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August

2013

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www.che.com E
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Pinch Analysis Modeling Optimized Facts at Your Fingertips:


for Production Planning Processes Heat-Transfer-Fluid Leaks

Focus on
Screening

Employing Process
Simulation Software

Bio-Based
Chemicals
The Texas Shaker

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Circle 14 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-14
www.che.com

AUGUST 2013 VOLUME 120, NO. 8

COVER STORY
32 Cover Story Ten Things You May Not Know About Liquid
Mixing Scaleup Follow the guidance provided here to ensure
success when moving liquid-mixing systems from small-scale to
commercial-scale units

NEWS
9 Chementator Commercialization is set for a biomass-to-gaso-
32
line process; Ethylene in FCC off-gas is upgraded for motor fuels;
Inorganic membranes show promise to halve energy consump-
tion in distillation; A solid way to eliminate contaminants from
wastewater; Reduce air consumption by AODD pumps with this
technology; and more

14 Newsfront Bio-Based Chemicals Gain Market Acceptance


An acceleration of commercialization for a number of bio-based
building blocks, including several four-carbon compounds, sig-
nals further confidence in the industry as a whole

18 Newsfront Modeling Optimized Processes


Advanced features in easier-to-use formats allow chemical en-
gineers to take advantage of process-modeling solutions for 14
organization-wide optimization

ENGINEERING
24a Facts at Your Fingertips Detection and Prevention of
DP:DPO Fluid Leaks This one-page reference discusses how
to maintain a leak-tight heat-transfer-fluid system when using
diphenyldiphenyl oxide (DP:DPO) eutectic heat-transfer fluids

25 Technology Profile Methanol-to-Propylene Technology


This one-page profile describes the technology and economic
considerations for the production of propylene from methanol

40 Feature Report Pinch Analysis for Production Planning in


Manufacturing Industries The two new graphical tech-
niques presented here can help optimize factory capacity and
financial resources 18

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 1


46 Engineering Practice Absorber Optimization: Employing Process-
46
Simulation Software Applying simulation-model case studies in the
field yields significant savings with no capital cost

EQUIPMENT & SERVICES


21 Focus on Screening
All screening needs are contained in this mobile trailer; Magnetic,
metal-detectable screen cleaners; Reduce power, noise and more with
this fine-mesh screener; Meter, screen and convey just about any dry
material; This minerals screener also accepts hot materials; and more

26 New Products Wireless capability simplifies level and interface modeling;


Use this explosion-proof LED lamp in hazardous locations; These hose
assemblies offer greater vacuum resistance; These permeation tubes
21
blend high-pressure gases; Use this pressure sensor with very viscous
media; Use these plastic flow switches in very tight spaces; and more

SHOW PREVIEW
30 The Fourth ChemInnovations Conference and Expo will be held
September 25 and 26 in Galveston, Tex. at the Moody Gardens Conven-
tion Center. Programmed by chemical industry leaders and designed for
professionals in the chemical process industries (CPI), the event aims to
supply information that will help companies and individuals prepare for
the future of the industry

COMMENTARY
5 Editors Page The Greening of China Judging by the content and ex-
hibits of the AchemAsia tradeshow in Beijing, China's attention is heavily on
environmental protection and water treatment

49 The Fractionation Column Evil Chemicals? The environmentalists


of the world have been effective at alerting us all to the dangers of
pollution and over-consumption, but they are not always right

DEPARTMENTS
26
6 Letters 54 Whos Who
7 Calendar 55 Economic Indicators
52 Reader Service

ADVERTISERS
50 Product Showcase/Classified
53 Advertiser Index
30
COMING IN SEPTEMBER
Look for: Feature Reports on the Maintenance of Pumps and Other Assets;
and Steam Traps; a Solids Processing article on Bulk-Solids Mixing; an Engi- *ONLY ON CHE.COM
neering Practice article on Finned Heat-Exchanger Performance; a Focus on Look for a Web-exclusive Article
Sensors; A Facts at Your Fingertips on Materials of Construction; News ar- on Solar Power; A Test your
ticles on Modular Construction; and the Chemical Industry in India; and more Knowledge Quiz; additional
New Products; Latest News;
Cover: David Whitcher and more

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SEPTEMBER 24, 2013
PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

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The ChemInnovations conference & expo will cover critical issues


in operating and managing a chemical/petrochemical plant that
have been identied by plant management teams.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES INCLUDE:


OK Shale, now what? HEAR David Bem, Dow Chemical Company,
detail suspected but little-discussed impacts
from increased ethane cracking at the Keynote
LEARN how to develop sustainable water management practices
DISCOVER tips on how to develop and manage a strong workforce
Get a REVIEW of recent incidents by the Chemical Safety Board
and how they impact guidelines
LEARN about practical solutions for detecting problems and
maintaining the integrity of plant equipment
Winner of Eight Jesse H. Neal
Awards for Editorial Excellence
Editors Page

Published since 1902


An Access Intelligence Publication
The greening of China
he AchemAsia exhibition and conferences (www.achemasia.de) are a

T
PUBLISHER ART & DESIGN
MICHAEL GROSSMAN DAVID WHITCHER pretty good guide to trends in the chemical process industries (CPI) in
Vice President and Group Publisher Art Director/
mgrossman@accessintel.com Editorial Production Manager
China. Held every three years, you can measure changes simply by study-
dwhitcher@che.com ing what is on show, and what delegates have come to hear. When the 15,000
EDITORS PRODUCTION or so attendees came to Beijing this past May, one of the biggest things on
DOROTHY LOZOWSKI JOHN BLAYLOCK-COOKE their collective mind was environmental protection and water treatment.
Executive Editor
Ad Production Manager
dlozowski@che.com
jcooke@accessintel.com
Organizer, Dechema e.V. (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.dechema.de),
GERALD ONDREY (Frankfurt)
INFORMATION
says that of 418 exhibitors, 116 were showing environmental solutions, while
Senior Editor
gondrey@che.com SERVICES 135 were displaying water treatment technologies. The AchemAsia confer-
SCOTT JENKINS CHARLES SANDS ence program was no less focused on the environmental future. We have come
Senior Editor
sjenkins@che.com
Senior Developer
Web/business Applications Architect
to think of environmental concerns as being at the bottom of the list for China
MARY PAGE BAILEY csands@accessintel.com in its dash for growth. But that may be changing. Heres why:
Assistant Editor AUDIENCE First, Chinas business model is shifting fast. The last 30 years have seen
mbailey@che.com DEVELOPMENT the country become the worlds factory, based on low-cost production. Those
CONTRIBUTING SARAH GARWOOD days are over. Chinas costs are rising rapidly, for labor, for raw materials,
EDITORS Audience Marketing Director
sgarwood@accessintel.com and for energy. It no longer makes sense to import oil valued at $90100/
SUZANNE A. SHELLEY GEORGE SEVERINE barrel to convert it into cheap plastic goods for Americans and Europeans
sshelley@che.com Fulfillment Manager
CHARLES BUTCHER (U.K.) gseverine@accessintel.com
to buy. There may be a transition period as commodity industries move in-
cbutcher@che.com JEN FELLING land to the West of the country to take advantage of lower wage costs there,
PAUL S. GRAD (Australia) List Sales, Statlistics (203) 778-8700 but Chinas will have to become a high-tech economy. Nothing else will be
pgrad@che.com j.felling@statlistics.com
TETSUO SATOH (Japan)
sustainable in the long-term. The shift to high-tech will be accompanied
EDITORIAL
tsatoh@che.com ADVISORY BOARD by more efficient use of energy and resources, and a shift out of commodity
JOY LEPREE (New Jersey)
JOHN CARSON businesses. Expect to see the rise of materials science companies, focused
jlepree@che.com
GERALD PARKINSON
Jenike & Johanson, Inc. on and enabling the growth of sectors such as energy efficiency, renewables
DAVID DICKEY
(California) gparkinson@che.com MixTech, Inc.
technology, biotechnology, batteries, electric cars and semiconductors.
MARKETING MUKESH DOBLE The second reason is that China is investing in alternative energy with
IIT Madras, India
MICHAEL CONTI the same all-out ferocity that it once reserved for coal investments. Its cur-
Marketing Director HENRY KISTER
TradeFair Group, Inc. Fluor Corp. rent five-year plan calls for a rise in the proportion of power generated from
michaelc@tradefairgroup.com TREVOR KLETZ non-fossil fuels of 3.4% to 11.4% of total energy use by 2015, to be accom-
Loughborough University, U.K.
JENNIFER BRADY
GERHARD KREYSA (retired)
panied by a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 17% compared with
Assistant Marketing Manager
TradeFair Group, Inc. DECHEMA e.V. 2010. Solar, wind, renewable fuels and nuclear all have growing shares of
jbrady@che.com RAM RAMACHANDRAN the energy mix.
(Retired) The Linde Group
HEADQUARTERS China also has big reserves of shale gas. The deposits are not in wide flat
88 Pine Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10005, U.S. beds like in the U.S., but are often affected by fault lines and other geologi-
Tel: 212-621-4900 Fax: 212-621-4694
cal features that make drilling difficult. The country lacks the technology to
EUROPEAN EDITORIAL OFFICES
recover shale gas over long distances from the well head and many basins are
Zeilweg 44, D-60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel: 49-69-9573-8296 Fax: 49-69-5700-2484 in water-poor areas. But when these problems are overcome, as they will be,
CIRCULATION REQUESTS: we can expect China to shift its energy generation platform quickly to include
Tel: 847-564-9290 Fax: 847-564-9453 a significant proportion of gas, resulting in cleaner-burning fuel, with much
Fullfillment Manager; P.O. Box 3588,
Northbrook, IL 60065-3588 email: chemeng@omeda.com lower greenhouse gas emissions than coal, if it is managed properly.
ADVERTISING REQUESTS: see p. 56 Finally, you cannot forget that China is a centrally planned economy, at
For photocopy or reuse requests: 800-772-3350 or info@copyright.com least for now, and that the full weight of the state can get behind renewable
For reprints: Wrights Media, 1-877-652-5295, sales@wrightsmedia.com
fuels, for example, without waiting for legal and incentive structures to come
ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC into place, as would happen in the U.S. or Europe. And while five-year plans
DON PAZOUR
Chief Executive Officer
ROBERT PACIOREK
Senior Vice President,
are not reliable guides to what happens in practice, they do indicate intent
ED PINEDO
Chief Information Officer in this case to go greener.
Executive Vice President
& Chief Financial Officer
SYLVIA SIERRA
Senior Vice President,
Chinas green shift will have implications for the CPI
MACY L. FECTO
Corporate Audience Development around the world. We can expect more basic R&D and
Exec. Vice President, MICHAEL KRAUS process design to originate in China as it searches out
Human Resources & Administration VP, Production, Digital Media
HEATHER FARLEY
& Design a high-tech future. We can expect a redrawing of the
Divisional President, STEVE BARBER world map of where high- and low-tech products are
Access Intelligence Vice President,
DANIEL MCKINNON
Financial Planning and Internal Audit made. Finally, as the wealth and power of Chinas 1.2
Vice President, GERALD STASKO billion people starts to rise, we will see that Chinas de-
Energy and Engineering Events Vice President/Corporate Controller
cisions today will affect the manufacturing standards
we adopt tomorrow.
John Pearson, CEO, Chemical Industry Roundtables
4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor
Rockville, MD 20850 www.accessintel.com CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 5
Letters

The pending water shortage


I thank you for the exciting editorial titled The pend-
ing water shortage in CE, June 2013 [p. 5].
I fully agree with you that voluntary efforts are
needed immediately to do everything possible to drasti-
cally bring down the water intensity of present indus-
trial operations.
Krytox Fluorinated Lubricants

Taking note of your points, we are [working] on seri-
Greases and Oils are: Chemically Inert. Insoluble in common ous efforts in engaging with Indias chemical industry to
solvents. Thermally stable (-103F to 800F). Nonflammable. manage water use effectively.
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Outgassing. No Migration - no silicones or hydrocarbons.
Krytox offers Extreme Pressure, Anticorrosion and Anti-wear Dr. M.P. Sukumaran Nair FIE
properties. Mil-spec, Aerospace and Food Grades (H-1 and Director, Centre for Green Technology & Management
H-2) available! Widely used in Vacuum and Cleanroom (formerly special secretary to Chief Minister,
environments.
Government of Kerala, India).
We also offer a complete line of inert fluorinated Dry Lubricants
and Release Agents.
For technical information, call 800.992.2424 or 203.743.4447 Accepting Fellowship applications
(8AM - 4PM ET).
Authorized Dupont Krytox Distributor Since 1991 The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE; Rugby,
m U.K.; www.icheme.org) is inviting applications for The
s Ashok Kumar Fellowship, which gives a chemical engi-
neering graduate the opportunity to spend three months
miller-stephenson chemical company, inc.
California - Illinois - Connecticut - Canada working at the U.K. Parliamentary Office for Science and
e-mail: support@miller-stephenson.com Technology (POST).
www.miller-stephenson.com
The successful candidate will be the fourth graduate
Circle 9 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-09 to hold The Ashok Kumar Fellowship since it was estab-
lished in 2010.
Kumar, an IChemE Fellow was the only serving chemi-
cal engineer in U.K. parliament at the time of his sudden
death in 2010. The Fellowship provides a unique oppor-
tunity for one successful graduate, from anywhere in the
world, to spend three months working at the U.K. Parlia-
mentary Office for Science and Technology (POST). The
project is jointly funded by IChemE and the North-East
of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC).
Previous graduates to receive the Fellowship include
Iwan Roberts, James Lawrence and Katie Atkinson.
The closing date for applications is October 31, 2013.
Full details, including eligibility and an application form,
are available from IChemEs website.

Do you have
Ideas to air?
Feedback about our articles?
Comments about todays
engineering practice or education?
Job-related issues to share?

If so Send them, for our Letters column, to


Dorothy Lozowski
Chemical Engineering,
Access Intelligence,
88 Pine Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10005;
letters@che.com
Circle 1 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-01
6 ChemICAL eNgINeerINg www.Che.Com AuguSt 2013
Calendar

NORTH AMERICA Elastomer Technology & Seal Design for Oil & Gas.
Energy Storage North America. Messe Dsseldorf Precision Polymer Engineering Ltd. (Blackburn, U.K.).
North America (Chicago, Ill.). Phone: 312-781-5185; Web: Phone: +44-1254-295400 Web: idexcorp.com
mdna.com Houston Oct. 8
San Jose, Calif. Sept. 1012
Elastomer Technology & Seal Design for the Semi-
Winding: Machines, Mechanics and Measure- conductor Industry. Precision Polymer Engineering
ments. Assn. of International Metallizers, Coaters and Ltd. (Blackburn, U.K.). Phone: +44-1254-295400 Web:
Laminators (Fort Mill, S.C.). Phone: 803-948-9470; Web: idexcorp.com
aimcal.org Santa Clara, Calif. Oct. 10
Chicago, Ill. Sept. 1920
Gasification Technologies 2013 Conference. The
The 2013 Polyurethanes Technical Conference. Gasification Technologies Council (Arlington, Va.). Phone:
American Chemistry Council, Center for the 703-276-0110. Web: gasification.org
Polyurethanes (Washington, D.C.). Phone: 202-249-7000; Colorado Springs, Colo. Oct. 1316
Web: americanchemistry.com
Phoenix, Ariz. Sept. 2325 Process Expo: Food and Beverage Processing.
Messe Dsseldorf (Chicago, Ill.) Phone: 312-781-5185;
4th Annual ChemInnovations Conference & Expo. Web: mdna.com
TradeFair Group, an Access Intelligence Company Chicago, Ill. Nov. 36
(Houston). Phone: 713-343-1891; Web: cpievent.com
Galveston Sept. 2526
EUROPE
42nd Turbomachinery and 29th International 5th Symposium on Continuous Flow Reactor
Pump Users Symposia. Texas A&M University Technology. AIC ASTI Incentives & Congressi S.r.l.
(College Station, Tex.). Phone: 979-845-7417; Web: (Pisa, Italy). Phone: +39-50-598808; Web: aicgroup.it
turbolab.tamu.edu Pisa, Italy Sept. 1112
Houston, Tex. Sept. 30Oct. 3
K 2013 Annual Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber.
Coating Process Development. Assn. of International Messe Dsseldorf North America (Chicago, Ill.). Phone:
Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (Fort Mill, S.C.). 312-781-5185; Web: mdna.com
Phone: 803-948-9470; Web: aimcal.org Dsseldorf, Germany Oct. 1623
Chicago, Ill. Oct. 12
Elastomer Technology & Seal Design for Oil & Gas.
Solution Preparation and Mixing. Assn. of Interna- Precision Polymer Engineering Ltd. (Blackburn, U.K.).
tional Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (Fort Mill, Phone: +44-1254-295400; Web: idexcorp.com
S.C.). Phone: 803-948-9470; Web: aimcal.org Duisberg, Germany Oct. 22
Chicago, Ill. Oct. 34
Elastomer Technology & Seal Design for the Semi-
Valve Manufacturers Assn. Annual Meeting. VMA conductor Industry. Precision Polymer Engineering
(Washington, D.C.). Phone: 703-554-3609; Web: vma.org Ltd. (Blackburn, U.K.). Phone: +44-1254-295400; Web:
Palm Beach, Fla. Oct. 35 idexcorp.com
Dresden, Germany Oct. 24
WEFTEC 2013. Water Environment Federation (WEF;
Alexandria, Va.). Phone: 751-830-1545. Web: weftec.org
Chicago, Ill. Oct. 59 ASIA & ELSEWHERE
Elastomer Technology & Seal Design for Critical
Elastomer Technology & Seal Design for the Oil Sealing Applications. Precision Polymer Engineering
& Gas Industry. Precision Polymer Engineering Ltd. Ltd. (Blackburn, U.K.). Phone: +44-1254-295400; Web:
(Blackburn, U.K.). Phone: +44-1254-295400 Web: idexcorp.com
idexcorp.com Suzhou, China Sept. 13
Houston Oct. 8
2013 International Symposium on
2013 AFPM Q&A and Technology Forum. American Pharmaceutical Solid-State Research. Crystal
Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM; Pharmatech Co. Ltd. China (Princeton, N.J.) and Ameri-
formerly NPRA; Washington, D.C.). Phone: 202-457-0480. can Chemical Soc. (Washington, D.C.). Phone:
Web: afpm.org 609-529-4135; Web: crystalpharmatech.com/conference/
Dallas, Tex. Oct. 79 Suzhou, China Oct. 1719
Suzanne Shelley
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 7
Where Liquids-Rich
Markets Converge
NGLs, Gas, Crude, Condensates

December 4-6, 2013


Hyatt Hill Country Resort
San Antonio, Texas

www.nglforum.com

To secure a sponsorship or attendance, contact


Christy Coleman, Director, at 713-343-1873
or christyc@tradefairgroup.com
Edited by Gerald Ondrey August 2013

Commercialization is set for a Biomass in

biomass-to-gasoline process Jet


PATH 1 Advanced catalysts A&B
process that is expected to produce high-
A octane gasoline from non-food biomass
for an average cost of $1.50/gal, depending PATH 2 Advanced catalysts C&D
gasoline
diesel
on feed costs, will be commercialized by Cool Biomass
Planet Energy Systems (Denver, Colo.; www. fractionator
coolplanet.com). The company has tested the
process in a 200,000-gal/yr pilot plant in Ca-
marillo, Calif., and now plans to install 400 Biochar
Soil enhancement process
10-million-gal/yr microrefineries across the
U.S. by 2020.
Soil enhancer
The plants will be built from modules.
Construction is scheduled to start early next converted to gasoline, diesel fuel or jet fuel Carbon
sequestered
year on a manufacturing plant to produce by proprietary zeolite catalysts. Cool Planet
the modules, which will be shipped to the has programmable catalysts and uses up to
field for assembly. We will take the modu- two per reactor, says Rocke. The structure
lar plants to where the biomass is and we of the modified ZSM-5 catalysts, as well as
Anti-hydrolysis agent
dont intend to ship biomass from farther the process conditions, are tailored to ob- Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan;
www.teijin.co.jp) has devel-
than a 30-mile radius, says Michael Rocke, tain the desired product.
oped a new carbodiimide
vice-president. Rocke emphasizes that the fuels are anti-hydrolysis agent that
In Cool Planets process (flowsheet), bio- identical to those obtained from petro- is said to exhibit superior
mass is fractionated thermo-mechanically leum and contain no oxygen, normally an anti-hydrolysis properties to
by a patented Biomass Fractionator at undesired component of biofuels. In Cool improve the durability of plas-
300500C and 2 bars in a controlled flash- Planets process, he says, O2 combines with tics. The agent has the addi-
pyrolysis step. The carbonized biomass H2 to form byproduct water. He adds that tional advantage of not emit-
residue (biochar) is recovered from the the char soil enhancer not only increases ting isocyanate gas, which is
bottom of the fractionator for use as a soil crop yields, but when it is sequestered in usually generated during the
enhancer, while the gases (a mix of carbon, the ground, it removes CO2 from the at- use of carbodiimide agents.
Thus, the new agent is ex-
hydrogen and oxygen) exit the top of the mosphere, resulting in a carbon footprint
pected to help improve work-
unit. The gases pass to a reactor and are reduction of up to 150%. ing environments for manu-
facturers. Samples are being
provided to potential users,
Inorganic membranes show promise and the company plans com-
mercialization by 2015, with
an annual (Continues on p. 12)
to halve energy consumption in distillation production target
100 tons by 2018.
of

apanese researchers from the New En- widely applicable. It is made by a crystal- Based on an agent al-
J ergy and Industrial Technology Develop-
ment Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki City;
fabrication technology that optimizes the
crystal composition at the nanoscale. The
ready used in Teijins Biofront
heat-resistant bioplastic, the
new agent has now been
www.nedo.go.jp), Waseda University, JX research group has also developed a man- confirmed for application in
Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. (JX_NOE) and ufacturing process to produce separation other types of plastic, includ-
five other companies along with five more modules with membranes on a porous ce- ing polyesters, polyamides
universities have developed an inorganic ramic support. and polyurethanes. The cyclic
membrane that enables energy savings of The membranes are used in a hybrid pro- carbodiimide can be used in
up to 50% compared to conventional de- cess within the reflux section of a distilla- relatively smaller quantities
watering distillation processes. Developed tion column. Initially, the test application to increase plastics durabil-
under a five-year NEDO research project is the dewatering of an isopropanol/water ity, and because it is heat
that began in 2009, the membrane has al- mixture. The group plans to demonstrate resistant to at least 300C,
it can be mixed with plastics
ready achieved 200 h of continuous opera- 1,000 h of continuous operation under real
at higher temperatures. It
tion since February in a 60 kg/h bench plant industrial conditions, and scale up the pro- can also be used as a cross-
at JX_NOEs Kawasaki factory. cess in 2016. Another membrane with acid- linking agent to harden or ad-
The membrane is said to be more hydro- resistant characteristics is also being co- just the viscosity of paint and
phobic than existing inorganic membranes developed in the project for the dewatering coating agents.
made of A-type zeolite, and thus more of acetic acid.
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number
on p. 52, or use the website designation. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 9
C HEMENTATO R Syngas from CO2 + H2
Last month, a three-year,
9.2-million research project
was started to develop a pro-
Linde to help commercialize an oil-from-algae process cess to make synthesis gas
(syngas) from CO2 and H2. The
project is funded by the German

