Most chemical processes must produce products that are uniformly mixed. There have been many articles written about preventing particle segregation during bulk solids flow; and ensuring a mass flow pattern is a common suggestion. But mass flow alone is not…
Solvents have been used for centuries and in all type of industries for the processing, manufacturing and formulation of goods. In the chemical process industries (CPI), solvents are used in various process-operation steps such as separation (of gas,…
Depending on their location and on other factors, chemical-process-industries (CPI) plants obtain their process water from a diverse range of sources (see Process Water Supply — the Big Picture, Chem. Eng., May 2005, pp. 32–34.). The water from…
Fuel costs rose sharply in 2005 because of hurricane damage to U.S. interests in the Gulf of Mexico, and international developments in the oil supply market. Competing fuels — coal and natural gas — rose in price in…
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…
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…