The graphical approach,
however, is not suitable for computer implementation and
iterative root-solving techniques such as the Newton-Raphson
method6 have been used to compute f from Eq. 3. In addition
to the graphical and iterative approaches mentioned, several
approximations of Eq. 3 are available that explicitly relate the
friction factor to the Reynolds number. 3,715 However, these
approximations are empirical with varying levels of accuracy.
Moreover, they are not applicable over the entire range of Re
values encountered in practice.
Recognizing the shortcomings of the empirical approximations and the need for an explicit representation, we have derived
a truly explicit form of Eq. 3 and have shown that it can provide
highly accurate friction factor estimates. 16 The superiority of
* Corresponding author
friction factor estimates from this explicit representation over

empirical approximations of Eq. 3 has also been demonstrated.16
In this study, we extend this representation to include fluid flow
in noncircular conduits, fluid flow between flat plates and the
flow of polymeric solutions. We also describe a simple approach
for accurately evaluating f that is convenient for spreadsheet or
conventional programming application. The explicit nature of this
friction factor expression coupled with high accuracy make it well
suited for turbulent flow friction factor calculations.
We will now derive an explicit form of Eq. 3 through simple
algebraic techniques. We will also show that friction factor correlations for fluid flow in noncircular conduits, flow between flat
plates and the flow of polymeric solutions can be reduced to forms
that are analogous to the NPK equation. To simplify the derivation, Eq. 3 can be rewritten as:
1
= C1 ln Re f C 2
(4)
f
where C1 = 4 ln(10) and C 2 = 0.4 . Eq. 4 can be simplified to:

1
1
= C1 ln(Re)C 2
+ C1 ln
(5)
f
f
) in Eq. 5 results in:
Substituting = 1/ C1 f
C1 +C1 ln(C1 ) = C1 ln(Re) C 2
Dividing Eq. 6 by C1 and rearranging results in:

Re C
+ ln( ) = ln 2
C C
1
(6)
(7)
The left side of Eq. 7 is analogous to the Lambert W function

which is defined as:17
W (x) + ln{W (x )} = ln(x)
(8)
From Eqs. 7 and 8, may be written as:
C
Re
= W exp 2

C1
C1

(9)
Substituting for = 1/ C1 f in Eq. 9 results in the desired

explicit expression for the friction factor:
I 75
G u l f P u b l i s h i n g C o m p a n y s
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PIPING/FLUID FLOW
TABLE 1. Friction factor correlations that can be reduced to be analogous to the NPK equation (Eq. 3)
Application
C 1 and C 2
Correlation
Flow in smooth circular

pipes (NPK equation)
Flow in noncircular
ducts
Flow between flat plates
1
f
Drag reduction
in polymeric fluids
Asymptotic region of
maximum possible
drag reduction
1
f
19
log Re f 32.4
ln(10) 10
C

Re
= C1W exp 2

C1
C1

f

(10)
Table 1 shows friction factor correlations for fluid flow in noncircular conduits, fluid flow between flat plates and for the flow
25
K T2
C 2 = 0.8
C1 = 2.46
The
C1 = 2
2.46
log Re f 0.19
ln(10) 10
= (4 + ) log10 Re f 0.4 log
ln(10)
C 2 = 0.4
log10 Re f 0.8
2
KT
3, 4, 5
C1 = 4
= 4.0 log10 Re f 0.4
Literature cited
24
ln(10)
C 2 = 0.19
2dW 0
C1 = 4 +
C 2 = 0.4 log
C1 = 19
26
2dW 0
)
26
ln(10)
C 2 = 32.4
of polymeric solutions. All of these correlations can be reduced
to a form analogous to Eq. 3 with varying values of the constants
C1 and C 2 . Thus, the explicit relationship between the friction
factor and Reynolds number presented as Eq. 10 is applicable to
all the cases presented in Table 1 and, generally speaking, can be
used for any friction factor correlation that can be reduced to a
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77
PIPING/FLUID FLOW
This improved accuracy was not due
0.012
to increased computational effort from
Error in computing f, %
Friction factor, f
iterative calculations but was a result of
0.010
the mathematical equivalence of Eqs.

f or error in f, %
0.008
10 and 3. Thus friction factor for any of

the Table 1 correlations can be easily and
0.006
accurately determined from Eqs. 10 and 11.

0.004
Re
0.002
0.000
103
FIG. 1
104
105
106
107
Reynolds number
108
109
Error associated with computing friction factor from

a combination of Eqs. 10 and 11. A total of 100 f
values were computed for 100 Re values that were
logarithmically spaced in the 4,000 < Re < 108 range.
form similar to Eq. 3.

