Reliable Operation and Sealing of Agitators
Mechanical seals, as required by most vessel agitators, are systems sufficiently complex to warrant a…
Cover Story
Mixers: Four Innovations Worth a Closer Look
Many factors can impact the success of mixing in chemical process operations. The design breakthroughs…
Commentary
Communicating in acronyms
Language evolves. As the needs of the users change, language adapts to meet those needs.…
In The News
Newsfronts
New Developments Take Shape for U.S. Refiners
Process safety strategies, water use and alkylation technology were among the topics figuring prominently at…
Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Industrial Control System
A holistic and proactive approach to cybersecurity can help protect your industrial control system from…
Chementator
Chementator Briefs
Biomass to sugar Plans are underway to build a commercial-scale sugar-production facility that uses a…
Syngas-to-lipids process demonstrated
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT; Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu) have demonstrated a two-stage…
Making PLGA by one-step fermentation
A Korean team, headed by professor Sang Yup Lee of the Korea Advanced Institute of…
Making complex silicone parts by 3-D printing
The field of additive manufacturing (AM) — often referred to as 3-D printing — has…
Extremophilic algae selectively recovers precious metals from solution
The research group of Ayumi Minoda at the University of Tsukuba (Japan, plmet.biol.tsukuba.ac.jp) has discovered…
Microbes make a meal of PET
Research groups at Keio University (Hiyoshi; www.bio.keio.ac.jp/labs/kmiyamoto) and Kyoto Institute of Technology, in collaboration with…
A joint effort to enable the production of sulfur-enhanced urea at large scale
Shell Thiogro (www.shell.com/sulphur/thiogro) and Uhde Fertilizer Technologies (UFT; www. uhde-fertilizer-technology.com), part of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions…
Design-of-experiments approach optimizes metal-grinding fluids
A design-of-experiments (DoE) approach has resulted in better-performing fluids for metal grinding, cutting and machining…
A patent granted for this self-diagnostic technology used in boilers
The Clark-Reliance Corp. (Strongsville, Ohio; www.clark-reliance.com) has been awarded a U.S. Patent for its Eye-Hye…
Natural film for food packaging
A novel food-packaging material that is free from chemical additives and that can slow down…
Business News
Business News
Plant Watch TCV begins construction of new liquid polybutadiene plant in France April 15, 2016…
Technical & Practical
Feature Report
Integrated Risk-Management Matrices
An overview of the tools available to reliability professionals for making their organization the best-in-class…
Reliability and Maintenance: Performance Trends of Top Performers in the CPI
Focusing on a ‘reliability culture,’ mechanical availability and optimum costs leads to top performance Three…
Facts at Your Fingertips
Insulating Heat-Transfer-Fluid Piping
Heat-transfer-fluid (HTF) system piping is insulated to reduce heat loss and prevent worker contact with…
Technology Profile
Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Production By Intratec Solutions
This column is based on “Styrene-Butadiene Rubber Production: Cost Analysis,” a report published by Intratec…
Solids Processing
NFPA 652: Standardizing Combustible Dust Standards
The latest NFPA standard applies to many industry sectors, and aims to address the fragmented…
Environmental Manager
Monitoring Flame Hazards In Chemical Plants
The numerous flame sources in CPI facilities necessitate the installation of advanced flame-detection technologies Fire…
Equipment & Services
Focus
Focus: Pipes, Tubes and Fittings
Antimicrobial tubing reduces the risk of bacterial transfer Clearflo Ag-47 antimicrobial tubing (photo) is now…
New Products
Monitor dust levels in the workplace with this unit
Fidas Frog (photo) is a new fine dust aerosol spectrometer that measures the fine-dust load…
Safe combustible-dust explosion isolation with this system
Tanks, silos and equipment are usually connected by pipelines through which, if an explosion occurs,…
This level bob has a Teflon coating
The Teflon-coated spike bob (photo) is an optional SmartBob probe specifically adapted for measuring powders…
Customized process vessels and mixing systems
This company’s pressure vessels and integrated mixing/processing systems (photo) are used in production, pilot plants…
Laboratory dryer simulates production steps
The fully equipped laboratory dryer BS-miniDRY (photo) has a mobile and compact design. It is…
Tableting technology debuts in North America
This company’s “next-generation” tableting technology will be showcased at Interphex (April 26–28; New York, N.Y.).…
A new flowmeter with entrained-gas management and more
The Optimass 6400 is said to be the first Coriolis mass flowmeter in…
A smart capacitance sensor for level control
The Advanced SmartLevel capacitive sensor (photo) combines standard capacitive sensing technology and the patented SmartLevel…
A peristaltic pump for metering and transfer applications
The new 530 peristaltic cased pump (photo) handles metering and transfer applications, such as surface…
Metering pumps with brass manifolds and Aflas diaphragms
Since March, the Hydra-Cell Metering Solutions pumps (photo) are available with Alfas diaphragms as well…
Realtime monitoring of water-solvent drying
This company has demonstrated that tunable diode-laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) can provide the advantages of…
A metering pump for low-pressure ranges
The Ecodos diaphragm metering pump (photo) is mechanically driven, rather than hydraulically driven. Due to…
Detect thunderstorms well before the first lightning strikes
For many manufacturing facilities, thunderstorms can play a significant role in disrupting operations from an…
This drum dumper is dust tight
A new Tip-Tite Mobile Drum Dumper (photo) allows dust-free transfer of bulk materials from drums…
Gloves for abrasion protection without sacrificing dexterity
The SmartCut BKCR3520 (photo) is an ANSI Cut Level 3 glove, which is designed to…
Radar measurement with 79 GHz technology
The Micropilot NMR81 (photo) utilizes 79 GHz technology to generate a narrow beam angle of…
Measure process temperatures without a thermowell
The Rosemount X-well Technology (photo) is a surface-sensing temperature-measurement solution that eliminates the need for…
A sanitary cone mill for sticky, fragile materials
The Model CM540 Sanitary Cone Mill (photo) delivers gentle, low-energy size reduction while achieving even…
Mixing, coating and drying with high-performance mixers
When surfaces of inorganic components have to be homogeneously and reproducibly coated with functional coatings…
This high-speed separator also discharges quietly
The AC separator (photo) is said to reach far higher speeds than other centrifuges, such…
Show Previews
IFAT Show Preview
More than 3,000 exhibitors are projected to participate in IFAT 2016 — the International Trade…