Process Engineering articles from June 2006

Process Engineering archives from June 2006

COMMENT: Stark contrasts.
June 28, 2006... This month highlights some of the stark contrasts that exist between what should ideally be in place in all plants and the reality when it comes to ensuring the safety and security of process facilities. In an ideal world, all companies...

UK refining investment is at risk.
June 28, 2006... An estimated #3-4 billion of UK investment is at risk because oil companies are unhappy with profits from current refining operations and an apparent neglect of the refining industry in the current energy review. Under the auspices of...

Skills "mismatch" hits engineering.
June 28, 2006... Around 28% of companies are struggling to recruit vital engineering staff, with a further 15% reporting it particularly difficult to find IT specialists. This skills gap relates to "a mismatch between what industry is demanding and the...

ANSYS bags rival Fluent.
June 28, 2006... Engineering software specialist ANSYS Inc has completed its acquisition of Fluent Inc, the world's leading computational fluid dynamics (CFD) company, for around $299 million in cash and six million ANSYS shares. The acquisition...

Alfa Laval targets new growth areas.
June 28, 2006... Alfa Laval has identified district cooling, LNG (liquefied natural gas) and renewable energy projects as three "booming" new markets that will help drive its growth over the next few years. "Demand for district cooling is growing faster...

Buncefield blast linked to faulty controls.
June 28, 2006... Investigators have identified failures of the automatic tank gauging (ATG) and safety switch systems on a fuel storage tank as root causes of the massive explosions and fire at the Buncefield oil depot on 11 December last year. ...

IN BRIEF: AMEC sells French unit.(Brief article)
June 28, 2006... Amec has agreed to sell its French business, Amec SPIE, to a private equity firm for Euro 1,040 million (#707m), a sum significantly higher then financial analysts had expected. The transaction with PAI Partners is expected to close around...

IN BRIEF: Fairport adds Aeromaster.(Brief article)
June 28, 2006... Fairport Engineering Group has acquired Aeromaster International Ltd for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition adds Aeromaster's aero- mechanical powder/granules conveying capabilities to Fairport's specialisation in materials handling...

IN BRIEF: Thermo, Fisher to merge.(Brief article)
June 28, 2006... Thermo Electron Corp and Fisher Scientific International Inc are to merge in a stock-for-stock exchange deal. The combined entity, to be called Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, will have a staff of 7,500 and expects 2007 sales of over $9 billion....

IN BRIEF: Darling alerts planners.(Brief article)
June 28, 2006... Trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling wants local authorities to consider national interest when reviewing proposals for new gas storage facilities. #10 billion is currently being invested in energy infrastructure projects, but...

IN BRIEF: New IChemE president.(Brief article)
June 28, 2006... Greg Lewin, president of Shell Global Solutions International bv, has succeeded John Archer as president of the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Copyright: Centaur Communications Ltd. and licensors

Minister expects no fall in energy prices.
June 28, 2006... Energy minister Malcolm Wicks is not confident that energy prices will fall despite the infrastructure improvements that are underway. A gas pipeline link with Norway is scheduled to come on stream in the winter of 2007 and a terminal is...

Christ targets pharma acquisitions.
June 28, 2006... Christ Water Technology AG intends to more than double sales from its Pharma and Life Science division over the next three years. By the next Achema, sales in the Pharma/Life Science sector will reach Euro100 million, up from Euro 46...

TECHNOLOGY TODAY: Heat exchangers: 'bye to gaskets and welds'.
June 28, 2006... Alfa Laval is stepping up the commercial introduction of its AlfaNova plate heat exchanger technology, which "says goodbye" to gaskets and welds, according to Johan Gunnarsson, marketing manager Alfa Laval Lund AB. "We are just at the...

TECHNOLOGY TODAY: Nano-battery project.
June 28, 2006... Nanotecture Ltd has won a #131,000 grant from the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) Technology Programme for a two-year project called "Nanoporous Active Cathodes for Primary Lithium Batteries". The project is a collaboration between...

