Technical & Practical
Addressing Pumping Issues in Biopharmaceutical Operations
Quaternary diaphragm pumps deliver the low pulsation and shear that is critical to these biopharmaceutical and continuous-manufacturing operations Biopharmaceutical, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical manufacturing may come in a wide variety of forms, but every iteration of unit operation must adhere to…
Facts at your Fingertips: Batch versus Continuous Blending
Blending is a fundamental chemical unit operation, and there are a handful of common ways to implement it. Blending applications can be either manual or automated, and can be carried out either as a batch or continuous process. There are…
Control Room Design for Chemical Engineers
Chemical engineers bring many essential skills to the diverse teams required for successful control room design In any continuous manufacturing plant in the chemical process industries (CPI), engineers need to consider control room architecture and design as part of their…
Outsourcing and Offshoring Engineering and Fabrication Activities
Follow these tips to get the most out of these high-risk, high-reward, third-party arrangements Outsourcing is the subcontracting of a business function to an outside entity. The concept of outsourcing was first articulated by David Ricardo, an English economist in…
Reboiler Circuit Debottleneck with No Hardware Changes
With a thorough investigation and proper problem diagnosis, an entire gas plant limited by a deethanizer reboiler circuit was successfully debottlenecked This article describes a case study of a gas plant (designed by others) that was bottlenecked by the reboil…
Technology Profile: Diammonium Phosphate Production
This column is based on “Diammonium Phosphate Production – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/diammonium-phosphate-production-cost. Diammonium phosphate (DAP) ranks among the most important phosphate-based fertilizers, not only for its high nutrient content, but…
Mixing: Impeller Performance in Stirred Tanks
Characterizing mixer impellers on the basis of power, flow, shear and efficiency Mixing has been defined as “the application of mechanical motion in order to create fluid dynamic effects that achieve a desired process result” [1]. The process result is…
Facts at Your Fingertips: Zeolites
The physical properties of zeolites make them extremely important in many industrial processes. This one-page reference provides information on the structure and chemistry of zeolites that allows their use in the chemical process industries (CPI). Zeolite structure Zeolites are a…
Setting Specifications in the Modern World
Utilizing ‘Tolerance Intervals’ can help to set more realistic specification ranges, especially when only small amounts of data are available Specifications provide a framework by which one can gage whether products have been manufactured successfully. They identify a product’s key…
Training Today’s Workforce
Integrated console, virtual-reality simulation offers learning for maximum, measurable training efficiency Modern techniques are being used for realistic plant training for control room operators, field operators, and operations and maintenance personnel. Simulator training has been shown to result in better…