Emerson Exchange 365

Activity

Jim Cahill
- 24 Sep 2020
Fuel Blending Unlocks Refinery Cash Register

For refiners, effectively and efficiently blending the refined fuels enables margin improvements. Yet, many refineries fail to give their blending area the attention it deserves. It’s worth reconsidering since fuel blending is essentially the “cash register” of the business. Because this area is where profits can be made or lost, it should receive the investments necessary to be efficient and flexible, and able to...
Jim Cahill
- 22 Sep 2020
Driving Safety Improvements through Flow Measurement Advancements

In the oil & gas upstream, midstream and downstream industries, flow measurement is critical for accurate fiscal and custody transfer accounting. But what about their use to make these processes safer? In a Hydrocarbon Processing article, Leveraging modern flow technologies to improve safety in refineries , Emerson’s Meha Jha and Julie Valentine describe how advancements in these flow measurements, “…enhance safety...
Jim Cahill
- 14 Sep 2020
Extending Existing WirelessHART Networks to Improve Worker and Plant Safety

In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Emerson’s Amanda Alexander describes two ways to extend existing wireless networks for worker location and toxic gas monitoring. Emerson colleagues who were around back at the dawn of Wireless HART tell me the earliest deployments were usually limited to monitoring applications. At that time there wasn’t a long enough track record of reliability for us to suggest this still-new...
Jim Cahill
- 14 Sep 2020
Automating Procedures in Ethylene Furnaces can bring Huge Benefits

There are many examples in plants where operators need to follow a particular procedure to safely transition the plant to a new condition. In an ethylene plant, furnace startup, decoke and shutdown operations are classic examples where following strict operating procedures is critical to prevent unsafe conditions as well as promote efficient operations. Since furnaces are decoked every 30-60 days depending on feedstock...
Jim Cahill
- 2 Sep 2020
Improving Refinery Emissions Management

Controlling emissions is one of the great challenges for the energy-intensive refining industry. However, it is imperative because meeting increasing environmental regulations globally is a key concern. In a Refiner’s Guide to Digital Transformation and Top Quartile Performance article, Control emissions to meet changing regulations , Emerson’s Ed Schodowski highlights ways technology can help minimize emissions while...
Jim Cahill
- 2 Sep 2020
Multiple Systems Working Together Prevent Tank Overfill Disasters

In Hydrocarbon Engineering’s Tanks & Terminals Supplement , Emerson’s Helena Hjortsberg looks at all the elements of a comprehensive overfill prevention system in her article, A Coordinated Strategy. Overfilling a tank storing hydrocarbons or other flammable chemicals can cause an environmental incident under the best circumstances, but also a high probability of an explosion and fire. Given the costs in lost product...
Jim Cahill
- 31 Aug 2020
Building Digital Transformation, One Step at a Time

In a Flow Control magazine article, Seven Digital Transformation Myths Exposed, Emerson’s Brian Joe offers advice on starting a digital transformation program. When we talk to companies about digital transformation, especially companies that have yet to launch a program, we frequently hear two kinds of responses representing two extremes. Either they don’t think the technologies work, or they have inflated expectations...
Jim Cahill
- 26 Aug 2020
Building Lines of Defense Against Hydrocarbon Releases and Fires

In a Chemical Engineering article, Emerson’s Nick Pinto offers strategies for improving tank farm safety with more effective gas release and flame detection In countless war movies, the heroes, whether in trenches or spaceships, have to stop the enemy advance at some particular point, providing the last line of defense to avoid disaster. This may be overly dramatic, but designing an overall safety strategy for large...
Jim Cahill
- 25 Aug 2020
This Week at the 2020 AFPM Summit

The 2020 American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) Summit starts today as a virtual conference. It is a learning event with in-depth sessions to share ways to improve plant performance. From the agenda , I wanted to highlight some of the Emerson experts presenting this week. Tomorrow, August 26 at 1:30pm EDT, Meha Jha will present, Strengthening Your Career by Building Webs and Developing Spidey Senses. Meha...
Jim Cahill
- 8 Aug 2020
Choosing Temperature Instrumentation Should Begin with Understanding the Process

In a Process Heating magazine article titled Questions to Ask About Temperature Measurement Applications , Emerson’s Sarah Kendrick helps engineers work through the critical temperature application design process. Imagine this: One of your process engineers comes to you, points to a P&ID and says, “We need a new process temperature measurement right here. Take care of it.” What is the first thing...
Jim Cahill
- 6 Aug 2020
Refinery Optimization Strategies

Ensuring that a refinery is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of discounted crudes and adjust production to meet critical customer commitments sometimes feels like walking a tightrope with just the right balance between the financial benefit these crudes offer and the increased fouling and corrosion they cause to a refinery’s assets. In my article, Production levels: Are they all they could be? , in the Refiner...
Jim Cahill
- 15 Jul 2020
Holistic Approach to Top Quartile Reliability Performance

Operating reliably is one of the critical success factors in driving business performance for manufacturers and producers in the process industries. In the Refiner’s Guide to Digital Transformation and Top Quartile Performance , the article, From cultural shifts to tactical strategies: Ensuring refinery reliability takes a holistic approach, highlights an effective path to success. The opportunity? By generating...
Jim Cahill
- 10 Jul 2020
Choosing the Right Gas Analyzer for Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Emissions Monitoring

