Process Engineering articles from February 2001

Process Engineering archives from February 2001

Portillo prefers emissions trade.
February 1, 2001... The CIA is sceptical about the Conservatives' promise to abolish the Climate Change Levy in favour of an emissions trading scheme if elected. Shadow chancellor Michael Portillo made the commitment at the CIA's business outlook conference, but...

UN warns over pesticide sales.
February 1, 2001... Almost a third of the pesticides sold in developing countries do not comply with international quality standards, according to the United Nations. 'In many products, the concentration of active ingredients exceed the internationally accepted...

ALZA chooses Ireland for plant.
February 1, 2001... US pharmaceutical company ALZA is to build its first manufacturing plant outside the US in Ireland. The company has bought a site in Cashel, and is to spend $50 million on the first phase of development. The new plant, to open in late 2002,...

ABB steps in for Eutech.
February 1, 2001... ABB has bought engineering consultancy Eutech Engineering Solutions from ICI for an undisclosed sum. ICI declared its intention to sell the business last year, as part of its debt-reducing divestment programme. Meanwhile, the government has...

AZ boosts Seroquel.
February 1, 2001... AstraZeneca is to invest a most [pound]40million in new process facilities for its schizophrenia drug Seroquel. The facilities, which will be at Macclesfield, Cheshire, are to cope with an expected surge in demand for the drug. The first...

Patents dispute hits Shell.
February 1, 2001... Union Carbide is in the throes of legal action against Shell, claiming 'hundreds of millions of dollars' in damages for alleged patent infringement. The dispute, over catalysts used to manufacture ethylene oxide, has rebounded onto Shell after...

Baan bucks expectations.
February 1, 2001... Sales at Baan grew by more than a third in the third quarter of the year, says its new owner, Invensys. The growth was unexpected, as Invensys had forecast that Baan would not break even until the middle of the year. Baan's sales hit $100...

Kvaerner set to split.
February 1, 2001... Kvaerner is considering a change in corporate structure which would see its main activities spun-off into independent companies. This could lead to sell-offs of various businesses in the future, it says. The split into separate companies,...

Amec increases its focus on services.
February 1, 2001... UK contractor Amec, Fluor Daniel of the US and Shell are to join forces in a $150million gas-to-energy project in the Philippines The announcement comes as Amec announces a further shift towards support services and maintenance. The...

US economy slows, but Europe escapes the worst.
February 1, 2001... The powerhouse US economy is almost certain to come to a halt in the coming year, according to BP chief economist Malcolm Mitchell. However, he told the Chemical Industries Association's recent business outlook conference in London, Europe's...

GlaxoSmithKline seals Block Drug acquisition.
February 1, 2001... GlaxoSmithKline has completed its first major acquisition since its formation, buying US maufacturer Block Drug for $1.24billion. Block's main focus is on oral care products such as tooth-pastes -- notably the Sensodyne brand -- and...

Bran+Luebbe to host forum.
February 1, 2001... 'Process Technology in the 21st Century' is the subject for an industry forum to be held at Bran+Luebbe's UK headquarters on 21 March. Chaired by Paul Gay, managing editor for PE publisher Centaur Engineering's control and automation products,...

Jobs for the engineers.
February 1, 2001... Prospects for engineering employment in the UK are set to rise in the coming months, according to Manpower's quarterly survey of employment prospects. Around a third of the engineering firms who replied to the survey said that they expect to...

looking good for ten years.
February 1, 2001... Meanwhile, the Engineering Council expects demand for engineers to rise, with around 4 per cent more engineering jobs appearing every year for the next ten years. 'Professional engineers are going to be in high demand during the first decade of...

Herald for oil.
February 1, 2001... Weir Pumps has been awarded contracts, totalling over [pound]10million to supply equipment to the oil industry in the North Sea, Oman and the largest order for the Ourhoud project, Algeria.

Oxygen supply.
February 1, 2001... BOC has signed contracts with Shotton Paper for the supply of a new 30t per day oxygenation system for the treatment of waste water at the Shotton site in Deeside, North Wales.

Contract sealed.
February 1, 2001... Kvaerner has been awarded two contracts for engineering design, procurement and construction of a chemical plant on BASF's Seal Sands site. The project is part of the Seal Alliance between BASF, Ineos Acrylics and Kvaerner.

KWI acquires.
February 1, 2001... KWI has acquired the membrane technology company, Membrane Solutions. The company provides independent advice on membrane technologies for recycling of process chemicals, water and treatment of difficult effluents from Industry.

