Chemical Engineering August 2012

CONTROL
August VALVES
2012
PAGE 48
www.che.com
PAGE 38
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AUGUST 2012 IN THIS ISSUE VOLUME 119, NO. 8
www.che.com
COVER STORY
38 Cover Story A primer on gas-solid
fluidization To develop suitable fluidized-
bed processes for gas-solid systems, the
ability to predict behavior and calculate
essential operating parameters is critical.
Key concepts and equations are presented
NEWS
9 Chementator Coke oven offgases may
help increase steel production; This valve
tolerates up to 80% differential pressure;
Methane recovery from a trona mine; A
more efficient Fischer-Tropsch reactor; A
ONLY ON CHE.COM
self-healing dynamic membrane; and more A Web-exclusive article on Information management
16 Newsbriefs ACC launches new for materials research and development;
macroeconomic indicator; A new Web New Products; Latest news and more
application for renewable technology
information; Mid-year outlook for U.S.
chemistry is mixed; and more EQUIPMENT & SERVICES DEPARTMENTS
17 Newsfront Achema takes a forward 28 Focus on Pipes & Fittings A tube welder Letters . . . . . . . . . . . 6
view The major emphasis at Achema for sterile biopharmaceutical applications;
2012 was on preparing for a future where This hose is suited for food and pharma Calendar . . . . . . . . 7–8
sustainability and bioprocessing are likely applications; Gasket tape for very large Who’s Who . . . . . . . 62
to play larger roles in CPI business and flanges; and more
operations Reader Service . . . . 60
31 Focus on Temperature Measurement &
23 Newsfront Seals & Gaskets New Control This pH probe has an integrated Economic
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and gaskets to stand up to harsh CPI control even when viscosity changes;
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edition)* This butterfly valve has PTFE
reference guide outlines proper design of
lining; A rubber liner prevents wear Advertiser Index . . . 61
expansion tanks in heat-transfer systems
in this mixer; A flowmeter for large
33 Engineering Practice Waterhammer process lines; New RO membranes with
in condensate return lines Inserting high salt rejection; Measure moisture in COMING IN
high-pressure condensate into a low- natural gas lines; and more SEPTEMBER
pressure, pumped-condensate line can Look for: Feature Re-
cause waterhammer. Understand why, COMMENTARY ports on Pumps; and
and how to avoid it Thin-film drying; Engi-
5 Editor’s Page Tribute to an
48 Feature Report Control valves: An neering Practice ar-
inspiration Reflections on the life and
evolution in design Understanding ticles on Reciprocating
passing of the editor-in-chief's aunt,
the design features of globe-style control compressors; and Cool-
who had a profound influence on her
valves can help in their selection for ing towers; a Focus on
professional career
specific applications Flowmeters; News ar-
52 You and Your Job Process lead 56 The Fractionation Column ticles on Plant security;
responsibilities in design projects Writing your employees’ resumes and Valves; and more
Picking the right people for the job, and The author relates what happened when
knowing what is required of them, is he wrote resumes for each of his superb Cover:
essential for the success of a project employees David Whitcher
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012 3

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ND
22 ANNUAL
3rd Annual
7 TH ANNUAL
Deepwater
PREVENTION
& RESPONSE
Winner of Eight Jesse H. Neal
Awards for Editorial Excellence
Editor’s Page
Published since 1902

An Access Intelligence Publication
A tribute to an inspiration
his past June, I lost possibly the most-influ-
T
PUBLISHER ART & DESIGN
BRIAN NESSEN DAVID WHITCHER ential person on my career as it stands today.
Group Publisher Art Director/
bnessen@accessintel.com Editorial Production Manager My aunt and colleague, Sandra L. Baccinelli,
EDITORS dwhitcher@che.com former human resource manager at Worley Par-
REBEKKAH J. MARSHALL PRODUCTION sons, passed away on June 15th due to the effects
Editor in Chief of bone cancer. I cannot imagine how I would have
rmarshall@che.com
STEVE OLSON
Director of Production & become Chemical Engineering’s first female Edi-
DOROTHY LOZOWSKI Manufacturing
Managing Editor solson@accessintel.com tor in Chief without her impact. Meanwhile, there
dlozowski@che.com
GERALD ONDREY (Frankfurt) JOHN BLAYLOCK-COOKE is also a very good chance that many of you would
Senior Editor Ad Production Manager not be in your current positions either. Over her
gondrey@che.com jcooke@accessintel.com
SCOTT JENKINS
lengthy career, “Sandy” staffed multitudes of the
Associate Editor AUDIENCE world’s greenfield, brownfield and turnaround
sjenkins@che.com DEVELOPMENT
projects with project managers, engineers, crafts and tradespeople.
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
SARAH GARWOOD
Audience Marketing Director For me, the example of Sandy’s own, odds-defying career was always an in-
SUZANNE A. SHELLEY sgarwood@accessintel.com spiration. Working her way up in this industry was much more of a challenge
sshelley@che.com
GEORGE SEVERINE when she entered the business than it is for young women today. I recall an
CHARLES BUTCHER (U.K.) Fulfillment Manager
cbutcher@che.com gseverine@accessintel.com era when she was actually required to wear a skirt and high-heeled shoes to
PAUL S. GRAD (Australia) JEN FELLING work. On top of that, she was one of a relatively small number of people in the
pgrad@che.com List Sales, Statlistics (203) 778-8700 engineering, construction and procurement business who survived the pro-
TETSUO SATOH (Japan) j.felling@statlistics.com
tsatoh@che.com cess of three corporate buyouts. She started with a company called Erbauer
JOY LEPREE (New Jersey) EDITORIAL Construction, which was bought by SIP, then absorbed by Parsons Corp. Ulti-
jlepree@che.com ADVISORY BOARD
mately that part of Parsons — the entire energy and chemicals group — was
GERALD PARKINSON JOHN CARSON
(California) gparkinson@che.com Jenike & Johanson, Inc. sold to the company that would be renamed WorleyParsons.
INFORMATION SERVICES DAVID DICKEY Surviving through so many ups and downs was quite an accomplish-
CHARLES SANDS MixTech, Inc. ment, and yet Sandy did more than just inspire. She pointed to and opened
Senior Developer many doors for me. The first one came in the form of a yellow ornamental
MUKESH DOBLE
Web/business Applications Architect
IIT Madras, India
csands@accessintel.com hard hat that she gave to me when I was about eight years old. Sandy’s
MARKETING HENRY KISTER company had sponsored the thin-plastic give-away at an industry event.
Fluor Corp.
JAMIE REESBY Old timers in the chemical process industries probably remember those
Marketing Director TREVOR KLETZ
TradeFair Group, Inc. Loughborough University, U.K.
hats that Chemical Engineering handed out at tradeshows in the 1970s
jreesby@che.com and 1980s. In fact, it was one veteran’s nostalgic recollection that triggered
GERHARD KREYSA (retired)
JENNIFER BRADY DECHEMA e.V. my own memory of the hat that had decorated the top of my childhood
Marketing Coordinator
TradeFair Group, Inc. RAM RAMACHANDRAN closet for over 20 years. Although I had already worked for the magazine
jbrady@che.com (Retired) The Linde Group for awhile at that point, I had long ago forgotten that the words Chemical
HEADQUARTERS Engineering were on the front, and I had never before made the connection
88 Pine Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10005, U.S. between the font and the magazine’s former logo.
Tel: 212-621-4900 Fax: 212-621-4694
Later on, near the end of my university years, Sandy opened the door
EUROPEAN EDITORIAL OFFICES
for my first internship at Parsons in Houston. Once I was finished with
Zeilweg 44, D-60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel: 49-69-9573-8296 Fax: 49-69-5700-2484 my chemical engineering degree, she lined up interviews at the company’s
CIRCULATION REQUESTS: corporate headquarters, in Pasadena, Calif., where my chemical engineering
Tel: 847-564-9290 Fax: 847-564-9453 career really took root. During that time, her advice was definitely practi-
Fullfillment Manager; P.O. Box 3588,
Northbrook, IL 60065-3588 email: clientservices@che.com cal. Before my first plant visit, for instance, she made sure that I did not
ADVERTISING REQUESTS: see p. 60 look like too much of a rookie by encouraging me to go out the night before
For photocopy or reuse requests: 800-772-3350 or info@copyright.com and “rough up” my brand new hard hat and steel toed
For reprints: Wright’s Media, 1-877-652-5295, sales@wrightsmedia.com
boots on the street. I am not sure how much effect
ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC that had on other peoples’ impressions of me, but at
DON PAZOUR ROBERT PACIOREK the very least it made me a little less nervous.
Chief Executive Officer Senior Vice President,
ED PINEDO
Chief Information Officer These days, when I talk with readers about what
Executive Vice President SYLVIA SIERRA keeps them up at night, the challenge of finding
& Chief Financial Officer Senior Vice President,
MACY L. FECTO
Corporate Audience Development and cultivating chemical-engineering talent almost
Exec. Vice President, MICHAEL KRAUS always gets a mention. And, in that context, one of
Human Resources & Administration Vice President,
HEATHER FARLEY
Production and Manufacturing the biggest hurdles is attracting young people to the
Divisional President, STEVE BARBER profession and keeping them there. Sandy served
Access Intelligence Vice President,
Financial Planning and Internal Audit that mission for over three decades, and she blazed
GERALD STASKO trails for many of us along the way. ■
Vice President/Corporate Controller
Rebekkah Marshall
4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor
Rockville, MD 20850 • www.accessintel.com CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012 5
toxic
Letters
Transferring Three
potent University, and workingor
Education needs a reality check
years after receiving my B.S.Ch.E. degree from
Columbia in industry for a power
substances?
company and at a refinery, I was asked to give a talk to
the New York City chapter of the American Institute of
Chemical Engineers (AIChE) students’ night on my early
experience in the field. One of my observations for the
audience was that when I arrived at my first job, a sum-
mer program with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA),
I did not know which way to turn a valve, or, for that mat-
ter, anything else about an actual process plant. I was,
–Suitable for OEB 4 (OEL 1–10 µg/m3)

Müller Containment Valve MCV however, taught rigorous tensor analysis in a course called
–Available sizes: DN 100, DN 150,

Transport Phenomena. I was envious of the students from
the local and state universities who seemed to know their
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DN 200 and DN 250 way around far better than I did. I wondered out loud to
–Vacuum-tight version down to –1 bar
the audience, what had I borrowed all that money for?
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In my remarks, I proposed that engineering schools
–Easy-to-wipe flat surfaces
should offer two tracks — one for students likely to continue
–AISI 316 L stainless steel, Hastelloy through graduate school and one for students like me who
–GMP-compliant design
available on request would be seeking jobs in industry. My big regret at that time
was that, other than a lab class (where much of the equip-
Müller GmbH - 79 618 Rheinfelden (Germany)
ment did not work), I was not taught much of anything that
Industrieweg 5 - Phone: +49 (0) 76 23 / 9 69 - 0 - Fax: +49 (0) 76 23 / 9 69 - 69 I would consider practical. I remember this old, crusty guy
A company of the Müller group in the back row — at the time I thought he was ancient but
info@mueller-gmbh.com - www.mueller-gmbh.com
now I am probably close to his age — raised his hand when
Circle 19 on p. 60 or go to adlinks.che.com/40270-19 I concluded and mumbled something like, “I’ve been waiting
thirty years for someone to say these things.”
Many of the engineers I have talked to over the years had
similar experiences, especially if they attended so called
The Chemical Engineering bookstore “elite” or top tier engineering schools. To read in the June ar-
ticle, Chemical Engineering Education Evolution, that “there
offers a variety of industry topics is a rising awareness, however, that university departments
you will come to rely on. must be connected more to industry…” and that “It’s actually
quite remarkable that so little has changed in the chemical
engineering curriculum…” caused me to gasp out loud. “Re-
ally? Another thirty years later, engineers are still molded
to turn tensors but not valves?” Then I realized these quotes
were from the chair of the department at my Alma Mater!
Fortunately, I was able to make a career out of another
gap in the engineering curriculum — communication
skills — and became an editor for an technical trade
journal and then a consultant. It sounds as if this gap
has been addressed, at least at my old school. Still, it
seems there’s plenty of room for academia and engineer-
• Environmental Management: ing schools to stake out some competitive advantages and
Air-Pollution Control help their students in the jobs they need to pay back their
• Environmental Management: Wastewater student loans.
and Groundwater Treatment Jason Makansi
• Fluid Handling President, Pearl Street Inc., St. Louis, MO
• Gas-Solid and Liquid-Solid Separation
• Liquid-Liquid and Gas-Liquid Separation Postscripts, corrections*
July, Development Speeds Up In Catalysis, pp. 18–20: The
• Managing Bulk Solids
name of Dow’s Cherie Wrenn was misspelled. Our apologies.
17792
June, Draining Process Vessels, pp. 34–40, had two errors:
1. Equation (15) was not labeled
For a complete list of products, visit the
2. In Equation (32), the sign for the third term should be
Chemical Engineering bookstore now.
(–) not (+). ■
http://store.che.com/product/book
* The online versions of these article have been ammended and can be
found at http://www.che.com/archives/extras/ps_and_corrections/
6 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012

Calendar
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Chemicals, Petrochemicals & Refining. T.A. Cook
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tacook.com/psmusa cation Technologies Council (Arlington, Va.). Phone:
Houston, Tex. September 18–20 703-276-0110; Web: gasification.org
Washington, D.C. October 28–31
Plastics in Photovoltaics 2012. Applied Market Infor-
mation LLC (Wyomissing, Pa.). Phone: 610-478-0800; Web: 3rd Annual ChemInnovations Conference &
amiplastics.com/events Exhibition, co-located with Clean Gulf/Industrial
Phoenix, Ariz. September 19–20 Fire, Safety and Securty, and Shale EnviroSafe
Conference & Exhibitions. TradeFair Group (Houston).
Polyurethanes Technical Conference. American Phone: 713-343-1891; Web: cpievent.com
Chemistry Council (Washington, D.C.). Phone: 202-249- New Orleans, La. November 14–15
7000; Web: polyurethane.americanchemistry.com
Atlanta, Ga. September 24–26 EUROPE
40th International Conference on Coordination
SOCMA’s 2012 Leadership Conference and 9th Chemistry. University of Valencia (Valencia, Spain).
Annual Chemical Industry Golf Tournament. Phone: +34-93-238-87-77; Web: iccc40.com
SOCMA (Washington, D.C.). Phone: 202-721-4100; Web: Valencia, Spain September 9–13
socma.com/leadership
Cambridge, Md. September 25–27 Global Chemical Industry Sustainability Summit.
Chemical Industry Roundtables LLC (Houston). Phone:
International Pittsburgh Coal Conference. 212-486-6166; Web: chemroundtables.com
University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.). Phone: Brussels, Belgium September 10–11
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Calendar
9th IUPAC International Conference on Polymer- Web: dechema.de/gsfs2012

Solvent Complexes & Intercalates. International Boppard, Germany October 7–10
Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC; Research
Triangle Park, N.C.). Phone: 919-485-8706; Web: iupac.org Gastech 2012 London. BG Group plc (Reading, U.K.).
Kiev, Ukraine September 11–14 Phone: +44-118-935-3222; Web: gastech2012.co.uk
London, U.K. October 8–11
International Conference on Catalysis in Organic
Synthesis. Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry, ASIA & ELSEWHERE
Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia). Phone: 4th International Symposium on Pesticide &
+7-499-1355-328; Web: ioc.ac.ru/iccos-2012 Environmental Safety. China Agricultural University
Moscow, Russia September 15–20 (Beijing, China). Phone: +86-10-62732830; Web:
2012iupac.com
Post-Conference Symposium on Frontiers of Orga- Beijing, China September 15–20
nometallic Chemistry. Saint-Petersburg State Univer-
sity, Dept. of Chemistry (St. Petersburg, Russia). Phone: 15th International Biotechnology Symposium and
+7-499-1355-328; Web: ioc.ac.ru/iccos-2012 Exhibition. The Korean Society for Biotechnology & Bio-
St. Petersburg, Russia September 21–22 engineering (Seoul, South Korea). Phone: +82-2-556-2164;
Web: ibs2012.org
8th World Adhesive & Sealant Conf. The Assn. of Eu- Daegu, South Korea September 16–21
ropean Adhesive and Sealant Industry (FEICA; Brussels,
Belgium). Phone: +32-267-673-20; Web: wac2012.org 8th IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2012.
Paris, France September 18–21 International Water Assn. (IWA; London, U.K.). Phone:
+44-207-654-5500; Web: iwa2012busan.org
Green Solvents for Synthesis 2012. Dechema e.V. Busan, South Korea September 16–21 ■
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Edited by Gerald Ondrey August 2012
Coke oven offgases may help Thermal reactor system Plant Iron oxide
to increase steel production Clean

Recycle gas
coke oven gas
T wo dissimilar iron-making methods — a

conventional blast furnace using coke from
coal, and gas-based direct reduction of iron ore
(COG)
COG
pre-heater Scrubber
CO2
— are combined in a process being developed removal
Shaft
by Midrex Technologies, Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.; furnace
www.midrex.com) and Praxair Inc. (Dan- Thermal
reactor
bury, Conn.; www.praxair.com). Designed to
O2 Gas
use offgases from the coke-making operation heater
in integrated steel mills, the process offers Air
separation
three advantages: it uses the unwanted off- plant Syngas
Reducing
DRI/HBI/HDRI
gas
gases from the coke ovens to produce direct
reduced iron (DRI); it provides an alternate
process gas for DRI, and it can increase the Integrated mill
efficiency of blast furnaces by adding DRI to COG Iron oxide HBI
DRI/HBI/HDRI
the conventional iron-ore feed.
Hot metal
Midrex, the world’s leading supplier of Coke
DRI plants, is providing the direct reduction
technology. In the standard Midrex process,
natural gas (methane) is reformed to pro-
duce hydrogen and carbon monoxide (typi-
cally about 2:1 H2:CO), then these gases
are reacted with the Fe2O3 in iron pellets at Coke oven Blast furnace Basic oxygen furnace
800–1,000°C, leaving metallic sponge iron.

