Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. (Tlalnepantla, Mexico; www.mexichem.com) announced that it will appoint Daniel Martínez-Valle to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), following the resignation of Antonio Carrillo, who has informed us that he is leaving to pursue other professional…
Air Liquide (Paris, France; www.airliquide.com) recently started the world’s largest oxygen production unit for Sasol (Johannesburg, South Africa, www.sasol.com). Air Liquide invested around €200 million for the construction of this Air Separation Unit (ASU) in Secunda, with a total production capacity of 5,000 metric…
Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. (Milan, Italy; www.mairetecnimont.com) announced that its main subsidiaries Tecnimont S.p.A. and KT-Kinetics Technology S.p.A. have signed an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) as part of the execution…
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) will start the construction of a new methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) synthesis unit at the company’s Verbund site in Geismar, Louisiana, in early Q2 2018. Planning and engineering for the new unit started in 2016…
Working in extreme environments can take a toll on workers, but these dual-action personal air conditioners (PACs; photo) keep workers comfortable in either hot or cold working conditions. PACs minimize heat stress and fatigue in elevated temperatures, or with simple…
Process industry plants install sophisticated air-pollution control systems, but they can be ineffective if the flowmeters on which they rely deliver inaccurate or unreliable data. This one-page reference provides information on measuring the flow of gaseous combustion products in large…
The 2018 Connected Plant Conference (www.connectedplantconference.com) will take place February 26–28 in Charlotte, N.C. Focused on digitalization and connectivity trends in the chemical process industries (CPI), as well as the power-generation sector, the event’s technical program boasts speakers from a…
When wearing single-use protective gloves, sweat can create health and safety issues. Presented here is a look at the causes of the problems and possible solutions A great many situations across the chemical process industries (CPI) require quality hand protection,…
The concept of tray stability can apply to bubble caps and be used as an alternative method to determine the minimum efficient capacity of these devices. A new stability correlation for bubble-cap trays is proposed and checked against FRI data…
This column is based on “Cyclohexane from Benzene and Hydrogen – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/cyclohexane-production-cost. Cyclohexane is a relatively stable cycloalkane, present in crude oils in concentrations of 0.1–1.0%. This cycloparaffin…