A laboratory ventilation system that does not work effectively may not keep personnel safe and can produce significant adverse impacts on operations Laboratory personnel treat their ventilation systems as a given. They expect them to be designed right, to always…
An advanced control system helps alleviate workflow inefficiencies and reliance on manual adjustments in a complex chemical process Synthesizing principles of engineering and biology, Solugen Inc. (Houston; www.solugen.com) has developed and commercially deployed a unique carbon-negative platform for peroxide manufacturing.…
The key technologies shaping industrial process control all work in tandem to support the ultimate goal of plant optimization Process control technologies are at the heart of all chemical process facilities, providing the foundation for safe and efficient plants. As…
The purpose-built FDA-1500 mixer (photo) has a maximum working capacity of 1,500 gal and features a dish-bottom, stainless-steel mix vessel with a 50-psig heating/cooling jacket. The dome-style cover includes multiple charging ports, as well as a hinged manway for major…
CO2 TO METHANOL Last December, Sumitomo Chemical Co, Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp) started operating a pilot facility for producing methanol from CO2 at its Ehime Works, located in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The company aims to complete the demonstration…
Small-scale distillation processes have specific concerns that are different than commercial-scale distillation. Presented here are several topics, including column internals and column-sizing software, considered from the perspective of pilot-scale distillation The design and operation of laboratory- and pilot-scale columns are…
Understanding the water chemistry is a first step in preventing heat-exchanger fouling At the two power plants and chemical plant in which this author formerly worked, the fresh-water-makeup supplies (two lakes and an underground aquifer adjacent to a river) all…
Sort plastic flakes with this machine The new Innosort Flake (photo) is a high-throughput system for sorting plastic flakes. Enhanced features enable simultaneous flake sorting by polymer type, color and transparency, achieving unmatched quality, even from highly contaminated inputs, the…
Reactors are at the core of most processes in the chemical process industries (CPI) and are broken down most broadly by whether their operating mode is non-flow (batch) or continuous. Each reactor type has advantages and disadvantages depending on the…
A new pilot plant is demonstrating a proprietary technology for recycling magnet materials from end-of-life (EOL) products, such as electric motors, automobile parts and hard-disk drives. Developed by Cyclic Materials Inc. (Toronto, Ont., Canada; www.cyclicmaterials.earth), the Mag-Xtract process is said…