Aspen moves market.
February 1, 2001... Aspen Technology has acquired the assets of e-Chemicals, one of the pioneers of Internet-based trading for the chemicals industry. The acquisition allows Aspen Tech to embed the technology developed by e-Chemicals for on-line sales and...

Nobel Systems adds parent name.
February 1, 2001... Bedford-based weighing specialist Nobel Systems has been re-named Thermo Nobel, in line with the new branding policy of US parent company Thermo Electron. The companies that make up Thermo Electron, while well-known by their individual...

Invensys sells gas business.
February 1, 2001... Invensys has sold its Oldham Gas business in France to the 31 Group for [pound]17.8million as part of a management buy-out. Oldham Gas designs, manufactures and distributes fixed and hand-held instruments to detect explosive, inflammable...

ABB.
February 1, 2001... ABB will supply one of its largest-ever control systems, with some 25 000 I/O plus 24 serial links for soft I/O, to Malaysia's newest coal-fired power station at Majung, 200 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur. The station, fuelled by mainly...

UK AND INTERNATIONAL PLANT COST INDICES.
February 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...

Accurate powder properties.
February 1, 2001... The ManUmit powder rheometer from Stable Micro Systems can accurately measure flow properties of powders, granules and wet mixes in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, chemical and food industries. The rheometer's operating principle is simple. A...

'Fit-and-forget' vacuum pumping.
February 1, 2001... The latest models in the GV Drystar range of vacuum pumps from BOC Edwards offer high capacity, 'fit-and-forget' pumping, with none of the process contamination risks or high maintenance requirements associated with oil-sealed technology. ...

Tip-top pH protection.
February 1, 2001... With its TOP 68 electrode, Endress + Hauser claims a world first by providing IP68 sealing protection between a pH electrode and its transmitter. This means that moisture and dirt can no longer interfere with the accuracy and reliability of...

Putting two into one in three pieces.
February 1, 2001... For safety and maintenance reasons, many steam and process lines have to incorporate both an isolation valve and a non-return valve. This can often lead to quite complex and hard-to-maintain valve assemblies. But now Invensys Flow Control UK...

Ethernet enabler.
February 1, 2001... The latest version of Opto 22's FactoryFloor industrial automation software continues the development of the company's SNAP Ethernet I/O technology. Through the flowchart-based development tool OptoControl, Version 3.1 now allows use of the...

Seeing the cold light of sustainable development.
February 1, 2001... New scientific evidence published this month in Science magazine points to a thinning of the ice shelf in Antarctica. This follows recent confirmation of a 40 per cent thinning of ice levels in the Arctic, generally attributed to the effects of...

Levy exemptions fail to take in all CHP power.
February 1, 2001... Dear Sir, I thought it would be helpful to clarify the position of CHP (combined heat and power) in relation to the Climate Change Levy in follow up to Stuart Nathan's article in your December issue (News Analysis, page 6). Whilst the...

Drawing a bead on drug discovery.
February 1, 2001... Combinatorial chemistry, the pharmaceutical industry's current favourite weapon in the drug discovery armoury, could become even more potent thanks to a screening technique developed at Purdue University in Indiana. The technique uses infrared...

Terrific timber.
February 1, 2001... Supercritical carbon dioxide has found many uses in the past couple of years, mostly as an alternative to organic solvents. Researchers from CSIRO in Australia have now found another use for it -- improving the performance of wood...

Wooden wonder.
February 1, 2001... Picture an average pharmaceuticals plant. Stainless steel, glass, highly polished surfaces. The epitome of high-tech process design. Not the sort of place you'd expect to find anything made from wood. Research from chemists at Lyon...

BP licenses plastic compounding.
February 1, 2001... Technology commercialisation organisation BTG has granted a licence to BP for a technique known as hot compaction. Developed by researchers at the University of Leeds, the technology can be used to make self-reinforced lightweight thermoplastic...

Electrical expectations.
February 1, 2001... Krupp Uhde and Italian firm Gruppo De Nora are to collaborate on designing new electrolysis techniques. The two companies have set up a joint venture, to be based at De Nora's electrode coatings facility in Milan, to refine the various...

Aventis engages sticky ingredients.
February 1, 2001... A radar level gauge from Fisher-Rosemount has been found to tolerate process conditions found at Aventis Crop Science in Widnes, Cheshire. A mixture of hydrochloric acid, toluene and other ingredients is agitated in a 3.5m high tank...

English pubs pull in Paris.
February 1, 2001... A chain of English theme pubs has sprung up across the Channel, the latest one in Bercy Village, Paris. Aluminium to Zirconium has again been awarded the contract to provide stainless steel brewing equipment for the fifth time. The contract...

