While some aspects of burner management systems may seem intuitive, overcoming misconceptions in their specification and design will help to elevate overall safety Boilers, burners, furnaces and fired heaters, along with any other fuel-burning equipment, are considered high-risk areas within…
Better upfront planning and management can lead to safer, more productive processes throughout every phase of operation A standards-based approach to process safety — one that actively addresses risks across a plant’s lifespan — can lead to safer chemical processes,…
Presented here are practical considerations concerning the equipment and methods used for experimental verifications of simulations The use of process simulation tools for modeling distillation columns is invaluable for designing plant-scale columns. However, it can be difficult to know if…
Designing a new solid-liquid filtration process or optimizing an existing one requires consideration of a number of factors aside from the type of filter that will be used. This one-page reference reviews two groups of considerations: one related to equipment,…
This article provides a comparative study of two approaches to protect ASME semi-elliptical pressure tanks from overpressure in the event of a fire Calculating the wetted surface area is a crucial step to protect American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME)…
This column is based on “Benzene Production from Pygas,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/benzene-production-cost. Benzene is the simplest and most important industrial aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a versatile petrochemical building block, and is an…
This article describes an approach that uses data analytics for finding and addressing root causes of process deviations that reduce energy efficiency in key plant utility systems, and shares three case examples Discussion about climate change has been taking place…
The kilogram is the last of the SI units (International System of Units) still defined by a physical object, rather than defined in terms of universal fundamental constants of nature. However, this will change in November 2018, as a multi-year…
Do not assume security is extensive enough to protect your critical data and processes. Take a layered security approach using different tactics to establish best practices for protecting network data Almost daily, the headlines tout the latest data breach that…
When multiple operators, co-owners, co-operators and third-party contractors are all managing different engineered systems at the same location, extra care is needed to manage potential environmental issues that may arise The obligations facing facilities throughout the chemical process industries (CPI)…