S apphire Energy, Inc. (San Diego, Calif.;


www.sapphireenergy.com) and The Linde
Group (Munich; www.linde.com) have signed
250350C and 7003,000 psig in a continu-
ous process. When the mixture leaves the
reactor the oil is separated from the water
Federal Ministry of Education
and Research (BMBF; Bonn,
Germany; www.bmbf.de) within
an agreement, with a minimum span of five by conventional liquid-liquid solvent extrac- its Technologies for Sustain-
years, to commercialize Sapphires process tion, says Ben Saydah, Sapphires director ability and Climate Protection
for producing crude oil from algae. The of conversion and upgrading. The solvent is Chemical Processes and
agreement expands an existing partnership then boiled off and recycled and the water Use of CO2 scheme (for more
in which the two companies have developed phase is recycled as nutrients. projects, see CE, July 2013, pp.
1619). The partners BASF
a low-cost method for delivering CO2 to The main advantage of the process is that
SE (Ludwigshafen), the Linde
algae ponds. Linde will now help refine and it avoids the costly dewatering step prior to
Group (Munich), ThyssenK-
scale up Sapphires hydrothermal process oil extraction, says Saydah. With our pro- rupp Uhde GmbH (Dortmund)
for crude production. The two companies cess, once you produce oil the dewatering is ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe
also plan to adapt the process for other feed much easier. Also, we dont boil the water, (Duisburg), hte AG (Heidel-
materials, including municipal solid waste which saves energy, and we will be able to berg), VDEh Betriebsforsc-
and farm waste, and to license the technol- recover a lot of the heat. hungsinstitute (Dsseldorf)
ogy jointly. A 2-barrels-per-day (bbl/d) pilot plant and the Technical University of
Sapphires process differs from conven- has been operating for nine months in Las Dortmund are developing a
tional algae-to-crude methods in that the Cruces, N.M., processing algae produced at two-stage process. First, meth-
ane is decomposed thermally at
feed is not concentrated to an algae content Sapphires algae farm in Columbus, N.M.
high temperatures into H2 and
of greater than 90% solids for oil extraction. A 100-bbl/d demonstration plant is in the
carbon, without the addition
Instead, the feed is subjected to a simple design stage. Sapphire has an agreement of O2 or water. This H2 is then
dewatering, using technology adapted from with Tesoro Corp. (San Antonio, Tex.) under catalytically reacted with CO2 to
the wastewater industry, to obtain an algae which Tesoro will purchase crude from Sap- form syngas (CO and H2).
concentration of about 20%. The solution phire. In test runs, about 85% of the carbon The H2-production step alone
is then pumped to a hydrothermal reactor, in the algae oil has been converted to diesel is expected to reduce CO2 emis-
where the algae is converted to crude at fuel after hydrotreating, says Saydah. sions by about 50% compared
to conventional steam methane
reforming, and the solid carbon
This FCC process shown to enhance olefins production byproduct may potentially be
used to replace hard coal in the
coke and steel industries, says
J X Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. (JX_NOE;
Tokyo, Japan; www.noe.jx-group.co.jp)
has demonstrated enhanced propylene and
reactor, which has the advantage of sup-
pressing backmixing, and also results in
shorter contact times (0.50.6 s) between the
BASF. The partners hope to de-
velop a pilot plant design and a
concept for integrating the tech-
butenes yields by its high-severity, fluid- feed and the catalyst, which allows higher
nology into existing chemical
catalytic cracking (HS-FCC) technology. In catalyst-to-oil ratios. The short contact times and steel-producing sites.
a 3,000-bbl/d semi-commercial plant, which also enable the process to operate at higher
has been operating at the companys Miz- (600C) temperatures (For more process in-
ushima Refinery since May 2011, propylene formation, see CE, August 2009, p. 12). Utilizing offgases
yields have been found to be enhanced by JX_NOE has been developing the HS-FCC Siemens Metals Technologies
25 wt.% 5% higher than previously an- process for several years. In cooperation (Linz, Austria; www.siemens.
ticipated, and much higher than the 4 wt.% with Japan Cooperation Center, Petroleum com/metals) and LanzaTech
yield achieved in the existing FCC unit. The (JCCP; Tokyo) and King Fahad University (Roselle, Ill.; www.lanzatech.
butenes yield was also enhanced by 6% to 20 of Petroleum and Minerals (Dharan, Saudi com) have signed a ten-year co-
wt.%, and the yield of high-octane gasoline Arabia), the company built a 30-bbl/d dem- operation agreement to develop
was 29 wt.%. onstration plant at Saudi Aramacos Ras Ta- and market integrated environ-
The HS-FCC process features a downflow nura Refinery that operated in 20032004. mental solutions for the global
(Continues on p. 12)

Ethylene in FCC off-gas is upgraded to motor fuels but the recovery is usually below 25%.
This is because dry gas contains impuri-

A typical fluid catalytic cracking unit


(FCC) generates about 200 tons/d of
dry gas a mixture of off-gases that
ene to motor fuels in a single pass is
being developed by UOP LLC, a Hon-
eywell company (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.
ties (NH3, H2S, CO and CO2) that can
poison the catalyst, which is often a zeo-
lite. UOPs catalyst, consisting of nickel
is burned as refinery fuel. However, uop.com). on an amorphous silica-alumina (ASA)
about 40 tons of that gas is ethylene, A conventional way to recover the eth- base, is stable in the presence of the im-
which would have much greater value ylene is by oligomerization to fuels, says purities, he says.
as gasoline or diesel fuel. A process that Christopher Nicholas, lead scientist in (Continues on p. 13)
converts better than 40% of the ethyl- exploratory catalyst research with UOP,
Circle XX on p. XX or go to adlinks.che.com/230XX-XX
10 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST
JULY 20132013
C HEMENTATO R

Modified PU foam shows promise as sponge for soaking up oil spills


S cientists from the Chinese Academy of
Sciences (Beijing; www.cas.ac.cn) have
found a way to transform polyurethane
foam is first dipped into ferric chloride
and 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyltri-
ethoxysilane (PTES). The PTES-coated
The new sponge was shown to absorb
more than 20 times its dry weight for
each of the oils tested (including motor oil
(PU) foam into a sponge that is strongly sponge is placed into a sealed chamber and soybean oil). After a simple mechani-
water-repellent and oil-absorbing, mak- over a pool of volatile pyrrole. The PTES cal squeezing and washing process, the oil
ing it suitable for soaking up chemicals helps the pyrrole adhere to the sponge contaminated sponges can be recovered
and petroleum from spills. One of the surface while the iron from the ferric and recycled many times in the oil-water
Chinese scientists, Zhaozhu Zhang, says chloride catalyzes the polymerization of separation. After many such cycles, the
that sponges previously developed to ab- the pyrrole into a thin coating of poly- sponges could still absorb at least 17 times
sorb oil from spills also soak up water pyrrole over the sponges pores. their own weight in oil, says Zhang.
as well, so their absorption capacity is
not fully utilized to remove the oil. And
although several superhydrophobic and Electromagnetic separation technology
superoliophilic materials have been pre-
pared in the past, they require complex
applied to aquaculture
and time-consuming methods to make
them, and they exhibit low stability and
flexibility, as well as poor absorption ca-
T echnology originally developed for
harvesting oil from algae has now
been applied to sanitize water and re-
patterns to a series of long tubes con-
taining the fluid needing separation.
In the case of algae dewatering and
pacity and poor recyclability, says Zhang. move ammonia from commercial aqua- harvesting, the electric pulses cause
The new oil-absorbing sponges are culture ponds. Electro Water Separation algae cells to cluster together (floc-
made by a simple vapor-phase polym- (EWS) technology, developed by Origi- culate) for efficient harvesting, while
erization of pyrrole onto PU foam (pur- nOil Technologies (Los Angeles, Calif.; for water-oil mixtures in treating pro-
chased from a local furniture store). To www.originoil.com), applies pulses of duced water from hydraulic fracturing
prepare the sponge for its coating, the tuned electromagnetic waves in specific (Continues on p. 12)

Model relief devices in ow-


balanced simulations.

Good thinking.
Feedback from our users is what inspires us to keep making
CHEMCAD better. As a direct response to user need, many
features like this one were added to our integrated suite of
chemical process simulation software. Thats why we consider
every CHEMCAD user part of our development team.
Get the whole story behind this user-inspired feature and
learn more about how CHEMCAD advances engineering
at chemstations.com/YourNeeds.

Circle 2 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-02
Engineering advanced 2013 Chemstations, Inc. All rights reserved. | CMS-2661 8/13
(Continued from p. 10)
C HEMENTATO R steel industry. The collaboration
will use fermentation technol-
ogy developed by Lanzatech,
to reuse the offgases from the
converter, coking plant or blast
Reduce air consumption from AODD pumps furnace processes as nutrients
and a source of energy. The
with this technology patented fermentation process
allows steel-plant operators to
N ew technology developed for air-oper-
ated, double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps
can reduce consumption of compressed air
filled with only enough air to maintain the
fluid flowrate, but no excess air. Although
improvements have been made to the air-
make use of the chemical en-
ergy contained in the offgases
(CO, CO2 and H2) for the pro-
by up to 60% without electronic components, distribution system of traditional AODD duction of bioethanol or other
while maintaining the same flowrates. The pumps, a significant amount of air is still base chemicals, such as acetic
reduced air consumption translates directly being lost during the time period from the acid, acetone, isopropanol, n-
to lower energy usage. end of the pump stroke to when the air valve butanol or 2,3-butadiene.
Developed by Wilden Pump Inc. (Grand shift is completed, explains Glauber. By re- LanzaTech has been operat-
Terrace, Calif.; www.wilden.com), and trade- stricting the air supply to the air chamber ing a pilot plant in Auckland,
named the Pro-Flo Shift Air Distribution toward the end of each pump stroke, Pro-Flo New Zealand since 2008
utilizing raw steel-mill gases.
System, the technology consists of a cylin- Shift prevents overfilling and saves air and
In 2012, LanzaTech became
drical-shaped air-control spool that shifts power, while the pump still performs the the irst company to scale up
back-and-forth between the two diaphragms same amount of work. gas-fermentation technology
of the AODD pump. The spool automati- Wilden has built a laboratory test skid to to a pre-commercial level. It
cally meters air toward the end of the pump mimic plant conditions to compare the Pro- developed and operated two
stroke, optimizing the pumps performance, Flo Shifts fluid-flow and air-consumption facilities, each with a capac-
explains Wilden innovation specialist and performance to other AODD pumps. Accord- ity of 300 ton/yr, that convert
technology inventor Carl Glauber. ing to Wilden, pumps equipped with the Pro- luegas from Baosteel and
The mechanically actuated spool works by Flo Shift consume up to 60% less air com- Shougang steel plants into
controlling the timing of the air intake dur- pared to a host of popular AODD pumps. ethanol. The company is now
planning to begin construction
ing the pump cycle, restricting the airflow The Pro-Flo Shift technology is commer-
on two commercial facilities in
from the compressor toward the end of each cially available and can be retrofitted onto China in 2013, with production
pump stroke. The pump cavity is thereby existing pumps, says the company. expected in 2014 (for more pro-
cess details, see CE, Decem-
ber 2010; p. 12).

A solid way to eliminate contaminants from wastewater


C SIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship
(Perth, Western Australia; www.csiro.
au/MDU) has developed a method that
of layers rich in Al and Mg that are
separated by interlayers of negatively
charged ions, such as sulfates. They form
talcites utilizing common contaminants
also present in the wastewater by sim-
ply adjusting their concentration and
uses hydrotalcite formation to simulta- when Al and Mg are present in an ideal adding alkaline compounds to rapidly
neously remove contaminants from min- ratio and in a medium with a pH of 6 or increase the pH level, explains CSIRO
ing and industrial wastewaters in a sin- higher. As hydrotalcites form, the Al and scientist Grant Douglas.
gle step. Current wastewater-treatment Mg can be partially replaced by other Initial applications of the CSIRO pro-
processes typically produce lime-based metals, such as Cu, Pb and Cd, and an- cess have focused on treating wastewater
slurries, often with large amounts of ions such as chromate and arsenate can generated from mining and extraction of
water, which requires additional treat- also be incorporated into the interlayers. uranium at the Ranger mine in the North-
ment. In contrast, hydrotalcites settle This property makes it possible to trap ern Territory. The process effectively re-
rapidly out of solution and can be easily contaminants into hydrotalcites, which moves a range of contaminants, including
removed using centrifugation, leaving can then be easily removed as a solid. uranium, rare-earth elements, transition
behind a much cleaner solution. Because mining wastewater often al- metals and anions. Commercialization
Hydrotalcites, [general formula, ready contains substantial amounts of of the process is under way with Virtual
Mg6Al2(CO3)(OH)16.4(H2O)], consist Al and Mg, it is possible to create hydro- Curtain Ltd. (Perth, Australia).

ELECTROMAGNETIC SEPARATION sults of a demonstration carried out at to be pelletized into nutritious feed.
TECHNOLOGY (Continued from p. 11) aquaculture facilities in Coachella Val- The ability to remove ammonia can
ley, Calif. Operated in a continuously cir- greatly increase productivity in aqua-
wells, the pulses break oil-water emul- culated loop, the EWS technology elimi- culture ponds without adding capital
sions (see CE, July 2012, p. 12). The nates microorganisms from pond water costs, comments Jose Sanchez, Origi-
same technology can effectively rupture without the need for chemicals or anti- nOil vice president of quality assur-
bacteria cells and denature viruses, al- biotics, helping protect fish and shellfish ance and service. Continuously remov-
lowing its use in increasing algae shelf- from disease. The EWS can also remove ing ammonia allows densities of shrimp
life, eliminating bacteria from produced ammonia from the water, by converting or fish that are twice or three times as
water, and sanitizing water from aqua- it to nitrates or nitrogen gas. The nitrate- high as with conventional ammonia
culture ponds. rich water can be used to nourish algae, handling, without changing pond infra-
The company recently announced re- which is then harvested using EWS structure, Sanchez says.
12 CHemICAL eNgINeerINg www.CHe.COm AuguST 2013
C HEMENTATO R

Thin-film deposition mobility and reaction energy. The LoCo Desalination


program will try to develop low-temper- esearchers from the University of Texas

L ast month, Southwest Research Insti-


tute (SWRI; San Antonio, Tex.; www.
ature deposition processes and a new
range of coating-substrate pairings to
R at Austin (www.utexas.edu) and the
University of Marburg (Germany; www.
swri.org) was awarded $1.5 million by improve the surface properties of rotor uni-marburg.de) are developing a process,
the Defense Advanced Research Proj- blades, infrared missile domes, photo- called electrochemically mediated sea-
ects Agency (DARPA; Arlington, Va.; voltaics and others. water desalination, that promises to be
www.darpa.mil) for a three-year project The first year of the project will focus an inexpensive way to desalinate small
to develop alternative technologies for on a proof-of-concept demonstration of volumes of water. The patent-pending
depositing thin films. The project is part SWRIs HiPIPS (high-power impulse method described in the June issue
of DARPAs Local Control of Materials plasma source), which provides a high of Angewante Chemie uses a plastic
(LoCo) program, which aims to overcome flux of reactive species to a surface, while chip with a branched microchannel. At
the reliance on high-thermal-energy in- maintaining an overall low deposition the junction of the branch, an embedded
puts by examining the process of thin- temperature. In subsequent years, the electrode neutralizes some of the Cl ions,
film deposition at the molecular level in project will integrate the plasma source creating an ion-depletion zone, which in-
areas including reactant flux, surface with other technologies, and more. creases the local electric field compared to
the rest of the channel. The resulting elec-
ETHYLENE IN FCC OFF-GAS to 1,100 psia, says Nicholas, with gaso- tric-field gradient redirects the salts into
(Continued from p. 10) line yield coming at lower temperature one branch, allowing desalinated water to
and pressure than maximum distillate pass through the other branch.
The process obtains motor fuels from yield. The product is readily separated Startup company Okeanostech
ethylene in a two-step oligomerization. from unconverted components in the (Union, Ky.; www.okeanostech.com) is
First, the Ni converts ethylene to butanes dry gas feed via a single boiling-point working to commercialize the technol-
and hexenes, then the ASA finishes the column fractionation, due to the large ogy with its so-called WaterChip a
oligomerization to fuels. Process condi- difference in molecular weight between solid-state, massively parallel desalina-
tions range from 200 to 400C and 700 the product and the feed. tion (MPD) platform.

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Circle 13 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-13
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 13
Renmatix

Newsfront

BIO-BASED CHEMICALS
GAIN MARKET ACCEPTANCE
An acceleration of commercialization
for a number of bio-based building-block
chemicals signals further confidence
in the industry as a whole
Genomatica

s an industry sector, bio-based technology officer at Ren- FIGURE 1. Lanxess produced polybutylene

A
terephthalate from Genomaticas bio-based 1,4-bu-
chemicals have seen significant matix Inc. (King of Prussia, tanediol at this plant in Leverkusen, Germany
expansion over the past year, Pa.; www.renmatix.com), a
with several commercial devel- maker of cellulosic sugar for the bio- ogy for assessing developments in the
opments occurring in a group of four- based chemicals industry. bio-based chemicals market. Nexant
carbon commodity chemicals, including Taking stock of the recent activity projects that the bio-based industry
succinic acid, butanols, butadiene and in setting up demonstration- and com- will have added 4 million tons of novel
butanediol. While a host of technology- mercial-scale plants, Alif Saleh, vice bio-based capacity between 2012 and
based companies have built new facili- president of sales and marketing for 2015, out of a total of 6 million tons
ties and scaled up production capabili- the succinic acid and derivatives busi- of announced capacity, including cel-
ties, others have formed alliances with ness unit of Myriant (Quincy, Mass.; lulosic sugars, Cascone says. Other
established players in the chemical in- www.myriant.com), says The chemical Nexant work suggests there may be as
dustry in the form of strategic partner- markets are starting to take the ad- much as 15 million tons of cumulative
ships and development agreements. vent of commercial supply of bio-based capacity by 2020.
Meanwhile, larger chemical com- chemicals more seriously. Combined
panies are seeking to incorporate bio- with the new facilities, this factor helps C4 chemicals opportunity
derived chemicals into their product create an environment for bio-based The flood of inexpensive natural gas
portfolios, either through their own chemicals where commercialization from shale in the U.S. has had a trans-
development or through partnerships. will start occurring even more rapidly formative effect on the chemical in-
Cumulatively, the activity may have going forward, he adds. dustry in the region, and the effect has
placed the bio-based chemicals indus- While there hasnt been across-the- been felt by the bio-based chemicals
try on the cusp of a rapid acceleration, board success in this sector, there is a industry in a number of ways. Shale
in terms of volume increases and mar- growing sense of credibility for the bio- gas has made it more difficult for bio-
ket uptake for bio-based products. based chemicals industry, says Ron- based chemical producers to compete
However, the successes in commer- ald Cascone, a principal with Nexant economically in the C2 and C3 ole-
cialization have not come without (White Plains, N.Y.; www.nexant.com). fins space. But the shift on the part
difficulties. Some companies have Bio-based chemicals may be at a tip- of flexible-feedstock crackers toward
shifted their focus toward lower- ping point preceding even more rapid using ethane and away from naptha
volume, higher-margin products, growth, he explains, where a criti- in making ethylene (see Chem. Eng.,
and away from the larger market for cal mass of companies has adopted a October 2012, pp. 1719) has created
fuels. Also, they have had to navigate stance favorable to using bio-based ma- a shortage of C4 chemicals, and this
a set of changes to the chemical in- terials, and enough technologies have has opened up an opportunity for bio-
dustry that have been wrought by advanced to the point where they are based chemical makers.
increased natural gas production at or approaching cost parity with cor- When you run a cracker with
from shale. The industry has been responding petroleum-based products. lighter feeds, you end up with dramat-
somewhat soured by over-promising Along with Nexant colleague Bruce ically lower output of C4 chemicals,
and under-delivering in the past, but Orr and others, Cascone has devel- says Christophe Schilling, CEO of
there is now the potential for explo- oped and applied a capacity analysis Genomatica (San Diego, Calif.; www.
sive growth, says Fred Moesler, chief coupled with a risk analysis methodol- genomatica.com). That plays havoc
14 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
Gevo

that non-food biomass will France; www.roquette.com) began pro-


be the feedstock. ducing bio-based succinic acid at what
The recent activity in C4 is said to be the worlds first large-
intermediates has coincided scale plant for producing bio-based
with a shift in philosophy succinic acid. The facility, in Cassano
on the part of several bio- Spinola, Italy at a Roquette property,
based companies to focus uses a low-pH yeast-based fermenta-
on higher-margin, lower tion technology and has a capacity of
volume chemicals. Theres 10,000 ton/yr of bio-succinic acid.
a growing realization that In June 2013, Myriant began cus-
FIGURE 2. Bio-based isobutanol produced by bio-based chemicals have tomer shipments of its high-purity
Gevo will be made into para-xylene and oligomerized higher margins and require bio-based succinic acid from a new
for jet fuel at this facility in Silsbee, Tex.
somewhat lower volumes, plant in Lake Providence, La., the first
explains Nexants Cascone, full-scale commercial facility for bio-
with regional availability, overall sup- so theres been a shift away from biofu- succinic acid in North America and the
plies, contracts and pricing both for els to fungible intermediate chemicals, largest in the world. We are ramping
the C4 chemicals themselves, and for such as para-xylene and butadiene. up production volumes now, says Myr-
the value chains and products that However, the shift may not be perma- iants Saleh. The plant has a capacity
depend on them. So if youre in the nent. As technology improves and eco- of 15,000 ton/yr succinic acid and the
business of supplying C4s or you nomics change, some companies may production costs for bio-succinic acid
are dependent on them you are re- move back toward the huge market for are lower than its conventional petro-
ally, really hungry for a strategic al- fuels particularly because of gov- leum-derived counterpart, Saleh says.
ternative that lessens your business ernment support and mandates. Myriant also teamed with John-
dependence on the ups and downs of son Matthey-Davy Technologies (JM
how crackers are fed, he says. The re- Succinic acid and BDO Davy; London, U.K.; www.davypro-
sult, Schilling points out, helps drive Two related four-carbon compounds tech.com), a leading chemical technol-
the companies desire for renewable succinic acid and 1,4-butanediol ogy licensing company, in the success-
chemicals as strategic alternatives (BDO) have advanced significantly ful production of bio-butanediol and
not just for all the benefits of a re- this year in terms of commercial pro- tetrahydrofuran (THF) from Myriants
duced environmental footprint, but as duction. BDO is used in the manufac- bio-succinic acid. Qualification work
a business necessity. ture of over 2 million tons of plastics, for the project was conducted at JM
Nexants Cascone says cheap shale polyesters and fibers annually. Suc- Davys facility at Teesside, England
gas is a boon for makers of C2 and cinic acid is used in markets such as using bio-succinic acid supplied by
C3 olefins, and there have been an- pigments, coatings, pharmaceuticals, Myriant and the JM Davy BDO/THF
nouncements of additional ethane solvents and polymers. process. Combining the efficiencies
cracking (for ethylene) and propane BioAmber Inc. (Plymouth, Minn.; of Myriants bio-succinic acid process
dehydrogenation (propylene) capac- www.bio-amber.com) currently sup- and the JM Davy BDO/THF process,
ity. In the U.S., bio-based chemicals plies its brand of bio-based succinic the bio-butanediol and bio tetrahydro-
are not competitive in this space, acid from a production facility in furan has an overall carbon efficiency
but there are many opportunities Pomacle, France and the company of 87%, a percentage that Myriant be-
for biobased chemicals in the C4, C5 plans to expand capacity in 2014 with lieves to be substantially better than
and C6 compounds, such as isoprene, a 30,000 metric ton (m.t./yr) plant in that achieved in the direct-fermenta-
butadiene, bio-benzene (and other Sarnia, Canada. In resins and coat- tion route to bio-butanediol.
aromatics) and others, Cascone ings applications, BioAmber says its Myriants Saleh thinks the multiple
says. Nexant is currently developing succinic acid product enables formula- players in the bio-succinic acid market
a PERP (process economic/research tion flexibility for customers, and the will help each other by increasing pur-
planning) report on bio-butadiene opportunity to develop tailored prop- chasers confidence in the supply of the
that illustrates the opportunity. erties that offer performance in more chemical. For customers to switch from
In April of this year, Genomatica an- sustainable solutions. The company petroleum-based to bio-based succinic
nounced the establishment of a tech- has a licensing agreement with Du- acid, they need to see more than one
nology joint-venture development with Pont (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont. commercial supplier in the market to
Versalis S.p.A. (a subsidiary of Eni; com), which has set specific goals for assure supply security, he says.
Milan, Italy; www.versalis.eni.com) sourcing a large portion of its plastics In the BDO space, Genomatica an-
for developing a complete end-to-end products from renewable chemicals. nounced in May 2013 that it has li-
process for the on-purpose production In December 2012, Reverdia (www. censed its technology for producing
of butadiene from non-food biomass. reverdia.com; a joint venture between bio-based BDO to BASF SE (Lud-
Genomatica has not shared details of Royal DSM N.V. (Heerlen, The Neth- wigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com).
the technological route that this proj- erlands; www.dsm.com) and starch- The licensing deal represents a huge
ect will take, other than confirming derivatives maker Roquette (Lestrem, landmark for both the industrial bio-
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 15
Metabolix

