- Reliability & Operating Flexibility (Throughput & Product Mix)
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Flexibility is today’s hydrocarbon refining industry reality. The need to maintain operational reliability during swings in crude quality not only affects product mix and quality but can increase operating costs resulting from heat exchange losses, derating of product streams and environmental concerns from a poor desalter performance. Challenges introduced by swings in crude characterization, environmental constraints, seasonal requirements, unexpected shutdown, and profit-driven supply require the refiner to make quick operational decisions.
Veolia’s technology addresses the need to quickly assess the effect these changes have on key operational concerns across your operation. The ability to rapidly respond to change can help your refinery plan more effectively, balance product blends to improve margin, plan maintenance requirements and optimize margins in a volatile market.
As the refining industry looks at cost reduction measures, Veolia can provide the resources to aid in monitoring key critical analytics. Veolia’s suite of instrumentation can optimize corrosion control, log key data for analytical modeling, control chemical feed based on demand, alarm potential areas of concern, all reducing operating cost. Our Integrated Solutions for Refining (ISR) is a complete suite of on-line and off-line monitoring solutions, chemical solutions and knowledge management systems to optimize performance and protect assets.
Process
Water
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Boiler Water Treatment monitoring and control drives, efficiency, safety and reliability in steam-generating systems.
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Cooling Water Treatment programs are designed specifically to enhance and maximize your production output, heat transfer efficiency, and system reliability.
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Wastewater Management and water reuse solutions for water recovery, treatment, and recycling.
Equipment & Services
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Biological Wastewater Treatment provides high-performance water, wastewater, and sludge treatment solutions for any size population and virtually any influent condition.
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Desalination Technology
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Membrane Technology designed to meet difficult water and wastewater needs.
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Oil Removal Technology
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Sludge Management Technology
- Crude Oil Flexibility/Managing Variable Quality
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With the expansion of unconventional production and increased blending of crude oils, the variety of crude oils available to refiners today is broader than it has ever been. One key to operating with lower costs is to maintain the flexibility to process a wide assortment of crude oils and blends at your refinery—taking advantage of the supply market to enable a reduction in the cost of crude oil supply. However, lower-cost crudes and blend variations can have negative impacts on operating performance and introduce operating challenges.
Veolia has several technologies specific to measuring the quality of crude oils, blends, and operating conditions that can be impacted by variable quality like system fouling and corrosion—improving the ability to assess system health and determine when corrective actions are needed. Combining this information with time-tested, proven programs to maintain and improve performance helps our customers achieve an optimum balance between performance and cost while ensuring production and product quality goals are met.
The exact issues that arise depend upon the exact crude oil blend and refinery configuration, but common issues are seen across refineries looking to increase crude flexibility include desalter performance issues, increased fouling, wastewater quality degradation, catalyst poisoning, and decreased equipment life from corrosion. If left unchecked, the negative impacts of crude quality variation can consume much to all the profit opportunities gained by purchasing cheaper crude oils. Combining technology, chemistry, and industry know-how, Veolia works with you to develop the right program for your specific challenges, improving flexibility and increasing profit.
Process
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Amine Global Services keep your amine treatment system not just in control but running at optimum conditions.
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Crude Oil Fingerprinting & Advanced Predictive Analytics uses rapid, onsite testing to measure oil quality and predict impacts.
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Crude Overhead Corrosion Protection more effectively determines the salting in overhead systems and provides a comprehensive sensitivity analysis with advanced analytics towards proactive mitigation.
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Crude Overhead Monitoring Systems measure distillation tower overhead conditions onstream to provide continuous, closed-loop control.
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Crude Stabilizers enhance the ability to successfully process incompatible crude blends.
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Fouling Control Chemistry preserves heat transfer and throughput for both traditional and non-conventional fouling.
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Metals Removal enhances traditional desalter performance when processing opportunity crudes containing metal naphthenates to reduce coking, catalyst poisoning, and potential off-spec finished products.