In the new arrangement, offgases from uses a thermal reformer, which operates at a
coke ovens will be reformed to obtain H2 and “higher” temperature, but without a catalyst, A new electrolysis cell
CO, which will be fed into a Midrex shaft says Hunter. The thermal reactor is heated by At Achema 2012, Thyssen-
furnace to react with iron ore pellets. Un- part of the coke oven gases. Praxair is provid- Krupp Uhde GmbH (Dort-
like methane, coke oven gases are a complex ing the O2 for the process and has designed mund, Germany; www.uhde.
mixture comprised of approximately 50% H2 special burners to handle the gases. eu) introduced a new gen-
and 30% methane, plus small amounts of CO, Part of the resultant DRI can be fed to a eration of its single-element
CO2, O2 and volatile hydrocarbons, says Rob- blast furnace and/or to a steel furnace. Add- electrolysis cell, Generation
ert Hunter, a Midrex marketing manager. In ing 10 wt.% metallic iron to a blast furnace 6, which offers improved
contrast with conventional steam reform- increases the production rate by 8% and energy consumption and
increased active-membrane
ing, which takes place at around 2,000°F achieves fuel savings of 7%, says Hunter.
area. These improvements
over a catalyst, the Midrex-Praxair process Midrex is pilot-testing the thermal reactor. are due to an elastic element
that enables the entire ac-
This valve tolerates up to 80% differential pressure tive area of the membrane to
be positioned between the
D ifferential pressure can be a tough

problem for butterfly valves, in that it
can cause damaging cavitation. As a rule
plates, each with the same number of holes,”
he explains. One plate is fixed, while the
other can move. As the plate moves, the
electrodes without any gaps.
This development ensures
that a uniform pressure is
of thumb, for instance, a typical butterfly individual hole openings can be decreased, transferred across the entire
valve can only handle a maximum of 30% thereby reducing the flow of fluid and the area of the membrane. Zero
gap is achieved across every
differential pressure (DP), explains René DP. Cavitation might occur with the Mono-
square inch, without com-
van der Gaag, global product manager var, van der Gaag says, but with effects that promising the advantages of
lined-valves process for Tyco Flow Control are far-less severe. Unlike what happens in the single-element design,
(Breda, The Netherlands; www.tyco.com/ other butterfly valves, cavitation does not says Uhde.
flowcontrol). Tyco’s new Monovar control occur near the pipe walls, and therefore is
valve, however, can take up to 80% DP. This not of a damaging type. Fine-tuning biomass
is a benefit for many applications, such as Turbulence downstream of the valve is very
A team of researchers at
water-treatment systems where high DP short, so elbows and other fittings can be in- the Joint BioEnergy In-
is common in both effluent streams and stalled at closer lengths downstream. Mean- stitute (JBEI; Emeryville,
streams into treatment steps. while, there are limited moving parts, so the Calif; www.jbei.org; part of
Monovar’s operating principle is very maintenance burden is low and reduces total
simple, van der Gaag says. “There are two cost of ownership, van der Gaag says. (Continues on p. 10)
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number
on p. 60, or use the website designation. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012 9
C HEMENTATO R
A more-efficient Fischer-Tropsch reactor

he production rate (per
T amount of catalyst) for
generating liquid hydro- 2 mm
carbons from syngas by 4.5 mm

the Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) 5 mm
process, using a slurry re- 1 mm
actor or tubular reactor, is Heat path
generally limited to about
30% of the maximum rate. The restraining the catalyst, in addition to cooling. (Continued from p. 9)
factor is heat removal from the highly exo- In contrast, CHER is a plate-and-fin Lawrence Berkeley National
thermic reaction, says Steven Vallee, chemi- structure (diagram) comprised of process Laboratory; Berkeley, Calif.;
cal applications engineer for Chart Energy layers of narrow channels (under 10 mm), www.lbl.gov) has demon-
& Chemicals Inc. (La Crosse, Wisc.; (www. sandwiched between coolant layers. Syngas strated a technology that
chartindustries.com). Chart is developing a flows over a cobalt catalyst in the channels allows temporal and spatial
new reactor, called a compact heat exchange and a conventional hot-oil-based coolant control of gene expression in
reactor (CHER), that is said to solve this passes through the coolant layers. In this ar- biomass plants. The scientists,
problem and could theoretically achieve rangement “heat exchange is intensified, so led by Dominique Loqué and
Henrik Scheller, introduced
close to 100% conversion. we don’t have to dilute the gas or the cata-
gene transcription promot-
A conventional fixed-bed F-T reactor is typ- lyst,” says Vallee. Consequently, he adds, a ers to various biomass plants
ically a shell-and-tube vessel in which the gas commercial unit would be about one-tenth that induce increased gene
flows through the catalyst-laden tubes, while the size of a commercial F-T reactor. expression of the same gene
coolant flows outside. When a cobalt catalyst Chart has done pilot tests and is working in a positive feedback loop.
is used, the temperature must be limited to up to a 100-bbl/d unit. Because of the smaller The team was able to improve
about 200–240°C (higher for an iron-based size, the company expects the capital and desirable properties of bio-
catalyst), explains Vallee. This is achieved by operating costs would be roughly 50% below
(Continues on p. 13)
diluting the syngas with nitrogen or diluting those of conventional plants.
Simultaneous heat transfer

and mass transfer model
in column.
Good thinking.
Feedback from our users is what inspires us to keep making
CHEMCAD better. Many features, like this one, were added to
the software as a direct response to user need. That’s 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/transfer.
CAD
EM
6.5
CH
E
NO
W
BL
AVA IL A
Engineering advanced © 2012 Chemstations, Inc. All rights reserved. | CMS-1419 7/12
Partner with
Making synthetic rubber from biomass the Best
A jinomoto Co., Inc. (www.ajinomoto.com) and Bridge-

stone Corp. (Both Tokyo, Japan; www.bridgestone.com)
have jointly developed a bio-based, high-cis-polyisoprene
synthetic rubber. The two companies began an R&D co-
operation in June 2011 to combine their know-how — Aji-
nomoto’s state-of-the-art fermentation technologies for
producing amino acids and Bridgestone’s polymerization-
catalyst technology — to develop synthetic rubber from
biomass, thereby ensuring the stable, sustainable supply
of synthetic rubber.
Ajinomoto has developed microorganism strains that can
produce isoprene monomer, and has successfully manufac-
tured bio-isoprene at the laboratory scale using a fermen-
tation process. Bridgestone has successfully polymerized
this monomer into synthetic rubber, polyisoprene.
Ajinomoto plans to study scaling up the process and to
secure non-edible biomass resources. By 2013, the two com-
panies plan to establish a combined process and judge its
business feasibility, with a goal of commercial production of
bio-based isoprene rubber by around 2020.
Scaleup of a CTL process

with carbon capture
T he Yankuang Group (Zoucheng City, Shandong Province;
www.ykjt.cn), one of China’s largest coal companies, and
Accelergy Corp. (Houston; www.accelergy.com), are jointly
developing a large-scale, low-carbon, coal-to-liquids (CTL)
plant incorporating both direct and indirect liquefaction,
in Erdos in China’s Inner Mongolia Province. The plant,
which will produce 68,000 bbl/d of fuel per day, will use
a hybrid configuration of Accelergy’s direct micro-catalytic
coal liquefaction system — licensed from ExxonMobil Re-
search and Engineering Co. — and Yankuang’s proprietary
Fischer-Tropsch indirect liquefaction.
In indirect liquefaction, coal is first gasified to form
synthesis gas, which is converted to liquids by means of
a catalyst and Fischer-Tropsch chemistry. Direct liquefac-
tion, on the other hand, is a “sledge hammer approach”. With over 50 independent sub-
It uses pressure, heat and a catalyst to crack the coal to sidiaries and more than 220 en-
produce liquids. gineering and sales offices spread
Direct liquefaction may be more efficient than indirect across the world, SAMSON
liquefaction, and may also have a better carbon footprint. ensures the safety and environ-
The project will incorporate Accelergy’s TerraSync carbon
mental compatibility of your plants
capture and recycle system. In this system, produced CO2
on any continent.
passes through a photobioreactor that grows cyanobacteria
harvested from soils adjacent to the plant. To offer the full range of high-
By incorporating the TerraSync system, the project is quality control equipment used in
expected to achieve a thermal efficiency of better than industrial processes, SAMSON has
60%, and a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions, according brought together highly specialized
to Accelergy. companies to form the SAMSON
The facility will produce a mixture of distillate fuels in-
GROUP.
cluding gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Accelergy recently began fuel production at its pilot plant
at the Beijing Research Institute for Coal Chemistry. The
company says its direct liquefaction process offers China a
SAMSON AG · MESS- UND REGELTECHNIK
solution that produces less CO2 than traditional petroleum Weismüllerstraße 3
refining and has a significantly higher overall efficiency 60314 Frankfurt am Main · Germany
than conventional CTL technologies. Phone: +49 69 4009-0 · Fax: +49 69 4009-1507
E-mail: samson@samson.de · www.samson.de
SAMSON GROUP · www.samsongroup.net
A01120EN
C HEMENTATO R
Plant Incinerator
Methane recovery Compressor Pump

Vent
stack
from a trona mine Pre-drilled
ast month, Solvay Group (Brussels,

L Belgium; www.solvay.com) unveiled
a methane recovery system (the MaRS
Project) that captures methane liberated
by mining trona ore (trisodium hydro-
gendicarbonate dihydrate), and pipes
the gas to nearby processing facilities as
a fuel for process heating. Sodium car-
bonate, a key ingredient in making glass,
soap, paper and other products, is the
major component recovered from trona.
The first-of-its-kind system in the U.S.
complies with U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency (EPA; Washington, D.C.) by creating negative pressure in a small 150,000 metric tons (m.t.) of carbon-
air-quality and safety regulations on drillhole that allows the gas to exit un- dioxide-equivalent (CO2e) from entering
mine ventilation, while simultaneously derground mining areas. The liberated the earth’s atmosphere and is currently
reducing the operation’s greenhouse- gas is then compressed and piped to a registered with the Climate Action Re-
gas footprint by combusting waste mine Solvay facility about four miles from the serve, a voluntary carbon registry. The
methane. The methane recovery sys- borehole field. There, the waste meth- methane recovery system has the capac-
tem is now fully operational at Solvay’s ane’s thermal energy is put to use in ity of harvesting enough liberated meth-
trona mining and refining operations a large dryer used to remove moisture ane to equal about 300,000 m.t./yr CO2e,
near Green River, Wyo. from the final product, soda ash. says Solvay senior vice president and
Methane liberated from rock strata To date, the patent-pending, closed- site manager Ron Hughes. He believes
during mining is pumped to the surface loop system has prevented about MaRS can double that total over time.
The mass production of organic-modified (Continued from p. 10)
metal oxide nanoparticles mass crops compared to wild types.
For example, the team was able to
system that continuously produces heat-recovery system makes the process
A 10 ton/yr of nanoparticles has been
developed by Tadafumi Adschiri, prin-
very energy efficient, says Adschiri.
JCII and its company members have
generate a genetic mutant of the crop
Arabidopsis with a lignin content that
is 33% lower than that in the wild vari-
cipal investigator at the Advanced In- demonstrated the effectiveness of the or- ety of the plant. Other properties they
stitute for Materials Research (AIMR) ganic-modified nanoparticles produced were able to adjust included a lower
and professor at the Institute of Mul- by this method for applications in semi- hemicellulose-to-cellulose ratio and
tidisciplinary Research for Advanced conductor sealing materials and power better drought tolerance.
Materials and New Industry Hatchery devices. For example, organic-modified
Center, Tohoku University (Sendai; boron nitride particles synthesized by A new UHP O2 generator
Japan; www.wpi-aimr.tohoku.ac.jp/en). the supercritical hydro-thermal device Last month, Praxair Distribution, Inc.
The process, which uses a supercritical exhibit low viscosity and suppressed a subsidiary of Praxair, Inc. (Danbury,
hydro-thermal device, was developed void formation even under highly filled Conn.; www.praxair.com) introduced
in a project of the New Energy and In- conditions, which enabled the continu- StarGen, its ultra-high-purity (UHP)
dustrial Technology Development Or- ous fabrication of film-type electrical
(Continues on p. 14)
ganization (NEDO), in collaboration insulator capable of withstanding high
with Japan Chemical Innovation and voltages (40–50 kV), and having a ther-
Inspection Institute (JCII; Tokyo; www. mal conductivity of 20–40 W/m.K — an The researchers are now working to
jcii.or.jp). order of magnitude higher than existing further scale up the technology, enhance
With this system, a slurry of high materials. Also, organic-modified alu- the energy efficiency even more and
concentration (30 wt.%) of organic and mina particles synthesized by the device develop a system for recycling waste-
inorganic compounds in water is mixed have a high thermal conductivity (10 water. They are also synthesizing other
at supercritical conditions (374°C and W/m.K) and maintain a low fluidity as organic-modified nanoparticles for ap-
more than 220 atm), and product is con- a sealing material, even at high concen- plications in the automobile and elec-
tinuously recovered after the reaction. A trations (80 vol.%). tronics industries.
BRAND PRODUCTS
MPLIAN
CO T
S
ARM
INT
ITAR
ERNAT
C IN
FI
ON
AL TRAF
C HEMENTATO R (Continued from p. 13)
oxygen generator, which
is designed to produce
Detecting sub-50-nm particles in ultrapure water 99.9999% O2 from ambient
air. This alternative to cylin-
new particle-size measurement technique ticles is the ability of the nebulizer to pre- ders for supplying UHP O2
A has been developed and used to evaluate
filter retention efficiency for particles with an
cisely produce small and uniform droplets,
Beuscher writes. Also, the particle suspen-
saves users time for recali-
brating laboratory equipment
and other types of analyzers,
average diameter of 12 nm by C.T. Associates sion needs to be dilute, so that no more than says the company.
Inc. (Eden Prairie, Minn.; www.ctassociates- one particle is present in each droplet. Con- The system uses Praxair’s
inc.com) and W.L. Gore and Associates (New- ventional aerosol-measurement techniques, proprietary solid-state oxy-
ark, Del.; www.gore.com). Scientists at C.T. such as a scanning mobility particle sizer, gen separation and com-
Associates developed the liquid nanoparticle are then used to determine total concentra- pression technology, which
sizer (LNS) for evaluating filtration devices tions of particles larger than a certain size. enables StarGen to operate
that remove fine particles from the ultrapure The testing apparatus was used to mea- for several years with no ad-
water used in semiconductor manufacturing. sure the retention efficiency of an ultra- justments after initial setup,
Particles on the order of 10 nm in size can filtration (UF) module commonly used in and provides a continuous
supply of UHP oxygen with-
reduce yield and harm device reliability in semiconductor manufacturing, in combina-
out batch-to-batch varia-
semiconductor manufacturing. tion with a high-retention microfiltration tions.
To make measurements with the LNS, a (MF) filter cartridge. The testing was ac- The system is suitable for
colloidal suspension undergoing analysis complished by pumping ultrapure water applications requiring UHP
is injected into a nebulizer, which converts through the system and challenging the O2, such as laboratories,
the suspension into ultrafine droplets with a filters with silica particles upstream of the combustion analyzers used
median diameter of about 300 nm, explains test filters. The particles had an average di- in food, soil, petroleum, plas-
Gore’s Uwe Beuscher, coauthor of a white ameter of 12 nm. The testing demonstrated tics and other areas, as well
paper about the work. The water in the drop- that filtering the water in series, with the as for calorimeters, TGAs
lets evaporates, leaving the particles sus- combination of the UF module, followed by ASTM oxidation procedures
and catalyst laboratory test-
pended in air that had been purged of foreign the MF cartridge resulted in optimal parti-
ing, says the company. ❏
particles beforehand. The key to applying cle removal (greater than 99% efficiency for
this approach to measuring sub-50-nm par- 12-nm particles in all tests).
CHECKMATE.
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C HEMENTATO R
Knowledge-based approach
to catalyst development
etroleum-derived ethylene normally contains traces
P of acetylene, which interferes with the conversion of
ethylene into polyethylene (PE). Because it is difficult
to separate it, the acetylene is selectively hydrogenated
to ethylene — without subsequent hydrogenation to
ethane — using a palladium-based catalyst. Scientists
at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of
Solids (Dresden; www.cpfs.mpg.de) and the Fritz Haber
Institute of the Max Planck Society (Berlin, both Ger-
many; www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de) have developed an iron-
aluminum-based catalyst with the same performance
as Pd-based catalysts, but costs much less.
A systematic, knowledge-based approach was used
to identify the iron-aluminum alternative, rather
than the experiment-intensive trial-and-error method
often used in catalyst development. First, the reaction
mechanism that takes place at Pd-sites was deduced.
Then, the chemists looked for alternative intermetal-
lic compounds with geometrical and electronic proper-
SOME THINK
ties that were similar to that of the Pd active site of
conventional catalysts. This search first yielded a gal-
lium-palladium compound, and then a compound with
YOU CAN
the similar crystal structure but without palladium,
namely Al13Fe4.
USE GENERIC
Although the new catalyst still needs to undergo
testing to determine the feasibility in industrial pro-
cesses, the scientists believe the approach can also be
INSIGHT FOR
used to develop other catalysts to replace those using
precious metals.
A self-healing
SPECIALIST
APPLICATIONS.
dynamic membrane
rench researchers from the Institut Européen des
F
WE THINK
Membranes (CNRS/ENSCM, Université Montpiel-
lier; www.iemm.univ-mont2.fr) and the Institut de
Chimie Radicalaire (CNRS, Aix-Marseille Université)
dIFFERENT.
have developed what is claimed to be the first dynamic
membrane for water filtration that not only can ad-
just its pore size — depending on the water pressure
— but can also repair itself if it breaks. The research
was published in the June issue of Angewandte Che-
mie.
Packaging high-value, sensitive chemicals requires a whole
The membrane is made of three polymers with dif-
di erent level of insight and innovation. At BEUMER, hands-on
ferent solubilities that form micelles. At low pressure
experience working with chemical producers has let us develop
(around 0.1 bar), the pore size is around 5 nm, which
systems that strongly relect sector need. Our portfolio of
allows macromolecules and viruses to be filtered. In- complete warehouse packaging and management systems
creasing the pressure, 1-nm sized pores form, for fil- includes some of the highest capacity systems on the market.
tering salts, dyes and surfactants. At a pressure of 5 Combined with a profound knowledge of your product and
bars, pores of 100 nm are formed that can filter bac- process, we’re able to maximise e ciency while maintaining
teria and suspended particulate matter. The 1.3-µm- a level of care and safety that makes all the di erence.
thick membrane also repairs itself via a self-assembly For more information, visit www.beumergroup.com
process, even at a perforation of 85 times the mem-
brane thickness. ■ Circle 5 on p. 60 or go to adlinks.che.com/40270-05

