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HydrocarbonProcessing.com | MAY 2015
®
REGIONAL REPORT
Extensive update of Middle East refining and petrochemical industriesROTATING EQUIPMENT
Thorough review explores ways to optimize hydrogen
compressor operations
PROCESS ENGINEERING
Improve sizing of emergency relief devices for olefins units
SPECIAL REPORT:
Maintenance
and Reliability
Proper maintenance and inspection programs support safe and reliable plant operationsAT THE TOP OF THE
ASTM STANDARD
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FOR COMPROMISE
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MAY 2015 | Volume 94 Number 5 HydrocarbonProcessing.com
SPECIAL REPORT: MAINTENANCE AND RELIABILITY
41 Reduce maintenance and production losses
by benchmarking asset performance
M. Naik
45 Consider new labyrinth seals to optimize compressor operations
T. Gresh and J. K. Whalen
51 Maximize energy recovery with small steam turbines
K. Kaupert, R. Krull and R. Iles
57 Lubrication update for rotating equipment
H. P. Bloch REGIONAL REPORT
65 The Middle East’s strategic expansion of refined products exports
M. Rhodes
ROTATING EQUIPMENT
79 Use new methods to optimize energy efficiency
of hydrogen compressors
M. Vila Forteza
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
87 Improve measurement of heavy oil viscosity
F. Sadeghi, S. Sadeghi and U. Sundararaj
PROCESS ENGINEERING
91 Improve relief-device sizing under supercritical conditions
D. Smith and J. Burgess
TERMINALS AND STORAGE REPORT—SUPPLEMENT
T-97 Safety and environmental updates for HPI storage tanks
HP staff
SHOW PREVIEW: IRPC
93 IRPC 2015: Advancing the global HPI
by sharing knowledge and best practices
HP staff
Cover Image: Photo courtesy of Linde Gases.
DEPARTMENTS 10 News 19 Industry Metrics 103 Innovations 106 Marketplace 108 Advertiser Index 109 Events 110 People COLUMNS 9 Editorial Comment Change is redefining the petrochemical industry 21 Reliability
Reassessing and updating electric motor bearing lubrication 25 Automation Strategies
Developing the best practices for operator effectiveness in the age of collaboration 27 Project Management
Build a better bid, or how to achieve a competitive advantage
in capital projects 31 Global
Uganda proceeds with new refinery 33 Petrochemicals
M&A deals rise as investors push petrochemical leaders to restructure 35 Engineering Case Histories
Case 84: Remaining service life of plant equipment can be determined 37 Viewpoint
Methanol takes on LNG for future marine fuels
65
4MAY 2015 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
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Saudi Aramco
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Editorial
Comment
STEPHANY ROMANOW, EDITOR
Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 20159
At a recent downstream conference, a speaker urged attendees to embrace the volatility of the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI). This is odd advice, con-sidering that most HPI companies labor very hard to minimize volatility from their business plans and plant operations. An-other way to view this advice would be: “Expect change (good or bad) and run with it.” The petrochemical industry is embracing more “change” that is largely due to the recent drop in crude oil prices.
Bellwether chemical. Global demand for ethylene is expected to grow slightly above the GDP, according to Steve Le-wandowski, global business director at IHS Chemical. On a global annual aver-age, ethylene capacity increases are barely keeping up with demand.
Change is a constant. The ethylene industry is changing, and forecasting the next demand/supply cycle is becoming more complex.
“Naphtha remains the No. 1 steam cracker feedstock, accounting for more than 50% of the global demand. Ethane and other NGLs make up about 30%,” said ExxonMobil Chemical Senior Vice President Matt Aguiar at the 2015 IHS World Petrochemical Conference.
Changes are unfolding due to abun-dant supplies of shale oil and gas and associated NGLs. “Rising production of NGLs is driving a global shift toward NGLs as a chemical feedstock,” Aguiar said. “ExxonMobil sees demand for NGL feedstocks rising by about 125% through 2014, compared to 70% for naphtha. We expect NGLs to surpass naphtha as the top feedstock in the chemical sector.”
Cost is everything. Feedstocks are as much as 70% of the manufacturing cost for ethylene. At higher crude oil prices, other feedstocks and ethylene technolo-gies—coal-to-olefins and methanol-to-olefins—offer processing advantages.
Investment drivers. New construction activity for North American (NA) petro-chemical projects is driven by abundant low-cost natural gas. These investments are focused on ethylene, propylene and methanol-based derivatives.
Capitalizing on innovation. Other changes are unfolding in the production of ethylene. For example, Siluria and Braskem America have successfully launched a large-scale demonstration plant of the first gas-to-ethylene process using the oxida-tive coupling of methane (OCM) process. This process directly converts natural gas (methane) to ethylene.
OCM is not a new technology. For
over 30 years, several companies have re-searched how to efficiently convert meth-ane into ethylene. Siluria has achieved a breakthrough in the OCM process.
Siluria is working with the Linde Group to develop ethylene technologies for both world-scale and revamp proj-ects based on the OCM technology. For NA ethylene producers, the OCM pro-cess can provide more propro-cess flexibility. A commercial unit is planned for 2017– 2018.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
27
Project management.How can operating and E&C companies plan and develop world-scale projects successfully? Too many megaprojects are over budget or behind schedule. Ron Beck, director of industry marketing, engineering and construction, AspenTech, explains how better and transparent communication
is needed between operating and E&C companies.
37
Viewpoint. Methanol maybe the marine fuel of the future, according to Gregory Dolan, CEO of the Methanol Institute. New, strict rules on NOx and sulfur emissions
for emission control areas require shipowners to use lower-sulfur fuels. Dolan shares how methanol has a viable place in the marine fuel market.
