Troubleshooting Process Plant Control

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.

Norman P. Lieberman is a practicing chemical engineer with 59 1/2 years of design, operation, and troubleshooting experience for refineries and petrochemical plants. He is well-known in the process industry for instructing technical process seminars, primarily for refineries and petrochemical plants.