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Tower Doctor: A Quick Diagnosis Makes a Short Assignment

Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers On an assignment to troubleshoot a vacuum tower for a petroleum refinery, my team was tasked to “run simulations to determine why the heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) has a very…

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Facts At Your Fingertips: Alternating-Current Induction Motors

Alternating-current (a.c.) induction motors are widely used throughout the chemical process industries (CPI) and other manufacturing sectors to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy to power rotating equipment, such as centrifugal pumps, compressors and fans, as well as other industrial…

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Materials of Construction: Stainless Steel Versus Nickel Alloys

Nickel alloys have long been the default choice for demanding applications in the chemical process industries (CPI). A new grade of stainless steel offers an alternative Demanding chemical engineering applications, such as plate heat exchangers (PHEs; Figure 1), tubing, pipes…

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Conveyor Selection for Bulk Solids Processes

Use this guide to aid the selection of conveying technologies for applications in powder and bulk solids handling Many sectors of the chemical process industries (CPI) — including chemicals, plastics, batteries, mining, power generation, plastics, food, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and others…

Achema 2022 Show Preview

Achema (www.achema.de), the global forum for the chemical engineering and process industries presented by Dechema e.V. (www.dechema.de), is taking place August 22–26 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This year’s event will feature over 2,000 exhibitors spread out over 12 exhibit…

Atmospheric Pressure Releases: Which Require Dispersion Modeling?

Dispersion modeling of atmospheric releases from pressure-relief valves and other sources can be time-consuming. Follow this screening process to categorize which installations require detailed modeling and focus effort where it is most consequential The safe design of atmospheric relief/venting systems…

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New design allows countercurrent heat exchange with hard-to-process slurries

Countercurrent heat-exchange with difficult slurries, such as those of mineral ore or stringy vegetables, has not been possible because suspended solids pack and foul the shell of shell-and-tube designs and plug the passages in plate-and-frame units. Now, a recently patented…

More Specification Tips to Maximize Heat Transfer

Presented here are practical points to help in the selection of plate-and-frame and air-cooled heat exchangers With a wider variety of heat exchangers to choose from than ever before, there are a number of variables to be considered when assessing…

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Polymer-coal composite used for building materials

X-Materials (Orlando, Fla.; www.x-materials.com), the advanced materials division of Semplastics Inc., has developed a method for manufacturing a coal-containing ceramic polymer-composite material that is being used to make building materials, such as roofing tiles, as well as other products. According…

The ‘Green’ Chemistry Challenge

The Green Chemistry Challenge Awards recognize scientific solutions to environmental problems that reduce hazards associated with the design, manufacture and use of chemicals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention sponsors the awards in…