NEW WEB TOOL CHARTS RENEWABLE
TECHNOLOGY COSTS
Newsbriefs new Web application collects cost and performance estimates
A for electric power generation, advanced vehicles, and re-
newable fuel technologies and makes them available for utili-
ACC launches new ties, policy makers, consumers and academics. The Transparent
Cost Database (TCDB; available at www.openEI.org) application
macroeconomic indicator provides technology cost and performance estimates that can be
used to benchmark company costs, model energy scenarios, and
n June, the American activity. It comprises indi- inform research and development decisions.
I Chemistry Council (ACC;
Washington, D.C.; www.
cators drawn from a range
of chemicals and sectors
Developed by the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) National Re-
newable Energy Laboratory (NREL; Golden, Colo.; www.nrel.
americanchemistry.com) including indicators relat- gov), TCDB offers “a first-cut estimate of current and projected
released the first monthly ing to the production of costs and performance characteristics for vehicles, biofuels and
electricity generation,” with a current focus on renewables,
report of its Chemical Ac- chlorine and other alkalies,
NREL analyst Austin Brown says. The TCDB provides access to
tivity Barometer (CAB), a pigments, plastic resins, published historical and projected cost estimates for electricity
new leading macroeconomic and other selected basic in- generation, biofuels, and vehicle technologies. The cost data are
indicator. The June CAB dustrial chemicals; chem- sourced from published studies and the DOE’s internal planning
indicates that the U.S. ical-company stock data; documents. DOE works closely with private companies to accu-
economy will experience hours worked in chemicals; rately estimate technology costs.
modest or decreased growth publicly sourced, chemical
in economic activity for the price information; end-use
remainder of the year. (or customer) industry Economic outlook for U.S. chemistry
The CAB is a composite
index of chemical industry
sales-to-inventories; and
several broader leading
mixed at mid-year . . .
measures that produces economic measures (such ollowing a strong fourth remainder of the year. The
a leading indicator of
broader economy-wide
as building permits and
new orders).
F quarter in 2011, the U.S.
economy started 2012 on
financial crisis in Europe
and slowdown in China and
firm ground with gains in other emerging economies
consumer spending, manu- continue to take a toll on
Enzyme-based carbon capture facturing output and hous- demand for U.S. exports.
pilot test results ing. However, those positive
gains appear to be eroding,
This outlook, coupled with
weakness in U.S. manufac-
esults from a field pilot egas emitted from a power according to the ACC’s Mid- turing will likely produce
R test of enzyme-based
carbon-capture technology
plant. The Codexis technol-
ogy is based on develop-
Year 2012 Situation and
Outlook, released in July.
muted demand for chemical
products in the second half
from Codexis, Inc. (Red- ment of carbonic anhy- The report finds that of 2012. Overall, American
wood City, Calif.; www. drase, which catalyzes the first and second quarter chemistry output is an-
codexis.com) indicated transfer of CO2 in nature. 2012 growth was weak and ticipated to rise by 0.5% in
that CO2 capture at coal- Preliminary analysis of that underlying drivers will 2012, before accelerating to
fired power plants with the enzyme-based carbon- constrain growth for the a 2.3% growth rate in 2013.
enzyme-based technology capture system suggests
is viable. The field test was that it can substantially
conducted at the National reduce parasitic energy loss … while strong gains in
Carbon Capture Center
in Wilsonville, Ala. on flu-
compared to carbon capture
with monoethanolamine.
capital spending are forecast
trong gains in capital 2017, the report antici-
CSB launches new safety video S spending by U.S. chemi-
cal manufacturers are
pates. The projected capi-
tal spending gains are the
he U.S. Chemical Safety the safety of the facility, expected during the next result of announced new
T Board (CSB; www.csb.
gov) has released a new
the U.S. Congress directed
the CSB to commission
several years, according to
the Mid-Year 2012 Situ-
investment in petrochemi-
cals and derivatives aris-
safety video that examines the National Academy of ation and Outlook report ing from shale gas devel-
the concept of inherent Sciences (NAS) to study from ACC. Capital spend- opments, the report says.
safety and its application the feasibility of reducing ing for U.S. chemistry “The need to add capacity
across industry. “Inher- or eliminating the inven- will reach $35.5 billion and improve operating ef-
ently Safer: The Future tory of methyl isocyanate in 2012, and will steadily ficiencies will play a role
of Risk Reduction” stems (MIC) stored at the Bayer rise to $51.5 billion by as well,” ACC adds.
from the August 28, 2008, plant. The NAS study ex-
explosion that killed two plored how the concept of prevent an accident, but to and staff, as well as com-
workers and injured eight “Inherent Safety” could reduce the consequences mentary from the CSB
others at the Bayer Crop- be applied at the facil- of an accident should one chair and investigators.
Science chemical plant in ity. The NAS panel noted occur. The eleven-minute The video is available to
Institute, W. Va. As a result that the goal of inherently video features interviews stream or download on the
of ongoing concern over safer design is not only to with NAS panel members CSB’s website. ■
Newsfront
ACHEMA 2012 TAKES A

FORWARD VIEW
The major emphasis at Achema 2012 was on
preparing for a future where sustainability and
bioprocessing are likely to play larger roles
in CPI business and operations
A
chema 2012 — the 30th Inter- The bio-based economy
national Exhibition Congress on With over 300 exhibitors specifically
Chemical Engineering, Environ- related to biomass processing, and a
mental Protection and Biotech- unifying feature known as “Biobased
nology that occurred in late June in World,” Achema 2012 placed a heavy
Frankfurt am Main, Germany — took emphasis on examining the various
a decidedly forward-looking stance, implications of moving toward a world
focusing on a set of topics that the economy based on renewable biomass, data that will inform policy decisions
chemical process industries (CPI) will rather than on fossil fuels. related to the bio-based economy. Fur-
have to address in the future, includ- Achema’s Biobased World was in- ther, her organization intends to help
ing increased attention on sustainable tended to be a venue in which compa- biorefinery networks develop, support
processes and systems as well as the nies involved all along the value chain solutions involving bio-based technol-
transition to an economy based on re- of bioprocessing could come together ogies for existing industries, and pro-
newable energy and biomass. to learn from each other. The event in- mote adoption of bio-based products.
By most accounts, Achema 2012 was cluded a specific exhibition area, tech- In the research and innovation cat-
considered a success, with 167,000 at- nology transfer sessions, and a con- egory, Rute commented that the goal
tendees visiting 3,773 exhibitors and ference program that included talks should be to make the best use of
listening to 900 lectures on various top- about a wide range of bioprocessing funding, while continuing to increase
ics within chemical and biological pro- topics, including new microbial, en- investment in research. Among the EC
cessing. According to event organizer zymatic and catalytic production sys- initiatives in this area are to develop
Dechema e.V. (Frankfurt, Germany; tems, process scaleup, downstream bio-based industry clusters to support
www.dechema.de), the proportion of processing, biorefineries and more. innovation and to support entrepre-
exhibitors from outside Germany was Biobased World featured a two-day neurship training.
almost half, with 56 different countries conference within the wider Achema Picking up on the theme of research
represented. Dechema also noted that event that focused on the European and innovation in the bioeconomy,
83% of Achema 2012 visitors rated bioeconomy, specifically. A presenta- Martin Scheele, of the EC Directorat-
the event’s quality as either “good” or tion given by Maive Rute, director of General for Agriculture and Rural
“very good” in a post-event survey. biotechnology, agriculture and food in Development, spoke about closing the
Among the themes that emerged the European Commission (EC) Direc- gap between research and practice.
from Achema was the key role to be torate-General for Research and Inno- Research in Europe is very good, he
played by the CPI in promoting a vation, suggested that growing and im- explained, but often the results of that
sustainable society and in utilizing plementing the bio-based economy in work are not fully exploited, and not
renewable chemical feedstocks and Europe depends squarely on research translated into actual practice.
fuels. These themes were reflected investment, stakeholder engagement
in many of the presentations at the and market enhancements. Toward Bioeconomy hurdles
event, as well as in the many of the improving bioeconomy markets and In most cases, there remains a price
exhibits featuring products for envi- enhancing competitiveness, Rute said differential between petroleum- and
ronmentally sound processes and bio- the EC Joint Research Center has set biomass-derived hydrocarbons, but
industrial processing. up a bioeconomy observatory to collect the gap is narrowing, and eventually,
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Newsfront
Global expertise in automation

carbon atoms could have the same faster than other enzymatic hydrolysis
market value, whether they come technologies, the company says, and is
from petroleum or biomass. The gap free of acids and alkalis and produces Actuators for industrial valves
will likely be closed by overcoming the minimal waste.
various technical hurdles to economic Beta Renewables recently signed AUMA offer a comprehensive range of actuator
bioprocessing. These include develop- an agreement with Gevo, Inc. (Engle- and gearbox types combined with suitable
ing processes with the ability to uti- wood, Colo.; www.gevo.com) to de- actuator controls for industrial valve automation.
lize multiple biomass feedstocks to velop an integrated process for cel- ■ AUMA’s modular concept ensures
produce the same product, a topic that lulosic isobutanol. The project would
perfect integration
came up often at Achema 2012. Other integrate the Proesa enzymatic pre-
challenges mentioned in Achema treatment technology with Gevo’s ■ Appropriate for any valve type
presentations included the land con- integrated fermentation technology
straints that must be considered in platform for producing bio-based isob- ■ Integration with all
growing bioenergy crops. utanol and derivatives. conventional DCS concepts
■ Worldwide service and
Bio-based developments Sustainability science
extensive experience
In an example of how the bio-based Movement toward an economy based
economy is moving ahead in the real on renewable energy and biomass is www.auma.com
world, Beta Renewables (Rivalta closely related to the burgeoning field
Scrivia, Italy; www.betarenewables. of sustainability. Achema served as a
com), a joint venture between the focal point for several aspects of sus-
Chemtex div. of Gruppo Mossi & Ghi- tainability, including the need to es-
solfi and TPG, announced at Achema tablish a robust body of science in the
the planned startup in fall 2012 of the field. And developments at the June
world’s first commercial-scale second- event in Germany complement the
generation cellulosic ethanol plant work of other sustainability experts
in Crescentino, Italy. The facility is a going on elsewhere.
20-million gal/yr biorefinery that will An indicator of the growing interest
produce both bioethanol and “green” in assessing sustainability in a more
electricity. The facility uses Beta’s scientific way is the recent launch of a
Proesa technology, which converts en- new peer-reviewed journal, titled ACS
ergy crops, such as miscanthus and Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering,
switchgrass, or agricultural waste, by the American Chemistry Society
such as sugarcane bagasse, into fer- (ACS; Washington, D.C.; www.acs.org).
mentable C5 and C6 sugars, which are The journal is intended to be a forum AUMA Riester GmbH & Co. KG
then processed into ethanol and other for research on reducing environmen- P.O. Box 1362 • 79373 Muellheim, Germany
chemicals. Proesa’s enzymatic pre- tal harm and achieving sustainable Tel. +49 7631 809-0 • riester@auma.com
treatment process runs significantly processes. The journal’s editor-in-chief AUMA Actuators Inc.
100 Southpointe Blvd. Canonsburg, PA 15317, USA
Tel. +1 724-743-AUMA (2862) • mailbox@auma-usa.com
Newsfront
will be David T. Allen, chemical engi- University of Warwick (Coventry, U.K.; adapts and integrates the first and
neering dept. chair at the University www2.warwick.ac.uk) who has made second laws of thermodynamics with
of Texas at Austin. The first articles in green chemistry and its measurement the concept of rate processes. The com-
the journal will be published online in part of his research program. Gaining bination is necessary, the researchers
autumn 2012, and the first full issue this level of understanding is not triv- argue, because while thermodynamics
will appear in January 2013. ial — it is a time-consuming operation yields the limits of what can be ac-
that requires a large volume of data complished within a system, the rate
Measuring sustainability that must be checked for accuracy and process framework provides a way to
As attention on sustainability and reliability, Lapkin adds. incorporate the rates of regeneration
green chemistry builds, one of the Other scholars, including Michael and replenishment of resources com-
major challenges for CPI companies Neuman and Stuart Churchill, col- pared to the rates of depletion, extrac-
will be how to assess and quantify their laborators from the University of tion and consumption. A model based
sustainability efforts. Valid models New South Wales (Sydney, Australia; on both thermodynamics and rate pro-
and metrics are needed to accurately www.unsw.edu.au) and the University cesses can be generalized for physical
determine the degree of sustainability of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.; and social-economic phenomena, the
associated with a process or product www.upenn.edu), respectively have researchers suggest.
in order to make sound decisions for contributed to the discourse on sus- Neuman and Churchill’s work in-
R&D, manufacturing and marketing. tainability metrics as well. “What has cludes development of a set of equa-
“Sustainability only makes sense been missing in science, engineering tions that permit the calculation of the
when a system is considered as a and public policy is a rigorous defini- degree of sustainability of any process
whole, from raw materials to end of tion of sustainability, and a theory to in a way that takes into account spa-
life, and its interactions with soci- conceptualize and measure it quan- tial and temporal factors. The equa-
ety and the environment are also ac- titatively,” the pair writes. They have tions permit empirical applications
counted for,” explains Alexei Lapkin, a developed a model for measuring that correspond to complex, evolving
chemical engineering professor at the the sustainability of processes that conditions across space and time.
Existing approaches to quantify-
ing sustainability have limitations.
For example, cost-benefit analyses,
have been shown to lack validity for
decision-making in sustainability,
Churchill says. And life-cycle assess-
ment (LCA) approaches, can also be
somewhat lacking, Lapkin says.
Achema sustainability session

