Process Engineering articles from October 2004

Process Engineering archives from October 2004

Comment.
October 1, 2004... Walk down most UK High Streets these days and you can be forgiven for not knowing where you are in the country. Such is the homogeneity of shop names and designs that only the local accents on the street will tell you whether you're north,...

A question of trust for CEFIC.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Peter Elverding, new president of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), called for a return to the theme of trust to ensure that the public understood and appreciated the chemical industry, rather than seeing it as a threat to their...

Sellens to take on plastics role.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Rowena Sellens, research director of Lucite International, is to succeed Tony Ledwith as chairman of the Faraday Plastics and Polymers Partnership, the organisation dedicated to commercialising UK polymers research (see feature starting on page...

Arkema launches as spin-off looms.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... The chemicals operations of Total has set the ball rolling on its two-year path to spin-off by relaunching under a new name. Formerly known as Atofina from its origins with the Elf Atochem and Fina groups, it will now trade under the name...

Acquisition of HYSYS bolsters Honeywell's software division.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Honeywell is to buy Hyprotech's HYSYS family of process modelling software and its Operator Training System (OTS) from Aspen Technology for $6million, including $4million of incoming orders. The businesses will be absorbed into Honeywell's...

No bar for alcohol orders.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... French contractor Technip has won six contracts for construction of ethanol and biodiesel units, all to use biomass as a starting material. The contracts are worth a total of [euro]35million. In France, the company is to build a biofuel...

Quality fibres.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... A specially-tailored package of paper chemicals from BASF is helping LEIPA Georg Leinfelder, a paper mill based in eastern Germany, obtain the highest-quality results from its new machine, which uses 100% recycled paper fibres as its feedstock....

ARC supports Profibus.(IN BRIEF)
October 1, 2004... The ARC Advisory Group has lent its support to Profibus for use in hybrid industries, such as food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. 'Manufacturers in hybrid industries deal with daily operational issues involving both process and...

STS wins Lanxess deal.(IN BRIEF)
October 1, 2004... Severn Trent Services has closed a global agreement with Lanxess, the chemicals business of Bayer, for the sale and distribution of a ferric oxide absorption medium for treating non-drinking water. The agreement, which is worldwide, complements...

Turkey Gasholder order.(IN BRIEF)
October 1, 2004... Leeds-based Clayton Walker Gasholders is to design and install a 50 000[m.sup.3] gasholder at the Isdemir Iron and Steel plant in Iskenderun, near the Syrian border in Turkey. The $7million contract includes the design of the gasholder, fitting...

Process automation set to thrive in China.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... The rapidly growing investment in industrial production in China is about to spread to the automation and control markets, as the major projects under construction near completion. A report from IMS Research predicts that China will become the...

Aker Kvaerner picks Ireland for tech centre.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Aker Kvaerner's pharmaceuticals business is to build an engineering centre in Cork, at the centre of Ireland's drugs industry. Set to open in 2007, the centre will eventually employ 85 people. The centre will support AK Pharmaceuticals'...

Emerson wins Angola contract.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Emerson Process Automation has won a $9million contract to provide automation for a BP floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel which will operate in the Greater Plutonia Deepwater fields off the coast of Angola. The systems...

German mixing technology.(IN BRIEF)
October 1, 2004... Henschel Industrietechnik and the chemical technology division of Reimelt have been merged to form a new provider of turnkey solutions for raw materials handling and mixing technologies, Reimelt Henschel Mischsysteme. Based in Kassel and...

New MD for busch.(IN BRIEF)
October 1, 2004... Telford-based vacuum pumps and systems manufacturer Busch UK has appointed lan Greaves as its new managing director. Previously head of sales and marketing at KSB Pumps, Greaves aims to focus on the overpressure, chemical and high vacuum...

Sweet contract.(IN BRIEF)
October 1, 2004... Steam turbine manufacturer Peter Brotherhood has won a [pounds sterling]3 million contract to supply a 25.5MW turbine to Ergon Energy in Queensland. The unit, an extraction condensing turbo alternator set, will operate at the Isis Central Sugar...

Calder Hall applies for decommissioning.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... The world's first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall on the Sellafield site, has applied to the Nuclear Installations' Inspectorate for consent to be decommissioned. Opened in 1956, the plant ceased generating electricity in March...

