September 2012

The issue kicks off with a regional report on the oilsands debate from the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation and the topic of heavy oils is continued with Baker Hughes and Nalco. Plant Safety is the lead feature with articles from Honeywell and INOVx. The issue is topped off with a storage feature as well as emissions control and flaring.

COMMENT

WORLD NEWS
Contract awards, project updates, industry latest, news digest, diary dates, mergers and acquisitions.

THE FOOTPRINT IN THE SAND
Bruce White, Edmonton Economic Development Corporation, Canada, explains how new research laboratories and environmental initiatives are helping to build a cleaner oilsands.

SURVEYING THE FIELD
Karen Huffman and Chris McCullough, John M. Campbell and Company, USA, investigate the goals, motivations and skills of the current generation of young engineers entering the oil and gas industry.

LAYERED PROTECTION
Erik de Groot, Honeywell Process Solutions, The Netherlands, outlines the latest techniques in process plant safety.

A VIRTUAL REALITY
Jason Makansi, Pearl Street Inc., USA, explores how risk based inspection has moved the NCRA refinery towards asset virtualisation.

ASSAULT ON SALT
Simon Cornelius, Dan Jackson and Doug Longtin, Baker Hughes Incorporated, USA, examine the challenges associated with desalting heavy crudes.

STRIKE A BALANCE
Brad Mason and Sam Lordo, Nalco, USA, examine the best practices for desalting, which can be used as the first line of defence for refineries processing heavy crudes.

EVERYONE IN UNIFORM
David Wall, Trinity Consultants, USA, questions whether uniform standards will simplify environmental regulations or create new emissions control requirements.

WHEN THE HEAT IS ON
Tom Farmer and Caleb Hurd, Zeeco Inc., USA, explain how efficient flaring can be achieved at various flow rates.

MIND THE GAP
Lorena Oviol, Manuel Bruns, Vladimir Fridman, Jay Merriam and Michael Urbancic, Süd-Chemie, a Clariant Group Company, take a look at the next generation in on purpose olefins production.

EVERY LITTLE COUNTS
Matt Bird, Siemens, UK, describes how real time instrumented detection methods can be utilised in refineries to optimise efficiency by detecting leaks.

COOL CONTROL
Jim Jacoby, Tri-Sen Systems, USA, and Tony Smolder, Elliott Group, USA, demonstrate how thermodynamics and heat transfer can be used to solve ethylene plant refrigerant system compressor control issues.

WISE WARNINGS
Geoff Artley, ABB, UK, argues that useful business insight can be gained by turning process data into early problem detection warnings.

GET BACK WHAT IS LOST
Ties Mulder, CarboVac Environmental Services, France, looks at how vapour recovery units are utilised in marine loading services.

MIXING IT UP
Marco Lempa, Bartec Benke GmbH, Germany, explains how process analysers can be utilised for blending applications.

15 QUESTIONS WITH... GAVIN SUTCLIFFE, GASTECH
A personal and professional insight into the Head of Content for the Gastech International Conference and Exhibition.

September 2012

Contents