Application Spotlight

Furnaces are used in refineries and petrochemical plants to break down hydrocarbon fluids, converting them into fuels or chemicals such as gasoline, diesel, ethylene, and propylene. Furnaces can account for more than 50% of the total plant energy consumption, therefore small improvements in efficiency could have large financial returns. Continuously evolving federal and local environmental laws mandate refineries and petrochemical plants to carefully monitor and reduce cumulative CO & NOx emissions.

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is an essential process in refineries, used to convert heavy feedstock oil into valuable gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel, amongst other products. During the FCC reaction coke builds up on the catalyst, limiting the catalyst’s ability to carry out the reaction. The spent catalyst is then transferred to the regenerator to burn off the residual coke.

Axial and centrifugal compressors are expensive, critical pieces of equipment that can be found at the heart of many industrial processes and across a multitude of industry segments. Implementing the correct, high performance compressor control strategy has direct impact upon the control of the process and the profitability of the plant. It is important to have control that is both responsive and stable to improve yield and ensure compressor availability is maximized. One of the main applications to ensure maximizing availability and throughput is Antisurge Control.