Oil Industry

In the petrochemical production process, numerous physical and chemical processes as well as mass and heat transfer unit operations are involved. Some process control conditions are exceptionally stringent, such as high temperature and high pressure, low temperature, and vacuum.

For instance, steam cracking occurs at temperatures as high as 1100°C, while some cryogenic separation processes operate at temperatures below-100°C; the polymerization pressure for high-pressure polyethylene reaches 350 MPa. Particularly in numerous processing steps such as vacuum distillation, catalytic cracking, and coking, the material temperature often exceeds its auto-ignition point.