Technical & Practical
Column Instrumentation Basics
An understanding of instrumentation is valuable in evaluating and troubleshooting column performance Instrumentation is critical to understanding and troubleshooting all processes. Very few engineers specialize in this field, and many learn about instrumentation through experience, myth and rumor. A good…
Sensing Change in Batch Reactors
The batch reactor is the workhorse of the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Within it, many different unit operations are performed such as chemical reactions, bioreactions, crystallization, distillation and dissolution. Despite their significance to the industry, batch reactors have been…
Maintaining and Repairing Heat Exchanger Tubes
Tube plugging is probably the most frequently used maintenance and repair technique for the tube side of an exchanger. This article provides information on how to locate the positions of tube failures and discusses why it is important to know…
Caring for Cooling Water Systems
Hydrocarbon leaks can disrupt recirculated cooling-water systems. Here’s an outline of effects and remedies Water is often the fluid of choice for cooling systems in the chemical process industries (CPI). Recirculated cooling-water systems are used to control the temperature of…
Tank Coatings: Covering the Basics of Selection and Specification
The interior surfaces of your storage tanks are constantly at risk. If you walk past a tank often without giving thought to what is happening on the inside, it is because you trust the interior coating to protect not only…
Pump Hazardous Liquids Safely
Reduce the problems associated with handling hazardous liquids by following these guidelines Pumps are one of the most ubiquitous items of equipment found in chemical processing plants. Often, they are used to transfer hazardous liquids, such as flammable, combustible, toxic…
CPI Water & Steam Chemistry
Careful control of water and steam chemistry at CPI facilities can pay off handsomely in reliable operation Sometimes lost in the hustle and bustle of production issues at chemical-process-industries (CPI) facilities is that high-purity water, and steam produced thereby, is…
Causes of Overpressurization
The failure of a device or of a group of components can lead to overpressurization and subsequent adverse events, such as fire, explosion, spill or release. The most common causes of overpressurization are listed below. Understanding the circumstances surrounding overpressurization…
Engineering Practice: Seal-Fluid-Circulation Devices: Understanding the Differences
Knowing the options in fluid-circulation designs helps in the selection process Over the past few decades, hundreds of seal geometries and a fair number of seal categories have evolved. Recently, the distinction between single- and dual-mechanical seals has been brought…
Operations & Maintenance: Technology and Scheduling: The Perfect Chemistry
By utilizing efficient scheduling software, companies in the CPI can improve enterprise agility and compliance In the fast-paced and ever-changing world of chemical processing, companies are constantly trying to keep up with the latest technology, while at the same time…