Process Engineering articles from July 2001

Process Engineering archives from July 2001

Delay speeds up Carbon Trust.
July 1, 2001... The Carbon Trust, the organisation set up to 'promote a low-carbon technology sector' in the UK through the receipts from the Climate Change Levy has appointed Tom Delay as its chief executive. Delay is a chartered engineer whose early career...

New faces join up at PICME.
July 1, 2001... Greg Watts and Ian Cavanagh are to join the Process industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence, PICME. Watts was previously with Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, a Johnson & Johnson company, and Cavanagh was with Cussons UK. Both specialise in...

BASF to close Birkenhead...and appoints new UK head.
July 1, 2001... BASF has opted not to rebuild the superabsorbents plant in Birkenhead which was damaged by an explosion in May (see PE June, p2). The plant employed 178 people. The company will transfer production to its Mannheim plant.

BASF to close Birkenhead...and appoints new UK head.
July 1, 2001... Fried-Walter Munstermann is to succeed Barry Stickings as managing diroctor of BASF in the UK. Stickings is taking control of the firm's Northern European businesses, and will continue to be based in London.

Job losses indicate recession for manufacturing sector.
July 1, 2001... ABB's decision to cut 8 per cent of its workforce, announced in the same week as Invensys's 6000 job losses, is still causing shockwaves in the manufacturing industry. The job cuts seem to confirm that the weakness of the US economy is...

Operators adopt new technology.
July 1, 2001... Chemical companies are spending their money on the latest control and instrumentation technologies for their plants, and the effects are showing on financial performances, according to a new report from US-based market researchers ARC Advisory...

Process suppliers pick up awards.
July 1, 2001... Many leading suppliers to the process industries won recognition for their efforts at June's IChemE Awards. The AMEC Award for Engineering Excellence went to ITT Industries' Coulds Pumps for its PumpSmart pump control and monitoring system. ...

CIA supports incineration.
July 1, 2001... The Chemical Industries Association has stated its support for the incineration of waste, following the publication of a report from the National Society for Clean Air. The report states that emissions of all pollutants 'of potential concern...

IR drives sensors.
July 1, 2001... Demend for infrared gas sensors and increasing calls for high specification equipment for safety-critical applications have driven growth in the sensors and analysers market in Europe over the past year, according to a report from market...

GSK announces UK cutbacks.
July 1, 2001... GlaxoSmithKline is to close several of its UK manufacturing sites following the review of its operations after the merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. In all, the closure could lead to the loss of almost 2000 jobs. The...

Shell to build benzene unit.
July 1, 2001... Shell Chemicals is to invest S25million on a new benzene extraction unit at its petrochemicals facility in Moerdijk, the Netherlands. The unit, set to come on-stream at the end of 2002, will have a capacity of around 500 000tpa.

Process's 'brain gain' award.
July 1, 2001... Stephano Brandini of the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London is among the first of the Department of Trade and Industry's 'Brain Gain' awards. Brandini's work on reducing greenhouse gas emissions was among seven...

CIA wins RoSPA safety award...and names its Young People.
July 1, 2001... The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has presented a special award for outstanding contribution to health and safety to the Chemical Industries Association. The award recognises the CIA's role as an exemplar to all "intermediary"...

CIA wins RoSPA safety award...and names its Young People.
July 1, 2001... The CIA's Young Person of the Year is Chris Lockett, a 26 year old Process Engineer at BP in Hull; and the SOCSA award for innovation in the speciality field is Daniel Pederzolli, a senior development chemist at Johnson Matthey.

ISA/Solartron Mobrey merge.
July 1, 2001... Solartron ISA, resulting from the merger of ISA Controls and Solatron Mobrey, is to start trading as a specialist supplier of oil and gas instrumentation. The company will offer instrumentation for flow, density, viscosity and level for...

Dalkia lands CHP contract.
July 1, 2001... AstraZeneca has turned to Dalkia Utilities to construct a 23MW combined heat and power plant at its manufacturing site in Macclesfield. The plant, which will come on-stream at the end of 2002, will incorporate a combined-cycle generator, with a...

Alfa Laval names new director.
July 1, 2001... Nish Patel has been appointed managing director of Alfa Laval in the UK. He replaces Lars Dahiquist, who is to head up an international marketing strategy project.

Low voltage, high expectations for ABB.
July 1, 2001... ABB has completed its Acquisition of the French industrial automation specialist Entrelec by buying 99.1 per cent of the company's shares. Entrelec, based in Lyon, has some 2000 employees in production sites in Germany, the Czech Republic,...

Severn Trent completes chlorination project.
July 1, 2001... Severn Trent Services has completed the construction of one of the largest sodium hypochlorite plants in the world at a power station in Manjung, Malaysia. The unit is an electrochlorination plant, which has 90 cells that generate sodium...

Alfa Laval gets up steam.
July 1, 2001... Alfa Laval is to join forces with steam control specialist Spirax Sarco to produce and supply heat exchanger systems worldwide. The companies will combine their expertise to develop a new range of steam heaters, says Alfa Laval president Sigge...