Saudi contract for Foster Wheeler.(NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Foster Wheeler Energy has been contracted to manage an expansion of the SHARQ3 petrochemicals unit in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, for the Eastern Petrochemical Company. As Program Management Contractor (PMC), Foster Wheeler will manage all the EPC...

Diary dates.(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... 1-2 NOVEMBER Improving Mixing Processes for Industrial Applications is the subject of this two-day course organised by the BHR Group. Topics covered include single and multiphase mixing and reaction applications, scaling up and down,...

Nanocarpet cleaning.(TECHNOLOGY TODAY)
October 1, 2004... A simple synthesis of a hydrocarbon and a salt produced highly unexpected results for a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh. Attempting to make a combined biosensor and biocide, the researchers reacted a quaternary ammonium...

Peroxide process.(TECHNOLOGY TODAY)
October 1, 2004... German speciality chemicals producer Degussa has teamed up with Utah-based catalysts specialist Headwaters in a 50:50 joint venture to develop and commercialise a direct synthetic route to hydrogen peroxide. The companies claim that a...

Award for magnetic valve.(TECHNOLOGY TODAY)
October 1, 2004... New processes and equipment were showered with honours at the Institution of Chemical Engineers' Annual Awards in London. The awards recognised companies large--including GlaxoSmithKline, which won the AstraZeneca Award for Green Chemistry and...

Basil flavour for BASF process.(TECHNOLOGY TODAY)
October 1, 2004... A process involving the world's first commercial use of ionic liquid technology has won an Innovation Award from the journal European Chemical News for BASF. The technique, originally developed to boost production yields for a compound used in...

Leaf it out.(TECHNOLOGY TODAY)
October 1, 2004... A compound found in spinach could form the basis of a photosynthetic solar cell that could power mobile phones and laptop computers, according to researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The development is the first time that a...

Drugs in water worry.(TECHNOLOGY TODAY)
October 1, 2004... Once drugs have done their work in the body, they, or their residues, inevitably end up in the wastewater stream. What happens to them there has not been subjected to much study. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has...

Meeting the growth targets: future productivity gains for European firms will have to come from research and innovation, argues our regular European correspondent, Gwilym Roberts, in this report on a recent Competitiveness Council that set up a review group to look into the problem.(EUROPE NEWS)
October 1, 2004... A report in the European Commission Innovation Technology publication stresses that implementing the Lisbon strategy will bless Europe with strong economic growth and high employment, and all this in a suitable environment, if the targets are...

Partners in polymers: polymeric-based research in the UK is alive and well. The main strategic issues are now to do with the 'development' half of the R & D equation. Adrian Lunney reports on how the Faraday Plastics and Polymers Partnership is furthering that development.(TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT)
October 1, 2004... ACCORDING to a recent survey of current UK polymer (plastics and rubber) research funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) alone, there are more than 300 projects in progress across a broad spectrum of UK...

Land of the rising microbe: Japan's process industries have a long history of using micro-organisms as catalysts. Stuart Nathan looks at the latest development in the area, and how the Japanese techniques could benefit western producers.(BIOTECHNOLOGY)
October 1, 2004... JAPAN, famously, lacks natural resources. Although it has coal reserves, it has no oil, no gas. It's even short of flat land. However, this hasn't held it back from industrial development: it's just had to find different ways of achieving its...

In a field of their own: with the proliferation of microchip technology, especially in field instrumentation, these devices can now easily provide diagnostics for plant operators and help them to spot possible problems on their processes before they become a problem, says Tony Stark.(ASSET MANAGEMENT)
October 1, 2004... ASSET MANAGEMENT, which can include many different requirements and terminologies, is being used to ensure plants run more efficiently and for longer periods between maintenance intervals. In the past, plant shutdowns were planned for a certain...

Easy as APC: Derek Horn explains how new developments in advanced process control can help operators of even highly complex processes to maximise the output and profitability of their facilities.(ADVANCED CONTROL)
October 1, 2004... MANUFACTURERS in every industry continually face global competition. The need to reduce costs, while maintaining flexibility throughout production, is clear, and an increasing number of technologies have become available to help achieve this....

Controlled drives: variable speed drives not only save energy, but can also contribute to improved process control, as one manufacturer of pharmaceutical intermediates discovered. Mark Daniels reports.(PROCESS CONTROL)
October 1, 2004... AS part of a strategy to improve productivity and energy efficiency at its pharmaceutical intermediates 11-acre site at West Bromwich in the West Midlands. Robinson Brothers has been upgrading its control systems and electrical equipment over...

