Notes of an old refiner

Today a long post for the technical people, others may skip.

The refinery in Kobozev was built in the late fifties, and in 1974 they expanded it. I was there as a young senior operator when they brought in the new catalytic cracking unit: a tower the height of a ten-floor house, the reactor, the regenerator, and the pipes that I knew by heart afterwards, like the veins of my own hand. The commissioning team was from Baku and Moscow. They said it will take three months to bring the unit to the full load. We did it in five weeks, because the shift of Nikolai Stepanovich did not go home. The chief of the plant, I remember, brought us tea in the thermoses himself at four in the morning.

What is cracking? Simple version: the heavy oil is a long chain, like a long wooden train. At 500 degrees with the catalyst powder the train breaks into small wagons, and these small wagons are gasoline. A good shift engineer feels the unit with the soles of his shoes. If the floor trembles in a certain way, you go to the panel before the alarm.

In my 20 years as a shift engineer I had two serious incidents and no one was hurt. I am proud of that more than of the medals.

"A refinery does not forgive, but it also does not forget the good." (Nikolai Stepanovich, 1975)