FEATURE REPORTS
Topic: Air Pollution Control
Summary: Air-pollution control technologies are critical for reducing the negative impacts of air pollution on human health, climate change and the environment. Part 1 of this month’s two-part Feature Report will provide guidelines on choosing between combustion-based and non-combustion-based technologies, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. Part 2 discusses the ways that plant managers can proactively implement emissions-reduction programs in the most economical and efficient manner, with special focus on managing fugitive emissions.
Related equipment and services: All types of process equipment used in air-pollution control operations, including thermal oxidation, flares and other auxiliary devices; equipment used for controlling fugitive emissions, such as seals, gaskets, flanges and so on.
Relevant industries: All sectors of the CPI
Topic: Infrastructure: Designing sustainable production facilities
Summary: Sustainability is the mantra in the chemical process industries (CPI) today, with efforts ongoing to optimize production processes, reduce energy consumption and move toward carbon neutrality. There are also sustainability issues related to the infrastructure of a production facility. Using food-and-beverage facilities as an example, this month’s Feature Report provides some guidance on the inclusion of sustainability when designing a new facility.
Related equipment and services: Engineering and construction, infrastructure (heating and cooling, water and wastewater management, power generation, and so on) equipment and software
Relevant industries: Food-and-beverages, pharmaceuticals and others
NEWSFRONT
Topic: Mixing Equipment
Summary: This month’s Newsfront presents the latest trends in mixing technology, with a look at some of the new products entering the market.
Related equipment and services: All types of mixers, including continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR), blenders, static mixers, impellers and mixing blades, baffles, rotary seals, motors and so on
Relevant industries: All sectors of the CPI use mixing equipment
FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Topic: Weighing and Dosing
Summary: Accurately and efficiently weighing raw materials and reagents is a key part of many chemical processes. This one-page reference will summarize important terminology associated with measuring weights and calibrating weighing instruments.
Related equipment and services: Any type of weighing instruments, scales, analytical balances, checkweighers, load cells, dosing pumps
Relevant industries: Determining weights is important across the CPI.
FOCUS
Topic: Pressure and Flow Control
Summary: Pressure and flow are two of the main process variables that are measured at CPI plants. This month’s focus presents the latest products and services that have been recently introduced to the market.
Related equipment and services: All types of sensors, gages, transmitters and related devices
Relevant industries: All sectors of the CPI
Editorial material for consideration should be sent to Gerald Ondrey, senior editor (gondrey@chemengonline.com) before June 5.
SOLIDS PROCESSING
Topic: Real-time Particle Analysis Technologies
Summary: The ability to monitor particle size and size distribution in real time can allow better control over the process and optimization of reaction conditions. This article describes the available particle-sizing technologies and, using an example from suspension polymerization of expanded polystyrene, illustrates how these technologies could be used to improve productivity and efficiency.
Related equipment and services: Particle-size analysis tools, polymerization process equipment, solids-handling equipment
Relevant industries: Any process involving solids, such as in plastics, foods, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers and batteries
ENGINEERING PRACTICE
Topic: Construction Cost Index
Summary: The Chemical Engineering Plant Cost Index (CEPCI) is calculated from data on producer prices that is collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The data that are reported by the BLS can change, and sometimes those changes require adjustments to the CEPCI. This article describes one such recent change.
Related equipment and services: Equipment and tools used for planning and executing capital projects at CPI facilities
Relevant industries: All CPI sectors may be concerned with plant construction costs
Topic: Optimization of Inventory Management
Summary: Supply chain management that involves raw material sourcing, product manufacturing and delivery has often been viewed as one of the critical factors for successful business, especially for the manufacturing industry. An important aspect of supply chain management is inventory management, where stock level of raw material and/or product could be optimized to ensure maximum profit or minimum cost/losses.
In this article, the use of automated targeting modeling (ATM) will be demonstrated for the optimization of inventory level of maintenance spare parts for a process plant, for known maintenance schedule. Because ATM’s basic form is a linear model, it can be used inventory planning using a spreadsheet software, as discussed with examples.
Related equipment and services: Software and digitalization tools
Relevant industries: All sectors of the CPI have supply chains