Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is a white, translucent crystalline solid that is widely used in the chemical process industries (CPI). NaOH is often referred to as caustic soda, due to its corrosive action on many substances: it decomposes proteins at room…
The following recently published books may have relevance to various sectors of the chemical process industries (CPI). Driving Continuous Process Safety Improvement from Investigated Incidents. By the Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS), Wiley Publishing, 2021, 288 pages, $140.00. Industry…
Conventional propane dehydrogenation (PDH) is an endothermic, equilibrium-limited reaction that requires high temperatures to achieve commercially viable per-pass yields of propylene. Oxidative propane dehydrogenation has the potential to form propylene at much lower temperatures and more selectively by controlling the…
After a rough past year, petroleum refineries are seeking profit opportunities through the use of renewable feedstocks, such as vegetable oils and waste fats, as well as with new alkylation technologies and by increasing “crude-to-chemicals” (C2C) approaches The past 18…
Industrial evaporator heat-transfer surfaces are either tubular or flat plates, packaged into a variety of evaporator types, as outlined here. Batch evaporators Batch evaporators are vessels with a heating jacket or internal coil, an overhead condenser, a condensate receiver, and…
Polylactic acid (PLA, polylactide; Figure 1) is a thermoplastic aliphatic polyester that is derived from a number of renewable starting materials, such as starch and sugarcane, via bacterial fermentation. PLA is semicrystalline or amorphous, rigid, resilient and an ultraviolet-light-resistant material,…
To withstand the harsh conditions and potential safety risks encountered in urea agricultural applications and other severe-service processes, special consideration must be given to valve construction, performance and installation Severe-service valves (SSVs) are specially designed and manufactured for critical applications…
Kaji Technology Corp. (Osaka; www.kajitech.com) and Toray Industries, Inc. (Tokyo, both Japan; www.toray.com) have jointly completed developing and demonstrating an electrochemical hydrogen pump system earlier this year. This effort was part of a project, funded by the New Energy and…
Ethylene Toyo Engineering Corp. (Chiba, Japan; www.toyo-eng.com) has been awarded a contract for a project to construct an ethylene pilot plant, using waste-derived ethanol as raw material. The project is planned by Sumitomo Chemical Co. at its Chiba Works. Sumitomo…
A new demonstration plant will significantly scale up production of sustainable textile fibers made from cellulosic raw materials. TreeToTextile AB (Stockholm, Sweden; www.treetotextile.com), jointly owned by H&M Group, Inter IKEA Group, Stora Enso and LSCS Invest, has piloted a production…