Process Engineering articles from October 2000

Process Engineering archives from October 2000

Engineering Council awards.
October 1, 2000... Three companies have won the Engineering Council's Environment Awards, now in their tenth year. The Environment Award went to Morrison Construction, for its design of a pumping station to divert sewage away from Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire to...

Emergency Centre on-line.
October 1, 2000... The National Chemical Emergency Centre, part of AEA Technology, has launched a website at www.the-ncec.com. Including datasheets on chemical properties and technical notes on UK health and safety legislation, the site also allows customers to...

Dow launches pipeline project.
October 1, 2000... Dow Chemical has published ambitious plans for an ethylene/propylene pipeline linking its Buna Sow Leuna works in Eastern Germany with its salt dome ethylene storage caverns in Stade and the North German coast.

Dounreay decommissioning plan set to cost [pound]4 billion.
October 1, 2000... Plans to decommission and clean up the site of the Dounreay nuclear plant will cost [pound]4billion and take 50-60 years. The first ever detailed plan for decommissioning a complex nuclear installation, the plan will require a huge amount of...

Gathering for dispersion.
October 1, 2000... BASF's new dispersions plant, representing the company's biggest ever single investment at its Ludwigshafen site, was opened by the prime minister of the Rhineland-Palatinate region, Kurt Beck, and Stefan Marcinowski, board member responsible...

Women trounce men at science awards.
October 1, 2000... This year's Science, Engineering and Technology Student of the Year Awards was won by a woman for the first time. Emma King, from University of Sussex, won the overall award for student of the year as well as for best physics student....

The first world-scale plant.
October 1, 2000... The first world-scale plant for a new class of polymers, cycloolefin copolymers, has opened in Oberhausen, Germany. Ticona, the company behind the plant, was formerly part of Hoechst's engineering plastics division. The material, which Ticona...

Divestments abound as specialities firms reshape.
October 1, 2000... DSM and Laporte have both announced divestment plans to refocus their businesses more sharply on high-margin, non-cyclical speciality chemicals. DSM's is the more dramatic, with chairman Peter Elverding promising to take the company out of...

CEFIC calls for science-based regulation.
October 1, 2000... Leading members of the European Chemical Industry Council, CEFIC, have called for a more favourable regulatory climate at a conference with the European Commission. Regulations should be based on sound science and risk analysis, they stressed,...

Stone & Webster continues trading.
October 1, 2000... Stone & Webster has asked us to point out some errors in our 'Building businesses' feature last month (PE September, p23). The company has been bought by the Shaw Group, not Jacobs Engineering as stated in the article, and continues to trade as...

Amec goes Dutch for drugs.
October 1, 2000... Amec has joined forces with Dutch contractor KH Engineering to launch a new subsidiar, Amec KH. The new company will pitch for projects in the Netherlands and Flemish-speaking Belgium, targeting the pharmaceutical industries along with airport...

Solvay switches to membranes.
October 1, 2000... Belgian chlor-alkali giant Solvay is to convert its 40 000tpa plant at Jemeppe, Belgium, from mercury to membrane technology. It has awarded the contract to Krupp Uhde, which aims to complete the work by next June.

BOC to build UK's largest [H.sub.2] plant.
October 1, 2000... Huntsman Chemical has turned to BOC to build a 32 OOOtpa hydrogen plant to supply its Teesside operation u the UK's largest out-sourced hydrogen plant. Costing [pound]30million ion, the plant will be sited at North Tees, and will supply...

Repsol turns to farm waste.
October 1, 2000... Spanish oil giant Repsol is to develop the use of farm waste as fuel. The project will centre around the generation of ethanol from fermenting cereal waste. This could also be converted into the fuel additive ETBC.

Arabs order gas.
October 1, 2000... ABB has has won a S260million contract to design the offshore Khuff gas project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for an operating arm of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. The project includes modifications and technology upgrades at 13 gas...

Mowlem dual.
October 1, 2000... Mowlem Engineering Projects has secured two new projects in excess of [pound]30million. The first is project management and procurement of the Latex production plant in Malaysia. The second project is for Cytec Industries for the expansion of...

