Process Engineering articles from July 2008

Process Engineering archives from July 2008

COMMENT: Process engineers (finally) wanted.
July 21, 2008... UK process operations have long worked to a beat set by the financial sector and the demands of owners and shareholders for near-term profitability - too often at the expense of investment in improving engineering practices and equipment....

Audit delay risks MCerts logjam.
July 21, 2008... Over 75% of industrial sites are yet to have an authorised inspection of their wastewater flow-monitoring arrangements despite an end-of-year deadline With the mandatory deadline fast approaching, as many as three-quarters of the...

Industry alert follows HP Bulmer court case.
July 21, 2008... The Health and Safety Executive is warning companies to ensure that water storage and cooling systems are adequately treated to prevent the growth of the legionella bacteria. The call comes after HP Bulmer Ltd and Nalco Ltd were fined over an...

CCS: Ready or not?
July 21, 2008... BP Alternative Energy International Ltd, EON UK Plc, Peel Power Ltd and Scottish Power Generation Ltd have been selected as the bidders that have pre-qualified in the UK government's competition to demonstrate carbon capture and storage...

Skills chief issues rallying call.
July 21, 2008... Employers should get fully involved in driving change from the inside, or face being left behind, according to Phil Jones, CEO of the National Skills Academy Process Industries. The academy has a remit to tackle skills gaps in the UK...

IN BRIEF: IChemE to re-launch Catalysis Subject Group.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... The IChemE is re-launching its Catalysis Subject Group. It will organise events to provide a forum for exchange of ideas among scientists and engineers on the application of catalysis to process systems. For regular updates on industry news...

IN BRIEF: PricewaterhouseCoopers and Royal Haskoning sign a jv.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... PricewaterhouseCoopers and Royal Haskoning have signed a jv agreement to combine their knowledge on REACH, the new European chemicals regulations. "This collaboration enables us to offer the industry a comprehensive package of services that...

IN BRIEF: EIU survey.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... An Economist Intelligence Unit survey of over 600 senior executives across Europe and the US reveals that 65% of top bosses in the manufacturing sector say their structured approaches to implementing and managing change are a direct response to...

IN BRIEF: Technical collaboration.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... Endicott Biofuels and Davy Process Technology have entered into a multi- plant, technical collaboration to develop the next generation of biodiesel facilities in the US. Under the deal, EBF will be licensed to use DPT's esterification...

IN BRIEF: KSB post 43% rise.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... Pumps and valves maker KSB has posted a 43% rise in pre-tax earnings to Euro129m from consolidated sales revenue of around Euro1.77bn. Chairman Dr Wolfgang Schmitt said a 10.9% increase in order intake had been recorded in the first five...

IN BRIEF: Jacobs Engineering wins contract.(Brief article)
July 21, 2008... Jacobs Engineering UK has won a contract to provide preliminary architectural and engineering services to ITER, the future owner/operator of the Euro10bn international fusion reactor facility being built at Cadarache in the south of France. The...

ANALYSIS: Ageing plant: Avoiding the point of no returns.(Company overview)
July 21, 2008... Dr Julian Hought highlights the need for regular business risk reviews to ensure that assets are refreshed before they pass the point of economic upgrade A staggering 400 million tonnes of chemicals are produced by the UK chemical...

ANALYSIS: Lessons from Buncefield.
July 21, 2008... The final report by the Buncefield Standards Task Group on safety and environmental standards for fuel storage sites further underlines the need for active and reactive monitoring through use of process safety performance indicators. It...

ANALYSIS: REACH for your legal advisor.
July 21, 2008... The EU chemicals safety regulations REACH will leave companies "between a rock and a hard place, and they will need help to navigate these treacherous waters." This is the opinion of Michael Grenfell, a partner at legal firm Norton Rose,...

MICROREACTORS: Alternative to the microreactor.
July 21, 2008... Microreactors have been A focus of GROWING interest for chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, attracted by the prospect of faster reactions, higher yields and reduced use of solvents. These performance advantages are, in part, linked to...

PLANT VISIT: Evonik puts energy savings on the map.
July 21, 2008... Chemicals production site is effectively combating rising fuel costs through Masterclass and energy mapping initiatives. Patrick Raleigh reports fom Seal Sands on Teesside Energy efficiency is a key target at the Evonik site at Seal Sands...

PLANT VISIT: Energy-saving projects identified by Evonik.
July 21, 2008... CHP PLANT Evonik is targeting savings of #200,000, for example, through secondary recovery of heat from jackets. "We could use the jacket water to feed the heat into the labs, currently on a 10bar steam supply system," according to the...