At Achema, attendees heard about the
launch of a new program designed to
bring an aspect of third-party peer re-
view to claims on the sustainability of
a product, process or service. The In-
ternational Certificate on Sustainable
Standards for Engineering (ICOSSE)
program was developed by the AIChE’s
Institute of Sustainability, along with
Dechema. Darlene Schuster, execu-
tive director of AIChE’s Institute for
Sustainability, says the criteria for the
certificate program are drawn from
AIChE’s Sustainability Index, a tool
that helps companies benchmark their
sustainability performance against a
group of their peers. It combines tech-
nical and engineering components
with financial and social metrics tra-
ditionally employed in other sustain-
ability measures.
Applications to the ICOSSE pro-
gram are reviewed by an advisory
board, which determines which ap-
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIP
IS ACCELERATING
T
oward the conclusion of Achema 2012, professor Jaap Schouten, dean of the Dept.
of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Technische Universiteit-Eindhoven (The
Netherlands; www.tue.nl), delivered a keynote address on the future of chemical en-
Polymer-
gineering. Before looking forward toward the possible hotspots of the future of chemical
engineering, Schouten first looked to the past. Specifically, he discussed a study he con-
Industry
ducted involving the history of scholarship in chemical engineering. Schouten tracked
all publications in seven key chemical engineering journals, including Industrial Engi-
neering Chemistry Research, Chemical Engineering Science, AIChE Journal, Chemical
Engineering Journal and others, over the past 60 years (1951–2011). Schouten found
that almost 25% of all chemical engineering papers published in those seven journals
have appeared in the last four years, and over half of all papers have appeared in the
last ten years. “Our industry is exploding, in terms of the numbers of papers,” he said.
According to his analysis, China has recently taken over the number one spot in terms of
the number of papers published, but the U.S. still ranks first in terms of scientific impact
(as measured by the number of citations per paper).
Judging from the most highly cited papers, it seems from Schouten’s analysis that there
has been a shift in the types of papers with the highest citation rate from science-oriented
papers being more cited overall in the past, and a focus on citing application-oriented
papers in more recent years. ❏
plications will receive the recognition. Saling said the method has been
There has been initial interest in the used by BASF to compare alternative
program, Schuster reports. process technologies, product packag-
During the same session at Achema, ing materials and help make strategic
Peter Saling, the head of sustainability decisions on investments, facilities,
evaluation at BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, research and development, marketing
Germany; www.basf.com) presented his and stakeholder relations. BASF has
company’s activities toward quantify- also applied the method, which has
ing sustainability. BASF has developed been certified by TÜV, the German As-
Eco-Efficiency Analysis as a method sociation for Technical Inspection, and
to systematically assess the sustain- NSF International, to other processes
s
Liquid
ability of products and processes in a outside the company.
holistic way. The tool uses a life-cycle
assessment approach to evaluate the
environmental impact of a product or
Resource management
In keeping with the sustainability
to m
process from the point of raw material theme, Achema also featured a key-
extraction to end-use and recycling note address about the challenges
and disposal options. In addition to the and opportunities of recycling metals
LCA, the Eco-Efficiency Analysis also that are used for specific function- for example:
includes an assessment of the carbon ality and performance in electronic
footprint of the product or process, as and other high-tech devices. Chris- Solvent removal
well as the total cost of ownership. tian Hagelüken, director of European Resins, Waxes
A product or process is scored in Union government relations at Umi-
each of a set of six categories, includ- core AG & Co. explained that concen- Monomerdistillation
ing energy consumption, toxicity po- trations of several critical metals are Isocyanates, Lactic Acid
tential, emissions, resource consump- higher in “urban mines” of collected
tion, land use and risk potential. The electronics parts than those generally
scores are weighted to arrive at a found in primary ore deposits. The
single Eco-Efficiency profile that can challenges associated with recycling
be compared to alternatives to deter- these technology metals include ther-
mine the degree of sustainability of modynamic constraints on processes,
the product or process. societal organization for recycling con-
BASF has enhanced the Eco-Ef- sumer products and the accessibility system solutions
ficiency Analysis with its SocioEco- of materials within the devices. Ulti- for evaporation and biopharma
Efficiency Analysis (also known as mate success in this area will depend
SEEBalance), which incorporates the on innovation on the material side, Processing Partners:
impact of products and processes on as well as on the product design side, www.gigkarasek.at
society, in addition to the costs and Hagelüken said, including improved www.incontech.com
environmental impact. The aim is to collection systems, new processes for
quantify the sustainability perfor- difficult material mixes and improved
mance of a product or process on an education about this issue. ■
ecological, social and economic basis. Scott Jenkins Circle 12 on p. 60 or go to adlinks.che.com/40270-12

Now Available in the Chemical Engineering Store:
Process Water and Wastewater Treatment
and Reuse Guidebook- Volume 2
This guidebook contains how-to engineering articles formerly published in Chemical Engineering. The
articles in Volume 2 provide practical engineering recommendations for process operators faced with the
challenge of treating inlet water for process use, and treating industrial wastewater to make it suitable for
discharge or reuse.
There is a focus on the importance of closed-loop or zero-discharge plant design, as well as the selection,
operation and maintenance of membrane-based treatment systems; treating water for use in recirculated-
water cooling systems; managing water treatment to ensure trouble-free steam service; designing stripping
columns for water treatment; and more.
Table of Contents
Process Water Treatment – Challenges and Solutions Facts at Your Fingertips: Controlling Membrane Fouling
Water Reuse and Conservation in the CPI Biodegradation and Testing of Scale Inhibitors
Strategies to Minimize Wastewater Discharge Keeping Cooling Water Clean
Strategies for Water Reuse
Caring for Cooling Water Systems
Wastewater: A Reliable Water Resource
Purifying Coke-Cooling Wastewater
Membranes for Process Water Reuse
Strategies for Controlling Membrane Fouling Non-Chemical Water Treatment
Fact at Your Fingertips: Membranes CPI Water and Steam Chemistry
Facts at Your Fingertips: Membrane Configurations Designing Steam Stripping Columns for Wastewater
Order your copy today by visiting store.che.com

20611
Eagle
Burgmann
Equipment News Roundup
SMALL BUT
FIGURE 2.
The use of
microcrystal-
line diamond
MIGHTY
coatings makes
the seal faces
extremely hard
and wear resis-
tant and gives
the seals excel-
lent heat con-
ductivity, maxi-
mum chemical
resistance and
New materials and designs low friction
allow seals and gaskets to

stand up to harsh CPI conditions
The A.W.
Chesterton
Co.
S
ometimes the smallest parts mer can be used as a rigid
— such as seals and gaskets — primary seal. However it
can have the greatest impact needs to be manufac-
on plant performance. For this tured to very tight tol-
reason, seal and gasket manufactur- erances to be used this
ers are developing innovative new way,” she continues.
materials and designs that will help Elastomeric materials
FIGURE 3.
these diminutive, but important, com- are commonly used as This Low
ponents stand up to the harsh operat- primary seals, but their Emissions
ing conditions of the chemical process mechanical properties block valve
industries (CPI). require changes to the packing is
guaranteed to
“With multiple seals and gaskets seal design in high- leak no more
responsible for essentially ‘making or pressure applications. Victrex than 100 ppm
breaking’ the entire system, the ultimate Where many elastomeric for five years
driver is to eliminate or severely reduce materials may fail by ex-
FIGURE 1. High performance thermoplastics
the cost of maintenance and downtime truding under pressure, such as PEEK are often specified for sealing
whenever possible,” says Marion Fisher, a thermoplastic backup applications due to their excellent physical
market development manager with Vic- seal ring will increase the properties: high temperature durability, creep
trex (West Conshohocken, Pa.). pressure limits of elasto- resistance, stiffness and compatibility with a
Marcus Pillion, president of Eagle meric O-rings and main- wide range of chemical environments
Burgmann (Houston) agrees. “While tain their seal integrity in
this is not a new story, chemical pro- many demanding environments. diamond coatings. “The use of this
cessors need equipment to last longer “Many applications are using injec- new material allows operators to have
and handle more upset conditions,” tion molded PEEK and PEEK films more upset conditions and have a seal
he says. “The run-ability of a plant is to fulfill these needs in chemical pro- that lasts and survives without break-
vital these days, so equipment must cessing operations,” says Fisher. This ing down as quickly as other materi-
last longer and be more efficient. For is because PEEK polymer is a much als,” says Pillion.
this reason there’s a strong drive for tougher material option and has ex- A diamond coating of 8 µm or more
new materials and better products in cellent creep resistance under high- in thickness makes the seal faces ex-
the seals and gasket industry.” pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) tremely hard and wear resistant, he
conditions, which helps reduce down- says. In addition, the diamond mate-
Mighty materials time and maintenance costs in that it rial gives the seals excellent heat con-
High-performance thermoplastics, needs to be replaced less frequently, ductivity, maximum chemical resis-
such as polyether ether ketone (PEEK; she says. Back up rings prevent the tance and low friction.
Figure 1), are more often being speci- extrusion of elastomeric seals in blow- “The faces can now handle more
fied for sealing applications due to off preventers, risers and valves and upset conditions like run dry, which
its advantageous physical properties, allow communication and power con- the operators appreciate because now
such as high-temperature durability, nectors to function in demanding and the process itself doesn’t need to be
creep resistance, stiffness and com- corrosive environments. perfect,” says Pillion. “And, processes
patibility with a range of chemical en- Another material innovation in- rarely are, so this innovation allows op-
vironments, says Fisher. “PEEK poly- cludes the use of microcrystalline erators room for improvement.”
A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
nother major concern for chemical manufacturers is the current need to reduce fugitive emis-
Equipment News
A sions of toxins like volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants that come from
valves, flanges and seals in vaporous forms, says Walt Moquin, business development man-
ager with The A.W. Chesterton Company (Woburn, Mass.).
As part of the Clean Air Act of 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Ageny (EPA; Washington,
Developing new designs D.C.) was focused on fugitive emissions in the refining industry. As that industry is currently under
“When plants have a leakage LDAR (leak detection and repair) programs, the agency is looking closely at the chemical industry,
problem with their gasketed with several major plants having already been issued Consent Decrees. This means they’ve been
joints, in many instances, found in violation of the Clean Air Act and must, on an ongoing basis, guarantee to the EPA that
they end up installing the they will start measuring, monitoring and reducing emissions — usually down to the mid- to low-
hundreds parts-per-million (ppm) range — according to the specific Clean Air Act Consent Decree
same style gasket, using the
they were issued.
same installation procedures
“This is new to the chemical industry and some processors aren’t aware that they’re in violation, and
and three months later they they should be working to put a plan together that will help them with compliance,” says Moquin.
have the same old problem,” Part of that plan should include packings for low emissions control, he says. The EPA defines “Low
says Ed Crowley, Northeast E Packings” as those that are guaranteed to leak no more than 100 ppm for five years. This is ac-
regional manager with Flexi- complished via improved technology. “The primary leak point in valves is at the stem and packing
tallic (Deer Park, Tex.). “But interface,” says Moquin. “The advanced construction of Low E Packing (Figure 3) results in a non-
the industry is constantly hardening, flexible packing that will not shrink or absorb moisture. The strands that make up the
working on new designs to packing slide easily over one another in response to gland pressure, creating a secure and reliable
improve gasket performance, seal, even in harsh process conditions.” ❏
allowing them to compensate
for harsh conditions or deficiencies in sion and recovery compared to tra- hybrid of a spiral wound gasket and
the equipment or process, and plants ditional gaskets. The Change gasket Kammprofile gasket to offer the best
are updating their installation proce- consists of a metallic core and can be performance characteristics of both
dures to incorporate best practices,” supplied with a variety of facing and traditional designs. “This allows it
he says. filler materials such as Thermiculite, to seal better than conventional gas-
One example of a new gasket de- polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or kets in cyclic conditions, because the
sign includes Flexitallic’s launch of flexible graphite, making it suitable Change gasket acts like a spring and
the Change gasket, which testing has for a range of applications. therefore maintains a tight joint dur-
shown to provide superior compres- Crowley says the new gasket is a ing thermal cycles,” he notes.
One tough test. One clear winner. CALFLO AF. TM
Results from A specialty heat transfer A world leader in industrial lubricants CALFLO AF
fluid competitor Flows, but severe build-up of deposits Flows easily, stays cleaner longer.
Severe Oxidative No flow, remains completely remains in tube.
stuck in tube.
Stability Test.
CALFLO AF delivers longer fluid life and better equipment protection. And more savings to you.
We put CALFLO AF and leading competitors to the test in a challenging Severe Oxidative Stability Test and the results are clear. CALFLO AF
provides better oxidative stability for longer fluid life and enhanced equipment protection. That means more savings in operations
and maintenance costs. And less worry. Test CALFLO AF, or another product in our line of CALFLO heat transfer fluids, in your operation.
And see the results for yourself.
Visit www.calflo.com for the clear facts.
Petro-Canada is a Suncor Energy business

TM
Trademark of Suncor Energy Inc. Used under licence.
Master Bond
SEAL AND GASKET

PRODUCTS
Mechanical seals in
one assembly for mixers
Featuring both single and
double cartridge configura-
tions and designed for easy
installation and maintenance,
ChemSeal cartridge seals
(photo) can be removed from tensile shear strength exceeding 1,000
the agitator as a complete as- psi. The silver-filled epoxy adhesive/
sembly and repaired on the sealant provides electrical conductiv-
workbench before re-installa- ity with a volume resistivity less than
tion. The “swing-out” agitator 0.001 ohm cm. Serviceable over a tem-
seal-change design contrib- perature range of –60 to 400°F, the
utes to the ease and speed of sealant is resistant to severe thermal
seal replacement. The seals cycling and many chemicals. The prod-
are available in a variety of Chemineer uct is a thixotropic paste and requires
materials to meet critical tempera- A silver-filled sealant for no mixing. It needs only contact pres-
ture and pressure ratings, satisfying a bonding and sealing sure during the heat cure of 20 to 40
range of mixing/agitation applications. Developed for bonding and sealing, the minutes at 300°F. — Master Bond Inc.,
— Chemineer, Inc., Dayton, Ohio EP3HTSMED epoxy system (photo) Hackensack, N.J.
www.chemineer.com features a rapid cure schedule and a www.masterbond.com
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Sweco
Newsfront
Gaskets for high-temperature industrial gears, a new fluoroelas-

applications tomer material — a wear-resistant
Therma-Pur can be used to seal con- FKM — was developed for use in
nectors in biomass gasification, ma- radial shaft seals that interact
rine and land-based exhaust systems, with aggressive oils in indus-
turbochargers and mineral and fertil- trial-gearbox sealing applica-
izer processing. The gasket is made in tions. FKM material blends are
a solvent-free process and combines a used in applications containing
unique blend of raw materials with a synthetic oils, as they offer high tem-
fiber core. The material provides seal- perature and chemical resistance. — and the outer lip of the screen tension
ing effectiveness in temperatures to Simrit, Elgin, Ill. ring (for Sweco STP and spot-welded
1,800°F, including extreme thermal- www.simrit.com screens only). — Sweco, Florence, Ky.
cycling conditions. The low organic- www.sweco.com
fiber content and non-oxidizing for- A conductive gasket suitable
mulation also exhibit low weight-loss for food applications Seal and bearing materials for
ratio. The fiber core makes it safe to The C2 gasket (photo; 24 to 72 in. sanitary applications
handle. The gasket is available in a round) is a co-extruded product of Turcon MF6 and Zurcon Z431 PEEK
range of configurations. — Garlock, FDA white silicone and conductive seal and bearing materials (photo, p.
Palmyra, N.Y. black silicone, to produce a gasket 27) conform to the latest version of
www.garlock.com that can be used in food and high- the 3-A Sanitary Standard and are
static processes. The FDA white sili- capable of withstanding high temper-
A wear-resistant fluoropolymer cone element is the only portion ex- atures and the cleaning regimes used
for shaft seals posed to product contact, while the in food and beverage manufactur-
To address the compatibility require- black conductive component of the ing. Suitable for a range of seal pro-
ment of synthetic lubricants used in gasket makes contact with the frames files, scrapers and wear rings, Turcon
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unfilled tubing in two minutes. — Ad-
vantaPure, Southampton, Pa.
www.advantapure.com
Piston rings for oil-free,