Estimating f from Eq. 10 involves determining
the value of W
C
Re
for a desired value of the argument C exp C
. Several methods for

W estimation exist1722 and mathematical software has built-in
2
C
2
routines for W calculation. Setting x = C exp C
, the W function

argument in Eq. 10, W can be determined as:19
a1
x
(11)
W = ln
;
h = exp

b1 + ln(x)
x

ln
(ln x )h
where a1 = 1.124491989777808 and b1 = 0.4225028202459761.
The values of W obtained from Eq. 11 are characterized by maximum relative errors on the order of 104. 19
Eqs. 10 and 11 were used to estimate f with the constants C1
and C2 corresponding to the NPK equation. The accuracy of
these f values was determined by comparing them with f values
obtained using the Maple implementation of the W function that
has been shown to be accurate to machine precision.23 For this
comparison, 100 logarithmically spaced Re values were generated
1
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78
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PIPING/FLUID FLOW
in the 4,000 < Re < 108 range and the corresponding f values were
calculated using both methods. The percentage error in f estimates
was computed as:
f calculated f reference
Percentage error =
100
(12)
f reference
where fcalculated refers to the W computation from Eqs. 10 and 11
and freference refers to W values obtained using the Maple approach.
Fig. 1 shows a plot of the percentage errors in f as defined by Eq.
12 as a function of the Reynolds number for W estimates from
Eq. 11. The maximum absolute error in f was 7.3 ! 107 while
the maximum percentage error in f was 0.011% (Fig. 1), which
should be adequate for most practical applications.
Results from a comparison of the empirical approximations
of Eq. 3 indicated that the best approximation had a maximum f
error of 0.34%.16 Friction factor estimates from Eq. 10 were thus
characterized by errors that were an order of magnitude lower
than those from the best empirical approximation to date for
Eq. 3. This improved accuracy was not due to increased computational effort from iterative calculations but was a result of the
mathematical equivalence of Eqs. 10 and 3. Thus friction factor
for any of the Table 1 correlations can be easily and accurately
determined from Eqs. 10 and 11. HP
21
22
23
24
25
26
W-function, Math. Comp. Simul., 53, pp. 95103, 2000.

Boyd, J. P., Global approximations to the principal real-valued branch of the
Lambert W-function, Appl. Math. Lett., 11(6), pp. 2731, 1998.
Fritsch, F. N., R. E. Shafer and W. P. Crowley, Algorithm 443: Solution of
the transcendental equation wew = x, Commun. ACM, 16, 123124, 1973.
Goudar, C. T. and J. R. Sonnad, Explicit friction factor correlation for
turbulent fluid flow in smooth pipes, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 42(12), pp.
28782880, 2003.
Churchill, S. W., New and overlooked relationships for turbulent flow,
Chem. Eng. Technol., 13, 264272, 1990.
Malk, J., J. Hejna and J. Schmid, Pressure losses and heat transfer in noncircular channels with hydraulically smooth walls, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer,
18, pp. 139149, 1975.
Virk, P., Drag reduction fundamentals, AIChE J., 21(4), pp. 625656,
1975.
Chetan Goudar is a process development scientist in the Biological Products division of Bayer HealthCare in Berkeley, California,
where he is developing optimized fermentation processes for highdensity perfusion cultivation of mammalian cells to manufacture
therapeutic proteins. His research interests are in the general areas
of applied mathematical modeling, bioenvironmental engineering, mammalian cell
cultivation and metabolic engineering. Dr. Goudar is a licensed professional engineer
in the state of California.
Jagadeesh Sonnad is currently an associate professor in

Radiological Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His research interests include
various aspects of imaging in nuclear medicine, pharmacokinetic
modeling and image processing. Dr. Sonnad is a board certified
medical physicist in nuclear medicine.
CONTROL CORROSION
with these products from Gulf Publishing Company
The Fundamentals of Corrosion a

