Fired heaters are used considerably in the chemical process industries (CPI), for heating crude oil in the petroleum refining and petrochemical sectors. Unfortunately, fired heaters are often taken for granted and neglected more than other equipment in terms…
Business software applications, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) — the broad set of activities that are supported by application software to help companies manage business activities, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service…
Free trade agreements, global manufacturing standards and the Internet have made it possible for companies to do business in countries they would not have considered 20 years ago. Open is a world of opportunity, but for processors of…
Modeling the behavior of bulk solids has been a longstanding challenge for researchers and practitioners alike. The differences between fluids, rigid solids and bulk solids can best be illustrated by their responses to applied stress. For instance, when…
Flow measurement plays a critical role throughout the chemical process industries (CPI). Repeatable measurements are needed to maintain consistent production and quality standards in a wide range of process-control applications. Inaccurate liquid- and gas-flow measurements can mean the difference between…
With typical operations running around the clock, the chemical process industry (CPI) demands high performance from its instrumentation. Today's flowmetering solutions include tools for the entire life cycle of a flowmeter. From engineering, commissioning and start up to…
Occupational dangers in the chemical process industries (CPI) are many, with falls, respiratory hazards, and explosion risks confronted daily. One hazard, however, causes no pain nor visible scars. Its effects accumulate with each overexposure and can go unnoticed,…
The use of shell-and-tube heat exchangers is widespread in the chemical process industries (CPI). In applications where contact between shell- and tube-side fluids is not tolerable, it is important for the engineer to understand some of the design…
The pressures and challenges placed on the chemical process industries (CPI) have been heralded so often that even a person on the street can articulate most of them; and the list continues to grow - cost containment, lawsuits,…
Pipe flanges are used to mechanically connect pipe sections to other pipe sections, inline components, and equipment. Flanges also allow pipe to be assembled and disassembled without cutting or welding, which eliminates the need for those two operations when…