Troubleshooting Process Plant Control
A Practical Guide to Avoiding and Correcting Mistakes
3. Edition August 2024
368 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
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 CO2 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.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xi
INTRODUCTION xiii
Chapter 1 Learning from Experience 1
Chapter 2 Process Control Parameter Measurement 11
Chapter 3 Dependent and Independent Variables 25
Chapter 4 Binary Distillation of Pure Components 33
Chapter 5 Distillation Tower Pressure Control 41
Chapter 6 Control of Aqueous Phase (Waste Water) Strippers 53
Chapter 7 Pressure Control in Multicomponent Systems 59
Chapter 8 Optimizing Fractionation Efficiency by Temperature Profile 67
Chapter 9 Analyzer Process Control 75
Chapter 10 Fired Heater Combustion Air Control 85
Chapter 11 Using Existing Controls to Promote Energy Efficiency 97
Chapter 12 Sizing Process Control Valves 105
Chapter 13 Control Valve Position on Instrument Air Failure 113
Chapter 14 Override and Split-Range Process Control 123
Chapter 15 Vacuum System Pressure Control 129
Chapter 16 Reciprocating Compressors 141
Chapter 17 Centrifugal Compressor Surge versus Motor Over-Amping 149
Chapter 18 Controlling Centrifugal Pumps 157
Chapter 19 Steam Turbine Control 165
Chapter 20 Steam and Condensate Control 177
Chapter 21 Control of Process Reactions 189
Chapter 22 Function of the Process Control Engineer 203
Chapter 23 Steam Quality and Moisture Content 213
Chapter 24 Level, Pressure, Flow, and Temperature Indication Methods 229
Chapter 25 Alarm and Trip Design for Safe Plant Operations 245
Chapter 26 Inverted Response of Process Parameters 255
Chapter 27 Nonlinear Process Responses 263
Chapter 28 Control Malfunction Stories 271
Chapter 29 Level Indication Problems in Vessels 279
Chapter 30 Calibration Specific Gravity for Level Control 285
Chapter 31 Flow Orifice Plate Cavitation 289
Chapter 32 Factors Causing Incorrect Process Parameter Measurements 293
Chapter 33 Optimizing Controls to Reduce Emissions from Sulfur
Recovery Plants and Sour Water Strippers 299
Chapter 34 Positive Pressure in Fired Heaters--Effect of Wind 305
Chapter 35 A Lesson From Bhopal&mdashHazards of Ignoring Alarms 309
ABOUT MY SEMINARS 313
FURTHER READINGS ON TROUBLESHOOTING PROCESS CONTROLS 317
THE NORM LIEBERMAN VIDEO LIBRARY OF TROUBLESHOOTING PROCESS OPERATIONS 319
INDEX 321
