A spray-drying technology that applies an electrical charge to feedstock as it exits the atomizing nozzle allows significant reductions in processing temperature and can eliminate downstream processing steps. The charge application can improve control over particle morphology, lengthen shelflife of…
Recycling sachets Later this year, Unilever (London, U.K.; www.unilever.com) plans to open a pilot plant in Indonesia to test the long-term viability of its new technology for recycling plastic sachet (small bags) waste. The process, called CreaSolv, has been developed…
Membrane distillation (MD) — a thermal desalination technique used for recovering pure water from concentrated salt solutions — is hampered by high energy consumption, low single-pass recovery rates and by the need to use expensive heat exchangers to handle the…
Plant Watch Ineos announces plans to build new PDH plant, increase ethylene capacity June 12, 2017 — Ineos (Rolle, Switzerland; www.ineos.com) announced plans to construct a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit in Europe. The plant will produce 750,000 metric tons per…
Efforts continue to make nitric-acid production more efficient with lower emissions of greenhouse gases Like the ammonia used to make it, nitric acid (NA) continues to be produced by a process nearly a century old — the Ostwald process. Although…
More sophisticated packaging equipment helps the CPI boost product quality and machine reliability When it comes to packaging their products, chemical, pharmaceutical and food processors list product quality, often directly related to health and human safety, as the top concern,…
Integrated console, virtual-reality simulation offers learning for maximum, measurable training efficiency Modern techniques are being used for realistic plant training for control room operators, field operators, and operations and maintenance personnel. Simulator training has been shown to result in better…
Utilizing ‘Tolerance Intervals’ can help to set more realistic specification ranges, especially when only small amounts of data are available Specifications provide a framework by which one can gage whether products have been manufactured successfully. They identify a product’s key…
The physical properties of zeolites make them extremely important in many industrial processes. This one-page reference provides information on the structure and chemistry of zeolites that allows their use in the chemical process industries (CPI). Zeolite structure Zeolites are a…
This column is based on “Prilled Urea from Ammonia via Self-Stripping Process – Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec. It can be found at: www.intratec.us/analysis/urea-production-cost. Urea is a nitrogenous compound consisting of a carbonyl group attached to two amine…