By Erwin Platvoet The Problem A refinery heater experienced substantial draft problems resulting in several instances with positive pressure at the arch with excursions of up to 0.25 inH2O (6.3 mmH2O). Adding a steam eductor to the stack is often the simplest solution to create additional draft. Its principle of operation is simple and straightforward:
By KD Deshmukh, Senior Process Engineer Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR) reformers convert naphtha feedstock into high-octane gasoline and aromatics. The catalytic reactor consists of multiple stages, and fired heaters are used before each stage to heat the process vapor to the required reaction temperature. Due to standard operating conditions, these heaters require specialized coil and
Exterior Fouling of Radiant Process Tubes. An important fouling mechanism on the fireside is corrosion fouling, especially for oil fired equipment. The bad actors are compounds of sulfur, vanadium, and sodium. In fired process heaters the main problem is hot fuel ash corrosion…
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has now become a critical part of fired heater evaluation, particularly for revamps. However, even though the use of CFD is now common, there is no industry standard procurement process or scope definition methodology…
Since 2016, ”democratization” has been the buzzword in the simulation industry and is projected to become the new reality. Meintjeis (2016) defined democratization as “making engineering simulation accessible and usable to a much wider audience in a way that supports…
I was watching a video on YouTube where kids react to old computers. It was great to watch their astonished reactions to an ancient looking computer (the Apple IIe) that we considered advanced in the eighties. When the interviewer mentioned that today’s cell phones…