Newsfront

technology industry and for the over- Mountain View, Calif; www.cobalt-
all mainstream chemical industry, tech.com) produced n -butanol at the
says Genomaticas Schilling. Genom- fermentation scale of 100 m3 per run,
aticas BDO has also been used by demonstrating lower production cost
the Far Eastern New Century Corp. than butanol produced from petroleum
to make high-performance fibers with (see Chem. Eng., July 2013, p. 15).
high bio-based content.
Genomatica also partnered with Three enablers FIGURE 3. Fermentation-based chemi-
cal processes require economically pro-
Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; www. Three factors that will have a large im-
duced sugars from cellulosic biomass
lanxess.com) in a project where Genom- pact on the future of bio-based build-
aticas bio-based BDO was used to make ing-block chemicals are: the availabil- companies focus on one or the other,
polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) in ity of economically priced sugars from says Gevos Brett Lund.
Lanxess regular commercial process outside the foodchain; establishing A second driver for increased trac-
(Figure 1). In June, the two compa- new supply chains to connect feed- tion of bio-based intermediates is the
nies announced that Lanxess had fed stock and manufacturing; and market pull from large companies that have
20 m.t. of 100% bio-based BDO into its pull from end-use companies of bio- consumer-facing brands. Many large
continuous PBT production process. based materials. product manufacturers are increas-
Lanxess said the properties and qual- One of the key enablers [for the ingly seeking bio-based products. If
ity of the resulting bio-derived PBT are future bio-based chemicals industry] you can get pull (demand) from end-
fully equivalent to conventional PBT in is the ability to economically convert market companies, like what hap-
all tested parameters. cellulosic feedstock to sugars that can pened with [Coca Colas PlantBottle],
then be processed into chemicals, ex- that is very good for everyone in the
Bio-butanol plains Nexants Cascone, avoiding the supply chain, says Lund. The Plant-
Another C4 chemical that has seen sig- need for corn-based sugars. Murray Bottle is a PET beverage bottle con-
nificant commercial activity recently is McLaughlin, of the Sustainable Chem- taining a portion of bio-based PET.
bio-based butanol. Gevo (Englewood, istry Alliance (SCA; Sarnia, Ont., Can- Being a green product means more
Colo.; www.gevo.com) manufactures ada; www.suschemalliance.ca) agrees, as you get closer to consumer products,
isobutanol through a fermentation calling the economic extraction of sug- says Nexants Cascone, citing Coca Co-
process for both chemical and fuel ap- ars from non-food sources a key to the las PlantBottle as an example where
plications. The bio-isobutanol can be future of the industry (Figure 3). there is market value derived from the
manufactured into various chemicals Renmatix is one company trying to bio-based product. There is high inter-
and can be used as an alternative to serve the need for a bridge between est right now for bio-based chemicals
ethanol as gasoline blendstock. upstream biomass and downstream in disposable products, in biologically
The company is anticipating its next processing of bio-based chemicals. Cel- derived para-xylene and in recycling
commercial facility, in Silsbee, Tex., to lulosic feedstock is significantly more bio-based components, Cascone says.
come online at the end of 2013 (Figure stable than the price of crude oil, and Because the demand for renew-
2), following the successful production is not subject to the same perils that able content in products has grown so
of isobutanol at its Luverne, Minn. annual crops are subjected, says Ren- much in the last year, the challenge
facility since a year ago. At the Texas matix CTO Fred Moesler. becomes establishing effective sup-
site, Gevo will use isobutanol from the Renmatix converts three dry tons ply chains. The challenge for the bio-
Luverne plant to make para-xylene for per day of cellulosic biomass to sugar based chemicals industry is piecing
renewable polyethylene terephthalate in its facility in Kennesaw, Ga. (Figure together a new value chain and bridg-
(PET) for beverage bottles, says Brett 4). The privately held company recently ing feedstock suppliers with chemical
Lund, Gevos executive vice president. entered an exclusive joint-development producers, says Max Senechal, vice
The company also has an operational agreement with pulp-and-paper manu- president for bio-based chemicals at
isobutanol-based jet fuel plant in Sils- facturer UPM (Helsinki, Finland; Metabolix Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.;
bee that started production last year. www.upm.com) to further develop www.metabolix.com).
Gevo has a supply agreement with the Renmatixs Plantrose process, which
U.S. Air Force surrounding renewable breaks down woody biomass through Economics are king
jet fuel. supercritical hydrolysis to make low- Although it appears that the three en-
Gevos commercialization model has cost sugar intermediates (C5 and C6 abling elements are moving into place,
been to retrofit former corn ethanol sugars) for subsequent downstream challenges remain for the bio-based
plants with its proprietary technology processing into bio-based chemicals. commodity chemical makers. These
to produce bio-isobutanol. Its second Trying to develop a process to include achieving process economics
such endeavor will occur at a former breakdown cellulosic biomass into with their core technology, securing fi-
ethanol plant in South Dakota. sugar feedstock and simultaneously nancing for expansion and scaleup.
Other companies are pursuing bio- work on a process for making build- With shale gas available in the U.S.,
butanol as well. In April development ing block chemicals from the sugar is all players in the bio-based chemicals
tests, Cobalt Technologies (Cobalt; difficult. It compounds risk; so many space realize that its all about eco-
16 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
Renmatix

ous applications, manufacturers not as many companies in the second


must be able to secure financing to wave, he says. Part of that drop-off is
expand to the volumes necessary that there is a massive funding gap,
to take advantage of economies of and getting the large amount of capi-
scale. And the funding challenge tal needed to bring ideas to commer-
continues even after commercial- cial products is not easy.
ization, says David Berry, partner
FIGURE 4. The Renmatix Plantrose process at Flagship Ventures (Cambridge, Into the mainstream
uses supercritical water to produce ferment-
able sugars from woody biomass
Mass.; www.flagshipventures.com). Having a sufficient number of bio-
The two biggest challenges are based companies in enough product
nomics now, comments Cascone. Eco- funding and scaleup, says Gevos areas producing bio-based chemical
nomics has taken the front seat. Lund. Financing growth has become building blocks commercially in high-
Bio-based chemicals need to be more difficult, he says, but a com- enough volumes will take time, and the
equal to or better on price than pe- pany with a strategically important industry should not have any illusions
troleum-derived alternatives, or else product that is within striking dis- of displacing the petrochemicals indus-
no one will buy them, says SCAs tance of the market will have a much try, explains SCAs McLaughlin. We
McLaughlin. easier time. think the bio-based chemicals industry
That philosophy has been central at Ten years ago, the funding envi- should not try to compete with the pet-
Myriant and elsewhere. Myriant does ronment was more favorable, and a rochemicals industry we want them
not believe the market will accept a number of bio-based chemical and fuel to work together to complement the
price premium [for bio-based products], companies started in that timeframe, petrochem industry. We want to reduce
nor do we count on it, explains Saleh. remarks Berry, so there has been a the dependency on petroleum feed-
If bio-based chemicals are to become lot of commercialization activity with stocks, but were not going to displace
a viable alternative to petroleum-de- those companies. But a potential prob- the petrochem industry.
rived chemicals for customers in vari- lem for the industry is that there are Scott Jenkins

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Circle 12 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-12
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 17
Invensys

Newsfront

MODELING OPTIMIZED PROCESSES


FIGURE 1. Advanced fea-
Advanced features in easier-to-use formats allow tures in easier-to-use formats
allow process engineers to
chemical engineers to take advantage of process take advantage of process
modeling solutions for orga-
nization-wide optimization
modeling solutions for organization-wide optimization
odeling and simulation are chemical engineers and scientists to And then, once the process is built,

M at the heart of chemical en-


gineering design and op-
erations today, whether it is
using traditional process flowsheeting
tools, computational fluid dynamics,
rapidly explore the decision space from
laboratory to operating plant, he says.
Why? Because this expanded view
enables chemical engineers to quickly
rank and screen design alternatives,
the same models can be run online
for monitoring, yield accounting, look-
ahead analysis, as part of advanced
process-control systems, or to trouble-
shoot poor operation.
advanced process-modeling environ- come up with optimized process de- And, much of the application of ad-
ments, or specific equipment design signs, confidently scale up to indus- vanced process modeling software is
packages (Figure 1). However, much of trial size, and perform plant-wide pro- about optimizing process economics
this modeling is currently performed in cess optimization, to list just some of by maximizing or minimizing head-
isolated silos within organizations. the benefits. line key performance indicators, such
In oil production, for example, the For new chemical processes, it is as annualized operating profit or cost,
reservoir is typically modeled using now possible to deploy modeling sys- or secondary KPIs (key performance
one simulation environment, the sub- tematically across the process lifecy- indicators), such as quality, through-
sea production network using another, cle, from R&D and conceptual design, put, or energy use, using process flow-
and the topside facilities, a third, says through detailed design, and on to sheet models that incorporate detailed
Mark Matzopoulos, marketing direc- online operation. This can be done in predictive unit operation models.
tor with Process Systems Enterprise a way that not only leverages knowl- Typical applications may range
(PSE) Ltd. (London, England; www. edge contributed from different parts from detailed design of individual
psenterprise.com). Operations like of the organization, but also provides units, such as multi-tubular reactors
this could benefit significantly from a vehicle for knowledge transfer be- or crystallizers to whole-plant process
an integrated modeling approach that tween groups or silos. optimization. According to Matzopou-
would open up the possibility for large- Matzopoulos shares an example: los, some examples are: reliable scale-
scale optimization (Figure 2). Early-stage experimental data can be up of units such as reactors and crys-
Matzopoulos adds that since much of used with a model of the experimen- tallizers; maximizing batch reactor or
todays modeling is in the form of tra- tal setup to estimate kinetic param- crystallizer throughput by minimizing
ditional process steady-state flowsheet eters and build a definitive reaction recipe time; maximizing the yield of
simulation, which calculates heat- set. This forms the heart of a reactor high-value grades of polymer from a
and-material-balance information and model used by reaction engineers for batch polymer process by determin-
stream properties, and optimization ranking different reactor configura- ing the optimal temperature profile;
tends to be by trial-and-error analysis, tions. The model of the chosen reactor optimizing the mechanical design of a
chemical process organizations could configuration is then used by process reactor to give the maximum catalyst
benefit significantly by taking advan- engineers in simultaneous whole- life by avoiding hot spots; optimizing
tage of more sophisticated advanced plant process optimization to trade off the de-coking interval for a cracking
process-modeling techniques. reactor and separation costs, based on furnace in an olefins plant, to avoid
The [other] chemical process indus- high-fidelity predictive models. the extremes of excessive downtime or
tries [CPI] would do well to learn from Some companies, according to Mat- poor conversion; optimizing the feed-
the food and pharmaceutical indus- zopoulos, have reported improvements tray locations and number of stages
tries where having an accurate predic- in process economics of tens of mil- (or even the number of columns) in a
tive model of a plant or process allows lions of dollars using such techniques. distillation train to give the best (capi-
18 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
THE BENEFITS OF USING MODELING PLANT MODELING
FOR OPTIMIZATION SOFTWARE GOES BEYOND
ccording to PSEs Matzopoulos, the major benefits of modeling, especially DESIGN
A advanced process modeling, can be summarized as follows:
The ability to innovate quickly and reduce time to market. Innovation is
not just about new processes, it can refer to applying a new catalyst within an
Many chemical processors use process mod-
eling software throughout the plant, but most
owner operators do not use the modeling soft-
existing reactor, or devising a new process control strategy for an old plant. Ac- ware that models their physical assets, the soft-
celeration comes from the ability to explore the process decision space rapidly ware that was used to design the facility, the
to screen and rank alternatives, the potential to avoid building costly pilot plants, physical assets or the pipelines joining equip-
the integration of experimentation and process design and engineering phases ment, says Anne-Marie Walters, global director
to shorten project cycles, and the ability to make decisions confidently and rap- for industrial process and operations with Bent-
idly based on accurate numbers. ley Systems, Inc. (Exton, Pa.; www.bentley.com).
The ability to manage technology risk during innovation. Model-based engi- But they should take advantage of these very
neering approaches are now being used to scale up new processes with con- advanced 3D-plant-modeling tools, beyond hav-
fidence. Also, the integration of experimental data and models can be used to ing them serve as a record.
provide information about key model parameters. This has two benefits: first, it In the past, a few adventurous processors might
is possible to identify where the greatest data risk lies and devote resources to have used the plant models from the design firm
eliminating this or bringing it to an acceptable level; and, second, it is possible for training or maintenance purposes, but in to-
to analyze the propagation of parameter uncertainty on process/plant KPIs to days optimization environment, so much more
understand the real operational risk. can and should be done with these models, ac-
Better designs and better operations. A model-based approach allows designs cording to Walters.
to be optimized for whatever objective function is important, such as maximized We are trying to encourage operations to use
profit, maximized flexibility for different feedstock options, minimized energy the 3D models and link them into a mobile envi-
use or pollutant generation. ronment to provide a sophisticated walk-through
R&D efficiency. For many companies, particularly in R&D-intensive sectors, such product, says Walters. We also encourage
as pharmaceuticals, this is a key target. Modeling can be used to guide experi- owner operators to use laser scanning tech-
mentation to minimize time and cost. Model-targeted experimentation can be niques and match the results against the models
used to generate information to maximize the accuracy of models, which are then they have to see what has been added and what
used to scale up or optimize the process rapidly (as opposed to trying to optimize may be different from the as-built models.
the process through experimentation, which many companies still do). Need another reason to not just leave plant
models on a shelf? Aside from making training,
PSE plant inspections and maintenance easier, plant
models can be used to determine the cost effi-
ciency of building a new facility or line or adding
on to the existing one, says Walters. Virtually
every plant will be faced with adding another
line or finding another place for required en-
vironmental protection equipment, she says.
Having a good 3D plant model not only helps
determine if there is a place to put the things they
need now or in the future, but it helps them deter-
mine whether it is financially more sound to add
on or build new.
But, these benefits will be best realized, if like
process modeling and simulation software, the
3D models can be integrated to work with other
tools. For this reason, Bentley opted to provide
true interoperability for 2D and 3D plant de-
sign engineering through integration of the ISO
15926 standard as an intrinsic data model. The
open scheme provides interoperability with any
other design system using ISO 15926. This al-
lows the software to share design information for
small projects and can help manage multi-billion
FIGURE 2. PSEs gPROMS ModelBuilder advanced process modeling pack- dollar engineering design projects with global
age allows simultaneous optimization of reaction and separation sections design teams.
using high-fidelity predictive models to determine optimal process economics

tal plus operating) economics; or opti- Optimization of a single variable and we find that our users are daunted
mizing startup of plants to minimize or the entire plant is something most by that technology, even though the
startup time; and more. users simply dont take advantage of, benefits of having a more optimized
Once seen as a management dream, says Steve Brown, COO with Chemsta- process are very significant.
this type of workflow is possible today, tions, Inc. (Houston; www.chemstations. For this reason, Chemstations and
if companies are willing to adopt a sys- com). But built into most simulation other modeling-and-simulation soft-
tematic model-based engineering ap- software tools are very powerful opti- ware providers, are looking into mak-
proach that focuses on plant-wide op- mization algorithms that allow users ing their tools easier to use and more
timization, says Matzopoulos. So, the to set constraints, set boundary condi- intuitive. One of the biggest chal-
question is, why arent more chemical tions, and define objective functions. lenges facing the simulation industry
processors doing this? They can look and seem very complex is what we call the chemical engineer-
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 19
AspenTech

Newsfront

FIGURE 3. The
ing computing environment, which
new aspenONE
includes all the tools, applications, and adds a Web-based
operating systems chemical engineers interface to Aspen
use to attack their job. This environ- Plus and Aspen
ment is constantly changing, so we are HYSYS. Now it is
possible to access
likely to find anything from Windows AspenTechs pro-
XP to Windows 8 in use. There are dif- cess simulators to
ferent versions of Microsoft Office in view models and
use, which means there are different plant data through
Web-enabled de-
versions of Excel.
vices without
Because the chemical engineering special software
computing environment is not static installation
and is not homogeneous, we have to
make sure that any tool or update we Invensys

release will fit into any of these envi-


ronments so that our tools not only
successfully communicate the data to
Excel and run in a given interface, but
also look intuitive to users. If it ap-
pears to be difficult or daunting, users
wont even embrace the program ba-
sics, much less advanced features,
continues Brown.
So, Chemstations has been work-
ing on a new graphical user interface
that will be released this year. This
will solve not only the first problem of
fitting into multiple computing envi-
ronments as they are changing, but it
also involves a tool set that is easier
to use.
Aspen Technology, Inc. (Burlington, FIGURE 4. A well designed DYNSIM model accurately depicts the same hydraulic,
heat transfer and other equipment constraints as the actual plant and provides a
Mass.; www.aspentech.com) has re- single scalable application that can help companies reduce capital costs, improve
designed the user experience so that plant design, trim commissioning time, increase asset availability and train and cer-
workflow is upfront and provided ca- tify control room and field operators in a safe environment
pabilities to get users started with
online training. We provide access analyses, users have to bring data from off-site systems to its optimization soft-
to pre-built models, tricks and tips on the simulation product into different ware. This new solution allows refiner-
a support website, so that our users analysis products. Through activation ies that already have blend operations
are able to start quickly, notes Vikas we have brought those capabilities and optimization practices in place to
Dhole, vice president of engineering inside the simulation environment, leverage these two sources of informa-
product management with AspenTech. he says. At the click of a button, the tion, ultimately improving efficiency
We also streamlined the workflow so software analyzes the model and gives and profitability. The integration pro-
that the tools all users occasional results to the user so they dont need vides an easier way to update linear
and experienced alike will use are expertise in equipment modeling or programming models when refinery
upfront and then grouped more com- analysis, but can still get information feedstock profiles or physical configu-
plex features in a systematic way be- in a simple-to-execute and simple-to- rations are significantly changed. This
hind the front workflow. understand way. This makes it easier also works with knowledge-manage-
The company also offers a Web in- to change from modeling alone to mod- ment software that provides accurate
terface that provides a single user in- eling for process optimization. and timely crude oil information across
terface that is common across its prod- Integration between tools also an enterprise, from ranking crude oils
uct lines, allowing plant engineers and makes modeling for process optimiza- in trading to optimizing petroleum
operators to have a common reference tion easier, according to Tobias Scheele, refinery processes and maximizing
point for easier exchange of informa- vice president, advanced applications, reliability. The planning and schedul-
tion and data (Figure 3). with Invensys PLC (Houston; www. ing solution provides a collaborative,
In addition, AspenTech has insti- invensys.com; Figure 4). For example, multi-user environment for sharing
tuted what it refers to as activation in the petroleum refinery industry, the common data and models across all
to certain activities. To perform activ- company offers an off-site solution that supply chain work processes.
ities such as energy, equipment, or cost integrates planning, scheduling, and Joy LePree
20 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
Sifter Parts & Services

FOCUS ON

Screening
Haver & Boecker

Great Western Manufacturing Triple/S Dynamics

All screening needs are Magnetic, metal-detectable sumption; very low noise levels; very
contained in this mobile trailer screen cleaners low maintenance requirements; and
The Mobile Quality Assurance Sifter This company recommends the use no screen blinding, even at very fine
(photo) is said to be ideal for inline of U.S. Food and Drug Admin. (FDA; mesh sizes, says the company. The
sifting on product delivery or receipt; Washington, D.C.) approved poly- Longhorn can screen down to 325
sifting at a trans-loading location; urethane (PU) screen-cleaning balls mesh. Standard size decks (in feet) in-
silo evacuation or load-out; and emer- (photo) and cubes to prevent sifter clude 4 8, 5 10, 6 10 and 6
gency situations. The self-contained screens from clogging with product. 12. Up to five decks can be configured
trailer includes this companys inline PU balls are said to be more abrasion- in series. A 5 10, three-deck unit
sifter, which features stainless-steel resistant than screen cleaners manu- (photo) is available for free testing of
trays containing all of the interior ser- factured from other materials, and pro- products at the companys laboratory.
viceable components (gaskets, screens vide a much longer life. Unlike rubber, Triple/S Dynamics, Dallas, Tex.
and cleaners). The screens are me- PU balls are non-porous and extremely www.sssdynamics.com
chanically stretched and bonded to the oil-, moisture- and chemical-resistant,
screen trays, which can be rescreened says the company. The addition of a Screens with variable-frequency
indefinitely. Because the tray is a stainless-steel core to the ball and cube ultrasound cleaners
structural component, the intermedi- make them both magnetic and metal- This company offers ultrasonic screen-
ate stainless-steel sieve rings are of detectable. PU balls range in size from ing systems (photo) with innovative
simple design, thereby eliminating 5/8- to 2-in. dia. Sifter Parts & Ser- frequency variation, developed in co-
much internal structure making the vices, Inc. Wesley Chapel, Fla. operation with Artech Ultrasonic Sys-
trays lightweight and easy to clean. www.sifterparts.com tems. This type of equipped screening
Hinged guards provide full access to system provides efficient screening
the sifter and drives for inspection Reduce power, noise and more that improves screen throughput, pro-
and maintenance. The trailer also in- with this fine-mesh screener motes the disintegration of agglomer-
cludes a touchscreen PLC workstation; Unlike typical vibrating screens that ates, reduces the share of oversized
smooth Al interior panels, Al diamond- shake the entire screen box, the new material and delivers a permanent
plate decking; hydraulic leveling legs Longhorn Fine Mesh Screener moves cleaning effect for the screen, says the
and controls; generator and compres- only the screen cloth through a vibrat- company. Ultrasonic solutions can be
sor. Great Western Manufacturing ing rail. Among the advantages of the used for cut sizes from approximately
Co., Inc., Leavenworth, Kan. Longhorn are the following: minimal 25 to 1,000 m. With ultrasonic screen-
www.gwmfg.com structural vibration; low power con- ing, a special sound conductor is put
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 21
on p. 48, or use the website designation.
Focus

into high frequency vibration,


which spreads over the screen
deck. Through this action, the
frictional resistance between the
particles and screen mesh is less,
the tendency to clog is reduced,
clog cleaning is minimized, and
throughput is increased. Whats
Vibra Screw
special about the Artech process
is that the varying frequency as
opposed to the usual resonance pro-
Rotex Global
cesses avoids patterns of continu-
ous large resonance amplitudes. As a
result, not only the mechanical loads bulk material. Feeders are available with a variety of surface finishes and
on the screen decks are reduced, but so with variable speed drives and can be liners. Vibra Screw, Totowa, N.J.
is the formation of so-called hot spots. paired with the companys vibrated www.vibrascrew.com
Haver & Boecker, Oelde, Germany pins to provide a compact, low-cost
www.haverboecker.com hopper/feeder package. With the addi- An alternative to bar rakes and
tion of one or two screen decks, these screens in headworks
Meter, screen and convey machines offer an alternative to con- The Max-Flow Annihilator Grinder
just about any dry material ventional gyratory screens. As convey- System (photo, p. 23) is a custom-en-
This companys line of vibrating pan ers, they can handle up to 15,000 ft3/h gineered headworks debris-handling
feeders and conveyers (photo) offers and are available in lengths up to 25 system that protects pumps, valves
a simple and efficient way to meter, ft. All feeders, screeners and conveyors and process equipment in water treat-
screen and convey virtually any dry are in carbon steel and stainless steel ment plants. The low-maintenance