TECHNOLOGY TODAY: Siemens backs coal technology.
June 28, 2006... Siemens Power Generation Group is acquiring Sustec-Group's coal-to- electricity technology and engineering activities. The company said it also plans to build a 1,000 megawatts (MW) coal gasification plant in Saxony, to accelerate development...

TECHNOLOGY TODAY: Keeping gas flowing.
June 28, 2006... Undersea pipelines and the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are now seen as key to meeting UK fuel demand in future. However, these new sources of gas must be tested for many contaminants, not least moisture, which can cause problems in...

TECHNOLOGY TODAY: Parker claims instrument mounting breakthrough.
June 28, 2006... Monitoring devices often prove difficult to mount onto process piping as the tolerances used when machining pipe flanges tendfs to create misalignment with the instrument along different axes. Engineers commonly resolve these issues by...

TECHNOLOGY TODAY: Rheometry on the double.
June 28, 2006... Plastics films manufacturer Renolit AG, based in Salzgitter, Germany, is using rotational and capillary rheometers from Malvern Instruments to determine the rheological properties of polymer melts. The units, at Renolit's analytical...

CONTROLS & SOFTWARE - FLUID DYNAMICS: And the wanner is ...or is it?
June 28, 2006... German expert develops equation to determine the life cycle cost of pumps in various applications. However, not everyone in the industry agrees with his findings. Patrick Raleigh and Tim Tunbridge report Purchase price should be far from...

CONTROLS & SOFTWARE - FLUID DYNAMICS: CFD in the mix.
June 28, 2006... Computational Fluid Dynamics is not widely applied in chemical mixing applications. Edward Wynn and Edward Throp believe this is because engineers apply CFD as a troubleshooting tool rather than for avoiding design issues in the first place...

CONTROLS & SOFTWARE - FLUID DYNAMICS: Sulzer streamlines simulation.
June 28, 2006... CFD simulation is generally used in the optimisation and design of many mixing processes for describing the momentum exchange between the different phases and various complex flow processes. While standard CFD solvers can calculate...

CONTROLS & SOFTWARE - FLUID DYNAMICS: Maintenance on tap.
June 28, 2006... Pipeline intervention services for on-line maintenance and modifications can represent high value for process plant operators. Mike Tucker looks at the technologies available, and what they can achieve In the process industries, where...

CONTROLS & SOFTWARE: Top 20 firms lead a resurgence in fluid handling.
June 28, 2006... The leading 90 companies account for 80% of the turnover in the UK's fluid handling market, but only 20 of them are primed for a period of growth that will increase their market share significantly. In contrast, 15 of the companies are...

PLANT OPERATIONS - PROCESS WEIGHING: Data on demand.
June 28, 2006... Weighing of materials may once have been a simple manual operation, but was the data always as accurate, reliable and traceable as was really required? Patrick Raleigh and Tim Tunbridge report Accuracy, reliability, low maintenance,...

PLANT OPERATIONS - PROCESS WEIGHING: Integrated weighing technology.
June 28, 2006... Siemens has developed technology for integrating both differential proportioning and control scales into an automation system. The company's Siwarex electronic weighing system combines both scales types and electronically integrates them into...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: Firewalls.
June 28, 2006... Perhaps the first word that comes to mind when discussing cyber security is a firewall. The problem is that many organisations feel that the mere presence of a firewall is enough to immediately solve their security concerns. Purchasing a...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: Safety net.
June 28, 2006... Simply buying and installing the technology does not necessarily increase a company's cyber security profile. Rick Kaun advises that before instigating any such programme, an organisation must first adopt a company-wide security philosophy ...