UK AND INTERNATIONAL PLANT COST INDICES.
July 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...

CEFIC looks East as the EU plans its next expansion.
July 1, 2001... Stuart Nathan reports from the European Chemical Industry Council's annual meeting in Helsinki, where new horizons were in evidence While the protestors took to the streets of Gothernburg to voice their opposition to the spread of...

Life, the universe, everything: nothing, if not sustainable.
July 1, 2001... 'Sustainable growth, economic, environmental, technological, is a challenge for all sectors of society' This month's welcome repeat showing on BB C2 of 'The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' brought with it that perennial piece of advice,...

Sustaining chemical engineering.
July 1, 2001... Held in Nuremberg, Germany, at the end of June, the 3rd European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE) took sustainability as its theme. And with over 700 papers and posters, and nearly 2000 delegates, the event certainly demonstrated the...

Rosemount keeps oxygen at bay for Alcan.
July 1, 2001... Rosemount Analytical is helping Alcan improve the control of its aluminium processing activities by supplying equipment to monitor the composition of the atmosphere within essential equipment. Alcan, based in Newport, South Wales, produces...

Stick with Spiroflow.
July 1, 2001... Aiming to improve the conveying of phenolic resin, Texan ductwork manufacturer Quiet Flex turned to Spiroflow to ungum its works. Quiet Flex was using a drag-type conveyor to carry the resin along to discharge points so that it could soak...

Rhodia chills out.
July 1, 2001... Close collaboration between ABB's Eutech process consultancy division, bought from ICI earlier this year, and Rhodia ChiRex has allowed the speciality chemicals company to install and commission a new cryogenic reactor at its Holmes Chapel,...

Compressors save energy at Johnson Matthey.
July 1, 2001... Installing a new Ingersoll-Rand ML1 50 two-stage air compressor has helped precious metal refiner Johnson Matthey slash 40 per cent off its electricity bills. As with many process operations, compressors are the single biggest energy users...

THE HEAT IS ON.
July 1, 2001... But can you keep it on? Heat transfer fluids play an important role in doing just that for many process industries, but they are not a 'fit and forget' option. Mike Spear looks at the service side of what many see as a commodity business ...

Market heats up.
July 1, 2001... A new study by market analysts Frost & Sullivan has found that heat exchanger manufacturers operating from low-cost bases in countries such as India, Korea and China are threatening to increase their penetration of the European market,...

Setting the sludge standard.
July 1, 2001... Purac and Alfa Laval have joined forces to develop the PURiser system for the pasteurisation of sewage sludge, in line with the government's development of the 'Safe Sludge Matrix'. Though relatively new to the UK, prepasteurisation is used...

HRS's Dynamic waste savings.
July 1, 2001... A major German pharmaceutical company is making significant savings on its waste disposal costs by using a Dynamic nonfouling heat exchanger from HRS Heat Exchangers. The company had been paying [euro]120/[m.sup.3] for waste disposal. But...

Variations on two themes.
July 1, 2001... With one or two exceptions, conventional heat exchangers generally fall into one of two categories -- shell-and-tube or plate-and-frame, each offering differing benefits. Plate exchangers have compactness and low weight on their side, while...

Look into the flames.
July 1, 2001... Roger Frampton of ABB Analytical explains how advances in sensor technology can be combined with established analytical techniques to produce cleaner and better performing fuels Sulphur, in the form of a wide range of complex organic...

Thermo ONIX gets fizzical.
July 1, 2001... The new ProTrace rack mounted gas chromatography module adds extra capability to Thermo ONIX's Galaxy quality assurance system for analysing impurities n beverage-grade carbon dioxide, the company says. The module will allow soft drinks...

Monitran picks up good vibrations.
July 1, 2001... Designed to fit in with companies' condition monitoring and predictive maintenance regimes, Monitran's MTN/410 indicating vibration sensor can be used in extremely tight locations, its manufacturer says. Powered by a lithium manganese battery,...

Siemens boosts its IQ.
July 1, 2001... Siemens Automation & Drives new IQ-Sense technology takes sensor parameters and diagnostic data plant-wide, the company claims. By allowing sensors and distributed I/O to communicate with each other by Profibus DP, the system speeds up the...

Foxboro eases electrochemical concerns.
July 1, 2001... Electrochemical processes generally involve the use of corrosive chemicals, high pressures and extreme temperatures. Only equipment which can withstand these rigorous conditions can be used, such as Foxboro's Communicator series 875...

Matsushita launches smallest PIR sensor.
July 1, 2001... Claimed to be the world's smallest passive infrared (PIR) sensor, Matsushita's MP Motion Sensor is now available in an analogue output model that is adjustable for sensitivity. Adjusted via an external comparator circuit before being connected...

Suizer switches to gamma.
July 1, 2001... Suizer Chemtech is to assist companies to look inside their processes, with a range of gamma ray scanning devices developed in conjunction with Belgian company Process Vision Services. The devices use gamma ray scattering to study the internal...