40
Maintenance andreliability. Maintenance
and reliability programs create value. In the modern HPI, they should not be viewed as services. HPI facilities constantly investigate new monitoring and conditioning systems, along with preventive maintenance and inspection programs to add value to their organizations.
65
Regional report:The Middle East.
The Middle East is transforming its downstream business to be both vertically integrated across the value chain and horizontally integrated across diverse geographies. The region is making decisive moves to become a manufacturing center for the global downstream industry.
Change is redefining the petrochemical industry
An expanded version of Editorial Comment can be found online at HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
FIG. 1. The OCM demonstration unit at Braskem America’s La Porte, Texas, complex.
| News
Shell to become largest LNG player
with €47-B BG Group acquisition
Royal Dutch Shell’s agreement to purchase BG Group for approximately €47 B in cash and shares is the oil and gas industry’s biggest deal in at least a decade. Shell saw its 2014 worldwide production drop to the equivalent of 3.08 MMbpd, the lowest in at least 17 years, while BG boosted reserves in six of the past seven years, 78% of which were gas, compared with 47% for Shell.
Shell expects the acquisition to accelerate its growth strategy, adding approximately 25% to the company’s proved oil and gas reserves and 20% to production, each on a 2014 basis. The deal will also provide Shell with enhanced positions in competitive new oil and gas projects, particularly in Australia LNG and Brazil deepwater areas.
Shell said that the merged company, led by Shell CEO Ben van Beurden, will boast a market value twice the size of BP.
Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 201511
MIKE RHODES, TECHNICAL EDITOR [email protected]
News
Neste Oil’s Porvoo
refinery begins massive
maintenance turnaround
Hailed as the largest refinery mainte-nance turnaround to date, the Neste Oil Porvoo, Finland, maintenance project will cost nearly €100 MM and involve 4,500 employees and some 3,500 outside contractors.
The facility began unit shutdowns in April, and, during the scheduled eight-week turnaround, Neste Oil will sell products from its storage. The Finland refinery’s oil terminal and road transpor-tation of products will continue to oper-ate normally. Investment projects reloper-ated to refinery development—such as the in-stallation of new furnaces in the crude oil distillation unit, the significant replace-ment of automation in several areas and the connections to prepare for upcoming projects—will also be completed.
Regular maintenance turnarounds ev-ery four to five years play an important part in keeping Neste Oil refinery opera-tions safe and running at peak efficiency (FIG. 1). Statutory pressure vessel
inspec-tions and maintenance also call for shut-downs at regular intervals. The previous major turnaround at the Porvoo refinery took place in 2010.
MAN methanol engine
achieves successful
demonstration
At its diesel research center in Copen-hagen, Denmark, MAN Diesel & Turbo successfully demonstrated the ME-LGI (liquid gas injection) concept, expand-ing the company’s dual-fuel portfolio and enabling the use of more sustainable fuels such as methanol (MeOH), ethanol and LPG. For the purpose of the event, the company rebuilt its 50MX test engine to accommodate an ME-LGI unit.
MeOH is viable as a ship fuel because it does not contain sulfur (S) and is liquid in ambient air conditions, which makes it easy to store aboard ships. For ships
operat-ing in International Maritime Organization (IMO) emission control areas (ECAs), MeOH is a solution for complying with S-emissions legislation. MeOH can also be stored in normal, unpressurized tanks: delivery by train, truck and/or ship is al-ready in place in many areas globally, and establishing and expanding the existing MeOH infrastructure is feasible, even for individual ships operating in remote areas.
The MAN B&W ME-LGI engine de-sign (FIG. 2) overcomes the challenge of
low-cetane-number fuels, such as MeOH,
which has a characteristically poor self-ignition quality that utilizes the ME-LGI principle of pilot injection of MGO or HFO. Fuel injection is accomplished by a fuel booster injection valve (FBIV), us-ing 300 bar of hydraulic power to raise the fuel pressure to an injection pressure of approximately 600 bar.
To date, MAN Diesel & Turbo has received orders for seven ME-LGI en-gines—a mixture of 7S50ME-LGI and 6G50ME-LGI variants—from Mitsui OSK Lines, Marinvest and Westfal-Larsen.
FIG. 2. MAN customers and partners take part in the demonstration of its ME-LGI concept.
News
12
The first engine will be produced by Mit-sui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (MES) for a vessel currently under con-struction by Minaminippon Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. for Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. MAN has previously stated that it is working to-ward a Tier 3-compatible ME-LGI version that can meet IMO NOx limits with the aid of secondary measures. More informa-tion about this technology can be found in the Viewpoint article on page 37.
Reliance commissions
two new plants
Reliance Industries Ltd. has successful-ly put into operation two plants in Dahej, Gujarat, India.
The first is a polyethylene terephthal-ate (PET) resin plant that consists of two lines with a combined manufacturing ca-pacity of 650 metric Mtpy. The plant has been built with Invista technology for
con-tinuous polymerization and Buhler AG technology for solid-state polymerization.
This is one of the largest bottle-grade PET resin capacities at a single location globally. PET resin from the new capac-ity would find application in packaging for water, carbonated soft drinks, phar-maceuticals, and other food and bever-ages. Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG)—the two feedstocks for the new PET plant—are available within the Dahej complex, offer-ing the advantages of lower freight costs and consistent product quality due to in-house raw material linkages.