compressed-gas applications
Carbon-graphite is available for use
in piston rings needed to seal high-
Trelleborg AdvantaPure
pressure gas in applications requiring
MF6 is part of the company’s range of pumps, may be molded to form sam- compressed gases that do not contain
PTFE-based sealing materials formu- pling and batch filling assemblies and oil or grease. The piston rings are used
lated for food contact, pharmaceuti- exhibits low levels of extractables. The in conjunction with carbon-graphite
cal and medical applications. Zurcon welder produces tubing welds, where guide rings or carrier rings, which hold
Z431 PEEK is suitable for valve and two open ends of tubing are heated the piston centered on a cylinder bore.
bearing applications. — Trelleborg and joined to form a leak-free, single The self-lubricating, carbon-graphite
AB, Trelleborg, Sweden length of tubing using an automated piston rings and guide rings are used
www.trelleborg.com process. The welder maintains the ste- in reciprocating compressors, where
rility of wet, dry or fluid-filled tubing oil-free gases, such as air, steam, re-
Seal and weld and works with gamma irradiated and frigerants, hydrogen, hydrocarbons,
biotech-grade tubing autoclaved AdvantaFlex. The sealer chlorine, nitrogen and oxygen can be
The AdvantaTube Sealer and Ster- offers simple operation. A 10-ft cord compressed to pressures greater than
ile Welder (photo) are programmed connects to a base and allows users to 800 psi. — Metallized Carbon Corp.,
to seal and weld AdvantaFlex bio- bring the remote sealing head to the Ossining, N.Y.
pharmaceutical grade TPE tubing. tubing. The unit uses heat and com- www.metcar.com ■
TPE tubing works well in peristaltic pression to securely seal fluid-filled or Joy LaPree
Focus
Sartorius Stedim Biotech
FOCUS ON
Pipes &
Fittings
A tube welder for sterile
biopharmaceutical applications
The Biowelder Total Containment
(TC) system (photo) features innova-
tive technology that permits sterile
connection of liquid-liquid thermo-
plastic tubing that has an outer diam-
eter of up to 1 in. and that is used on
disposable bag assemblies in all bio-
pharmaceutical manufacturing pro-
cesses. The sterile welding process is
fully automated and can be performed
in non-classified or classified environ-
ments while maintain-
ing product sterility.
The thermal weld pro-
duced by BioWelder TC
ensures stability, thus
guaranteeing an ultra-
safe connection. The sys-
tem has been qualified;
biological, physical and
extractables tests were
conducted to obtain data
representing a variety
Tube-Tec
of process conditions,
including critical ones.
— Sartorius Stedim Bio- and circular manifolds. The com-
tech, Aubagne, France pany has 20 mandrel and three-
fr.sartorius.com reel bending machines capable of
ParkerHannifin
bending pipes with an outer diam-
This hose is suited for 300°F. The EPDM rubber covers the eter of up to 168.3 mm. Elbows with
food and pharma applications FEP tube with multi-layers of rub- thin walls, such as those used for
This company offers USP Class VI ber and polyester reinforcement with pneumatic conveying, are manufac-
certified RCTW (rubber covered fluo- an added helical wire for support. tured in a special procedure, bending
ropolymer hose; photo) to transfer The rubber and polyester insulates tubes with an outer diameter up to
materials without contaminating the the tube, and the wire helix supports 355.6 mm, minimum radius 2.5 mm
integrity of the product. USP Class full vacuum service. Sizes range from  O.D. The company is equipped to
VI certification includes stringent 1/2- to 4-in. inner diameter. — Park- form any material such as carbon
testing of the tube materials to de- erHannifin/Parflex Div., Parker Page steel, high- and medium-alloyed
termine biocompatibility, toxicity and International Hose, Fort Worth, Tex. steels, austenitic materials, high-
extractables of a product. For end www.pageintl.com strength, heat-resistant nickel al-
users, especially in the pharmaceuti- loys (incoloy, Hastelloy, a high nickel
cal and food industries, purity, taste, Custom-made pipes ferrous material) zirconium and tita-
smell, color and extractables are in just about any geometry nium for aggressive acids. — Tube-
critical characteristics. These RCTW This company is a specialist for man- Tec Rohverformungstechnik GmbH,
hoses are extremely flexible, easy to ufacturing cylindrical, helical coil Nistertal, Germany
clean and handle temperatures up to systems, flat coils, spirals, elbows www.tube-tec.com
Walther-Präzision
A new double-containment sys-
tem for hazardous liquids
Introduced in May, the Double-
See was developed in response
to market demand for an
improved pressure-rated
double containment sys-
tem for transporting haz-
ardous liquids. The new
system offers a simplified
installation method, a pat-
ented coupling closure de-
sign that allows conformance mary or secondary, with Clear Leak-free couplings that also
to the ASME B31.3 test inspection PVC always being an option for prevent contamination
requirements, and a unique 3D ther- the containment pipe. System sizes Clean-break couplings of the new
mal-expansion compensation feature. range from 1/2 in.  2 in. to 6 in.  10 CP Series (photo) were developed for
With the Double-See system, both in. The new piping systems are suit- water hydraulic applications and for
primary and secondary pipes are cut able for a wide range of applications, demanding media in the chemical
to the same length and can be joined including water and wastewater treat- and medical sectors, for process tech-
simultaneously. This saves significant ment, chemical delivery, dosing and nology and engineering. Ergonomic
time and prevents potential mistakes processing, microelectronics, life sci- and non-squirting operation — even
caused by staggered pipe-cut mea- ences, metal working/finishing, waste under residual pressure — is made
surement errors, says the company. collection and more. — Georg Fischer possible by means of a special clean-
Double-See is available in PVC and Piping Systems, Tustin, Calif. break valve technology. The function-
1-4pgKrytox Ad 7-6-12.pdf:Layout 2 6/27/12 5:07 PM Page
CPVC; either material can be pri- www.us.piping.georgfischer.com related residual leakage is thus mini-
Krytox Fluorinated Lubricants

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Oxygen Compatible, Low Vapor Pressure. Low Outgassing. No
Migration - no silicones or hydrocarbons. Krytox® offers Extreme
Pressure, Anticorrosion and Anti-wear properties. Mil-spec,
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Circle 1 on p. 60 or go to adlinks.che.com/40270-01 Circle 18 on p. 60 or go to adlinks.che.com/40270-18

Focus
mized in such a way that very little & Co. KG, Haan, Germany
media is lost when the fitting is dis- www.walther-praezision.de
connected. At the same time, very lit-
tle foreign media enters into the pipe A new size for this range
system when it is reconnected. Cou- of pipe couplings
plings are made in stainless steel (as This leading manufacturer of W.L. Gore
standard), and are available in nomi- mechanical pipe-joining systems

nal sizes 6, 9, 12 and 16. — Walther- has introduced a major update to
Präzision, Carl Kurt Walther GmbH its Style 77 coupling. The two-piece
coupling, a mainstay in the mining in-

dustry, is now available in 14- to 24-in.
sizes. The Style 77 coupling, designed
for cut grooved systems, creates a flex-
ible joint and is ideal for abrasive ser-
vice piping, such as tailings and slurry
lines. Maintaining the same design
characteristics as the multi-segment
coupling, the new two-piece design
September 29 – October 3, 2012 reduces handling and enables easier
New Orleans Morial Convention Center and quicker installation, says the
New Orleans, Louisiana manufacturer. The Style 77 is rated
for 300-psi service from 14–22 in., and
for 250-psi service in the 24-in. size. It
Customize is available with a grade “E” EPDM

(ethylene propylene diene monomer)
gasket for water service, or grade “T”
WEFTEC nitrile gasket for air with oil vapors.

— Victaulic Co., Easton, Pa.
www.victaulic.com
to You Gasket tape for
My WEFTEC Planner is available very large flanges
as an app for your phone! Visit This ePTFE tape (photo) can save time
and money when joining large flanges
the iTunes App Store, Blackberry
Based on this company’s patented
App World, or Android Application expanded polytetrafluoroethylene
Store to download the free (ePTFE), the new Series 500 Gasket
application. Add workshops, Tape for large steel flanges enables
industrial plants to save time, money
technical sessions, exhibitors, and trouble compared to conventional
events, tours, and committee large gaskets, says the manufacturer.
meetings that interest you to your The new gasket tape is said to deliver
personal briefcase which builds at least a 50% greater creep resistance
than other ePTFE gasket tapes, which
your WEFTEC schedule and save gives greater assurance of a secure
it online or on your phone! seal, maximizing operational reliabil-
ity and performance of flanged con-
nections, says product specialist Peter
Wagner. Because the user can create
a gasket instantly in any shape, re-
gardless of flange size or complexity,
Series 500 Gasket Tape (photo) is a
great time saver; it eliminates the
time needed for large, custom gaskets
to be fabricated off-site. — W.L. Gore
& Associates, Inc., Newark, Del.
www.gore.com ■
Gerald Ondrey
Julabo Labortechnik
Focus
Temperature
FOCUS ON
Measurement & Control

This pH probe has an
integrated temperature sensor
The new SC25V (photo) is a reliable,
very stable and highly accurate 12-mm
pH sensor that uses a VP-type connec-
tor to integrate multiple measuring
elements in a single package,
including a built-in tempera-
ture sensor and liquid earth.
Two versions of the sensor are
available, both with pH range
from 0 to 14 and designed
for pressures up to
10 bars. The general Yokogawa
purpose version has
an operating temperature range from
–10 to 80°C, while the high-tempera-
ture/alkaline version is designed for
harsher applications, and has a tem-
perature range from 15 to 130°C, as
well as a chemical-resistant glass to
prolong its life in alkaline applica-
tions. Both types include a PT100 tem-
perature sensor integrated into the pH
compartment for more accurate tem-
perature compensation. — Yokogawa
Corp. of America, Newnan, Ga.
www.us.yokogawa.com Trolex
Precise temperature control,

even when viscosity changes
The Presto A80 (photo) and W80 ables hands-free operation, such as for
are this company’s latest highly dy- adjustment work at gas heaters. The
namic temperature control systems. instrument measures temperatures
They unite high efficiency and per- from –50 to 1,100°C with a resolu-
formance for laboratory applications. tion of 0.1–1°C. The lit display allows
Both instruments cover a work- simultaneous indication of two mea-
ing temperature range from –80 to Afriso-Euro-Index sured values (current value, minimum
250°C, provide 1.2 kW of cooling ca- or maximum values). — Afriso-Euro-
pacity and 1.8 kW of heating capac- trol system. — Julabo Labortechnik Index GmbH, Güglingen, Germany
ity. The powerful, maintenance-free GmbH, Seelbach, Germany www.afriso.de
pumps deliver 1.7 bars and pump up www.julabo.de
to 40 L/min, and the high flowrates at Monitor mine environments
consistent pressure dynamically ad- This handheld device measures with these systems
just to viscosity changes of the bath a wide temperature range The Sentro 8 and Sentro 1 systems
fluids. The required pump capacity The TMD7 electronic thermometer now have humidity and temperature
can be adjusted in four stages or as a (photo) is designed to measure the modules (photo) available for envi-
pre-programmed pressure value. Ex- temperature of surfaces, liquids and ronmental monitoring in the mining
tensive interfaces permit flexible ap- soft plastic media as well as air and industry. The temperature module can
plications with remote control via an gases. The lightweight measuring sense temperatures in the range from
Ethernet network, wireless control device is protected against dirt and –10 to 40°C with an accuracy of ±2°C,
with the company’s Wireless TEMP shocks by means of a plastic protec- whereas the humidity module ranges
solution or integration into a con- tive sleeve. A magnet at the back en- from 10 to 95% relative humidity with
WIKA Alexander
Wiegand
Laude Dr. R. Wobser
Focus
±8% accuracy. The tempera-

ture (or humidity) module also
gives a sub display of the cur-
rent humidity (or temperature).
— Trolex Ltd., Stockport, U.K.
www.trolex.com
Detect a flame from a dis-

Omega
tance within seconds Engineering
The Sierra Monitor 3600-I Triple
IR (IR3) Flame Detector detects fuel This thermal-imaging camera Reed contacts enable fast
and gas fires at long distances with a covers a wide temperature range switching with this thermometer
high immunity to false alarms. The de- The OSXL-T60 series of thermal im- This company now offers gas-actuated
vice can detect a 1-ft2 gasoline pan fire aging cameras (photo) is CE compli- thermometers with reed contacts
at 215 ft in less than 5 s. It features a ant (FLIF T62), and is said to have the (photo). The recently developed Mod-
heated window to eliminate condensa- highest thermal imaging resolution els 73 and 74 are suited for a wide
tion and icing; HART capabilities for in its class. It also features the indus- range of applications, especially for use
digital communications; low power re- try’s first Wi-Fi connectivity, which with programmable logic controllers
quirements; and a compact, lighter de- adds power to analysis, reporting and (PLCs). The reed contacts can be oper-
sign. The unit can perform automatic sharing. Other features include high ated in a temperature range of –200
and manual built-in-tests to assure thermal sensitivity (0.05°C at 30°C), a to 600°C. Because of their low contact
continued reliable operation, with wide temperature range (–20 to 650°C) transition resistance, reed contacts
a mean-time-between failure (mini- with ±2% accuracy, a focal plane array feature a high switching accuracy and
mum) of 150,000 h. Multiple output detector with 640  480 pixels infra- a long service life (switching cycle of
options are available, including three red (IR) resolution, interchangeable up to 108). With changeover contacts
relays for alarm, fault and auxiliary; lens with four times continuous zoom, as a standard switching function, they
0–20 mA (stepped), HART Protocol for MeterLink Wireless Communication are also very flexible. The slender de-
maintenance and asset management, and an SD card slot for image storage sign of the reed contacts enables the
and RS-486 (Modbus compatible). — of more than 1,000 radiometric jpeg case height to be reduced by 35% com-
Sierra Monitor Corp., Milpitas, Calif. images. — Omega Engineering, Inc., pared to a design with other contacts,
www.sierramonitor.com Stamford, Conn. says the manufacturer. — WIKA Alex-
www.omega.com ander Wiegand SE & Co. KG, Klingen-
Temperature regulation from berg, Germany
–80 to 350°C and higher A sensor tailor made for www.wika.de
The process-cooling system Kryo- monitoring flat-glass production
heater KH 150 (photo) is a refrigera- This company produces solutions An amplifier for converting
tion system with an extremely wide tailored to specific conditions of use. temperatures to voltages
temperature range that covers the For example, the recently introduced The Type 5155A multi-channel temper-
technical areas of application between MMG7 sensor is the latest addition ature and pressure charge amplifier is
laboratory thermostat and heating to its Marathon pyrometer series, and designed to convert the charge signal
and cooling system for production. It was specifically developed for use in the from all types of piezoelectric sensors
can be used, for example, to control production of thin glass. The MMG7 and Type K thermocouples into a pro-
the temperature of reactors, for en- measures IR radiation at a wavelength portional voltage output signal, for the
vironmental simulation, automotive of 7.9 µm, which is precisely adjusted effective monitor, control and optimiza-
and solar technology, material testing, to the measurement spectrum of the tion of injection molding processes. Of-
and for thermostating heat exchang- reflecting medium and to the tem- fered in two measurement ranges, with
ers and evaporators. Depending on the perature range from 300 to 900°C. At a choice of single, two- or four-channel
module used, the Kryoheater can op- shorter wavelengths, the background operation, the device’s measurement
erate at temperatures down to –35°C radiation could distort the results, range inputs can be switched over in-
(single-stage compressor), –50°C (two- while surface reflection is too strong dividually for each channel by remote
stage compressor) or –80°C (two re- in the longer wavelength region. This control. Amplifiers equipped with tem-
frigeration systems in cascade). The point sensor has a 100:1 resolution perature inputs are provided with one
electrical heater enables operation up and achieves a precision of ±1% and a charge amplifier unit and one tempera-
to 200°C, with an optional system for repeatability of ±0.5% or ±0.5°C. With ture amplifier, or two charge amplifiers
up to 350°C. Explosion-protected ver- a response time of just 120 ms, the and two temperature amplifiers, in an
sions are also available. — Lauda Dr. device delivers reliable data even in IP65-rated seal. — Kistler North Amer-
R. Wobser GmbH & Co. KG, Lauda- very fast processes. — Raytek GmbH, ica, Novi, Mich.
Königshofen, Germany a Fluke Company, Berlin, Germany www.kistler.com ■
www.lauda.de www.raytek.de Gerald Ondrey
WHEN CHOOSING HEAT TRANSFER FLUIDS,
PUT THE THERMINOL PERFORMANCE CREW
TO WORK FOR YOU.
In the heat transfer fluid race the competition can get pretty heated. That’s why you need the Therminol® Heat Transfer
Fluid Performance Crew working for you. From start to finish, the Therminol TLC Total Lifecycle Care® team of seasoned
professionals is ready to support you with everything you need to win. For your people, we provide start-up assistance,
operational training and a technical service hotline. For your facility, we offer system design assistance, quality Therminol
products, sample analysis, flush fluid & refill and a fluid trade-in program*. So join the winning team. In North America, call
1-800-426-2463 or in Europe, call 32.2.746.5134. www.therminol.com.
Therminol TLC Total Lifecycle Care is a complete program of products and services from Solutia
designed to keep your heat transfer system in top operating condition through its entire lifecycle.
©Solutia Inc. 2012. Therminol ®, TLC Total Lifecycle Care ®, Therminol logo, and Solutia are trademarks of Solutia Inc.,
registered in the U.S. and in other countries. *Available only in North America.
Gebr. Lödige
Maschinenbau
This butterfly valve has

a PTFE lining
This leading manufacturer of plas-
tic-lined valves and process pumps
has expanded its product range
of shut-off and control butterfly
valves (photo). The company
now offers valves with a PTFE
disc/stem unit to DN 750 (30
in.) or with a metallic disc/
stem unit up to DN 1000 (40
in.). The body lining is made
of PTFE. The valves are soft-
sealing and gas tight (both
lined and metallic versions),
and can be used for operating Richter
Chemie-Technik
pressures of 0.1 mbar vacuum up
to 10 bars and at operating tem-
peratures of –40 to 200°C. The wetted
materials are FDA-compliant (U.S.
Food and Drug Admin.), and therefore
also suitable for use in food process-
ing, pharmaceutical and other sectors.
The version with the metallic disc/
stem unit is also suitable for free-flow-
ing bulk materials. — Richter Chemie-
Technik GmbH, Kempen, Germany
www.richter-ct.com
A rubber liner prevents Pepperl+Fuchs