Water
Equipment & Services
- Mechanical Availability (Uptime/Equipment Life)
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Fluctuating oil prices, energy conservation demands, and tightening regulations in recent years have forced a squeeze on operational costs at the same time the industry is seeking more efficient operations and longer continuous runs between planned maintenance. The obvious benefit of maximizing uptime is that keeping equipment running preserves production and profit generation. While the budget spent on maintenance is always a trade-off between reliability and cost, high performers can achieve reliability at low cost, while low performers spend a lot for maintenance but still are faced with lower reliability.
Veolia uses an integrated, holistic approach to helping refiners maximize uptime and preserve equipment life and performance across their operations. Our teams drive to the root cause of the problem to ensure that we solve challenges in the most cost-effective manner possible. As Veolia's capabilities span across the entire refinery operations and offsite—including chemistry, equipment, performance management, and technical expertise— we are positioned to ensure safe and reliable performance for the individual components, the refinery, and across your entire fleet of refineries.
Although planned maintenance has a cost impact as machinery sits idle, there is an accompanying long-term benefit of keeping everything functioning to its optimum over the long-haul. Unplanned downtime, however, typically costs 1.5 times as much as planned downtime and emergency downtime is even more damaging. An emergency shutdown can cost five times as much as downtime for planned maintenance. Ideally, maintenance costs should be driven from maintaining reliability, and not the lack thereof. Veolia works with you to develop unique programs to help eliminate unplanned and emergency downtime while extending uptime and equipment life.
Process
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Amine Global Services keep your amine treatment system not just in control but running at optimum conditions.
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Amine Removal programs increase the extraction of tramp amines into the desalter effluent brine to reduce overhead corrosion risk from amine chloride salts.
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Corrosion Control programs prevent metal loss and extend equipment life.
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Fouling Control & Monitoring preserve heat transfer and throughput for both traditional and non-conventional fouling.
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Integrated Solutions ensure an optimized approach is used throughout operations to maintain throughput and protect equipment.
Water
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Boiler Feedwater Treatment programs assess the chemical, operational, and mechanical efficiency to ensure proper boiler water is delivered to steam generation equipment.
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Boiler Internal Treatment provides highly effective protection against scale formation and corrosion to improve the reliability and efficiency of your boiler system.
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Condensate Modeling System helps reduce corrosion, maintenance needs, and downtime using more sophisticated methods for calculating chemical distribution in boiler and condensate systems.
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Cooling Water Treatment programs are designed specifically to enhance and maximize your production output, heat transfer efficiency, and system reliability.
Equipment & Services
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Asset Performance Management combines advanced data and analytics to help refiners prevent unplanned downtime, increase asset reliability, extend asset life, and optimize operations.
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Mobile Water On-Demand trailer-based systems fleet can meet your scheduled temporary or emergency water needs.
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Process, Economic & Environmental Performance Consulting designs and implements innovative improvement plans to optimize productivity to help meet economic and environmental performance targets with rejuvenation, upgrading, debottlenecking of existing facilities and adding new facilities.
- Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S)
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Imagine a refinery with the flexibility, confidence, and peace of mind to process any feedstock without adverse effects to the workers, local community or environment. At Veolia, our robust, predictable and holistic solutions allow refineries to treat, manage, recover, reuse, or recycle resources across their vast and complex network of oil, water and gas systems. Whether your refinery is looking to manage risks, avoid shutdowns due to environmental contamination, maintain their license to operate or looking for opportunities to grow, partnering with Veolia means safe, reliable and sustainable operations that meet and exceed all your economic and environmental targets.
Refineries are being challenged to meet shifting product demands while processing variable quality feedstocks. These challenges are impacting oil, water and gas systems across the entire facility. Our solutions allow you to continuously monitor, proactively assess and optimize your refinery operations to safely meet economic targets.
Source water quality, discharge limitations, and freshwater availability are also challenging refineries in various regions across the globe. These challenges are increasing operational risks, impacting their license to operate or even restricting opportunities to grow. Our solutions ensure that water resources are sustainably managed to achieve environmental protection and regulatory compliance at the lowest total cost of operation.