Circle 7 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-07
22 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
elliptical-linear motion of the sepa-
rator and equal feed distribution to
all screening decks ensures material
quickly stratifies and quickly spreads
across the width of the screen surface.
The long-stroke, low-frequency of the
unit gently separates material with-
out violent action that can reduce yield
of on-specification product. Rotex
Moyno Witte Global, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio
www.rotex.com
system can be used in place of bar the flow to the remaining grinders
rakes and screens, as well as drum during maintenance. Moyno, Inc., Screeners with full access, fast
screen grinders for enhanced perfor- Springfield, Ohio disassembly for easy cleaning
mance, says the company. The Max- www.moyno.com Vibrating screeners (photo) from this
Flow system contains two or more company are designed to permit fast,
Annihilator grinders mounted side- This minerals screener also easy and full access to the loading
by-side in a stainless-steel retrieval accepts hot materials tray, screening area and pan to allow
frame. They can be installed in an in- The Megatex XD/Mineral Separator frequent, thorough cleaning and speed
line, staggered or offset configuration (photo, p. 22) is designed for superior product changeover while minimiz-
to accommodate a variety of channel screening performance and increased ing downtime. Easily disassembled in
widths. The frame includes guide rails uptime. The machines design also al- minutes by a single person with no
to permit the independent retrieval of lows for material with temperatures tools, these low-maintenance vibra-
each grinder. Steel panels can also be up to 400F (205C) to be effectively tory screeners are accessed by opening
inserted in place of a grinder to divert screened at constant feedrates. The the companys one-handed C-clamps

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Circle 8 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-08
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 23
Focus

mounted around the perimeter. This In this process, a filter screen is au- two horizontally mounted screens in
releases the optional dust-control cov- tomatically moved out of the produc- a cylindrical housing supported on a
ers and screens for removal and re- tion position, and then backflushed circular base by rugged springs. The
veals the entire pan for inspection. The by the redirected melt stream. The screener is equipped with quick-dis-
screeners are available with a choice contamination is removed from the connect clamps between each screen
of wire mesh or perforated screens screen cavity and ejected via the frame, providing rapid interior access
in standard widths of 10, 23, 35 and drain channels. Compared to the use for inspection and screen changes. An
47 in. The screen is also available in of a screen-wheel filter, the back- integral CIP wash system employs
100% stainless steel with continuously flush screen changer reduced prod- spray nozzles strategically placed to
welded and polished seams to meet uct losses by 50%, says the manufac- emit cleaning solutions, rinsing so-
FDA requirements. Witte Company, turer. It was also possible to increase lutions or steam for sanitizing the
Inc., South Washington, N.J. the fineness of the filter mesh, the interior of the screening chambers
www.witte.com company adds. Kreyenborg GmbH, without the need to open or otherwise
Muenster, Germany disassemble the unit. Constructed of
Backflush screen changers can www.kreyenborg.com stainless steel with ground and pol-
reduce material losses ished welds, it meets 3-A, FDA and
This company recently equipped a Clean-in-place sanitary screener BISSC sanitary standards, as well
food-packaging-film producers re- scalps and dedusts as UL, ATEX, CSA and CE electri-
cycling lines with backflush screen A new sanitary, clean-in-place (CIP) cal standards. The unit is also offered
changers. The filtration process en- Vibroscreen Double-Deck Screener in diameters from 18 to 100 in., and
ables PET flakes to be processed at a removes oversize and undersize par- can operate on a batch or continuous
throughput of 500 kg/h. The backflush ticles from on-size chemicals, miner- basis, screening several pounds to 70
screen changer has a self-cleaning als, plastics, foods, dairy products, ton/h. Kason Corp., Millburn, N.J.
function, which is activated when the pharmaceuticals and other bulk ma- www.kason.com
specified pressure limit is reached. terials. The 40-in.-dia. unit contains Gerald Ondrey

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by visiting
visiting http://store.che.com/product/facts
www.omeda.com/cbm/facts

24 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013


Detection and
Prevention of
Department Editor: Scott Jenkins DP:DPO Fluid Leaks
he management of process plants requires Component selection
T understanding and applying the fundamen-
tal tenets of safe design, construction and
operation of facilities. This overview summa-
Because the HTF is significantly above its
normal boiling point at process temperatures,
adequate overpressure protection in the form of
MAINTENANCE PRACTICES
Simply put, three keys for adequate
maintenance practice are:
rizes best practices that have been developed pressure relief valves (PRVs) and rupture disks Respond to identified leaks promptly
to ensure the safest possible use of DP:DPO must be provided with adequate capacity for with repairs
(diphenyldiphenyl oxide) eutectic heat-transfer relief between selected points of isolation.
Repairs should address the cause of the
fluids. A review of the concepts necessary for Piping, flanges and gaskets. Seamless carbon failure, and not just the consequence
effectively maintaining a leak-tight heat-trans- steel has been shown to be an appropriate
fer-fluid (HTF) system is provided. selection for piping with organic HTFs in plants Learn, document, and practice recom-
up to their maximum bulk-operating tempera- mended preventive maintenance of the
HTF system requirements tures. Fully welded construction in piping is
equipment
A typical HTF system is composed of an en- preferable to threaded fittings, which should
ergy source, such as fired heaters or waste-heat be avoided. Graphite-based, paste thread
recovery systems, as well as pumps to force the established airborne exposure limits for either
sealants have demonstrated marginal success
fluid flow, an expansion tank to accomodate the component. In indoor areas, the airborne HTF
with threaded connections, in cases where they
volume expansion of the fluid and one or more may not dissipate readily, preventing easy
cannot be avoided, such as in instrument con-
heat consumers. tracing back to the leak point. In outdoor en-
nections, pump-casing drain plugs and others.
High-temperature heat-transfer systems vironments, the odor is more closely localized
With any metallurgy employed, the linear
are usually closed systems, so a release of around the leak point due to the more rapid
expansion and contraction of the piping must
fluid can only occur in the case of accidents dissipation in air.
be accounted for through the use of expansion
or malfunctions. As with all HTF systems, Process level indications. Todays installa-
loops and flexible connection members. Pipe
the design must accommodate the volume tions will have installed instrumentation for
supports should be generously spaced to pre-
expansion of the heating fluid. The extensive the routine measurement of liquid HTF levels.
vent sagging. Where flanges are necessary,
network of piping, instruments, and vessels, Changes in liquid level in vessels can be a
Class 300 and Class 600 ring-joint flanges or
combined with elevated vapor pressures, can somewhat crude, but important component of
raised-face flanges are commonly used. When
increase the potential for leaks from systems if detecting material loss.
using raised-face flanges, gaskets should have
adequate design and maintenance measures Specialized instrumentation. Instruments using
a metal ring for blowout resistance, and graph-
are not incorporated. the principal of photoionization are well
ite-filler with 316 stainless-steel spiral windings
suited for use in all kinds of process plants.
for fire-resistance. A key necessity for flanged
Leak sources These instruments can readily detect concen-
connections is to ensure that adequate and
Primary sources of leaks are flanged connec- trations as low as the ppb range. For realtime
uniform sealing compression (seating stress) is
tions, flexible connectors or rotary joints, and personnel exposure monitoring, the ppb sensi-
provided on the gasket faces.
pump seals. When insufficient flexibility is pro- tivity is appropriate to quantify exposure. For
Pumps and pump seals. Pumps in high-tem-
vided in piping networks, the resulting force maintenance needs, parts-per-million (ppm)
perature service can have double mechanical
applied to the flange pair can reduce gasket sensitivity is sufficient to determine orders of
seals, or can be of a sealless design. Excessive
compression and lead to leakage. Stainless- magnitude of identified leak sources so that
temperatures at mechanical seal faces can
steel flexible hoses were extensively installed repairs can be scheduled on a prioritized
vaporize the HTF, resulting in an absence of
on the early concentrating solar power (CSP) basis. The instruments are available as hand-
lubrication and mechanical damage to seal-
systems. Experience in the mode of failure in held units or as fixed-mount, continuous area
face materials. In order to avoid excessive
such hoses has found that the hoses develop monitoring stations.
temperatures (which can create particles that
small cracks. A properly installed flex hose will While not comprehensive, the above guid-
can erode the seal face and result in leakage),
avoid torsion and misalignment, and maximize ance can help develop practices enabling a
cooling of the stuffing box and seal gland is
its usable life. When flexible hose is used in safer system design, reduce leaks and lower
important to maintain lower temperatures and
place of rigid pipe, consult manufacturers make-up fluid costs.
also improve lubricity of the HTF.
recommendations of inspection and replace- Valves. Valves in DP:DPO service may include
ment frequency. forged or cast steel, or stainless steel bodies, References
Rotary joints have the advantage of greater balls, plugs and disks. Bellows seal designs 1. Gamble, C.E., Schopf, M., Heat Transfer Fluid
wall thickness, which give rise to a more can provide physical barriers for reduced Leaks: Break the Fire Triangle, Chem. Eng.,
robust joint, yet maintaining the flexibility to emissions and leaks. Soft-seat materials should Dec. 2010, pp. 2633.
support the demands of mobile piping. For be avoided, since they can burn out in case 2. Solutia Inc., Systems Design Data, Pub. No.
high-temperature service, the joints will typical- of fire, potentially adding to the complexity 7239193 version C, Therminol Heat Transfer
ly require periodic injection of graphite-based of the HTF release. Small valves with welded Fluids, Solutia Inc.
packing to maintain leak-free performance in a end-connections should be considered to reduce
fire-resistant design. potential leak points, and larger valves should Notice. Although the information and recommenda-
Standard centrifugal pumps will typically be considered with flanged end connections. tions set forth herein are presented in good faith,
use mechanical seals. While some seep- Eastman Chemical Company and its wholly owned
Relief valves can use engineered installations of subsidiary Solutia Inc. make no representations
age is not uncommon, problems can arise rupture disks beneath. or warranties as to the completeness or accuracy
that can reduce seal life and lead to more thereof. You must make your own determination of
significant leakage (see Pump and pump its suitability and completeness for your own use,
Leak detection the protection of the environment and the health
seals section). Human senses. When there is leakage, even and safety of your employees and purchasers of
When DP:DPO eutectic fluids freeze, the above its normal boiling point, the vapor your products. Nothing contained herein is to be
material contracts in volume by over 6%. If emitted can quickly condense to form a visible, construed as a recommendation to use any product,
the product then melts between frozen plugs process, equipment or formulation in conflict with
near-white mist cloud. For small leaks it may any patent, and we make no representations or
of product or other mechanical boundaries, be possible to observe liquid droplets present warranties, express or implied, that the use thereof
tremendous pressure can result. The pressure at the source of the leak, such as valve stems, will not infringe any patent. No representations or
can lead to release of the product through the warranties, either express or implied, of merchant-
pump seals, flanges, and so on, as well as on ability, fitness for a particular purpose, or of any
weakest constraint. When thawing a frozen sec- the ground. other nature are made hereunder with respect to in-
tion of piping or equipment, it is very important Also, the odor threshold is 9 parts per formation or the product to which information refers
to accommodate the expansion in volume into billion (ppb) for DP:DPO in air, making and nothing herein waives any of the sellers condi-
unobstructed piping or equipment. tions of sale. As used herein, denotes registered
detection by odor possible without exceeding trademarked status in the U.S. only.

FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Sponsored by


Circle 3 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-03
Methanol-to-Propylene
Technology
By Intratec Solutions

Raw materials costs

P ropylene has been established as an


important part of the global olefins busi-
ness, trailing only ethylene in terms of
volume of product. Because inexpensive natu-
ral gas from shale in the U.S. is increasingly
cling of olefins increases propylene yield and
absorbs the heat generated in the reaction.
After leaving the reactors, the mixture is
cooled and sent to the quench and compres-
sion steps.
1,800

1,600
Main utilities consumptions
Fixed costs

$/metric ton of product


1,400
used as a feedstock for producing ethylene, Quench and compression. The output from
1,200
lower quantities of three- and four-carbon ole- the reactors is quenched, where most of the
fins are available. For this reason, new chemi- water is removed. A portion of this water is 1,000
cal processes for on-purpose propylene using sent to the methanol-recovery column, while
800
low-cost raw materials are gaining importance. the remaining water is vaporized and used as
An example of such a process is methanol-to- dilution steam in the MTP reactors. The vapor 600
propylene (MTP) technology. stream from the quench stage is compressed,
400
The main raw material used in the MTP partially condensed and then separated into
process is methanol that is produced from liquid and vapor streams. 200
synthesis gas which, in turn, can be obtained Product fractionation. The liquid stream from
0
in large-scale from natural gas or coal. the quench and compression stages is sent to U.S. Gulf China
the debutanizer, to separate four-carbon C4 Coast
The process hydrocarbons (and those with less than four
FIGURE 2. Both China and the U.S. are favor-
The MTP process consists basically of two carbons) and DME from those with greater
able regions for MTP plants because of coal in
reaction steps: an initial one to dehydrate than five carbons (C5+ components). The C5+
China and shale gas in the U.S.
methanol to dimethyl ether (DME) on an stream from the column bottom is then sepa-
aluminum oxide catalyst, and a second one rated (in the dehexanizer) into a C5/C6 stream
is about $370 million. The capital investment
to transform DME and methanol into a variety that is to be recycled to the MTP reactors and
for a similar plant built in China is about $295
of olefins, ranging from ethylene to octenes. into a heavier-hydrocarbons stream (gasoline).
million. Figure 2 illustrates the operating costs
However, using a zeolite-based catalyst (ZSM- The debutanizer overhead stream is mixed
for both regions.
5), the process yields mainly propylene. A set with the vapor stream from the compression
Currently, the existing MTP commercial
of purification columns is necessary to obtain stage and sent to the DME removal system. The
units were constructed in China, inside huge
the polymer-grade (PG) propylene. system overhead product, mainly propylene,
complexes, where coal is extracted and
Figure 1 illustrates a process similar to the is sent to the de-ethanizer, while the bottom
transformed to synthesis gas, which is used to
ones licensed by Lurgi GmbH (the MTP pro- is mostly recycled. The bottoms from the de-
synthesize methanol in high-capacity facilities
cess; Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.lurgi. ethanizer is routed to the C3 splitter, to obtain
(over 1 million ton/yr of methanol).
com) and JGC Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www. polymer-grade propylene, while the overhead
China possesses large reserves of coal,
jgc.co.jp) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.s is recycled to the MTP reactors. The bottoms
making it a favorable region for MTP plants.
(Tokyo; www.mitsubishichemical.com) DTP material from the C3 splitter is purged as liquid
In the U.S., the growing availability of natural
process, which can be divided into three main petroleum gas (LPG).
gas extracted from shale guarantees the
areas: reaction and regeneration; quench and
availability of synthesis gas to produce the
compression; and product fractionation. Economic performance
methanol required for the MTP process. There-
Reaction and regeneration. In this stage, An economic evaluation of the process was
fore, the country is also a promising region for
the methanol feed is vaporized, mixed with conducted based on data from the fourth quar-
future MTP units.
recovered methanol and dimethyl ether (DME), ter of 2012. The following assumptions were
Edited by Scott Jenkins
superheated and sent to the DME reactor, taken into consideration:
where dehydration occurs. A 560,000 ton/yr unit erected on the U.S.
The product is mixed with recycled hydro- Gulf Coast (the process equipment is repre- Editors Note: The content for this column is supplied
by Intratec Solutions LLC (Houston; www.intratec.us)
carbons and steam before being fed into the sented in the simplified flowsheet) and edited by Chemical Engineering. The analyses
MTP reactors. The reactors were designed with There is no storage for feedstock and product and models presented herein are prepared on the ba-
several stages to better approach isothermal Outside battery limits (OSBL) units consid- sis of publicly available and non-confidential informa-
conditions. Propylene synthesis is conducted ered: propylene refrigeration system tion. The information and analysis are the opinions of
Intratec and do not represent the point of view of any
in multiple reactors: while one set of reactors The estimated capital investment (including third parties. More information about the methodol-
conducts the reaction, the remaining ones are total fixed investment, working capital and ogy for preparing this type of analysis can be found,
in regeneration or on stand-by mode. The recy- other capital expenses) to build the MTP plant along with terms of use, at www.intratec.us/che.

Fuel gas 1. DME reactor


2. MTP reactors
CW RF 3. Quench
Methanol 7
4. Compression
Recycle 3
ST 5. Methanol recovery
column
6 10
2 6. DME removal
ST CW system (col.1)
7. DME removal
Recycles ST PG Propylene system (col.2)
1 4 ST
1, 2 and 3 Recycle 1 8. Debutanizer column
CW 11 9. Dehexanizer column
CW
10. Deethanizer column
CW CW
11. Propylene-propane
splitter
Recycle 2 ST
5 ST CW LPG 12. Refrigeration unit

3 CW 8 9
CW Cooling water
ST RF Refrigeration fluid
ST Steam
Water ST ST RF 12

FIGURE 1. Propylene production from methanol, according to a process similar to the Lurgi MTP and JGC Mitsubishi DTP processes
Emerson Process Management

Wireless capability simplifies


level and interface monitoring
The Rosemount 3308 Wireless
Guided-Wave-Radar (GWR) trans-
mitter (photo) is designed for con-
tinuous level and interface moni-
toring in remote locations where
installing cable is costly or imprac-
tical. GWR transmitters are used
for process level measurement in
vessels and storage tanks in refin-
eries, oil fields, offshore petroleum
platforms, chemical and industrial
plants. Top-mounted for direct
level and interface measurement, Larson
the Rosemount 3308 is virtually Electronics

unaffected by changing process


conditions, such as density, conduc-
tivity, temperature and pressure.
The transmitter has no moving
parts, thus minimizing calibration
and maintenance needs. Costs are
further reduced when compared to
wired transmitters since there is Alfa Laval
no need for cabling, trenching, conduit
runs or cable trays. Emerson Process Parker Hannifin

Management, St. Louis, Mo.


www.emerson.com

Use this explosion-proof LED


lamp in hazardous locations
The EHL-LED-230X24LV-300 Ex-
plosion-Proof Hand Lamp (photo)
is designed for rugged use with an
Kin-Tek Laboratories
aluminum lamp body and globe
guard, impact-resistant bulb cover, Use this exchanger for heat These hose assemblies offer
and rubber housing bumpers for recovery with corrosive media greater vacuum resistance
added protection. The high-output The Diabon S15 plate heat exchanger This companys heavy-wall convoluted
LED lamp runs on low-voltage 12 (photo) provides efficient heat transfer in a hose assemblies (photo) can handle
or 24Volt current supplied by an corrosion-resistant environment, suitable vacuum applications in temperatures
inline transformer and offers inter- for use with corrosive media up to 200C. up to 500F. These hoses thicker PTFE
national 230V d.c. operating capa- It is constructed from Diabon graphite walls provide improved vacuum resis-
bility. The risk of accidental burns material, which is a dense, synthetic resin- tance at high temperatures as well as
is greatly reduced due to the lamps impregnated graphite with a fine pore greater kink resistance and reduced
cooler operation when compared to structure. Combining high turbulence permeation. The PTFE core also serves
typical incandescent bulbs. This and countercurrent flow, the Diabon S15 to reduce friction, effectively minimiz-
lamp is also impervious to shatter- maximizes heat recovery, yielding energy ing pressure drops and deposits. Manu-
ing and blowout when dropped. The savings. Designed to reduce maintenance, factured in sizes from - to 4-in. I.D.,
lamp includes a long-reaching 300- the exchanger features accessible plates stainless-steel or polypropylene braids
ft cord, which comes without an at- and a special plate pattern that reduces are available. Additional accessories
tached plug, allowing operators to fouling. The S15 is larger than other heat include fire sleeves, spring guards,
match plugs to the design of local exchanger types, with the potential to re- heat-shrink for color-coding and static
outlets. Larson Electronics, LLC., place several shell-and-tube or block ex- dissipative assemblies. Parker Han-
Dallas, Tex. changers. Alfa Laval, Lund, Sweden nifin Corp., Cleveland, Ohio
www.larsonelectronics.com www.alfalaval.com www.parker.com
26 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number
on p. 52, or use the website designation.
Bionomic Industries

compounds, such as high-pressure


gases (O2, CO, CO2 and CH4) as the
permeate source. Usage of controlled-
pressure analyte vapor as the perme-
ate source allows for permeation of
Turck
low-boiling compounds. Mixtures at
the parts-per-million and parts-per-
billion levels can be directly blended
from pure gases with these tubes.
Kin-Tek Laboratories, Inc., La
Marque, Tex.
www.kin-tek.com

These external spray nozzles


provide precise flow control
This companys new external spray
Yokogawa mix nozzles (photo) atomize fluids in
various spray patterns for a wide range
of uses, especially in applications re-
Exair quiring high liquid volumes or viscous
sensors and hydraulic and pneumatic liquids (up to 800 cP). Available in a
solenoid valves. Turck, Inc., Minne- round or flat pattern, these external
apolis, Minn. mix nozzles combine liquid and com-
www.turck.us pressed air to create a coating of liq-
uid. Liquid and airflow are controlled
A portable pressure calibrator independently, providing precise liq-
with diverse measuring ranges uid flow. Constructed of stainless steel
The new CA700 Portable Pressure for corrosion resistance, these nozzles
Calibrator (photo) features many func- are useful in painting, coating, cooling
tions including a variety of measuring and treating a variety of products.
ranges, as-found/as-left data storage Exair Corp., Cincinnati, Ohio
and memory capacity to store cali- www.exair.com
bration procedures. Equipped with a
silicon resonant sensor, the CA700 pro- This unit simultaneously scrubs
vides a calibration and verification tool gas and particulate matter
for pressure or differential pressure The Series 6500 Jet Venturi Scrubber
transmitters and other types of field (photo) utilizes a high-velocity spray
devices for commissioning or regular and scrubbing liquid flow to achieve
inspection. This calibrator can also simultaneous removal of gaseous
Overmolded cordset is alterna- generate and measure both current contaminants and particulate mat-
tive to field-wireable connectors and voltage. Maintenance is stream- ter as small as 0.75 m. Standard gas
New overmolded valve plug cordsets lined through the calibrators ability to capacity is 560,000 ft3/min. Featur-
(photo) from this company provide store and record data and error rates, ing a high liquid-to-gas ratio, this
connectivity in harsh environments, allowing for analysis of device perfor- scrubber is appropriate for applica-
as the overmolded face eliminates the mance and service requirements. The tions such as temperature reduction
need for an additional sealing gas- CA700 is available in three different of highly exothermic reactive gases,
ket. Featuring a translucent molding models. Yokogawa Corp. of America, steam condensation and operations
material with embedded LEDs, these Sugar Land, Tex. involving large variations in gas vol-
cordsets provide visibility for power www.yokogawa.com/us ume. Offered as a standalone device,
indication from any angle with black, additional accessories are available,
grey, yellow and clear coloring op- These permeation tubes blend including proprietary multi-spray
tions to accommodate diverse applica- high-pressure gases zone staging and polishing packed
tions. These fully assembled cordsets The Trace Source 57 Series refillable, tower, complimented by a full range
require no wiring prior to use. Fully gas-fed permeation tubes are used for of mist eliminator and sump tank
factory tested, the cordsets conform preparing trace mixtures containing capacities. Pre-engineered skid-
to both NEMA #1,#3,#4, #6P and IEC atmospheric gases, light hydrocar- mounted system arrangements are
IP67 standards, as well as meeting the bons, hydrides, acid gases and dilute also available. Bionomic Indus-
EN 17 5301-803 standard for electri- multi-component mixtures. These tries, Inc., Mahwah, N.J.
cal connectors that service pressure permeation tubes can employ analyte www.bionomicind.com
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 27
Honeywell International Omega Engineering

New Products

Use this pressure sensor with


very viscous media
The new Model 427 Wing Union/Ham-
mer Union pressure sensor (photo)
provides a wide and shallow sensing
port that facilitates the flow of viscous
fluids. The sensors one-piece design
and stainless-steel construction allow
for quick installation and durabil- Rotork Fairchild
ity, even with abrasive or corrosive
media. Featuring 0.2% accuracy, the
sensor detects small changes in pres-
sure for applications such as drilling,
mud pumping, fracturing, cementing
and acidizing. Giving personnel the
ability to quickly adjust flow pres-
sure, potentially dangerous conditions
such as the emergence of gas bubbles
are decreased. Multiple electri-
cal connections are available.
Honeywell International,Inc., Mor-
ristown, N.J.
www.honeywell.com

