Process Engineering articles from February 2006

Process Engineering archives from February 2006

COMMENT: ENERGY.
February 20, 2006... Energy, it seems, can mean many different things to different people, depending on their particular standpoint. Measurement of thermal energy is an important aspect of process control and the basis of some increasingly sophisticated...

CIA backs energy diversity, but sees no improvement on pricing.
February 20, 2006... The need for supply diversity will be the key message from the Chemical Industries Association in its response to government as part of the consultation stage of the energy review. The chemical industry is the most energy-intensive sector...

Aveva signs up with Graitec.
February 20, 2006... Process plant engineers in the oil and gas, paper and pulp, power, chemical and shipbuilding industries will benefit from an alliance that unites the plant design management (PDMS) technology of Aveva with Graitec's Advance engineering software...

Nova for Clariant.
February 20, 2006... Clariant UK Ltd has extended a contract with Nova Weigh, which is providing site-wide maintenance and calibration support for all of its production and laboratory weighing equipment. Since last year, Nova Weigh has been servicing the speciality...

Saudis with $624bn to spend.
February 20, 2006... Saudi Arabia has $624bn (#350bn) to spend on planned development projects by 2020 and is keen that British companies are leading participants. Speaking at economic forums in Edinburgh and Manchester last month, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf,...

BP's Rhum gas comes on stream.
February 20, 2006... Gas production has started from the Rhum field, previously believed to be the largest remaining undeveloped gas reservoir in the UK Continental Shelf. The field, discovered in 1977 and located 240 miles north-east of Aberdeen, is a high...

New laws for sub-sea gas storage.
February 20, 2006... Companies will be able to create salt caverns under the sea for gas storage under new legislation planned by Trade Secretary Alan Johnson. Liquefied natural gas tankers will also be allowed to unload offshore. Announced at the first...

IN BRIEF: GREEN KNOWHOW FOR CHINA.
February 20, 2006... Davy Process Technology's knowhow for manufacturing ethyl acetate directly from bio-ethanol is to be used by China's Jilin Fuel Alcohol Company in a 50,000t/yr plant to be built alongside its ethanol facility. It is the second licence in...

IN BRIEF: AMEC'S IN CHARGE.
February 20, 2006... Ningxia Coal Industry Group has appointed Amec as the project management contractor for development of a $1.5bn coal-to-chemicals production complex in north-west China. Amec's contract value has not been specified. The plant is designed to...

IN BRIEF: HOT FORM PRESS ORDER.
February 20, 2006... CATIC (China National Aero-Technology International Supply Corporation) is buying a 250t hot forming press from Rhodes Interform for the manufacture of helicopter fuselage components from titanium. The press is capable of producing extremely...

Bouncefield: vapour cloud being investigated.
February 20, 2006... The explosion and fire at the Buncefield oil depot on 11 December last year may have been caused by a vapour cloud enveloping the site. This is one of the lines of inquiry being investigated, according to Taf Powell, head of the HSE's...

GEA Ecoflex snaps up FlatPlate.
February 20, 2006... Privately-owned brazed heat exchanger manufacturer FlatPlate Inc has been bought by GEA Ecoflex for an undisclosed sum. FlatPlate has annual sales of $12m and will operate as an independent subsidiary of GEA. The acquisition extends...

Furmanite acquires GSG.
February 20, 2006... Industrial service specialist Furmanite has bought the General Services Group of Flowserve for $16m in cash. GSG is a single-source provider of maintenance, repair and distribution services for a broad array of valves, piping systems and...

Silver alloy keeps its sparkle.
February 20, 2006... A process for making a stainless silver alloy that resists the discolouring effects of pollutants and retains its bright finish has been developed by researchers from Sheffield Hallam University in partnership with silverware firm Carrs of...

Better products made faster with stirred freeze drying.
February 20, 2006... Stirred freeze drying technology is characterised by a single-step, solid-to-gas stage that removes liquid without changing the product structure. This makes it ideal for the production of pro-biotics, pharmaceuticals and nano materials where...

Materials network launched.
February 20, 2006... The Government has launched the Materials Knowledge Transfer Network as a new partnership between businesses, research and technology organisations and universities. The initiative is intended 'to make cutting-edge science available on the...

Sharp TV part uses corn-based paint.
February 20, 2006... The stand of Sharp's latest Aquos LCD television, to be released in a few months, will be finished with a resin paint produced from corn starch. The paint has been developed jointly by Sharp and Osaka-based Kansai Paint using corn...

Flow technology mimics human blood vessels.
February 20, 2006... Reductions in pressure losses, sedimentation and pipe wear are three of the industrial benefits anticipated from a research programme into flow enhancing technology at London's Imperial College. The small amplitude helical technology...

