Process Engineering articles from December 2001

Process Engineering archives from December 2001

Williams takes on tech role. (News).
December 1, 2001... Sir Peter Williams has been named as the first chairman of the UK Engineering and Technology Board, which is to take over and expand the role of the present Engineering Council. Williams is currently chairman of the National Museum of Science...

Market for ac drives to grow. (News).
December 1, 2001... The worlwide market for high power ac drives is set to exceed [pounds sterling]2.5billion this year, according to a report from ARC Advisory Group. 'By optimally controlling the speed of motors, high-power ac drives offer reduced energy cost...

Lithium caused ciba explosion. (News).
December 1, 2001... An unforeseen chemical reaction caused an explosion at Ciba Specialty Chemicals' Schweizerhalle plant in July, according to an internal enquiry. Metallic lithium, stored in a reactor containing the solvent tetrahydrofuran during a seven-week...

CIA hails white paper. (News).
December 1, 2001... The European Parliament's decision to amend much of the White Paper on chemicals policy has been hailed as a success by the Chemical Industries Association. Along with other organisations, the CIA had been lobbying for the changes. The...

Barnevik takes the blame at ABB. (News).
December 1, 2001... Sweden's best-known businessman, Percy Barnevik, is to stand down from the chairmanship of ABB, the company he formed, taking responsibility for the company's poor performance in the past few years. He is to be replaced by Jurgen Dormann,...

Insulation standards 'to limit greenhouse effect'. (News).
December 1, 2001... The British Standards institution has launched two new codes of practice covering thermal insulation, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The codes cover insulation of pipework and equipment at two different temperature ranges,...

Crippled enron faces bankruptcy. (News).
December 1, 2001... As Process Engineering went to press, energy trader Enron was teetering on the edge of the biggest bankruptcy in US history. Once the seventh largest firm in the US, the company has had its debt downgraded by the US banks and failed to complete...

Record fines sting vitamins cartel. (News).
December 1, 2001... The European Commission has handed out fines totalling [euro]855million to eight companies which operated an illegal pricing cartel for vitamins. The fines are the largest ever imposed by the EC. The cartel, which included Roche, BASF,...

Slowdown hits European chemicals. (News).
December 1, 2001... Recessions to the East and the West are to hit the chemical industry in Europe, according to CEFIC economists. Output growth will slow from 4.6 per cent in 2000 to just 1.1 per cent in 2001, the economic panel says, although a slight recovery,...

German government blocks petrol mergers. (News).
December 1, 2001... The German Federal Cartel Agency has blocked two petrol retailing mergers, involving Shell and BP, claiming that the mergers would create an monopoly in German markets for jet fuel, petrol and bitumen. The mergers would see Eon swapping its...

Bonfire night 'produces more dioxins than incineration'. (News).
December 1, 2001... The incineration industry is receiving a rough ride in the UK, and more damage is done to the environment by 5th November bonfires than industrial and municipal waste incineration, according to a leading academic. 'We have the technology to...

For he's a jolly good fellow. (News).
December 1, 2001... BP chief executive Lord Browne of Madingley-- formerly plain John Browne-- is to be made an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 'in recognition of his commitment and service to the engineering profession over the last 30...

Rockwell wins service award. (News).
December 1, 2001... Rockwell Automation's technical support centre in Milton Keynes has been awarded a Support Centre Practices certificate by the International Service and Support Professionals Association.

CEL completes genzyme plant. (News).
December 1, 2001... Project management specialist contractor GEL International has completed a drugs active ingredient facility for Genzyme in Haverhill. The plant, which will make an ingredient for the company's Renagel drug and includes reaction, isolation,...

Malvern looks at particles. (News).
December 1, 2001... Malvern Instruments is to join forces with researchers at Texas A&M University to develop and commercialise a new technology for particle characterisation, frequency domain photon migration. The technique can be used in on-line analysis.

Metal process is supercritical. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... Johnson Matthey is the first UK customer for a supercritical water oxidation system from Chematur Engineering. Jointly developed by the two companies, the system will be used to destroy organic and carbonaceous materials in spent platinum group...

