Process Engineering articles from April 2001

Process Engineering archives from April 2001

Ciba in alliance for agropolymers.
April 1, 2001... Ciba Specialty Chemicals is to be the sole distributor for additives for biodegradable plastics for the agricultural industry Produced by EPI Environmental Technologies, the additives render plastic mulch films, non-wovens and twines...

Europe promotes biotechnology.
April 1, 2001... The European Parliament has adopted a new position on biotechnology, calling on member states to adopt biotech openly and without reservations' to avoid slipping behind the US and Japan. However, it also stated that a 'clear and reliable set of...

Cancer focus for AstraZeneca research centre.
April 1, 2001... AstraZeneca is investing [pound]70million in new laboratories at its Alderley Park, Cheshire R&D centre, setting it up as the flagship research site for its anti-cancer drugs. The new facilities are expected to take two to three years to build,...

Dow acquires UK specialities firm.
April 1, 2001... US giant Dow Chemical has paid [pound]305million for British speciality chemical producer Ascot. The company, which garnered sales of [pound]221million last year, will be absorbed into Dow's performance chemicals business group. This marks...

Engineering drop outs.
April 1, 2001... The number of engineering students at UK universities has risen by six per cent over the past ten years, according to a report from the Engineering Council, but the first-year drop out rate is 12 per cent -- higher than any other subject....

F-R hands over patents.
April 1, 2001... Fisher-Rosemount has donated four process control patents to the Fieldbus Foundation. Three of the patents cover process control technology for field-mounted devices; the other covers a distributed control strategy using multiple control...

Awarding alliances.
April 1, 2001... Elementis Chromium was the big winner at the ACTIVE Awards, which recognise the application of alliancing principles in major plant construction and maintenance projects. The Elementis project, a chromium salt plant on Teesside which was one of...

BASF sales surge ahead, but 2001 will be 'subdued'.
April 1, 2001... Bolstered by record results for the year 2000, German chemicals giant BASF is well placed to face up to what the company itself sees as 'the challenges of 2001'. Presenting results that included the highest sales and income figures in the...

UK expansion for Mitsubishi Electric.
April 1, 2001... Following its recent announcement of a [pound]20million investment in support and application engineering services, Mitsubishi Electric is expanding its UK Automation Systems Division operation by creating six new regional sales offices. ...

PICME aims to shave [pound]120m from British process sector costs.
April 1, 2001... The new Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence, PICME (see page 25), received 'whole-hearted government support' at its launch in London last month. Over the next five years, with the support of the DTI and leading trade...

Kvaerner wins safety award.
April 1, 2001... Kvaerner's UK process business, based near Portsmouth, has been named a regional winner in the European Week for Safety and Health in the Workplace Awards by the HSC. 'This award is further confirmation of the success of Kvaerner's "Zero...

Borealis role is Taylor-made.
April 1, 2001... John Taylor, formerly chief executive of British Nuclear Fuels, has been appointed as chairman and chief executive of Nordic polyolefins major Borealis. He will replace Svein Rennemo, who has led Borealis since its formation from the merger of...

Reeve becomes Responsible.
April 1, 2001... Paul Reeve is to take on the position of executive director for Responsible Care at the UK Chemical industries Association. Reeve was previously with the Engineering Employers' Federation, where he was head of safety and environment. He...

BASF installs Catamold plant.
April 1, 2001... BASF has started work on its first continuous plant for producing 'Catamold' granules for powder injection moulding. Consisting of metal or ceramic powders with a proprietary binding system, Catamold is used in industries from automotive to...

Johnson Matthey opens catalyst production site.
April 1, 2001... Johnson Matthey has opened an autocatalyst manufacturing facility in Royston, Herts, which will produce 3.5million autocatalyst units per year. Costing [pound]10million, the plant was designed, built and commissioned by Amec in under nine...

BOC to buy Japan stake.
April 1, 2001... BOC Japan has made an [pound]85miliion offer for the 45 per cent share in its Osaka Sanso Kogyo subsidiary which it does not already own. OSK is one of Japan's largest industrial gas companies.

Doing a Dyson.
April 1, 2001... James Dyson, best known for inventing and marketing the bagless cyclone vacuum cleaner, has launched the Engineering Council's 'Recognising Excellence' campaign. 'What we should be doing is making sure the most talented, creative people are...

DuPont plans 4000 job cuts to counter decline in fibres market.
April 1, 2001... The weakness of the fibres market in the US has led to drastic job cuts for DuPont. The chemicals-to-pharmaceuticals giant is to cut 4000 jobs, around 4 per cent of its workforce, with half of these cuts in its nylon and polyester fibres...

