Following a very successful 2015, Finepac starts the new financial year with the opening of a new international office in Sharjah, UAE. The push in the Middle East comes as the renowned specialists in Mass transfer and Separations technology enjoyed a strong growth in sales and further expanded their client base in the Middle East. Finepac, which already enjoys a strong profile in India, moving to the Middle East was the next obvious step, as the company wants to capitalize on its growing presence in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region.

Saiprasad Wakchaure, Manager for business development explains: "The MENA region supplies a third of the world's Oil & Gas and is of paramount importance to our existing global customers. Setting up of a new office in the UAE is in line with Finepac's ambitious growth plans and gives us a better platform to serve our customers in the Middle East in a better way". Sharjah is developing into a major international hub for Oil & Gas and its proximity to Dubai and Abu Dhabi will give us an excellent opportunity to establish strong relationships with a number of operators in the Oil & Gas industry.

Mr.Virbhadra Karegaonkar who will lead Finepac's operations in the Middle East explains: "We see the United Arab Emirates as extremely vital in our growth strategy. Its strategic location will help us reach out to new customers as well as provide better services to our existing clients". Finepac's new branch office is situated in the Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah and will be headed by Mr.Virbhadra Karegaonkar. Virbhadra can be contacted on virbhadra@finepacindia.in

Finepac signs a new 5-year deal with AspenTech for Aspen Plus® software for optimized process design
Finepac is pleased to announce a deal with AspenTech for the industry leading process optimization software Aspen Plus®. This agreement enables us to continue providing industry leading process design services for a variety of processes for chemical and refinery plant units and complements perfectly to our broad range of process equipment portfolio that includes Structured and Random packings, Mass transfer trays, Column internals, High performance separator internals, Static mixers and Mist eliminators.

Aspen Plus® is the market-leading chemical process optimization software used by the bulk, fine, specialty & biochemical industries as well as the polymers industry for the design, operation, and optimization of safe, profitable manufacturing facilities. Over the past few years, we at Finepac have made a conscious effort to further enhance our process design capabilities to provide our customers with cutting edge process designs for new and even more challenging processes. We have designed a variety of process columns with different operational parameters and performance requirements. Aspen Plus provides us with a number of key technical features which enables us to provide process designs with increased engineering efficiency, improved products yields and lower operational costs for a variety of processes including

•   Batch and continuous distillation
•   Stripping and absorption distillation
•   Azeotropic distillation
•   Extractive and reactive distillation
•   Crude distillation units (CDU)

For detailed information on our process design services please visit FINEPAC – Process Design & Engineering. We would like to thank AspenTech for their continued support and co-operation with Finepac and hope for a long term and fruitful relationship with them. For any questions regarding process design services offered by Finepac please get in touch with our associate Mr.Sunil Naikwadi at sunilnaikwadi@finepacindia.in

We are delighted to announce that ADCO has approved Finepac as a permanent vendor for a range of oilfield process equipment.
Finepac, a leading provider of state of the art mass transfer and separations technology products and services for the refining, gas processing, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries is pleased to announce that it has been approved as a vendor by Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations (ADCO), a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Oil company (ADNOC).

About ADCO
The Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations Ltd. (ADCO) operates onshore and in shallow coastal waters of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It is Abu Dhabi's longest running Oil & Gas operator and has been at the forefront of development of the emirate for more than 75 years. Finepac designs and manufactures a complete portfolio of mass transfer and separations equipment including structured and random packings, mass transfer trays, high performance separator internals, TEG and amine contactors, demisters, column internals and process equipment along with the associated process design for separator vessels, refinery & process columns and gas processing units.

Suhas Wakchaure, Managing Director of Finepac explains, "we have been supplying our products to the Middle East for more than 15 years and being a permanent approved vendor of ADCO shows that we have proved our quality and meet the high quality standards set by ADCO." Finepac has been approved to supply its range of high performance separator internals, column packings, mass transfer trays, demisters and column internals as a part of this vendor approval. For more information on the topic, please get in touch with our associate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Virbhadra Karegaonkar at virbhadra@finepacindia.in virbhadra@finepacindia.in or visit our website www.finepacindia.in

Finepac is pleased to announce its participation in the Middle East refining & petrochemicals exhibition in Bahrain.
Since its inauguration in 1996, Middle East Petrotech has established itself as the premier exhibition for downstream products and services, highlighting new technologies and equipment in the refining and petrochemical industries. Chaired by Kuwait Petroleum International and Saudi Aramco, the Middle East Petrotech 2016 boasts of an impressive lineup of exhibitors including regional majors like Bapco, ADNOC, KNPC, Saudi Aramco, Petro Rabigh, SAMREF (Saudi Aramco Mobil refinery) and SASREF (Saudi Aramco Shell refinery) amongst other.

We at Finepac are extremely excited to be presenting at the exhibition since it gives us an excellent platform to showcase our products and services and highlight our capabilities at serving the refining and petrochemical industries. Finepac enjoys an excellent track record in the Middle East spanning more than a decade and half for serving our customers in the region with state of the art products including Structured packings, Random packings, Mass transfer trays, High performance separator internals and Demisters. In addition, we also provide an excellent array of process design capabilities for the design of Crude distillation units (CDU), Oil and gas separators, TEG contactors and Amine contactors and we hope the exhibition further helps us cement our position in the region.