Purac wins thames order. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... Purac is to build a new pressure filtration plant for Thames Water's treatment works at Brixton. The plant will have eight sand filters.

AMEC secures [pounds sterling]15m contract. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... Transco has awarded AMEC a [pounds sterling]15million contract to design and build an upgrade to its gas compression plant at Kings Lynn, Norfolk. The project calls for a careful hand, as it is in a rural environment and close to waterways...

ABB focuses on IT R&D. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... ABB is to refocus its corporate R&D structure to concentrate on its information technology initiative, Industrial[IT]. Centred around a suite of software which links together plant, equipment and business functions, Industrial[IT] also spreads...

RWE Nukem takes on AEA's nuclear operations. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... German-based nuclear specialist RWE Nukem has completed its acquisition of AEA Technology's nuclear engineering business. RWE Nukem supplies uranium and decommissioning services, including radioactive waste treatment. Part of the...

TotalFinaElf opts for invensys optimisation. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... Imvensys's process simulation and design arm, SimSci, has agreed to supply plant optimisation software to the French oil, gas and chemicals major TotalFinaElf in a deal worth some $2.2million. The company is to supply its Plant Engineering...

Drink on them. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... Caption: Drink on them: Omron is to supply variable-speed drives to Vivendi Water for its potable water treatment plants across Southeast England. The drives will allow Vivendi to match the speed of their pumps to the demand for water,...

UK and international plant cost indices. (Company news).
December 1, 2001... Process Engineering's PREDICT plant cost index for the UK is made up of five components covering mechanical [I.sub.M], electrical [I.sub.E], civil engineering [I.sub.C], site engineering [I.sub.S], and project overheads [I.sub.O]. These are now...

From Russia with thanks -- John Brown and Davy, Ltd. (Comment).
December 1, 2001... As PE went to press at the beginning of the month came news that will delight anyone who knows the history of the process industries in the UK. Following the purchase by Yukos Oil of the hydrocarbon and process technology businesses of...

Events.
December 1, 2001... 14-18 January 2002 Ultra Low [NO.sub.x] Gas Turbine Combustion is the title of a full week's CPD (continuing professional development) course looking at all aspects of power-generating gas turbines. The five-day programme is of relevance...

Not so low-tech. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Often seen as the lower-tech end of the process industries, process equipment is nonetheless the business end of any plant. It's the parts of the plant where thing actually happen -- heating up, cooling down, crushing, separating, pumping,...

Hot stuff from tyco. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Raychem's VPL power-limiting heated cable, available through Tyco Thermal Controls, has been developed to operate at higher exposure temperatures and greater power output for trace-heating of pipes, tanks and vessels in high-temperature...

Nimix flexes for success. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Chemineer's totally enclosed mixing system allows mixing in a zero-particulate environment and is completely emission-free, the company says. The system is based around the 'Nimix' technology developed by the BHR Group. Rather than the...

Lettuce convey leafy materials. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Salad leaves and powdery materials are difficult to convey, and until now could only be handled using mechanical feeders. But Eriez Magnetics claims that its high-deflection vibratory feeder can convey these and other awkward solids. The...

Oil-free efficiency. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... A new range of three-stage oil-free centrifugal air compressors from Ingersoll-Rand Air Solutions promises energy-efficient performance with long lifetimes, the company claims. The compressors can realise 30 per cent in energy savings over...

Clean filters aimed at pharmaceutical plants. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Aimed specifically at the food, dairy, brewing, beverage and pharmaceutical industries, PCI-Memtech's 3in and 6in stainless steel filters will remove suspended solids from process flows with minimal disruption. The filters are made from 31...

AstraZeneca in a spin. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... AstraZeneca has turned to Thomas Broadbent to supply two centrifuges for its process development laboratories at Charnwood and Avonmouth. The units, five-litre Type 41 mobile centrifuges, are designed to be able to carry out several small-scale...

Hire for lower costs. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... A hire service for bulk handling equipment is providing its customers with state-of-the-art technology without the cost of capital investment. 'We know of no other hire service for specialist materials handling equipment anywhere in the UK,'...

Smaller is better. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Parker Filtration's MegaFlow series highflow filter vessels and cartridges can reduce the number of filters needed throughout a year, the company says. Made from carbon steel, 304L and 316L stainless steel, the filter vessels are available in...