Biocleanup project launched.
April 1, 2001... A [pound]15million research project into biological cleanup of contaminated land aims to boost the UK to the forefront of this sector by 2010. Half of the funding for the project will come from the Research Councils, with the rest coming from...

AMEC project to boost UK jobs.
April 1, 2001... Some 4000 UK jobs will be created thanks to a [pound]300million offshore oil and gas project in Nigeria, according to Amec. The company has landed the contract to build a floating production vessel for Shell, which will operate in the Bonga...

Bete.
April 1, 2001... Spray it again: nozzle design specialist Bete has opened a design and testing facility in Lewes, East Sussex, for customers requiring customised spraying equipment. The company uses digital techniques to design nozzles which use less liquid and...

Legionnaires alliance.
April 1, 2001... BetzDearborn and environmental consultancy Brocol have formed an alliance to provide products and services for companies which need to comply with regulations to control Legionella bacteria. The companies will provide a full health and safety...

CEL completes Polish project.
April 1, 2001... Process contractor CEL has completed a [pound]17 million, two-year project to build a soft-gel capsule manufacturing facility for GlaxoSmithKline in Poznan, Poland. The facility includes a 'lights-out' air conditioned high-bay warehouse, which...

ABB lands in deep water.
April 1, 2001... ABB has been awarded a five-year contract to supply well system equipment for BP's deep water development well programme in the Gulf of Mexico. The equipment, which will be made and tested at ABB's facilities in Houston, Texas, includes subsea...

Jobs cut as Invensys slides.
April 1, 2001... Challenging market conditions are leading to some 5000 job losses at automation and control group Invensys, in the wake of the company's second profits warning within six months. The job cuts, which represent six per cent of the workforce, will...

Scheduling links for F-R's PlantWeb.
April 1, 2001... Fisher-Rosemount has joined forces with Bedford, Massachusetts-based MRO Software to link the former's process monitoring systems into maintenance and repair scheduling software. 'We can now offer customers new opportunities to lower operating...

Yokogawa to produce magflow meters in Europe.
April 1, 2001... Yokogawa has transferred production of its ADMAG SE range of flowmeters to Europe, at its Rota Yokogawa plant in Germany. The flowmeters were developed for Europe, but were previously produced in Japan. The company frequently develops...

Valve merger for Tyco.
April 1, 2001... Tyco is to merge its two valve operations worldwide, creating the largest single valve operation in the market. Tyco Engineered Products will be absorbed into Tyco Valves and Controls, with the merged operation encompassing valves, actuators,...

Protecting pipes and vessels from overpressure dangers.
April 1, 2001... Safety specialist Elfab has developed a bursting disc with an integral sensor for use in chemically aggressive environments. Previously available for use with metal bursting discs, the Integral Flo-Tel device is a reusable sensor that can...

Remote monitoring and control of drives.
April 1, 2001... DriveWEB from ABB Automation allows users to remotely monitor and control electric motor drives over the Internet, intranet or WAP phone. Loaded on to a PC and communicating with the drives using the Modbus communications protocol, the software...

Pumps for Zone 0 transfers.
April 1, 2001... Flux Pumps has introduced a range of explosion-proof progressive cavity pumps for Zone 0 applications. For use with barrels, containers and enclosed vessels, the pumps provide an inexpensive and versatile means of handling medium-to...

Energy-saving valve positioner.
April 1, 2001... Claimed to be the easiest intelligent valve positioner to set up and use, the SP2 smart positioner from Spirax Sarco also saves energy by consuming virtually no air at setpoint. This means that on sites with a limited air supply there should be...

Signed, sealed and delivered.
April 1, 2001... DuPont Dow Elastomers is aiming to make next-day delivery the standard for European customers of its Kalrez perfluoroelastomer parts and Zalak high performance seals. The company has signed a shared-site distribution agreement with courier...

Could the climate change from anger to acceptance?
April 1, 2001... 'The main bone of contention remains the vexed area of exemptions' It's been a long time coming, but most companies affected will by now know that the Climate Change Levy has arrived. From 1 April many of those companies' electricity and...

Shipshape and container fashion.
April 1, 2001... When supplying plant and equipment to overseas clients, the services of a freight forwarding agent are often required. In estimating terms, the main function involved here is to supply cost estimates on issues such as ocean freight rates;...

SQUIDs reveal corrosion inside joints.
April 1, 2001... Magnetic scanning could reveal corrosion deep within welded joints, according to researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, The technique, which uses devices called SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference device), is...

Golden nuggets.
April 1, 2001... Porous gold could become an important material for catalysis, especially in biomedical applications, thanks to research from Johns Hopkins University's materials science department in Baltimore. The material has been known for many centuries,...

