This column is based on “Nitrile Rubber Production – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/nitrile-rubber-production-cost. Nitrile rubber (NBR), also known as Buna-N, is a synthetic rubber copolymer of 1,3-butadiene and acrylonitrile. The material…
Plant Watch Arkema to expand PVDF plant in Changshu October 15, 2019 — Arkema (Colombes, France; www.arkema.com) will increase the capacity of polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) at its Changshu, China plant by approximately 50%. The expanded capacity is scheduled to come…
This article provides an overview of how computational fluid dynamics (CFD) works, and what benefits it can bring to the chemical process industries Sustainability, waste reduction, energy efficiency and increased demand for engineered material are driving process engineers to continuously…
Portable laptop computers and smartphones can be used to emulate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling results using this interpolation procedure Most engineers are familiar with computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) models and their power (for an overview of CFD, see Part 1). At…
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), fell 0.4 percent in October on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis following stable activity during the third quarter. On a…
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), the U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) rose by 0.3 percent in September following declines of 0.2 percent in August and 0.7 percent in July. During September, chemical output…
The American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washington, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com) reported that U.S. specialty chemicals market volumes ended the third quarter on soft note, falling 0.1 percent in September after rising 0.2 percent in August. Of the 28 specialty chemical segments that…
The 45th Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award was presented on Wednesday, October 23 to LanzaTech for its Gas Fermentation Technology, which converts carbon-rich gas streams to products using proprietary microbes that feed on gases rather than sugars, as in traditional…
The preliminary value for the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; the most recent available) for August 2019 decreased from the previous month’s value. The decline is the sixth within the last seven months. While the Construction Labor subindex rose in…
Plant Watch Total-Corbion JV inaugurates PLA bioplastics plant in Thailand September 13, 2019 — Total Corbion PLA, a 50/50 joint venture (JV) between Total S.A. (Paris, France; www.total.com) and Corbion N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.corbion.com), has inaugurated its polylactic acid…