The definitive bestselling guide for refinery operations and maintenance, Troubleshooting Process Operations, 4th Edition, delivers unparalleled information to engineers and technicians. Drawing on his training and experience, author Norm Lieberman presents problems and troubleshooting techniques that are associated with specific processes, systems, and equipment, leading novice and practiced troubleshooters alike to the crux of malfunctions and failures. This new edition updates maintenance and design techniques, and adds seven new chapters with the latest information on turbines, motors, heat exchangers and environmentally friendly operations. A chemical engineer by training, author Norm Lieberman sprinkles his troubleshooting guide with insightful and humorous anecdotes from 45 years in the petrochemical and refining industry.

Features:

• Nitty-gritty descriptions of common refinery and chemical plant problems and the diagnostic field observations, experiments, and calculations that reveal their origin
• Troubleshooting checklists and references following each chapter
• Practical advice for optimizing interactions with key plant operations personnel

Contents:

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section 1 Specific processes
• Crude distillation
• Delayed coking cycles
• Delayed coking process
• Amine regeneration and scrubbing
• Sulfur recovery
• Alkylation
• Fluid catalytic cracking units
• FCCU product fractionation
• Saving energy at reduced feed rates
• Section 2 Process equipment
• Refrigeration systems
• Centrifugal pumps
• Distillation towers
• Vacuum towers
• Treating liquid hydrocarbons
• Process heaters
• Water coolers
• Alarms and trips
• Section 3 Practical problems
• Additional distillation problems
• Fouled trays
• Dehydrating light-ends towers
• Vapor-liquid separation
• Refinery metallurgy for novices
• Unusual noises and vibrations
• Section 4 Gas drying & compression
• Gas drying
• Gas compression
• Section 5 The process engineer’s job
• Suggestions for new process operating engineers
• Planning a performance test
• Understanding control board instruments
• How to make field measurements
• Turbines, expanders and variable speed motors
• Forced draft air coolers
• Advances in heat exchanger design
• Positive feedback loops
• Troubleshooting control loops
• Texas City – BP refinery fire
• Environmentally friendly process concepts
• The people problem
• Appendix