Atlas leans backwards. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... High efficiency with low investment and maintenance costs and low energy consumption are the attractions offered by Atlas Copco's ZH4000/7000 centrifugal compressor series. Sized to complement the company's existing range of turbo and screw...

Blowing bubbles. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Bubbles are providing a new way of heating water, in G-Tech's TEK range of hydrodynamic heaters. The devices will both heat and pump water, oils, emulsions and chemical solutions, but use no heated surfaces. The heaters work by generating...

Breezax helps compair's compressors keep cool. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Compair's new LSR series speed regulator compressors are designed to match their operating speed to the demand for compressed air. Equipped with Breezax impellers from the London Fan Company to cool discharge air and lubricating oil, the...

Hygienic flow for powders. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Spiroflow's Pneuvac PF series vacuum feeders are claimed to keep powder degradation to a minimum. The systems use air to convey powders hygienically and economically over distances up to 91 .44m, at rates up to 550kg/hr. The feeders are...

Mucon's picking up good vibrations. (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... Kemutec's Mucon division has given its range of bridge-breaking and flow-promoting devices the brand-name 'Promo-Flow' around the world. Based around screens and grids which are mounted inside hoppers and silos and connected to...

Now concentrate! (Process equipment).
December 1, 2001... A new separation concept for clean-room applications could have widespread uses in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, according to its developer, Westfalia Separator. The technique uses a two-chamber separator, which makes it...

Liquid assets. (Fluid handling).
December 1, 2001... Pumps and valves form the heart veins and arteries of any process plant. But vital as they are they have, in many ways, changed less than any other piece of equipment. After all a valve is essentially a piece of metal (or other material) which...

Clean and accurate. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... Netzsch Pumps' 'Mini' range of aseptic and hygienic progressing cavity pumps are designed to meter small, accurately measured amounts of liquids. Capacities of 0.01 litre/min to 10litre/min are available. The pumps have flexible titanium...

Common body design ensures flexibility and hygiene. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... Flexibility across a variety of applications was the main objective for Dairy Pipe Lines (DPL) when it started designing a new range of non-return and pressure-relief valves. The result was the Exospring non-return and the Series 3 PRV system....

Verderflex certified. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... The Verderflex hose pump from Verder is the first to meet the European Hygienic Equipment Design Group's specifications for CIP pumps, allowing it to be cleaned without being dismantled first. The EHEDG, a consortium of equipment manufacturers,...

Brass in pocket. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... NSK's BMPC Series of centrifugal bearings, designed for centrifugal pumps in petrochemical plants, 'achieve longer service life through smoother running, reduced levels of friction and lower temperature rise,' the company says. The bearings...

Seal of approval for B+L. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... Bran + Luebbe's new horizontal gear metering pumps have 'state-of-the-art sealing technology', the company says, making them suitable for the leak-free transfer of hazardous and potentially dangerous liquids. The H4 pumps are available both as...

Multiplying mechanisms. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... The latest models of Milton Roy's 'G' series of mechanically actuated diaphragm pumps are particularly suited for coagulants, caustics and acids for water treatment duties, the company says. The all-metal GM series can be easily multiplexed,...

Hot hoses keep the flow going. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... Tyco Thermal's Isopad flexible heated hoses are designed for transferring temperature-critical materials in conditions which would not be suitable for fixed lines with constant temperature control. The multiple-layer construction will withstand...

Knife-gate valve range gains UK sales. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... Stafsjo, the Swedish producer of knife-gate valves, has named BSS as its sole distributor in the UK. The company will supply both the valves and after-sales support. Satafsjo valves have a solid cast-iron or stainless steel body with a...

Easy-fit PVC piping kits save space and time. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... George Fischer's Pro-Fit spigot-socket joints, used to construct pipework sections in U-PVC piping, reduce the space taken up with multiple pipework connections by 20 per cent, save on materials, and decrease working time by 50 per cent, the...