Nuts about particles.
April 1, 2001... Boxes of muesli and storage silos have something in common -- the brazil nut effect. Whenever different-sized particles are stored together and agitated, the grains separate out, with the larger ones migrating to the top. This is why the person...

Sweetness fades.
April 1, 2001... Clothes fade. It's a fact of life. This might be a good thing if you like the lived-in look, but generally it's a pain. Harry Anderson and colleagues from Oxford University have now found a simple way to stop colour bleaching out of new...

The new bamboo.
April 1, 2001... Elephant grass, a bamboo-like plant grown as fuel for 'biomass'-fired power stations, can be used to make green' plastic parts for cars, according to Nick Tucker and colleagues at the University of Warwick. Tucker's group has used short...

Feat of clay.
April 1, 2001... Adding small amounts of clays to plastics can impart many desirable properties to the material, while also making them more environmentally friendly, according to Evangelos Manias of Penn State University. Clay particles can make plastics less...

Cadbury sets the standards.
April 1, 2001... For a recent upgrade of its Bournvita plant at Chirk, near Rugby, Cadbury set very high specifications for the equipment to replace its 30 year-old weigh-belt system. The Chirk site processes 50 000 tonnes of cocoa beans a year and operates 24...

Pfizer swings to Squing for process level indication.
April 1, 2001... At Pfizer's new $300million pharmaceuticals plant at Ringaskiddy, County Cork, Eire, Solartron Mobrey has supplied 120 Squing shortfork level switches. Classified as intrinsically safe, the switches are being installed in every vessel in...

Dehumidifier keeps process cool and dry.
April 1, 2001... Sandvik Process Systems recently won a contract to design and install a cooling tunnel over an existing production conveyor that the company had earlier supplied to Croda Oleochemicals' plant at Goole in Yorkshire. The conveyor forms part of a...

Hosokawa's smooth answer to a sticky mixing problem.
April 1, 2001... A specially designed combination mixer from Hosokawa Micron has solved a long-standing production problem at British Bakels in Oxfordshire. With the original mixers, very small lumps of fat were formed in the mixed product, a range of...

Fast service on a plate for Shell.
April 1, 2001... Two very large plate heat exchangers on Shell's Tern offshore production platform have been reconditioned and regasketted in just six days each by Alfa Laval's Parts & Service division. Originally installed for cooling duties on the...

Weathering the storm.
April 1, 2001... The Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme can help companies take some of the sting out of the Climate Change Levy and the cost of investing in new equipment, Saving the planet was never supposed to be easy, and the government's plans to meet...

PICME puts focus on EXCELLENCE.
April 1, 2001... The Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence aims to raise productivity and competitiveness. Mike Spear reports on its launch A recent analysis of the UK chemicals industry by the chemical Industries Association (CIA)...

House of card.
April 1, 2001... The paper industry requires a different sort of process control than other sectors. Stuart Nathan looks at a recent overhaul at Iggesund Paperboard's mill in Workington, Cumbria The fierce winds across the Solvay Firth turn the blades of...

Taking fieldbus into HAZARDOUS AREAS.
April 1, 2001... For fieldbus technologies to become widely accepted in the process industries, control vendors have had to demonstrate that their systems can cope with hazardous area operations The benefits that fieldbus digital communication technologies...

Plant operation and profitability: VALVES HOLD THE KEY.
April 1, 2001... Despite the huge advances in control technology in the past decade, the final control element in any process is the valve. These are often neglected in the search for finer control and higher profits, but as Gavin Light explains, new...

Vacuum valves never sleep.
April 1, 2001... The world's first on-site chlorine generating system for water treatment, at Severn Trent Water's Frankley Works, is using valve actuators that 'never sleep'. The actuators, supplied by ABB Automation, ensure that the correct amount of chlorine...

Pass with polyamide.
April 1, 2001... Alpha Controls' polyamide pneumatic actuators are designed for applications involving aggressive process liquids, but which cannot use stainless steel equipment because of its weight or cost. The actuators are designed specifically for use with...

Reduce wiring with IFM.
April 1, 2001... IFM Electronic's new T-range ND valve position sensors offer such benefits as easier installation, reduced wiring costs and improved reliability, the company claims. The range includes models designed specifically for hazardous areas. The...

New Skil set for Rotork.
April 1, 2001... Rotork has bought the Skilmatic actuator business from Skil Controls, expanding its range into the electrically operated actuator market. Skilmatic produces self-contained electro-hydraulic actuators which are particularly suited for modulating...

Smith gets a handle on manuals.
April 1, 2001... Changing the position of a manual valve can be an arduous task, but Smith Flow Control's portable valve operating system, Easi-drive, aims to ensure that it is quick, easy and, above all, safe. The Easi-drive comprises three elements -- a...

