William Banholzer gave an opening keynote address at the AIChE Spring Meeting (New Orleans, La.; March 31) that was interesting, fun — and brave. It reminded me of the “Six Sigma for Research and Development [R&D]” training that UOP provided…
The compound 1,4-butanediol (BDO) is a versatile intermediate for the chemical industry. Its largest derivative product is tetrahydrofuran (THF), which is used to make spandex fibers, resins, solvents and printing inks. The second largest product is polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), which…
Collecting representative samples of heat-transfer fluid for routine quality checks falls short of the goal if safety or the environment is compromised. While users should consider their systems’ unique design features in consultation with their safety and health experts, incorporating…
Plant Watch Jacobs awarded contract for ExxonMobil projects in Baytown and Mont Belvieu August 12, 2014 — Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) was awarded a contract from ExxonMobil Chemical Co. to provide engineering, procurement and construction services as…
Clay Naef Barbieri Ferris Kieny Specialty chemicals producer Lanxess (Cologne, Germany) names Matthias Zachert chairman of the board, and promotes Jorge Nogueira to head of the Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit. The Sensors Div. of Honeywell Life Safety (Morris…
The presence of scale depositions in pipelines can restrict flow, limit heat transfer and decrease efficiency. The ability to monitor pipelines for depositions helps avoid issues and optimize costs. The Deposition Watch system from Flowrox Inc. (Linthicum, Md; www.flowrox.us) presents…
Bioenergy Research: Advances and Applications. By Vijai K. Gupta, Maria G. Tuohy, Christian Kubicek, Jack Saddler and Feng Xu. Elsevier Inc., 225 Wyman Street, Waltham, MA 02451. Web: elsevier.com. 2014. 500 pages. $149.95. Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics: Transport and Rate Processes in…
The chemical process industries (CPI) have experienced many benefits from the so-called shale-gas boom — recent years have seen an unprecedented rise in construction and expansion activity in the petrochemicals sector. Shown in Figure 1 is construction at the Freeport,…
Providing information to, and communicating with, staff and colleagues in the workplace is essential, particularly when hazards, incidents or near-misses occur that may impact on others. An effective, low-cost solution to getting the message across is the Near Miss/Incident Reporting…
A new remediation approach for industrial heavy-metal waste has been developed by Lewis Environmental Services, Inc. (LES; Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.lesvc.com). The patented Enviro-Clean process adsorbs heavy metals from liquid waste streams onto a bed of specially treated granular activated carbon.…