Water of life.
October 1, 2000... Paterson Candy has been appointed by Hyder as a strategic partner in a project worth [pound]70million. The company will provide process engineering services for the design and construction of potable and wastewater works in South Wales. New...

Not over locked.
October 1, 2000... Thomas Locker, a subsidiary of the Locker Group has signed a major deal with Italian engineering giant, Technimont. The contract, worth several million French francs, includes the supply of screening, conveying and feeding equipment on process...

The big four line up in China.
October 1, 2000... As part of a strategy to continue expansion into one of the world's fastest growing and aggressive economies, and one in which China is a major player, BP, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell and ABB have signed a strategic alliance with the upcoming...

A consortium of three companies.
October 1, 2000... A consortium of three companies, Technip, Mc Dermott Marine Construction and Barmac has won the contract to design, install and tow out the world's largest production, utilities and quarters to the Elgin/Franklin North Sea oil and gas fields

A crisp, clean deal.
October 1, 2000... Honeywell Industrial Control has signed a supplier agreement with Procter & Gamble to provide its PlantScape hybrid control system, after-market support and training to sites around the world. Procter & Gamble is standardising operations and...

Siemens' new firm.
October 1, 2000... Siemens has launched a new UK company through the consolidation of two Siemens process automation divisions and incorporating Milltronics, which Siemens acquired earlier this year. Siemens Milltronics Process Instruments offers a range of...

ABB looks to France.
October 1, 2000... ABB has announced it is acquiring the Cellier Engineering Group, a unit of ICBT of France. The company designs and installs complete production units and industrial process and control systems for the paper, oil and chemical industries....

Companies expect huge rise in e-commerce sales.
October 1, 2000... Some chemical firms are expecting to earn half of their revenues from on-line sales, according to a report from KPMG. 'The internet began as an information bank, and became a useful advertising tool for companies,' comments Frost &...

What will happen when the supply chains break down?
October 1, 2000... If nothing else, the waves of direct action by disgruntled hauliers and farmers that swept across Europe last month helped focus attention on the fragility of today's 'supply chain' economies. Just-in-time production philosophies are fine in...

Cost engineering: back to basics.
October 1, 2000... Over the pest few years, writes our process economics editor, I have noticed when visiting clients -- be they plant owners or contractors -- that many 'cost engineers' are not reading drawings or specifications, and taking too little time to...

Raita way for poppadom power.
October 1, 2000... Sharwoods, the Cheshire-based eastern foods company, found a novel way to beat the fuel crisis - turning the oil left over from deep-frying poppadoms into a diesel substitute. The company gets through around five tonnes of vegetable oil every...

BP funds work on methane.
October 1, 2000... Research into methane activation at the University of California, Berkeley and California Institute of Technology is to receive a $2Omillion boost from BR Both teams are studying processes for converting methane into liquid fuels and chemicals,...

Cubes are key to catalyst.
October 1, 2000... Exotic chemistry with complex materials could open the door to processes which work like established ones, but produce a far wider range of products, according to Russell Morris, a researcher at the University of St Andrews. Morris's work...

NASA devises space-going inflatables.
October 1, 2000... NASA materials scientists are conducting tests on a new membrane material that could be used to make lightweight inflatable structures for use in orbit. The ring and reflector shown here, respectively 6.4m and 5m in diameter, are made from a...

Porous carbon boosts applications.
October 1, 2000... A new type of porous, glassy carbon could be set to replace activated carbon in engineering applications, according to its manufacturers at MAST Carbon in Surrey. 'We've developed the only formed, porous carbon available to engineers,' explains...

Platform oils over.
October 1, 2000... Modification to the Gullfaks C oil and gas platform has been carried out for installation of high pressure safety relief valves and instrument enclosures from Tyco Engineered Products. The package has been supplied to Aker Maritime for...

Potato pulp for pigs.
October 1, 2000... Ballymoney Foods has maximised production on its frozen food line by installing a pump from Watson-Marlow Bredel as part of a [pound]3.5million investment. Using a peristaltic hose pump to transport potato slurry from the production line to an...

