Separation Processes
Nanostructured membrane for water purification
A new composite-membrane distillation process capable of removing salt, toxic elements and microorganisms from water is being offered commercially for the first time this month. The process, known as NanoClear, was developed by Dais Analytic Corp. (Odessa, Fla.; www.daisanalytic.com) for…
Low-cost separation of CO2 from fluegas
A novel solvent can reduce the costs of capturing and recovering carbon dioxide from gas mixtures compared to the use of amine-based solvents, such as monoethanolamine (MEA). The solvent, along with an associated cyclic absorption-desorption process, was developed by Carbon…
A new spin on liquid-gas separation
Last month, Innsep AS (Trondheim; Norway; www.innsep.com) and EagleBurgmann Norway (Skedsmokorset;www.eagleburgmann.no) began a collaboration to develop Innsep’s Lynx Separator technology for protection of EagleBurgmann’s Dry Gas Seal systems for compressors. Lynx is a new technology for removing entrained liquids much…
This filter renders secondhand smoke harmless
A research team, led by Jongsoo Jurng and Gwi-Nam at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (Seoul; www.kist.re.kr), has developed a nano-catalyst filter that can drastically reduce harmful substances in cigarette smoke. The team created the filter by evenly…
Ceramic membrane filtration to be demonstrated for removing oil from produced water
Japanese companies INPEX Corp. (Tokyo, www.inpex.co.jp), Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama; www.chiyoda-corp.com), and Metawater Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, all Japan; www.metawater.co.jp) have been commissioned to build a small-scale demonstration facility that will use ceramic membrane filtration for treating produced water for Japan Oil,…
Filtration and Separation: Avoid Common Errors
The seven commonly made mistakes discussed here often lead to poor filtration and separation performance and many associated problems For almost any chemical process industries (CPI) plant, contamination is a reality that can cause numerous associated — and often chronic…
High-Performance Internals Boost Tower Capacities
New materials and designs help processors improve efficiency and reliability As in other areas of chemical manufacturing, processors want more efficiency from their distillation and mass-transfer operations. Increasing capacity, finding solutions to issues such as foaming and fouling that slow…
Column Revamps: From Outside to Inside
Some of the many things to consider for the complex task of performing a column revamp are presented in this cover story Petroleum refineries, chemical-processing plants, natural-gas purification plants and other facilities in the chemical process industries (CPI) all contain…
CO2-capture project is largest to use calcium-looping technology
A cement plant in Taiwan has been retrofitted with the largest CO2-capture plant to use calcium-looping technology to date. The project, run by Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI; Hsinchu, Taiwan; www.itri.org), demonstrates ITRI’s high-efficiency calcium-looping technology (Heclot) at a…
Distillation Column Modeling
Process simulation methods are used to evaluate the performance of proposed distillation systems and improve the performance of existing ones. The most common approaches for modeling distillation processes can be broadly divided into equilibrium and non-equilibrium methods. This article provides…