Troubleshooting Process Plant Control

Norman P. Lieberman is an independent process design engineer and field troubleshooter. His clients include refineries and petrochemical plants. Mr. Lieberman is well known and respected in the process industry for his seminar "Troubleshooting Process Operations," which he has presented to more than 12,000 engineers and plant operators.

PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION-A HISTORY OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS xi Chapter 1 Learning from Experience 1 Chapter 2 Process Control Parameter Measurement 9 Chapter 3 Dependent and Independent Variables 21 Chapter 4 Binary Distillation of Pure Components 29 Chapter 5 Distillation Tower Pressure Control 37 Chapter 6 Pressure Control in Multicomponent Systems 51 Chapter 7 Optimizing Fractionation Effi ciency by Temperature Profi le 59 Chapter 8 Analyzer Process Control 67 Chapter 9 Fired Heater Combustion Air Control 75 Chapter 10 Sizing Process Control Valves 85 Chapter 11 Control Valve Position on Instrument Air Failure 93 Chapter 12 Override and Split-Range Process Control 101 Chapter 13 Vacuum System Pressure Control 107 Chapter 14 Reciprocating Compressors 115 Chapter 15 Centrifugal Compressor Surge vs. Motor Over-Amping 123 Chapter 16 Controlling Centrifugal Pumps 131 Chapter 17 Steam Turbine Control 139 Chapter 18 Steam and Condensate Control 147 Chapter 19 Function of the Process Control Engineer 155 Chapter 20 Steam Quality and Moisture Content 163 Chapter 21 Level, Pressure, Flow, and Temperature Indication Methods 179 Chapter 22 Alarm and Trip Design for Safe Plant Operations 195 Chapter 23 Nonlinear Process Responses 205 ABOUT MY SEMINARS 213 FURTHER READINGS ON TROUBLESHOOTING PROCESS CONTROLS 217 THE NORM LIEBERMAN VIDEO LIBRARY OF TROUBLESHOOTING PROCESS OPERATIONS 219 INDEX 221