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Automation & Control

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Chementator: Faster predictive control  

Cutler Technology Corp. (San Antonio, Tex.; www.cutler-tech.com) has launched ADMC 64, its most-advanced model-predictive controller ( CE, November 2005, p. 15). With 64-bit resolution, the device easily handles 600 coefficients with calculation times under ten seconds (on an Intel quad…

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Chementator: Enhanced gas detection  

Launched at ISA Expo 2008 this month (Houston, Tex.; October 14 – 16), the ELDS line-of-sight gas detectors from Senscient, Inc. (League City, Tex.) is said to deliver three orders of magnitude better sensitivity for detecting flammable gases and false-alarm…

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 The Path to the Perfect Plant

Process engineers understand how to harness the power of closed-loop multi-variable control in their plants. The evolution of digital control in the chemical process industries (CPI) has provided that power. Yet digital control represents just one facet of optimization and…

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From Tap to Transmitter

Today, companies in the chemical process industries (CPI) are faced with increased operating expenses, reductions in the number of qualified workers, strong competition and the need to do more with less. To meet these challenges, many companies are making use…

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Engineering Practice: Predicting Water Content of Compressed Air

Each compressed air system is typically composed of one or more compressors with a power source, control system, intake air filter, after cooler and separator, air receiver, air dryer, interconnecting piping and a distribution system to deliver air to points…

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Engineering Practice: Optimize your Process Plant for More than One Objective

There are many criteria that the engineer considers when optimizing: maximization of product yield or quality; minimization of recycle flow or energy consumption; and economic indicators, such as maximization of profits, net present worth (NPW) and minimization of payback period…

Editor’s Page: Cutting Corrosion Costs

Corrosion is a cannibalistic force that usually attacks chemical process equipment from the inside out. That must be why it is often referred to as a hidden cost, because the economic impact of corrosion is becoming impossible to overlook. As…

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Chementator: A Well-known Phenomenon Finds a Commercial Application in a Gas Sensor    

Optoacoustic gas detection determines gas content via the measurement of acoustic pressure waves that are propagated as a gas is irradiated under an appropriately tuned light. A gaseous-mixture sample passes through a membrane into a measurement cell, which contains an…

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Engineering Practice: Predicting Physical Properties of Hydrocarbon Compounds

The continuing growth in the importance of chemical processing, including oil-and-gas processing, increases the need to understand prediction methods for chemical properties and chatacteristics and the impact that these properties have on unit operations, process simulation and design. A variety…

Editor’s Page: Surviving the Surge

Exactly three years ago, in the July 2005 issue, this page began with a reference to a perfect storm, whereby then-record-high oil prices of $60/bbl and a relief in capital costs were expected to get the chemical process industries (CPI)…