Process Engineering articles from May 2007

Process Engineering archives from May 2007

COMMENT: Beyond the safety zone.
May 16, 2007... Tenure of the BP Texas City refinery could be likened to a company running a fleet of cars and deciding for cost and competitiveness reasons not to maintain and replace worn parts on the older models or check up on the skills of the employees...

Cost cutting BP blamed for Texas City disaster.
May 16, 2007... US investigators link management failings to the chain of events that led to fatal refinery blast in 2005 The US Chemical Safety Board has blamed "organisational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporation" for the 23...

HSE level sensor call.
May 16, 2007... The Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board (MIIB) has highlighted the potential safety benefits of new level sensing technology within its recommendations for improvements to the design and operation of sites that store and handle large...

Cadbury managers could go behind bars.
May 16, 2007... Birmingham City Council is charging Cadbury Schweppes with three offences under health and safety legislation for producing and selling chocolate contaminated with salmonella (see PE Sept/Oct 2006, p10). Each offence carries a maximum...

UK biofuel gets bigger.
May 16, 2007... Ensus Group is to establish a 400-million-litres/year biofuel production facility at the Wilton International petrochemicals complex. The unit will be the first in a series of Ensus bioethanol plants in Europe, said the Yarm, UK-based...

UK locks onto carbon capture.
May 16, 2007... The UK can be the birthplace of the world's first full scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) demonstration plant, Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said following the Budget announcement of a competition to build a CCS demo...

IN BRIEF: London Fire Brigade.(Brief article)
May 16, 2007... Engineering and maintenance businesses should be aware of the hazards of working with acetylene and the importance of risk management when using this highly flammable gas, warns Norwich Union. The insurer's call comes as London Fire Brigade...

IN BRIEF: BASF.(Brief article)
May 16, 2007... BASF has added a social dimension to its process for assessing sustainability, called SEEbalance (socio-eco-efficiency balance), which encompasses the social impact of its products and processes. The measure will enhance its "eco-efficiency...

IN BRIEF: AMEC.(Brief article)
May 16, 2007... AMEC has acquired Applied Environmental Research Centre (AERC) of Colchester, Essex, as part of a strategy to strengthen its environmental services business. AERC is a #2.3-million turnover consultancy employing 45 scientists and engineers. The...

IN BRIEF: Emerson.(Brief article)
May 16, 2007... Emerson has combined its Bristol, Fisher, Daniel, and Mobrey remote technology products and services into a newly created Remote Automation Solutions division. The move "will better serve the remote measurement and control needs of the oil,...

IN BRIEF: Drax Group.(Brief article)
May 16, 2007... Drax Group has set up a #67-million warchest to help it reach a target of producing 10% of its output from renewable fuels by 2009. The investment fund is in addition to a recently announced #100-million turbine upgrade project, which is being...

ANALYSIS: 'Raising the bar' for safety.
May 16, 2007... The official reports into the accidents at Buncefield and Texas City put responsibility for improving safety culture on all stakeholders in every industry sector Despite their different starting points, the official reports into BP...

BP TEXAS CITY: Recipe for disaster.
May 16, 2007... 1998 * BP merges with Amoco and takes control of Texas City refinery, where 23 people had previously been killed in industrial accidents 1999 * BP Group management directs Texas City to cut costs 25% 2001 * Presentation...

ASSET MANAGEMENT: Piecing together the jigsaw puzzle.
May 16, 2007... John Woodhouse maps out a new way forward for asset managers in charge of infrastructure and process plant facilities Optimised and integrated asset management represents the best sustainable combination of asset care - maintenance and...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - INTEGRATED SAFETY: Safety, cost and principles.
May 16, 2007... Patrick Raleigh reports on a vendor dust-up that is clouding the issues behind the integration of plant safety and control systems Process safety has traditionally been based on independent layers of protection. If a control system fails...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - APPLICATION: Galp alert to alarms.
May 16, 2007... Portuguese oil & gas company Galp Energia Group is carrying out a major programme of alarm analysis and rationalisation across all plants at its Oporto refinery - following the success of an earlier alarms project at the site. The...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - APPLICATION: Vietnam power project.
May 16, 2007... Emerson Process Management is to automate two 300-MW units for a new coal-fired power plant in north Vietnam. The facility in the Thuy Nguyen district is owned by Hai Phong Thermal Power Joint Stock Co. EPC contractor Dongfang Electric...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - OPERATOR OF THE FUTURE: Mission to control.
May 16, 2007... While process companies are investing in increasingly powerful control and automation systems, how many are equipping their operators with the skills needed to handle the technology? Patrick Raleigh reports The European process industry...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - STRATEGY: Shell plugs in Singapore complex.
May 16, 2007... Shell has officially launched the start of a new construction phase at the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) as the first piles were driven into the ground on Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island. Construction of SEPC began in late...

