Process Engineering articles from November 2004

Process Engineering archives from November 2004

COMMENT.
November 26, 2004... With its huge infrastructure projects, China is rapidly becoming the rest of the world's major export market Despite this month's news about the acquisition of one of the UK's leading cement manufacturers (see In Brief, page 8), the...

Solvay sells PE stake to BP.
November 26, 2004... Belgian chemical and pharmaceutical group Solvay has opted to increase its focus on specialty polymers by selling its stake in the BP Solvay polyethylene joint ventures to BP. The businesses, which make high- density polyethylene (hdPE), were...

Coatings bid for Akzo Nobel.
November 26, 2004... Nuplex Industries, a New Zealand-based resins producer, has bid E110million for Akzo Nobel's coatings resins business, which has been up for sale since last September. The proceeds from the sale, which is being recommended by Akzo Nobel's...

Intergraph and Foster Wheeler renew alliance.
November 26, 2004... Contractor Foster Wheeler is to extend its alliance with the process, power and marine division of Intergraph for another three years, the companies have announced. The agreement allows Foster Wheeler unlimited use of Intergraph's software,...

Environmental concerns 'to drive catalyst growth'.
November 26, 2004... The worldwide market for catalysts is set to grow by 5.1% per year until 2008, reaching a total of $11.3billion, according to market researchers at the Freedonia Group in Cleveland, Ohio. Increasing production of end-use products - refined...

SPORT to test REACH.
November 26, 2004... The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), European Commission and member states have joined forces to launch SPORT (Strategic Partnership on REACH Testing), an organisation designed to test how the proposed regulation on the...

Against the grain.
November 26, 2004... It might look like wood, but it's aluminium, and it has all the advantages of the metal's light weight and weather resistance. The convincing surface decoration comes from a process developed by Decoral, an Italian company, and using a powder...

ASTRAZENECA PLANS.
November 26, 2004... AstraZeneca is finalising plans for a $35million pharmaceuticals plant in Egypt, to be built outside Cairo, European Chemical News reports. Egyptian contractor Orascom Construction industry is to build the plant, which will use process...

HONEYWELL IN THE PAPERS.
November 26, 2004... Honeywell is to supply quality control and web defect detection systems for a paper mill operated by Stora Enso in Kvarnsveden, Sweden. The production line, due for start-up next autumn, will be one of the largest in the world, producing...

GUTTRIDGE BUYS CARIER RIGHTS.
November 26, 2004... Machinery maker Guttridge has bought the rights to manufacture the product line of its competitor Carier, which ceased trading in August. Carier produced bulk materials handling equipment for the food, chemicals and heavy metal industries. ...

ICI exits Runcorn, as Ineos unveils investment plan.
November 26, 2004... ICI has transferred its remaining 15% stake in the chloralkali business at Runcorn, one of the original cornerstones of the business, to its operator, Ineos Chlor, as part of a refinancing package for the complex. As part of the deal, ICI is...

Indian order for Aker Kvaerner.
November 26, 2004... India's largest chemicals producer, Reliance Industries, has awarded a contract to Aker Kvaerner to provide services for a pure terephthalic acid (PTA) plant at its complex in Hazira, Gujarat. The new plant will add 640 000tpa of capacity to...

Dynamic Synthesis merger.
November 26, 2004... Dynamic Synthesis, the speciality chemicals and custom synthesis group, is to be merged with Groupe Novasep, a French company which produces purification equipment for the biotechnology and chemical sectors. The new company will retain the...

Insulin expansion.
November 26, 2004... Novo Nordisk is to invest $100million in expanding its insulin manufacturing plant in Clayton, North Carolina, to meet rising demand for its products in the US. The first phase of the project, scheduled for completion in 2006, will double the...

CEMEX TO BUY RMC.
November 26, 2004... UK cement manufacturer RMC is to be acquired by Mexican producer Cemex in a #2.3billion takeover deal. RMC had seen its profits tumble and its share price fall sharply, and has suffered problems at its plant in Rugby. Copyright: Centaur...

DSM DEBOTTLENECKS.
November 26, 2004... Dutch major DSM's engineering plastics division is to double capacity for high performance polyamides by the second half of 2007, by debottlenecking its existing plant at Geleen, in the Netherlands, and building a second production facility at...