New contender for low flow metering.
February 20, 2006... The Eclipse magnetically driven, rotary gear pump is a new contender for low flow, moderate pressure metering applications traditionally dominated by reciprocating plunger or diaphragm pumps. Developed by Pulsafeeder and available from...

SOLIDS PROCESSING: Primed and ready.
February 20, 2006... Explosive dust environments are the focus of a new ATEX guide from the Solids Handling and Processing Association. Gus Bishop of SHAPA and Dantherm Filtration explains the guidelines and the measures that all equipment makers and plant...

SOLIDS PROCESSING: Model behaviour.
February 20, 2006... Simulation of solids processing operations is made difficult by the nature of particulate materials, which imparts very many variables to these processes. DEM Solutions says its discrete element modelling software delivers accurate results....

TEMPERATURE: Signal solutions.
February 20, 2006... There are many ways to measure, analyse and control temperature as well as to view and present the data generated. John Hayward and Darren Saxby of Amplicon explain some of the most important factors to consider when choosing these systems ...

TEMPERATURE: What's hot in temperature measurement.
February 20, 2006... Raytek, a Fluke subsidiary, has added a motorised, remotely controlled variable target focus capability to its Marathon MM Series of non- contact infrared temperature sensors. The variable focus feature gives OEMs and production engineers the...

TEMPERATURE: Real time analysis.
February 20, 2006... Swedish firm ChemiSens offers a reaction calorimetry system that can provide highly accurate temperature measurement data for engineers scaling up and optimising chemical production plants. Patrick Raleigh reports Reaction calorimeters...

TEMPERATURE: Research spinoff.
February 20, 2006... ChemiSens is a privately owned company, which originated from research at the University of Lund, Sweden. The company has five employees and turnover of around #1 million, which, said Nilsson, is set to grow significantly over the next three...

MAINTENANCE & ASSET MANAGEMENT: Outsourcing: the inside track.
February 20, 2006... Many senior managers remain unaware of the business benefits of employing effective maintenance programmes. Among those that are, there is an increasing move to employ contractors offering dedicated on-site maintenance teams. Mike Tucker of...

PULP & PAPER: Under pressure.
February 20, 2006... Escalating gas prices have hit the UK pulp and papermaking industry very hard, but there are still many ways it can improve efficiencies and cut the costs associated with plant stoppages. Tim Tunbridge reports A one pence per therm increase...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Lucite upgrades safety.
February 20, 2006... Pressure management systems from Elfab are being used to safeguard production operations at the Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees site of Lucite International, the world's leading supplier of methyl methacrylate. When Lucite wanted to...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Fieldbus monitors oil terminal.
February 20, 2006... Pilz Safe Automation Australia has supplied a Programmable Safety System and SafetyBus p fieldbus network for the new Darwin industry fuel terminal. The #23m terminal stores up to 113m litres of jet fuel, aviation gas, petrol and diesel at any...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Weighing system provides meat traceability.
February 20, 2006... British Premium Meats set a number of key goals when installing a weighing and traceability system for its new factory in Welwyn Garden City, which supplies the catering trade. One main requirement was the weighing installation had to be...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Preservation of Mary Rose.
February 20, 2006... Preservation of the 16th century warship Mary Rose is a tribute to the performance and reliability of Mono pumps. An intricate polyethylene glycol (PEG) spray system is used to spray the boat's fragile timbers, based on two Mono E122 pumps...

PRODUCT NEWS: Profidrive profile now mapped on Profinet.
February 20, 2006... Following several years of availability as an application profile for drives with a Profibus interface, Profidrive Version 4.0 is now also suitable for drives equipped with Profinet communication. The new profile is unchanged from the...

PRODUCT NEWS: Foam can take higher heat.
February 20, 2006... Zotefoams has added a range of high temperature closed cell fluoropolymer foams with an operating temperature limit to 160oC - an improvement of 50oC on its current Zotek F range, which is based on Arkema's Kynar fluoropolymer. The new...

PRODUCT NEWS: Practical calibrators for field use.
February 20, 2006... Beamex will be adding two calibrators for field use to its MC2 range this year. The temperature/electrical and multi-function models will be joining the pressure version to create a series characterised by practicality. Compact, easy to...

PRODUCT NEWS: Gentle drying.
February 20, 2006... Designed especially for the gentle mixing and drying of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, Krauss-Maffei Process Technology's Stationary Mixer Dryer facilitates easy service and maintenance. A conical vessel holds the product to be dried...

PRODUCT NEWS: Quicker error identification with vision software.
February 20, 2006... Engineers, integrators and machine builders can improve efficiency and save money by using the NI Vision 8 Development Module suite of vision software tools to improve quality control of manufacturing processes. The National Instruments...

UK and International Plant Cost Indices.
February 20, 2006... First appearing in Process Engineering in 1973, our long-running UK and International Plant Cost Indices provide important data for process design and project engineers. For the benefit of new readers, a brief explanation of the...