The exhibition holds particular significance in light of challenging times for the energy sector on account of low oil prices and it is events like these which presents itself as a bright spot for the region and the energy community to convene as we look forward to forge a bright future together. The exhibition will be held In Bahrain at the Bahrain International and Convention Centre from the 27 th -29 th September 2016. Our colleagues Virbhadra Karegaonkar (virbhadra@finepacindia.in) and Sunil Naikwadi (sunilnaikwadi@finepacindia.in) will represent Finepac at the exhibition. Please visit us at stand number 321.

Natural gas is gaining increasing importance as an environmentally friendly source of energy capable of fueling economic growth in many parts of the world today and for many years to come in the future.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) delivers clean burning natural gas from remote production areas to distant markets easily. Also its logistical flexibility enables transportation to distant areas and helps improve the security of supplies worldwide. These have been two of the main drivers making LNG one of the fastest growing energy sources worldwide with the demand expected to double over the next 2 decades. With the rapid increase in the demand for natural gas as a major source fuelling the world, it is imperative that new technologies for processing and treating natural gas are developed and employed. Natural gas dehydration using Glycol contactors is an integral part of many gas treatment applications. The dehydration process removes the hydrate crystals and prevent severe corrosion problems and make the gas fit for further processing.

Over the years different mass transfer technologies have been developed taking into considerations the demands of increased capacity, high efficiency and small column sizes.

•   Till the 1990's the TEG contactors were designed with bubble cap trays. However the low F-factors of these trays resulted in large diameter sizes.
•   Column size is an important consideration, especially for offshore installations. The use of structured packings instead of mass transfer trays allowed significant reductions in column sizes on account of high F-factor of structured packings.
•   The performance of TEG systems can be further improved by replacing conventional structured packings with FP-HC series structured packings. The FP-HC Series packings deliver higher capacity, lower pressure drop without any reduction in efficiency. This results in even smaller column diameters and reduced capital costs.

Finepac has extensive experience in delivering optimized glycol contactor column designs along with the appropriate process equipment. Of particular importance is the appropriate selection and design of the mass transfer and mist elimination equipment. An optimally designed TEG system will bring significant benefits in terms of weight, space and cost savings. The dehydration results out of the mass transfer between the wet natural gas and the TEG. As a result the dry natural gas exits the top of the column whereas the water rich TEG leaves the tower at bottom and goes into a re-concentration system consisting of a stripper and a regenerator.

Proper designing of TEG systems are essential to ensure TEG purity and quality of dehydration. To mitigate these challenges Finepac provides complete TEG contactor systems consisting of the associated process design and appropriately designed mass transfer and mist elimination equipment For more information regarding Glycol contactor systems provided by Finepac please get in touch with our associate Sunil Naikwadi at sunilnaikwadi@finepacindia.in

Structured Packings consist of specially designed corrugated sheets used for separation in distillation, absorption and chemical process columns. Now, different processes require different performance characteristics from these packings, for which, Finepac offers a broad portfolio of innovative and conventional structured packings in a wide range of sizes and styles in metals, plastics and ceramics.

Columns with structured packings are well established for distillation, absorption and stripping operations in gas treatment, refining and chemical process plants. Structured packings provide a number of key benefits including high separation efficiency, low pressure drop, high capacity and proper feed distribution which makes them the ideal choice of packing in a number of separation applications. Furthermore, the ease of replacement and storage makes structured packings an ideal choice where the packing needs to be frequently replaced. Now, Finepac recognizes that while these packings provide many valuable benefits, not all applications are demanding. Different packing types offer different performance levels from conventional to high performance, which makes a certain packing type more desirable than the other for a particular application. This thus allows highest flexibility to fulfill the differing requirements of different separation tasks.

Columns with conventional structured packings have been traditionally used with a great deal of success for more than three decades Now, Finepac has introduced a new series of high performance column packings – The FP-HC and WM-HC series packings which not only give an excellent performance in regular separations but also perform outstandingly for challenging separation processes even with extremely low liquid loads. Conventional structured packings provide a number well established benefits in absorption, distillation and stripping operations including high separation efficiency, high capacity and low- pressure drop. However, with the rapid development of new processes and applications, the performance requirements expected from the packings of today are constantly increasing. The FP-HC and WM-HC series of packings aim to exactly do that by providing excellent capacity and efficiency characteristics across a wide range of applications and processes.

Distillation and absorption processes are thermal separation processes, where mass transfer between the gas and liquid phases is the fundamental mechanism of the separation. The interfacial area between the vapor phase and the liquid phase is thereby the single most important factor for the separation efficiency of the unit. Thus, by increasing the interfacial area we can achieve the required separation efficiency required by the process.

This new high performance structured packing provides an excellent combination of high of capacity and efficiency characteristics with a reduced pressure drop. The packing is similar in construction to a standard packing, except for a subtle modification in the geometry of the corrugation at the top and bottom of each packing layer.

The wettability of a packing material has a profound impact on the separation efficiency provided by the packing. Considering this fact, Finepac has developed the WM-HC series packing with a new material of construction, which achieves an almost wetting of the geometrical surface area. The Capillary forces achieve an outstanding wetting behavior, which spreads the liquid uniformly and provides an excellent performance across a wide range of processes, even those with extremely low water flow rates.