Practice Area

Petrochemical

Several of Trimeric’s staff have worked in the petrochemical industry for over 20 years. This experience ranges from conceptual design of new facilities through startup, routine plant support engineering, and complex troubleshooting. Trimeric has been involved in many projects related to design, optimization, and troubleshooting of compressors, heaters, heat exchangers, refrigeration systems, distillation trains, reactor systems, and relief/vent systems. One of Trimeric’s Senior Associates has over 40 years of experience in the petrochemical industry and is an industry recognized expert in distillation and separations technology.

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Experience

Trimeric has done a wide variety of process engineering work for petrochemical and chemical clients including the following examples:

  • Process design and modeling, vendor drawing and bid review, and process engineering support during installation for new distillation columns and replacement internals
  • Early phase process design to support capital and operating cost estimates
  • Troubleshooting / analysis of existing distillation processes via simulations, process data analysis, column scans, and other means
  • Relief device scenario selection, sizing, and documentation for multiple clients
  • Distillation operation troubleshooting to address an issue with two liquid phases and component buildup in the upper section of the column
  • Process design and bid package for an alkylation reactor system including feed, reactor, and distillation/purification units
  • Process engineering support for the relocation of a specialty chemicals process plant
  • Evaluation and re-design of an ammonia vent collection system
  • Design and troubleshooting of solid feed systems and powder collection and transport systems
  • Debottlenecking study of fractionation trains for plant capacity increases
  • Facilitation of Process Hazard Analysis (HAZOP) for multiple clients including existing facilities, new facilities, and new technology implementation

Project Examples

Bench-Scale Continuous Reactor System

Trimeric performed the process design and equipment selection for a bench-scale continuous reactor system. Trimeric designed and sized the feed system, reactor, separation equipment, and instrumentation for the unit, evaluated several reactor designs to meet process and client needs, selected the final reactor design, and facilitated the quotation and purchase of the reactor. Trimeric also evaluated pump and heat exchanger equipment options and materials based on specific process design requirements and presented pump and exchanger options to the client that met their process needs. Finally, Trimeric developed a request for quotation package, evaluated the bids, and provided the client with a summary of the pros and cons for each proposal.

SOx and Benzene Emissions Evaluation

For a major specialty chemical company, Trimeric estimated SOx and benzene emissions from one of their production processes and evaluated the efficiency of their existing control technologies. The evaluation was performed using process simulations, literature data, and various standard contactor efficiency calculations. Trimeric recommended changes to wet scrubbing chemistry and the addition of high efficiency acid-mist capture devices in order to improve existing operations.