Industrially, adsorbent materials are used in a wide range of applications, including purification, separations, drying, spill management, catalysis, pollution control and others across a large number of industrial sectors. This column provides an overview of the major classes of industrial…
Electric alternating current (a.c.) motors power all types of equipment in the chemical process industries (CPI), including pumps, fans, blowers, compressors and other types of process equipment. Electric motor systems offer opportunities for reductions in power consumption because while some…
Hot-oil heat-tracing systems use liquid heat-transfer fluids to reliably deliver heat to process fluids. Heat tracing may be used in place of jacketed equipment, often at lower cost and with lowered risk of cross-contact. The use of liquids reduces many…
Industrial electrochemical processes are critical to a host of chemical products across many industry sectors. Modern products of electrochemical processes include chlorine gas, sodium hydroxide, sodium chlorate, hydrogen, oxygen, aluminum, copper, magnesium, zinc, adiponitrile and others. This one-page reference provides…
Liquid-liquid extraction is a common mass-transfer operation in which a target solute material is transferred from a feed phase into a solvent. The process is used in a number of applications, including: the removal of valuable products from fermentation broth;…
Catalysis is among the most important chemical phenomena in industrial chemistry, as well as in many biological and research fields. This one-page reference provides a review of several of the fundamental concepts underlying catalysis. Catalyst basics A catalyst interacts with…
Evidence for human use of microorganisms in the production of valuable goods extends back thousands of years. Over the ensuing centuries, the use of microbes in industrial processes has grown steadily, and continues today. This one-page reference provides information on…
Corrosion of steel is a key concern in many industrial settings, both from an asset-management perspective and from a safety perspective. The following briefly describes corrosion mechanisms for various classes of steel, and provides information on the corrosion resistance of…
Dimensionless numbers refer to physical parameters that have no units of measurement. These numbers often appear in calculations used by process engineers. As long as consistent units are used, dimensionless numbers remain the same whether metric or other units are…
Best-efficiency point (BEP), the flowrate at which a pump operates at its highest or optimum efficiency for a specific impeller diameter, is a key consideration when assessing pump performance. While most pumps do not consistently operate at their exact BEP,…