Stand-up pumping. (Fluids handling).
December 1, 2001... Pump Engineering has launched a range of robust vertical sump pumps, designed to withstand aggressive and abrasive media. Made from polypropylene for temperatures of 5[degrees]-80[degrees]C, and of polyvinylidene fluoride for the...

Clean and safe. (Safety & Environment).
December 1, 2001... The onward march of health safety and environment regulations has been a constant for the process industries over the past decade. Keeping employees and neighbours safe and making sure that processes are clean have always been concerns of...

Oxy-Dep takes flygt. (Safety & Environment).
December 1, 2001... Air Products has integrated ITT Flygt pumps into its Oxy-Dep system, which promotes biological activity in wastewater by adding oxygen to the mixture. Oxy-Dep draws liquor from the main body of the effluent, oxygenates it, then returns the...

Simple monitor warns of gas hazards. (Safety & Environment).
December 1, 2001... Designed to give warnings of gas hazards in the workplace, Crowcon's Gasflag monitoring system is a wall-mounted control system intended for use in boiler rooms and laboratories. The system can be used with any gas sensor producing a 4-20mA...

Bund on the run? Or the truck?. (Safety & Environment).
December 1, 2001... Helping to guard against accidental spillages and leakages of hazardous liquids, Allibert's range of portable bunds are designed for safe handling by forklift or pallet trucks. The bunds are made from high-grade polyethylene, and are designed...

Say goodbye to sloppy sludges with troubleshooting trailers. (Safety & Environment).
December 1, 2001... Westfalia Separator claims that its new mobile dewatering unit (MDU) 'brings sludge dewatering technology right where it's needed.' The MDU is a complete. self-contained sludge analysis and dewatering system. It can be hooked up to...

Dewatering modules. (Safety & Environment).
December 1, 2001... Alfa Laval's Alsys 400 sludge dewatering modules can be simply hooked up to pipework and power supply for 'plug-and-play' operation, the company claims. The modules can handle capacities of 5-15[m.sup.3]/hr. The modules are self-contained,...

A model plant. (Engineering design).
December 1, 2001... Computer-aided process engineering had developed so rapidly in recent years that techniques, which a few years ago were the preserve of specialists, are now available to any engineer with a PC or laptop. The equally rapid rate of change in...

Steaming ahead with pinch technology tools. (Engineering design).
December 1, 2001... The latest release from pinch technology specialist Linnhoff March is ProSteam. Building on the success of its predecessor Steam97, a ProSteam model can be used as a design and simulation tool to examine current operation and do 'what if?'...

Introduction to simulation. (Engineering design).
December 1, 2001... Distributed in the UK by Adept Scientific, Micro Saint is a discrete-event simulation software package that can model all types of processes on a PC. Any process that can be represented in flow chart form can be modelled to simulate real-world...

From equipment to complete plant. (Engineering design).
December 1, 2001... Over the past year the AEA Technology company Hyprotech has demonstrated its simulation expertise at all levels of process design. Starting at the equipment level, it released TASC5, claimed to be the first fully integrated software tool for...

Expanding CFD's capabilities. (Engineering design).
December 1, 2001... Good though it is as a modelling tool, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is all too often used in isolation from other modelling techniques due to the difficulty of interpolating between different packages. CD adapco has now tackled this...

Opening time. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... There was a time when control system vendors vied with each other to be awarded 'nominated supplier' status by their major customers. This guaranteed not only the DCS order, but most of the instrumentation and monitoring equipment as well,...

Process control starts at the valve. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... Burkert Contromatic's Pl controllers for flow, pressure and temperature have added systems capabilities to the company's established range of continuous solenoid control valves. Modular design means the Pl controllers can be easily plugged...

One answer to HMI questions. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... The plethora of HMIs (human machine interfaces) to be found in a typical automated plant or factory have one drawback when it comes to developing the automation systems even further -- they often don't run under the same operating system. So,...

History is bunk? Not any more. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... As Henry Ford famously said 'history is bunk', what would he think of the latest breed of plant-wide historian application software from Intellution? Marking the Emerson Process Management company's entry into an entirely new market, iHistorian...

