Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for preventing or reducing buildup of certain solids in a system or a conduit containing or conveying a fluid. The fluid can be a single phase liquid, such as a liquid hydrocarbon, or a multiphase fluid such as a mixture of several immiscible liquids, for example liquid hydrocarbon and water, plus a gaseous phase that may include hydrocarbon vapors as well as other gases, for example carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, etc. Preferably, the fluid is crude oil. The solids include all solids precipitating from fluids due to thermodynamically or chemical composition driven forces, as well as materials that can change phases. Preferably, the solids are solids typically dissolved in crude oil, such as higher paraffins, asphaltenes, hydrates, organic salts, and inorganic salts.

Abstract: A method for lowering the cloud/pour point of a waxy crude oil in locations where size and/or weight of the facility may need to be limited (i.e. arctic zones and offshore). The major components of the system comprise a fractionation/quench tower and a reaction furnace. The furnace has sufficient heat input to initiate thermal cracking of wax and the fractionation tower is operated at a temperature sufficient to flash off light hydrocarbons but also low enough to quench thermal cracking reaction. The feed to the furnace comprises a portion of the bottoms stream from the tower and the furnace output is fed back into the tower bottom to be quenched.

Abstract: A system for producing hydrocarbons from a subsea well comprises an unmanned floating platform positioned over the well, the platform including equipment for inserting coiled tubing or wireline tools or the like into the well for servicing, controlling, or conducting other operations in or to the well, a vertical access riser connecting the platform to the well, a control umbilical connecting the platform to the well, a host facility adapted to receive the produced hydrocarbons, and a production pipeline connecting the well to the host facility, the production pipeline including at least one access port between the well and the host facility.

Abstract: A system for producing hydrocarbons from a subsea well comprises an unmanned floating platform positioned over the well, the platform including equipment for inserting coiled tubing or wireline tools or the like into the well for servicing, controlling, or conducting other operations in or to the well, a vertical access riser connecting the platform to the well, a control umbilical connecting the platform to the well, a host facility adapted to receive the produced hydrocarbons, and aproduction pipeline connecting the well to the host facility, the production pipeline including at least one access port between the well and the host facility.

Abstract: Staged combustion in a single regenerator of a FCC unit is disclosed. The regenerator has a spent catalyst distributor at the top of the catalyst bed, and an air grid at the lower end of the bed. A baffle separates the catalyst bed into upper and lower stages. Excess oxygen is present in the lower bed; partial CO combustion mode is maintained in the upper bed. The baffle inhibits backmixing flux to achieve sufficient staging to burn the catalyst clean under partial CO combustion. This achieves a clean burn of the catalyst in a single regenerator vessel in the partial CO combustion operating mode. Surprisingly, the baffle also reduces catalyst entrainment in the dilute phase, thereby cutting particulate emissions from the regenerator and reducing cyclone wear.

Abstract: Disclosed is a pelletizer vessel and a prilling head assembly for use in the pelletizer vessel for prilling a hard resid material. The pellitizer vessel has an has an upright pelletizing vessel with an upper prilling zone, a sphere-forming zone below the prilling zone, a cooling zone below the sphere-forming zone, a bath below the cooling zone, and a prilling head in the prilling zone rotatable along a vertical axis and having a plurality of discharge orifices for throwing molten material radially outwardly. A vertical height of the sphere-forming zone is sufficient to allow material discharged from the prilling head to form substantially spherical liquid pellets. Nozzles are provided for spraying water inwardly into the cooling zone to cool and at least partially solidify the liquid pellets to be collected in the bath.

Abstract: A system for supplying pigs to a subsea pig launcher using a system carried and controlled by a remotely operated vehicle. The pigs are carried in racks that hold multiple pigs. The racks are extended and the pigs are allowed to drop into the barrel of the subsea pig launcher. The system is also equipped with a system that retracts the racks if hydraulic and electrical power is lost during the reloading process so that the remotely operated vehicle can be retrieved to the surface safely. The reloading process can be carried out by a remotely operated vehicle support vessel without the need for heavy lifting equipment or a large deck area.

