Mobile Navigation

Leak Prevention in Small-Bore Piping and Tubing

Improved understanding of the causes of piping leaks can reduce the frequency of leaks and lead to significantly better performance over time Leakage in pipes is an ongoing problem in research and development facilities across many sectors of the chemical…

Member Exclusive

Evaporators: Energy Conservation Strategies and Process Control

Several strategies for improving energy consumption and process control in evaporation processes are presented here In industrial evaporation, a heat source (usually condensed steam) is used to concentrate a material through the removal of a liquid solvent. There are several…

Focus on Seals and Gaskets

Mechanical joint-integrity training courses for the CPI The Academy of Joint Integrity (www.academyofjointintegrity.com) has achieved approval from the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for a suite of theory and practical training programs to support technicians and engineers in the chemical…

Member Exclusive

Plant Watch: October 2020

Plant Watch Braskem begins commercial production at La Porte PP plant September 11, 2020 — Braskem America (Philadelphia, Pa.; www.braskem.com) launched commercial production at its new polypropylene (PP) production line in La Porte, Tex., which has a production capacity of…

An enhanced polymer for wear-resistant applications

This company has upgraded its Thermec range of enhanced polymers, with the introduction of a cost-efficient product based on polyether ether ketone (PEEK), blended with a solid polymeric lubricant. The new material has been specially developed to replace polyamide-imides (PAI),…

A more efficient way to upgrade lignin bio-oils

Lignin bio-oil is a common waste stream formed during the production of cellulose and ethanol from biomass. Due to its high oxygen and low hydrogen content, lignin bio-oil must be upgraded via hydrogenation and deoxygenation before it can be used…

Rapid Maintenance Response: When Plants Can’t Wait

Even with advanced predictive technologies, unplanned equipment failures can still occur. In these instances, as shown in this boiler example, rapid maintenance action is crucial to minimize downtime Maintenance activities generally fall into two categories — reactive and preventative. The…

Extract dust during unloading operations

Farleygreene’s Sievmaster Easilift sack-tip station, which is distributed in the U.K. and Ireland by this company, is a sack-tip station that is used widely throughout the processing industries. Now, with the launch of its Localized Dust Extraction System (LDEE, photo)…

This new gateway is optimized for the process industries

With the IE/PB Link HA gateway (photo), highly redundant infrastructures can be implemented based on the open Profinet Industrial Ethernet standard. This ensures uninterrupted system operation because changes can be made to the configuration during ongoing operation. In addition, the…

A reliable way to detect water in tanks

Sar-Gel Blue (photo) is a new nontoxic water-finding paste. It provides a reliable way to detect phase-separated water in fuel or equipment tanks containing gasoline, gasoline/ethanol blends (up to 15% ethanol), diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, biodiesel and other water-incompatible…