Refineries are managing aging infrastructure, tightening capital budgets and future market & regulatory uncertainties. These complex issues are increasing operational risks year over year and the solutions require more than just a simple technology fix. Veolia’s holistic solutions combine the most comprehensive water and process technology portfolio in the industry along with innovating customer-focused services, resources and consulting to generate shared value.
Process
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Crude Oil Fingerprinting & Advanced Predictive Analytics uses rapid, onsite testing to measure oil quality and predict impacts on desalter performance and heat exchanger fouling.
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Crude Overhead Corrosion Protection more effectively determines the salting in overhead systems and thermodynamic drivers having the greatest impact.
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Crude Overhead Monitoring Systems measures distillation tower overhead conditions onstream to provide continuous, closed-loop control.
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Desalter Benzene Extraction programs to minimize the amount of benzene in the effluent brine to assist with NESHAP regulations.
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Desalter Programs tailored to specific mechanical and operating parameters that minimize the oil in the effluent brine, enhancing wastewater treatment plant's ability to meet discharge specifications.
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Fouling Control & Monitoring preserves heat transfer and throughput for both traditional and non-conventional fouling.
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Fuel Treatment Programs help you get more from the fuel you’re using or allow you to switch to a less expensive fuel with no sacrifice to reliability or environmental regulations.
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H2S Scavengers cost-effectively reduce H2S vapor levels associated with petroleum products and water to safe levels.
Water
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Amine Global Services keep your amine treatment system not just in control but running at optimum conditions.
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Boiler Water Treatment monitoring and control drives, efficiency, safety and reliability in steam-generating systems.
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Cooling Water Treatment monitoring and control extends asset life to enhance and maximize production output and heat transfer efficiency while ensuring environmental protection.
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Membrane Treatment chemicals and services protect your membranes from scale, bacterial growth and fouling to maintain production, maximize membrane life and minimize operating costs.
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Wastewater Treatment monitoring and control improves the performance of physical, chemical and biological units while reducing sludge handling ensuring environmental protection and regulatory compliance.
Equipment & Services
- Planned & Unplanned Events
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The budget spent on maintenance is always a trade-off between reliability and cost. High performers can achieve reliability at low cost, while low performers spend a lot for maintenance but still are facing lower reliability. Although planned maintenance has a cost impact as machinery sits idle, there is an accompanying long-term benefit of keeping everything functioning to its optimum over the long-haul. Unplanned downtime, however, typically costs 1.5 times more than planned downtime. Emergency downtime is even more damaging - an emergency shutdown can cost five times more than downtime for planned maintenance. Ideally, maintenance costs should be driven from maintaining reliability, and not the lack thereof.
Veolia helps refiners minimize the cost of planned and unplanned events in several ways due to our breadth of capabilities across the entire refining process - including chemistry, equipment, performance management, and technical expertise.
- Help refiners maintain peak performance and efficiency during operations from startup, up to planned maintenance events. We are in refineries every day working side-by-side with our customers to ensure performance is maintained, and respond quickly to correct upset conditions.
- Identify and execute performance improvement projects to help refiners achieve longer run times to extend the time between planned events.
- When unplanned & emergency events happen, provide quick response to minimize the impact. From developing temporary programs to keep the refinery operating during unusual conditions to equipment cleaning technologies to onsite support during unplanned and emergency events, Veolia is there to help.
- When it is time to upgrade or expand your operation, Veolia has the engineering expertise and equipment design, build, install, and operate capabilities to work with your capital group or EPC company to ensure the latest, most effective technology is used for your unique needs.
Process
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Corrosion Control Chemistry ensures monitoring assets and treatment programs are applied to the right spots in your system.
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Reactor Bed Cleaning cleans fixed-bed reactors to restore operations and extend run-length.
Water
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Bioaugmentation Chemicals & Monitoring determine biological health and stress on a microbial system, enabling faster response and avoiding upsets.
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Boiler Layup Programs prevent corrosion and degradation while boilers are not operating during an outage.
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Steam Condensate Treatment helps reduce corrosion, maintenance needs, and downtime using more sophisticated methods for calculating chemical distribution in boiler and condensate systems.
Equipment & Services