Abstract: Disclosed are an integrated process and plant for slurrying and gasification or combustion of a petroleum resid such as asphaltenes from to make a synthesis gas or steam and/or power. The resid is prilled into a gaseous medium as a liquid with a rotating prilling head to form particles which form into a spherical shape. The liquid particles are directly quenched with a water spray to form a slurry of resid particles in water. The slurry comprises a solids loading of 50 to 80 percent and can also include a minor amount of a dispersant.

Abstract: A process and system which integrates on-site heavy oil or bitumen upgrading and energy recovery for steam production with steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) production of the heavy oil or bitumen. The heavy oil or bitumen produced by SAGD is flashed to remove the gas oil fraction, and the residue is solvent deasphalted to obtain deasphalted oil, which is mixed with the gas oil fraction to form a pumpable synthetic crude. The synthetic crude has an improvement of 4-5 degrees of API and lower in sulfur, nitrogen and metal compounds. The synthetic crude is not only more valuable than the heavy oil or bitumen, but also has substantial economic advantage of reducing the diluent requirement since it has lower viscosity than the heavy oil or bitumen. The asphaltenes, following an optional pelletizing and/or slurrying step, are used as a fuel for combustion in boilers near the steam injection wells for injection into the heavy oil or bitumen reservoir.

Abstract: The invention is a process for making anode grade coke which comprises solvent deasphalting a residue feedstock to obtain an essentially asphaltene-free, resin-containing stream and coking the resin-containing stream in a delayed coker to make anode coke. The solvent deasphalting can make a deasphalted oil stream containing resin or separate deasphalted oil and resin streams. There can be hydrotreating of (1) a minor portion of the residue feedstock wherein the hydrotreated residue is fed to the delayed coker with the resin-containing stream, (2) the resin-containing stream wherein the hydrotreated resin stream is fed to the delayed coker, or (3) a major portion of the residue feedstock wherein the hydrotreated residue is fed to the solvent deasphalting unit.

Abstract: Disclosed are a method and apparatus for making substantially spherical, homogenous petroleum resid pellets having a size range between 0.1 and 10 mm, a penetration of essentially 0, a softening point temperature from about 200° to about 400° F., a residual water content of from 0.1 to 10 weight percent, and a sulfur content less than 10 weight percent. The process includes feeding the material in a molten state to a rotating prilling head to discharge the material into free space at an upper end of a pelletizing vessel having a diameter larger than a throw-away diameter of the discharged material, allowing the discharged material to break apart, form into substantially spherical liquid pellets, and fall downwardly into a liquid spray and/or bath to solidify the pellets.

Abstract: An integrated debutanizer and low pressure depropanizer column and process for separating a feed stream comprising C3's, C4's and C5+ is disclosed. A single shell houses a refluxed upper portion and a lower portion of the column. A generally vertical wall partitions the lower portion of the column into a debutanizer section and a depropanizer stripper section. The upper column portion is used as the absorption section of the depropanizer. The feed is supplied to an intermediate stage in the debutanizer, and the debutanizer is operated at a lower pressure (and correspondingly lower temperature) matching that of the low pressure depropanizer. The design allows the use of one slightly larger column in place of the two large columns previously used for separate debutanization and low pressure depropanization.

Abstract: A gas lift umbilical including a flexible pipe having a collapse resistant wall and a first sealing layer formed on an interior surface of the collapse resistant wall. The interior surface defines a longitudinal passage. A flexible gas lift hose is mounted within the longitudinal passage extending from a first end of the flexible pipe to a second end thereof. A first fitting is attached to the collapse resistant wall of the flexible pipe at a first end thereof. A second fitting is attached to the collapse resistant wall of the flexible pipe at a second end thereof. A first adapter joins a first end of the gas lift hose to the first fitting and a second adapter joins a second end of the gas lift hose to the second fitting.

