Search

The article discusses the review of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) report regarding the fire incident at Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington on April 2, 2010. Topics mentioned include the rupture of the heat exchanger shell in the naphtha hydrotreating unit that caused the fire, the highlight on the difficulties of detecting high temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA), and the lack of the understanding on the operation of the commercial hydrotreating unit.

The article presents a case study wherein a crude vacuum tower overhead system's troubleshoot operation was corrected. The system comprises of 12 steam ejectors and 12 condensers. The vacuum tower pressure became unstable due to the onset of summer and higher cooling water temperature. The importance of offgas analysis, the need to analyze both ejectors and condensers to identify the source of the malfunction, and the impact of motive steam conditions on vacuum column operation are discussed.

The article reports that heat transfer compound (HTC) is a viscous mastic designed to fill small air gaps between the tracing element and the object to be heated and is effective at transferring heat than static air, but it has relatively poor thermal conductivity compared to the other components in a steam tracing system. It mentions information on high-performance steam tracing technologies were tested which includes fluid tracing system (FTS) and carbon steel tracing (CST).

The article focuses on the nondestructive performance of heat sensors developed by Mathis Instruments Ltd. The company has developed a new noninvasive thermal effusivity sensor. It is claimed to provide speed, accuracy and flexibility in determining heat-transferring characteristics for various materials. Sensors rapidly and nondestructively measure thermal effusivity and conductivity-unique properties related to a material's ability to transfer heat. Measurements are made in seconds rather than hours. Sensors are highly portable and adaptable and can be used for quality control of materials in the laboratory, during production and for finished product testing.