NDC takes a powder.
July 1, 2001... Processes involving powders, flakes and granules present some of the most difficult problems for sensors and analysers. NDC Infrared Engineering is tackling this problem with its PowderVision system, which when combined with sensors such as the...

Infrared analysis for B+L.
July 1, 2001... Particularly suited to the food and drink industry, Bran + Luebbe's InfraAlyzer 2000 Compact near-infrared analyser can cope with bulky and awkwardly-shaped materials, the company says. The optical window over which samples are placed is...

Food for thought.
July 1, 2001... In the second of our occasional supplements on process engineering in the food industry we take a look at how changing tastes, changing technologies and changing regulations are affecting processors. Increasing concerns over food safety are...

Smooth Operation.
July 1, 2001... Safety concerns and pressure from customers are leading to increasing use of food-grade lubricants, as Stuart Nathan reports Keeping machinery running smoothly is a major concern in every manufacturing industry, but for food processors it...

Convent Garden Soup Opera.
July 1, 2001... The popularity of New Covent Garden Soups has led to expansion at its two plants. Stuart Nathan looks at the engineering involved in making Carrot and Coriander The New Covent Garden Soup Company started manufacturing soup in 1958. One of...

Great balls of ice.
July 1, 2001... A new process designed for novelty ice-creams could have widespread applications across the process sector. Stuart Nathan takes a look at Messer's Cryogen Pelletiser process It's always important to stay cool. But it sometimes isn't easy....

No more dusty bins for ingredient maker.
July 1, 2001... To improve operator protection and working conditions during the dispersing of powdered products, food and bakery ingredient manufacturer Macphie of Glenbervie has installed two large downflow booths from Hosokawa Vitalair. Macphie's...

Clean servo motors at your service.
July 1, 2001... Baldor has launched a range of brushless servo motors optimised for use in clean environments such as food packaging and processing lines. Believed by Baldor to be the first 'washdown-duty' servos on the market, the range is said to allow OEM...

Festo set to launch food-grade terminal.
July 1, 2001... Festo's new CDVI, Clean Design Valve Island, is a pneumatics valve terminal designed specifically for the food industry. It is said to offer food-grade hygiene compliance, wet washdown capability, resistance to cleaning agents and direct...

Noise levels halved for toffees.
July 1, 2001... No, not a reflection on the current sorry state of Everton FC, but a success story from that other well-known name in toffee, Thorntons. At its Belper, Derbyshire, factory the company has just installed a new high-speed toffee breaker and...

Gap monitor is a cracker.
July 1, 2001... APV Baker is using Penny & Giles' SLS190 sealed linear sensor on its latest 560 model biscuit/cracker laminator. The sensor monitors the gap between two rolls through which the sheets of biscuit material pass. The output from the sensor is fed...

Weigh ahead on the Wirral.
July 1, 2001... At Manor Bakeries' smallcake production line in Moreton on the Wirral, Cheshire, Cirencester-based Rospen Industries has installed a customised weighed-belt conveyor within the finished product handling system. The production line receives...

Deep water, no problem.
July 1, 2001... In the floods of last November, Hazlewood Grocery found its ambient shelf-stable sauce bottling plant at Selby, North Yorkshire, under a metre of water. Faced with severe losses in production, the company called in S&W Process Engineering of...

A first for Carlsberg's valve system, probably.
July 1, 2001... Self-proclaimed brewer of the finest lager in the world, probably, Carlsberg Tetley has also probably one of the first breweries to standardise on the Actuato Sensor interface (ASi) for al its automated valves. Co-ordinating refurbishment...

Progressing cavity pumps to fill dairy industry niche.
July 1, 2001... Traditionally very strong in the chemical industry, Flux Pumps has invested in the development of pumps for dairy applications that meet 3A hygiene and sanitary specifications. To meet these regulations, machinery parts in contact with the...

Separator catches metals in free-fall.
July 1, 2001... Eriez Magnetics recently introduced the Pulseparator. This is a free-fall metal separator that detects and removes metal contamination from gravity-fed granular materials, such as rice, sugar and food ingredients. Both ferrous and non-ferrous...

Who pumped all the pies?
July 1, 2001... Well, perhaps not all of them, but when Riverside Bakery, part of the Northern Food Group, was looking for a method of pumping pie fillings, casseroles and stews that would not damage the structure of the material, it opted for a Watson-Marlow...

No more fizzy beer?
July 1, 2001... Headmaster, a manufacturer of gas regulation devices for breweries and drinks producers, uses a range of sensors from Gems Sensors to ensure its customers deliver the 'perfect pint'. Headmaster has built a range of instruments to allow...

UHT pasteurisers for juice and milk.
July 1, 2001... Elizabeth Janes & Sons, a leading supplier of water and fruit juice products to the likes of British Airways, has installed a Tetra Pak Spiraflo MT (multitube) heat exchanger for pasteurising juice at its Market Drayton, Shropshire, plant. ...