It's a needle match for Parker.
April 1, 2001... Parker Hannifin's miniature stainless steel needle valves and manifolds are as little as half the weight of competitors' products with no compromise on performance, the company claims. Aimed at instrumentation applications in portable devices...

Having a ball with hygiene.
April 1, 2001... PCI Memtech has introduced a range of three-piece ball valves for on/off and divert applications to its portfolio of hygienic stainless steel valves. Low cost and low maintenance, the valves are targeted at applications under working pressures...

Failsafe system.
April 1, 2001... The fully-automated Walpole Water Treatment Works, in Suffolk, has gained an extra layer of safety with the installation of digital actuators from Tyco Valves and Controls. The system, which handles the water treatment filters at the site,...

Level switch for corrosives.
April 1, 2001... The Echotel 915W from Magnetrol is a compact, ultrasonic, two-wire level switch, capable of detecting high or low level across a wide range of corrosive media. All wetted parts are manufactured from Kynar which, in addition to resisting...

Radar takes on the level.
April 1, 2001... Described as the second generation of two-wire radar level measurement, the Micropilot M range from Endress + Hauser is said to offer simple commissioning and operation. The Micropilot FMR240 model has a frequency of approximately 26GHz....

Dewpoint monitor offers economic, unattended use.
April 1, 2001... Described as an ideal quality control tool for natural gas processing, distribution and consumption, Ametek's Western Research Model 241 CE hydrocarbon dewpoint monitor is sensitive enough to detect trace amounts of condensable hydrocarbons,...

Cost-effective dissolved oxygen measurement.
April 1, 2001... Mettler Toledo has introduced a new polarographic sensor system, specially designed for the measurement of dissolved oxygen in wastewaters. The InPro6050 d[O.sub.2] sensor element is housed in a rigid PPS shaft fitted with a one-piece...

Infrared for low temperatures.
April 1, 2001... More commonly associated with high temperature measurements, Land Infrared has increased the versatility of its System 4 on-line, non-contact systems with the introduction of the Fibroptic thermometer for low temperatures. Designed for the...

Visit the pipe library.
April 1, 2001... A new piping library manager heads up the list of improvements in the latest release of Algor's PipePak piping software package. 'The new piping library manager enables engineers to easily and efficiently manage data for use in piping systems,'...

P&IDs from front end to detail design.
April 1, 2001... With the release of AXSYS 1.1, its 'integrated process engineering solution for deployment throughout the lifecycle of complex process plants', the AEA Technology company Hyprotech has bridged a gap between front-end engineering and detailed...

How not to lose the plot.
April 1, 2001... Now available in the UK from Adept Scientific is Amtec Engineering's Tecplot software package. A powerful data plotting and manipulation tool for Windows PCs and Unix workstations, Tecplot can transform large amounts of data into a wide choice...

Grundfos opts for CFX-TASC.
April 1, 2001... Pump manufacturer Grundfos has selected AEA Technology's CFX-TASCflow as its preferred software modelling tool. The company has been using the software for over five years alongside other CFD (computational fluid dynamics) packages, but the...

Hot stuff on CD-ROM.
April 1, 2001... Heatex, which claims to be the UK's leading manufacturer of electric process heating equipment and controls, has released its comprehensive product range on CD-ROM. As well as providing product information, printable catalogue sections in...

Take the pilot onboard.
April 1, 2001... The knowledge-based expert system' tool, Cogsys Pilot, can now be embedded into existing systems and tools. 'We believe the combination of a Microsoft COM interface and the simple, proven graphical development tools within Cogsys Pilot will...

Standardising on SPC charting programs.
April 1, 2001... Many instrument manufacturers supply statistical process control (SPC) software with their equipment, but the best SPC results generally come out of separate dedicated programs such as Northwest Analytical's Quality Monito, says UK agent Adept...

Integrated engineering is no longer a pipe dream.
April 1, 2001... How to integrate engineering and maintenance activities with those of the wider enterprise has been one of the challenges facing the process industries. But now Cadcentre says it has a solution in the form of Vantage. According to group...

Honeywell shows the weigh.
April 1, 2001... Honeywell POMS, a division of Honeywell Hi-Spec Solutions, has introduced the first in a series of packaged software modules for healthcare, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods manufacturers. Designed specifically for weigh-dispense...

AspenTech adds links to its chain.
April 1, 2001... Emphasising its enterprise-wide focus, Aspen Technology has recently announced two developments in the area of supply chain management. The first is a set of supply chain solutions for the polymer industry to help manufacturers improve...

SCADA straight from the box.
April 1, 2001... Claimed to be 'the fastest manufacturing software out of the box', the latest version of FactoryLink now includes Microsoft's Sequel Server and has been built to the Microsoft DNA (Distributed interNet applications Architecture) standard. ...