and
nd Scaling
S
LITERATURE CITED
1 Bird, R. B., W. E. Stewart and E. N. Lightfoot, Transport Phenomena, John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2002.
2 Moody, L. F., Friction factors for pipe flow, Trans. ASME, 66(8), pp.
671684, 1944.
3 Nikuradse, J., Gesetzmssigkeit der turbulenten strmung in glatten rhren,
Ver. Dtsch. Ing.-Forschungsh., 356, 1932.
4 Prandtl, L., Neuere ergebnisse der turbulenzforschung, Z. Ver. Deutsch. Ing.,
77, pp. 105114, 1933.
5 von Krmn, T., Turbulence and skin friction, J. Aerosp. Sci., 7, 1-20,
1934.
6 Press, W. H., S. A. Teukolsky, W. T. Vettering and B. B. Flannery, Numerical
Recipies in FORTRAN: The art of scientific computing, Cambridge University
Press, New York, 1992.
7 Blasius, H., Das hnlickhkeitsgesetz bei reibungsvorgngen in flssigkeiten,
Forschg. Arb. Ing.-Wes., 131, 1913.
8 Colebrook, C. F., Turbulent flow in pipes with particular reference to the
transition region between the smooth and rough pipe laws, J. Inst. Civil Eng.,
11, pp. 133156, 19381939.
9 Drew, T. B., R. C. Koo and W. H. McAdams, The friction factor for clean
round pipes, Trans. AIChE, 28, pp. 5672, 1932.
10 Filonenko, G. K., Hydraulic resistance in pipes (in Russian), Teploenergetika,
1(4), pp. 4044, 1954.
11 Jain, A. K., Accurate explicit equations for friction factor, J. Hydr. Div.,
102(HY5), pp. 674677, 1976.
12 McAdams, W. H., Heat Transmission, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1954.
13 Romeo, E., C. Royo and A. Monzn, Improved explicit equations for estimation of the friction factor in rough and smooth pipes, Chem Eng. J., 86(3),
pp. 369374, 2002.
14 Sablani, S. S., W. H. Shayya and A. Kacimov, Explicit calculation of the
friction factor in pipeline flow of Bingham plastic fluids: a neural network
approach, Chem. Eng. Sci., 58, pp. 99106, 2003.
15 Techo, R., R. R. Tickner and R. E. James, An accurate equation for the computation of the friction factor for smooth pipes from the Reynolds number,
J. Appl. Mech., 32, p. 443, 1965.
16 Sonnad, J. R. and C. T. Goudar, Explicit friction factor correlation for pipe
flow analysis, Hydrocarbon Processing, Vol. 84, pp. 103104, 2005.
17 Corless, R. M., G. H. Gonnet, D. E. Hare, D. J. Jeffrey and D. E. Knuth,
On the Lambert W function, Adv. Comput. Math., 5, pp. 329359, 1996.
18 Barry, D. A., S. J. Barry and P. J. Culligan-Hensley, Algorithm 743: A
Fortran routine for calculating real values of the W-function, ACM Trans.
Math. Softw., 21, pp. 172181, 1995a.
19 Barry, D. A., P. J. Culligan-Hensley and S. J. Barry, Real values of the
W-function, ACM Trans. Math. Softw., 21, pp. 161171, 1995b.
20 Barry, D. A., J.-Y. Parlange, L. Li, H. Prommer, C.J. Cunningham and
F. Stagnitti,, Analytical approximations for real values of the Lambert
The Fundamentals of Corrosion and Scaling

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PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Sustainable cost cuts

in capital spending
A reduction program based on your companys unique nature can ensure
that budget slashes implemented today will not jeopardize the ability
to deliver projects tomorrow
A. SIDDIQUI, Engineered Project Services LLC, Houston, Texas
he recent economic slowdown has caused unprecedented

demand destruction in the words of some process industry executives. Leading companies in the sector have
announced large layoffs as well as plans for aggressive cost-cutting.
Along with reductions in capital spending, the engineering and
construction functions within industry firms have been asked to
lower staff totals.
To achieve the cost reduction targets, capital project functional
leaders should analyze the capital project cost chain to identify the
right opportunities for cost reduction. While cost cuts are never
pleasant, they are necessary. Smart leaders must meet corporate
targets without impacting the future capability to deliver projects.
This article presents an overview of the capital project cost structure as well as best opportunities to cut costs.
COST COMPONENTS
A comprehensive cost structure review should be the basis

for all cost-cutting efforts. Without understanding the size and
type of cost components for your specific firm, across-the-board
haircuts can reduce costs in the short term, but severely impact
your companys future ability to deliver projects.
Capital project cost components can be divided into three broad
categories: engineering, materials and construction. Engineering costs
include the in-house owner team as well as contractors utilized in the
full project cycle. A common rule-of-thumb states that engineering
labor, construction labor and materials usually constitute about a
third each of the projects total installed cost. Costs within the three
categories can be further divided into fixed and variable costs.
Engineering. Engineering costs consist of salaries and wages for
engineers and designers as well as support staff for services such as
procurement, document management and project controls. From
an owner perspective, engineering costs have a fixed component
made up of in-house direct employees and a variable component
of embedded contractors, along with engineering and construction contracts for project execution.
The in-house fixed costs tend to be more stable and have been
aggressively reduced over the past two decades by outsourcing
engineering services to contractors. This shifting of costs from
fixed to variable has given the owner firm more flexibility in rapidly reducing engineering costs during lean times by cutting back
spending on contractor services.
In this article, the engineering cost category also includes the

