A couple of years ago on Chemical Engineering’s 120th anniversary, I looked back at the history of this publication and at that time, I wrote: “In September of 1902, the first issue of Electrochemical Industry was published to serve those applying the principles of electrochemistry in industry. Excerpts from that first issue indicate that growth in the electrochemical industry was largely aided by the growing availability of electric power, particularly from hydroelectric power such as at Niagara Falls. An article in that issue by professor C.F. Burgess states that ‘Chemical manufacturing was a number of years ago considered best developed when the processes were so simple that no power was necessary to assist in the chemical reactions, but this condition has changed and the chemical industries are now pre-eminently power-using industries.’”
The name of the publication changed in 1905 to Electrochemical and Metallurgical Industry, and after a couple more name iterations eventually became Chemical Engineering in 1946.
This publication’s root in electrochemistry was on my mind this month while editing the article “Electrochemical Processes for the Chemical Industry” (pp. 29–33). Changes in power generation, availability and costs affect the energy-intensive chemical process industries (CPI). With a sharpened focus on decarbonization and an “energy transition” moving toward electrification, interest in electrochemistry is resurging. The authors of the Feature Report give examples of modern electrochemical processes, and share their experience in scale-up.
Also in this issue
As always, this month’s Chemical Engineering covers a wide-breadth of topics. The field of chemical engineering itself is applicable to fields as broad as petroleum refining, mining, pharmaceuticals, bioengineering, agriculture, energy, food-and-beverages and many more. We typically refer to this broad group of industries as the CPI. With each issue we strive to fill these pages with articles that are broad enough to inform engineers throughout their many varied job functions, and yet detailed enough to be useful.
Early in my career I spent a good number of years as a process development engineer, working on scale-up and troubleshooting of new processes. While most of my education was focused on the scientific and technical aspects of chemical engineering, one of the things I learned early on in industry is that in addition to the technical challenges of process development, economics can make or break a project. Our two-part cover story on cost engineering (pp. 19–28) addresses cost estimating techniques and considerations in choosing new or used equipment.
Safety is always of utmost importance in the CPI, as our Environmental Manager article (pp. 34–36) notes, whilie discussing hazard reviews. This issue also features another installation of the “Tower Doctor,” sharing distillation troubleshooting expertise; a Newsfront on level measurement; a Chem Chronicles on the history of thin-film evaporators and more.
This past month we also started something new — a short, editorial roundup podcast that highlights some of our content online and in print including articles, latest news and upcoming webinars. You can find it on our homepage at chemengonline.com if you’d like to listen in.
We wish all of our readers happy holidays and all the best as a new year approaches. We hope you enjoy reading, and listening. ■
Chemical Engineering
Electrochemistry and much more
| By Dorothy Lozowski
A couple of years ago on Chemical Engineering’s 120th anniversary, I looked back at the history of this publication and at that time, I wrote: “In September of 1902, the first issue of Electrochemical Industry was published to serve those applying the principles of electrochemistry in industry. Excerpts from that first issue indicate that growth in the electrochemical industry was largely aided by the growing availability of electric power, particularly from hydroelectric power such as at Niagara Falls. An article in that issue by professor C.F. Burgess states that ‘Chemical manufacturing was a number of years ago considered best developed when the processes were so simple that no power was necessary to assist in the chemical reactions, but this condition has changed and the chemical industries are now pre-eminently power-using industries.’”
The name of the publication changed in 1905 to Electrochemical and Metallurgical Industry, and after a couple more name iterations eventually became Chemical Engineering in 1946.
This publication’s root in electrochemistry was on my mind this month while editing the article “Electrochemical Processes for the Chemical Industry” (pp. 29–33). Changes in power generation, availability and costs affect the energy-intensive chemical process industries (CPI). With a sharpened focus on decarbonization and an “energy transition” moving toward electrification, interest in electrochemistry is resurging. The authors of the Feature Report give examples of modern electrochemical processes, and share their experience in scale-up.
Also in this issue
As always, this month’s Chemical Engineering covers a wide-breadth of topics. The field of chemical engineering itself is applicable to fields as broad as petroleum refining, mining, pharmaceuticals, bioengineering, agriculture, energy, food-and-beverages and many more. We typically refer to this broad group of industries as the CPI. With each issue we strive to fill these pages with articles that are broad enough to inform engineers throughout their many varied job functions, and yet detailed enough to be useful.
Early in my career I spent a good number of years as a process development engineer, working on scale-up and troubleshooting of new processes. While most of my education was focused on the scientific and technical aspects of chemical engineering, one of the things I learned early on in industry is that in addition to the technical challenges of process development, economics can make or break a project. Our two-part cover story on cost engineering (pp. 19–28) addresses cost estimating techniques and considerations in choosing new or used equipment.
Safety is always of utmost importance in the CPI, as our Environmental Manager article (pp. 34–36) notes, whilie discussing hazard reviews. This issue also features another installation of the “Tower Doctor,” sharing distillation troubleshooting expertise; a Newsfront on level measurement; a Chem Chronicles on the history of thin-film evaporators and more.
This past month we also started something new — a short, editorial roundup podcast that highlights some of our content online and in print including articles, latest news and upcoming webinars. You can find it on our homepage at chemengonline.com if you’d like to listen in.
We wish all of our readers happy holidays and all the best as a new year approaches. We hope you enjoy reading, and listening. ■