UK TO BOOST BIOMASS.
November 26, 2004... The UK government is setting up a task force to encourage the production of biomass - crops grown specifically for use as fuels. A #3.5million Bio-Energy Infrastructure Scheme will offer grants to help farmers harvest, store, process and supply...

Degussa launches centre for catalysts development.
November 26, 2004... German chemicals producer Degussa has opened a new catalyst development centre which brings together all the different forms of catalyst design - homogeneous, heterogeneous, and biological - under one roof. 'The combination is unique,'...

Shell celebrates Goldeneye start-up.
November 26, 2004... The first supplies of natural gas from the Goldeneye field, operated by Shell, have started arriving onshore. The field, which is 100km off the northeast coast of Scotland, will eventually supply 3% of the UK's total gas requirements. ...

Safe reactors with no gas.
November 26, 2004... Carrying out reactions under mild conditions is an important method of conserving energy and improving process safety. The London-based HEL Group and a research group at the University of Nottingham are looking at hydrogenation reactions,...

Pilot unit for water treatment.
November 26, 2004... Alfa Laval's new pilot membrane technology unit allows water treatment companies to check out spiral and plate-and-frame membranes in their laboratories before committing to a full-scale system, the company says. The self-contained module...

Steam secret of natural fission.
November 26, 2004... The world's only known natural nuclear reactor, which decommissioned itself over two billion years ago, could provide insights into how modern nuclear plants can operate more safely. The site, in Gabon, West Africa, ran for 150million years...

Putting a sparkle in beer.
November 26, 2004... A dummy protein molecule developed by BASF is helping breweries to produce clear, sparkling beer with prolonged shelf-life. Known as Divergan, the product is a crosslinked insoluble macromolecule, a polyvinylpyrrolidone, which binds to...

Dow seeks drug solutions.
November 26, 2004... Dow Chemical and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) are to continue their collaboration on technologies to make drugs more soluble in the body. 'Our strengths in applied research and development, scale- up and commercialisation,...

PLANT UTILITIES: A waste of air.
November 26, 2004... Compressed air leaks are all too commonplace in today's industries, but they can eat into a company's operating profits, as David Share explains in this look at how easy it is to reduce leakage and save money when using this ubiquitous plant...

PLANT UTILITIES: Full steam ahead.
November 26, 2004... The new combined heat and power plant under construction at BASF's Ludwigshafen site demonstrates the advantages of modern cogeneration technology. Stuart Nathan reports The chemical industry has been a major consumer of electricity...

PLANT UTILITIES: Safer distilling.
November 26, 2004... An Edinburgh distillery is saving thousands of pounds after an upgrade of its boiler control systems to a fully-fledged programmable safety system. Mike Spear reports The North British Distillery Company, Edinburgh's last remaining...

MONITORING: What's on the wireless.
November 26, 2004... With wireless networking one of the hottest topics for debate in engineering circles, Mark Freeman looks at the benefits, and some of the potential pitfalls From its origins in the IT world, Ethernet has changed considerably and is now...

REMOTE MONITORING: A vision of the future.
November 26, 2004... Quality control is fundamental to companies serving the food and beverage markets. Ian Purcell describes how a biscuit manufacturer is benefiting from the latest techniques in machine vision and explains how such systems can link into process...

REMOTE MONITORING: Improving environmental monitoring.
November 26, 2004... Remote optical measurement techniques (ROMTs) are becoming increasingly common in air quality and gas sensing applications, writes Mike Spear. ROMT uses real-time in situ gas analysis to measure gaseous pollutants, guaranteeing results that...

MAINTENANCE: Maximising asset uptime.
November 26, 2004... Tony Nicholls of Furmanite International discusses maintenance strategies as part of asset management to maintain maximum value at minimum cost Operation and maintenance of plant assets has always accounted for a significant proportion of...

CEMENT INDUSTRY: Cementing success.
November 26, 2004... To meet increasing worldwide demand, global cement manufacturers are turning to advanced process control systems to boost their production capacities, while at the same time reduce their energy costs and environmental emissions. Mike Spear...

Experts in cement 'auto-piloting'.
November 26, 2004... Such is the claim made by ABB for the latest version (Version 4) of its OptimizeIT Expert Optimizer advanced control system. The system is in effect the next generation of the established expert-system based LINKman solutions (see main text)...