This pump series


gets an upgrade
The A Series eccentric-disc pump
(photo) incorporates a variety of up-
grades, including the implementation
of ISO PN 16/ANSI 150 flanges. The A Mouvex
Series has also doubled its maximum
differential pressure from 5 bars (72 points are calibrated based on water
psi) to 10 bars (145 psi), enabling it to flow, other liquids may require field-
be used for the safe transfer of viscous, testing. Constructed of plastic and
non-lubricating, volatile or delicate stainless steel, the switches feature
Reliable Fire Sprinkler
fluids in a variety of new applications. an operating temperature range of
These pumps enable product transfer 17 to 107C. Setpoint differential is Featuring a supply capacity up to 10
at temperatures up to 250C. They 20% maximum and setpoint accuracy bars and and flow capacity up to 280
have a maximum speeds of up to 7,450 is 15% maximum. Omega Engi- L/min, the Model 55 precisely controls
rpm, maximum flowrates to 55 m3/h, neering Inc., Stamford, Conn. output pressure up to 0.7 bars, even
as well as suction and discharge ports www.omega.com with fluctuating or rapidly decreas-
from 1- to 4-in. size. These positive- ing supply pressure. The regulator
displacement pumps utilize eccentric Precise pressure regulation in a also operates accurately at low control
disc technology, which enables self- small-footprint design pressures of 0.5 bars or less. Rotork
priming and dry-running capabilities. The Model 55 polymer pressure regu- Fairchild, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Mouvex, Auxerre, France lator (photo) provides high-precision www.fairchildproducts.com
www.mouvex.com pressure control within a lightweight,
compact package. Manufactured en- This wet alarm valve has a new
Use these plastic flow switches tirely from polymer and stainless stainless-steel trim
in very tight spaces steel, the small-footprint Model 55 The new Euro Trim Model E2 in stain-
The FS-120 Series of mini plastic flow offers compatibility with gases such less steel is designed for use with the
switches (photo) are designed for use as nitrogen, helium and oxygen. The companys Model E and E3 Wet Alarm
with water and water-based solutions regulator features a non-rising stem Valves (photo). This new trim has a
and can handle high-volume applica- and a patent-pending Venturi de- rated working pressure of 175 psi and
tions. Weighing only five ounces, the sign. Applications for this regulator 300 psi, respectively, and is available
compact switches are suitable for include precision pressure-decay and in 4-, 6-, and 8-in. sizes. The trim con-
space-constrained applications, such leak-testing, medical ventilators, re- forms to EN12259-2 and meets the re-
as coolant or chemical monitoring in spiratory diagnostic systems, balloon quirements of BS EN 12845. All trim
portable equipment. As the switch pumps and sterilization equipment. pipework is prefabricated in stainless
28 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
Eriez Manufacturing

Schubert &
Salzer Control
Systems

Dow Corning

well as vertical upside-down washing TC-5622 offers high-quality thermal


to clean the entrainment matrix, re- performance and improved stability
ducing clogging. Whims are available against hardening or dry-out in end-
in a number of models and sizes. use applications. TC-5622 also ex-
Eriez Manufacturing Co., Erie, Pa. hibits low thermal resistance in both
www.eriez.com thin and thicker bond line thickness
(BLT) applications that demand high
Motorized valve actuation with heat dissipation. Formulated with
precision and speed high viscosity, TC-5351 is well suited
The new motorized actuation of the for applications demanding resistance
2030 series valve actuator (photo) is to high temperatures and large gap
composed of an electric stepping motor thicknesses, as well as vertical appli-
(400 steps per revolution), a flexible cations requiring a thermal material
coupling, a gear box and stroke detec- able to remove heat without flowing
tor. Every part of the gear box is made out of the gap or changing viscosity
of stainless steel to ensure long ser- as temperatures rise. Dow Corning,
vice life. The actuator can achieve po- Midland, Mich.
Quantachrome Instruments
sitioning speeds of up to 1.3 mm/s, and www.dowcorning.com
each step of the motor results in a dis-
steel, which reduces the potential for placement of just 1.5 m. The use of a This water sorption analyzer fea-
internal or external corrosion. Re- 12-bit a.c./d.c. converter and a special tures large temperature range
duced connections minimize the risks interpolation process makes it pos- The Aquadyne DVS-2HT precision
for leakage onsite. Reliable Fire sible to detect the position the stroke water sorption analyzer (photo) is ca-
Sprinkler Ltd., East Grinstead, U.K. with a resolution of about 1.3 m. pable of analysis temperatures from
www.reliablesprinkler.com Schubert & Salzer Control Systems 10 to 85C. This analyzer measures the
GmbH, Ingolstadt, Germany amount of water vapor a sample can ad-
Purify non-metallic ores with www.schubert-salzer.com sorb, and the rate at which it is adsorbed
these magnetic separators and desorbed. The instruments preci-
New Wet High-Intensity Magnetic Address thermal challenges in sion microbalances are located inside
Separators (Whims; photo) provide electronics with these materials the temperature-controlled housing,
maximum recovery on even weakly The TC-5622 and TC-5351 Thermally providing a high level of sensitivity and
magnetic materials. Whims separate Conductive Compounds (photo) are de- reproducibility. The DVS-2HTs high
weakly and moderately magnetic min- signed for electronics applications in temperature range makes this model
erals and can remove impurities from many markets, including transporta- appropriate for simulating real-world
non-metallic minerals. Typical appli- tion, semiconductors, power electron- conditions of a products exposure to
cations include hematitic iron ore, me- ics, solid-state lighting, data centers, moisture over time, especially in fuel cell
tallic ores, rare earth ores and more. telecommunications and consumer and building material applications.
These separators simplify operation electronics. Using these compounds Quantachrome Instruments, Boynton
and maintenance with features such can aid in maintaining the long-term Beach, Fla.
as direct water-cooling, no-step mo- performance and reliability of equip- www.quantachrome.com
tion, air-assisted discharge for less ment. Boasting low specific gravity Mary Page Bailey
water usage and drier concentrate, as and high bulk-thermal conductivity, and Gerald Ondrey
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 29
CONFERENCE
Show Preview TRACKS
TRACK 1: Process and
Occupational Safety

TRACK 2: Industrial Water


Management

TRACK 3: Maintenance and


Reliability

TRACK 4: Regulatory Issues


Affecting the CPI

T
he fourth ChemInnovations Con- ences and Technology (BCST) and to
TRACK 5: Critical Workforce
ference and Expo will be held Sep- the scientific advisory board at Oak
Issues
tember 25 and 26 in Galveston, Ridge National Laboratorys Energy
Tex. at the Moody Gardens Con- and Environmental Sciences Director- TRACK 6: Automation and
vention Center. Programmed by chemical ates. He holds a Ph.D. from West Vir- Control Solutions and
industry leaders and designed for profes- ginia University (Morgantown, W.Va.; Strategies
sionals in the chemical process industries www.wvu.edu) and nine U.S. patents.
(CPI), the event aims to supply informa- On the events second day, the gen- TRACK 7: Energy Optimization
tion that will help companies and indi- eral session will mark the return of and Efficiency
viduals prepare for the future of the in- the Plant Managers Roundtable, an
dustry. The conference opportunity to hear TRACK 8: Practical Tools for
portion of ChemInno- insights and perspec- CPI Professionals
vations is organized tives on the CPIs
into eight tracks and current trends from
also includes two gen- a panel of plant man-
eral sessions, network- agers from the Gulf incidents drive the Boards recommen-
ing opportunities and Coast Region. The dations. She will also give updates on
a set of pre-conference makeup of the round- recent incidents at the Chevron Refin-
workshops that will be table is currently ery in Richmond, Calif. and the fertil-
held on September 24. being finalized. izer plant in West, Tex.
Prior to being confirmed to the CSB
General sessions Conference tracks at the beginning of 2013, Rosenberg
The keynote address The ChemInnova- was a researcher in environmental
on the morning of tions conference track and occupational health at Tufts Uni-
September 25 at the topics were developed versity School of Medicine.
conference will focus with the help of a dis- Lessons learned from industrial in-
on the impact of the tinguished advisory cidents, along with team situational
shifting feedstock Keynote speaker David Bem, Dow panel, who helped awareness, will be the topic of another
slate that the shale Chemical Co. global R&D director identify and frame presentation in the process safety
gas boom has en- key issues for the track. The talk will come from two
abled. To be delivered by David Bem, CPI. The group focused on assembling partners at Human Centered Solu-
global R&D director for the Dow sessions to include as much practical tions LLC (Lone Tree, Colo.; www.ap-
Chemical Co. (Midland, Mich.; www. information and insightful context for plyhcs.com). Additional presentations
dow.com), the presentation will begin conference attendees as possible in in the track will focus on controlling
with how shale gas has revitalized the each track. The conference topics are static electricity in hazardous areas
CPI in the U.S. While the economic indicated by the track titles listed in and managing plant-worker fatigue.
benefits of inexpensive shale gas have the box. Another issue that is increasing in
been widely described, discussion Acknowledging the central role of importance globally is maintaining
about the impact of the great increase safety in the CPI, the Process and Oc- a longterm water supply. The confer-
in ethane cracking has been much cupational Safety track is designed to ences Water Management track con-
more limited. Bem will explain how identify a variety of safety risks and sists of three sessions, all surrounding
the shifting feedstock slate creates present solutions to address them. The the theme of implications of water
both challenges to the industry and track is divided into three sessions, the management for the chemical and
opportunities for new technologies. first two of which concentrate on pro- petroleum refining industries. This
Bem joined Dow in 2007 and has cess safety, while the third focuses on track at ChemInnovations includes
held various leadership positions occupational safety. The track features a session on water reuse and conser-
at the company. Prior to working at a talk from Beth Rosenberg, a member vation in the CPI, where conference
Dow, Bem held positions at Celanese of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Haz- attendees will hear from speakers
Corp. and UOP LLC. He was recently ard Investigation Board (CSB; Wash- at Dow Water & Process Solutions,,
named part of the National Academy ington, D.C.; www.csb.gov). In her pre- Veolia Water Solutions (Paris; www.
of Sciences Board on Chemical Sci- sentation, Rosenberg will discuss how veoliawater.com) and Seimens En-
30 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
ergy Inc. (Orlando, Fla.; (Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.
www.usa.siemens.com). com), Jeffrey Goetz, is
In addition to conserva- titled From Integrated
tion, attendees will also Automated Plant De-
hear talks on wastewater sign to Excellence in
treatment and discharge Operational Optimiza-
from representatives of tion through Energy Ef-
Nalco Co. (Naperville, Ill.; ficiency. The track also
www.nalco.com) and Yates contains a presentation
Environmental Services on combined heat and
(Spokane, Wash.; www. power (CHP).
yatesenvironmentalser- The Practical Tools
vices.com). Also, the track Beth Rosenberg, U.S. Chemi- track offers engineers
will feature a session on cal Safety and Hazard Inves- a chance to learn both
the water-management tigation Board (CSB) about vital technical
issues that may be spe- and non-technical skills.
cific to the U.S. Gulf Coast region. In the non-technical session, attend-
Properly maintained process ma- ees will hear talks on effective com-
chinery maximizes equipment life- munication, executing investigations
times and reduces process downtime. and asset performance. The technical
In the Maintenance and Reliabil- skills session of this track includes
ity track, conference participants presentations on troubleshooting of
will hear from experienced speak- process pumps and statistical process
ers about risk-based inspections for control in the chemical industry.
instrumentation, fitness-for-service Currently being finalized, the Reg-
techniques and the future of manag- ulatory Issues track will examine the
ing asset-intensive businesses. Other most recent changes on the regula-
presentations in the track will cover tory front, and how they are likely to
practical solutions for maintenance impact the CPI.
and reliability.
Along with water management, an- Awards, exhibits and workshops
other topic of growing importance for In addition to the conference sessions,
the CPI is hiring and retaining the the ChemInnovations staff will host
workforce needed to accomplish busi- an awards banquet on the evening of
ness goals. To address this critical cur- September 25 at the conference lo-
rent issue, the Workforce Issues track cation. At the banquet, the winners
features presentations on developing of the 2013 Kirkpatrick Award for
technical leaders, accelerating opera- Chemical Engineering Achievement
tor development and recruiting, and will be announced. Also, a group of
hiring key employees. other awards, both company and in-
The Automation and Control track dividual, will be presented in areas
focuses on introducing new technolo- such as innovative energy strategies,
gies and on applying existing tech- community involvement, safety in-
nologies in new ways. One focus of vestment and others.
the track will be the use of wireless ChemInnovations attendees will
devices in the CPI. also be invited to explore the exhibit
As a key input for chemical facili- floor, where over 100 companies will
ties, energy is an ever-present con- display their equipment and services.
cern. Its efficient and sustainable use The September issue of Chemical En-
helps companies compete more effec- gineering will contain more informa-
tively. The Energy Efficiency confer- tion on the specific technologies being
ence track includes a presentation on showcased on the exhibit floor.
how energy will be used out to 2040, The pre-conference workshops on
given by Larry Gros, the polyolefins September 24 cover topics including
production technology manager at the basics of corrosion, root-cause
ExxonMobil Corp. (Houston; www. analysis and integrating a TWIC
exxonmobil.com). Another talk, to be (transportation worker identification
delivered by the director of operations credential) reader.
and sustainability for the Fluor Corp. Scott Jenkins
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 31
Feature
Cover Story
Report

Ten Things You May Not Know


About Liquid Mixing Scaleup
FIGURE 1.
Close attention to these Scaleup applies
to any kind of de-
aspects of scaleup can ensure Scale-up
velopment or test-
ing conducted in
smaller equipment,
greater success and using those
results to design
and operate suc-
David S. Dickey cessfully in larger
MixTech, Inc. equipment. While
absolute size does
not matter, the
small-scale results

T
he scaleup of liquid mixing sys- must be relevant
tems does not have to be a mys- to the large-scale
tery. The principles are quite well equipment
understood, although knowing
which principles apply is not always
obvious. Follow this guidance to im- the rotational speed of the impeller. In and feed locations, may also influence
prove operation. basic terms, three factors determine mixing intensity. Testing is usually
1. Liquid mixing scaleup. Liquid the size of any mixer required: 1) How done with a fluid that has the same
mixing is the most common use of much fluid must be agitated; 2) How properties as expected in the full-scale
scaleup methods in chemical engi- difficult the fluid is to move; 3) How application, although a test fluid with
neering. The concept of scaleup is to intense the agitation needs to be for the a different viscosity may be chosen
take small-scale results and predict application. if the flow pattern will change with
results in larger-scale equipment The answer to the question of how scale. For instance, the flow pattern
(Figure 1). The term liquid mixing, much can be quantified by either in larger tanks, with a higher impeller
more broadly called agitation, can be volume or mass. However, because Reynolds number, is less influenced by
extended to include most types of me- fluid density is an important factor in viscosity than in smaller tanks.
chanically induced fluid motion that is turbulent power, all combinations of Scaleup efforts will never be suc-
carried out for the purpose of increas- volume, mass, and density should be cessful unless the real objective and
ing the uniformity of concentration, known. The how difficult question critical variables have been identi-
composition or temperature. is measured by the properties of the fied correctly. For instance, scaleup for
In this article, the term mixing ap- fluid. Viscosity describes the difficulty product quality may be different from
plies to all types of mechanically in- for the motion of liquids, and may be scaleup for yield quantity. In some
duced fluid motion, including blend- applied to high concentrations of sol- cases, a high-quality product may re-
ing, suspension and dispersion. Fluid ids in slurries or pastes. sult in less quantity, or the opposite.
mixing also includes the blending of The settling rate of solids for a solids For example, the investigator should
viscous fluids, the suspension of solids suspension or the volumetric flowrate ask if a minimum requirement exists
in liquids, the dispersion of gases in of a gas for gas dispersion are also dif- for either quality or quantity, and how
liquids, the dispersion of immiscible ficult factors for multi-phase systems. much can be achieved for the other ob-
liquids and other efforts to combine Small-scale testing is often the best jective within the limiting constraint?
materials that behave as fluids. and sometimes the only way to The process of testing should explore
The reason that scaleup efforts are decide how intense mixing needs to the alternatives so that engineers
so prevalent for mixing processes is be. Properly designed and evaluated can choose a successful direction for
that the possible combinations of tank testing will include all three factors. scaleup and truly understand how
geometry, impeller types and process Deciding how much fluid needs to certain adjustments might be made
applications related to combining be mixed may also involve knowledge on the large-scale system to com-
fluids are almost limitless. To under- about the shape of the tank. Tall, slen- pensate for potential uncertainties.
stand how fluids behave when they der tanks and short, fat tanks may Testing to identify a range of possible
are mixed or agitated, you must un- present different mixing problems for conditions that will be successful pro-
derstand the fluid properties, the tank the same quantity of fluid. Tank fea- vides valuable information about how
size and shape, the impeller type and tures, such as the existence of baffles production-scale adjustments can be
32 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
B2

B1
D = the impeller dia., in. or m or mm
T = the tank dia., in. or m or mm
n = the exponent on the scale ratio,
unitless
Z2 W2 Because all calculations are ratios, the
units for each variable should be the
Z1 W1 same for the different sizes.
D2
During scaleup with geometric sim-
D1 ilarity, the ratio of impeller diameter
C2
C1 (from small scale to large scale) is the
same as the ratio of the tank diam-
eter (from small scale to large scale)
T1 T2 so the calculation can be carried out
FIGURE 2. With geometric similarity, linear dimensions are in the same proportion either way.
in both scales. For instance, the ratio of impeller dia. to tank dia. will be the same in The exponent, n, on the scale ratio
both scales.The relative size of all of the large-scale dimensions will be in the same determines how much the impeller
proportion to the small-scale dimensions
speed changes from small to large
made to ensure the desired outcome. ing, but both extremes need to be un- scale. For any positive value of n and
Other examples of problem defini- derstood. Often knowing the lowest any practical scaleup criterion, the
tion arise when considering solids intensity of mixing that is necessary large-scale rotational speed will be less
suspension. What aspect is the most for success will result in the most eco- than that of the small-scale mixer.
important for the specific application: nomical mixer scaleup. Some values for the exponent n
Keeping solids from settling on the bot- 3. Geometric similarity. Geometric have a physically significant meaning
tom? Or distributing solids uniformly? similarity means that all of the length for turbulent mixing. For instance, an
Or dissolving solids in the liquid? Or dimensions in the different scale tanks exponent value of n = 1 means that the
reacting the solids with something in are in the same relative proportions rotational speed is reduced in propor-
the liquid? Each may be governed by to one another (Figure 2). Geomet- tion to the linear dimension increase.
a different scaleup requirement. The ric similarity is not essential for all This speed change means that the
box on p. 35 shows sn off-bottom solids small-scale mixing tests, but it usu- impeller tip speed, ND, will be held
suspension, which is one type of sus- ally helps. Geometric similarity alone constant for scaleup. The constant
pension that can be observed visually. may be a sufficient reason for conduct- cancels out of the ratio of tip speeds,
Similarly, gas dispersion may be ing some small-scale tests. Unusual so ND is held constant on scaleup.
limited by several factors, including: tank geometry, impeller type or fluid If n = 2/3, the power per volume or
Mass transfer between the bubbles properties may be the primary reason power per mass is held constant with
and the liquid for small-scale testing. Geometry will scaleup. The exponent n can be devel-
Concentration uniformity in liquid dictate what flow patterns are created oped by simple algebra, using Equa-
A reaction taking place in the liquid and whether they will effectively con- tion 2:
Stoichiometric depletion of a compo- trol the entire tank.
nent in the sparged gas Scaleup with geometric similarity (2)
Correct identification of the primary means that the only remaining vari-
or a key process element is essential. able to be chosen is the rotational where:
2. Small failures. One major advan- speed of the large-scale mixer. Because P = impeller power, hp, W or kW
tage of conducting small-scale tests geometric scaleup from one size to an- = fluid density, lb/gal or kg/m3 or
before designing full-scale applica- other means that every length dimen- g/cm3
tions is that mistakes or problems can sion of the small scale is in the same N = rotational speed, rpm or rps
be observed using a smaller quantity proportion to the corresponding length D = impeller dia., in. or m or mm
of material. For instance, a reaction or dimension in the large-scale unit, any Equation 2 is only a proportional-
formulation failure on the small scale convenient length ratio can be used to ity not an equality, so appropriate
is less likely to create significant haz- calculate a large-scale mixer speed. constants and conversion factors are
ard or excessive quantities of waste. The most common length ratios to use needed to calculate actual values.
For investigators, one essential as- for this approach are the impeller dia. The constant of proportionality for
pect of those small-scale failures is or the tank dia. power involves the impeller power
noting the conditions that lead to the number, which is a characteristic of
failure, and establishing the reason the impeller geometry. Conversion fac-
for failure whether the problem is tors are necessary to ensure consistent
formulation or mixing related to (1) units for power, speed, and diameter.
avoid repeating those conditions. where: If the same fluid is used in both scales,
Insufficient mixing is more likely to N = the rotational speed of the mixer, the fluid density will be a constant for
cause a problem than excessive mix- rpm or rps scaleup, and will cancel out of the ratio
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 33
Cover Story

FIGURE 3. Scale-down is Scale-down


for small to large scale. For scaleup most often used as a means of
using the same fluid, the power-per- investigating possible improve-
volume and power-per-mass scaleup ments to an existing process.
are equivalent. The smaller scale provides
As shown in Equation 3, the tank a means of conducting tests
more quickly and efficiently,
volume, V, is proportional to the tank while avoiding large errors or
diameter cubed, which is also propor- waste if a failure occurs
tional to the impeller diameter cubed
with geometric similarity.
be longer than those for a small tank. rules for scaleup usually mean keep-
(3) With some justification, equal fluid ing one variable such as tip speed,
motion can be achieved with equal power per volume, off-bottom suspen-
The constant of proportionality is de- torque per volume. Torque is propor- sion, or torque per volume constant.
termined by the tank geometry for T, tional to power divided by speed, or is The variable held constant depends
and by the impeller-to-tank diameter proportional to the rotational speed on the application, although general
ratio for D. Combining the expression squared times the impeller diameter rules are not absolutes. Ideally, the
for power with the expression for vol- to the fifth power for turbulent con- scaleup method chosen will maintain
ume results in the Equation 4: ditions. Equal torque per volume re- a controlling aspect of mixing inten-
sults in an exponent of one, like equal sity. If testing shows that power per
tip speed, but only with geometric volume must be held constant for the
(4) similarity. desired results, then power per volume
Testing is strongly recommended should be maintained for scaleup.
Keeping N3 times D2 constant or if the effects of impeller type are in- Deciding which aspect of mixing
equal at both scales maintains power volved. For instance, test results ob- intensity gives the desired process re-
per volume as a constant, as shown in tained in a small-scale tank with a sults needs to be determined as part of
Equation 5: pitched-blade turbine may be difficult the small-scale testing effort. Merely
to interpret in a large-scale tank with changing the mixer speed in a series
a hydrofoil impeller. The flow patterns of tests will only determine the mixing
(5) created by different impeller types are intensity that is required in the small
likely to be different sometimes in a scale. Knowing the small-scale inten-
This equality can be rearranged to critical way. Some small-scale testing sity will not adequately identify the
obtain the large-scale speed as a func- may be devoted exclusively to under- intensity characteristic that must be
tion of the small-scale speed times the standing flow patterns within a tank. held constant for successful scaleup.
scale ratio raised to the 2/3 exponent. Computational fluid dynamics Increasing the rotational speed of
(CFD) provides another means of a mixer will increase the power, tip
modeling flow patterns. However, speed and torque, simultaneously.
(6) CFD usually lacks the ability to es- However, changing both the impeller
tablish the effects of mixing intensity diameter and the rotational speed can
In practice, nearly all of the practi- and flow pattern fluctuations that can test equal power, equal tip speed and
cal scaleup exponents for mixing fall be observed or tested in a physical equal torque independently. Match-
between the exponents for equal tip model. In these instances, small-scale ing equivalent conditions in the small
speed (1) and equal power per volume testing can provide more practical in- scale will help to identify the most ap-
(2/3). Other less practical scaleup ex- formation compared with computer propriate aspect of intensity that must
ponents for geometric similarity can modeling. be held constant.
be derived by similar rearrangements Geometric similarity is also strongly 5. Different scaleup for differ-
of expressions. An expression for equal recommended for solids-suspension ent applications. Although doing
Reynolds number can be obtained by testing. The way the discharge flow scaleup by fixed rules can lead to
keeping D2N constant, resulting in an pattern from the impeller strikes problems, some processes are con-
exponent of 2 on the scale ratio. Equal the bottom of the tank affects both trolled by fluid dynamic mechanisms,
Reynolds number scaleup results in the intensity and the direction of the and those mechanisms behave in pre-
too little mixing in the large scale. fluid flow, which will lift particles off dictable ways during scaleup. For in-
An expression for equal blend time the bottom and carry them upward. stance, rapid chemical reactions will
can be obtained by keeping rotational Off-bottom clearance of the impeller occur when micro-scale turbulence
speed constant, resulting in an expo- can be an important factor affecting brings the reactants together.
nent of zero. Equal blend time requires the bottom flow pattern. Liquid level For complicated chemical processes
an impractical increase in power for and other tank geometry will further that follow series-parallel reaction
any significant tank size increase. influence the fluid flow and thus the paths, the mixing intensity and local
Reasonable expectations would be suspension uniformity. turbulence may result in different prod-
that blend times in a large tank would 4. Determining scaleup rules. The ucts, because of different reactant com-
34 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
OFF-BOTTOM SUSPENSION IMPELLER DESIGN MATTERS
ne process result that can be observed and defined is off-bot- off the bottom, can be observed visually in a transparent tank.

