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Separation Processes

Recognizing a distillation icon

On March 24, at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE; New York; http://www.aiche.org) Spring Meeting in San Antonio, Tex., the Separations Division honored the myriad contributions of Dr. Karl T. Chuang. Given the scope and impact of his contributions,…

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Distillation-tray downcomer design improves mass transfer efficiency

A new approach to the design of the downcomer portion of distillation column trays — presented at the recent American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Spring 2010 meeting (San Antonio, Tex.; March 21–25) — promotes a uniform fluid flow pattern,…

Kettle troubleshooting: Discussions with the author

I read with great interest your article, Kettle Troubleshooting (February, pp. 26–33). The authors are to be congratulated on a very in-depth and timely presentation on the effects of boiling two-phase flow in kettle type reboilers. For over 45 years,…

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Oxygen separation membranes made in China

Researchers from the Center for Membrane Technology, Beijing University of Technology (China; www.bjut.edu.cn) have developed a new spiral-wound membrane module for use in oxygen-enriched combustion. A pilot-scale system with five membrane modules has been built and tested in a 4-ton,…

Supercritical CO2: A Green Solvent

Many reactions, extractions, separations and other operations in the chemical process industries (CPI) involve the use of organic solvents. In addition to handling and disposal issues, organic solvents can pose a number of environmental concerns, such as atmospheric and land…

Scrubbers: Are You Ready?

Most members of the highly regulated chemical process industries (CPI) are aware of the growing worldwide attention focused on the issues of climate change, air and water pollution and the supply and protection of natural resources. For this reason, air-pollution-control…

Building a Better Dryer

Drying as a process is one of the most energy-intensive unit operations on the planet. Add to that the fact that dryers are used extensively throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) and it becomes obvious that there ought to be…

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A Primer on Spray Drying

An understanding of the basic information presented here will help you produce powdered products with desired characteristics, while operating the drying plant safely and with minimum energy   This photo shows a spray dryer with a heat recuperator. The plant…

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Estimating the Total Cost of Cartridge and Bag Filtration

Bag filters for industrial applications have been in existence longer and are considered by some to be easier and simpler to specify than cartridges for a filtration project. And although cartridge filtration is now one of the mostly widely used…

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Making fine particles of inhalable drugs

A team from the School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, at the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia; www.unsw.edu.au), has developed a process for the micronization of insulin called Arise (Atomized Rapid Injection for Solvent Extraction). According to BioParticle…