Wastewater streams from petroleum refineries present some of the largest ranges of variation in contaminant loadings and contain some of the toughest contaminant profiles to treat. These factors render the wastewater treatment processes difficult to control. The most challenging area…
Gas turbines are widely used throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) — especially in petroleum refineries and petrochemical facilities — to provide both mechanical-drive and power-generation capabilities. Presented below are a variety of recommendations related to the selection and arrangement…
Due to their simplicity of construction, lack of moving parts, ability to operate at a wide range of temperatures and pressures, low capital and operating cost, cyclones have been the workhorse for gas-solid separation in a wide variety of industries.…
Originally published in the April 1, 1985 issue, this 21 page article contains timeless recommendations for ensuring plant safety. This article is available in pdf form only. Please click on the pdf tab at the top of the article to…
[Originally published in the May 1995 issue of Chemical Engineering] Cyclone dust collectors have been used - and misused - all over the world for more than 100 years. One reason for the misuse is a common perception among users…
All good things come to an end. And so it is with Microsoft extended support and security updates for Windows 2000,which ended in July 2010. Any manufacturer with industrial applications that are based on Windows 2000 may wisely be considering…
It was the Dr. James R. Fair Heritage Distillation Symposium at the Chicago AIChE meeting last month. I had decided to finally give a presentation about something that has been bugging me since October 28, 1974, my first day as…
Regulatory authorities around the world require continuous emissions monitoring of certain pollutants from large combustion sources. There are two main technologies for monitoring these emissions on a continuous basis — the more traditional one relies on sampling and analyzing exhaust…
The ever important aim of energy efficiency in the chemical process industries (CPI) is brought closer to its target by the practice of energy recovery in heat exchanger networks (HENs). When heat exchangers are designed to work together to exchange…
Several case histories illustrate the benefits of identifying and correcting poorly designed reflux and product-handling systems Manufacturers of specialty chemicals are routinely required to reduce costs and increase the production of their high-value products. Specifically, competitive pressures from the developing…