Processing & Handling
These fume exhaust fans have no belts or couplings
New Mono-Stack fume exhaust fans provide pollution abatement, re-entrainment prevention, odor control and energy recovery in chemical, pharmaceutical and wastewater-treatment facilities. Incorporating functional nozzle design and high plume dispersion, these fans are low-maintenance and direct-drive, with no belts or couplings.…
A new low-temperature shift catalyst passes longterm testing
A new water-gas shift catalyst has undergone 1,000 h of successful operation in a demonstration carried out by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, Kawasaki; www.nedo.go.jp) and Hitachi, Ltd. (Tokyo, both Japan; www.hitachi.com). The tests were performed…
A sorption-enhanced catalyst improves CO2 methanation
Converting CO2 into methane is a way to mimic the natural carbon cycle and close the energy cycle by producing synthetic hydrocarbons (see, for example, CO2 Utilization, Chem. Eng., July 2013, pp. 16–19). However, the Sabatier reaction (CO2 + 4H2…
Mixing in the spotlight
Pressure to become more flexible and provide shorter cycle times have prompted chemical processors to examine their mixing operations to determine whether there is a way to increase process efficiency via mixing equipment. And, they just might be onto something,…
Perform leak tests without wasting helium
This company has developed helium recovery units that make it possible to recover and recycle the gas used in leak detection. The recovery of used helium is useful for meeting the environmental certification requirements under DIN EN ISO 14001 and…
Compressible Fluid Flow Calculation Methods
Compressible gas flow with significant variation in density along pipes is commonplace in the chemical processing industries (CPI). In designing these pipes for compressible flow, it is important to calculate the pressure loss or maximum gas-handling capacity for safety and…
Quick Pipe and Duct Flow Calculations
Would you like to make a quick mental calculation to determine approximate flowrate, velocity, or pipe and duct sizes for many common situations? This article presents two methods for estimating flow characteristics without the aid of charts, tables, calculators or…
New on-line material-selection guide for valves
A new online Material Selection Guide is available from DeZURIK (Sartell, Minn.; www.dezurik.com). This convenient web application makes it quick and easy to determine which metals or elastomers are suggested as suitable for valves in applications involving specific corrosive media,…
Pressure-Vessel Quality Control Requirements
Pressure vessels are common in the chemical process industries (CPI) and they range widely in size and complexity. Process engineers may be tasked with inspecting a new pressure vessel or with witnessing hydrostatic testing of a vessel. In addition, engineers…
Advanced battery electrolytes made with low-cost, high-throughput method
A high-throughput method for synthesizing ionic-liquid-containing electrolytes developed by Boulder Ionics Corp. (Arvada, Colo.; www.boulderionics.com) has been refined to enable its use in commercial production. Boulder Ionics had previously piloted the continuous process for producing advanced ionic-liquid (IL) electrolytes at…