O tom solids suspension. Off-bottom suspension occurs when


the mixer speed is just sufficient to keep all of the particles
from resting on the bottom for more than a second. The transi-
Off-bottom suspension is defined well enough that it is usually de-
scribed in terms of a just-suspended mixer speed, Njs. The speed
depends on the impeller type, impeller location, tank geometry,
tion from solids just moving on the bottom, to solids being lifted solids properties and concentration.
FIGURE 5 (RIGHT). This
photo shows solids suspension
with a hydrofoil impeller operat-
ing at the same power, speed,
and torque as the pitched-blade
turbine in Figure 4. Using an
impeller operating at the same
power, speed, and torque is
equivalent to replacing a differ-
ent type of impeller on the same
mixer drive. Because the hydro-
foil impeller has a lower power
number than the pitched-blade
turbine, the observed hydrofoil
impeller has a slightly larger dia.
than the corresponding pitched-
blade turbine.The hydrofoil im-
peller creates strong downward
FIGURE 4 (LEFT). Off-bottom suspension with a pitched-blade turbine is shown axial low, which lifts the solids
with red plastic beads in a transparent tank. The mixing intensity provided by the off the bottom and carries them
this type of turbine is sufficient to achieve off-bottom suspension. None of the par- further into the upper portion
ticles remain on the bottom of the tank for more than a second and the particles are of the tank compared with the
lifted into the upper portion of the tank pitched-blade turbine

binations. The length of the turbulent may hardly need small-scale testing does not happen uniformly. For in-
micro-scale eddies is related to the local for proper design experience with stance, one aspect of the process may
dissipation of power per mass, which similarly sized tanks may suffice. scale down at constant tip speed, while
is also power per volume for the same Note that small-scale mixer testing another may scale down at equal
density fluid. For scaleup efforts with does not always involve chemical reac- power per volume. The result will be
geometric similarity, the local power tions. Many mixing processes involve a small-scale process that behaves
per volume is some proportion to the just formulation blending different differently than some aspects of the
total or average power per volume For materials to uniformity. What makes large-scale process.
instance, the local power per volume in formulation difficult is the variety of The most critical aspect of the pro-
the impeller region might be ten times types of mixing (such as blending dif- cess must be studied separately. Just
the average power per volume. With ferent liquids, suspending solids, dis- as with scaleup, only one or two pro-
geometric similarity, that ratio between solving solids, heat transfer, disper- cess behaviors can be duplicated at
local power per volume and average sion of immiscible liquids, dispersion different scales. For instance, if sol-
power per volume should remain the of gas, viscous mixing and more) that ids suspension can be duplicated on
same. So while the power per volume may be needed for a single batch. the small scale, then powder addition
in the impeller region may be greater The challenge is that no single mixer may be different, and vice versa. When
than the average power per volume, the design may be best for all of these pro- scale-down is expected to duplicate all
average will scale proportionately for cess steps, yet the batch operation still aspects of the large process equally
similar locations in the tank. needs to be completed in a single tank. well, the results will always be disap-
Scaleup by power-per-volume with Additionally, the liquid level and fluid pointing; some aspects of the process
reactant injection near the impeller properties may change as the batch will always change.
is often the best approach for control- is being processed. Pilot-scale testing Just as knowing the objective for
ling rapid chemical reactions. Using may focus on basic aspects of the oper- scaleup is important, knowing the ob-
power-per-volume scaleup also results ation, such as order of ingredient ad- jective for scale-down is critical, too.
in a conservative scaleup, providing dition, time required for dissolution or For example, if the process problem
intense mixing in the large scale. blending, proper location of impellers, involves solids settling on the bottom
Simpler rapid chemical reactions, and other practical matters related to of the tank with some of the impor-
such as acid-base neutralization reac- variables in the batch process. tant ingredient being left behind, then
tions, which have only one path and 6. Scale-down is difficult. Some- solids suspension may be the focus of
produce consistent final products, may times scale-down (Figure 3) is used small-scale testing. If powder addition
be more influenced by liquid blending. to investigate an existing process for is the problem, then the testing effort
Mixing intensity may affect the rate problem solving or process improve- should focus on proper scale-down of
of reaction, but not the final product ment. If geometric similarity were the surface motion and rate of addition.
constituents. In those cases, assuring only critical aspect for pilot-scale test- Investigation of solids suspension
that all parts of the tank are in motion ing, scale-down would be easy. should focus both on turbulence inten-
may be enough for successful scaleup. The more common problem is that sity and fluid velocity near the bottom,
Applications with simple reactions scale-down of a large-scale process since these factors account for lifting
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 35
OPTICAL DISTORTION WHEN VIEWING MIXING
IN A TRANSPARENT CYLINDRICAL TANK
caleup is often used to take experi-

S mentally observed results from a


small-scale transparent tank and
use them to create similar results in a
large-scale tank. Visual observation
of what happens with an unusual tank
geometry or impeller type can be ex-
tremely useful in predicting results in a
large-scale tank.
Making good observations sometimes
involves an extra effort, even for a tank
filled with water. Simply seeing what
happens in a clear tank filled with water
will be limited by the optical distortion
that occurs when looking into the tank. FIGURE 6. The double-tank arrange- FIGURE 7. At the top of this photo, one
The optical distortion is caused by the ment shown here can be used to visually can see how the baffled tank looks when
curved surface of the cylindrical tank observe or photograph low patterns in a neither tank is illed with water. When
and the difference between the index of cylindrical tank. All mixing action occurs looking at the empty tanks, the blue baf-
in the cylindrical tank, just as in a process les are easily observed along the sides
refraction for air and water. tank. Optical distortion occurs when look- of the cylindrical tank. When only the
To reduce optical distortion, a cylindri- ing into the side of a cylindrical tank illed inner cylindrical tank is illed (as seen in
cal tank can be placed inside a square with water, much as a curved lens distorts the center of the photo), the optical dis-
box. When both the cylindrical, stirred or magniies visual observations. The tortion causes the blue baffles to disap-
tank and the surrounding box are filled external tank with a square cross section pear visually. When both tanks are illed
with water, the distortion is almost elimi- eliminated most of this optical distortion. with water (at the bottom of the photo),
nated because the air-water transition The lat side of the outer square tank the baffles can be seen, almost as they
occurs across a flat surface. This double- causes minimal distortion appeared in air at the top of the picture
tank arrangement is shown in the oblique
top view of the tank and box with the mixer in the center (Figure 6). The bottom portion of the picture shows what happens when both
The side view (Figure 7) shows the different optical effects. Starting the cylindrical tank and the square box are filled with water. The
at the top of the picture, when neither the cylindrical tank nor the blue baffles reappear, as they were seen in the top portion without
square box are filled with water, the blue baffles are easily seen water. Almost half the volume of the tank, around the perimeter of
along the side of the tank. In the middle of the picture, only the cylin- the cylinder, disappears from view when the distortion is not cor-
drical tank is filled with water. The optical distortion makes the blue rected.
baffles disappear almost completely.

particles and sweeping them away. time will increase with tank size. small, the power increments are to the
If surface addition of solids is being 7. Limitations of scaleup informa- fifth power of the impeller diameter
investigated, then surface velocities tion. Two questions are often asked in turbulent conditions. That effect of
must be duplicated and the addition with respect to mixing: those impeller diameter increments
rates must be scaled to account for What is the smallest tank in which I represents double the power between
volumetric flow of solids per surface can get good mixing results? small impeller sizes, and about a 50%
area. In many cases, choosing not only What is the largest scale change I increase between larger sizes.
the scale factor for adjusting the mixer can make successfully? The common recommendation for
speed, but also adjusting other rates, Neither has a simple answer for all testing to observe mixing flow pat-
may be essential for success. types of scaleup, just as the reasons terns in small tanks is for tank diam-
An objective, such as the rate of dis- for testing are different. eter between 1 ft (1/3 m) and 2 ft (2/3
solution of a solid, may not be affected The smallest tank for mixing tests m). In that size range, model impellers
by mixing intensity once all the par- depends on at least three variables: should create flow patterns similar to
ticles are suspended off the bottom The accuracy of the impeller shape those expected in larger tanks. And
of the tank. The critical factor in the The ability to observe flow patterns, with low-viscosity liquids, the flow
dissolving of solids is often solubility, The scale of mixing to be observed patterns will be fully turbulent. Such
which tends to be strongly affected by Small impellers always have propor- tests may improve the certainty of
temperature and particle size. Rate tionately thicker blades when com- scaleup for large tanks.
of dissolution is affected by the sur- pared with large impellers, to ensure In todays world of high-value prod-
face-to-volume ratio. For a given ap- that the small ones are not too fragile ucts and process minimization, a
plication, the mixing intensity must to handle. Also, small impellers for tank with a 1/4-m-dia. may be larger
be sufficient to ensure off-bottom instance, those less than 6 in. (300 than the standard production scale.
suspension of solids (Box, p. 35) and mm) in dia. typically come in size In which case, more must be known
rapid enough to maintain a nearly increments of about 1 in. (25 mm), about the controlling processes that
uniform concentration of solids in which is more than 15% of the dia. are observed in the laboratory. Scale
the liquid. The dissolving rate for the Increments for impeller size for di- testing and efforts must be carried out
same material and particle size may ameters that are larger than 20 in. to observe the effects of mixing, espe-
be nearly identical in the small scale (0.5 m) may be about 2 in. (50 mm), or cially if changing the stirrer speed in a
and larger scale, although the blend less than 10%. While percentages seem flask or beaker will affect the results.
36 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
Another scaleup consideration is just to move all of the fluid in a tank. cesses increase blend time and make
how much of a change can be done As a result, testing at a small scale can complete motion more difficult. For all
successfully. For instance, doubling a be useful in determining which type, of the experience in mixer design with
length dimension increases the vol- size, or number of impellers works low-viscosity liquids, limited experi-
ume by a factor of eight. Thus, an in- best for moving the fluid. ence and design guidance is available
crease of ten times the length scale Because flow is often laminar, for mixing high-viscosity fluids using
results in 1,000 times the volume. stretching and folding mechanisms close-clearance impellers.
For complicated scaleup applica- must replace turbulence and random However, a bright side to scaleup ex-
tions or those with limited small-scale motion for mixing. These slower pro- ists with viscous blending. Most viscous
data, a two-, three- or four-fold in-
crease in a linear dimension may cre-
ate significant uncertainties. In other
cases, laboratory data even for a
chemical reaction may allow for
scale changes involving a 10- or even
20-fold increase in the length dimen-
sions and the corresponding increase
in volume. Many large processes un-
dergo limited experimental testing, in
very small scales, yet mixing require-
ments can be met with large increases
in size.
Geometric similarity is not an essen-
tial for scaleup, provided the process
requirements are well understood and While the Water Environment Federation continues
the critical mixing variables are held to provide you with the greatest access to water
constant. A large-scale mixed tank, quality technology and education available today,
especially a pressure vessel, may be we understand the economic challenges being
much taller in relation to its diameter faced by the water sector, and are pleased to
compared with the small-scale tank provide you more for less.
that was used for development testing
and geometry modifications. For stor- We are pleased to announce the new WEFTEC
age tanks, small-scale testing is rarely pricing structure, including:
done, but large storage tanks may be Streamlined registration
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8. Viscous mixing. Applications in- Exhibition Hall registration for all attendees who
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ence many problems during scaleup, WEF and the WEFTEC Exhibitors)
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 37
Cover Story

mixing scaleup can be handled by equal chemical reactions are developed at before going into production.
tip speed. The power requirements for the laboratory scale. Commonly avail- While work in a pilot plant may pro-
nearly all of the blending processes able laboratory mixers may be as vide additional information about the
depend on Reynolds number, which is simple as magnetic stir bars in glass reaction, a pilot reactor should be de-
affected more strongly by a primary beakers, or flasks on a shaker table. signed to test and observe the effects
length dimension, such as tank or im- These mixer types are not effective that mixing has on the chemical reac-
peller diameter, than velocity. So, if tip in large-scale processes because the tion. Pilot testing needs to investigate
speed, which translates to fluid veloc- rotational flow patterns do not create the positive and negative effects that
ity, is held constant during scaleup, the sufficient vertical and horizontal mo- mixing has on the reaction, in terms
Reynolds number increases in direct tion for good mixing. The only reason of yield, quality and even the overall
proportion to the increase in the length that the swirling motion in laboratory success of the process. Mixing is nec-
dimensions of the tank. glassware is adequate is that in such essary to bring reactants together and
As the Reynolds number increases small containers the ingredients mix to distribute the reactants and prod-
with tank size, the effect of viscos- quickly regardless of the flow pattern. uct uniformly in the tank. Heat addi-
ity in the laminar and transitional Scaleup of chemical reactions often tion or removal may also be part of the
ranges is reduced. This change means follows two different paths an easy chemical process.
easier fluid movement and potentially one and a more difficult one. The easy Information about the process must
greater mixing intensity. For the same path occurs when the new reaction also establish critical mixing variables
Reynolds number, the large-scale is similar to one previously put into that are required to ensure the suc-
mixer could even be considered to be production, where the reaction steps cess of the reaction. Insufficient mix-
operating as if the fluid had a lower and any exothermic heat generation ing may not provide adequate unifor-
viscosity. The reduced effects of viscos- have already been successfully scaled. mity or blending that is rapid enough
ity should make mixing easier with Other reactions with different kinet- for the reaction to produce the desired
scaleup. ics, stoichiometry and heat release products. Excessive mixing may in-
9. Chemical reactions. Most new may require extensive pilot testing troduce air, or may negatively impact

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Engineerings
product properties. In any case, under- involves any chemical reaction result-
standing the limits of successful reac- ing in a significant heat of reaction plant cost index
tion, and understanding the problems (exothermic or endothermic). In the
that may arise outside the acceptable small scale, heat transfer may not be to improve plant
range, will help engineers determine a problem, but with scaleup, the heat-
both the methods and the range of transfer surface area decreases com- cost estimates
scaleup options. pared with the heat of reaction, which
For complicated chemical reactions, is a volume effect. Temperature con-
and delivered in
power per volume is often the most trol becomes more difficult as the tank advance of the
effective scaleup method, especially size increases. For an exothermic reac-
where mixing affects the product dis- tion, reduced heat removal will cause print edition!
tribution. With slower reactions, uni- a bulk temperature rise, which could
form blending commonly associated lead to a runaway reaction.
For more than 37 years,
with flow patterns and liquid velocity In most scaleup efforts, the cer-
may be more important for maintain- tainty of making the correct scaleup chemical process industries
ing batch uniformity. Reaction rate decisions may never be resolved until professionals- engineers,
and blending uniformity are both es- the large-scale process has been built manager and technicians,
sential for scaleup. and is operating. Even at the large have used Chemical
10. Scaleup uncertainties. A variety scale, the operating limits of the pro- Engineerings Plant Cost
of uncertainties arise during scaleup. cess may not be well defined. Several
Index to adjust process
In simple cases, deciding which mix- aspects of scaleup may improve with
ing mechanism is critical to the pro- size, such as reduced impact of viscos- plant construction costs
cess and keeping the critical variable ity as represented by increasing Reyn- from one period to another.
constant is easy. Geometric similarity olds number, while other aspects may
This database includes all
and constant velocity (equal tip speed) become more difficult with increased
scaleup may be sufficient for batch size, such as the reduction of the sur- annual archives (1947 to
and continuous processes involving face-to-volume ratio. present) and monthly data
basic blending. However, if multiple The key to effective mixing scaleup archives (1970 to present).
reactions are involved, one reaction is always to carry out a thorough in- Instead of waiting more
may be limiting in the small scale vestigation of the effects of mixing on
than two weeks for the
while another may be limiting in the the small scale. That investigation in-
larger scale. volves not just deciding what works, print or online version of
Some of these interacting hydro- but learning the limits and avoiding Chemical Engineering to
dynamic effects also may appear in situations that do not work. Simple arrive, subscribers can
solids-suspension applications, where liquid blending may not need any ex- access new data as soon as
local turbulence may lift particles off perimental testing because of a basic its calculated.
the bottom of the tank and local veloc- understanding of mixing. However, in-
ity will move particles away from the novative applications involving com- Resources included with
bottom and into the upper portion of plicated chemical reactions or non- Chemical Engineerings
the tank. The result is the determina- Newtonian fluids may be much more
Plant Cost Index:
tion of a scaleup exponent that falls difficult to understand and scale up
between equal power per volume, as- successfully. The process of investigat- Electronic notiication of
sociated with turbulence, and equal ing mixing effects on the small scale monthly updates as soon
tip speed, associated with velocity. The will often be a critical tool in creating as they are available
effects may depend on the particle a successful large-scale process.
All annual data archives
size, settling rate and concentration. Edited by Suzanne Shelley
(1947 to present)
Scale changes always involve
changes in the relative amount of sur- Author Monthly data archives
face and volume effects. A scale- ratio David S. Dickey (d.dickey@ (1970 to present)
mixtech.com) has run his own
change in a length dimension, such consulting business called Option to download in
as tank diameter, results in a scale- MixTech, Inc. since 1998
(www.mixtech.com). He has Excel format
ratio-squared change in area, tank more than 35 years experi-
diameter squared, and a scale-ratio- ence designing mixing equip-
ment and solving process or
change cubed in volume, tank diam- mechanical problems with
most types of fluid and pow-
Subscribe today at
eter cubed. Thus, any increase in scale
will result in volume effects becoming
der mixing equipment. He re-
ceived his B.S.Ch.E. from the www.che.com/pci
University of Illinois and completed his M.S. and
more significant when compared with Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering at Purdue
17817
area effects. University. He is a fellow of the AIChE, and is
a past president of the North American Mixing
A significant downside to this effect Forum (NAMF).

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 39


Feature Report

Pinch Analysis for Production


Planning in Manufacturing Industries
Joseph S. H. Lim
Adirondack Pvt. Ltd. and
The two new graphical techniques presented here
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia can help optimize factory capacity
Dominic C. Y. Foo
University of Nottingham Malaysia
and financial resources
Denny K. S. Ng Finished goods/
University of Nottingham Malaysia expenses

Raymond R. Tan Factories/bank Goods/expenses


(source) (sink)
De La Salle University

Ramlan Aziz, Services/funding


Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
FIGURE 1. Production sinks demand resources, whereas production sources sup-
ply the resources

anufacturers face seasonal ing on industrial water conservation and colleagues [12]. The later work

M supply-and-demand varia-
tions in their production
cycle due to fluctuations in
both market demand and supply of
raw materials. Therefore, manufactur-
[37] and utility gas recovery [79].
In addition, pinch analysis techniques
have also been extended to a variety of
non-conventional areas, such as finan-
cial management [10], supply chain
also caters to cases with the limita-
tions of minimum and maximum in-
ventories, as well as the scheduling
of process shutdowns that were not
considered in the earlier works [11,
ers need solutions that can help them management [11, 12], emergy analy- 19]. Subsequently, Ludwig and oth-
to cope with this challenge in effective sis [13], carbon-constrained energy ers [20] extended the techniques for
production planning. Pinch analysis, planning [14] , short-term scheduling production with seasonal variations
which has been used for resource con- of batch processes [15], carbon capture in demand. Note that those previous
servation in the past few decades, has and storage [16, 17] as well as human works demonstrated the usefulness of
recently been extended to production resource planning [18]. However, there pinch analysis as a decision-support
planning problems. In this article, two has been very limited work on the use tool for production-planning problems.
novel graphical tools are proposed to of pinch analysis in the area of produc- Also, the main objective of those works
address two common production plan- tion planning. was to determine the production rate
ning problems, namely, factory capac- In most manufacturing companies, based on the seasonal forecast for a
ity planning and financial resource the producers are typically faced with given planning horizon. Besides, Foo
planning. Industrial case studies on seasonal supply-and-demand prob- and others [15] extended pinch-anal-
the small-scale production of high- lems, which leads to the emergence ysis approach for short-term schedul-
value products are shown to illustrate of lean and peak periods. Such varia- ing of batch reactors in multi-purpose
the approach. tion in supply and demand are beyond plants. However, none of the above
the manufacturers control. In order techniques address the minimization
Pinch basics to overcome such problems, manufac- of outsourcing; nor do they explore op-
Pinch-analysis techniques have been turing companies can only plan the portunities for operational changes.
widely used as systematic design tools production based on constraints, such The underlying principle of pinch
in the chemical process industries (CPI) as production capacity or available fi- analysis is the use of information about
over the past three decades. The tech- nancial resources, in order to accom- stream quantities, such as production,
niques were initially developed for the modate the varying demand. manpower, heat, water and carbon,
synthesis of heat-recovery networks Some earlier attempts to use a in conjunction with data about the
[1]. Through heat-and-mass transfer pinch-analysis approach for aggregate quality of those systems to optimize
analogy, the proposed techniques were planning in the supply chain have been the overall system. Depending on the
later extended for mass-integration developed by Shenoy and co-workers application, stream quality may be de-
problems [2]. More recently, pinch- based on a graphical approach [11, fined by key process variables, such as
analysis techniques were developed for 19]. An equivalent algebraic-targeting temperature for heat recovery or con-
resource conservation networks, focus- technique was later developed by Foo centration for mass integration [39,
40 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
TABLE 1. INVENTORY DATA AND FACTORY CAPACITY FOR CASE STUDY 1
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total
Inventory
(containers) 5 5 10 10 15 5 5 10 15 20 10 5 115 lem of production planning, we shall
Factory first identify the production sinks and
capacity 20 20 20 60 the sources of the planning problem.
Production sinks are defined as
the units or sections that demand re-
Jan 20 containers Source composite curve sources. Production sources are units
Feb or sections that contain the resources.
Mar
Apr For instance, production of noni pow-
May 20 containers der (a nutritional product extracted
Month

June
July from the tropical fruit, Morinda citri-
Aug folia) is treated as a sink that requires
Sep production space. On the other hand,
Oct 20 containers
Nov Sink composite curve factories are treated as sources, as
Dec they can be used to satisfy the produc-
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Number of containers
tion requirement of the goods. In this
context, sources may be viewed as pro-
FIGURE 2. This PPPD for case 1 (noni factory) is not feasible because the part of viding services (for example, produc-
the source composite curve is below the sink composite curve tion space) to the sinks. The overall
concept is illustrated in Figure 1.
Although supply and demand of
Outsourced: 60 containers
20 containers goods are typically beyond the manu-
Jan facturers control to a certain extent,
Feb
Mar control of time and capacity adapta-
Apr 20 containers tion is still possible. Note that produc-
May
tion capacity or factory space can ei-
Month