The second facility is a new PTA plant that provides a capacity of 1.15 MMtpy. With the commissioning of this plant, also built with Invista technology, Reli-ance’s total PTA capacity will increase to 3.2 MMtpy, and its global capacity share will rise to 4%.
Paraxylene, the key feedstock for the PTA plant, is sourced from Reliance’s Jam-nagar refinery (FIG. 3). The PTA plant is
also forward integrated with the 650-Mtpy PET plant in the same complex, lowering operating costs and capturing full chain margins. Another PTA plant of similar ca-pacity is under construction at the same location, placing Reliant among the top five PTA manufacturers globally.
India is the second-largest producer of polyester, with estimated production of 5.4 MMtpy. The Indian polyester mar-ket is growing at 8%–10% annually. The Indian market is deficient in PTA by over 1.5 MMtpy.
Mitsubishi unveils $1-B
Trinidad methanol project
Japan’s Mitsubishi Group will build a methanol (MeOH) and dimethyl ether (DME) plant in Trinidad and Tobago at an investment cost of roughly $1 B, proj-ect officials have confirmed.
The project will be operated by Caribbe-an Gas Chemical, Caribbe-and will be jointly owned by Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. (25.26%),
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FIG. 3. Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery will supply the key feedstock, paraxylene, for the company’s new PTA plant in Dahej, India.
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News
14
Mitsubishi Corp. (26.25%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) (17.5%), and Trinidad and Tobago’s state-owned Nation-al Gas Co. (NGC) (20.0%) and Trinidad-based Massy Holdings Ltd. (10.0%).
The project, scheduled to begin by Oc-tober 2018 and to be completed by June 2018, would have a capacity of 1 MMtpy of MeOH and 20 Mtpy of DME. The MeOH will be sold worldwide, according to the partners.
The companies will work closely with the government of Trinidad and Tobago to promote the use of DME as a substitute for diesel. The partners said they have already concluded contracts for engineering, pro-curement and construction (EPC), as well as for gas supply and relevant land leases. Discussions are underway with a syndicate of Japanese banks to finalize the loan agree-ment. The plant design and construction will be undertaken by MHI.
Amec Foster Wheeler wins
Orpic services contract
Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co. (Orpic) has awarded a tech-nical services agreement contract for the company’s Mina Al Fahal and Sohar refin-eries, and its aromatics and polypropylene plants in Oman to Amec Foster Wheeler.
Under the contract, Amec Foster Wheeler will provide specialist process and technology engineering support, pro-cess safety improvement and maintenance program support for the refineries and chemical plants. This includes a help-desk service to troubleshoot plant processes; optimize production; reduce energy and utilities costs; and improve plant reliabili-ty, safety and environmental performance. Amec Foster Wheeler said the con-tract will be executed using skills from its Reading, UK, hub, along with local exper-tise in Oman.
Impact of changing
US crude export policy
Wood Mackenzie is examining the impact a potential policy shift may have on US export crude oil flows and differ-entials. Ultimately, while eliminating the US export ban would narrow the Brent– WTI differential and raise the wellhead price for US crudes, it would be unlikely to transform the supply outlook, Wood Mackenzie suggests.
Wood Mackenzie, which is being ac-quired by Verisk Analytics, points out that the quality of a US barrel that might be exported is not obvious. The greater narrowing of Brent to Louisiana Light Sweet (LLS) crude oil would depend on US exports of light-sweet crude oil to the growing Asian market, with long-haul large parcels. Asia would also have the greatest appetite for crude oils similar to Mars crude, whereas Europe places a relatively higher value on condensate, but would have a limited appetite for US light barrels because much of its light-sweet crude oil requirements are satisfied by production in the North Sea or Mediter-ranean regions.
Wood Mackenzie’s outlook suggests that the best value for Eagle Ford conden-sate is to split the barrel locally and sell cuts to a variety of markets. The company sug-gests that the policy debate needs to move beyond the generic notion of US crude
News
16
exports to a more substantive discussion of potential destinations and types of US crude oil that might be exported.
ABS offers roadmap
to regulatory and
technical issues
ABS, a provider of classification servic-es to the marine and offshore industriservic-es, has updated its guidance on LNG
bun-kering in North America (NA) to support the transport sector’s increasingly rapid transition to the use of cleaner fuels.
The second edition of ABS’ “Bun-kering of Liquefied Natural Gas-Fueled Marine Vessels in North America” report has been released, offering advice to ship-owners and operators seeking to develop bunkering infrastructure in response to new emissions regulations and to show-case their environmental stewardship.
Major updates in the second edition include important lessons learned from first adopters of LNG-fueled vessels and LNG bunkering projects, a “project road-map” guide of the associated regulatory, stakeholder and technical issues, and an in-depth port directory highlighting on-going projects and local development processes.
ABS has won the classification con-tracts for the world’s first LNG-fueled containership, NA’s first LNG barge, the world’s first very large ethane carrier, the world’s first compressed natural gas car-rier and the first dual-fueled offshore sup-port vessel built in NA.
Motiva creates Louisiana
Refining System
Motiva Enterprises LLC plans to inte-grate its two Louisiana refineries, Norco and Convent, to create the Louisiana Refining System. The company said the multi-phased project creates significant operational opportunities, including growing access to advantaged light oil, optimizing inter-plant intermediates and conversion units, increasing distillates yield and reducing operating costs.
