Safety instrumented systems (SIS) are in the spotlight these days. More companies have come to recognize the importance of recently published consensus standards, and recent fatal accidents tied to the failure of instrumented safeguards have brought further attention.…
For the 12th straight year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized efforts in developing less-toxic alternatives to existing technologies and reducing or eliminating waste in the manufacturing process. The 2007 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, which are described…
Climate change has become an important strategic issue for many operating companies throughout the chemical process industries (CPI). Public interest is increasing,1 shareholder interest continues to mount,2 and climate policy discussions are actively taking place at the state, regional,…
Lonza (Basel, Switzerland; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6898-553) has commercialized an online monitoring system, called PyroSense, for the automatic detection of endotoxins in water systems. The PyroSense system provides automatic, quantitative determination of endotoxin in water at selected intervals, using a standard assay system…
Most columns shut down without fires. Yet most refineries and chemical plants at some time or another have experienced spontaneous or hot work ignitions in at least one column. When this occurs inside a column during or after…
What is billed as the world’s first plant to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) from landfill gas is now being commissioned in Irvine, Calif., by Prometheus Energy Company (Seattle, Wash.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6897-540). The first module is expected to reach its capacity…
Emergency pressure relief is a dynamic event with rapidly changing physical properties. Available utilities aren’t always capable of handling the complex calculations commonly needed in the CPI. A simplified calculation technique is presented to address the issue of valve sizing…
Although sealing technologies rarely make the headline, when they do, its usually for a tragic reason, which demonstrates how important this small component really is. For example, on January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds…
A new technology to sink and store carbon dioxide deep in the ocean is being developed by the National Maritime Research Institute (NMRI; Tokyo; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6896-536), in cooperation with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST; Tsukuba), and…
Metabolix, Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-550) and ADM Co. (Decatur. Ill.; edlinks.chemengonline.com/6895-551) will jointly produce Mirel Natural Plastics — a family of high-performance natural plastics that are biobased, sustainable and completely biodegradable. Mirel is being commercialized through the companies’ joint venture,…