The Main Column

Rice Global Engineering & Construction (E&C) Forum held its first virtual roundtable on April 24 on the subject, "Leading through a crisis: E&C leadership perspective." The lunchtime seminar, which was moderated by Hydrocarbon Processing Editor-in-Chief/Associate Publisher Lee Nichols, focused on how E&C companies are working and leading during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New perochemical project announcements plateaued year-over-year (y-o-y), according to data from Hydrocarbon Processing’s Construction Boxscore Database.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

Propylene is at the core of the petrochemical industry, with the synthesis of its numerous derivatives finding greater application in industries from textile to automobile, cosmetics and beyond. Propylene is also a foundation block/intermediate for numerous chemicals, from isopropanol to polypropylene (a widely used synthetic material) to gasoline octane enhancers.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

Digital technologies are being widely adopted across nearly every industry. Industrial companies are moving as far away as possible from manual, document-centric processes and replacing them with cloud services, digital solutions and data-centric strategies.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

Meridian Energy Group is building two new refineries in the U.S. These projects will be in the Bakken and Permian shale region. Hydrocarbon Processing sat down with Lance Medlin, Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Fonda, Chief Technical Officer, to discuss the company's two projects and how they are building the greenest refineries in the world. 

Crude oil has been the fundamental element of transportation fuel for many decades. However, market factors are changing this dynamic, creating incentives for some organizations to consider oil-to-chemical complexes to maintain a competitive edge.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

Today’s tools are often specialized for a certain type of task; however, they often lack the connectivity that would enable the easy comparison and cross-reference of asset information. Engineering tools are well suited for design and build phases, but may be less suited for use in operations and maintenance.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

Gas processing, liquefaction, oil refining, bulk petrochemicals and chemicals plants represent a large population of frontline engineers and technical managers. Their professional lives will become increasingly impacted by the growing adoption of disruptive digital technologies and digital platforms.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

At first glance, this is probably not a startling number—not when you consider the size of the entertainment industry and how immersed AR has become in video games, movies and the various ways it is being used by smartphone apps.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]

The plant runs fully automated; robots glide silently back and forth, ensuring an optimized process; and your maintenance technician—with a few keystrokes—can tell you exactly how each piece of equipment is running. The promise of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has been delivered.

For comments or feedback, please contact: [email protected]