Presented here are practical points to help in the selection of plate-and-frame and air-cooled heat exchangers With a wider variety of heat exchangers to choose from than ever before, there are a number of variables to be considered when assessing…
Biogas plants play an important role in defossilization — anaerobic bacteria in these plants break down biomass to form biogas which, on average, comprises up to 60% methane and more than 40% CO2. While the biogas is used to generate…
Nickel alloys have long been the default choice for demanding applications in the chemical process industries (CPI). A new grade of stainless steel offers an alternative Demanding chemical engineering applications, such as plate heat exchangers (PHEs; Figure 1), tubing, pipes…
Countercurrent heat-exchange with difficult slurries, such as those of mineral ore or stringy vegetables, has not been possible because suspended solids pack and foul the shell of shell-and-tube designs and plug the passages in plate-and-frame units. Now, a recently patented…
The olefin metathesis reaction produces new carbon-carbon double bonds by swapping the carbon atoms in olefins, and is important for producing a number of chemicals. Currently, the most popular catalysts for this reaction are made from the precious metal ruthenium…
Dispersion modeling of atmospheric releases from pressure-relief valves and other sources can be time-consuming. Follow this screening process to categorize which installations require detailed modeling and focus effort where it is most consequential The safe design of atmospheric relief/venting systems…
Plant Watch Solvay completes PVDF capacity expansion in Changshu June 13, 2022 — Solvay S.A. (Brussels, Belgium; www.solvay.com) has significantly increased production capacity for polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) at the company’s site in Changshu, China. Solvay has now more than doubled…
The production of clinker used for making cement continues to be a major source of global CO2 emissions. Now, three engineers from the University of Cambridge (U.K.; eng.cam.ac.uk) have filed a patent and been awarded new research funding for their…
Cellulosic ethanol Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com) has produced the first commercial cellulosic ethanol at its sunliquid production plant in Podari, Romania. The entire offtake is contracted with a multi-year agreement to Shell. Over the last six months, the plant…
Achema (www.achema.de), the global forum for the chemical engineering and process industries presented by Dechema e.V. (www.dechema.de), is taking place August 22–26 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This year’s event will feature over 2,000 exhibitors spread out over 12 exhibit…