With an integrated crude capacity of over 500 Mbpd, Motiva’s Louisiana Re-fining System (FIG. 4) will rank in the
top five of North American refineries in capacity. The Maurepas pipeline system, which comprises three pipelines that will be built, owned and operated by affiliates of SemGroup Corp., is the first step in the project. The Maurepas crude pipeline will connect the existing LOCAP terminal in St. James, Louisiana, to the Norco refin-ery via a 34-mi pipeline, improving access to advantaged domestic crude oil. The Maurepas 35-mi and 34-mi intermediates pipelines will directly connect the Norco and Convent refineries, supporting opti-mization of both plants’ conversion units while improving logistics efficiency, alle-viating dock congestion and allowing ad-ditional product exports.
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FIG. 4. Motiva, owned equally by Shell and Saudi Aramco (through subsidiaries), owns three refineries located in Convent and Norco, Louisiana, and Port Arthur, Texas.
News
17
When the pipelines are complete, Mo-tiva plans to idle the fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its Convent refinery and to re-configure the existing hydrocracker unit at its Norco refinery to process 30 Mbpd of additional gasoil into high-quality diesel. On a combined basis, the Louisiana Refin-ing System is expected to drive incremental annual benefits of $350 MM of EBITDA.
Pentair valve facility
expands Korean
operations
Pentair Valves & Controls’ Anseong manufacturing facility in South Korea will now also produce trunnion-mounted ball valves under Pentair’s FCT brand, helping to satisfy the demand for Korean-manu-factured products.
The expanded facility enables Pentair to supply ball valves for local projects, of-fering Korean EPC customers high-quality products, shorter lead times and cost sav-ings. Operations at the plant include valve manufacturing, assembling and testing for critical applications in the on- and offshore oil and gas, marine and LNG industries.
The plant will produce forged carbon-steel and FCT-branded stainless-carbon-steel ball valves, certified to API 6D and API 607, in sizes up to 24 in. Design features, such as an anti-blowout stem shouldered inside the body and a three-barrier stem sealing, ensure complete fire safety and fugitive emission control for maximum protection and reliability. In addition, the valve’s true double-block-and-bleed control at full rat-ing with high trim resistance helps to pro-vide a longer service life in critical process application, such as water hammer.
The Anseong facility expansion builds on Pentair’s FCT valve technology and expertise from its FCT flagship plant in Saint Juery, France, and from its other plants in Rescaldina, Italy; Sharjah, UAE; and Chengdu, China.
Elliott Group supplying
compressor string
for refinery
Phillips 66 has selected Elliott Group to supply a compressor string for a major project at its Sweeny refinery in Old Ocean, Texas. The project will enable the refinery to meet the requirements set forth by the US EPA’s Tier 3 clean fuels standards. Ja-cobs Engineering Group is the engineering
procurement contractor for the project. Elliott will provide a recycle compres-sor designed to increase clean product yield. The equipment string includes a 25 MB motor-driven compressor similar to the unit shown in FIG. 5. The contract
also includes a master service agreement between Elliott and Phillips 66. The unit will be built and tested in Elliott’s Jean-nette, Pennsylvania factory, with delivery scheduled for early 2016.
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FIG. 5. An Elliott compressor similar to the 25-MB unit the company will supply to Phillips 66.
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Select 100 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RSIndustry Metrics
MIKE RHODES, TECHNICAL EDITOR [email protected]
Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 201519
Global product markets and refinery margins, particularly in the US, have seen steady improvement since January. Worldwide gasoline demand has soared in recent months in both OECD and non-OECD regions. New refinery capacity coming onstream in the Middle East could lead to increased competition in the global gasoil market.
Pr oduction, Bcfd Gas pric es, $/Mcf 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Monthly price (Henry Hub) 12-month price avg. Production M F J D N O S A J J M A M F J D N O S A J J M A M
Production equals US marketed production, wet gas. Source: EIA.2013 2014 2015 Monthly price (Henry Hub) 12-month price avg. Production
US gas production (Bcfd) and prices ($/Mcf)
Oil pric es, $/bbl 40 55 70 85 100 115 130 Dubai Fateh W. Texas Inter. Brent Blend M F J D N O S A J J M A M F J D N O S A J J M A M 2013 2014 2015 Source: DOE
Selected world oil prices, $/bbl
Global refining margins, 2014–2015*
WTI, US Gulf Arab Heavy, US Gulf Brent, Rotterdam Dubai, Singapore LLS, US Gulf
-5 0 5 10 15 20 Margins, US$/bbl
Mar. 14 April 14 May 14 June 14 July 14 Aug. 14 Sept. 14 Oct. 14 Nov. 14 Dec. 14 Jan. 15 Feb. 15 Mar. 15 Global refining utilization rates, 2014–2015*
50 60 70 80 90 100 Utilization rates, % US EU 16 JapanSingapore
Mar. 14 April 14 May 14 June 14 July 14 Aug. 14 Sept. 14 Oct. 14 Nov. 14 Dec. 14 Jan. 15 Feb. 15 Mar. 15 US Gulf cracking spread vs. WTI, 2014–2015*
-10 0 10 20 30 40
Cracking spread, US$/bbl
Prem. gasoline unl. 93
Jet/kero Gasoil/diesel, 0.05% SFuel oil, 180c
Mar. 14 April 14 May 14 June 14 July 14 Aug. 14 Sept. 14 Oct. 14 Nov. 14 Dec. 14 Jan. 15 Feb. 15 Mar. 15 Rotterdam cracking spread vs. Brent, 2014–2015*
Prem. gasoline unl. 98, 10 ppm S Jet/kero Gasoil, 10 ppm S Fuel oil, 1% S -20 -10 10 20 30
Cracking spread, US$/bbl
0
Mar. 14 April 14 May 14 June 14 July 14 Aug. 14 Sept. 14 Oct. 14 Nov. 14 Dec. 14 Jan. 15 Feb. 15 Mar. 15 Singapore cracking spread vs. Dubai, 2014–2015*
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
Cracking spread, US$/bbl
Prem. gasoline unl. 92 Jet/kero
Gasoil, 50 ppm S Fuel oil, 180 cSt, 2% S
Mar. 14 April 14 May. 14 June 14 July 14 Aug. 14 Sept. 14 Oct. 14 Nov. 14 Dec. 14 Jan. 15 Feb. 15 Mar. 15
78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 Stock change and
balance World demand World supply 2016-Q1 2015-Q1 2014-Q1 2013-Q1 2012-Q1 2011-Q1 2010-Q1
Supply and demand, MMbpd
St
ock change and balanc
e, MMbpd
Source: EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook, April 2015.