Yokogawa
wear in this mixer
Materials that tend to harden during A flowmeter for design. This is a space saving of 50%
mixing cause rapid wear of the ma- large process lines compared to the predecessor model.
chines. The new continuous-motion The AXW (photo) is a new, larger ad- Thus, costs-per-channel can be re-
Druvaflex Ploughshare mixer (photo) dition to the Admag series of magnetic duced by using smaller control cabi-
was developed with such applications flowmeters. The AXW series is suit- nets. Furthermore, all new modules
in mind. The Ploughshare mixer was able for industrial process lines, water have status LEDs that display the re-
equipped with a vessel made of multi- and other basic applications. Sizes spective status of the module for each
layered, reinforced rubber. Due to its are available from 500 to 1,000 mm channel, for fast diagnostics. The uni-
elasticity, the flexible mixing vessel — with a wide liner selection, including versal I/O module is also able to oper-
secured in a steel corset — is better PTFE, hard rubber and polyurethane. ate as analog input or analog output
able to withstand the pressure of the The AWX series comes standard with (4–20 mA), or as digital input or digital
mixing blades. These blades have the ASME, AWWA, EN, JIS or AS flanges. output. The respective settings can be
effect of loosening the hardened, brit- A submersible version is also avail- adjusted in the Device Type Manager
tle product layers from the walls and able. — Yokogawa Corp. of America, for each channel. — Pepperl+Fuchs
the material is returned to the mix- Newnan, Ga. GmbH, Mannheim, Germany
ing process. Rapid wear of the mixing www.us.yokogawa.com www.pepperl-fuchs.com
blades and troublesome vibrations are
thus effectively prevented. The Druva- Space-saving I/O modules with This oxygen analyzer is
flex mixer is available in several sizes fast maintenance functions compact and accurate
for throughputs up to 200 ton/h. — The new four-channel universal I/O The XTP601 (photo, p. 32I-2) is a new,
Gebr. Lödige Maschinenbau GmbH, module LB104A (photo) for Zone 2 can compact oxygen analyzer for applica-
Paderborn, Germany be placed in a 16-mm wide enclosure tions in the process, power-generation
www.loedige.de due to a new energy-saving electrical and marine industries. The device uses
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012 32I-1
on p. 60, or use the website designation.
Michell Instruments
New Products
thermo-paramagnetic sensor technol-

ogy to provide stable percentage mea-
surements of oxygen in process gases,
including hydrogen, nitrogen and air.
It can be configured to measure 0–1%
up to 0–50%, 80–100% and 90–100%
ranges to meet the specific needs of
users, and includes barometric pres-
sure compensation. This helps to
provide extremely accurate measure-
ments — ±0.02% O2 for a 0–1% range,
for example. The XTP601 has two iso-
lated 4–20-mA outputs, and is avail-
able with general-purpose housing
for non-hazardous areas, or an EExd
explosion-proof enclosure. — Michell
Instruments, Ely, U.K.
www.michell.com
New RO membranes with

high salt rejection
Five new types of Lewabrane mem-
brane-separation elements for reverse
osmosis (RO) are now available. As of
July, high-rejection (HR) types with
membrane surface areas of 370 and
440 ft2, and high-flow (HF) types,
with membrane surface areas of 370,
400 and 440 ft2 are available. The HR
type elements are designed to provide
extremely low salt passage in normal
operation, with more than 99.7% salt
rejection. The Lewabrane RO products
are spiral-wound polyamide composite
membranes, with standard lengths of
40 in. and diameters of either 4 or 8 in.
The B090 HF 404 membrane element
with 4-in. dia. has a unique ATD (anti-
telescope devices) design at the end of
ProMinent
the element, which extends the surface
WIKA Alexander Wiegand
area of the membranes by almost 6%
over other commercially available ele- areas. It is available with either one or new construction offering the fol-
ments. This leads to higher water pro- two built-in reference pressure sensors. lowing key benefits and advantages:
ductivity. The permeate flowrate is 9.4 This allows 24 different measuring ultra-compact dimensions, low weight
m3/d on average, with a salt rejection ranges of up to 700 bars to be covered. and energy efficiency — a process
of 99.5%. — Lanxess AG, Leverkusen, The instrument also accepts transmit- pump that produces high outputs
Germany ter output signals (0–24 mA) and the and efficiency with minimal floor
www.lewabrane.com ambient and medium temperature space requirements. The diaphragm
(–40 to 150°C) is measured by a resis- dosing heads and hydraulic ends are
A pressure calibrator you can tance thermometer. A pressure-switch arranged in a star shape around a
hold in your hand test function completes the functional- drive mechanism, thereby minimiz-
Extending its line of hand-held mea- ity. — WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & ing stresses and loads. The pump is
surements, this company has added Co. KG, Klingenberg, Germany capable of achieving higher pressures
the model CPH6510 intrinsically safe www.wika.com and capacities with significantly less
pressure calibrator (photo). With an material and lower drive outputs.
accuracy of 0.025% of span and various This new process metering pump Multi-layer safety diaphragms en-
additional functions, the new device is boasts many new features sure safe, leakage-free metering and
suitable for a wide range of applica- The new Zentriplex process metering the Zentriplex also has many versa-
tions, including those in hazardous pump (photo) features a completely tile uses due to its modular construc-
32I-2 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012
HAVER & BOECKER
THE CHEMICAL DIVISION
FILLING VISIONS
Hugo Vogelsang Machinenbau
system guides coarse matter through

the pump so that it causes much less
serious damage. This consider-
ably increases the service life of
the pump — by up to 150% in
field tests. The number of es-
sential spare parts has been
reduced by half, significantly
cutting the time it takes to
replace wear parts. When any
of the wear parts are replaced, from
the pump chamber to the seal, not one
screw of the connection to the pipes PERFORMANCE VISIONS
needs to be undone. The pump re-
mains fully attached to the pipework.
— Hugo Vogelsang Machinenbau
ADAMS®: High-speed filling
GmbH, Essen, Oldenburg, Germany for powdery products into
www.vogelsang-gmbh.com FFS bags.
Romaco
tion — gear motor, hydraulics/drive Improve processing times with

mechanics and liquid end. The liquid this homogenizer n filling with the HAP® technology
end and drive mechanism unit are as- Featuring a new homogenizer gen-
sembled on top of each other to save eration, the FrymaKoruma Dinex (HAVER ADAMS PROCESS®)
space, ensuring that the Zentriplex vacuum-processing unit (photo) pro-
can be used in confined applications vides optimal processing times, drop- n can handle 2000 bags/hr
or as a direct replacement for existing let distribution and product quality. n environmentally gentle filling
pumps. — ProMinent Dosiertechnik The improved tool geometry enables
GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany the product processing time in the n optimum product protection
www.prominent.de homogenizer to be extended and in-
creases the overall efficiency of the n extended shelf-life capability
The service life of this pumps is system. The optimized energy input is n cleanliness and efficiency from
long, and it's easy to service a particular advantage for shear-sen-
For pumping demanding materials, sitive products. The tiny droplet sizes production to consumption
this company has launched the IQ achieved with this system enhance the
series (photo), a low-maintenance quality of creams, ointments, lotions
product that is easy to use and has and dispersions being manufactured.
low operating costs. The IQ series is — Romaco Pharmatechnik GmbH,
designed for industrial applications, Karlsruhe, Germany HAVER & BOECKER, Germany
wastewater treatment plans and www.romaco.com Phone: +49 2522 30-0
tanker trucks or mobile units in which Fax: +49 2522 30-403
a pump with a traditional design can’t Eliminate valve noise E-mail: chemie@haverboecker.com
easily be installed just anywhere. The before it’s born
www.haverboecker.com
pump chamber consists of one central Acoustical noise from control valves
component. The integrated injection is not only potentially harmful to The designation ® indicates a registered trademark
of HAVER & BOECKER OHG in Germany. Several
indicated designations are registered trademarks
also in other countries worldwide. M 961-E4
Bartec
New Products
workers, but the vibrations can also

cause damage to pipelines and other
equipment. The new Neles Q2-Trim
reduces noise up to 30 dB compared
to a typical control valve. The Neles
Q2-Trim is a combination of vari-
ous techniques resulting in multiple
benefits for operators. By eliminat-
ing the damage that high noise can
cause to process plants, employees
and surroundings, the Q2-Trim en- Measure moisture in natural gas the properties of the optical filter, so
sures a safe working environment for lines with this system that the light passing into the mea-
personnel, stable process control and The Hygrophil F (photo) uses a pat- suring layer undergoes a wavelength
longer uninterrupted plant runtime. ented Fabry-Perot interferometer shift that is proportional to the mois-
Neles Q2-Trim is an addition to the principle to measure trace moisture ture content. This is evaluated with
existing Q-Trim technology, and is in natural gas. The sensor element a polychrometer and allocated to a
available for pressure classes ASME of the moisture sensor type L1661 is dew point. With this procedure, a dew
150–600, in sizes 2–16 in. and PN 10– made of a multiple layers of optically point measurement range of between
100 in sizes DN 50–400 in standard high-reflective and low refractive ma- –80 and 20°C at a precision of ±1°C
ball valves. The standard trim mate- terials. Pores with a diameter in the is realized. It can be used directly in
rial is stainless steel; Q-Trims made tenth of a nanometer range are gen- the pipeline under a pressure of up to
of special alloys and larger sizes are erated by means of a special manu- 200 bars. — Bartec Benke GmbH, Re-
available upon request. — Metso Au- facturing process. Water molecules of inbek, Germany
tomation, Helsinki, Finland the medium to be measured are ab- www.bartec-benke.de ■
www.metsoautomation.com sorbed into these pores and change Gerald Ondrey
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32I-4 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012
Feature Report
Engineering Practice
Waterhammer In
Condensate Return Lines
Inserting high-pressure
condensate into a low-pressure,
pumped condensate-return line
can cause waterhammer.
Understand why and avoid it
Wayne Kirsner
Consultant
here is a temptation that steam FIGURE 1. The rupture of this check valve from a steam trap assembly
T design engineers find difficult

to resist — to put condensate
from high-pressure (HP) steam
mains directly into the low-pressure
(LP), pumped condensate-return (CR)
allowed the condensate system to drain over 600 ft3 of condensate
over a long weekend into a steam vault, completely flooding it
it failed to prevent the waterhammer

that split the check valve pictured in
stream. The condensate pumps must
provide enough pressure to hydrauli-
mains. After all, the CR main is so Figure 1. cally push and lift the condensate back
convenient — it is generally laid right This article discusses what caused to the steam plant — say 15 psig in
next to the outgoing steam main in that failure, and gives engineers a this scenario. Because the condensate
the same tunnel, trench or racks as criterion for determining if a pumped receivers are vented to the atmosphere,
the CR main returning to the steam condensate-return line will hammer condensate received by them flashes
plant. And, the good practice alter- when high-pressure and high-temper- to atmospheric pressure and 212°F
natives to dumping the condensate ature condensate is inserted into it. It (at sea level). After some tank and line
directly into the pumped CR (such only addresses what causes conden- losses, condensate temperature (in the
as running a dedicated separate HP sation-induced waterhammer, which pumped CR line heading back to the
condensate-return pipe back to the occurs as a result of injecting HP con- plant) is probably less than 200°F.
steam plant; or if a user’s flash tank is densate into a LP, pumped condensate When the 338°F saturated conden-
not nearby, flashing the condensate in return. It does not address column clo- sate (from the 100-psi steam main) is
a small vented tank at each trap then sure waterhammer, another common discharged through the steam trap,
pumping it back into the CR main), form of waterhammer in CR systems. it undergoes a pressure drop as it
seem like swatting a fly with a sledge Column closure waterhammer is ad- passes through the trap orifice to the
hammer. After all, we’re only talking dressed in Ref. 1. pressure of the CR line — 15 psig in
about flow from a few steam traps dis- this scenario. At that pressure, 338°F
charging maybe 50 lb/h, which is less Typical waterhammer scenario water cannot exist. The hottest pos-
than one cubic foot of water per hour Let us consider a typical scenario sible water temperature at 15 psig is
for each one. where HP condensate at the saturated the saturation temperature of water
Admittedly, there are so-called work- steam temperature — say 338°F for at that pressure (equivalent to 250°F).
arounds for this design problem that 100 psi steam — exits the steam main Therefore, 88 degrees (338 – 250°F)
are less costly and complicated than through a steam trap whose pressur- must be shed from the condensate.
the good practice alternatives, but I do ized discharge is piped directly into In the English system of units, one
not believe engineers have proof that a CR main. The CR main is already Btu corresponds to a 1.0°F change in
they really work. The most popular flowing full of condensate that is being temperature for 1 lb of water, so shed-
of these alternatives, was the winner pumped from atmospheric condensate ding 88°F pretty closely1 corresponds
in a competition held years ago by a receivers in the basements of campus to shedding 88 Btu/lb of condensate.
manufacturer’s trap magazine to find buildings or condensate collection 1. A video clip of watercannon can be viewed on
the best work-around, but, I believe points at steam consumers located up- the author’s website at www.kirsner.org.