Gas scrubber cleaned.
February 1, 2001... A water treatment process has been installed at a major UK hydrogen fluoride plant to prevent scaling on a gas scrubber. Eutech identified a cost effective solution to frequent interruptions which has cut shutdown costs by [pound]250 000 per...

Ytron concocts super mixer.
February 1, 2001... Ytron-Quadro has supplied jet mixers to AstraZeneca in Reims for the production of coating solutions. Ytron Y units have been installed for the mixing of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose in hot water. During trials mixing efficiency allowed the...

Chalk slurry goes a long way.
February 1, 2001... Rugby Cement will be able to increase its annual cement output by over three times following a [pound]150million refurbishment which includes the installation of new drives and motors from ABB Automation. Two ACS 600 variable speed drives and...

The changing face of e-commerce.
February 1, 2001... Stuart Nathan looks at how different companies are finding different ways of developing and implementing e-commerce strategies E-commerce was supposed to change the way that everyone did business. User-friendly and all-pervasive,...

Bursting the bubbles in gas-liquid mixing.
February 1, 2001... Gas-liquid mixing is common within many process sectors, but poses some special problems for engineers and equipment developers. Stuart Nathan looks at some recent developments Most people don't have a great deal of time for froth. It's...

Maths creates RAM device.
February 1, 2001... The austere world of pure mathematics has given rise to a new design for mixers which, according to its inventors, premises to improve the mixing efficiency of a wide range of products from cosmetics to explosives. The rotated arc mixer (RAM),...

Take your pick of TOC.
February 1, 2001... There are several ways of measuring TOC in water samples, but which one is best for your process? Andrew Gerrard and Ed Cookson weigh up the options Measurement of total organic carbon (TOC) in process water and effluent samples has proved...

Software helps to SAVE WATER.
February 1, 2001... ... and money too, by using accessible process integration techniques to optimise water use, re-use and conservation. More commonly known as 'pinch technology', process integration has become a mainstream process engineering technique for...

Relieve the pressure.
February 1, 2001... Are you feeling the pressure yet? In just over a year's time, the Pressure Equipment Directive will become mandatory. Peter Chandler case studies the route to compliance The Pressure Equipment Directive (PED), which came into force on 29...

No more gauges.
February 1, 2001... The biggest trend emerging in the European pressure sensor market is a move away from mechanical measurement devices to electronic products, according to last year's report by market research consultant, Frost & Sullivan. However, the main...

Flexible friends.
February 1, 2001... Walker Research has launched its ESD series of low cost pressure switches and 4-20 mA transmitters, specifically designed to measure differential and gauge pressure of inert fluids across a wide range of applications. The use of special...

All for low cost.
February 1, 2001... Gem Sensors has launched a new pressure transducer designed for reliable pressure monitoring in hydraulic systems and high pressure applications, in the range of 40 to 700bar. The Hymap, Series 3000 transducer is based around a small stainless...

Hygienic sensors.
February 1, 2001... Two new ranges of flush-mounting electronic sensors from IFM Electronics combine an adaptable construction with loop powered operation. The PL and PM sensors provide a standard 4-20mA analogue output and are designed for use with the the...

Out with the old.....
February 1, 2001... Three new Mano 2000 digital pressure gauges from Keller offer accurate and reliable pressure measurement and are to be considered when replacing older, mechanical dial gauges. The Eco 1 economic pressure indicator offers an accuracy of 0.5 per...

Process variables controlled.
February 1, 2001... Boiswood supplies the NT international model 4100 single-port pressure transducer for applications with many process variables. The transducer has no moving parts or fill-fluids and wetted parts are made from PTFE. With a Teflon-jacketed...

Engaged with intelligence.
February 1, 2001... Labcell caters for all pressure requirements, from mechanical and digital pressure gauges to differential pressure, level and flow gauges. The 3800 Series of digital pressure gauges is able to measure pressure to 10 000psi with an accuracy of...

Switch able to monitor its health.
February 1, 2001... Able Instruments & Controls has introduced a stainless steel differential pressure switch which is designed to replace a DP gauge, a limit switch and a transmitter, as one instrument. The new One Series DP switch continuously monitors the state...

Sensor resists surges.
February 1, 2001... The Nautilius XML-F range of solid-state pressure sensors from Square D and Telemecanique offers long term accuracy and reliability. The models cover pressures from -1 to +600 bar and incorporate a robust electronic sensing cell which is highly...

Look out for the new generation.
February 1, 2001... Druck is supplying a new generation of fully programmable high precision portable pressure gauges manufactured by Ruska Instrument. The 7200 Series features dual sensor and triple scale capability and replaces the 6200 Series. Up to six...