Forecast
World liquid fuel supply and demand, MMbpd
* Material published permission of the OPEC Secretariat; copyright 2015; all rights reserved; OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report, April 2015. An expanded version of Industry Metrics can be found
online at HydrocarbonProcessing.com. 0 10 20 30 40 50 Mar.-15 Feb.-15 Jan.-15 Dec.-14 Nov.-14 Oct.-14 Sept.-14 Aug.-14 July-14 June-14 May-14 April-14
Source: Hydrocarbon Processing Construction Boxscore Database
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w pr
ojects
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Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 201521
Reliability
HEINZ P. BLOCH, RELIABILITY/EQUIPMENT EDITOR
[email protected]Reassessing and updating electric motor
bearing lubrication
Over the past 25 years, this column has often dealt with elec-tric motor lubrication. As listed in the recommended reading list, this subject is often asked and, of course, there are updates to the recommendations. Many of the updates commingle with important new technologies.
Case 1. Not long ago, the author was contacted by a major US oil refinery. The author had visited this site in late 2012 or early 2013 to address electric motor lubrication matters. At this re-finery, the electrical department was in charge of everything regarding motor maintenance. The leaders at that location had taken the position that oil mist was unsuitable for electric mo-tors—an incorrect notion, which is solidly refuted by 27,000 electric motors lubricated and operating elsewhere.
Some of the “elsewhere” locations include both horizontal and vertical electric motors in countries around the world. At a competitor’s ethylene plant in Texas, oil-mist-lubricated mo-tors range from 1.5 hp to 500 hp. On many of the 107 verti-cally oriented oil-mist-lubricated motors in the Texas facility, no motor bearings needed to be replaced over a 37-year period from 1977 to 2014.
One problem at a major oil refinery located in a northern US state was that, when solving technical issues, solutions were of-ten based on opinions instead of on solid facts. These opinions were then passed down to younger staff members, who, with-out input or mentoring from more experienced individuals, had no incentive to replace anecdotes with facts. The corporate engineering group claimed that oil mist could not be cost-justi-fied. Corporate had neglected to factor in the remarkable labor savings and total life extension of oil-mist-lubricated electric motors. As a consequence, the refinery specified and purchased grease-lubricated electric motors. They also stipulated voltage, speed, service factor, hp, insulation grade and other parameters. Yet, nobody at this refinery showed any interest in specifying the bearing style and grease path that are considered equally important by reliability-focused competitors.
No wisdom without knowledge. Certainly, the project de-partment at this particular refinery did not insist on an expand-ed specification. Why engage in a career-limiting battle with entrenched non-readers when all that truly counts are initial costs and commissioning schedules? The cost-estimating basis for electric motors at this refinery reflected only the least initial cost, and each motor supplier wanted to be the lowest bidder.
Case 2. During a 2014–2015 project for a large petrochemical plant in Texas, four out of four motor vendors provided letters
asserting that their motors could not be lubricated by oil mist. Two of the four bidders explained that oil mist would get past the internal seals located between bearings and motor inter-nals. Note: “V-ring” seals will leak after two years of operation; this has been known for five decades. Also, motors from all four vendors included styles or models of vertical motors at a loca-tion in the same area. These vertical motors had been success-fully lubricated with oil mist for many decades. An informed user quite obviously knows more than suppliers that choose to remain uninformed. In some cases, the suppliers decline to sell long-life equipment for a host of different reasons.
Due to the position taken by the four motor vendors, grease and liquid oil would be allowed for the 2014–2015 Texas project. However, the grease had to be dispensed dif-ferently for the different bearing housings and grease paths. Some users try to push grease into the reservoir, as shown in FIG. 1, without first removing the drain plug. Consequently, the rolling elements will scrape on the (pressure-deflected) shield. When the shield is moved to the other side, re-greasing will over-fill the bearing. Remember: Bearings should have only about one-third of the void space between rolling ele-ments filled with grease.
3. Shaft Single-shield motor
bearing with shield facing the grease cavity
1. Lubrication entry
6. Bracket
2. Drain 4. Bearing
5. Inner cap
FIG. 1. During re-greasing, the expulsion port (Item 2) must be open. Failure to remove the plug can quickly ruin a bearing. On single-shielded bearings, the shield must be located as shown here.
22MAY 2015 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Reliability
Again, purchasers with proper lube specifications will avoid calamity, whereas others will invite distress. An alert reader of technical texts and information sources will outperform any non-reader. A company with no budget for technical informa-tion, books or training will have more repeat failures than a company that invests in the knowledge of its maintenance staff and engineers. Several decades of observation support these disturbing facts, but talking about the situation could prove career-limiting for some.
