An Investigation of Premature Flooding in a Distillation Column
Surprising observations regarding flooding in the upper fractionation trays of an atmospheric crude-petroleum distillation column…
Cover Story
Commentary
The 2019 Kirkpatrick Award: Nominations are now open
As chemical engineers, many of us work on developing new processes or improving current ones,…
In The News
Newsfronts
Power-to-X: Batteries Not Required
As renewable energy becomes increasingly available (and less expensive), Europeans are looking to Power-to-X as…
The Balanced Burner
Modern combustion technologies help processors safely meet emissions standards, while optimizing the process Combustion is…
Chementator
Making jet fuel from wood
Last month, construction began on a demonstration facility that integrates high-performance entrained-flow gasification technology and…
A methane fuel cell that operates at lower temperatures
Existing methane fuel cells typically require high (750–800°C) temperatures to activate methane in a separate…
Transforming plastic waste into useful aerogels
Plastic-bottle waste is toxic and non-biodegradable, and has become a major environmental issue. It often…
Simpler, more selective scandium recovery
Rare-earth elements (REEs), such as scandium, are in high demand, but it is often difficult…
Nano-engineered cellulose prevents scaling
Efforts to find more environmentally friendly anti-scalant approaches have yielded a new form of functionalized…
Chementator Briefs
Renewable jet fuel At the end of last October, euglena Co. (Tokyo, Japan; www.euglena.jp) completed…
Recovering rare-earth elements from coal byproducts
A team from the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Ky.; www.uky.edu) and Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Blacksburg,…
A catalyst that mimics enzymes
A research team from the University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia; www.unsw.edu.au) and Ruhr-Universität…
A more efficient way to convert CO2 into chemicals via MER
Microbial electrochemical reduction (MER) of CO2 into value-added chemicals is a potential way to curb…
Business News
Business News - January 2019
Plant Watch Neste moves forward with expansion of renewable products in Singapore December 12, 2018…
Technical & Practical
Cost Engineering: Equipment Purchase Costs
A methodology and examples for estimating equipment costs are presented Engineers have the responsibility to…
Feature Report
Commercializing Process Technologies
New technologies can provide competitive advantages compared to established processes, but significant effort is required…
Facts at Your Fingertips
Facts at your Fingertips: Pressure Measurement for Real Gases
The ideal gas law ( PV = nRT), relating molar volume of a gas to…
Technology Profile
Technology Profile: HDPE Production via Slurry-Loop Process
This column is based on “HDPE Production via Slurry Loop Process – Cost Analysis,” published…
Engineering Practice
Accelerating Six Sigma Research with the Definitive Screening Design (DSD) Technique
DSD is a new design-of-experiments (DOE) technique that is expected to bring huge benefits when…
Equipment & Services
Focus
Focus on Handling Powders and Bulk Solids
Vibrator-mounting system requires no welding or bolting This versatile mounting solution (photo) allows operators to…
New Products
FTIR spectrometer features newly engineered optical system
The Nicolet iS20 FTIR spectrometer is an upgrade over the well-established Nicolet iS10 FTIR spectrometer,…
This AODD pump has multiple mounting orientations
This company has extended its line of specialty air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps with the addition…
A new generation of valve positioners
At Valve World Expo (Düsseldorf, Germany; November 27–29), this company introduced two new positioners from…
Slash the total cost of ownership with this new aseptic valve
Reducing the total cost of ownership is paramount for manufacturers of dairy, food and beverage…
Fast, simple and accurate on-the-go steam-trap testing
The SAGE UMT (photo) is a wireless, hand-held steam-trap-testing solution that enables accurate, on-the-go testing…
A new control system for smart control of separators
The new Metris addIQ (photo) is a state-of-the-art digital control system for separation applications. Metris…
This new digital float switch uses transistors instead of reeds
Said to be the first instrument of its kind, this company has launched a float…