Now ask yourself, what happens to

this energy? If Rc/s can continuously be kept >1.0 — plus a
The answer is that it goes into mak-
ing steam. Consider that vaporizing margin for imperfect mixing — waterhammer
an entire pound of 250°F condensate
would require about 900 Btu (per the due to insertion of flash steam into subcooled
steam table). Since only 88 Btu of ex-
cess energy are available, about 10% of
condensate can be avoided
each pound of 338°F condensate leav-
ing the 100-psi steam main for the 15- is the ratio of the condensing capacity terhammer would be possible. This is
psi condensate system will vaporize to of the condensate flow to the heating explained below).
saturated steam, while the remaining capacity of the incoming steam flow. The complicating factor in any normal
90% of condensate discharge remains Researchers at Creare, Inc. first de- steam system is this: Flows do not re-
in liquid form. So, by mass, there are fined this ratio as Rc/s, although their main steady. Condensate pumps cycle
nine parts water to one part steam en- notation and definition are modified on and off to maintain their receiver’s
tering the condensate return line. slightly here for the scenario being dis- tank level; blast discharge traps fire,
But the masses of the two phases cussed. Rc/s is defined as follows: then dwell, then fire again; and down-
are not what we would notice if trap stream in the CR main other conden-
discharge were visible. We would no- sate streams may tee-in heading back
tice the relative volume of the two to the steam plant. All these events
phases. Volume wise, the specific vol- change the Rc/s of the overall mixture
ume of saturated steam at 15 psig is (1) stream. In what the author considers to
about 800 times that of an identical be a landmark paper written in the mid
mass of liquid water. Thus, by volume, Where: 1980s for the nuclear power industry,
the ratio of steam to water looks like ms = the mass flow of flash steam, lb/h each of these shifting conditions was
800 parts steam to 9 parts water, or 89 mc = the mass flow of subcooled con- tested as a function of Rc/s with vary-
to 1. Therefore, what you would see ex- densate, lb/h ing liquid-flow velocities to see when
iting the trap is predominantly steam cp = the heat capacity of water (1 Btu/ waterhammer occurred [2]. In these
with a fine water mist interspersed in lb-°F) tests, steam was injected coaxially and
the steam. ΔTbelow saturation temperature = the de- cocurrently through a 2-in. injector pipe
What we essentially have, then, grees of subcooling below the sat- that was mounted to discharge axially
when the HP condensate discharge en- uration temperature, °F down the middle of an 8-in. pumped
ters the CR main is a large volumetric hfg = heat of vaporization, Btu/lb condensate line as shown in Figure
flow of saturated steam at 250°F en- • If Rc/s is < 1.0: there is not enough 2. One hundred and fifty tests for wa-
tering a pumped CR line full of 200°F flowing condensate-heat capacity to terhammer were performed, of which
water at 15 psi. The water is subcooled condense all incoming steam flow, about one-half exhibited waterhammer.
roughly 50°F with respect to the enter- so steam bubbles will remain in The tests showed the following:
ing steam. This is enough subcooling the mix. The resulting two-phase Case A: Sudden increase in con-
to support condensation-induced wa- mixture will not collapse in a water- densate flow. If Rc/s was initially
terhammer. In other words, if the en- hammer because there is not enough < 1.0 in a mixture of constant steam
tering steam is able to blow a sizable condensing capacity to allow it to do and condensate flows (so that steam
bubble, which is subsequently sur- so. But, the flow is susceptible to bubbles persisted in the mix) and con-
rounded by subcooled condensate, the hammering downstream if another densate flow was suddenly increased
bubble can abruptly collapse, thereby subcooled-condensate flow merges (as if an additional condensate pump
allowing the surrounding water to with the bubbly mixture so that Rc/s were started) so that Rc/s exceeded
rush in to the void left behind by the then goes over 1.0. 1.0, a waterhammer always occurred.
disappearing steam and smack into it- • If Rc/s is initially > 1.0 and there is The situation was similar if the con-
self. Depending on the size of the void, perfect mixing of the two streams: densate flow was ramped up from a
the overpressure from this waterham- All steam will be condensed as it en- lower flow to a higher flow, although
mer event can exceed 1,000 psi. ters the flowing condensate return water hammer did not occur in every
main and no steam bubbles will re- instance. One waterhammer did occur
Is waterhammer guaranteed? main to collapse. Thus, if flows re- with initial Rc/s as high as 1.3 into the
The answer, surprisingly, is no. And main steady, the mix will not ham- stable region — presumably the result
this explains why some steam systems mer. Call this the “stable” mixing of incomplete initial mixing, which al-
are able to get away with injecting HP region with respect to Rc/s. (Note, lowed some bubbles to persist.
condensate into LP pumped conden- however, if Rc/s is just slightly above Case B: Abrupt shutoff of steam
sate returns without severe waterham- 1.0 with imperfect mixing or stratifi- flow. Likewise, if Rc/s was initially
mer. What determines whether the two cation of the flows, some steam bub- still < 1.0 in the mixture but instead of
mixing flows will hammer as they mix bles may persist temporarily and wa- condensate flow increasing, steam flow
Steam
Air Injector pipe
vent
0.22-in. 0.55-in. 0.25-in.
Weld neck flange dia. holes dia. holes dia. holes
on 0.7-in. on 0.7-in. on 0.7-in.
radius radius radius When the flow of
high-pressure and high-
temperature condensate
Water 1/4-in thick steel plate
flow from the trap shuts off,
Injection nozzle flash steam is left in
2-in., 90-deg. Injector A Injector B Injector C the discharge pipe and
long radius
elbow Detail steam injection nozzles is entrapped between
3 1/8-in. the closed steam trap
FIGURE 2. In tests, steam was injected coaxially and cocurrently through a 2-in. injector pipe and the subcooled water
that was mounted to discharge axially down the middle of an 8-in. pumped condensate line in the condensate re-
as shown here [2] turn line. If the water
is subcooled more than
were abruptly shut off, then again wa- any other reason. An example would 40°F, the flash steam can rapidly con-
terhammer generally occurred, as in be a high-pressure, high-temperature dense, leaving a relative vacuum in
Case A above as the Rc/s abruptly in- bypass blowdown from a once-through the discharge line. The pressure in
creased above 1.0. An everyday example steam generator (OTSG) coming off the condensate return line will then
of this circumstance occurring might be line and then mixing in a common line accelerate condensate back up the
the cycling off of a large blast-discharge with the cooler bypass blowdown that trap discharge line, causing it to slap
trap where its discharge had been suf- is discharging from another OTSG into the steam trap or check valve if
ficient to cause Rc/s to locally be < 1.0 being brought on line. there is one protecting the trap. Wa-
in the condensate return line. In some For the designer who wants to “get tercannon experiments in the labora-
experimental runs — presumably due away with” injecting high-pressure tory with water pushed by just atmo-
to incomplete initial mixing — water- and high-temperature condensate into spheric pressure have recorded more
hammer was recorded in these circum- a pumped condensate return main than 1,000 psi overpressure on the
stances with initial Rc/s as high as 1.1. without waterhammer, the utility of valve being struck, when the water is
Case C: High point in pipe coupled the Rc/s is straightforward: keep Rc/s halted.
with steam shutoff. When a high >1.4 (1.0 plus a margin for imperfect This is what I believe happened to
point was constructed in the condensate mixing of 0.4) so that all steam is being the check valve pictured at the begin-
pipe during the experiments — specifi- condensed by subcooled flow as it en- ning of this article. It was installed
cally a 5% up-sloping pipe joined a 5% ters the condensate return line and, as shown schematically in Figure 3.
down-sloping pipe just downstream of thus, never has a chance to create a Listed below is the perfect storm of
the trap discharge — waterhammer oc- steam bubble of any size that can col- conditions that I believe enabled the
curred when steam was shut off, even if lapse in a condensation-induced wa- waterhammer that split the check
initial Rc/s was as high as 1.4 in one in- terhammer. Keep in mind that even if valve body and then a description of
stance and 1.2 in two other instances. Rc/s goes below 1.0 at any point in the what I believe happened.
This indicated that even though the condensate return system, water ham- 1. The trap assembly discharged con-
initial Rc/s exceeded 1.0, steam could mer is not guaranteed. But, the system densate from a 60-psi steam main
collect at the high point in the line and is susceptible to hammering if either (saturation temperature = 308°F)
persist there long enough to hammer of the following circumstances changes to an adjacent, pumped condensate-
when Rc/s was suddenly increased by in the mix: return line returning sub-200°F con-
shutting off steam inflow. 1. A large blast-discharge trap cycles off densate back to the steam plant from
Calculation of Rc/s along with these 2. Another subcooled condensate flow a single condensate receiver and set
tests provide a roadmap for the trou- merges with the CR line downstream of duplex pumps in an upstream
bleshooter to determine what is caus- building.
ing waterhammer when high-pressure Watercannon 2. The duplex pumps in the building
and high-temperature condensate is The foregoing discussion has been cycled on and off to maintain the
inserted into relatively low-pressure, about waterhammer occurring in the level in the condensate receiver.
subcooled pumped CR lines. I stipulate CR main. Watercannon, in contrast, 3. The steam trap discharging 60-
“pumped” because I’m speaking of lines occurs within the discharge piping psi saturated condensate into the
that are completely full of water that from the steam trap, which is discharg- pumped condensate return line was
are pressurized (or else they would ing flash steam and condensate into a a thermodynamic trap (equivalent
be little motive force to accelerate the pumped CR main. The term, watercan- to a blast-discharge type trap).
water into the void left by collapsing non, refers to water hammer in a verti- 4. The engineer used the scheme de-
steam) and “subcooled” with respect cal tube that is injecting steam verti- picted in Figure 3 to inject the HP
to the pressure in the line (or else the cally downward into a cold pool. 2 condensate into the pumped CR
flashed steam would not rapidly con-
2. The exiting steam will blow steam bubbles in the pool, and the bubbles will rapidly condense and
dense to form a void). Of course, the collapse. If the steam entry point at the top of the tube is choked or has been valved off completely
subcooled water need not be pumped (so that source steam cannot supply makeup steam to the tube as fast as the steam condenses), pool
water can be accelerated up the tube into the collapsing steam void in the tube, slamming into the
but could be flowing under pressure for valve that is restricting steam flow at the top of the tube.
8-in. min.
8-in. dia. 18-in. straight
200°F pumped
main. The idea of the sparger was to condensate CR to
steam
break up the flash steam into small from receiver
plant
bubbles as it enters the condensate
return so that any bubble collapse 60 psi 6-in. dia.
steam sched. 80 1 1/2-in. sched.-80
would not involve a large movement
sparger centered inside
of water.3 This probably works to aid Reducer
PCR pipe with 1/8-in. holes
1 1/2-in. x 3/4-in.
mixing if Rc/s > 0. I presume it does (1/2-in. on center) on bottom
not help if Rc/s < 1.0. As far as I know, half of pipe after assembly
this idea first appeared in a steam- into pumped CR line
3/4-in. sched.
trap manufacturer’s magazine as the 80 pipe
winner of a competition to identify FIGURE 3: This detail
the best way to avoid waterhammer illustrates the HP-condensate
Check
while injecting high pressure con- Thermodynamic valve that
distribution-sparger entry to the
densate into a low-pressure, pumped trap ruptured pumped condensate return main
condensate return. The scheme has
been repeated in other publications pumped condensate and the back flow drilled concentrically on a 0.7–in. ra-
from other sources since then but I of condensate in the CR line would dius from the center of the plate, with
am not aware of it ever being rigor- have collided in the collapsing steam the only difference being the hole size
ously tested. void. In addition, if we imagine that as described below.
5. The free area of the sparger holes the trap had just cycled off so that a. Nozzle A: Four 0.22-in. dia. holes;
exceeded the free area of the inside the trap discharge pipe was still full 4.5% net free area
of the distributor pipe, so there was of flash steam, the pressure of the b. Nozzle B: Four 0.55-in. dia. holes;
not much restriction to the backflow incoming water columns would have 28% net free area
of condensate from the CR Main. forced water back through the holes c. Nozzle C: Four 0.25-in. dia. holes;
Under these conditions, the thermo- of the 1 ½–in. sparger and accelerated 5.8% net free area
dynamic trap would have discharged it down the ¾-in. trap discharge pip- In the experiments, watercannon was
flash steam into the CR main peri- ing toward the thermodynamic trap.4 suppressed with Nozzles A and C. It
odically when the condensate return The water column would have been only occurred within the discharge
pumps were off, so there was no con- halted, however, by the check valve, pipe terminated with Nozzle B — the
densate flow from upstream. Essen- which absorbed the impact of the wa- injector with the greatest free-opening
tially, the Rc/s would have been 0, al- terhammer collision. Besides jerking area. Apparently, the openings in In-
lowing flash steam bubbles to persist in the condensation return piping, the jectors A and C restricted the inflow
the CR Main. The 8-in. expanded pipe resulting waterhammer overpressure of water so that a substantial veloc-
sleeve, shown in Figure 3, gave a con- would have exerted a hoop stress in ity could not develop in the discharge
venient site for flash steam that did not the check valve and the ¾-in. piping pipe heading back toward the check
move downstream to collect because of leaving the check valve. Examination valve and trap. Otherwise, the perfor-
the high point created by the leaving of the check valve showed that the mance difference in the different in-
eccentric reducer. The steam bubbles, rupture occurred on the downstream jectors was not remarkable. All three
which did not buoyantly move uphill in side of the flapper where the water col- vibrated and shook as steam ejected
the CR system, would have coalesced umn would have struck. The sparger from them and collapsed when Rc/s >
into a large bubble in the 8-in. sleeve of assembly was not available for inspec- 1.0. The suppression of waterhammer
the distribution sparger. tion as it had been disposed of by the by the restricted nozzles suggests a
The calculation in the box (p. 37) time of my investigation. possible deterrent to watercannon in
shows that when the condensate re- Could the watercannon have been HP, high temperature trap-discharge
turn pumps in the upstream build- prevented by a different nozzle lines into LP condensate-return lines.
ing cycled on, the Rc/s of the mix of design? The tests cited in Ref. 2, ex- Outcome of another popular work-
flowing condensate and trap discharge amined the effects of three different around scheme. It is worth noting
would have gone to well above 1.0, outlet-nozzle designs on the water- that there were three other vaults on
even if the steam trap was still fir- hammer in the condensate return the pipe run back to the steam plant
ing. Thus, the steam bubbles in the main and steam discharge piping. The in which HP traps discharged con-
CR main that were exposed to the nozzles were flat, round plates affixed densate from the 60-psi steam main
onslaught of subcooled condensate to the end of a 2-in.-long radius elbow, into the CR main. There was no wa-
would have collapsed. Collapse of the which entered the 8-in. pipe, turned terhammer damage at these vaults
large steam bubble lodged in the 8-in. 90 deg., and discharged steam along nor reports of waterhammer noises
sleeve would have been particularly the axis of the pipe as shown in Figure as far as I know, even though the Rc/s
violent. The inrushing water from the 2. The injector plates had four holes would have greatly exceeded 1.0 in the
4. The dropping pressure could have, at most, CR main at these sites, too, when the
3. Water moving into a void needs non-negligible fallen to as low as the vapor pressure of the on- upstream condensate return pump
void volume in order to accelerate to an appre- rushing condensate. At a temperature of about
ciable velocity to cause water-hammer. 200°F, the vapor pressure is about 12 psia. energized. These three vaults did not
CALCULATION OF RC/S ONCE THE CONDENSATE PUMP CYCLED ON
1. The trap capacity was about 500 lb/h. The saturation tempera- Btu of cooling capacity per pound of condensate. Thus, if each
ture of 60-psig condensate temperature is 308°F. The lift to the pound of condensate can neutralize 54 Btu of steam, the required
steam plant from the location of the vault was 40 ft, requiring 17 condensate flow to neutralize 450 Btu/min of flash steam energy
psi of pressure in the CR line. The saturation temperature of 17 is: 450 Btu/min / 54 Btu = 8.33 lb/min. This rate of 8.33 lb/min is
psig is 254°F. That means that the 308°F condensate had to shed equivalent to a little more than 1 gpm of condensate flow (mc).
54°F (∆Tabove saturation temperature) to exist at 17 psig. Assuming 3. So 1 gpm is the condensate flow needed to merely absorb all
a specific heat, cp, of 1.0 Btu/lb °F, that is equivalent to 54 Btu/ flash steam energy from the trap discharge while it is discharg-
lb. So the amount of flash-steam heat that would have to be ab- ing. If condensate flow exceeds this amount, all flash steam will
sorbed to condense all potential flash steam (mshfg) was at most be condensed.
500 lb/h  54 Btu/lb = 27,000 Btu/h, or 450 Btu/min. 4. Each 5-hp duplex condensate pump that was part of the upstream
2. If condensate cooled to 200°F, while sitting in the condensate re- condensate receiver assembly was selected to move 60 gpm at 60
ceiver tank waiting to be discharged, then relative to 17 psig, it psi pressure differential. Assuming the pump operated at this point
has 254–200 = 54°F of subcooling (∆Tbelow saturation temperature). on its pump curve, and the trap was firing, Rc/s with the pump and
Again, assuming a cp, of 1.0 Btu/lb °F, that is equivalent to 54 trap on would have been 60 gpm / 1gpm = 60. ❏
utilize a distribution sparger to break for the mix of the trap discharge assemblies, as far as I have noticed, do
up flash steam entering the CR main. with the pumped CR (plus a mar- not seem to suffer from watercannon
Instead they contained finned heat-ex- gin for poor mixing of about 25%; when the traps cycle closed. Thus, I
change tubing downstream of the traps or, if you’ve got high points in the hesitate to recommend that restrictive
through which the condensate flowed CR main where steam can collect, nozzles like Nozzle A and C (shown to
to reject heat into the vault before it a margin of about 50%). To aid in suppress waterhammer in Ref. 2 tests)
was injected into the CR main. This maintaining this condition: be provided at all high-pressure and
arrangement would have at least lim- • Provide variable flow CR pumping high-temperature trap-discharge out-
ited the amount of flash steam injected (as opposed to on/off control) in an lets into low pressure CR lines.
into the condensate return. An advan- effort to maintain flow as steady Where there is a problem, however,
tage these vaults had is that they were as possible another simple solution appeared to
downstream (in terms of the conden- • Avoid blast discharge traps like work in one case on which I consulted.
sate return’s flow direction) of Vault inverted bucket traps in favor of Waterhammer was occurring in the
4. Therefore, the condensate reaching modulating discharge traps. Ther- discharge piping from HP inverted
these downstream vaults was some- mostatic traps with high subcool- bucket traps into a pumped CR main
what prewarmed by steam injection ing settings seem like a good idea running in a pipe rack about 9 ft above
upstream at Vault 4 before it reached to me as long as drip legs are sized the traps. The owner, upon my sug-
them and thereby had less subcooling to handle the condensate backup gestion, placed an additional check
available to collapse flash steam. • Avoid piping designs with local valve just upstream of the discharge
Did the degree of subcooling of high points where flash steam into the CR line at the top of a piping
the pumped condensate matter? may temporarily collect rack. That stopped the hammering by
The Rc/s factor incorporates both the 2. Do not try to inject the discharge preventing the condensate in the CR
flowrate and subcooling of the con- from HP traps directly into a main from accelerating all the way
densate flow, so it is not clear from pumped CR Main if there is only down the vertical rise to slam the trap
Ref. 2 tests whether or not there was one set of CR pumps upstream and assembly 9 ft below when the trap cy-
a minimum subcooling below which operating in an on/off mode cled off. ■
no waterhammer, including water- Keep in mind, the higher the pressure Edited by Rebekkah Marshall
cannon, could take place. The ex- is in the CR main, the more forceful
periments were run with subcooling, the condensation-induced waterham- References
which was purposely varied between mer will be in the condensate return 1. Leishear, Robert A., Experimental Deter-
mination of Water Hammer Pressure Tran-
50 and 175°F to see if subcooling was system. Pressure gauges, or at least sients During Vapor Collapse, Proceedings of
an important parameter. With regard ports for them, should be provided in the ASME 2006 Pressure Vessels and Piping/
ICPVT-11 Conference (PVP2006-ICPVT-11).
to the severity of the waterhammer the CR main to calculate the Rc/s in 2. Dolan, F. X., Rothe, P. H. and Hsu, S. T., Rapid
collapses, the degree of subcooling did order to troubleshoot problems. Condensation with Coaxial and Cocurrent
Injection of Vapor, First International Multi-
not seem to be, by itself, significant. Even with Rc/s >>1.0, watercannon phase Fluid Transients Symposium, ed-ited
The researchers did not, however, within trap discharge lines can still by H. H. Safwat et al., Publ. H00356, FED-
V41, ASME, New York, NY, 1986, pp. 41–50.
check to see if there was a minimum be a problem. In fact, I do not under-
subcooling necessary to support wa- stand why it is not more of a problem
Author
terhammer in the CR main.5 when high-pressure cycling traps Wayne Kirsner is a forensic
discharge into low-pressure, pumped engineer who investigates
steam accidents involving wa-
Summarizing advice condensate-return lines. Most steam- terhammer (Kirsner Consult-
If high-pressure and high-tempera- main trap assemblies, after drawing ing Engineering, Inc.; Email:
kirsner@kirsner.org; Website:
ture condensate is to be injected into a condensate off drip legs near ground www.kirsner.org; Phone: 770-
pumped condensate return line: level, lift the condensate in a ¾-in. 953-8262). He is a licensed,
professional engineer in the
1. Maintain an Rc/s > 1.0 continuously, pipe run to above the CR main, then state of Georgia. He also
turn down to drop the trap discharge has given over a hundred
5. 20°C is generally considered to be the mini- seminars for operators and
mum subcooling to enable condensation induced into the top of the pipe. This configura- engineers on avoiding waterhammer in steam
waterhammer, but there is no minimum subcool- systems. This is his eighth published article on
ing required where flow is motivated to move tion seems perfect to me for watercan- waterhammer in steam systems. These articles
into a steam bubble by, say, a pump starting. non when the traps cycle off. Most trap are available at his website: www.kirsner.org.