PROCESS AUTOMATION: Wireless to raise packaging plant capability.
May 16, 2007... Quinn Packaging, a manufacturer of plastics packaging for the dairy spread and food tray sectors, is applying wireless technology to optimise the performance of a new plant in Ballyconnell, Republic of Ireland. The PlantMaster wireless...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - TECHNOLOGY: Advance in virtual production.
May 16, 2007... At the recent Hannover Fair, Fraunhofer Institute researchers demonstrated a prototype Smart Connected Control Platform (SCCP) that is being developed to autonomously implement modifications and ensure an optimum manufacturing process in the...

PROCESS AUTOMATION - TECHNOLOGY: Invensys DCS for bioethanol plants.
May 16, 2007... Invensys Process Systems is providing DCS systems for two new Husky Energy ethanol refineries in western Canada. The Foxboro I/A system implementations include mesh control network-based technology, intelligent measurement and instrumentation...

PROFORM - MIXING & BLENDING: Transforming nanoscience into products.
May 16, 2007... The practical application of nanotechnology in the process sectors and their client industries relies heavily on the ability to incorporate nanoparticles into final products in a fully dispersed and stable state. This requires expertise from...

APPLICATION - MIXING & BLENDING: Buhler: Cheerio to cereal blues.
May 16, 2007... The Pasta and Extruded Products business unit of Swiss extruder specialist Buhler has developed its own production technology for making multi-coloured products by working closely with its customers. Now this same approach has been taken in the...

APPLICATION - MIXING & BLENDING: The smooth operator.
May 16, 2007... Mixers made by Derby-based Chemineer are enhancing the manufacturing process at Reckitt Benckiser, the world leader in cosmetic depilatories/hair removal products. In the production of the Veet range of creams and waxes, a bottom-entry...

APPLICATION - MIXING & BLENDING: 3-minute blends.
May 16, 2007... Model 700-TH-40-SS rotary batch mixer, from Munson Machinery, gently blends batches of ingredients in parts as small as one per million with 100% uniformity in less than three minutes. It will also evacuate 100% of the batch and can be...

APPLICATION - MIXING & BLENDING: Blending microbes gets a gentle touch.
May 16, 2007... United-Tech Inc. produces microbial formulations that are used to break down or detoxify organic compounds, greasy spills and other contaminants, leaving behind carbon dioxide and water. The powdered products contain proprietary blends of...

APPLICATION - MIXING & BLENDING: Mix and bind.
May 16, 2007... Potential cost savings, shorter cycles and fewer processing steps than for traditional wet agglomeration await pharmaceutical processors adopting the Hosokawa Micron Cyclomix route to melt binding agglomeration. The unit is designed to...

APPLICATION - MIXING & BLENDING: Blending vessels.
May 16, 2007... Oils and lubricants manufacturer Millers Oils has installed three 18- tonne blending vessels. They have a blending capability from 2,500 to 17,000 litres and will be used to blend high volume grades such as hydraulic oils, diesel engine oils...

ETHERNET - CONVERGENCE: Process and IT get together.
May 16, 2007... Patrick Raleigh reports from a Birmingham conference, which examines how European process companies are progressing with Ethernet Global demand for Ethernet IP systems is generating market growth of over 30%, with the fastest adoption...

ETHERNET - CONVERGENCE: Cisco: 'Mind the gap'.
May 16, 2007... Cisco and Rockwell are working together to develop reference architectures for a range of process industries including the oil & gas, brewing, and paint sectors, said Arjen Swaag of Cisco. Installing reference architectures is an attractive...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Water monitors beneath the sea.
May 16, 2007... Eurotunnel has installed six new water quality monitoring systems to eliminate the risk of harmful water entering the pipelines. The multi- parameter monitoring systems, from Hach Lange, are each connected to a data collection and alarm...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Wireless infrastructure for US power plants.
May 16, 2007... Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) has installed a managed wireless infrastructure - from Invensys Process Systems and its partner Apprion - at its Lost Pines Power Park, near Bastrop, Texas. LCRA implemented a layered WiMax/WiFi...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Power station pipework system.
May 16, 2007... British Energy's Heysham 2 nuclear power station has replaced a PVC- coated carbon steel pipework system used for reactor sea water (RSW) cooling with a polyethylene product that has a 50-year life expectation. The contract for the...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Boiler cheers real ales brewery.
May 16, 2007... Hampshire-based Triple FFF Brewery Company has installed a 60J gas- fired vertical steam boiler from Fulton Boiler Works as part of a #750,000 upgrade to its existing brewery equipment. Steam from the boiler is used for each stage of the...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Sticking plaster for pipelines.
May 16, 2007... Dutch firm Stopaq Europe has developed an adhesive band that protects pipelines from corrosion and hairline cracks. The Stopaq Wrapping Band is based on a polyisobutene (PIB), tradenamed Oppanol, from BASF, which makes the surface...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Anglian Water orders 300 RTUs.
May 16, 2007... Anglian Water has placed an order for 300 remote telemetry units (RTUs), together with associated analysis and reporting software, with Epsom-based MetaSphere, formerly part of the energy and utilities division of LogicaCMG. The RTUs will...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: UK biogas pioneer on solid ground.
May 16, 2007... Devon-based Holsworthy Biogas is home to the UK's first biogas plant. The plant processes 75 kilotonnes per annum of food waste and animal manure and uses the anaerobic digestion gases to generate electricity and pipe hot water for the local...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Unilever spreads UV disinfection system.
May 16, 2007... Unilever Netherlands has recently installed a UV disinfection system to treat process water at its margarine manufacturing plant in Rotterdam. The system, supplied by Berson, ensures that all mains water used in the plant has a CFU/ml...

TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION: Software ups bioethanol production at US plant.
May 16, 2007... Mid-Missouri Energy (MME) has reported over $3 million in annual benefits through implementing new process modelling software to improve ethanol production at its Malta Bend, Missouri plant. The US company is a farmer-owned co-operative that...

CONTRACTS: Honeywell.
May 16, 2007... Honeywell has won a $7-million contract to implement an Experion PKS and Foundation Fieldbus solution at a new aromatics plant that is being operated by Kuwait Paraxylene Production Co. *For regular updates on contracts & projects visit:...

CONTRACTS: Invensys.
May 16, 2007... Invensys is supplying its Foxboro distributed control systems for two new Husky Energy grassroots ethanol refineries in western Canada. The implementations include mesh control network-based I/A Series system technology, intelligent...

CONTRACTS: Foster Wheeler.
May 16, 2007... Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by CNOOC Oil & Petrochemicals Co (COPC) for the thermal design, engineering, procurement, and material supply of two delayed coker heaters. The heaters will be installed in a new four-drum delayed...

CONTRACTS: Dow Chemical.
May 16, 2007... PetroChina GuangXi Petrochemical Co has selected Dow Chemical's Unipol polypropylene process technology for a new 200-ktpa PP facility. The plant is being constructed at PetroChina's complex in GuangXi Province. Dow is collaborating with...

CONTRACTS: Emerson Process Management.
May 16, 2007... nPower Renewables has awarded Emerson Process Management a contract to provide a wide area, data-gathering system to connect 19 active wind farms to its corporate operations centres across the UK. Emerson's Bristol OpenEnterprise software will...

CONTRACTS: ABB.
May 16, 2007... China Oil & Natural Gas Co has placed an order with ABB for a control system to operate an 80-ktpa styrene production facility. The control system will consist of two pairs of redundant AC800F controllers, six operator workplaces and one...

APPOINTMENTS: Emerson Process Management.
May 16, 2007... Emerson Process Management has promoted Travis Hesketh to director of PlantWeb for Europe. A chartered electrical engineer, Hesketh has spent 25 years in the process control industry, including periods as automation engineer and product...

APPOINTMENTS: Foster Wheeler Energy.
May 16, 2007... Foster Wheeler Energy, headquartered in Reading, UK, has appointed Dr J Michael Stacey to its main board. Stacey is a chemical engineer with 39 years' experience in the international oil and gas business. He founded and developed oil and gas...

APPOINTMENTS: EPSRC.
May 16, 2007... John Armitt is to be the new chair of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), succeeding Julia Higgins. The appointment is for four years. Armitt is Network Rail's chief executive - a position he will stand down from in...

APPOINTMENTS: NAMTEC.
May 16, 2007... NAMTEC, the National Metals Technology Centre, has appointed Dr Stephen Court as chief technology officer. Court spent 18 years in the technical department of Alcan and for the past two has been laboratory director of its sister company...

APPOINTMENTS: PCB Piezotronics.
May 16, 2007... PCB Piezotronics Inc has named Jeremy Bryceson as product manager of PCB Piezotronics Ltd - its newly established sales office in the UK. Bryceson has over 20 years' experience in sensors and instrumentation, having previously served as sales...

APPOINTMENTS: DEM Solutions.
May 16, 2007... Discrete element modelling company DEM Solutions has appointed Alister Minty as a non-executive director. With experience in strategic sales, planning and business development, Minty is chairman of two technology companies and in charge of...