Automation & Control
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…
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)…
Go With the Flow
According to experts in flow measurement, any chemical processors seeking to optimize its processes in an effort to offset the rising prices of natural gas, electricity and raw materials may want to look at improving measurement and control…
Cover Story Part 1: Level Measurement Technologies For the CPI
Plant performance and safety are key issues for the chemical process industries (CPI) and level measurement plays a crucial role in both. Level measurement helps maintain material inventory at economic quantities, improves product quality and ensures a smooth continuous…
Cover Story Part 2: Liquid-Level Measurement Options In the CPI
Many types of industrial processes utilize liquid level sensors to provide the information needed to monitor and control a process. This enables the design parameters to be maintained in order to produce the end product at the desired level of…
Focus On: Gas Detection
A Low Parts Count Makes this CO 2 Monitor Economical Boasting an in-house design and accurate CO 2 detection between 0 – 10,000 ppm, the ZG106A-M has a uniquely low parts count, making it an economically competitive option for determining…
Chementator: Speech technology for the CPI
BASF IT Services (Ludwigshafen, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/7374-533) has developed a voice-activated IT system that can be used by those involved in hazard-containment. The application was pilot tested together with BASF SE’s fire department, as part of the four-year EU project called…
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…
Chementator: MIR spectrometer on a chip
Infrared (IR) analyzers are widely used for gas, liquid and surface analysis. Up to now, the most common and inexpensive IR sensor has been a combination of filters (non-dispersive IR) — which have a restricted wavelength band — with a…