June Sink composite curve Source composite curve ther be fixed or variable. For instance,
July Pinch October
Aug if a factory is located in a standard
Sep 20 containers
Oct industrial lot with fixed dimensions,
Nov Excess: 5 it is classified as a fixed capacity/vari-
Dec containers
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
able time problem. On the other hand,
cases where the factory, or production
FIGURE 3. This feasible PPPD is obtained by horizontally shifting the source com- units are flexible (that is, if the manu-
posite curve of Figure 2 to the right facturer could acquire them according
to their exact requirements) can be
21]. In many management extensions nies (MNC) usually acquire adequate classified as a variable capacity/vari-
of pinch analysis, time is used as the space for future expansion of plants able time problem. For example, such
quality index [11, 1820]. and warehouses, and purchase ma- cases usually occur in pharmaceutical
In this article, two novel graphical chines that are custom-made to meet and allied industries. Both cases are
techniques for production planning are their production capacities (the ma- illustrated in the following industrial
proposed, namely production planning chines sometimes cater for expansion, case studies. The objective of the pro-
pinch diagram (PPPD) and produc- too). On the other hand, SMEs have posed approach is to determine the
tion planning grand composite curve relatively limited financial resources, minimum outsource requirement. To
(PPGCC). These new production plan- and thus tend to rent readily avail- fulfill the objective, the PPPD and
ning tools can be used to optimize fac- able industrial spaces as production PPGCC are used, and are illustrated
tory capacity and financial resources, units that are readily available in the using the following case studies.
which are common challenges in most market. Therefore, proper production
companies. Such problems are particu- planning in SMEs presents unique Case Study 1
larly critical for small and medium en- challenges. With these newly devel- We first consider an example involv-
terprises (SMEs), which typically are oped tools, SMEs will be able to han- ing production planning for a powder-
heavily constrained by limited capital dle the production planning problems production factory. This case study
resources. The problem arises when a more effectively. describes a food processing factory
company or facility is maximizing the that produces noni powder that is
use of its company resources, such as Underlying principles dried at very low temperature using
inventory or the factory capacity, while The basic principle of the newly devel- infrared drying technology. Table 1
minimizing outsourcing by reducing oped graphical techniques is based on shows the forecasted inventory data
idle space or excess factory capacity. the work of Ooi and colleagues [17], based on the previous years record.
This goal implies the minimization of which was originally developed for In this case study, a production cam-
additional costs. CO2 capture-and-storage planning paign across a one-year planning ho-
Large or multi-national compa- problems. In order to address the prob- rizon is considered.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 41
Feature Report

Outsourced 60 containers 60 containers


20 containers
J J
F F
M M
A 20 containers A
M M 35 containers
35 containers
Month

Month
J J
J Pinch (October) J
A A
S 20 containers S Pinch (Oct.)
O O
N N
D D
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Number of containers Number of containers

FIGURE 4. The PPGCC is plotted to reflect the horizontal gaps be-


tween the source and sink composite curves
J
F
25 containers
Scenario 1. Three noni factories, each Note that both composite M
with a capacity of 20 containers, are curves take the shape of a A
M
available. However, the availability of staircase due to the con-

Month
J
these noni factories is different. Fac- sideration of the time fac- J
35 containers
A
tory 1 is available from the start of the tor. The y-axis of the com- S
planning horizon. However, Factories posite curve represents O
N
2 and 3 are only made available in the the time of availability D
months of May and October, respec- of the production sinks 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
tively. The company may outsource (inventory) and sources Number of containers
the production at added cost if the ca- (factory) throughout the
FIGURE 5. The shaded area of the PPGCC is the
pacity of these factories is insufficient. entire planning horizon time pocket for Case Study 1, where the production
To minimize the outsourcing require- while their horizontal dis- requirement is satisfied by internal capacity (existing
ment, the usage of all factories should tances represent the total factories)
be maximized. amount of product.
As mentioned above, the factories As shown in Figure 2, part of the curves, as the x-axis represents the
are treated as sources, as they pro- source composite curve stays below amount of inventory for both sink and
vide production space and services for the sink composite curve. This is an source composite curves, while the
the inventory (sinks). To make use of infeasible situation, as sources (that y-axis is the true timeframe for the
the PPPD, we first translate the pro- is, factories) cannot be used to pro- planning horizon.
duction forecast data into the sink duce goods before they are ready for Based on Figure 3, it is noted that
composite curve. Each horizontal seg- production. Hence, the source compos- there is a gap at the top section of the
ment of the composite curve is plot- ite curve is shifted horizontally to the composite curves. This indicates that
ted, based on its inventory amount right until the source composite curve 60 containers of product need to be out-
on the x-axis, against a correspond- is entirely above the sink composite sourced through production at off-site
ing time period on the y-axis. On the curve and touches the latter at the facilities. This is due to the time pinch
other hand, the sources (correspond- pinch point, to form the feasible PPPD that is formed in October; the latter
ing to factory capacities in this case) (see Figure 3). As shown, all storage may be viewed as the overall time bot-
are identified and plotted to form the sources are now prepared much ear- tleneck for the factory allocation prob-
source composite curve, similar to that lier than the sinks that they will need lem. Note also that excess capacity is
of the sink composite curve. Figure 2 to serve. Note that only a horizontal found at the end of the planning hori-
shows the PPPD of this case study. shift is permitted for the composite zon (five containers). This means that

References Ind. & Eng. Chem. Res., 42, pp. 4,3194328. finery Hydrogen Distribution Systems, Ind.
5. Manan, Z. A., Tan, Y. L. and Foo, D. C. Y., Tar- & Eng.Chem. and Res., 41, pp. 5,7595,769,
1. Linnhoff, B., others, A User Guide on Pro- 2002.
cess Integration for the Efficient Use of En- geting the Minimum Water Flowrate Using
ergy, IChemE, Rugby, U.K., 1982. Water Cascade Analysis Technique. AlChE 9. Foo, D. C. Y. and Manan, Z. A., Setting the
J., 50 (12), pp. 3,1693,183, 2004. Minimum Flowrate Targets for Utility Gases
2. El-Halwagi, M. M. and Manousiouthakis,V., 6. Prakash, R. and Shenoy, U. V., Targeting and Using Cascade Analysis Technique, Ind. &
Synthesis of Mass Exchange Networks. Design of Water Networks for Fixed Flowrate Eng.Chem. Res., 45(17), pp. 5,9865,995,
AlChE. J., 35(8), pp. 1,2331,244, 1989. and Fixed Contaminant Load Operations, 2006.
3. Wang, Y. P. and Smith, R., Wastewater Mini- Chem. Eng. Sci., 60(1), pp. 255268, 2005. 10. Zhelev, T. K., On the Integrated Manage-
mization, Chem. Eng. Science, 49, pp. 981 7. Agrawal, V. and Shenoy, U.V., Unified Con- ment of Industrial Resources Incorporating
1,006, 1994. ceptual Approach to Targeting and Design Finances, J. of Cleaner Production, 13, pp.
4. El-Hawagi, M. M., Gabriel, F. and Harell, D., of Water and Hydrogen Networks. AlChE J., 469474, 2005.
Rigorous Graphical Targeting for Resource Con- 52(3), pp. 1,0711,081, 2006. 11. Singhvi, A. and Shenoy, U. V., Aggregate
servation via Material Recycle/reuse Networks, 8. Alves, J. J. and Towler G. P., Analysis of Re- Planning in Supply Chains by Pinch Analy-

42 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013


Outsourced : 15 containers
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr New pinch
May (July)
Opportunities for
Month

June
July operational changes
Aug of the PPPD are plotted against time
Sep throughout the entire planning hori-
Oct
Nov
zon. Once the PPGCC is constructed,
Dec time pockets the shaded areas in
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 Figure 5 can be determined. The
Number of containers time pocket is analogous to the heat
pocket for heat recovery [1], where
FIGURE 6. The PPPD for the second scenario of Case Study 1 shows rescheduling
of the noni factories the required production requirement
(sink) may be supplied by internal ca-
pacity. The opening at the top of the
Outsourced : 15 containers PPGCC indicates when the outsourc-
Jan
Feb
ing (60 containers of product) are
Mar needed. As shown, storage outsourc-
New pinch Rent /acquire 2
Apr ing is needed between March and May
May (July) additional factories
to meet production (25 containers of products), as well as
Month

June
July for August to September (35 contain-
Aug
Sep
ers of products).
Oct Scenario 2. The opportunities of
Nov rescheduling can also be considered
Dec
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 with the aid of the PPPD. In a differ-
Number of containers ent scenario, we shall reschedule the
noni factories in order to make use of
FIGURE 7. Here, the PPPD for the second scenario of Case Study 1 shows resched- its excess capacity identified earlier.
uling of the noni factories with renting additional production capacity In this case, it is assumed that the
factory can be rescheduled by produc-
containers are needed ing some goods earlier than originally
J
F
to fulfill the given plan- planned. Assuming that Factories 2
M ning horizon. However, and 3 can now be rescheduled three
A
15 containers the outsourced contain- months ahead of the original sched-
M
ers are not needed at the ule, the pinch point moves forward to
J
Month

J beginning of the project. the month of July instead of October


A In other words, the out- (see Figure 6). Note that any factory
S sourced containers may rescheduling or operational adjust-
O
N be delayed until it is in- ment can only be made after the
D deed necessary. However, pinch, where there is excess resource
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
the exact day when the availability. On the other hand, ad-
Number of containers
outsourced container is justments before the time pinch do
FIGURE 8. The new PPGCC for the rescheduled sce- needed cannot be seen di- not bring any benefit. Shifting the
nario of Case Study 1 is depicted here rectly in the PPPD. This pinch point earlier, thus gives the
calls for the use of the company room for operational adjust-
the factory is under-utilized after the PPGCC, which has been used exten- ment. In this particular case, the out-
time pinch has passed. In other words, sively for appropriate utility selection sourced requirement is reduced from
the company may be able to make use in heat integration [1]. 60 to 15 containers. Apart from out-
of this excess capacity for producing The construction of the PPGCC for sourcing, the company may decide to
other products or provide the storage Case Study 1 is shown in Figure 4, rent another two production facilities
service to other manufacturers. where the horizontal distance between each with capacities of 20 containers
From Figure 3, it is noted that 60 the source and sink composite curves during the months of August and Sep-

sis, Trans. of the IChemE, Part A, 80. pp. Analysis Approach to Short-term Schedul- mize Shift Scheduling Using Pinch Analysis.
597605, 2002. ing of Batch Reactors in Multi-purpose Chem. Eng., July, pp. 4852, 2010.
Plants, Int. J. of Chem. Reactor Eng., 5, A94, 19. Singhvi, A., Madhavan, K. P. and Shenoy, U.
12. Foo, D. C. Y., others, A Heuristic-based Al- 2007.
gebraic Targeting technique for aggregate V., Pinch Analysis for Aggregated Produc-
planning in supply chains. Computer and 16. Tan, R. R., Ng, D. K. S. and Foo, D. C. Y., Pinch tion Planning in Supply Chains, Comp. and
Chem. Eng., 32(10), pp. 2,2172,232, 2008. Analysis Approach to Carbon-Constrained Chem. Eng., 28, pp. 993999, 2004.
Planning for Sustainable Power Generation. 20. Ludwig, J., and others, Production Plan-
13. Zhelev, T. K. and Ridolfi, R. (2006). Energy J. of Cleaner Production, 17, pp. 940944,
Recovery and Environmental Concerns Ad- ning by Pinch Analysis for Biomass Use in
2009. Dynamic and Seasonal Markets, Int. J. of
dressed through Emergy-pinch Analysis, En-
ergy, 31 (13), pp. 2,1502,162, 2006. 17. Ooi, R. E. H., and others, Planning of Operational Res., Vol. 47, No. 8, January, pp.
Carbon Capture and Storagewith Pinch 2,0792,090, 2009.
14. Tan, R. R. and Foo, D. C. Y., Pinch Analysis Ap- Analysis Techniques, Chem. Eng. Res. &
proach to Carbon-constrained Energy Sector 21. Foo, D. C. Y., Process Integration for Resource
Des., (in press); http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. Conservation, Green Chemistry and Chemi-
Planning. Energy, 32(8), pp. 142149, 2007. cherd.2013.04.007. cal Engineering, ISBN: 978-1-4398-6048-9,
15. Foo, D. C. Y., Hallale, N. and Tan, R.R., Pinch 18. Foo, D. C. Y., Hallale, N. and Tan R. R., Opti- CRC Press, 2012.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 43


Feature Report

tember. Based on this strategy, the TABLE 2. MONTHLY EXPENSES AND AVAILABLE FUNDS FOR CASE STUDY 2
production requirement of the factory
can be fulfilled (see Figure 7). Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total
Following the same approach as Expenses
before, the PPGCC for the case with $1,000 20 20 10 0 0 10 20 50 30 20 10 10 200
two rented production facilities is
Funds
shown in Figure 8. Note that the
opening of the PPGCC indicates that $1,000 30 50 70 150
outsourcing 15 containers is only re-
quired between April and July (see Deficit $ 80,000
Figure 8). Jan $ 30,000
Feb
Mar Source composite curve (Funds)
Case Study 2 Apr
The second case study involves a cel- May $ 50,000
Month

lular food factory that produces a June


July Pinch (September)
nutritional beverage. The monthly
Aug Sink composite curve
expenses include purchases of raw Sep (expenses) $ 70,000
materials, rental of factory premises, Oct
salaries, utilities, administrative and Nov (Excess
Dec $30,000 )
marketing costs. Table 2 shows the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
monthly expenses for Case Study 2,
Cash ($ x 10,000)
where a production campaign across a
year planning horizon is considered. FIGURE 9. A feasible PPPD for targeting minimum outsourcing is given for Case
Scenario 1. For this problem, the Study 1
headquarters allocates funds amount- FIGURE 10. The J $ 20,000
ing to $30,000, $50,000 and $70,000. PPGCC is plotted to F
However, the availability of these graphically illustrate M
A
funds is at different times. Fund 1 is that external funds M
are needed in the
Month

available from the start of the plan- J


period of January J $ 60,000
ning horizon. Funds 2 and 3 are only February and July A
made available in May and September, August S
O
respectively. The goal is to minimize N
any external requirement for added D
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 80 100 120
financing (for instance, through short-
Cash ($ x 10,000)
term loans). Alternatively, if economi-
cally justified, the production planner
may also decide on the amount of ex- Deficit - $ 50,000
ternal borrowings/overdraft needed Jan $ 30,000
in order to ensure the operations run Feb
smoothly. In this context, funding is Mar Source composite curve (funds)
readily available, via internal fund- Apr $ 50,000
May
ing or overdrafts, and could be drawn June New pinch (August)
Month

down as required. July


Figure 9 shows the feasible PPPD Aug Sink composite curve $ 70,000
for the fund allocation problem. As Sep (Expenses)
Oct
shown, the monthly expenses are Nov
represented by the sink composite Dec
curve, while the amount of available 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
funds is plotted as the source compos- Cash ($ x 10,000)
ite curve. The feasible PPPD shows
FIGURE 11. The PPPD for scenario 2 (rescheduling) of the project funding example
a gap at the top section of the com-
(case study 2)
posite curves, which represents the
minimum capital injection into the the monthly expenses requirement used elsewhere for other investments.
project; in other words, external fund- problem. On the other hand, excess Figure 10 shows the PPGCC for this
ing is required. In this case study, funds of $30,000 are found at the end scenario, where external funds are
$80,000 needs to be injected into the of the planning horizon. This result needed in the periods of January
project. This is mainly due to the time shows that the excess funds, which February and JulyAugust.
pinch that is formed in the month of are under-utilized after September Scenario 2. The opportunities for re-
September; and is the bottleneck for (when the time pinch occurs) can be scheduling can also be considered with
44 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
the aid of PPPD. In a different scenario, FIGURE 12. The
we shall reschedule the funding alloca- J PPGCC for Case
F $20,000 Study 2 is shown here
tion in order to make use of the excess
M
fund identified earlier. In this case, it A
is assumed that the headquarters has M

Month
J $ 30,000
allocated the funds for the factory and J
may reschedule the funds as required. A
S
Assuming that these funds can now be O
rescheduled one month ahead of the N
original schedule, the time pinch moves D
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
forward to the month of August instead Cash ($ x 10,000)
of September (see Figure 11). Note that
any process rescheduling or operational
adjustment can only be made after the Authors
pinch, as there now appears to be ex- Joseph S. H. Lim is the man- Dominic C. Y. Foo is pro-
cess resource availability. Shifting the aging director of Adirondack fessor of Process Design
Ptd. Ltd. (54A, Road 19/3, and Integration at the
pinch earlier gives the company room Petaling Jaya, 46300 Selan- University of Nottingham,
for operational adjustment. In this gor, Malaysia). He obtained Malaysia Campus (Dept. of
his masters degree in plant Chemical and Environmen-
particular case, the outsourced fund process management from tal Engineering, and Cen-
Institute of Bioproduct Devel- ter of Excellence for Green
requirement is reduced from $80,000 opment, Universiti Teknologi, Technologies, University of
to $50,000. This results in zero excess Malaysia, and is currently Nottingham Malaysia Cam-
pursuing his engineering doc- pus, Broga Road, 43500 Se-
funds at the end of the planning ho- torate in plant process engi- menyih, Selangor, Malaysia;
rizon similar to that in Case Study 1. neering in the same institution. He is the key Phone: +60(3)-8924-8130; Fax:+60(3)-8924-
person in the innovation and commercialization 8017; E-mail: dominic.foo@nottingham.edu.
The PPGCC for Case Study 2 in Fig- of natural health and beauty products under the my). He is a professional engineer registered
ure 12 shows that capital injections are brand Orifera (www.orifera.com) and several with the Board of Engineer Malaysia. His re-
other private brands. Currently, he manages search interests include the development of
needed in the same period as Scenario two manufacturing plants in Malaysia, namely process integration techniques for resource
Life Science Corporation (GMP) Pvt. Ltd., which conservation and production planning. Foo
1, but the amount is smaller. manufactures herbaceutical products; and Cos- routinely establishes international collabora-
mescience Corp. (GMP) Pvt. Ltd., which manu- tion with researchers from various countries
factures herbal toothpaste and cosmeceuticals in Asia, Europe, American and Africa. He is
Final remarks for both local and overseas markets. also the winner of the Innovator of the Year
Novel graphical-pinch-targeting Raymond R. Tan is a univer- Award 2009 of IChemE U.K., Young Engineer
sity fellow and full professor of Award 2010 of the Institution of Engineers
techniques have been developed for Ch.E. at De La Salle Univer- Malaysia, and Outstanding Young Malaysian
production planning problems. Two sity (Chemical Engineering Award 2012. He has over 80 published papers
Dept., De La Salle University, in chemical, energy and environmental engi-
industrial case studies on capacity 2401 Taft Avenue, 1004 Ma- neering journals, is subject editor for Trans.
IChemE Part B Process Safety and Env.
and financial planning illustrate how nila, Philippines; Phone/Fax:
Protection, and editorial board member for
+632-536-0260; E-mail: ray-
these graphical tools for decision sup- mond.tan@dlsu.edu.ph). He is Chem. Eng. Trans. and Clean Tech. and En-
also the director of the Center vironmental Policy, co-editor of the book Re-
port may be used for real-life prob- cent Advances in Sustainable Process Design
for Engineering and Sustain-
lems. They can be used to optimize able Development Research and Optimization, and sole author for the
(CESDR). Tan is the author of more than 70 pa- textbook of Process Integration for Resource
the utilization of company resources, pers in chemical, environmental and energy en- Conservation.
such as factory capacity and finan- gineering journals. He is member of the journals Denny K. S. Ng is an as-
editorial boards of Clean Technologies and Envi-
cial allocation, while minimizing idle ronmental Policy, Philippine Science Letters and
sociate professor at the
University of Nottingham
company resources. Sustainable Technologies, Systems & Policies, Malaysia Campus (Dept. of
and is co-editor of the book Recent Advances in Chemical and Environmen-
These techniques reduce the need Sustainable Process Design and Optimization. tal Engineering, and Cen-
for outsourcing of production or ac- He is also the recipient of multiple awards from ter of Excellence for Green
the National Academy of Science and Technol- Technologies, University
quiring additional funds through ogy (NAST) and the National Research Council of Nottingham Malay-
loans. Significantly, the graphical of the Philippines (NRCP). sia Campus, Broga Road,
Ramlan Aziz is a professor 43500 Semenyih, Selangor,
nature of these tools is also useful at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; Phone: +60(3)-
for easy communication and visu- Malaysia (Institute of Bio- 8924-8606; Fax: +60(3)-8924-8017; E-mail:
product Development, Uni- denny.ng@nottingham.edu.my). He obtained
alization in management meetings, versiti Teknologi Malaysia, his Ph.D. degree from The University of Not-
technical presentations and reports 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malay- tingham. His areas of specialization include
sia; Phone: +60(07)-5536476; energy management, resource conservation
by non-engineers, decision makers or Fax: +60(07)-5569706; E-mail: via process integration techniques (such as
stakeholders. They provide intuitive ramlan@ibd.utm.my). He pinch analysis and mathematical optimi-
obtained his B.Sc. and M.Sc. zation), synthesis and analysis of biomass
visual insights that may be readily from University of Man- processing and integrated biorefineries, as
chester Institute of Science well as energy planning for greenhouse-gas
grasped with minimal training, un- & Technology (UMIST, U.K.). His main areas of emission reduction. He was the recipient
like alternative tools such as math- work include process and product development of the World Federation of Scientists (Ma-
utilizing natural resources, such as tropical laysia National Scholarship) award in 2007
ematical programming. The proposed plants and other bioresources for the wellness and the IChemE Young Engineer of the Year
techniques also are user-friendly and industry. He is the chairman of Biotechnology 2012. He has published more than 55 papers
Skill Development Advisory Committee in the and presented more than 80 papers at vari-
may be implemented using simple Ministry of Human Resource Malaysia, Council ous international and national conferences.
spreadsheet software. Member for Agriculture and Food Cluster in Na- Ng is also serving as international scientific
tional Professorial Council Malaysia and Mem- committee for several international confer-
Edited by Gerald Ondrey ber of Malaysia Herbal Development Board. ences.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 45


Feature Report
Engineering Practice

Absorber Optimization:

Employing Process
Simulation Software
Applying simulation-model case studies
in the field yields significant savings
with no capital investment
Jignesh P. Patel, Viral Desai, Sunil Patil FIGURE 1. This photo shows the
and Dipak Mehta Aspen Technology, Inc. EOEG plant at Reliance, Dahej Manu-
facturing Division
Reliance Industries Ltd.

aw materials and energy repre-

R sent two of the largest expenses


in the chemical process indus-
tries (CPI). Energy reduction
is necessary to sustain cost-effective
production and manage capacity in
EO absorber
overhead gas to
reactor (recycle)

Lean
absorbent
Stripped EO

the ever-changing CPI marketplace. EO EO


absorber stripper
Process simulation software can prove
extremely valuable in evaluating en-
ergy reduction potential. This article
discusses the successful application of
process simulation software to opti- Reactor outlet
gas to EO Steam input
mize the ethylene oxide (EO) absorber absorber
operations at Reliance Industries eth-
ylene oxide and ethylene glycol (EOEG) Rich absorbent
to EO stripper
plant (Figure 1). By applying optimiza-
tion techniques determined in the soft-
ware simulation studies, raw material
(absorbent) flow was decreased, thus FIGURE 2. Reactor cycle gas lows through the absorbing and stripping process
reducing steam load and pumping en- for recovery of EO
ergy requirements. These reductions
translate into significant energy sav- passed to the EO absorber and strip- Simulation study
ings, resulting in annual savings of 9.5 per process (Figure 2) where EO is The main objective of the simulation
million Indian Rupees (INR; approxi- separated from the cycle gas. The modeling study was to evaluate the
mately $160,000) without any capital cooled cycle gas enters the EO ab- energy reduction potential in the EO
investment. sorber from the bottom and is con- absorber without any capital invest-
tacted counter-currently with lean ment, and to check the effect of higher
Background absorbent, which absorbs the eth- throughput on EO absorber column
Gas absorbers are extensively used ylene oxide, and produces a dilute performance. The energy reduction
in the CPI to separate components EO stream, the rich absorbent. The studies primarily focused on adjusting
through absorption by contact with rich absorbent then flows to the EO lean absorbent flow and temperature
a liquid in which one of the compo- stripper for recovery of EO. The con- at constant inlet cycle-gas flow.
nents is soluble. The solute is trans- centration of EO in the absorber top Determining an appropriate prop-
ferred between the gas and liquid recycle-gas product is maintained erty method is vital to developing an
phases. In the EOEG plant, ethyl- by adjusting the lean absorbent accurate simulation model. Selection
ene undergoes vapor-phase oxida- flow. It is important to minimize the of the softwares commercial rigorous
tion over a silver-base catalyst in EO present in the overhead recycle column model for steady-state opera-
the presence of oxygen to form EO. stream to avoid downstream process tion, along with the SR-Polar Equa-
The reactor effluent cycle gas is then issues. tion of State (EOS) resulted in a good
46 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013
TABLE 1. EFFECT ON EO ABSORPTION BY VARYING
THE LEAN ABSORBENT FLOW (AT CONSTANT INLET CYCLE-GAS FLOW)
EO mole concentration in
Reduction in lean absorbent flow EO absorber overhead gas,
versus normal operation, % simulated values, ppm