Empty barrel.
October 1, 2000... Decorative Coatings, a division of Akzo Nobel, has found a way to safely empty vessels of an alkyd resin used in the manufacture of some of the 45 million litres of paint produced at its Hull site. Previously, the resin had been manually dug...

All through the air.
October 1, 2000... Paper bag manufacturer, AssiDoman Sacks, uses compressed air throughout its operation to make everyday items such as bags of sugar. One variable speed drive and two fixed speed compressors from Atlas Copco provide between 142 and 283 litres per...

A quiet pint down the pub.
October 1, 2000... Staff at Whitbread's Boddingtons brewery in Manchester are enjoying a quieter life due to the installation of a pneumatically actuated control valve with noise reduction trim. An increase in empty kegs returned for cleaning required the company...

E-PROCUREMENT puts contractors online.
October 1, 2000... Buying and selling plant and equipment online might be fine for the one-off items, but will it work for fitting out an entire new project? Leading process plant contractors believe it can and that e-procurement could be the answer to many of...

CAPE crusaders.
October 1, 2000... Paul Wilson looks at the flourishing field of research into computer-aided process engineering tools A casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that CAPE (Computer Aided Process Engineering) was a done deal. After all, engineers have...

Shedding light.
October 1, 2000... A laser scanning surveying system helped Fluor Daniel design and build an extension to an oil refinery in a remote part of Khazakhstan, saving time and money and providing more useful information than conventional surveying techniques. Ashley...

Keep up to speed with CIM 2000.
October 1, 2000... Next month's Computers in Manufacturing exhibition, CIM 2000 (NEC, Birmingham, 7-9 November) provides an ideal opportunity to keep abreast of the rapidly changing worlds of e-business and e-commerce The ability to reflect the trends within...

Aspentech goes shopping with IBM.
October 1, 2000... Aspen Technology has spent a busy summer acquiring orders and making alliances, which are said to benefit the process industry's increasing need to take into account both financial and technical issues. According to Aspen Technology, the...

A fresh menu.
October 1, 2000... Geest, the fresh food and produce company, has selected Wonderware's Protean as its core ERP system to replace a number of legacy systems including Impcon and Rubicon. Geest has purchased the whole suite of software from planning to project...

Knowledge is rooted out from reams of data.
October 1, 2000... Invention Machine, the Boston based software company, believes that it has come up with the answer to semantic processing. A software package uses the power of semantic processing to transform information from within an enterprise into useful...

Focus on international site.
October 1, 2000... Cadcentre has released version 8.1 of Focus, its project management system which claims potential savings of up to 2 per cent of the installed project cost. Acquired from Kvaerner in late 1999, Focus provides the means for plant...

New company set up to address the middle ground.
October 1, 2000... As part of the trend towards plant-to-boardroom integration there has emerged a 'middle ground' for which no one group has taken sole responsibility. Neither control engineers, IT staff or production departments lay claim to this nebulous area...

Getting to the market faster.
October 1, 2000... Honeywell has introduced a web-based specification management software solution that claims to improve business performance in the pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods industries. POMS eSpec manages the development and deployment of...

REFINED DESIGNS in precious metal.
October 1, 2000... A switch to PC-based 3D piping design saved many hours in the design of a precious metals refinery in South Africa. The Impala Platinum Refineries' new $60million refinery in Springs, South Africa, is one of the world's largest, producing...

Trenchless pipes lead a longer life.
October 1, 2000... Failing pipelines can undermine the integrity of a process plant with often serious economic consequences. Tania Coates reviews a new breed of pipe technology Digging up pipes has moved off the agenda in water utility board rooms. The...

Flowmeters on a level.
October 1, 2000... The mass flowmeter market is evolving with the emergence of new technology and materials, so low cost Coriolis meters can now compete with volumetric flowmeters. The latest trend in the flow measurement market is the emergence of Coriolis...

The rule book is out.
October 1, 2000... Onix has re-written the rule book with the introduction of a new generation of Doppler flowmeters. The Hydra SX dual frequency Doppler range performs in a broader spectrum of applications. Unlike conventional Doppler flowmeters, which operate...

