Technical & Practical
Valve Actuator Selection Guide
Information provided here can help guide the selection of valve actuators that are best suited to the demands of a particular chemical processing application Actuators are machines used to control the position of a valve remotely and automatically. They are…
Improve Energy Efficiency Using Heat Pumps
Heat pumps are an efficient way to provide space and process heating. Information on their types, and how to assess their potential benefits is provided here Approximately 40% of the energy that is used in buildings in the U.S. goes…
An Ounce of Prevention: Cybersecurity and the CPI
As the frequency and sophistication of industrial cyberattacks continue to rise, chemical companies can follow guidance from industry and government directives to help define their organization’s specific cyber-risk profile Cybersecurity risk is a key topic for all companies, due, in…
Why Innovation Operations are Critical
The future of the CPI depends on sound innovation. The guidance provided here will help organizations to shape an effective innovation strategy that can give them a competitive edge You would be hard-pressed to find a company in the chemical…
Facts At Your Fingertips: Physical Gas-Separation Methods
Industrial gases are critical for a wide range of applications throughout the chemical process industries (CPI). Many of these gases must be separated from others, such as nitrogen from air, or hydrogen from natural gas using physical gas-separation techniques that…
Tower Doctor: Should the Doctor Believe a Flowmeter?
Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers Many cooling-water systems do not have flowmeters. This is a tale about a cooling-water flowmeter that made a difference. As a startup superintendent at ICI Australia in the late 1970s, the…
A Primer on pH Measurement
Understanding the basic principles of operation and construction designs of glass membrane sensors can help in choosing the right pH sensor One of the most critical measurements in liquid chemical processing is pH. In this article, the importance of the…
Detecting and Preventing Spills and Leaks
Comprehensive planning, along with appropriate level-measurement technologies and safety instrumented systems, can empower plant personnel to significantly reduce the likelihood and severity of hazardous chemical spills In most industries that manufacture, use or store chemicals and other hazardous liquids, a…
Technology Profile: Production of EPDM Rubber
Ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber is a terpolymer elastomer derived from ethylene and propylene, along with small amounts of a non-conjugated diene as a third monomer (Figure 1). With a completely saturated polymer backbone, this random elastomeric copolymer exhibits…
Gas Trapping Can Unsettle Distillation Columns
Operational troubleshooting guidance is provided for several scenarios involving trapped non-condensable gases in distillation towers Non-condensable gases are often present in distillation towers, either expectedly or unexpectedly. When they do appear, or when the quantity of non-condensable gases varies from…