Chemical processing equipment made from thermoplastics can have distinct advantages for equipment corrosion, fluid contamination and flame retardancy. When purchased in the form of heavy-gauge sheets, these thermoplastics can be machined, fabricated and formed into a virtually unlimited variety of…
Proper steam-trap sizing is critical to efficient and reliable steam-trap operation. Incorrect steam trap sizing can undermine the design and function of the steam trap, create installation issues, and cause condensate backup, steam loss, or both. Steam-trap sizing refers to…
Rotary equipment, such as centrifugal pumps, often represent the heart of plants in the chemical process industries (CPI). A critical factor in the longterm reliability of such equipment is a high-quality design and commissioning process, so that initially, the rotary…
Mixing and blending of bulk solids is a common processing step in many industries. For example, in pharmaceutical manufacturing of solid dosage formulations (tablets or capsules), small amounts of a powdered active drug are carefully blended with excipients, such as…
Plant Watch Chevron Phillips receives key permits for large Gulf Coast project August 14, 2013 — Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP (The Woodlands, Tex; www.cpchem.com) has received key permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Environmental…
Schonemann Camasso Miller Riojas Hill Hans Schonemann becomes president of Phasex Corp. (Lawrence, Mass.), which specializes in supercritical fluid extraction. He replaces Phasex founder Val Krukonis , who becomes director, R&D programs James Camasso becomes plant manager. Netzsch Pumps North…
Many chemical engineers study or employ distillation trays, gas-liquid separators and spray nozzles. Most of those engineers have studied or employed force balances around liquid droplets suspended in upward-flowing vapor streams. Considering a droplet of size “ d, ” for…
Solid and serrated fins (Figure 1) are widely used as heat transfer surfaces in boilers and heaters. The use of finned tubes makes heat exchanger equipment compact. The fluegas pressure drop is also decreased relative to a comparable plain-tube design,…
Spagnoletti Spiesshofer Evans Pepper Usuki Amato Spagnoletti becomes president of Taylor Wharton Cryogenics (Theodore, Ala.), a maker of cryogenic equipment for the industrial gases, life sciences, and liquefied natural gas markets. Ulrich Spiesshofer becomes CEO of ABB (Zurich, Switzerland). He…
Raw materials and energy represent two of the largest expenses in the chemical process industries (CPI). Energy reduction is necessary to sustain cost-effective production and manage capacity in the ever-changing CPI marketplace. Process simulation software can prove extremely valuable in…