Team helps refineries solve problems
A
Fluent product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Feb 28, 2006
Combination of experience optimising refining processes with flow simulation will help increase efficiency by visualising what is going wrong, then proposing and providing real engineering.
Fluent has teamed with KBC Advanced Technologies to provide high end engineering products to oil refineries and petrochemical manufacturers.
Joint service offerings will focus on improving unit operating performance, reducing refinery operating costs, increasing system reliability, safety enhancement and pollution reduction.
"We're excited about this partnership," said Dave Schowalter, Lead Engineer for Energy at Fluent.
"By teaming KBC's 25 years of experience optimising unit and refining processes with Fluent's 25 years of advanced flow simulation, we're able to help refineries increase processing efficiency by visualising what is going wrong with their units, then proposing, proving and providing real engineering".
Rob Tufts, Principal Consultant for KBC, said: "Using Fluent's CFD program we were able to perform a low cost redesign of the inlet distributor and feed collector piping for a hydrotreater reactor allowing us to increase dramatically catalyst loading and catalyst contacting, while preventing bed channeling".
Because of rapidly increasing demand for transport fuels and other crude oil derivatives, environmental restrictions calling for low sulfur fuels, emission limits on refineries, and the fact new oil refineries have not been built in the USA for more than 20 years, KBC and Fluent are positioned to address a wide range of problems faced by refiners.
The companies are helping refiners find new ways to use and improve yields, reduce risk and increase the throughput of existing processing units.
They have created a way to identify vulnerable components within refineries and have already worked with several refiners and found many problem areas, thereby reducing the risk of accident, injury to workers and otherwise costly failures.
Erosion prediction was one of the early targets of the partnership, while another area was unit operation trouble-shooting and hydrotreater reactor optimisation.
Other applications being addressed by the partnership include eliminating bottlenecks in fired heaters, improving fractionation in distillation towers and improving the operation of separation systems.
Not what you're looking for? Search the site.
Google Ads
Contact Fluent
Related Stories
- Virtalis - latest company news
- LMS partners with Von Karman Institute
- Transmagic announces JT format support
- Ansys to host 'engineering in energy' conference
- New name conveys core business
Articles by product category
- Consultancy and Services (903)
- Machine Building (4,517)
-
Engineering Design Software (6,179)
- Engineering Design Software (12)
- 2D CAD software (200)
- 3D CAD software (1,157)
- FEA and structural analysis software (369)
- Fluid, thermal, noise, vibration software (334)
- Simulation, modelling, validation software (914)
- Rendering, visualisation, styling software (196)
- Materials design and moulding design software (151)
- Process, instrumentation, automation software (258)
- Electrical design software (164)
- Publishing and documentation software (229)
- Maths, charting, statistics, QA software (317)
- Data, document management software (310)
- CAM, CNC, production management software (568)
- File conversion software, data capture (351)
- PLM and collaboration software (649)
-
Drives, Motors and Controls (3,361)
- Drives, Motors and Controls (1)
- Precision Motors and Gears (411)
- Industrial Drives/Controls (1,276)
- Linear Drives and Motors (114)
- Industrial Motors (497)
- Stepper and Servo Drives, Motors, Controls (1,060)
- Small Mechanical Components, Joining, Tools (1,975)
-
Control and Instrumentation (5,028)
- Plantwide control (1,324)
- Plant- and Machine-Wide Communications (1,174)
- Smaller-Sized PLCs (387)
- CNC and Motion Controllers (184)
- Mid-range and Large PLCs (201)
- Power Supplies, Uninterruptible Power (562)
- HMIs/Operator Interfaces (294)
- Logic Controllers, Timers and Relays (96)
- Cabling, Conduit, Signal Conditioning (806)
-
Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (5,459)
- Monitoring, Measurement and Quality (1)
- Data acquisition Software and Communications (494)
- Data Acquisition Hardware and PC I/O Boards (472)
- Electrical and Electronic Testing, PAT Equipment (630)
- Form/co-ordinate, optical, vision instruments (703)
- Gauges, Indicators and Instruments (440)
- Data loggers (422)
- Materials testing equipment (421)
- Telecomms/network test equipment, software etc (154)
- Testing and Calibration Services and Information (500)
- Testing, analysing and monitoring equipment (1,222)
-
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Design (4,160)
- Batteries, chargers and circuit protection (555)
- Connectors, Terminals, Busbars, Slip Rings (679)
- Enclosures and Equipment Cooling Fans (709)
- Knobs, Handles and Enclosure Hardware (420)
- PCs and Embedded Systems (798)
- Electrical and Electronic Subassemblies (369)
- Electrical and Electronic Components (630)
-
Materials and Processing (2,963)
- Materials and Processing (5)
- Materials and components (2,215)
- Rapid Prototyping (458)
- Materials processing and testing (285)
-
Engineering Industry News, Resources (6,093)
- Engineering Industry News, Resources (4)
- Engineering Business News, Views (388)
- Engineering Exhibitions, Events (562)
- Engineering Conferences (425)
- Engineering Seminars (400)
- Engineering Industry Developments, Awards (633)
- Engineering Guides, Newsletters (349)
- Engineering Recruitment, Employment (219)
- Engineering Training Courses (433)
- Engineering Education, Resources, Standards (838)
- Engineering Industry Reports, Surveys (597)
- Electronic Resources for Engineers (278)
- Health and Safety Legislation (402)
- Health and Safety Strategy, Risk Assessment (113)
- Health and Safety Consultancy, Software (175)
- Health and Safety Events, Training, News (277)
-
Powertrain Design (3,598)
- Powertrain Design (2)
- Bearings (939)
- Chains and belts (326)
- Gears, brakes, couplings and engines (1,441)
- Hydraulic Components (471)
- Lubricants (418)
-
Capital Equipment (3,387)
- Capital Equipment (1)
- Manufacturing Machinery and Plant Equipment (468)
- Production line blowers and fans (62)
- Compressors and Air Treatment (510)
- Electronics Manufacturing, Tools, Instruments (192)
- Electrical hardware (131)
- Machinery and Production Equipment (1,093)
- Robotics, Handling and Storage (930)
-
Sensors (7,080)
- Sensors (8)
- Accelerometers and Vibration Sensors (427)
- Loadcells, Force Sensors, Torque Sensors (699)
- Pressure sensors (621)
- Flowmeters and Flow Sensors (618)
- Level Sensors and Leak Detectors (527)
- Linear Position Sensors (399)
- Rotary Position, Tilt and Angular Sensors (546)
- Proximity Sensors (700)
- Gas, Chemical, Radiation, Magnetic Sensors (284)
- Humidity and Environmental Sensors (152)
- Temperature sensors (612)
- Vision and Colour Sensors (1,384)
- Barcode Sensors (103)
- Valves, Pumps, Process Hardware (3,623)
