Oil Refinery

In 1959, a land that once was a part of Homs’ greenfield on the western shore of the Orontes River, hosted the first Syrian petroleum refinery. Since then, the industrial area has been harming the city and its people with massive industrial pollution, while at the same time, providing the city with huge landmarks, located on a transport node that connects southern Syrian regions with the north and the west. In 2008 the government decided to relocate the refinery outside the city, and proposed the demolition of the site to build new urban expansions (Tabula rasa). The execution of the proposal will lead to the waste of history, image, materials and energy.

  Our project reconsiders the 192-ha post-industrial area as a reusable development, to preserve the image and the industrial heritage, make the best use of site elements and sustain the spirit of the place.
  We proposed turning what was once a harmful area, into a regional eco-park that will help the city of Homs thrive again after the war and the economic crisis, with a lively program that brings back the indigenous eco-system and provides spaces for: education, research, renewable energies, cultural activities, picnic, entertainment, investment and tourism.
The Park will be the first in Homs and the first national park in Syria, and will provide the city with clean air, an interactive western gateway and a fabulous tourist attraction, and serve the future urban expansion developments as a cultural-green centre, a sustainable energy supplier, and a new waste recycling centre; Thus, becoming a landmark that raises the public environmental awareness.
  The project is about the preservation of cultural sustainability, and the proposition of environmental, economic and social sustainability.

  The process required the deconstruction of the industrial site into separate types of structures, and the thorough study of each type in terms of lifespan, reuse potential and value (regarding The Nizhny Tagil Charter for the Industrial Heritage) in order to make the most efficient use of each.
  The urban strategy was to let the eastern ecological landscape conquer the site and grow over it, and to create two tour paths, provided with electric vehicles: an educational path, and an ecological one; and to revive the image of each landmark with eco-friendly technologies, while insuring the best use for each part of the site, and the complementation of the program with the surrounding context.
  According to a study made by the government, the bioremediation of the land will take 6-8 years, so we planned a phasing plan that starts by recycling the recyclable materials, then makes place for investment zones in order to attract the public and to fund the project, and finally makes it possible for the public to witness the process of bioremediation.
  On an architectural scale, we proposed multiple intervention patterns to humanize the industrial landscape in a detail-masterplan, and adaptively reused three valuable preserved structures: firstly, the Power Plant was transformed into The Industrial Museum, which portraits the case of industrialization and environment, and tells the story of the site; Secondly, the Water Cooling Units were turned into The Museum Of Water, where the importance of water in the process of reviving and giving life is showcased; Lastly, four Oil Tanks were transformed into Green Houses, where the industrial structures become a framework for the environment.

Eastern Refinery Limited played an important role in producing petroleum products in Bangladesh and  produces almost 16 different petroleum products. Crude Distillation Unit is the energy intensive unit. Simulation of Crude Distillation Unit of Eastern Refinery Limited Company was carried out using Aspen Plus Process Simulator. Various design data have been taken from Eastern Refinery Limited. Aspen Plus model is developed and simulation data is validated. Different distillation curves obtained from the simulator are similar to the expected.

Monitoring of atmospheric pollution using Aleppo bark as a bioindicator was carried out in the industrial area surrounding the Al-Hussein thermal power station and the oil refinery at Al-Hashimyeh town, Jordan. The concentrations of heavy metals (copper , lead, cadmium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, zinc, iron, and chromium) were analyzed in bark samples collected from the study area during July 2004. The results showed that high levels of heavy metals were found in tree bark samples retrieved from all studied sites compared with the remote reference site. This is, essentially, due to the fact that the oil refinery and the thermal power plant still use low-quality fuel oil from the by-products of oil refining. Automobile emissions are another source of pollution since the study area is located along a major heavy-traffic highway. It was found that the area around the study sites (Al-Hashimyeh town, Zarqa) is polluted with high levels of heavy metals. Pine bark was found to be a suitable bioindicator of aerial fallout of heavy metals in arid regions.

Background: Prevention of accidents—a crucial requirement in oil industries—involves hazard recognition, risk assessment, and corrective actions. The purpose of this study was to compare the ETBA and HAZOP techniques for risk assessment in a gasoline refinery unit.
Methods: In this case study, data were collected using process flow diagram, walking–talking through method, piping and instrumentation diagram, and direct observations. Worksheets for both techniques were filled on the basis of the risk assessment matrix MIL-STD-882E.
Results: The HAZOP method identified 44 deviations attributable to 118 causes. In addition, 11.37% of the identified hazards were associated with unacceptable risk, and 36.36%, with unfavorable risk. The ETBA method detected 10 groups of energy (24 subgroups); 33 hazards were detected, 10.62% of which were associated with unacceptable risk.
Conclusion: HAZOP proved to be the more powerful technique for the prediction and identification of hazards. However, ETBA detected certain hazards that were not identifiable using HAZOP. Therefore, a combination of these two methods is desirable for the assessment of hazard risk in process industries.

BACKGROUND: Work-related fatigue (WRF) plays a significant role in performance, work safety, and work productivity in all industries. Oil and gas are an industry with a high level of occupational safety and health risks. Research of WRF is needed to detect critical risk factors early to prevent the adverse effect of WRF. AIM: This study aims to analyze the prevalence of WRF in oil refinery workers at one of the oil refineries companies in Indonesia and analyze the factors that influence it. DESIGN AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 224 of 511 oil refinery workers. Questionnaire and WRF scales were used to assess demographic characteristics and WRF prevalence, respectively. A medical examination was applied to determine the health status of workers based on blood pressure, body temperature, and respiratory rate. The sound level meter and heat stress meter were used to measure noise and work climate. Cramer's V correlation was applied to identify correlations between WRF and other parameters. RESULTS: WRF was found among workers in all sections of the oil refinery plant, categorized as low, medium, high, and very high. The WRF prevalence issues only appear in the hydrocracking plant section. The WRF at the section was significantly related to working period (p = 0.037, r = 0.795), respiratory rate (p = 0.026, r = 0.852), and blood pressure (diastolic, p = 0.047, r = 0.274). Besides, the WRF prevalences are related significantly to noise exposure (p = 0.000, r = 0.248) and heat stress exposure (p = 0.030, r = 0.656). CONCLUSION: Working period, respiratory rate, and blood pressure are the intrinsic characteristics that should be paid attention to, especially at the hydrocracking plant, to overcome the WRF of oil refinery workers. At the same time, noise and heat exposure is the extrinsic factor needed to be standardized by increasing the work safety standard for the workers.

The emergence of a parallel economy in the Niger Delta of Nigeria built around oil theft and illegal refineries has already been acknowledged by all stakeholders in the industry. The influence of the said informal economy on the Nigerian State has also been considered as far reaching. This paper adopts the doctrinal method and argues that the growing unemployment of youths of the delta and their lucrative engagement in the rogue economy pose major hurdles to the fight against oil theft and illegal refineries in the creeks. The sundry corrupt activities of both the Nigerian State and the multinational oil companies in creating the environment in which theft and illegal refining thrive can also not be under-emphasized. It advocates for new legislative frame work for oil theft and illegal refineries by canvassing for a review of the present stiff penalties to a more effective legal framework in combating the scourge of oil theft and illegal refineries in Nigeria to encourage the development of the local technology behind oil theft and illegal refineries.