Abstract: The present invention relates to flame detection apparatus and method. The present invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring the status of a combustion unit having at least one bumer. Initially, a digital image of a flame corresponding to a flame is acquired. Next, a value for the relative light intensity of a frame defining an area of the image corresponding to the flame for the burner is calculated. The relative light intensity value is compared against a tolerance range for the frame. If the relative light intensity value is outside the tolerance range then an alarm state output is generated.

Abstract: Refinery process furnaces are disclosed that have horizontal-helical radiant coils and/or improved ladder-type supports for the horizontal tubes. The coils have a tubeside fluid flow path from an inlet pipe section through an alternating series of straight horizontal pipe sections and wide sweep return bends to an outlet pipe section. The horizontal pipe sections are arranged in at least two vertical banks that are parallel and horizontally spaced apart. The bent pipe sweep return bends are arranged in vertical banks at either end of the straight pipe banks. Each bend connects a pair of straight pipe sections in adjacent vertical banks, and each return bend is sloped between horizontal and vertical so that one of the straight pipe sections in the connected pair thereof is elevated with respect to the other. The ladder supports have two opposing columns with a number of vertically spaced support members each having a generally horizontal upper engagement surface.

Abstract: A vertical tubular reactor for converting ammonia synthesis loop purge gas to ammonia; a method for converting ammonia synthesis loop purge gas to form additional ammonia; and a method for retrofitting a conventional ammonia plant having a synthesis loop using an iron-based synthesis catalyst and having a purge gas stream, the method including a supplemental ammonia converter for the purge gas stream. The supplemental ammonia converter is a shell and tube reactor. The tubes are filled with a catalyst comprising a platinum group metal such as ruthenium. The tubes are maintained in a substantially isothermal condition by boiling water in the shell side. As a retrofit modification to an existing ammonia synthesis plant, the purge stream is passed through the supplemental ammonia converter on a once-through basis to form additional ammonia and reduce the amount of purge gas. Advantages of the retrofit modification include lower energy consumption, lower purge rates and higher ammonia production rates.

Abstract: An end fitting/pipe coupling in which to receive a flexible pipe end to be joined includes an annular seal of chevron configuration supported in the fitting for surrounding the received pipe end and is comprised of an elastomer composition defining a plurality of uniformly spaced parallel separations each containing an annular metallic shim adapted to increasingly grip the pipe in response to a pull out force encountered by the pipe end.

Abstract: A method for modifying a standard two-bed horizontal ammonia converter to provide increased conversion and/or production capacity by placing the first secondary catalyst bed of the existing converter in parallel flow with the existing primary catalyst bed and replacing magnetite catalyst in the second secondary catalyst bed with high activity ruthenium-on-carbon catalyst.

Abstract: An integrated deethanizer and ethylene fractionation column and process for separating a feed stream comprising ethylene, ethane and C.sub.3+ is disclosed. A single shell houses a refluxed upper portion and a lower portion of the column. A generally vertical wall partitions the lower portion of the column into a deethanizer section and an ethylene stripper section. The upper column portion is used as the absorption section of the ethylene fractionator. The feed is supplied to an intermediate stage in the deethanizer, and the deethanizer is operated at a lower pressure (and correspondingly lower temperature) matching that of the ethylene fractionation. The design allows the use of one slightly larger column in place of the two large columns previously used for separate deethanization and ethylene fractionation.

Abstract: This process controls the magnetic separation of high metals catalyst by influencing the magnetic susceptibility by carbon levels on catalyst. In an FCC/RCC.RTM. operation employing magnetic separation of catalyst, particularly where the catalyst has enough metals to exhibit a high magnetic susceptibility, e.g., 110.times.10.sup.-6 emu/g or higher, all of the catalyst may be attracted to the magnet and go to the magnetic reject side. By controlling the amount of carbon, coke, or graphite present on the catalyst after partial regeneration, the magnetic properties of the catalyst can be diminished and separation can occur. Varying the amount of carbon affects the magnetic metals, the higher the magnetic susceptibility, and yet the catalyst particles will have a lower carbon level. The lower the magnetic susceptibility, the less metals, the higher the activity, and the higher the coke/carbon content.