Sealed bearings and smart greases. Assume a refinery entrusts motor lubrication to individuals who do not exactly know bearing configurations and grease paths, although mo-tor nameplates do contain that information. In their misguided desire to save time by not removing the drain plug, workers of-ten curtail bearing service life. Flawed motor lubrication nega-tively impacts refinery safety and reliability. Many refineries may be much better off installing sealed bearings throughout plant electric motor population. These sealed bearings would benefit from a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) synthetic grease, which, according to FIG. 2, has an L-10 life at least 10 times that of mineral-oil-based electric motor greases.
Of course, it may be the best course for the Case 1 refin-ery to closely observe its competition. This refinrefin-ery could extend its existing oil-mist systems at minimal incremental cost to cover not only pumps but also electric motors. If that is impossible because management prefers to act on outdated opinions rather than on well-established facts, then the refin-ery may consider reverting to a sensible backup strategy.
Such a strategy might involve teaming up with companies maintaining application engineering ties to DuPont. Applica-tion engineering leader Boulden Co. or DuPont’s lube market-ers can introduce usmarket-ers to Krytox PFPE synthetic grease as a “lube for life” solution in both (small) pumps and (mid-size) electric motors. A document available from both companies shows standard test results of Krytox vs. synthetic hydrocar-bons where Krytox lasts 50–60 times longer. This author be-lieves that Krytox can serve as a lube-for-life solution in electric motors and pumps with shafts up to 3 in. in diameter operating up to 3,600 rpm on a continuous basis (DN of about 400,000).
Service life considerations. It is likely that grease life with sealed bearings in these applications will approach 10 years of continuous service. PFPE-base oil cannot oxidize, and no solids or varnishes are formed. Because electric motor and pump bear-ings run at far lower than the evaporation temperature of the base oil, the lubricant will last the service life of an average bearing.
There is a high probability that bearings with Krytox sealed in offer oil-mist averse plants significant benefits in eliminating routine maintenance and potential failure modes associated with over-greasing bearings, using the wrong grease, or having grease oxidize/solidify due to excessively long re-greasing intervals.
Subject to the concurrence of Texas A&M’s International Pump User Symposium (TAMU) advisory board, I am plan-ning to elaborate on pump lubrication matters at TAMU’s 31st International Pump Users Symposium in Houston, Sept. 14-17, 2015. As part of a newly developed tutorial, I will update pump and motor bearing lubricant application matters. A different and highly experience-based ranking will be offered 30 years after a more generalized ranking was published by a bearing manufacturer in 1985.
HEINZ P. BLOCH is the reliability/equipment editor of HP. The author of 19 textbooks and over 600 papers or articles, he was a senior engineering associate for Exxon Chemicals. He is in his 53rd year as a reliability professional and continues to advise process plants worldwide on reliability improvement, failure avoidance and maintenance cost reduction opportunities. He holds BSME and MSME degrees from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and is an ASME Life Fellow.
2 1 2 5 10 20 30 40 50 6070 80 90 95 99 3 4 5 102 2 3 4 5 Bearings grease life, hr Weibull probability plot – included lives: L10 L50 – conf. interval: 90% two sided 6204 bearing, 10,000 rpm at 177°C
Bench bearing lift test – ROF+ Krytox lubricant AUT 2E45
AUT 2E45 Polyurea #1 Polyurea #2 Bearings f ailed, % 103 2 3 4 5 104 FIG. 2. Weibull life comparisons for different greases. Source: DuPont.
1. Bloch, H. P., “Dry sump oil mist lubrication for electric motors,” Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1977.
2. Bloch, H. P., “Oil mist lubrication: Is it cost-justified?,” Hydrocarbon Processing, October 1990.
3. Bloch, H. P., “When to use lifetime lubricated ball bearings,” Hydrocarbon Processing, July 1991. 4. Bloch, H. P., “Storage preservation of machinery,”
Hydrocarbon Processing, August 1991.
5. Bloch, H. P., “Oil mist proven for electric motor lubrication,” Hydrocarbon Processing, August 1994. 6. Bloch, H. P., “Implementing modifications on pumps
and motors,” Hydrocarbon Processing, September 1994. 7. Bloch, H. P., “Identifying electric motor bearings,”
Hydrocarbon Processing, November 1995. 8. Bloch, H. P., “Lubrication—not an afterthought,”
Hydrocarbon Processing, February 1997.
9. Bloch, H. P., “Select better bearings,” Hydrocarbon Processing, June 1995.
10. Bloch, H. P. and A. R. Budris, Pump User’s Handbook— Life Extension, 4th Ed., The Fairmont Press, Lilburn, Georgia, 2013.
Recommended reading
list for oil-mist lubrication
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Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 201525
Automation
Strategies
PAUL MILLER, SENIOR EDITOR/ANALYST
ARC Advisory GroupDeveloping the best practices for operator
effectiveness in the age of collaboration
Multiple converging trends make operator effectiveness even more important today than ever before. These include: loss of expertise in industrial plants and the transition to a new workforce, business imperatives to “do more with less,” increas-ing regulatory compliance pressures, and new information technology (IT)-based enabling technologies moving into the operational technology (OT) space.
Today’s plant operators must collaborate effectively with other operators and operations supervisors within their own plants; with plant maintenance staffs and engineering and IT groups; and with business planners and supply-chain profes-sionals at the corporate level. These converging trends and asso-ciated business imperatives make it critical for owner/operators across a broad range of industrial sectors to identify best prac-tices for operator effectiveness and to support benchmarking, knowledge transfer, onboarding and continuous performance improvement initiatives.
