Among pilot plants, those in petrochemical or petroleum-refining service pose special risks of fire and/or explosion. The key strategies to minimize those risks are these: properly conducted preconstruction safety reviews; leaktight design and construction; close attention to area…
BroadWare Technologies, Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5829-548) and Intergraph Corp. (Huntsville, Ala.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5829-549) have created an integrated solution that feeds high-quality video from remote locations to a central command center to speed decisionmaking and response time when a security event…
Advances in catalytic cracking technologies are improving efficiency, product selectivity and environmental emissions. Optimum performance, reliability and flexibility of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units is essential for the continued competitiveness of refineries and their ability to meet market…
Liquids are accumulated and stored in tanks of various shapes and sizes throughout the chemical process industries (CPI). A small number of companies have made the design, fabrication and erection of these vessels their specialty. Initially, however, it…
Last month, the Commission on Air Pollution Prevention of the VDI and DIN Standards Committee (Düsseldorf, Germany; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5828-544) published a new guideline (VDI 2442), which provides specific information on the design, construction and operation of waste-gas cleaning plants using thermal…
Hydrogen is widely employed for hydrogenation and other purposes in chemicals manufacture, petroleum refining and other chemical process industries (Hydrogen: The Real Action Is Today, CE, February, pp. 28ff), and it holds promise as a fuel. However, this…
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,…
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…
Toshishige M. Suzuki and his colleagues at the Tohoku Center of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST; Sendai, Japan; edlinks.chemengonline.com/5827-538) has developed a new analytical test strip that can quickly detect parts-per-billion (ppb) concentrations of heavy metal…
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…