cost of indirect staff for technical support (process safety, specialized equipment design, etc.) as well as procurement, project
controls and document management costs. These costs also can be
divided into fixed costs consisting of direct staff and variable costs
consisting of contractor staff. The ratio of fixed costs to variable
costs tends to be lower for the support functions as owner firms rely
extensively on outside contractors to manage these functions.
Materials. Material costs for major mechanical equipment, bulk
materials and minor equipment as well as automation hardware
can be treated as variable costs. These costs are managed through
scope definition as well as the timing of the spending. Reducing
the project scope directly reduces the materials costs for capital
projects, while shrinking or extending project duration controls
the timing of spending.
Construction. Construction costs can be treated as variable
costs since most owners do not have in-house construction labor.

The construction costs are incurred on a project-by-project basis,
so cutting capital project spending automatically reduces the
construction costs. Most owners have very small in-house construction management groups. Thus, the fixed costs for owners
are almost negligible.
FIXED-COST REDUCTION OPPORTUNITIES
Using the cost components described so far as the basis, a

sustainable cost-cutting program can be developed by analyzing
the cost component within the context of a firms current and
future project portfolio. A survey of cost-reduction ideas for each
component is presented here as a starting basis of such a costreduction program. Operational improvement tools like Six Sigma
and lean concepts can be used to implement the cost-reduction
opportunities. Proper change management is critical to long-term
cost reduction. Six Sigma and lean frameworks provide a proven
formal methodology to ensure that the costs reduced today will
not creep higher as the industry economic cycle improves.
While the term fixed may imply that these costs cannot be
changed, managers should realize that all costs are variable in
the long run. For example, while accountants may treat rent and
utilities as fixed cost, even these costs can be reduced over time by
better energy efficiency and office utilization.
I 81
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
While most cost-reduction opportunities target variable-cost
reduction for immediate impact, variable-cost reductions are harder to
sustain. The same inertia that makes fixed costs hard to reduce quickly
also makes them hard to increase quickly. Cost creep on fixed costs is
easier to control. In contrast, variable-cost reductions are harder to
sustain if implemented poorly, as discussed later in this article.
Engineering. One of the most common ways to reduce engi-
neering fixed costs is through a reduction in headcount. Both

owner and contractor firms can reduce engineers and designers
to reduce salary expenditures. In most cases, such reductions are
required top-down from senior executives and expressed as a mandated reduction in staffing by some predetermined percent.
Most managers who receive these instructions face difficult
choices on balancing experience versus future talent. The headquarters-mandated nature of these requirements leaves little or no
room for avoiding any headcount reductions even if the companys
workload and needs do not allow staff reductions. When the cuts are
unavoidable, several best practices can help managers minimize the
negative impact of the cuts while still meeting corporate targets.
The discussion below is primarily geared toward in-house staff,
but managers should be careful to consider these aspects when
reducing contractor numbers. In some cases, contractors have
acquired decades of company-specific knowledge and expertise.
If these contractors are reduced, they may not be available when
needed later as project spending picks up again.
The primary tool for managing a headcount reduction should
be a well-functioning staff performance review system. Performance reviews can provide a good starting point for identifying
who should be laid off. However, the biggest pitfall of relying
solely on performance management is the backwards nature of
performance reviews.
Performance reviews measure against the skills that are either
required today or during the past few years. They do not predict
performance against the skills that will be needed in the future. For
example, as the trend toward outsourcing and multiple-party project execution grows, communication ability becomes more important than pure technical expertise. The increasing global nature of
engineering services will require engineering team members who
can work seamlessly across cultures. All other things being equal,
emphasizing and retaining technically excellent but personal-skills
challenged employees may hurt the ability of a firm in the future to
execute projects in a multiple-party global project supply chain.
Even for technical competence, the specialist engineering
knowledge required will change as new processes and products are
developed by a company while old ones are sold off. Technically
inexperienced but quick learners are more valuable for specialty
firms looking to commercialize new products versus a company
focused solely on established offerings.
In addition to considering matches between future skill requirements, managers should also take into account how quickly the
expertise can be re-acquired if the companys growth plans necessitate it. In some cases, the demographics and declining entrance
of young engineers may mean that the skillset is hard to rebuild
when required.
Some other fixed-cost reduction opportunities to consider
are software licenses and office utilization. Unused seats can be
suspended during the downturn. Office utilization can also be an
area of improvement. Multiple offices (new buildings or floors
in existing buildings) needed to staff the large teams previously
required during the recent capital spending boom should be
82
evaluated for reduction. Office consolidation can also yield the

