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Chemical Engineering

Evonik plans to divest manufacturing site in Lülsdorf, Germany

Evonik Industries AG (Essen, Germany) intends to divest its Lülsdorf site in the medium term. More detailed plans will be drawn up by spring 2022. The aim is to transfer the entire site to a new owner, although the sale…

Altivia sells water treatment business to Usalco

Usalco, LLC (Baltimore, Md.), a producer of water treatment and industrial chemicals, announced that it has acquired the water treatment business of Altivia (Houston). Altivia’s water treatment business is a leading manufacturer of specialty chemicals for municipal water and wastewater…

Sanitize, Analyze and Optimize Bioprocessing Operations

Better designs and improved monitoring and control technologies lead to higher efficiencies While bioprocessing can be challenging due to the sanitation requirements and exacting processes, new technologies are allowing bioprocessors to more easily sanitize, analyze and optimize their processes in…

Facts At Your Fingertips: Design Considerations for Pneumatic Conveying

Attention to the design of bulk-solids pneumatic-conveying pipelines can help avoid conveying-system problems, such as low conveying rates, plugging, excessive wear-and-tear in the conveying line, high conveying-system pressure drop, product breakage, fines generation and product cross-contamination. This one-page reference provides…

Technology Profile: Production of Linear Alpha Olefins

Linear alpha olefins (LAOs) are hydrocarbons with the chemical formula CnH2n, characterized by linear chains and one double bond at the alpha position (Figure 1). Such hydrocarbons are important chemical intermediates, widely used in several industrial and consumer products according…

Bolt-Load Considerations Associated with ‘Hot Bolting’

In some situations, it might be necessary to remove or replace a bolt during operation. This article shows how to determine the proper bolt load to prevent leaks Bolted flange joints (Figure 1) are part of pressure vessel and piping…

A System Approach with Flow Analysis

Taking a system approach to find the root cause of a problem can be more beneficial than simply replacing a problematic pump. This article explains why We want the best reliability with anything that we work with. In a plant…

Implementing digital transformation

The recently concluded 5th annual Connected Plant Conference (CPC; www.connectedplantconference.com), held in Austin, Tex., illustrated both the real promise of Industry 4.0 digital tools to improve operational efficiency and safety at chemical process industries (CPI) facilities, as well as the…

Field Calibration of DP Flowmeters: Best Practices

Improved understanding of differential pressure (DP) flowmeter operation, along with best calibration practices, reduces maintenance errors Utilizing an orifice plate installed in a pipe and accurately measuring the differential pressure (DP) to calculate flow is one of most common methods…

A flexible, origami-based fuel cell

Until now, manufacturing polymer-electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) that are small, light and capable of mechanical movement has been challenging using conventional methods. PEMFCs are composed of end plates, bipolar plates, gaskets, membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) and other assembly parts, of…