Hybrid takes control.
October 1, 2000... In response to demands from industry, Krohne has launched an accurate and reliable two-wire electromagnetic flowmeter. The Altoflux 2W hybrid has a power booster for applications where the signal to noise ratio falls below critical levels. It...

Finely tuned.
October 1, 2000... The I/A series of intelligent vortex flowmeters from Gestra are designed to be configured for actual operating conditions, providing efficient integration of measurements into process control systems. Gestra's family of high performance vortex...

Able control.
October 1, 2000... A range of low cost turbine flowmeters developed by Able Instruments offer high accuracy and reliablity for use on lubricating and non-lubricating liquids of low to medium viscosity. The turbine flowmeters are configurable for most applications...

Flow as light as a feather.
October 1, 2000... A new wafer thin electromagnetic flowmeter from Arkon Flow Systems has a nickel plated outer casing and a PVC liner which makes the sensor light but rugged. This construction makes easy installation in plastic pipes without the need for...

For a sticky end.
October 1, 2000... Suitable for liquids from solvents to syrup, the new G-Series of flowmeters uses a simple oval-rotor design from Bell Flow Systems. The flowmeters contain just two moving parts and can be installed in any orientation, without the need for flow...

Panametrics steams ahead.
October 1, 2000... Panametrics has introduced a new ultrasonic steam flow meter which claims to solve the problems of pressure drop. The meter measures mass flow rate of saturated and superheated steam over a wide range. The DigitalFlow GS868 uses correlation...

Water purpose.
October 1, 2000... A new contact liquid level transmitter combines ultrasonic transducer technology with control electronics. Designed as a low cost general purpose level transmitter, the MSP422 from Solartron Mobrey is designed to be used in the water industry...

Gauge it right.
October 1, 2000... New from Flowline is the Flo-Gage series 8000 direct reading flowmeter. Only one inch thick the flowmeter is easily installed into a pipeline between adjacent flanges. Measurements are based on differential pressure across a calibrated nozzle....

Non-invasive and intelligent.
October 1, 2000... Designed for hygienic applications in food and pharmaceutical processing, dealing with aggressive or hazardous substances, a non-invasive ultrasonic flowmeter from KDG Instruments, a division of Solartron Mobrey, offers accurate flow...

A magnet for liquid.
October 1, 2000... Magnetrol has extended its range of Thermetal flow and level products to include two-wire and intrinsically safe level switches. The switches use thermal dispersion technology and have no moving parts. They are easily installed and with simple...

Sensor meets industry standard.
October 1, 2000... Last year Endress + Hauser launched its Liquiphant vibrating limit switch with multiple features all in one package. The company also supplies the food and pharmaceutical industries with hygienic mounting options. With 31 6L stainless steel...

Seal solves drift problem.
October 1, 2000... Fisher-Rosemount has introduced a complete range of diaphragm solutions for its 3051 trasmitter. This transmitter has a very small diaphragm movement and displacement volume, so the 1199 seal system has a significantly reduced fill volume...

Radar reflection.
October 1, 2000... The LoopRadar from Saab is a new loop-powered radar level gauge for storage and buffer tanks. It uses the same two wires for both power supply and output signal. The level of the liquid is measured by short radar pulses that are transmitted...

A lesson well learnt.
October 1, 2000... Engineers can change tack and continue professional development at management level to the advantage of the company and the career pathway of the employee. A lifetime of learning. We never expect to have to continue long hours of studying...

Taking control of your ENERGY CONSUMPTION.
October 1, 2000... Control Engineers have often told me that it's the plant that makes the product but good control that makes the difference between profit and loss. Few mention the fact that good control can also cut energy costs by as much as 10%. Yet...

Three key control problems to Tackle.
October 1, 2000... Control engineers must concentrate o three key areas to improve efficiencies and save energy Analysis of EEBPP case studies shows that there are three key control problems which plant managers need to tackle if they are to improve energy...

Long term success at Blue Circle.
October 1, 2000... Case study GPCS 372: Long Term Success with Advanced Control provides an example (from Blue Circle Industries) of how companies can continue to experience energy savings with advanced control systems over many years The complex and energy...