side benefits of improved team communication and a reduction
in nonproductive time traveling between offices.
Materials. Materials are generally considered variable costs
directly related to the level of capital project spending. Cuts in project spending lead to a reduction in spending on materials. However,
there is a hidden source of fixed costs in materialspoor quality
and obsolete engineering design and procurement specifications.
Firms relying on extensive in-house specifications can become
subject to a specification penalty on their projects. While upto-date specifications relying on latest technologies and in-house
expertise can provide a reduction in capital project costs, poor quality
specifications can increase project costs by imposing a specification
penalty on projects. Material and engineering costs can be higher
than industry best due to outdated requirements. While a proactive
specifications update process can keep the specification penalty in
check, lean capital-spending times provide an opportunity for a fitness check of specifications using some of the spare engineer time
available. Specification fitness checks should actively engage vendors
to incorporate the latest cost-reduction ideas.
Another overlooked area of specification penalty is pipe material specifications. Too many pipe specs lead to over-customization
and extra project costs incurred in procurement and recordkeeping
as well as construction. Pipe specifications should be controlled
and consolidated to reduce costs of dealing with complexity.
Implementing the changes recommended here can result in a
significant sustainable reduction in material costs regardless of a
projects capital spending sum.
Construction. Similar to materials, a firm can suffer from an
inefficiency penalty in the capital construction-cost component.

Not using the latest constructability tools and practices for work
processes can result in unnecessary spending on construction.
A review of construction processes and tools can help eliminate unnecessary and inefficient spending. Firms should explore
the use of lean construction concepts to redesign construction
techniques and tools.
Firms should consider adopting and increasing their use of industry-wide practices and standards when possible. Industry practices
and standards can be found via traditional engineering groups such
as API, ASME and ISA. Also, the Process Industry Practices consortium (www.pip.org; Austin, Texas) has developed a comprehensive
set of standards that are updated periodically and reduce the specification penalty by incorporating the latest cost-effective technologies
and materials. Companies can participate either as members, which
allows them to use and influence the practices, or as subscribers,
which only lets them use but not influence the practices.
VARIABLE-COST REDUCTION OPPORTUNITIES
Variable costs are easier to reduce rapidly. Most managers

have experienced industry down cycles and can quickly identify
variable-cost reduction levers that can be used to reduce spending.
Some commonly used levers include delaying project commitments on material purchases and services contracts, renegotiating
cancellation charges, delaying receipt of custom-fabricated equipment and reusing existing equipment.
While such levers are effective, implementing them outside of
a rigorous change-management process can lead to an undesirable creep back once the cycle has improved and attention has
shifted elsewhere. A sustainable variable-cost reduction program
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
requires use of Six Sigma and other process
improvement techniques. In addition to the
proven techniques, here are some new ways
of reducing and controlling variable costs.
Engineering. One innovative, yet infre-
quently used, method for reducing engineering costs is trimming the number of
specialized technical disciplines. By providing training and requiring engineers to
extend beyond their core discipline, companies can reduce the need to pay for specialized experts in every discipline.
For example, chemical engineers can
be given introductory courses in process
control so that they can perform basic
instrumentation sizing and selection. This
multiskilling is commonly used at smaller
companies but is not as common at large
companies, where specialization is emphasized. Reducing the number of specialists by
asking others to pick up part of their duties
can help cut engineering headcount. However, care should be taken in implementing
this practice to ensure that all legal licensing
requirements are met as well as sufficient
depth is acquired by the multiskilled engineer to avoid engineering mistakes.
Besides cross-discipline technical training, engineers should also be trained across
work processes. For example, operating engineers supporting plants during times of high
operating rates can be asked to lead projects
during times of operation slowdowns.
Firms should also use formal project processes as a tool for reducing variable costs due
to rework and late design changes. In times
of high project overload, built-in gate checks
common in many companies project work
processes may be relaxed. The relaxed stage
gates allow for incomplete or even incorrect
project design data to be discovered very late
in the project cycle. The resulting rework
can have a significant wasted-cost impact.
As capital project spending slows, stricter
stage gate implementation can eliminate
recycle and waste by ensuring that the work
is done right the first time. In fact, eliminating rework hours can allow for the number of
projects that are executed to remain constant
even with a reduction in engineering staff.
Materials. While the obvious lever of
cutting spending and material commitment