Owner/operators searching for answers. Based on discus-sions with a large number of technology end-user clients across a variety of upstream and downstream process industries, ARC Ad-visory Group acknowledges that owner/operators are struggling to identify best practices for how their operations staffs can best interact with the production process to improve performance.
Operators must also be able to take advantage of the tremen-dous amount of data and information now available from control systems, asset-management systems, alarm-management sys-tems and historians to make better decisions. Increasingly, plant operations staffs must collaborate with others inside and outside the plant—and become more attuned to the total business.
While ARC’s ongoing research into collaborative process au-tomation systems (CPAS) and related industry initiatives such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Industrie 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing provides some guidance, TABLE 1 summa-rizes questions about some basic issues.
New IT-based collaboration tools offer potential. Effec-tive collaboration requires a high degree of situational aware-ness, including operational window compliance and a good overview of the status of procedural automation, process con-trol and any abnormal situations.
New collaboration tools—many based on Internet Protocol (IP) and concepts of the emerging IIoT—offer significant poten-tial to improve operator effectiveness through increased access to sensor-based data, new cloud-based data analysis tools and better collaboration, both within plants and across multi-plant enterprises. However, many of these tools remain unproven in
demanding industrial environments in which downtime is unac-ceptable and occasional “glitches” can have serious repercussions. Many end users in the heavy process industries still also have serious concerns about hosting critical data and applications in the cloud due to the persistent threat of cyber security intrusions.
Information overload is another concern. Present control
systems already provide operators with more raw data and in-formation than they often know what to do with. The newer information and collaboration tools can only exacerbate the sit-uation. Rather than more data and information, it is important for operators to quickly and easily access the right information, in the right context, and in a time frame that makes it useful for real-time decision support. The operators themselves are often in the best position to determine this.
Help identify best practices. Clearly, new IT-based technolo-gies and IIoT concepts offer significant future potential to im-prove operator effectiveness and collaboration. However, many of these technologies and concepts remain unproven in industri-al environments, driving owner/operators to wonder what their peer organizations are doing in this area.
To help identify best practices, ARC Advisory Group has launched a confidential web survey on this topic.1 Qualified sur-vey participants will receive a detailed summary. ARC will also update HP readers in a future column.
EDITOR’S NOTE
1 For more information, visit www.arcweb.com.
PAUL MILLER is a senior editor/analyst at ARC Advisory Group and has 30 years of experience in the industrial automation industry. He continues to follow the increasing adoption of IT in the OT area and its various ramifications for industrial organizations.
TABLE 1. Common issues regarding operator eff ectiveness and best practices
What are the most important collaboration points for plant operations staff s?
What data are most important for fi eld and control room operations staff , and what is the best way to present this information?
How do you prevent overloading operators with too much data?
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Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 201527
Project
Management
RON BECK
Director of Industry Marketing Engineering & Construction, AspenTechBuild a better bid, or how to achieve
a competitive advantage in capital projects
As backlogs and revenues continue to be strong and on an upward path for most global engineering and construction (E&C) firms, competition for the best projects has increased. The energy indus-try’s turbulence and new sense of urgency have imposed aggressive schedules in the bidding phase. Result: E&C companies are responding with more aggressive bids, which, in turn, create more uncertainty over cost estimates and project scopes.
Resource shortages and other fac-tors have played a major role in elevating project costs, and owners have responded by pushing E&C companies to provide lump-sum bids. In addition, owners have compressed the front-end engineering and design (FEED) stage of projects, which has led to more midcourse cor-rections in the project scope, thus taxing the project execution fluidity. To achieve a competitive advantage under this en-vironment, leading E&C companies are applying new powerful and versatile soft-ware technologies that empower organi-zations during the bidding, contracting and project execution stages.
In addition to the increasing number of capital projects worldwide, the size and complexity of these projects have sig-nificantly expanded. While a number of global E&C companies have responded by increasing the size of their workforces through acquisitions and organic growth, some companies are concerned that this approach may not be the best solution.
According to Chiyoda Corp.’s execu-tive, Takashi Kubota, speaking at Rice University in September 2014, “We need the size, but does bigger mean better? We are not sure.” To remain agile as the size of projects increases, companies need to adapt software that provides the ability for lead estimators and project managers to have superior visibility over the details and complexity of the project. Result: E&C enterprises will have better
oppor-tunities to navigate through the necessary environment of risk and uncertainty. The SADARA petrochemical complex, the world’s largest grassroots petrochemical engineering project, was successful in cost estimations and project planning by ap-plying leading-edge technology.1
Additionally, a number of smaller and agile, boutique engineering companies have emerged to fill the needs of indus-try for specialized engineering to manage small- to mid-sized projects. These emerg-ing companies, often innovative in their organizational style and business process-es, have been able to take particular advan-tage of new software approaches to project development, thus enabling them to com-pete successfully in the E&C business.
Transparency in the estimate.
Expe-rienced estimators are among the scarc-est resources in the downstream industry. When time is not a critical factor, brute-force estimating man-hours can be sub-stituted for experience, but this usually only masks the importance and value of an experienced workforce. At the bidding and very early engineering phases, time is a gating factor. Additionally, the judgment and ability to consider contingencies by an experienced estimator are crucial.
For companies lacking experienced estimators, one solution has been to in-tegrate proper software systems with the process, which can be critical in engen-dering success. The temptation of an es-timating group, when under pressure, is to enumerate quantities by developing very large “supercharged spreadsheets.” Many of the project assumptions are hidden in formulas within the spread-sheet, and the overwhelming size of such spreadsheets keeps increasing. The dif-ficulties with this enumeration approach are that the full project scope is not trans-parent. There is a challenge in separating the important cost determinators from
the less important details. Result: The flexibility to explore scope and process alternatives is lost.
