As we round the corner from 2011 to 2012, economists are painting dimming pictures for global economic recovery. For instance, a report from IHS (Lexington, Mass.; www.ihs.com) chief economist Nariman Behravesh says, “World growth will slow in 2012 — the…
Forsthoffer’s Best Practice Handbook for Rotating Machinery. By William Forsthoffer. Elsevier Inc., 30 Corporate Drive, 4th floor, Burlington, MA. Web: elsevierdirect.com. 2011. 672 pages. $295.00. Update on Silica-based…
In professional life, the influences that teach us, inspire us and drive us to succeed tend to come more from individuals than corporations. If you would like to bring recognition to someone whose excellence in chemical engineering you admire, consider…
[The following originally appeared in the January 2012 Letters page] The Chemical Engineer ( tce) for the past two years has run a series of articles in which it profiles some of the most interesting chemical engineers. At the end…
Mechanical integrity is an essential consideration in heat exchanger design. The most common threat to this integrity is tube bundle vibration. So, the computer programs used for heat exchanger design incorporate procedures that assess this threat. However, such analysis is…
Projects have been undertaken by nations, private enterprises and individuals for more years than recorded history. Over the last three decades, project execution in the chemical process industries (CPI) has become almost standardized, with the general adoption of certain well-known…
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) was awarded a contract by Tecnimont S.p.A. (Rome, Italy; www.mairetecnimont.it) for the license and basic engineering design (BED) of a new ammonia plant to be built by Chemical Industries Holding Co. (Kima) in Aswan, Egypt. The plant…
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI; Tokyo, Japan; www.mhi.co.jp) has delivered a large-capacity energy-storage system employing lithium-ion rechargeable batteries to the Shimizu Institute of Technology in Tokyo. The institute, a technology arm of Shimizu Corp., a major Japanese construction firm, is…
SNC-Lavalin, Inc. (Montreal, Canada; www.snclavalin.com) has been awarded a contract by MacKay Operating Corp. to provide detailed engineering and procurement services for the MacKay River Central Plant Project. The central processing plant will be designed to process 35,000 barrels per…
KBR (Houston; www.kbr.com) has been awarded a contract by First Global Co. to revamp the North Fertilizer Plant in Baiji, Iraq. Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide a license for its proprietary ammonia process and related engineering…