on projects will have an immediate impact,
this effect can be enhanced by reducing
material costs for critical projects that cannot be delayed.
Aggregating material orders can yield to
volume discount. In some cases, the savings from standardized equipment designs
across multiple projects and application can

outweigh the savings from optimized equipment design for each project condition.
If the number of projects being executed
becomes really low, it could be hard to aggregate major equipment purchases without
significantly impacting the ongoing project
schedule. However, bulk material purchases
can be aggregated. The specification update
and consolidation mentioned earlier can
yield additional benefits by allowing for easier consolidation of bulk material orders.
The ideas presented
across the project value

chain should be evaluated
as part of a comprehensive
cost-reduction plan.
Construction. For construction costs,
the primary variable-cost reduction lever

is eliminating labor overtime. Overtime
not only has a cost component but also a
productivity penalty. As the demand for
construction services decreases, owner
firms should aggressively challenge labor
shortage assumptions and use of overtime
as a retention tool for craft labor.
Analyzing contract structures and strategies can also yield variable cost savings.
For example, as projects slow, crane sharing
between projects becomes possible. Owners
should challenge equipment idle time. This
can be eliminated by better planning and
sharing of equipment between projects.
Contractors should develop and present
their equipment cost reduction expertise as
a competitive advantage to owners.
The reduction ideas presented for both
fixed and variable costs across the project
value chain should be evaluated as part of a
comprehensive cost-reduction plan. However, implementing a few of the opportunities without a firm plan will not only
reduce the effectiveness of the changes but
will also negatively impact your companys
future capability. HP
Adnan Siddiqui, P.E., is founder

of Engineered Project Services (EPS)
LLC, Houston, Texas, a provider of
software and project advisory service
to the process industry. After 11 years
of capital project leadership experience with The Dow
Chemical Company, Mr. Siddiqui founded EPS in 2008.
EPS licenses ConcepSys, which enables rapid conceptual design of plant facilities for feasibility studies and
estimates. He holds bachelor and master degrees in
engineering and an MBA from The University of Texas
at Austin. His project management blog can be found
on the EPS website.
STAY IN IT
FOR THE
LONGER RUN.
Upgrade and Revamp.
Changes in your operating
requirements dont always mean
new equipment. Dresser-Rand
offers a broad range of upgrades
to maximize reliability and extend
mean time between repairs. We also
provide a number of comprehensive
revamp solutions to help meet your
changing performance requirements.
So, regardless of who originally
manufactured the equipment,
we have the product designs and
experienced technical resources to
help keep your rotating equipment
on trackand your business up
and running.
The Americas: (Intl +1) 713-354-6100

ESA: (Intl +33) 2-35-25-5225
Asia-Pacic: (Intl +60) 3-2093-6633
info@dresser-rand.com
www.dresser-rand.com
ENGINEERING CASE STUDIES
Case 50: Gearbox input shaft

failure analysis
Make sure the same failures are not repeated at your affiliated plant sites
T. SOFRONAS, Consulting Engineer, Houston, Texas
n analysis of a machine failure can be useful in determining what is and isnt the cause. With so many variables, its
helpful to eliminate some, as shown in this case history.
The input shaft to a gearbox driving an 11,000-hp extruder
cracked partially through (Fig. 1). Since there was heavy wear at R,
the moment due to misalignment and the friction at these spline
teeth were analyzed (Fig. 2).
A metallurgical examination indicated a pure bending fatigue
failure. The 6-in. diameter gearbox splined shaft (d ) had a corrected endurance limit of endurance = 25,000 lb/in.2
The cyclic moment required to fail the shaft in pure bending is:
M fail = endurance d 3root /32, in.-lb
FIG. 1
= 530,000 in.-lb
By a summation of moments, the moment due to shift of
contact point on the tooth is:
T (w /2 / R ), and the moment due to the axial friction between
teeth is T, all resulting from the drive torque, T. Angular misalignment causes these forces to wipe across the tooth face during each revolution, thus the cyclic bending moment.
These are combined by vector addition into a resultant bending moment, MR , acting on the shaft:
1/2
M R = T (w /2 /R)2 + 2 , in.-lb

where T = 63,000 hp/rpm, in.-lb
For 11,000 hp, 1,200 rpm, R = 14 in., w = 2 in. and = 0.3:
Cracked input shaft.
A
w
Ff
Motor
mating
hub
sleeve
Frictional force
clutch spline
F
Spline
disk
R
Crack
d/2 Gearbox
spline
M R = 0.308T = 177, 900 in.-lb.

