Effective use of capital in the ownership and management of manufacturing assets is critical to the financial performance of companies in the chemical process industries (CPI). Many of these companies use benchmarking in compliance with applicable laws and antitrust…
A. Alexander and F. Muzzio, Rutgers University Proper blender selection can improve the mixing of bulk solids. Be sure to consider post-blending segregation problems Mixing and blending of bulk solids occurs frequently in many industrial processes. Though small-scale mixing and…
Demands in the chemical processing industry to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint are higher than ever before. Correct sizing and selection of vacuum systems can contribute significantly to optimizing throughput and efficiency, thus reducing energy consumption, capital and running…
This fifth in a series of articles [1 – 4] on piping design discusses the practical issues of installation and cleaning. Pipe installation The installation of pipe follows its fabrication and is very frequently a part of it. The…
A good understanding of the reaction chemistry is needed for a safe process design It is a fact that safety-related incidents do occur in the chemical process industries (CPI). These incidents have, in part, led to increased attention to reactive-chemical…
Packed Columns [1] A packed column is a vertical, cylindrical pressure vessel containing one or more sections of a packing material over whose surface the liquid flows downward by gravity, as a film or as droplets, between packing elements. Vapor…
Convey tough bulk materials that tend to pack, cake, smear, break apart or fluidize, and prevent separation of blended products Flexible screw conveyors are suitable for use with most bulk materials, from sub-micron powders to large pellets, both free-flowing and…
Water hammer — a high-pressure surge or wave created by the kinetic energy of the moving liquid — is not only a system issue, but primarily a safety concern. Understanding the nature and severity of water hammer in a…
Industrial furnaces, or direct-fired heaters, are only as good as the burners that supply them with thermal energy for heat transfer and endothermic chemical reactions. This article presents equations that permit calculation of such important burner-operating characteristics as flame…
Separation by a membrane is achieved by creating a boundary between different bulk gas or liquid mixtures. As different solvents and solutes flow through a membrane at different rates, separation is achieved. Here, we will focus on three filtration techniques:…