With this in mind [Advanced Engineering Solutions] created a metal 3D printed heat exchanger that is half the size and four times the efficiency of the one it was designed to replace.

Tesoro failed to check for cracks that had developed in the nearly 40-year-old heat exchanger that ruptured April 2, killing seven workers at the Anacortes refinery, the agency said.

A revamp of the crude unit in ConocoPhillips’ Ponca City, Okla., refinery has allowed the refiner to process a lower-cost slate and increased overall refinery profitability.