Although plant safety should be a top priority every day, there are certain times when extra vigilance is needed to make sure that safety practices are being maintained. This article outlines three periods deemed to be “critical” for plant safety…
History is a constant reminder that accidents and catastrophic events can and do occur in process environments. As processes become more complex (for instance, allowing for greater operating temperatures and pressures to be used) and existing basic process control systems…
With productivity, growth and reliability as constant drivers, the proactive evaluation of all machinery is critically important. In order to gain useful insight, the maintenance team must capture comprehensive data related to machinery operation and carry out a logical interpretation…
Chemicals in production and laboratory environments alike have three distinct lifecycle phases: the first is procurement and inventory storage; the second is use in a manufacturing process or research program; and the third is post-use, including onsite handling, removal and…
Much attention over the past two years has been focused on alternative energy and green chemistry. So it is particularly appropriate that Chemical Engineering’s (CE) 2010 Personal Achievement Award recognizes two individuals with expertise in those fields. Last month, at…
Following the devastating explosion at the Imperial Sugar Co.’s Georgia factory that killed 14 people, injured many more employees and leveled the facility in February 2008, it was determined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Admin. (OSHA; www.osha.gov) officials…
As potential threats continue to make headline news around the world, it is clear that the need for security measures is an ongoing process, and that this process requires vigilance. The chemical process industries (CPI) are considered part of the…
Adding an organic Rankine cycle system to generate power onsite can help operators optimize the overall economics of combustion-related systems and emissions controls The ever-increasing cost of fuel and relentless push for environmental responsibility are constant factors in the profitability…
Codexis (Redwood City, Calif.; www.codexis.com) and CO2 Solution (Quebec City, Canada; www.co2solution.com) have jointly developed a cost-effective method for capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants. Solvent-based systems for capturing CO2 are relatively well-understood, but they have not been widely…
Last month, two significant cracks were found in the cornerstones of conventional thinking about how chemicals in the environment make their way into the human body and other living organisms, possibly leading to damaging effects. The timing is particularly apropos,…