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Technical & Practical

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Polymer-Based Piping Systems in the CPI

Polymeric piping systems have been used in well-defined segments of the chemical process industries (CPI) for decades. They have proven their sustainability to manage almost any chemical load up to temperatures of 100°C in the moderate pressure region ( p…

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Counting On Process Analytical Technology

If the debate that culminated in passage of national healthcare reform in the U.S. is any indication of what is ahead for pharmaceutical manufacturers, they should ready themselves for battle. Implementation of the sweeping measure puts the onus on drugmakers…

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Applying CPI Temperature Sensors

When selecting a temperature sensor, don’t fall back on outdated rules of thumb that may no longer be valid, or ‘plug and play’ solutions that may not be applicable Temperature is a critical measurement in the chemical process industries (CPI).…

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Controlling Membrane Fouling

The deposition and accumulation of suspended and dissolved particles on membrane surfaces leads to performance loss. Fouling can dramatically reduce the efficiency and economic benefits of a membrane process. The type of fouling and how strongly it appears depends on…

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Successful revamps

My first distillation dream occurred about 30 years ago, and yet, I recall it as vividly as if it were yesterday. In it, my distillation-column design work started with a vapor-liquid thermodynamic model that was widely regarded as perfect. I…

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pH Measurement And Control

The mechanical design and material science of pH-sensor technology have evolved dramatically over the last century. Current-day uses include a wide range of applications from high-purity pharmaceutical processing to wastewater treatment. Some of these applications pose high challenges to pH…

Foolproofing Regulatory Document Generation

When it comes to managing regulatory documents such as product labels, bills of lading, and certificates of analysis (COA), virtually all manufacturers in the chemical process industries (CPI) face the same challenge — getting the right information into the right…

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Fine-tuning Pump Vibration Diagnostics

To unearth the fundamental causes of vibration-related pump troubles, pump end-users and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) typically have relied on a concise array of vibration field-test parameters. Conventional trial-and-error vibration troubleshooting methods often fail to achieve the longterm, trouble-free pump…

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Heat Transfer Fluids: System Filtration

OVERVIEW Indirect heating of processes by organic thermal-liquid fluids offers highly reliable operation, and the heat transfer systems are generally treated as low-maintenance utilities. Occasionally, the heat transfer fluid can become contaminated, resulting in the formation of sludge particles, or…

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Optimize Shift Scheduling Using Pinch Analysis

Pinch analysis emerged as a systematic design tool during the energy crisis of the late 1970s, particularly for the optimization of heat-exchanger networks and other heat-recovery systems [ 1 ]. Since then, ongoing breakthroughs in the use of pinch analysis…