Edition Tag: Sulphur 2021-01-31

The turning of a new calendar year is a predictable waypoint in our lives. That is why it has always traditionally been a time for reflection on the past and looking to the future. Therefore, given how 2020 had turned out, perhaps there was an inevitable hope that the turning of the New Year and the start of 2021 might see an improvement in things in general, and of course the trajectory of the pandemic in particular, especially now that several vaccines have been approved for use in record time, and a massive programme of vaccination has begun across the world.

Failure investigations, equipment design and process upgrade projects for SRUs often overlook the impact of water quality. In this article E. Nasat o of Nasato Consulting and L. Huchler of MarTech Systems explore impacts of higher heat transfer rates, control of boiler and condenser water chemistry, conventional equipment design/configurations and monitoring program designs. SRU operators can improve the effectiveness of their failure investigations by implementing a broader, more holistic approach that assesses equipment design, process conditions, operating protocols and water quality issues.

After many years of slow decline, Canadian sulphur exports have begun to rise slightly, but dwindling US markets are seeing a move towards more sulphur forming to expand export opportunities.

Construction work has begun on a new hydrocracking complex for the Assiut refinery in Egypt, in the central Nile valley, according to TechnipFMC plc, who won the $1 billion engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract for the project. The contract involves construction of new processing units including a vacuum distillation unit, a diesel hydrocracking unit, a delayed coker unit, a distillate hydrotreating unit and a hydrogen production unit which will use TechnipFMC’s proprietary steam reforming technology.

The global pandemic and new wave of lockdowns in some regions continue to pose a level of uncertainty to oil demand and in turn sulphur recovery. There are positive signs in the macro economic picture on the back of the vaccine rollout but significant question marks remain.