Chemical Engineering
Predictive Maintenance Basics
Enabled by modern digitalization tools, predictive maintenance strategies have distinct advantages over traditional approaches and preventive maintenance protocols The era of visual-inspection-only maintenance routines with an employee checking boxes off on a clipboard could soon become a relic thanks to…
Business News: October 2023
Plant Watch OCI Global to double U.S. production capacity for ‘green’ methanol September 14, 2023 — OCI Global N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.oci-global.com) plans to double its green-methanol production capacity to approximately 400,000 metric tons per year (m.t/yr) in Beaumont,…
Data Analytics Software for Process Optimization
Advanced software solutions drill down through the data to provide actionable information There is no shortage of data produced in a chemical processing facility, but sifting through the data to drill down to the useful information can be particularly cumbersome.…
The Next Generation of Overpressure Protection
Overpressure protection is at the center of process safety across all chemical processing sectors. As processes and technologies evolve, it is essential that safety systems can adapt to provide the utmost levels of protection All over the chemical process industries…
Methane Reforming: Solving the Hydrogen Blues
Improved catalysts and reconfigured reformer designs make steam-methane reforming the most scalable, industry-ready source of ‘blue’ H2 For many decades, steam-methane reforming (SMR) has been, and still is, the technology of choice for the large-scale production of synthesis gas (syngas;…
Proactive Industrial Hose Maintenance
Proper hose maintenance can prevent failures, increase profitability and improve safety Deciding when to change industrial hoses is a common challenge facing plant managers and engineers — and it is a challenging decision for good reason. If plant managers wait…
A new electrolyzer system makes propane from CO2
Electrolyzers are typically associated with the production of “green” hydrogen from water and renewable electricity, but a new device borrows from traditional electrolyzer principles to convert CO2 into propane. A team of researchers from the Electrochemical Energy Materials and Devices…
Facts At Your Fingertips: Bolted Flange Joint Assemblies
Flange-bolted joints enable connections of singular segments of pipes into more complex sections, as well as joining measuring and process devices, such as flowmeters, pumps, fans and pressure vessels. These joints are potential sources of leakage, which can introduce safety…
Scaled up facility under construction for single-step, CO2-to-fuels process
Construction is underway by AIR Co. (Brooklyn, N.Y.; www.aircompany.com) for a commercial demonstration plant capable of converting captured carbon dioxide into fuel-grade paraffins, as well as ethanol and methanol, in a single step. The facility will be a larger version…
Immobilizing enzymes as a stable, active foam
Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; Germany; www.kit.edu) have developed a new class of materials — enzyme foams. Normally, foaming modifies the enzyme structure and enzymes lose their biocatalytic activity. The new protein foams, however, are said to…