Chemical Engineering
Safety Aspects in the Instrumentation of Process Plants
Safety is often underestimated when planning, operating and maintaining process-measuring equipment. Sensors with SIL certification, alone, do not make the process safe. It is important to avoid systematic errors during planning, installation and operation The correct installation of a temperature…
Chementator briefs
Magnet Metals Bilfinger SE (Mannheim, Germany; www.bilfinger.com) is supporting REEtec AS (Oslo, Norway; www.reetec.no) with engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) services for a new processing plant for neodymium and praseodymium — two rare earth elements (REE) used in the…
Design for Safety: Tips for Proactive Risk Reduction
Thoughtful design can help reduce safety risks at process plant sites by proactively eliminating possible hazards and modifying personnel behaviors Safety is an important value in any organization, but is particularly important in the chemical process industries (CPI) when the…
Scaleup for an ethanol-to-ethylene process
Last May, Axens (Rueil-Malmaison, France; www.axens.net) started up the first ethanol-to-ethylene pilot plant based on Axen’s Atol technology with Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp). The pilot plant, located at Sumitomo Chemical’s Chiba Works, will produce ethylene from ethanol.…
Wireless Data Collection: Stop Chasing Reliability Data
A routes-by-exception reliability strategy helps improve safety and efficiency, while preserving competitive advantage in a changing marketplace In recent years, maintenance and reliability experts have often talked about the massive wave of retirements leaving chemical plants, creating a shortage of…
Sumitomo Chemical acquires U.S.-based biostimulants company
Sumitomo Chemical Co. (Tokyo, Japan) plans to acquire FBSciences Holdings, Inc., a U.S. company engaged in the business of biostimulants, a group of naturally-derived agricultural materials and a class of biorationals. The acquisition is due to be completed subject to…
Albemarle launches re-branded catalysts business line
Albemarle Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.) announced the official brand launch of Ketjen, its wholly owned subsidiary that crafts tailored, advanced catalyst solutions for the petrochemical, refining and specialty chemicals industries. The company shared the new name of its catalysts business in…
Ube to expand production facilities for polyimide membranes
UBE Corp. (Tokyo) plans to expand the polyimide hollow-fiber production facilities for gas separation membranes at its Ube Chemical Factory and the gas separation membrane module production facilities at its Sakai Factory in order to meet rapidly growing demand, particularly…
New nitric acid plant started up in Poland
Grupa Azoty SA (Tarnów, Poland) has launched a new facility for the production of concentrated nitric acid with a design output of 40,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr), doubling its existing capacity. This is a second production line for above 98 per cent…
Cabot to add production capacity for conductive carbon additives in Texas
Cabot Corp. (Boston, Ma.) announced that it plans to add conductive carbon additives (CCA) capacity in the U.S. to enhance its leadership position in the market and support the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). Cabot plans to add conductive carbons…