Without a trace: a new development in polymer design could help keep football pitches frost-free; warm drivers' hands; and ensure that chocolate remains liquid during processing. Stuart Nathan talks to Inditherm about their alternative to trace or hot-water heating.(HEAT TRANSFER)
October 1, 2004... TRANSFERRING technology is one of the key features of process engineering. Techniques developed for one application are transferred to others as a matter of routine. However, there probably hasn't been much traffic between the worlds of motor...

Miller makes the right connections.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... When Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Miller Brewing wanted to collect business data from its plant floor equipment without upsetting the control architecture, Digi International came up with the solution in the form of its new 'pass-through port'...

Delivering air service in the deserts of Sudan.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... For a recent oilfield contract in Sudan, Middlesex-based Motivair International was asked to build a skid-mounted compressed air generation system for the oilfield instrumentation. Within another part of the contract there was also a...

Liquid lime gives Anglesey a treat.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... The main water treatment plant on Anglesey, the Llyn Alaw WTW, has recently been upgraded to raise its capacity by 40% to 35 megalitres/day. However, the plant needed a new pH control system to cope with that increased capacity. The plant's...

Water recycling aids paper recycling.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... At the [pounds sterling]450m Shotton paper mill in North Wales over 20% of the UK's newsprint requirement is manufactured entirely from recycled paper. Part of the UPM-Kymmene Group, the Shotton mill was converted to 100% recycled paper in 2003...

Spinning out refinery sludge.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... Two specially designed, three-phase disc stack centrifuges from Alfa Laval have just gone on stream at the Mina Abdulla refinery in Kuwait. Specified by Willacy Oil Services on behalf of the refinery's owners, the state-owned Kuwait National...

Solving the Sulfinol problem.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... At ExxonMobil Chemicals' Mossmorran petrochemical complex in Scotland, the Sulfinol process plays an important role in the operation of the site's ethylene cracker. The cracker's feedstock of ethane, propane and butane comes from an adjacent...

Ceramic fine particle control.(EQUIPMENT IN ACTION)
October 1, 2004... The production of advanced ceramic materials such as barium titanate and magnesium zirconate calls for tight control over particle size. Contract processor Viaton Industries (UK) is using a Malvern Mastersizer 2000 particle size analyser to...

FMCW radar level measurement on two-wire.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Launched at the beginning of this month, the Pegasus range of two-wire, loop-powered, non-contact level transmitters from Solartron Mobrey brings the advanced technique of frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar to a wider process...

ArchestrA spreads its wings.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Introduced to the UK last year (see PE, April 2003, p4), Invensys' new ArchestrA plant automation and information architecture is rapidly spreading out through the group's product ranges. Wonderware, for example, has introduced several new...

Precise proportional valve control.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... ASCO Joucamatic has introduced modular positioner units for its established E290 and E390 ranges of process valves. The company says the compact analogue 605 Series and the digital Posimatic 606 Series positioners extend the application range...

Managing the calculation process.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Fundamental to any engineering enterprise are mathematical calculations--whether performed by hand, on calculators, in spreadsheets, or by using specialised maths software. Keeping track of those calculations--the fundamental engineering...

Simple but smart drive.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Industrial drive systems are becoming ever more powerful at the top of the application ranges, but the biggest sector of the $4.7 billion global market is still in the general purpose, low power range. Aimed at this distribution and OEM sector,...

Advanced hydrocarbon dewpoint analyser.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Originally designed by Michell Instruments in partnership with Shell Research in 1984, the Condumax analyser has given reliable and accurate measurement of the hydrocarbon dewpoint of natural gas. Although still regarded by many as the...

More holes, less pipe, better DP.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Differential pressure (DP) flow metering technology remains one of the most popular measurement techniques on process plants. But its very simplicity brings its own drawbacks, particularly the requirement for straight runs of pipe in which to...

OPC for vision.(PRODUCT NEWS)
October 1, 2004... DVT Corporation has introduced a new PC-based, OPC server designed to work with the company's Legend series of smart camera-based machine vision systems. Developed for DVT by its US partner Iconics, the OPC server 'opens the world of...

UK and International Plant Cost Indices.(PLANT COST INDICES)
October 1, 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 background...