OPC boost for ethernet. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... This year has seen increasing interest in industrial Ethernet. Major control vendors such as Emerson, Rockwell and Siemens are participating in an OPO (OLE for Process Control) working group developing a standard that will allow data exchange...

while ABB gains approval for HSE link. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... Further evidence of the Ethernet trend came with the registration by the Fieldbus Foundation of ABB's FIO-1OO high-speed Ethernet (HSE) linking device. This provides an intelligent gateway between a host system and Foundation compatible field...

OPC simplifies scadastyle monitoring. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... According to CAL Controls, although the requirement for P0-based data and chart recording is becoming increasingly common, Scada systems do not always provide an economic answer. CAL has therefore developed CALgrafix as a cost-effective...

Wireless takes control for hostile duties. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... To cope with the hostile environments encountered in the process industries, wireless data communication Systems need transceivers that can withstand extreme temperature ranges and high levels of interference. According to radio manufacturer...

Entry-level system for process control. (Control systems).
December 1, 2001... Part of ABB's new [Industrial.sup.IT] range of industrial control products, the AC 800C process controller is said to be equally suited to traditional PLC applications as well as small DCS installations, bringing entry-level process control for...

Play the field. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... When you are at the top, the bottom can seem a long way down, but that hasn't lessened the demand for process control and monitoring systems to deliver information from 'plant-to-boardroom'. On page 30 we take a brief look at what some software...

Extreme limits for level. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... Endress+Hauser's Liquiphant S level limit switch has been designed for demanding applications where process conditions can reach 280[degrees]C and 64bar. It has a guaranteed long-term measurement integrity due to its duplex steel construction,...

Transmitter takes the pressure. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... Protected by an AISI 316 stainless steel housing, Bourdon Sedeme's FlexBar 3501 is a rugged digital pressure transmitter that can withstand extreme electrical, mechanical and chemical conditions. It is approved to EEx is and d, ATEX II IG...

NIR helps to keep your powder dry. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... On-line near infrared (NIR) moisture measurement is a proven alternative to laboratory analysis for accurately determining the drying end-point in batch fluid bed dryers. NDC Infrared Engineering's MM710 Pharmaceutical Gauge is said to take the...

Weighing up hazards. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... Although strain-gauge-based load cells are passive resistive devices, they do need additional instrumentation to provide the high-level signal outputs for accurate weighing. For hazardous area measurements, intrinsically safe operation is...

UV sensing goes further. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... ABB has extended its ultraviolet light sensing technology to environmental quality monitoring with the introduction of the ABB 7330 Series nitrate analyser. Designed for continuous on-line measurements in potable and wastewater treatment...

Multivariable power for coriolis meters. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... All Micro Motion's Coriolis mass, volume and density meters now have the option of multivariable digital technology (MVDT) transmitters. According to the company, this means the sensors and transmitters respond more smartly with enhanced...

Level range for inventory control. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... For liquid inventory control Invensys Process Systems company Foxboro offers a range of intelligent displacement transmitters. Measuring the movement of a displacer suspended in a liquid, these can be used for liquid level, density or interface...

Rapid response oxygen analyser. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... The Panametrics CGA351 oxygen analyser features an extremely fast sensor response speed, making the instrument well suited to instantaneous alarm/indication duties in high-purity or inert gas processes. At the heart of the instrument,...

Apart but united in level. (Field instruments).
December 1, 2001... Hycontrol's Microflex ultrasonic level measuring system has solved the problem of having to access transmitters mounted on the tops of tanks of vessels. Although it's common for two-wire, loop-powered transmitters to have electronics and...

Collaboration the new strategy. (Systems software).
December 1, 2001... 'Plant-to-boardroom' integration of information has been the goal of process IT and control companies for some years now, but Honeywell Industry Solutions is now casting the net further with the introduction of its 'Collaborative Manufacturing...

Network controller makes the connection. (Systems software).
December 1, 2001... Linking production systems to commercial systems may be the ideal, but many control applications never provide information to a company's enterprise systems. According to Omron, this is because they lack the capability of moving data through...

Focused on e-business. (Systems software).
December 1, 2001... Cimage NovaSoft, a supplier of e-business applications, has released a range of 'focused industry solution templates'. These 'out-of-the-box' packages are said to enable large organisations to manage manufacturing, facilities and operational...