Rotary equipment, such as centrifugal pumps, often represent the heart of plants in the chemical process industries (CPI). A critical factor in the longterm reliability of such equipment is a high-quality design and commissioning process, so that initially, the rotary…
Mixing and blending of bulk solids is a common processing step in many industries. For example, in pharmaceutical manufacturing of solid dosage formulations (tablets or capsules), small amounts of a powdered active drug are carefully blended with excipients, such as…
The management of process plants requires understanding and applying the fundamental tenets of safe design, construction and operation of facilities. This overview summarizes best practices that have been developed to ensure the safest possible use of DP:DPO (diphenyl–diphenyl oxide) eutectic…
Propylene has been established as an important part of the global olefins business, trailing only ethylene in terms of volume of product. Because inexpensive natural gas from shale in the U.S. is increasingly used as a feedstock for producing ethylene,…
The scaleup of liquid mixing systems does not have to be a mystery. The principles are quite well understood, although knowing which principles apply is not always obvious. Follow this guidance to improve operation. 1. Liquid mixing scaleup. Liquid mixing…
Raw materials and energy represent two of the largest expenses in the chemical process industries (CPI). Energy reduction is necessary to sustain cost-effective production and manage capacity in the ever-changing CPI marketplace. Process simulation software can prove extremely valuable in…
Manufacturers face seasonal supply-and-demand variations in their production cycle due to fluctuations in both market demand and supply of raw materials. Therefore, manufacturers need solutions that can help them to cope with this challenge in effective production planning. Pinch analysis,…
Polymer-based piping systems offer a number of advantages, along with some limitations, compared to metallic and other non-polymeric pipe materials. The use of thermoplastic piping in the chemical process industries (CPI) must be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis because…
Polyethylene (PE) is the world’s largest-volume commodity polymer. Along with high-density (HDPE) and low-density (LDPE) polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) is one of the three main types of PE. The global market for LLDPE is over 20 million metric tons…
Security of SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) and other industrial control systems (ICSs) is a complex subject, and one that has received much attention in recent years. While modern industrial control systems use many of the same computers, operating…