Petroleum Refining

Below you will find white papers on topics involving process control and automation.

Chopper Valve Guidance: A Case Study

Submitted by Sri Gavini

An engineering firm reached out to Valin to help support a major California refinery during its turnaround process. During the course of their work, the engineering firm discovered the refinery needed new emergency safety shut-off valves (also known as chopper valves) as part of their regeneration process. At this point, the firm reached out to our team for guidance, so we held a strategic session with all interested parties.

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How Yokogawa Took a Plant from Semi-Automated to Autonomous

Submitted by Yokogawa

The next generation control technology using reinforcement learning-based AI ( FKDPP) will autonomize areas that could not be automated with existing control methods while ensuring safety and improving productivity. FKDPP is a disruptive innovation that allows for a different dimension of control, particularly in such areas. This AI technology can be applied in the energy, materials, pharmaceuticals, and many other industries.

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One-Stop-Shop Valve Solution with Certified RCS for Refinery Turnaround

Submitted by Sri Gavini

Valin offered a one-stop-shop solution with competitive pricing to both the engineering firm and the refinery for both the process valves and the Emerson Redundant Control System with UL certification. Valins solution assisted the customer in overcoming issues they had gone through in the past with other vendors who took a significantly long time to get panels approved with the class ratings at a significantly higher price.

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Refinery Reduces Product Replacement Costs by $220K

Submitted by Andrew Cloy || Valin Corporation

A maintenance manager at one of the largest petroleum refiners in the U.S. noticed that many of their duct heaters were failing. Each location has hundreds of industrial duct heaters that provide forced flow heat convection. It had become the #1 maintenance issue at this location. Learn more.

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Refinery Saves $100K Per Year With Electric Heating Solution

Submitted by Leslie Kovach || Valin Corp.

A refinery was injecting a catalyst into their process stream to strip out the propane-impregnated HF gas (mixed gas is a by-product of the FCC process), but the catalyst would only work at temperatures above 385F. Valin's process team analyzed the situation and made recommendations. Learn more.

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Valin Locking Cabinet and Tubing Racks for Refinery Planners

Submitted by Rich Wilbur || Valin Corp.

A major refinery was looking for a way to control the distribution and handling of instrumentation products during a dual turnaround. Valin's material handling solution took the burden off the refinery's planners and freed up their time to work on more important tasks. Learn more.

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Valin Meets Stringent Turnaround Deadline for Refinery

Submitted by Kari Kohonen || Valin Corp.

A Valin refinery customer planned a maintenance outage and had an urgent need for two critical valve replacements. Valin's technical specialists worked with their top valve supplier to provide a solution to meet the high-pressure requirements and critical delivery needs.

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Wellhead Pressure Monitoring

Submitted by Jim Breeze || Parker

Accidents such as the Deepwater Horizon, Macondo Prospect, well blowout and explosion that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, and the gas leak in the Elgin Field in the North Sea in 2012, are causing the industry to rethink its approach to pressure monitoring during drilling and production.

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Facet Clay Treater Cartridge Housing Helps Refinery's Process

Submitted by Kari Kohonen, Valin's Strategic Account Manager - Refining, Oil and Gas Specialist

Valin worked with a refinery that was processing approximately 145,000 barrels (5.7 million gallons) of crude oil per day. The refinery has a 2 Column Jet Fuel Clay Treater that came online in 1960 with a treat rate of 750 GPM. This technology is very inefficient and outdated. Learn more.

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Heat Trace Solution for Coal-Fired Power Plant Reduce Downtime

Submitted by Leslie Carmen

Because coal is dusty, it is common for mining and power plants to minimize the dust by spraying down the coal with a water-based chemical solution. In the colder months of the year, however, this solution causes the coal to freeze together in clumps and stick to the cold walls of the coal chute.

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Total Cost Saving Program For a Major Refinery in California

Submitted by Michelle Fischer

A major refinery in California turned to Valin to help them solve a problem with their sample cylinders. This customer has many sample cylinders that are used to transport a process sample from a refinery unit to the lab to test for recipe accuracy. They are using cylinders from multiple suppliers.

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