Mobile Navigation

Member Exclusive

Cover Story Part 2: Compressed Air: Your Most Expensive Utility  

Compressed air is your most expensive utility. This is a fact that has been documented time and time again. It takes 7 to 8 hp of electricity to produce 1 hp in an airtool. In many plants, the compressed air…

Piping for Process Plants Part 6: Testing and Verification

This sixth and final part of a series of articles [ 1 – 5] on piping for process plants discusses practical issues of leak testing and verification of piping systems. Read Part 5 here. Leak Testing Leak testing and pressure…

Member Exclusive

Facts at Your Fingertips: Humidity Control

Applications Dehumidification by cooling or dessication has a variety of applications, including: Preventing moisture regain. Nearly all materials have some affinity for moisture based on surface characteristics and the amount of surface exposed to humid air. Moisture regain occurs when…

Seals & Gaskets  

In Poorly Lubricated Conditions, Try this Diamond Seal... Over 50% of pump lifecycle costs result from energy and maintenance; and applying the low-wear and low-friction attributes of diamond to mechanical seals can yield significant energy savings for fluid pumps. Ultrananocrystalline…

Member Exclusive

Solids Processing: Automating Your Weigh Batching System

In many plants that batch-blend bulk products, weigh batching is a manual, time-consuming operation in which ingredients are weighed individually before being discharged to a blender or some other process vessel. A significant number of such plants could benefit from…

Member Exclusive

Economic Indicators: Business News

Plant Watch A new cement plant is planned for Arizona May 19, 2008 — ABB has won an order to provide a complete electrical power and automation system for Drake Cement’s new plant in Yavapai County, Arizona. The 660,000-ton/yr plant…

Member Exclusive

Engineering Practice: Hydrogen-Pinch Analysis Made Easy

An automated spreadsheet method can quickly help minimize fresh hydrogen consumption while maximizing hydrogen recovery and reuse in petroleum refineries and petrochemical complexes In petroleum refineries and petrochemical complexes, there are many hydrogen consumers, such as hydrotreaters, hydrocrackers, isomerization units…

Member Exclusive

Zirconium and its Alloys: For Extreme Sulfuric Acid Applications

One of the earliest applications for zirconium in the chemical process industries (CPI) is for sulfuric acid service. Used commonly during the manufacture of chemicals as a catalyst, dehydrating agent, absorbent, or an oxidizing or reducing agent, sulfuric acid is…

Focus on Pumps

A Pump Intended for Non-API Processes The Sunflo P-2500 high-pressure centrifugal pump features distinctions from previous models in the P-2000 Series including: upgraded seal-housing drain cavities, enhanced seal design, numerous seal flush plans, labyrinth gearbox seal, and heavy duty bearings…

Member Exclusive

Solids Processing: Blender Selection And Avoidance of Post-Blender Segregation

A. Alexander and F. Muzzio, Rutgers University Proper blender selection can improve the mixing of bulk solids. Be sure to consider post-blending segregation problems Mixing and blending of bulk solids occurs frequently in many industrial processes. Though small-scale mixing and…