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Goodbye to cheap options.
July 21, 2008... Dave Sheppard believes environmental concerns will free pump system engineers and designers from the costdown pressures of the past I have worked in the water industry for around 20 years, starting as a sandwich student with North West...

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Environmental legislation raises business concerns.
July 21, 2008... Many believe that the regulations are doing more harm than good, but businesses will still need to assess their energy buying and investment decisions on a more holistic basis UK businesses are increasingly concerned that government...

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: OEE saves dough.
July 21, 2008... Food company Hovis has shrugged off rising energy costs and reduced its annual gas bill by 7%, around #400,000. The savings follow the implementation of an OEE (overall equipment effectiveness) management system across its 15 bakery sites,...

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Compressing costs.
July 21, 2008... Air leaks represent one of the most important areas for cost savings from compressors, according to Nigel Smith of Atlas Copco, which operates an airscan team that assesses companies' consumption of compressed air. "We monitor, for...

ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Coors, what a saving!
July 21, 2008... The Coors brewery in Burton is saving up to #60,000 annually in energy costs following a project using thermal imaging to study the heat and energy loss from different areas of its facility. The study, which was carried out by ERIKS company...

WEIGHING AND MEASURING: Gauging the future.
July 21, 2008... Patrick Raleigh reports on current trends in load cell and strain measurement technologies as presented by experts at the Darmstadt, Germany headquarters of HBM, one of the largest global suppliers of test, measurement and weighing technologies...

WEIGHING AND MEASURING: Food factory finds Key.
July 21, 2008... Polish food processor Paula has turned to US-based Key Technology Inc for conveying and weighing equipment to increase product quality, increase production throughput and reduce its maintenance and labour requirements. Paula's plant in...

PROCESS WEIGHING: Nothing stops for tea.
July 21, 2008... Tea company R Twining & Co. has installed Chronos Richardson weighing and packing equipment at its Andover factory in Hampshire during an Easter 2008 shutdown. The equipment supports the 'Twining Tea Process', where the premium grade tea...

PROCESS WEIGHING: Feeds unit is 99% accurate.
July 21, 2008... Animal feed producer A Nichols is achieving 99% accuracy for 50 different animal feed recipes following the installation of a throughput weighing system. The company specified the system from Avery Weigh-Tronix to accurately formulate the feed...

PROCESS WEIGHING IN BRIEF: Mettler Toledo launches IL platform.
July 21, 2008... Mettler Toledo has launched the IL platform weighing cell, which, it claims, enables platforms of up to 2,000kg with dimensions of up to 1m2 to be weighed both simply and accurately. The design features a double- bend beam for enhanced...

PROCESS WEIGHING IN BRIEF: RAVAS establishes UK office.
July 21, 2008... Mobile scales producer RAVAS has established a UK office in Berkshire, which is being run by Nicola Whittle, area manager. The company's equipment is installed on forklift trucks, warehouse trucks and pallet trucks, and can display the...

PROCESS WEIGHING IN BRIEF: Single-point load cell.
July 21, 2008... HBM's new PW15AH single-point load cell is designed to provide long- term stability of the strain gauge. The unit provides IP68/IP69K protection from the combination of an hermetically sealed body and a special cable inlet welded to the...

PROCESS WEIGHING IN BRIEF: Sartorius introduces Signum ingredient scale.
July 21, 2008... Sartorius has introduced the Signum ingredient scale, which helps users ensure the accuracy of weighed ingredient to maintain the quality of the end-product. Users can choose from three indicators providing three levels of usage, from just...

DRIVES: A case of pot versus kettle?
July 21, 2008... The message about variable speed drives is still not getting through to engineering managers, who prefer to haggle with their energy suppliers. Patrick Raleigh reports While process engineers often accuse finance managers of blocking...

DRIVES: Selecting motors for pumps.
July 21, 2008... Pumps are mostly driven by electric motors and represent around 30% of a developed economy's use of electrical energy. Choice of the correct size of motor - almost always the AC squirrel cage induction motor - affects not only the energy...

DRIVES ROUNDUP: Modular motors cut complexity.
July 21, 2008... SEW-Eurodrive has introduced the DR series AC motors, which features a modular system encompassing all energy efficiency standards applicable worldwide. The range is equipped with BE brakes that enable customers to choose and install...

DRIVES ROUNDUP: Starter makes grade.
July 21, 2008... Pro-Roll is a specialist finisher of high specification metals for industries including aerospace and Formula One, and counts Rolls Royce, Ferrari and Corus among its customers. Its speciality is the production of low volumes of high grade...

