Troubleshooting Process Plant Control

A Practical Guide to Avoiding and Correcting Mistakes

Norman P. Lieberman

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781394262939
• eBook ISBN: 9781394262946
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Chemical & Biochemical Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A practical and engaging guide to running process controls in petrochemical plants and refineries

Process control is an area of study dealing with controlling variables that emerge in process plants, such as chemical plants, wastewater purification plants, or refineries. Existing guides to process control are numerous, but they tend to be associated with control engineering, which is more mathematical and theoretical. There is an urgent need for a more straightforward and concrete guide for practical use in petrochemical plants and refineries.

Troubleshooting Process Plant Control meets this need with a work dedicated to real-life solutions and problem solving. Rooted in real-world examples and the career experience of the author, it largely avoids complex mathematics in favor of practical, well-established process engineering principles. Now fully updated to reflect the latest best practices and developments in the field, it is indispensable for process controllers in active plants of all kinds.

Readers of the third edition will also find:

• New chapters on alarm disabling, spectrometer use, and reducing CO 2 emissions
• Additional novel examples throughout
• Guidelines for using spectrometers to directly control reflux rates and steam flow to reboilers

Troubleshooting Process Plant Control is ideal for practicing engineers and other technical professionals working in process facilities, as well as advanced students taking professional training courses in these fields.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication to Third Edition
• About the Author
• Preface to the Third Edition
• Introduction
• 1 Learning from Experience
• 2 Process Control Parameter Measurement
• 3 Dependent and Independent Variables
• 4 Binary Distillation of Pure Components
• 5 Distillation Tower Pressure Control
• 6 Control of Aqueous Phase (Waste Water) Strippers
• 7 Pressure Control in Multicomponent Systems
• 8 Optimizing Fractionation Efficiency by Temperature Profile
• 9 Analyzer Process Control
• 10 Fired Heater Combustion Air Control
• 11 Using Existing Controls to Promote Energy Efficiency
• 12 Sizing Process Control Valves
• 13 Control Valve Position on Instrument Air Failure
• 14 Override and Split‐Range Process Control
• 15 Vacuum System Pressure Control
• 16 Reciprocating Compressors
• 17 Centrifugal Compressor Surge versus Motor Over‐Amping
• 18 Controlling Centrifugal Pumps
• 19 Steam Turbine Control
• 20 Steam and Condensate Control
• 21 Control of Process Reactions
• 22 Function of the Process Control Engineer
• 23 Steam Quality and Moisture Content
• 24 Level, Pressure, Flow, and Temperature Indication Methods
• 25 Alarm and Trip Design for Safe Plant Operations
• 26 Inverted Response of Process Parameters
• 27 Nonlinear Process Responses
• 28 Control Malfunction Stories
• 29 Level Indication Problems in Vessels
• 30 Calibration Specific Gravity for Level Control
• 31 Flow Orifice Plate Cavitation
• 32 Factors Causing Incorrect Process Parameter Measurements
• 33 Optimizing Controls to Reduce Emissions from Sulfur Recovery Plants and Sour Water Strippers
• 34 Positive Pressure in Fired Heaters—Effect of Wind
• 35 A Lesson From Bhopal—Hazards of Ignoring Alarms
• About My Seminars
• Further Readings on Troubleshooting Process Controls
• The Norm Lieberman Video Library of Troubleshooting Process Operations
• Index
• End User License Agreement