A more sophisticated and effective ap-proach focuses on providing the correct project scope and aligning this scope with the process definition, rather than focus-ing on enumeratfocus-ing details. Now, E&C companies can concentrate on getting major equipment items and metallurgy correct from the processing point of view. Bulk details, attained through statistical and experienced-based engineering ap-proaches, can be built into the estimating software. This approach has been demon-strated to improve the overall predictabil-ity and variance of estimates, and it greatly reduces the required estimating manpow-er, while improving the transparency of the project estimate in communications between the estimators, the executive team and the proposal manager.2
Aligning with the owner. A recent
Er-nest & Young (EY) survey investigated 365 oil and gas megaprojects, where 64% were identified as running over budget, and 73% as behind schedule. While there were 15 key factors responsible for these problems, during the project develop-ment phase, aggressive estimates and in-adequate planning contributed largely to the overly aggressive forecasts.
By utilizing the proper software sys-tems, E&C organizations can attack these problems. A strong front-end-design col-laboration system can make a true and accurate process flow diagram (PFD) and key equipment lists available to the pro-posal team and owner. Such information is provided in a platform for clear and trans-parent communication and discussion of project scope. It ensures that bids and esti-mates are prepared with the same realistic basis that the owner is requesting and ex-pecting. This also creates the basis for the owner and E&C company to confront
ar-Project Management
28
eas of uncertainty and risk in the proposed project, required resources, and realism in the execution plan to make the appropri-ate decisions early enough in the project planning and development process.
Breaking down barriers. As global
work sharing and the size and scope of projects have increased, managers have become resistant to changing the highly structured business processes. To mean-ingfully address both the bidding and project execution challenges and risks, these business processes are now being evaluated and upgraded. The powerful ca-pabilities of underlying systems, together with wholesale changes in the engineer-ing workforce, present opportunities for conceiving, developing and executing projects in new ways.
Specifically, during the bidding pro-cess, the opportunity to tie together process modeling systems, software to rate major equipment items, front-end deliverable collaboration solutions, and estimating and formal risk analyses will lead to a competitive advantage and
bet-ter company and project performance for those organizations that embrace it.
Standardized and modular design.
Another key trend being driven by the energy industry is the standardization and reuse of designs. These one-of-a-kind engineering approaches, which have been used for decades, are increasingly viewed as a problem in a marketplace where spi-raling capital project costs can create sig-nificant friction. Energy firms are looking for E&C companies to lead the way in proposing standardized rather than “gold-plated” designs.
The same integrated solutions can be applied, in contrast to the traditional work-flow, to capture standard repeatable (or modular) design components as building blocks for projects that can be designed and engineered much more efficiently and with higher quality. E&C companies that adopt integrated project modeling techniques and flexibility into their risk management or project changes will help energy companies. This can provide enor-mous value, and will support large-scale
projects more effectively. When an E&C firm reduces the cycle time of a project by a significant amount (i.e., 10%–30%), it can help the client deliver results more quickly.
Additionally, by using the same soft-ware between the owner-operator and E&C company, especially when applied with a transparent software system, the scope and resource requirements are clear-ly communicated. The owner uses this to evaluate bids on a “like for like” basis and ensure that all requested scopes are includ-ed. Owners such as ConocoPhillips have demonstrated improvements in project timetables, capital predictability and E&C oversight through the transparent use of the same model-based software system.
Effective decision-making. The E&C
industry is rapidly changing. Customer demands are increasing. Being able to adapt strategy and equip engineering expertise with a cutting-edge economic evaluation software platform throughout the engineering cycle will help to capital-ize on project opportunities. By provid-ing cost estimators and project managers with the right tools, project uncertainty and risk can be reduced, thus enhancing the capability for effective decision-mak-ing to control capital costs. In the quest for bid-to-win contracts, better and faster designs mean better value for customers, which underpins a successful strategy for E&Cs to survive and thrive in a rapidly developing market.
NOTES
1 The SADARA petrochemical complex’s cost
esti-mations and project planning was aided by apply-ing the Aspen Capital Cost Estimator estimatapply-ing system.
2 Estimating groups, including S&B Engineers,
Linde Engineering, Technip USA and Suncor’s engineering organization, have reported a 3:1 to 5:1 estimator productivity gain.
RON BECK is director of industry marketing at AspenTech. During six years at the company, he has been responsible for engineering product marketing, including Aspen Economic Evaluation and Aspen Basic Engineering product families. He has over 20 years of experience in providing software solutions to the process industries and 10 years of experience in chemical engineering technology commercialization. Mr. Beck has authored papers on key industry topics and presented at several public industry events, and is a graduate of Princeton University.
Manage Overpressure Risk
Farris offers relief system management solutions.
Farris provides total pressure relief management solutions that transform the way you improve plant safety. Design your pressure relief system to respond to every overpressure scenario using our iPRSM™ technology and Farris Engineering Services team. Equip your plant with Farris’ full line of pressure relief valves. Monitor your relief valves with SmartPRV™ wireless technology. Maintain your facility with Farris’ FAST Centers, our localized aftermarket service and repair network. Audit your relief systems and stay OSHA compliant with our engineering services team and iPRSM technology.
Total Pressure Relief Management Solutions.
For more information visit us on the web at www.cw-valvegroup.com/Farris. Design Maintain Audit Equip Monitor Farris Pressure Relief Management Solutions Select 78 at www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com/RS