Miles of tubing stretch to India.
November 26, 2004... Over 80 000m of stainless steel tubing is destined for the Indian Oil Corporation's Panipat refinery, about 100km north of Delhi, following an order from the state-owned contractor Engineers India, placed with Sandvik Materials Technology of...

No sticky wheels for sugar producer.
November 26, 2004... Now into its second three-year lubrication management contract with Castrol, Tate & Lyle has expanded its commitment to the outsourcing of this important aspect of operating its Thames sugar refinery at Silvertown in east London. The site, the...

Better browning with infrared.
November 26, 2004... By installing an oven using carbon infrared heaters at its plant in Chard, Somerset, food manufacturer Oscar Mayer has been able to eliminate previous maintenance problems, improve energy efficiency and liberate valuable floor space. The...

Saving time with prepacked salads.
November 26, 2004... Buying prepacked salads is a great timesaver in the kitchen, but the processing conditions involved in their preparation can actually increase downtime for their producers. This was the case at the St Mary Bourne plant of Vitacress in...

Mixer solves underlay problem.
November 26, 2004... When Gaskell Textiles in Accrington, Lancashire, wanted to increase production of its carpet underlay line it discovered that its existing mixer was not up to the job. The mixer is used to produce a latex emulsion and rubber crumb mixture that...

New fan for Union saves money.
November 26, 2004... Replacing a single oversized fan with a smaller version, equipped with speed control costing just #20 000, is saving over #100 000 a year at the Runcorn plant of Salt Union. Installed on one of the plant's dryers. the original fan was badly...

Meeting the demand for finer grains.
November 26, 2004... In recent years, the global demand for fine-ground calcium carbonate (GCC) has been increasing rapidly, mainly driven by increased demand for its use in papermaking. Typically, naturally occurring calcium carbonate undergoes a wet...

A decanter for the distillery.
November 26, 2004... The CHNX 706 is Alfa Laval's new high-performance decanter centrifuge, developed specifically for large capacity, solids/liquid separation duties in the process industries. With the ability to dewater at rates up to 130m3/h, the machine can...

Seals cover the entire pH range.
November 26, 2004... Ceetak has introduced a new range of high-performance seals that are compatible with media across the entire pH scale, making them suitable for use in a wide range of industrial environments. Made from a polyurethane compound called P5500,...

Mid-range pump adds to Axflow range.
November 26, 2004... To meet customer demand for a unit that fits between the company's 30 and 60 models, Axflow has introduced a new addition to its Waukesha Cherry-Burrell Universal I and II series of positive displacement ECP pumps. The new WCB Model 40...

Taking the pressure off.
November 26, 2004... BSS Industrial's specialist valve and actuator distributor, Pegler and Louden, has extended its product portfolio with the introduction of the Broady safety relief, pressure relief and pressure reducing valves. The extended range...

Motors travel the world.
November 26, 2004... ABB has introduced an electric motor range that can be specified and used anywhere - regardless of local voltage standards, efficiency demands or safety requirements. Designed to meet, and in many cases exceed, all mandatory requirements,...

Density changes on the level.
November 26, 2004... The new IMV31 multivariable transmitter from Foxboro, part of Invensys Process Systems, provides accurate tank level measurement even when fluid density varies. Based on hydrostatic measurement and advanced multivariable sensing technology,...

Hygienic pressure-relief system.
November 26, 2004... Elfab has developed a pressure-relief system for use in aseptic and hygienic process conditions. The Hygienic Opti-Gard's advanced detection and flexibility are said to offer significant benefits to all involved in the specification, purchase...

Sealless to API standard.
November 26, 2004... Following the introduction of an API standard for the use of sealless pumps in the petrochemical, oil and gas industries, Hermetic Pumps has extended its canned motor pump range with the launch of the CNP API 685 series. According to UK...

Prime performance dosing pumps.
November 26, 2004... Already in use on tough metering applications in the chemical and process industries, the Primeroyal dosing pumps range has been extended with the introduction of two new models, the L and N versions. Available from Milton Roy (UK), the new...

UK and International Plant Cost Indices.
November 26, 2004... 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...