In this section of the site contributing authors submit interesting articles relating
to the various services, industries and research & development efforts of Becht.
Nuclear power plants are designed to be capable of a safe shut-down in case of a large design-basis tornado or hurricane. The magnitude of the postulated design-basis tornado or hurricane is such that there is less than 1 in 10 million chance (1E-7) per year and per reactor that it would be exceeded. This probability […]
Gulf Coast Refinery Turnaround Becht Engineering mobilized Advisors to Louisiana to supplement a Client’s operations organization during a 45-day, fourth quarter 2015 turnaround. The planned outage included cleaning the pyro-fractionator coke fines, replacing the internals of a 5-stage gas compressor, cleaning, inspecting and making tie-ins for a flare recovery system, complete re-traying of an ethylene […]
Recently, a Becht Inspection Planner was preparing the Inspection Turnaround Plan for a client’s HF Alkylation Unit. When reviewing the unit’s equipment histories the Planner found documentation stating the Iso-Sidecut Receiver (14’X30’ @ 30ft elevation) had scattered hydrogen blisters on one elliptical head from the past two inspection reports. The inspection recommendations were to monitor […]
Natural gas costs have decreased substantially relative to fuel oil over the past few years because of the major gas production increase due to fracking. This has led some fuel oil consumers to consider spending capital to allow a switch to natural gas. A Becht Engineering client, Coopers Creek Chemical, Inc., in Conshohocken, PA, requested […]
Risk Based Work Selection (RBWS) is one of the Best Practices used by refiners in managing safety and reliability of operations for a facility. RBWS enables refiners to optimize the scope, cost and duration of major turnarounds (TA). Optimization of the work scope is accomplished by screening individual TA Work List items, using a risk-based […]
There are many reasons why a refinery may want to change their crude slates. However, all of them boil down to economics. Whether a cheaper crude is available or there is a desire to manufacture specific products to increase profitability – money is the driver. However, in deciding to change your crude slate, the long […]
It is normal for piping systems to exhibit steady pressure pulses. Most of the time these pulses are inconsequential; however, in a few cases they must be eliminated because they can affect the reliable operation of the system or they can cause a mechanical failure. Becht Engineering recently assisted a client in the evaluation of […]
I am sure most of you heard about the tragic crane accident that occurred in Mecca in September 2015. I was paying very close attention as the crane was very large and similar to the cranes we work with everyday here at Becht. We have utilized the same make and model on three projects just […]
Equipment Operators face hundreds of work list items while planning for scheduled maintenance events. For each item the owner must make a decision on whether to repair or replace the equipment to resolve the deficiency. In some circumstances, owners are unable to come up with a cost effective repair solution so they default to the […]
Road Map of Regulatory Requirements General Design Criteria – The protection of nuclear power plants from the effects of tornadoes (or extreme winds from typhoons or hurricanes, depending on the locality) is required through 10CFR50 Appendix A, 10 CFR 50, Appendix A, General Design Criterion 2 which requires that structures, systems, and components (SSCs) important […]
