Chemical Engineering
Root-Cause Failure Analysis of Heat Exchangers: From Postmortem to Prediction
This practical framework can help engineers transition their heat-exchanger diagnostics from after-the-fact investigation to continuous, chemistry-aware forecasting Chemical producers are pushing the limits more than ever. In addition to extending turnaround intervals from 3–5 years to 7–9 years, ethylene producers…
Solvent-based technology recovers PPS from waste materials
Polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) is a high-performance thermoplastic with excellent mechanical and thermal properties commonly used in automotive glass-fiber-reinforced components and materials. Recycling waste PPS is challenging because separating impurities is difficult, and conventional mechanical recycling can lead to polymer degradation.…
Effect of Orientation on Heat-Exchanger Performance
The importance of heat-exchanger orientation on process operations is illustrated using a real-world case study from an ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol plant The flow dynamics associated with the presence of both a liquid and a gas (or vapor) phase inside a…
Applying ionic liquids to alum sludge presents a less-toxic route to sludge conditioning
Aluminum sulfate is used in drinking-water treatment as a coagulant to remove suspended particles, but this process leaves behind large volumes of watery residue known as alum sludge. Alum sludge is exceedingly difficult to dewater, making disposal a massive challenge,…
Rio Tinto opens $1.4-billion lithium projects in Argentina
Rio Tinto plc (London, U.K.) announced a major milestone for Argentina’s lithium industry, marking the official opening of Rio Tinto’s Fénix 1B expansion and Sal de Vida operation in Catamarca following a combined investment of around $1.4 billion. Both projects…
MilliporeSigma opens bioprocessing production center in Daejeon, South Korea
MilliporeSigma (Burlington, Mass.), the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced the opening of a new Asia-Pacific Bioprocessing Production Center in Daejeon, South Korea. The center represents an investment of more than €300 million,…
AkzoNobel completes $60-million upgrade of three North American powder coatings sites
Upgrades to production, infrastructure and technology have been made at three of AkzoNobel N.V.'s (Amsterdam) Powder Coatings sites in North America as part of a $60 million investment. The company's facilities in Reading, Pennsylvania; Warsaw, Indiana; and Monterrey, Mexico, have…
PTT Global Chemical, SCG Chemicals plan olefins, polyolefins JV in Thailand
PTT Global Chemical Public Co. Ltd. (GC; Bangkok, Thailand) and SCG Chemicals Public Co. Ltd. (SCGC; Bangkok, Thailand) have announced plans to combine their olefins and polyolefins businesses in Thailand to strengthen the Thai petrochemical industry's competitiveness on the global…
Fujifilm to boost magnetic tape production capacity fivefold
Fujifilm Corp. (Tokyo) has decided to invest approximately 10 billion yen at its Kanagawa Factory, Odawara Site to increase its production capacity for data storage magnetic tape by approximately five times. The investment will strengthen Fujifilm’s stable supply system for…
Thyssenkrupp Uhde awarded FEED for CF Industries’ proposed urea liquor upgrade plant in Ontario
thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund, Germany) has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) study by an affiliate of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (Northbrook, Ill.), one of the world's leading manufacturers of hydrogen and nitrogen products, for a proposed new urea…