5 3

10 3

15 4

18 4

20 5

TABLE 2. EFFECT ON EO ABSORPTION BY VARYING THE LEAN ABSORBENT


TEMPERATURE (AT CONSTANT INLET CYCLE-GAS FLOW)
EO mole concentration in
Lean-absorbent temperature increase EO absorber overhead gas,
versus normal operation, C simulated values, ppm

1C 3

2C 3

3C 3

4C 4

5C 4

TABLE 3. PLANT TRIAL PLAN TO REDUCE LEAN ABSORBENT FLOW


Lean-absorbent Total reduction in lead absorbent flow
flow reduction step Days to EO absorber, %

Step 1 Day 1 1.0%

Step 2 Day 2 1.0% (Total 2.0%)

Step 3 Day 3 1.5% (Total 3.5%)

Step 4 Day 4 1.5% (Total 5.0%)

Step 5 Day 5 1.5% (Total 6.5%)

Step 6 Day 6 1.5% (Total 8.0%)

Total reduction in lean absorbent flow = 8%

approximation of the EO absorber op- absorbers Murphree tray efficiencies


eration. Simulation data comparisons to match the following parameters
with licensor process-flow-diagram with actual plant data:
(PFD) data and actual operating data Temperature profile along the
validated the SR-Polar EOS. column
Ensuring correct inputs to the pro- Top and bottom product composition
cess simulation software is also a key Once the model was tuned, it was used
step in creating an accurate model. for sensitivity analyses with respect to
Initially, the PFD data were used for changes in the following properties:
feed composition, and the model pre- Lean absorbent flow
dictions were compared to the stream Lean absorbent temperature
compositions for the top and bottom The objective of the sensitivity analy-
products from the design-case mate- ses was to optimize operations with-
rial balance. Later, the actual feed out compromising the EO absorber
compositions were taken from the performance. The evaluation with
online analyzer and the model predic- respect to lean absorbent flow led to
tions were again evaluated. The model the conclusion that an 8% decrease
was then fine-tuned by adjusting the in flow had no detrimental effect on Circle 5 on p. 52 or go to adlinks.che.com/45775-05

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 47


Engineering Practice

TABLE 4: PLANT PERFORMANCE AFTER IMPLEMENTING STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS


EO absorber performance after implementing study recommendations

EO content in EO ab-
Lean absorbent flow, Lean absorbent
Cycle gas flow sorber overhead gas,
% pumping energy, kW
ppm

Reduced from 95 to
Reduction 8 None 73 39

Effect of EO absorber optimization on EO stripper operation

Rich absorbent feed flow, % Steam flow to EO stripper reboiler, kg/h

Reduction 8 1,000

product quality. Table 1 illustrates Higher efficiency in the lean absor- Authors
the resulting overhead EO composi- bent water cooler Jignesh Patel is a general
manager of Central Technical
tion with incremental lean absorbent Lower lean-absorbent supply Services (CTS) in the Dahej
flow reductions, as predicted by the temperature Manufacturing Division of Re-
liance Industries Ltd. (RIL).
process modeling software. This study Decreased pressure drop across (Email: jignesh.p.patel@ril.
also examined the absorbers poten- the absorber com). He has over 12 years of
experience in the petrochemi-
tial for column flooding by rating the Less energy consumption required cals industry. He joined RIL
trays based on existing tray geometry for pumping in 2007 and in his current
role is responsible for process
and current operating conditions. This The results of the plant trials vali- engineering, simulations and
advanced process control. Patel has a B.S.Ch.E.
hydraulics study revealed that during dated the findings of the simula- from Shri Sad Vidya Mandal Institute of Tech-
normal operation, the column was near tion study, as all predicted benefits nology (Bharuch, India).
its flooding limits, but that the recom- were observed in field operations. A
Viral Desai is a senior gen-
mended reduction of lean absorbent summary of unit performance after eral manager of CTS in the
would decrease potential tray flooding the plant trials is shown in Table 4. Dahej Manufacturing Divi-
sion of RIL. (Email: viral.
and increase the units efficiency. Most importantly, the absorber unit desai@ril.com). He has 14
Changes in lean absorbent tempera- reached the desired 8% reduction in years of experience in the
petrochemical industry. In
ture can also impact the absorption of lean absorbent flow without compro- his current role as Central
EO from the cycle gas. The sensitivity mising throughput or EO recovery. Technical Services general
manager, he is responsible for
analysis with respect to temperature Other notable operational improve- process engineering, simula-
tions, and advanced process
looked at typical summer conditions to ments included a 39-kW reduction control. Desai has a chemical engineering degree
evaluate the absorbers performance as in pumping energy and a 1,000-kg/h from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
and a postgraduate diploma in operations and
lean absorbent temperature increases. reduction in low-pressure steam in management from IGNOU, India.
The studys results, presented in Table the EO stripper reboiler. These im-
2, show that a variation of up to 2C in provements will save the company Dipak Mehta is vice presi-
dent of CTS in the Dahej
lean absorbent temperature does not an estimated 9.5 million INR an- Manufacturing Division of
significantly affect EO absorption. nually, with no additional capital RIL. (Email: dipak.mehta@
ril.com). He has more than
investment required. This study 30 years of experience in the
Plant trials and results underscores the value of using pro- chemical process industries.
He holds a Managers Exam
To apply the optimized models in the cess simulation technology for opti- certification from the Bureau
of Energy Efficiency (B.E.E)
plant, lean absorbent flow was incre- mization, driving operations to new and the Federation of Indian
mentally decreased over a six-day pe- levels of efficiency. Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI). Mehta graduated from the
riod (Table 3). With each reduction of Edited by Mary Page Bailey Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda with a
flow, key operating parameters and degree in chemical engineering.
compositions were measured once the References
Sunil Patil is a senior prin-
unit achieved stable performance. On 1. Gas Processors Suppliers Association, Engi- cipal business consultant at
the sixth day, the absorber reached neering Data Book, Tenth Ed., Vol.1 and 2, Aspen Technology, Inc. (200
Tulsa, Okla., 1987. Wheeler Road, Burlington,
the simulated optimized conditions Mass. 01803; Phone: +1-781-
2. Perry, Robert H. and Green, Don W., Perrys 221-6400; Email: sunil.patil@
with 8% lean-absorbent flow reduc- Chemical Engineers Handbook, Seventh aspentech.com). Patil has over
tion. Simulation data also predicted Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y., 1997. twelve years of experience in-
3. Aspen Plus Documentation, Aspen Technol- cluding work in process de-
that operations would experience the sign and modeling at Sulzer
ogy, Inc., Aspen Plus Software V7.2
following benefits upon optimizing and Honeywell. He joined
4. aspenONE Global Conference, Boston, Mass., Aspen Tech in 2007. His ex-
lean absorbent flow: May, 2010 pertise includes many Aspen Tech products in-
Decreased steam consumption in the cluding HYSYS Dynamics, Aspen Plus, HTFS,
5. AspenTech Global Conference Optimize and Economic Evaluation solutions. Sunil holds
EO stripper 2011, Washington D.C., May, 2011. an M.S.Ch.E from Shivaji University, India.

48 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013


EnvironmentalColumn
Fractionation Manager

Evil chemicals
was at the local Panera Bread. I research work is regarded by some as

I almost screamed. I would have,


except there was a sign on the
front door that said Positively
No Screaming.
I was sitting within earshot of a ju-
highly flawed; 2) The World Health
Organization supports the indoor use
of DDT for malaria control, and; 3)
Some have estimated that in the last
50 years, 50 million African children
nior-high-school science teacher whom might have died needlessly from ma-
I did not know. She was describing to laria. Positively No Screaming.
a friend the details of a unit that she Based on what I heard, it is entirely
just taught on chemicals. She im- possible that an entire class at Still-
plied to her students that there were water Junior High School believes
no good ones. Yes, I am serious. that all chemicals are injurious not
She first explained to her students just Pb, CO2 and DDT. They might also
how the gasoline companies formerly believe that all environmentalists are
put lead into gasoline and how the always right. The environmentalists of
lead poisoned the environment. She our world have truly done an excellent
seemed to have no idea why the lead job of alerting us all to the dangers of
was put there in the first place, nor pollution and over-consumption, but Mike Resetarits is the technical direc-
how the gasoline companies main- theyre not always right. And Im not tor at Fractionation Research, Inc. (FRI;
Stillwater, Okla.; www.fri.org), a distilla-
tained octane numbers after removing always right. Maybe I was wrong tion research consortium. Each month,
the lead. not to scream. Mike shares his first-hand experience
Her next target, of course, was car- Mike Resetarits with CE readers
bon dioxide and global warming. She
proudly brought some students to
tears by showing them a photograph
of a lonely polar bear clinging to life
on a tiny iceberg. There was no sec-
ond side to her story, no contradic-
tory evidence, no mention of the fact
that Earth is coming out a relatively
recent ice age. The glaciers have
Content Licensing for
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 51
New Product Information August 2013

JustFAXit! or go to www.che.com/adlinks
Fill out the form and circle or write in the number(s) go on the web and ill out the


below, cut it out, and fax it to 800-571-7730. online reader service card.
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FREE PRODUCT INFO 14 engineering, Design & Construc- 29 10 to 49 employees 47 Pollution Control equipment
(please answer all the questions) tion Firms 30 50 to 99 employees & systems
15 engineering/environmental ser- 31 100 to 249 employees 48 Pumps
YOUR INDUSTRY
vices 32 250 to 499 employees 49 safety equipment & services
01 Food & Beverages
16 equipment manufacturer 33 500 to 999 employees 50 size reduction & agglomeration
02 wood, Pulp & Paper
17 energy incl. Co-generation 34 1,000 or more employees equipment
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18 other YOU RECOMMEND, 51 solids handling equipment
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21 Plant operations incl. mainte- 54 engineering Computers/soft-
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08 organic Chemicals 42 heat transfer/energy Conserva-
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09 agricultural Chemicals tion equipment
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12 stone, Clay, glass, Ceramics EMPLOYEE SIZE 45 motors, motor Controls 58 materials of Construction
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1 16 31 46 61 76 91 106 121 136 151 166 181 196 211 226 241 256 271 286 301 316 331 346 361 376 391 406 421 436 451 466 481 496 511 526 541 556 571 586
2 17 32 47 62 77 92 107 122 137 152 167 182 197 212 227 242 257 272 287 302 317 332 347 362 377 392 407 422 437 452 467 482 497 512 527 542 557 572 587
3 18 33 48 63 78 93 108 123 138 153 168 183 198 213 228 243 258 273 288 303 318 333 348 363 378 393 408 423 438 453 468 483 498 513 528 543 558 573 588
4 19 34 49 64 79 94 109 124 139 154 169 184 199 214 229 244 259 274 289 304 319 334 349 364 379 394 409 424 439 454 469 484 499 514 529 544 559 574 589
5 20 35 50 65 80 95 110 125 140 155 170 185 200 215 230 245 260 275 290 305 320 335 350 365 380 395 410 425 440 455 470 485 500 515 530 545 560 575 590
6 21 36 51 66 81 96 111 126 141 156 171 186 201 216 231 246 261 276 291 306 321 336 351 366 381 396 411 426 441 456 471 486 501 516 531 546 561 576 591
7 22 37 52 67 82 97 112 127 142 157 172 187 202 217 232 247 262 277 292 307 322 337 352 367 382 397 412 427 442 457 472 487 502 517 532 547 562 577 592
8 23 38 53 68 83 98 113 128 143 158 173 188 203 218 233 248 263 278 293 308 323 338 353 368 383 398 413 428 443 458 473 488 503 518 533 548 563 578 593
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10 25 40 55 70 85 100 115 130 145 160 175 190 205 220 235 250 265 280 295 310 325 340 355 370 385 400 415 430 445 460 475 490 505 520 535 550 565 580 595
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 53


People

AUGUST WHOS WHO

Spagnoletti Spiesshofer Evans Pepper Usuki

Amato Spagnoletti becomes president company, welcomes Todd Fryzek as president of the South America re-
of Taylor Wharton Cryogenics lead environmental engineer, and gional division based in Sao Paulo,
(Theodore, Ala.), a maker of cryogenic Bruce Rehwaldt as LEED AP. Brazil. Michael Stumpp, currently
equipment for the industrial gases, senior vice president in BASFs global
life sciences, and liquefied natural Devin International (Lafayette, home and personal care business, will
gas markets. La.), a subsidiary of Greenes Energy succeed Schweens as managing direc-
Group and equipment supplier for tor of BASF Mexicana S.A.
Ulrich Spiesshofer becomes CEO of onshore and offshore oil-and-gas op-
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland). He was erations, names Buck Evans special Pump Solutions Group (Oakbrook
formerly the head of ABBs discrete operations coordinator. Terrace, Ill.) names John Pepper
automation and motion division. vice president of integration, and An-
BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) drew Usuki vice president of
Foth Infrastructure & Environ- announces two promotions: Ralph sales and business development in
ment, LLC (Green Bay, Wisc.), an Schweens, currently managing direc- the Americas.
engineering, science and construction tor of BASF Mexicana S.A., becomes Suzanne Shelley

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Written for engineers, by engineers


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54 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013


Economic Indicators
BUSINESS NEWS
for the establishment of a 50-50 joint venture
PLANT WATCH MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
(JV), which is now in operation.The JV is
Sasol awards integrated complex headquartered in Singapore. Michelman acquires Ecronova Polymer,
contract to WorleyParsons adds water-based polymer capabilities
July 11, 2013 WorleyParsons Ltd. (North Praxair enters into industrial gas JV July 9, 2013 Michelman, Inc. (Cincinnati,
Sydney, Australia; www.worleyparsons.com) with Kuibyshevazot Ohio; www.michelman.com) has acquired
has been awarded a contract by Sasol July 2, 2013 Praxair, Inc. (Danbury, Conn.; Ecronova Polymer GmbH (Recklinghausen,
North America, Inc. (Sasol) for an integrated www.praxair.com) has entered into an agree- Germany), a manufacturer of water-based
gas-to-liquids (GTL) and ethane-cracker ment to form a JV with OJSC KuibyshevAzot polymers.The purchase includes all assets,
complex, which includes an ethane cracker (Moscow, Russia; www.kuazot.ru), in Russias technology and manufacturing facilities.
producing 1.5 million metric tons per year Samara region, to produce and sell industrial The name Ecronova Polymer will continue to
(m.t./yr) of ethylene with downstream deriv- gases.The JV will produce on-site O2, N2 and be used for business operations.
ative plants and a 96,000-bbl/d GTL facility. compressed dry air for KuibyshevAzots capro-
It will be located near Sasols existing chemi- lactam, fertilizer and ammonia production, as Huntsman signs agreement
cal complex in southwest Louisiana. Project well as liquid gases. Praxair and KuibyshevAzot to acquire Oxid
costs are estimated to be $16 to 21 billion. will construct a new air-separation unit that July 8, 2013 Huntsman Corp. (The
will produce 1,400 m.t./d of O2, N2 and argon, Woodlands,Tex.; www.huntsman.com) has
CNOOC selects Ineos Technologies and is scheduled to start up mid-2016. signed an agreement to acquire Oxid L.P.,
process for a new project in China a privately held manufacturer of specialty
July 11, 2013 Ineos Technologies (Rolle, Technip awarded contract for urethane polyols based in Houston.The
Switzerland; www.ineos.com) has licensed two hydrogen reformers in Venezuela financial terms of the agreement were not
its Innovene S Process for the manufacture July 1, 2013 Technip (Paris, France; www. disclosed.The transaction is expected to
of 400,000 m.t./yr of medium-density and technip.com) was awarded a contract by close during the 3rd quarter of 2013. Oxid
high-density polyethylene to CNOOC Oil the Hyundai-Wison consortium for two hy- generated $86 million of revenue in 2012.
and Petrochemical Co. for its cracker com- drogen reformers in Venezuela.The contract
plex located in Huizhou City, Guangdong covers the complete engineering, fabrica- Borealis acquires GPN and majority
Province of China. tion, modularization, procurement as well as of Rosier European market
pre-commissioning and start-up assistance. July 1, 2013 Borealis AG (Vienna, Austria;
Teijin to build new meta-aramid fiber These 151,000-Nm3/h reformers are part of www.borealisgroup.com) says it has fully
plant in Thailand the Deep Conversion project for Petroleos acquired GPN SA from the Total Group. GPN
July 11, 2013 Teijin Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan; de Venezuela SA to upgrade the Puerto La S.A. is Frances largest nitrogen fertilizer
www.teijin.co.jp) has developed a new Cruz refinery.The project is scheduled for manufacturer. GPN employs around 760
heat-resistant, dyeable meta-aramid fiber, completion in mid-2014. employees in France, all of whom will be
which the company will produce in a facility SGL Group and Samsung establish transferred to Borealis. On the same date,
in Ayutthaya Province,Thailand. Construc- JV for carbon composites Borealis closed an agreement with Total S.A.
tion begins Dec. 2013 and production is June 20, 2013 SGL Group (Wiesbaden, Ger- to acquire its majority interest in Rosier S.A., a
scheduled for July 2015.Teijin will invest many; www.sglgroup.com) and Samsung mineral fertilizer manufacturer. Rosier gener-
around 4.5 billion ($45 million) to build the Petrochemical have established a market- ated sales of 278 million in 2012.
plant on the premises of Teijin (Thailand) Ltd. ing and sales JV for carbon-fiber-composite
materials.The partners will each hold a 50% Siemens acquires rolling mill specialist
EuroChem announces fertilizer project share.The JV will operate under the name Service Guide
in Louisiana Samsung SGL Carbon Composite Materials. July 1, 2013 Siemens Industry AG (Erlan-
July 10, 2013 Fertilizer company Euro- The JV will be headquartered in Ulsan, South gen, Germany; www.siemens.com/industry)
Chem (Moscow, Russia; www.eurochem.ru) Korea, at a Samsung Petrochemical facility. announced it has completed the acquisition
announced intention to build an ammonia of Service Guide, Inc. (Cortland, Ohio), which
and urea production plant in Louisiana.The Unipol technology selected for provides repair and refurbishing services for
project requires an estimated investment Qatar's first polypropylene plant steel and aluminum mills. Financial details of
of approximately $1.5 billion and four years June 19, 2013 Union Carbide Chemicals the transaction will not be disclosed.
of construction work. EuroChem expects to & Plastics Technology LLC, a wholly owned
finalize its decision on the parameters and subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Com- Novozymes acquires agricultural
location of the facility within the next year. pany (Midland, Mich., www.dow.com), has company TJ Technologies
signed a license agreement with Qatar June 26, 2013 Novozymes (Copenha-
Clariant and Wilmar receive clearance Petroleum/Qatar Petrochemical Company gen, Denmark; www.novozymes.com), has
to establish JV (QP/QAPCO), for Unipol Polypropylene signed a definitive agreement to acquire
July 8, 2013 Clariant International Ltd. (PP) Process Technology. Unipol PP will be South Dakota-based TJ Technologies Inc.,
(Muttenz, Switzerland; www.clariant.com), a licensed at QP/QAPCOs facility to be locat- whose annual revenue is approximately $15
specialty chemicals producer, and Wilmar ed in Ras Laffan, Qatar. Slated to produce million.The financial terms of the agreement
International Ltd., an Asian agribusiness 540,000 m.t/yr of PP, the QP/QAPCO facility were not disclosed.
group, have received merger clearances will be Qatar's first polypropylene plant. Mary Page Bailey

FOR ADDITIONAL NEWS AS IT DEVELOPS, PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHE.COM


August 2013; VOL. 120; NO. 8
Chemical Engineering copyright @ 2013 (ISSN 0009-2460) is published monthly, with an additional issue in October, by Access Intelligence, LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd
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FOR MORE ECONOMIC INDICATORS, SEE NEXT PAGE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013 55
Economic Indicators 2011 2012 2013

DOWNLOAD THE CEPCI TWO WEEKS SOONER AT WWW.CHE.COM/PCI

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT COST INDEX (CEPCI) 650

Annual
May. 13 Apr. 13 May. 12
(195759 = 100) Index:
Prelim. Final Final 600
CE Index 566.4 569.4 593.8 2005 = 468.2
Equipment 685.4 689.5 726.2 2006 = 499.6
Heat exchangers & tanks 624.3 626.2 683.6 550
Process machinery 655.0 656.5 680.1 2007 = 525.4
Pipe, valves & fittings 863.4 875.6 926.7 2008 = 575.4
Process instruments 410.8 413.2 428.9 500
2009 = 521.9
Pumps & compressors 919.3 924.5 928.1
Electrical equipment 513.1 512.6 515.2 2010 = 550.8
Structural supports & misc 741.7 746.8 763.8 450
2011 = 585.7
Construction labor 319.1 319.8 322.9
Buildings 534.0 536.5 527.7 2012 = 584.6
Engineering & supervision 326.0 327.6 328.3 400
J F M A M J J A S O N D

CURRENT BUSINESS INDICATORS LATEST PREVIOUS YEAR AGO

CPI output index (2007 = 100) Jun. '13 = 87.9 May. '13 = 88.1 Apr.'13 = 87.7 Jun'12 = 86.5
CPI value of output, $ billions May. '13 = 2,122.3 Apr. '13 = 2,098.1 Mar.'13 = 2,126.0 May'12 = 2,127.1
CPI operating rate, % Jun. '13 = 74.5 May. '13 = 74.7 Apr.'13 = 74.3 Jun'12 = 74.0
Producer prices, industrial chemicals (1982 = 100) Jun. '13 = 304.0 May. '13 = 301.7 Apr.'13 = 308.7 Jun'12 = 299.4
Industrial Production in Manufacturing (2007 = 100) Jun. '13 = 95.7 May. '13 = 95.5 Apr.'13 = 95.2 Jun'12 = 94.0
Hourly earnings index, chemical & allied products (1992 = 100) Jun. '13 = 156.2 May. '13 = 156.6 Apr.'13 = 155.3 Jun'12 = 156.3
Productivity index, chemicals & allied products (1992 = 100) Jun. '13 = 104.0 May. '13 = 104.7 Apr.'13 = 104.4 Jun'12 = 105.9

CPI OUTPUT INDEX (2007 = 100) CPI OUTPUT VALUE ($ BILLIONS) CPI OPERATING RATE (%)
120 2500 85

110 2200 80

100 1900 75

90 1600 70

80 1300 65

70 1000 60
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Current Business Indicators provided by IHS Global Insight, Inc., Lexington, Mass.

CURRENT TRENDS
Equipment Cost Index Available P reliminary data for the May
2013 CE Plant Cost Index
(CEPCI; top; the most recent

Exclusively from Marshall & Swift available) indicate that the com-
posite index decreased by 0.5%
from the the final April value.
The data for each of the sub-
indices decreased in the May
preliminary numbers, except
for the index value for electri-
cal equipment, which rose. The
May 2013 preliminary PCI index
value stands at 4.6% lower than
the corresponding final PCI value
from May 2012. Meanwhile, the
latest Current Business Indicators
from IHS Global Insight (middle)
moved in both directions, with
Quarterly updates of our industry-leading Equipment Cost Index the CPI output index edging
slightly downward, while the CPI
are now available at www.equipment-cost-index.com. value of output increased slightly
in the latest numbers.

56 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2013


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