Since MR is much less than Mfail , something else caused the failure other than poor alignment. One possibility was that the splines
at R had locked up, meaning they had worn a groove into the
mating sleeve, as was observed. This would restrict spline freedom
and develop a very large moment, which could fail the shaft.
Spline lock-up was the secondary cause. The true cause was
gearbox movement due to thermal distortion.1 The lock-up of the
coupling wouldnt have occurred if the gear box had not moved since
none of the misalignment and resulting wear would have occurred.
Future failures were eliminated by identifying and addressing
the primary cause. This was not a trivial exercise because several
of the same type arrangements were used elsewhere.
Determining the true causes is essential when your company
has multiple sites and similar critical equipment. Sites should
communicate with each other so that failures addressed at one
plant are not repeated at others. Sometimes this communication
is lacking due to site pride, cultural differences or time pressure.
MR
FIG. 2
Coupling load on input shaft.
The specialist should find ways to overcome these barriers, such

as inputting yearly technical meetings or information sharing by
inter-company forums. HP
1
LITERATURE CITED
Sofronas, A., Analytical Troubleshooting of Process Machinery and Pressure
Vessels: Including Real-World Case Studies, p. 305, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN:
0-471-73211-7.
Dr. Tony Sofronas, P.E., was worldwide lead mechanical

engineer for ExxonMobil before his retirement. The case studies
are from companies the writer has consulted for. Information on
his books, seminars and consulting are available at the Website:
http://www.mechanicalengineeringhelp.com.
I 85
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Custom Article
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ADVERTISERS in this issue of HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

Company
Website
Page
RS#
ABV Srl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
(158)
www.info.hotims.com/25252-158
ACS Industries Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
(76)
(170)
Apex Engineering Products Corp . . . . . . 38
(159)
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(167)
BME Global Limited. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
(114)
Brger GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
(157)
Burckhardt Compression Ag . . . . . . . . . . 8
(55)
CB&I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
(75)
Chart Industries Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Coade Engineering Software . . . . . . . . . 32
(156)
Compressor Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
(70)
Costacurta SpA Vico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
(71)
Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Corp . . . . . 18
(84)
DeltaValve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
(101)
(180)
KTI Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
(162)
L.A. Turbine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
(168)
(51)
(100)
Siemens Ag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
(73)
SNC-Lavalin Engineers &

Construction Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
(166)
(155)
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(165)
T.D. Williamson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
(66)
(164)
Taper- Lok . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
(151)
(171)
Thermo Fisher Scientific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
(90)
(160)
Tray-Tec Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
(172)
(82)
KTI Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Rentech Boiler Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Superbolt Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
KBC Advanced Technologies Inc . . . . . . . 46
(102)
Sulzer Chemtech, USA Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . 29

(106)
TriStar Global Energy Solutions . . . . . . . 41
(161)
(96)
Valtek Sulamericana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
(85)
(97)
EGGER & Cie S.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
(61)
John M Campbell & Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
(169)
Selas Fluid Processing Corp . . . . . . . . . . 14

(181)
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(179)
INOVx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(72)
Dresser-Rand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
(182)
Idrojet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
(99)
(58)
(154)
Petro-Canada Lubricants . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Citadel Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(79)
Natco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
(92)
HPI Marketplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8687

Hytorc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Linde Process Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Microtherm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
(83)
(67)
RS#
Metso Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
(178)
Honeywell International. . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Page
MBI Leasing LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

(93)
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Boxscore Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Circulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
European Turnaround Directory . . . . . . 84
Events - Hot Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
GPC Software Video Books . . . . . . . . . 68
Software Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Hoerbiger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Company
Website
M3 Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
(163)
(77)
Chas. S. Lewis & Co., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
GE Energy Oil & Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Bently Pressurized Bearing Co . . . . . . . . 55
(87)
GE Energy, Gasification . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Baldor Electric Company . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Emerson Process Management

(Fisher Controls) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Friulana Flange Srl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
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89
HPIN WATER MANAGEMENT

LORAINE A. HUCHLER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Huchler@martechsystems.com
Got risk? Cut costs safely