NO x is probably the most ubiquitous combustion-created air pollutant since it can be generated by any process burning any fossil fuel, and it is tightly regulated by the U.S. EPA and other regulatory bodies around the world. Plants with relevant combustion processes, including most refineries and chemical processing plants, must monitor NO x output continuously any time fuel is burning. How plants choose to do this...
Jim Cahill
- 30 Jun 2020
Moving from Paper and Pencil to Digital Practices

One path in digital transformation initiatives is the move from paper & pencil-based data collection on operator rounds to Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-based sensors collecting and transmitting the data on a continuous basis. In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Disparate Data (registration required), Emerson’s Jodi Johnson describes how this shift helps create value for manufacturers and producers. She opens...
Jim Cahill
- 25 Jun 2020
Technology Modernization for Refinery Digital Transformation

Control systems’ lives are measured in decades instead of the short life spans we experience with our consumer electronics and other consumer technologies. Yet even with this long lifespan, control systems need to be modernized to take full advantage of advancing technologies that help to improve safety, efficiency and reliability. In a Refiner’s Guide to Digital Transformation and Top Quartile Performance article...
Jim Cahill
- 10 Jun 2020
Improving Refining Operations with Rich Data and Analytics

“While online data from sensors has been available for decades, the low cost and quick installation time of wireless sensors compared to their wired counterparts is driving a new digital transformation in refineries around the world. The data from wireless sensors not only provide real-time measurements and valuable insights into asset health, it can spur new ways to integrate work processes and improve the timeliness...
Jim Cahill
- 4 Jun 2020
Coriolis Flow Meters for High Accuracy Refining Applications

Measuring flow rates with differential pressure (DP) instruments has been a time-tested practice for decades. While still the most widely used flow measurement technology, other technologies have unique advantages for some applications. In a Processing article, Controlling critical refining applications with Coriolis meters , Emerson’s Julie Valentine and Meha Jha share specific applications where Coriolis flow measurement...
Jim Cahill
- 4 Jun 2020
Coriolis Flow Meters for High Accuracy Refining Applications

Measuring flow rates with differential pressure (DP) instruments has been a time-tested practice for decades. While still the most widely used flow measurement technology, other technologies have unique advantages for some applications. In a Processing article, Controlling critical refining applications with Coriolis meters , Emerson’s Julie Valentine and Meha Jha share specific applications where Coriolis flow measurement...
Jim Cahill
- 29 May 2020
Driving Refinery Safety Performance Improvement

Refining crude oil into gasoline, jet fuel and other petrochemical products requires constant vigilance in safety. And although the refining industry has always been focused on safety—and overall rate incidence reports have been decreasing—there are still opportunities for improvement. According to the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the top three leading causes of Tier 1 and Tier 2 incidents...
Jim Cahill
- 15 May 2020
Digital Transformation Actionable Roadmap

Because the refining industry is constantly changing, with new regulations and opportunities with discounted crude oils, changing distribution patterns, and new competitors on the scene—refiners are challenged to adapt to a complex and dynamic environment. Not only must they optimize process operations, train and upskill staff, and be flexible enough to capture favorable market conditions, they need to maintain compliance...
Jim Cahill
- 13 Mar 2020
Distillation Column Automation Control and Optimization

Pete Sharpe James Beall The cold section of an ethylene plant is responsible for cooling and purifying the product-grade ethylene, propylene and other bi-products from the cracking furnaces. Cracked gas is cooled in transfer-line exchangers which produce steam from the effluent gas energy. Gas is further cooled with water in the quench column, scrubbed and dried before being compressed in the cracked gas compressor...
Jim Cahill
- 21 Feb 2020
Refinery Flare Regulatory Compliance

At the 2020 4C Health, Safety & Environment conference, Emerson’s Jamie Marsden presented, New Refinery Flare Regulations 40 CFR Part 63. The rule, 40 CFR 63 Subparts CC and UUU, affects any refinery with a flare used as a control device for an emission point, and those refineries must have been in compliance by January 30, 2019. These regulations set flare operating limits, require a flare management plan (FMP), and...
Jim Cahill
- 28 Jan 2020
Driving Safer and More Secure Refining and Chemical Operations

According to the United States Energy Information Administration , the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast refiners and petrochemical producers accounted for 50.5% of the U.S. total finished petroleum products as of October 2019. So with over half of America’s refining and petrochemical production, running these facilities as safely, efficiently and reliably as possible is critical. For refiners and chemical producers in...
Jim Cahill
- 28 Jan 2020
Driving Safer and More Secure Refining and Chemical Operations

According to the United States Energy Information Administration , the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast refiners and petrochemical producers accounted for 50.5% of the U.S. total finished petroleum products as of October 2019. So with over half of America’s refining and petrochemical production, running these facilities as safely, efficiently and reliably as possible is critical. For refiners and chemical producers in...
Jim Cahill
- 4 Dec 2019
Optimizing Opportunity Crude Usage while Minimizing Operational Risks

Meha Jha Julie Valentine For refiners, opportunity crude is crude oil available on the spot market that are typically much lower cost than crude oil received under long-term contracts. In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Finding the Sweet Spot , Emerson’s Meha Jha and Julie Valentine collaborated with Topnir Systems ‘ Didier Lambert , to highlight the processing challenges for opportunity crudes and solutions...