Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) represent a group of persisting and prevalent environmental pollutants that are harmful to the environment and humans due to their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic potential. The emission of PAHs into the environment has increased with the increase in demand for petroleum products. The incomplete combustion of organic products such as coal, fuel oil, fir...

In this paper we describe an optimisation package for finished product blending in oil refineries. It is used inside the FORWARD system, an advanced scheduling/simulation tool for the petro-chemical industry. The blend optimiser uses the rational constraint solver of CHIP, a constraint logic programming system. The optimiser handles different linear and non-linear blending laws, as well as diff...

New desulfurizing bacteria able to convert dibenzothiophene into 2-hydroxybiphenyl and sulfate were isolated from contaminated soils collected in Mexican refineries. Random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis showed they were different from previously reported Rhodococcus erythropolis desulfurizing strains. According to 16S rRNA gene sequencing and fatty acid analyses, these new isolates belonge...

As petroleum prices continue to increase, it is likely that biofuels will play an ever-increasing role in our energy future. The processing of biomass-derived feedstocks (including cellulosic, starch- and sugar-derived biomass, and vegetable fats) by catalytic cracking and hydrotreating is a promising alternative for the future to produce biofuels, and the existing infrastructure of petroleum r...

In the literature, optimization models deal with planning and scheduling of several subsystems of the petroleum supply chain such as oilfield infrastructure, crude oil supply, refinery operations and product transportation. The focus of the present work is to propose a general framework for modeling petroleum supply chains. As a starting point, processing units are modeled based on the framewor...

Wireless telemetry systems are now becoming a relevant topic in the field of critical process control in industrial plants and oil/gas refineries. In contrast to wire line communication, wireless links are inherently unreliable. This unreliability depends critically on the propagation environment of the radio-links as the layout of scattering objects (pipes and metallic structures) influences t...

BACKGROUND Emissions from refineries include a wide range of substances, such as chrome, lead, nickel, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, benzene, dioxins and furans, all of which are recognized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as carcinogens.Various studies have shown an association between non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and residence in the vicinity of industrial areas; however, evi...