ABSTRACT
Troubleshooting is a common affair the individuals or organizations exercise for their survival. In petroleum refineries also, though there are sets of guidelines/SOPS to operate the plants, sometimes unique problems arise which need to be tackled with knowledge, experience and ready wittiness to overcome the problems without much loss of energy and time. In refineries, capacity utilization, energy intensity index, process efficiency, and on-stream factor/availability are the key parameters that contribute a lot to refinery profitability and sustainability. Various operational upsets in refineries result in poor gradation in refinery ranking with respect to all the parameters. Troubleshooting skills of the engineers engaged in operation depends not only on their pre-education in alma mater and their engagement in operation of units, but also on knowledge in other disciplines like mechanical, electrical and instrument engineering.