PLANT SAFETY: Most significant prodecures to protect an organization.
June 28, 2006... * Disaster recovery Many businesses baulk at the sheer magnitude of a corporate-wide disaster recovery (DR) plan due to complexity, costs, and effort required to plan and implement it. However, system-specific or machine- specific DR plans...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: Defence in depth.
June 28, 2006... Plant safety and security are now high on the process industry agenda. This heightened awareness is driving a more integrated approach to safety issues, Honeywell senior executives tell Patrick Raleigh Fallout from the explosion and fire...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: Robotic cameras in Buncefield probe.
June 28, 2006... The on-going investigation into the Buncefield explosion is leaving no stone unturned, as evidenced by the use of two robotic cameras to carry out a thorough inspection of all possible drainage pathways from the site. The...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: Emerson, Symantec in cyber-security link.
June 28, 2006... Emerson Process Management has entered an agreement with Symantec Corporation to provide "comprehensive" cyber-security products and services for power generators, Emerson has announced. Under the terms of the deal, Emerson's Power & Water...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: Shell Chemicals alarmed.
June 28, 2006... Shell Chemicals has recently installed a series of siren configurations from Klaxon Signal at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex - the company's only refinery and petrochemical complex in the UK. The Klaxon ES range sirens , at the...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - PLANT SAFETY: MOST nets TUV certificate.
June 28, 2006... MTL Open System Technologies (MOST), part of MTL Instruments Group, has announced that its SafetyNet Functional Safety System has been certified by TUV Rheinland for use in SIL 2 safety functions. SafetyNet is designed to meet the safety...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Stripping costs.
June 28, 2006... Installation of a variable speed drives system on the descaling pumps at a Corus strip steel mill is providing a payback time of less than a year from reduced electricity costs Some 40 years ago, the steel plant of Corus Strip Products at...

INDUSTRY FOCUS - ENERGY EFFICIENCY: Coal key to future power supply.
June 28, 2006... Leading executives in the power utility sector believe new fossil fuel technologies offer the answer to the industry's fuel supply and environmental challenges going forward Power utility executives are facing up to an unprecedented...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Accurate discharge valve built in Hastalloy.
June 28, 2006... Laboratories Merck Sharp & Dohme - Chibret is discharging highly accurate quantities of pharmaceuticals at its plant at St Germain Laprade, France via an AL 150 rotary airlock built and supplied by DMN- Westinghouse. The valve controls...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Vision tools for BMW automotive production.
June 28, 2006... Since the first installation in 2004, around a dozen head-up display (HUD) testing units incorporating vision tools supplied by Cognex are in round-the-clock operation at BMW plants. The QC systems for the HUD driver information devices are...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Tank cleaning gives ROI after just one operation.
June 28, 2006... Oilfield services company, Weatherford International has bought an UltraClean automatic tank washing unit for cleaning separator vessels at oil rigs - and found that it has paid for itself after just one operation. Previously Weatherford called...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Variable speed compressor achieves 19month payback.
June 28, 2006... Replacement of a fixed speed compressor with a speed regulated model has provided Elgin-based Highland Galvanisers with energy savings of an estimated #6,000 a year. The change was one of a number of energy efficiency improvements at the...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: EA orders 300 telemetry outstations.
June 28, 2006... More than 300 telemetry outstations have been supplied to the Environment Agency by ITT Flygt Monitoring & Control since the start of 2006. They are being used to collect data from pumps located in streams, rivers, ports, estuaries and...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Hazardous chemicals storage.
June 28, 2006... The recent purchase of three additional 50,000-litre units means that all 14 storage tanks at the Lutterworth site of chemical distributor Brenntag have been supplied by Allibert Helix. The helically-wound tanks are used to store hazardous...

EQUIPMENT IN ACTION: Solutia upgrades chemical plant.
June 28, 2006... Emerson Process Management has completed the second phase of a major upgrade of the control system at Solutia's chemical plant in Newport, migrating the existing control system to its DeltaV digital automation system. The latest project...

UK and International Plant Cost Indices.
June 28, 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...