In this environment of cost cutting, plant personnel are reviewing ALL expenses including water treatment. Operations personnel
often target water treatment costs for reductions for two reasons:
1) these costs do not directly contribute to profit, e.g., they are an
expense or overhead, and 2) there are no industry benchmarks for
the cost of the minimum water treatment required to obtain reliable operation. Unlike process units, the centralized nature of water
utility operations magnifies the cost and risk of equipment failure.
The challenge is finding cost reductions that do not increase risk.
Lack of water treatment cost benchmarks. Reliability
experts agree that increasing the compliance to water treatment

specifications reduces the risk of failure. Conversely, poor compliance to water treatment specifications measurably increases
the risk of equipment failure and lost production. However, reliabililty experts do not agree, however, on the minimum chemical
treatment and service levels to prevent failure.
The correlation between the cost of water treatment and the
risk of failure is very poor; there are no industry benchmarks for
the economics of water treatment. Some plants may track the
unit costs for chemical treatment, e.g., $/1,000 gal of treated
water, or $/MM lb of steam. These costs are appropriate for
historical comparison, not benchmarking because these costs are
highly dependent on raw water quality and operating efficiency
of the equipment.
Cost of failure. The best analysis of the value of water treat-
ment may be rooted in the plants history. Many plants track both
costs to repair failed equipment and lost production. A review of
these data will show that lost production costs range from several
times as high to several orders of magnitude for the repair and
replacement costs of failed equipment. Even if the failures are not
in utility water systems, it is easy to imagine that the same or worse
scenario could occur in a utility water system failure. The message
is clear: water-related equipment failures are very expensive events.
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF COST-CUTTING
Too often, decisions to reduce cost causes unintended consequences:

Impact of under-treatment. Fired boilers have the highest
rate of heat transfer and are more vulnerable to failure from
waterside deposition and corrosion than waste-heat boilers.
Water treatment chemicals complex and disperse scale-producing contaminants, preventing deposits and elevate system
pH, thus preventing corrosion. Underfeeding water treatment
chemicals will, in the worst case, cause a tube failure, or, in the
best case, require an avoidable boiler cleaning during the next
inspection. An inspection outage is often a short duration. If
the inspection reveals an unexpected need for cleaning, plant
personnel may have to extend the outage or schedule a separate outage. Result: Lost production costs as well as avoidable
boiler cleaning costs.
Impact of reduced monitoring. The primary mechanism
to remove dissolved oxygen (DO) in deaerators is mechanical. Oxygen scavenger chemicals provide a contingency for
dynamic changes in deaerator performance during changes
in steam production or percent condensate return. Deaerator performance may decline gradually, as springs on nozzles
weaken or fail, or decline dramatically as a higher flowrate of
cold makeup enters the deaerator, causing water hammer and
disrupting the trays.
In both failure modes, routine monitoring of DO at the
deaerator outlet would allow plant personnel to implement
immediate corrective action. Rapid response to high DO concentrations is required because DO is extremely corrosive at
high temperatures. The pitting-type corrosion caused by DO
produces very low concentration of soluble iron, making it
difficult to detect DO problems using other water quality measurements. Result: A perforation in an economizer or boiler
feedwater piping or boiler tube in a very short period, causing
lost production and avoidable costs.
Cost-reduction alternatives. During this cost cutting envi-
ronment, plants should maintain or increase investment in proper

water treatment chemicals and monitoring to prevent equipment
failure and lost production.
Instead of cutting chemical treatment rates and monitoring
services, plant personnel should look for other methods to reduce
costs and risk. Shifting some basic monitoring responsibilities
from the water treatment supplier to the operators and requesting assistance from the water treatment supplier to work on
value-added engineering projects to reduce energy, water and
chemical costs are two options. Although there is an investment
cost, the plant can install online analyzers with alarms, as well as
automated chemical feed and control equipment to ensure compliance to water treatment specification limits, thereby reduc90
ing risk. Online analyzers are especially important if the plant

is reducing the number of operators or increasing the level of
operator responsibility. Changing chemical suppliers is a last
resort option, since there is always a measureable cost to change,
as well as an intangible cost of increased risk from new personnel. But changing suppliers may be the best long-term solution
to reducing costs and risk of failure. HP
The author is president of MarTech Systems, Inc., an engineering consulting
firm that provides technical services to optimize energy and water-related systems
including steam, cooling and wastewater in refineries and petrochemical plants.
She holds a BS degree in chemical engineering and is a licensed professional engineer. She can be reached at: huchler@martechsystems.com.
As the worlds leading provider of pressurized piping system maintenance and repair capabilities, TDW delivers innovative, customized
products, services and solutions that optimize system performance
with a minimum of downtime.
Give us a call. And put our solutions to work for you.

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