Mobile Navigation

Technical & Practical

Member Exclusive

Pressure Transmitter Basics: DP Transmitters

Pressure transmitters are widely used throughout the chemical process industries (CPI). Although pressure in and of itself is an important process parameter, differential pressure (DP) measurements enable the inference of other important parameters as well. This article presents a concise…

Member Exclusive

Focus on Valves

Hayward Flow Control Thermoplastic butterfly valve enables many stopping positions With its advanced, one-piece thermoplastic design and construction, the patent-pending BYV Series Butterfly Valve offers a variety of design advances, including a hand lever that features a 72-spline interlock mechanism…

Member Exclusive

Mechanical Seals Update: Pharmaceutical and Food Applications

Second only to electric motors, centrifugal pumps are the most common machine used in the chemical process industries (CPI). Pumps are serving in every conceivable fluid application. They move all manner of fluids from wastewater to paper pulp, from ultra-clean…

Challenges of Drying Sticky Wastewater Sludge

Operators and engineers in the chemical process industries (CPI) who are responsible for the daily operations associated with sludge dewatering and drying equipment are undoubtedly aware that wastewater-sludge drying is not an easy task. A large number of the problems…

Member Exclusive

1,4-Butanediol (BDO) from Bio-Succinic Acid

The compound 1,4-butanediol (BDO) is a versatile intermediate for the chemical industry. Its largest derivative product is tetrahydrofuran (THF), which is used to make spandex fibers, resins, solvents and printing inks. The second largest product is polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), which…

Member Exclusive

Magnetically Driven Pumps: An Overview

Magnetically driven (mag drive) centrifugal pumps have been in use since 1947 when the first magdrive pump was developed. Mag drives have always been the workhorse pump in applications with corrosive and often toxic fluid applications, and particularly over the…

Safe Sampling of Heat-Transfer Fluids

Collecting representative samples of heat-transfer fluid for routine quality checks falls short of the goal if safety or the environment is compromised. While users should consider their systems’ unique design features in consultation with their safety and health experts, incorporating…

Member Exclusive

Extracting 1,3-Butadiene from a C4 Stream

The organic compound 1,3-butadiene is a petrochemical commodity used as a raw material for the production of rubbers and plastics, such as polybutadiene rubber (PR), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). These materials are mainly applied in…

Member Exclusive

New Horizons For Dividing Wall Columns

A dividing wall column (DWC) is an atypical distillation column with an internal, vertical partition wall that effectively accommodates — within one shell — two conventional distillation columns that are connected in series as required when separating a multicomponent feed…

Member Exclusive

Distillation Column Thermal Optimization: Employing Simulation Software

Several market conditions, including availability of light crude oilds in the U.S., low natural-gas prices and improving macroeconomics, are driving debottlenecking projects related to columns in both petroleum refining and chemical settings. Fortunately, the process-simulation tools that can be used…