Engineers often need to predict the cost of piping and pipefitting associated with a process unit. Even though detailed prices are available, finding and organizing them takes time and costs money. For those needing a quick method of…
These miniature regulators are ideal for gas instruments The compact DM3000 (photo, left) allows flow control systems for process or laboratory instrumentation to be constructed in small spaces. With a flow coefficient (Cv) of 0.1 and a maximum inlet pressure…
Phosgene is widely used for making fine chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, and polymers such as isocyanates, polyurethanes and polycarbonates. But phosgene is highly toxic, and although gas detectors are required to monitor for dangerous leaks, they cannot determine if workers have…
The presence of arsenic minerals, such as enargite and tennantite, in some copper-bearing ore bodies, can be a problem for those wishing to recover the copper. When delivering copper concentrates to smelters in Australia, for example, miners are subjected to…
Axxom Software AG (Munich, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-541) has introduced a new technological approach that, for the first time, allows an end-to-end supply chain optimization of very large, multi-stage networks. Based on the so-called cost-scaling algorithms (CS-A), production companies can now plan…
Archer Daniels Midland Co. (Decatur, Ill.; edlinks.com/5827-542) plans to build the world’s first commercial plant to produce PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), which are high-performance plastics made from renewable resources, such as corn sugar. The plant, to be located at a major ADM…
BP (London; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-544) and Edison Mission Group, a subsidiary of Edison International (Rosemead, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-545), are planning a $1-billion, hydrogen-fueled power plant — said to be the first-of-a-kind — for generating electricity with minimal emissions of carbon dioxide. Detailed engineering…
A direct link between the size of particles and their potential for causing health problems is what has the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.; epa.gov) concerned about particulate matter (PM) that is 10µm in diameter or…
Minor components trapped in distillation columns can react to form solids that cause major problems. The conventional responses to this situation focus upon dealing with the solids after they have become formed. A better strategy consists of preventing or minimizing…
Last August, the comments on this page saluted recent achievements of BASF Corp., Merck, Archer Daniels Midland and other winners of the U.S.’s 2005 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Program, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (Green-chemistry feats bring in the…