DRIVES ROUNDUP: Corus plant drives up throughput.
July 21, 2008... Corus Construction & Industrial has achieved a 30% increase in throughput at its Clydebridge Works in Glasgow, following the installation of Flender gear units and nine Siemens drives at the plant, which manufactures high-strength steel...

DRIVES ROUNDUP: Product launches.
July 21, 2008... Motion Control Products/MC4U: Multi-axis modular motion control system for applications requiring flexible drive configuration, PLC motion and logic control. It offers up to eight integral servo drives, additional I/O and 64 distributed axes...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: GE unveils modular test device.
July 21, 2008... GE Sensing & Inspection is claiming a world first with the launch of its Advanced Modular Calibration test and calibration system, which it unveiled at the recent Sensor & Test exhibition in Nuremberg, Germany. The hand-held,...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Simulation software for biodiesel refinery.
July 21, 2008... Swedish company SunPine AB is to use Invensys simulation software for modelling a new biodiesel refining operation in Pitea, Sweden. The plant, which is a part of the Solander Science Park biofuels collaboration, converts byproducts of pine...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Mobile helps save Sunday papers.
July 21, 2008... Aylesford Newsprint turned to an emergency facility when the water treatment plant failed at its mill, which supplies around 400 kilotonnes per annum of recycled newsprint to national, regional and European press rooms. Steam and power for...

TECHNOLOGY IN BRIEF: SusChem UK.
July 21, 2008... SusChem UK is a newly launched alliance bringing together six UK chemistry and engineering groups to support industry in the drive for more sustainable products and services. The group comprises the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Chemistry...

TECHNOLOGY IN BRIEF: Krysteline.
July 21, 2008... Krysteline, based in Dorset, has secured a contract to install one of its glass processors employing a novel glass implosion technique in a new recycling facility in Pennsylvania. The UK company's patented process renders glass sharp-free,...

TECHNOLOGY IN BRIEF: Kistler.
July 21, 2008... Kistler has commissioned a new crystal growing facility, its third for producing the artificially grown calcium gallogermanate crystal. Kistler uses the Czochralsky process in which materials are deposited onto a seed crystal that is pulled...

TECHNOLOGY IN BRIEF: Andreas Walther.
July 21, 2008... German researcher Andreas Walther has won first prize in the DSM Science & Technology Awards (South) 2008 for his work in developing new polymeric materials based on so-called Janus particles. These nanoparticles, named after the two-faced...

TECHNOLOGY IN BRIEF: Siemens.
July 21, 2008... Siemens new Softnet PN-IO Linux software controller makes it is possible to set up open control solutions on standard PC hardware and offers an inexpensive link-up to field units in industrial Ethernet networks. Up to 64 I/O devices can be...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Sewage-to-fuel plant shows staying power.
July 21, 2008... SMW, part of Scottish Power Group, produces waste-derived fuel from sewage sludge, which is used to generate electricity at Longannet power station on the banks of the Firth of Forth. The Glasgow-based company's processes create fuel pellets,...

PEOPLE: Emerson Process Management.
July 21, 2008... Emerson Process Management has appointed Stuart Young as sales manager, upstream, based at its recently opened offices in Dyce, Aberdeen. Young joins Emerson from Invensys, where he was formerly principal account manager, process systems....

PEOPLE: Grundfos Pumps.
July 21, 2008... Grundfos Pumps has appointed Simon Smart as area sales manager for its industrial end-user market team in Scotland and the north of England. Smart started as a mechanical marine apprentice at Rosyth Royal Dockyard. He continued to work at...

PEOPLE: AxFlow Group.
July 21, 2008... AxFlow Group has announced Ole Weiner as its new president and chief executive officer. Weiner has been CFO of AxFlow since 2002, where he has also been regional manager of AxFlow East and AxFlow Nordic. He will retain both these positions...

PEOPLE: Adept Scientific.
July 21, 2008... Surak Perera has joined Adept Scientific as applications support specialist. Perera has recently completed a MEng in Aerospace at Southampton University. His Masters project was to design and manufacture a thermal mass flowmeter for an...

PEOPLE: Sheffield Forgemasters.
July 21, 2008... Sheffield Forgemasters chief executive Dr Graham Honeyman has been awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for his work in the heavy steelmaking and engineering industry. Honeyman led a turnaround of the 200-year-old engineering...

PEOPLE: ENSR.
July 21, 2008... Environmental firm ENSR has appointed Dr Geoffrey Roberts as client development lead for BP in the UK. He has 30 years' experience with the oil, gas, and chemical industries, plus expertise in environmental health and safety, knowledge...