Considerations for Estimating the Costs of Pilot-Scale Facilities
The differences between industrial-scale facilities and pilot plants go beyond size, and these intricacies must…
Cover Story
Evaluating Preliminary Investment Feasibility
Before any engineering or design work can take place, a project’s feasibility must be considered.…
Commentary
Building on the Paris Agreement
December 2015 marked a landmark international agreement to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in order…
In The News
Newsfronts
CPI Employment Landscape: Snapshot 2016
Insights about complex CPI workforce issues come from a variety of sources, including survey data…
Air Emissions: Overcoming Monitoring & Control Challenges
Modern technology tackles CPI’s air-emissions concerns Air emissions monitoring and control is a major concern…
Chementator
Chementator Briefs
Bio foam control Last month, Novozymes A/S (Bagsvaerd, Denmark; www.novozymes.com) introduced Fermax, an enzyme protease…
This mine is the first to target scandium
Scandium International Mining Corp. (Sparks, Nev.; www.scandiummining.com) is about to become the first company to…
Low-cost carbon-fiber production plant poised to break ground
Demand for carbon fiber (CF), which can be used to make strong, lightweight composite materials…
Converting sewage into fuels
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL; Richland, Wash.; www.pnnl.gov) has developed a hydrothermal liquification (HTL) process…
Bringing the Internet of Things to glass-furnace burners
The glass industry’s needs are extremely diverse, and manufacturers demand stability and precision in their…
A milestone in 'power-to-liquids'
Last month, the first compact plant to produce synthetic fuels from solar energy and CO2…
A German research project aims to make methanol from biomass or CO2
The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu) is cooperating with research institutions and industry…
Design project for 'clean coal' oxyfuel combustion pilot plant
A group of organizations, lead by the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI; San Antonio, Tex.; www.swri.org)…
Additives retain starch in cardboard recycling
Starch is essential for imparting strength to corrugated cardboard boxes, but millions of tons of…
Cost-effective LGF-PP process
A new process for making long glass fiber polypropylene (LGF-PP) concentrates (glass-fiber-containing plastic pellets) allows…
Business News
Business News for December 2016
Plant Watch GTC to provide aromatics extraction technology to JG Summit’s Batangas site November 11,…
Technical & Practical
Feature Report
Pressure Measurement: Handling Difficult Process Applications
A better understanding of what pressure instruments do and how they work can help improve…
Measuring Differential Pressure: Mechanical or Electronic?
Users should consider both options when selecting a DP device. Understanding the differences can help…
Facts at Your Fingertips
Solid-Liquid Separation: Classification, Design and Testing
Whether to remove solid contaminants from a liquid or separate a solid product from a…
Technology Profile
Technology Profile: MTBE Production from C4 Raffinate-1
This column is based on “MTBE production from Raffinate-1 - Cost Analysis,” a report published…
Engineering Practice
Process Plant Layout — Becoming a Lost Art?
Plant layout is as important a part of process plant design as it ever was,…
Pump Safety: Flirting with Disaster
Be vigilant about parallel pumping conditions that can lead to catastrophic failures During my career,…
Equipment & Services
Focus
Focus on Rotating Equipment
Motor analyzer aids in troubleshooting efforts The Fluke 438-II motor analyzer (photo) provides analysis data…
New Products
A new series of check valves engineered for silent operation
The Epic series consists of spring-loaded, poppet-type inline check valves (photo) that are designed to…
Cure rubber parts with this truck oven
The No. 860 is a 500°F truck oven (photo) that is currently used for post-cure…
Measure nitrogen and sulfur with a single analyzer
The NSure analyzer (photo) offers users the ability to measure total sulfur, total nitrogen or…
These condensers and chillers are explosion proof
This company’s line of condensing and chiller units are now available in explosion-proof designs (photo).…
Improving the visibility of glass level gages
The Jerguson LumaStar EPL-316 Illuminator (photo) provides high-contrast, white LED light for any transparent glass…
Convey dry materials with this pneumatic vacuum system
Powered by compressed air, the Material Mover is a portable, inline vacuum system that was…
A handheld communicator with built-in diagnostic software
The handheld AMS Trex Device Communicator (photo) is built to withstand harsh industrial environments, and…
A hand-held scanner device for hazardous areas
The Ident-Ex 01 for Div. 1 / Zone 1 & 21 (photo) is a powerful,…
Surge protection for rack mounting
This company has developed what is said to be the first pluggable surge-protective devices (photo)…
Locate hotspots with multipoint temperature-measuring system
The Sitrans TO500 multipoint temperature measuring system (photo) enables complex temperature measurements and detection of…
Launch of a new benchtop X-ray powder diffractometer
The Aeris is a new X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) benchtop instrument (photo). The device’s built-in…
An online library for industrial lubricants
This company recently introduced the Industrial Lubricants Digital Knowledge Center, which includes an extensive catalog…
Digitalization for the plastics industry
This company is moving a step closer to plant-component digitalization for the plastics industry with…
New steam traps offer fast condensate removal
The FT62 range of ASME 600 float and thermostatic steam traps (photo) is suitable for…
This centrifugal dryer offers energy-efficient pellet drying
The new Cyclo Centrifugal Dryer (photo) provides efficient, reliable pellet drying in any application. It…
Reduce liquid or gas pressure in new or retrofit installations
Whisperjet reduction devices (photo) reduce liquid or gas pressure through a series of multi-pressure reduction…
A flow switch with temperature monitoring
The new model FSD-3 electronic flow switch with digital display (photo) was developed for applications…
Precision-weight, large-package filling with high stability
The new Elementra EGF Big Bag filling system (photo) is especially suited for loose, bulk…
This fluid-bed dryer has an enhanced conveying surface
This company’s vibrating fluid-bed dryers (photo) are engineered with a series of proprietary design innovations…
New software for SIS and alarm management
The new IPL Assurance software provides realtime predictive analytics on the health and availability of…
Reduce drying times and utility costs with this vertical dryer
The Guedu vertical dryers (photo) offer benefits for drying powders in the chemical process industries,…