Cover Story
A Primer on Gas-Solids
Fluidization AGGREGATIVE FLUIDIZATION
To develop suitable
fluidized-bed processes
for gas-solids systems, !
the ability to predict

behavior and calculate
essential operating
parameters is critical. Packed Bubbling
Slugging
Turbulent Fast Pneumatic
bed regime Round Square-nose regime fluidization transport
Some of the key concepts regime
and equations are INCREASING GAS VELOCITY
presented FIGURE 1. Different luidization regimes in gas-solid systems

are demonstrated here (Image adapted from [5] and [7]
Shrikant Dhodapkar moving-bed unit operations. Some with porosity within the particles.
The Dow Chemical Company common industrial processes using When a fluid (gas or liquid) is intro-
fluidization technology include drying, duced uniformly at the bottom of the
Abdolreza Zaltash
catalytic cracking, chemical synthesis, packed or fixed bed, it percolates up-
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
adsorption-desorption, gasification, wards through the interstitial voids.
George Klinzing pyrolysis, granulation, calcination, The drag of the gas on the particles
University of Pittsburgh combustion, coating, bioreaction, po- is counteracted by the pressure drop
lymerization, ore beneficiation and across the bed or the weight of the bed
T
he earliest application of the fun- coking. This article summarizes the divided by cross-sectional area. The
damental concepts of fluidization basic concepts of fluidized-bed tech- packing configuration of the bed re-
dates back to 16th century when nology and provides a useful collection mains unaltered as the fluid finds the
a German scientist (Georgius of equations for gas-solids systems. tortuous path through the packing in
Agricola) described a process to upgrade the upward direction.
ores. However, it was not until the 1930s, Background If the upward velocity of the fluid
with the development of the Winkler coal- When particulate matter or bulk sol- is increased such that the weight of
gasification process, that commercial use ids are poured into a vessel, the par- the bed per unit cross-sectional area
of fluidized beds on an industrial scale ticles arrange themselves into a ran- is equal to the pressure drop across
was recognized. The need for gasoline dom configuration to form a fixed (or the bed, then the particles begin to
during the World War II accelerated the packed) bed. The space between the suspend and particle-particle contact
development and implementation of the particles becomes filled with ambient is no longer assured. This condition is
fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process by gas and forms a network of intercon- called minimum fluidization. Further
a consortium of U.S. petrochemical and nected voids. The volume occupied by increase in fluid velocity, will cause
engineering companies. the packed bed is always greater than the suspended bed to exhibit “fluidity”
During the past five decades, fluidi- the volume of the particulate mate- or fluid-like behavior, creating the so-
zation technology has been extensively rial itself. The ratio of void volume called fluidized bed.
applied to various chemical processes. to the total volume of packed bed is Much like fluids, the particles in a
It provides better heat and mass trans- called voidage. Sometimes “porosity” fluidized bed can be stirred and dis-
fer between the fluid and the solid is used to describe voidage of packed charged from a lateral orifice in the
compared to conventional packed- or beds, but this should not be confused vessel. Particles of higher density will
Pneumatic transport
Fast fluidization
Increasing gas velocity

7
6 Turbulent fluidization
5
4 B Spoutable
3 D
A Sand-like
ρp – ρf , g/cm3
2
Aeratable Particulate Aggregative
Channeling or smooth or bubbling Slugging Spouting
fluidization fluidization
1
Dbubble >
0.5 C 0.66 Dbed
Cohesive
Geldart Geldart Geldart Geldart

C A B D
Fixed bed or packed bed
20 50 100 2 5 1,000 Dbubble = Maximum bubble diameter

Dbed = Diameter of fluidized bed
dsv, µm
FIGURE 2. Geldart classiication for luidization FIGURE 3. Shown here are the typical transitions
characteristics in air at ambient conditions [3] between various luidization regimes
tend to sink while the lighter ones will migrate to the bed surface (with coarse Geldart classification
tend to float to the surface of the bed. or granular solids) or achieve a stable In 1973, Professor Derek Geldart pro-
The top surface of a fluidized bed will size (with fine powders). The passage posed a simple and elegant approach
be relatively horizontal (with an angle of bubbles through the bed will result for predicting the fluidization behav-
of repose of zero) and the particles will in mixing and churning of the bed ior of particulate materials in a classic
flow from a higher elevation to a lower material, which creates uniform con- paper [2]. He plotted the density dif-
elevation. Bubbling beds also have simi- ditions within the bed. If the bubbles ference between the solid phase and
lar behavior as sparged liquid columns. get larger than two-thirds of the bed the fluid phase versus particle size on
The behavior of the bed after mini- diameter, slugging may result. Slug- a log-log plot, and proposed four major
mum fluidization depends on whether ging conditions can cause severe pres- classes (A, B, C and D) based on their
the fluid is a liquid or a gas. For liq- sure fluctuations and bed vibrations fluidization behavior (Figure 2). These
uids, as the upward flow of liquid is along with significant reduction in have come to be known as Geldart
increased, the packed bed continues to heat and mass transfer. Commercially particle classifications.
expand uniformly and homogenously scaled units for fine powders tend not Since the density of gas is typically
with increasing interstitial void space to exhibit slugging. However, slugging three orders of magnitude smaller
until the particles are eventually car- behavior may be observed with coarse than the density of particles, the par-
ried away (elutriated) [9]. This type of materials. ticle density dominates the y-axis.
fluidization behavior is called particu- Further increase in gas flowrate The particle diameter on the x-axis
late or homogenous fluidization. and the onset of a turbulent regime refers to the surface-volume diameter
However, when the fluid is a gas, is marked by the disappearance of a (dsv) for uniform-sized particles and
the excess gas may manifest itself as distinct bed surface. At this point, the the surface-volume mean diameter
bubbles. The bubbles will result in two void spaces and the particles form (dsvm) when the particles are non-
distinct phases within the bed and give co-continuous phases. At higher ve- uniform in size.
an appearance of non-homogeneity. locities, the contents of the bed are Typical characteristics of each of the
Such a behavior is called aggregative elutriated (carried out of the vessel), Geldart classes are summarized here:
fluidization (Figure 1). Transition from thereby resulting in partial depletion Class A
a packed bed to either particulate or of the bed material. This fluidization • Fine powders
aggregative fluidization for gas-solid regime — also known as fast fluidi- • Easy to fluidize; aeratable
systems depends on particle and gas zation — is characterized by an axial • Exhibit homogenous or particulate
properties. To develop fluidized-bed concentration gradient, a subtle core- fluidization until bubbling
processes for gas-solid systems, the annulus profile and recirculation at • The bubbling velocity is greater than
ability to predict flow behavior and the walls. the minimum fluidization velocity
calculate essential operating param- At even higher gas velocities, com- • Good mixing occurs during complete
eters (such as minimum fluidization plete removal of the bed material fluidization
velocity, flow regimes, bubbling char- can occur. The “bed” becomes divided • Slow deaeration rate or long
acteristics and more) is critical. between a developing flow and fully de-fluidization time observed
As shown in Figure 1, as the gas developed axial flow with a distinct • Examples include fluidized
flowrate is increased in a bubbling core-annulus radial profile. This flow catalytic cracking catalysts,
gas-solid fluidized bed, the bubbles regime is referred to as the transport high-density polyethylene powders
coalesce and may grow larger as they flow regime. and TiO2
Cover Story Bed weight /
Cross-sectional area
Peak observed due to bed
pre- compaction or
wall effects
Fully fluidized state

Class B
Pressure drop
• Granular appearance, sand-like Narrow size
• Exhibit aggregative or bubbling distribution
fluidization from the onset Wider particle-size distribution,
• Starts bubbling immediately after partial fluidization
∆P
due to segregation
incipient fluidization
• Fast deaeration observed
• Examples include coarse sand, poly- Gas
mer granules, detergents, coal feeds
and coke Packed bed
Umf – minimum fluidization velocity
Class C
• Fine (dp<20 μm) and cohesive Gas velocity
powders with high interparticle
interaction FIGURE 4. Shown here is a characteristic pressure drop response as the packed
• Powders tend to channel during bed transforms to a luidized state with increasing gas velocity
fluidization
• The bed may retain gas for extended TABLE 1. CALCULATION OF SURFACE-VOLUME MEAN DIAMETER
periods (that is, may experience a Upper Aperture Lower Aperture Average Weight
long de-fluidization time) sieve size size, sieve size size, particle fraction xi / dpi
• Usually requires flow aids for (Mesh) micron (Mesh) micron size (dpi) (xi)
fluidization (such as vibration or 20 833 28 589 711.0 0.10 0.00014
additives)
28 589 35 417 503.0 0.15 0.00030
• Examples include fine coal, carbon
black, talc, flour, fumed silica and 35 417 48 295 356.0 0.27 0.00076
nanoparticles 48 295 65 208 251.5 0.13 0.00052
Class D 65 208 100 147 177.5 0.10 0.00056
• Large particles
• Solids tend to fluidize poorly or 100 147 150 104 125.5 0.07 0.00056
exhibit spouting 150 104 200 74 89.0 0.09 0.00101
• Exhibits fast deaeration 200 74 270 53 63.5 0.06 0.00094
• Examples include plastic pellets,
270 53 Pan 0 26.5 0.03 0.00113
rocks, pebbles, grains and seeds
Not all of the fluidization regimes Sum xi / dpi = 0.00592
shown in Figure 1 are observed in
dsvm, micron = 168.8
practice. This depends on the Geldart
classification of the material and the
bed geometry (in terms of diameter the bed is pre-compacted or the diam- cial processes that use fluidized-bed
and the height/diameter ratio). The eter is small, the pressure drop exhib- technology. However, it is often dif-
typical flow regime transitions have its a peak value before settling into a ficult to conduct laboratory experi-
been summarized in Figure 3. largely constant value. For beds with ments at such elevated conditions.
wide particle-size distribution, the Knowlton (Chapter 2 in Yang [12])
Minimum fluidization velocity pressure drop curve will be broader provides an excellent review of the
Minimum fluidization velocity is the without a distinct point of inflection. effect of temperature and pressure
transition velocity at which packed- The minimum fluidization velocity on the minimum fluidization veloc-
bed behavior changes to fluidized-bed is estimated by linearly extrapolating ity. Higher pressure increases the
behavior. It corresponds to the condi- the packed-bed characteristics and gas density with little change in vis-
tion where the weight of the bed per fluidization characteristics, and locat- cosity, whereas higher temperature
unit cross-sectional area is equal to the ing the point of intersection. This is increases the viscosity but decreases
pressure drop across it. The pressure shown in Figure 4 for an example with the density. As a result, the combined
drop increases linearly with gas veloc- a narrow particle-size distribution. effect of temperature and pressure
ity in a packed bed until the total drag The experiment to determine mini- changes often creates confounding ef-
force on the bed starts to approach the mum fluidization velocity is best per- fects on the actual state of fluidiza-
weight of the bed (Figure 4). formed by first achieving a fully flu- tion.
In beds with small bed diameter idized state, and then progressively • Effect of pressure (as shown in Fig-
(<6 in.), the effective bed weight is decreasing the gas flowrate. ure 5):
slightly less than the calculated bed - The minimum fluidization veloc-
weight because the bed is partly sup- Pressure, temperature effects ity (Umf) is insensitive to pressure
ported by retaining walls due to fric- High temperature and pressure for fine powders (Geldart class A
tion, and by the distributor plate. If conditions are common in commer- materials)
1
Minimum fluidization velocity, m/s
Minimum fluidization velocity

Particle density = 1,000 kg/m3 Increasing particle size
Air @ 20°C
ameter, Martin diam-

Increasing particle size
eter, Perimeter diameter,
Geldart D Chord and Projected area
diameter are other nota-
Geldart B ble equivalent diameters
that are defined and used
Geldart A
in the literature.
0 Pressure, bar 100 Temperature Mean or average diam-
eter. Granular materials
FIGURE 5. The effect of pressure on minimum FIGURE 6. Shown here is the effect of tempera- or bulk solids are an as-
luidization velocity is shown here ture on minimum luidization velocity (adapted
(adapted from Yang [12]) from Yang [12])
semblage of particles of
varying sizes and shapes.
TABLE 2.THE SPHERICITY OF The size of a spherical particle is If we were dealing with a collection of
COMMON PARTICLE SHAPES uniquely determined by its diameter. uniform sized spheres, the mean or av-
Similarly, the size of regular isotropic erage particle size would simply be a
Shape
Relative Spheric- particles (cylinders, cubes, spheroids) function of the diameter of the sphere.
proportions ity (ϕs) can be uniquely defined by two dimen- If the bulk solid consists of spheres of
Sphere - 1
sions. In the real world, however, we varying sizes, then the appropriate
deal with irregular three-dimensional average equivalent diameter must be
Spheroid 1:1:2 0.93 particles whose “size” parameter must calculated. Similarly, for bulk solids
Spheroid 1:2:2 0.92 be uniquely determined. The most logi- consisting of irregular particles one
cal approach is to define an equivalent must first define a property of inter-
Spheroid 1:1:4 0.78
diameter that corresponds to a sphere est (volume, surface area), estimate
Spheroid 1:4:4 0.7 and exhibits the same behavior as the the average value for the mixture
Ellipsoid 1:2:4 0.79 irregular particle when subjected to a and then calculate the diameter of
given physical process under consider- the equivalent sphere with the same
Cylinder H=D 0.87
ation. property value.
Cylinder H = 2D 0.83 The most common equivalent diam- The surface-volume mean diam-
Cylinder H = 4D 0.73 eters are briefly defined here. There eter [dsvm; also called Sauter mean
are no definitive guidelines for the se- diameter, and defined in Equation (4)]
Cylinder H = 0.5D 0.83 lection of the most appropriate diam- is widely accepted and used as the
Cylinder H = 0.25D 0.69 eter that applies for every situation. equivalent average (mean) particle
Volume diameter (dv). The diam- diameter for many fluidized bed ap-
eter of a sphere having the same plications, fluid-particle systems, bins,
- Geldart class B and class D ma- volume as the particle is defined by hoppers and chutes. It is mathemati-
terials exhibit a decrease in Umf Equation (1): cally equivalent to the harmonic mean
with pressure diameter and can be approximated by
• Effect of temperature (as shown in (1) the following equation:
Figure 6):
- Umf decreases with increasing Surface diameter (ds). The diameter of
temperature for fine powders a sphere having the same surface area (4)
- At intermediate particle size, the as the particle is defined by Equation
Umf exhibits a maximum value (2): This definition can be applied to data
where viscous forces dominate at gathered using sieve analysis or the
higher temperatures (2) laser-diffraction method.
- For larger particles, Umf increases A bed of spheres of dsvm equivalent
with temperature due to a de- Surface-volume diameter (dsv).The di- diameter will have the same bed sur-
crease in density ameter of a sphere having the same face area per unit volume as the actual
ratio of volume to external surface bed. This representation creates the
Particle characterization area as the particle. This is also known necessary bias toward the finer frac-
Particle size. Size, shape, density at the Sauter diameter, and is defined tion, which reflects the significance of
and surface characteristics are key by Equation (3): fines in fluidized bed and bin and hop-
intrinsic parameters that dictate the per operations.
response of a particle in a flow field. (3) A worked example. Calculate the
While one may use any average di- surface-volume mean diameter (Sau-
mension of the particle to qualita- A sphere is often used as the refer- ter mean diameter) for a granular
tively reflect its size, a more precise ence shape because of its theoretical material using data from sieve anal-
and meaningful definition is required and experimental convenience. Sieve ysis. The data and calculations are
for calculation purposes. diameter, Stokes’ diameter, Feret di- shown in Table 1.
Fluid-particle
properties
Cover Story dp, ρp, ρf, µ, φs
Calculate d
*
Median diameter (d50). Particle di- Equation (10)
ameter corresponding to 50% on
the cumulative weight percent curve Numerical approach Graphical approach
of particle size distribution. Similarly,
d95 corresponds to 95% on the cumu- Calculate u
* Estimate u
lative weight curve of particle size Spherical particle: Equation (12) *
Using Figure 8
distribution. Non-Spherical Particle: Equation (13)
Particle density. Particle density
(ρp) is defined as the mass per unit
volume of the particle. The space oc-
cupied by solid, open and closed pores Calculate terminal velocity, Ut
Equation (14)
is included in the volume calculation.
This is the most commonly used defi-
nition of density in correlations. When Calculate particle Reynolds Number
the volume calculation only includes at terminal velocity Rep = dp Ut ρf /µ
the volume of solid and closed pores,
the corresponding density is called the
skeletal density. Calculate drag coefficient,
Particle shape. The shape factors CD Equations (16) or (17)
are based on some combination of sur-

face area, volume, projected area and FIGURE 7. This generalized calculation scheme can be used to determine the ter-
projected perimeter. The relevance of a minal velocity and drag coefficient
shape factor to an application depends
on method of measurement and the ary infinite-fluid medium, it reaches spherical shapes that are often en-
critical attributes for process perfor- a constant settling velocity where countered in practice.
mance. For fluid-particle flow systems, the gravitational force is balanced by A generalized approach for spher-
namely packed beds and fluidized the drag force and its buoyancy. This ical and non-spherical particles. A
beds, sphericity (ϕs) is most useful. It constant settling velocity is called the generalized approach to calculate ter-
is defined via Equations (5) and (6): terminal velocity. The settling behav- minal velocity and drag coefficient in
ior of an ensemble of particles — the fluid-particle systems was proposed by
hindered settling behavior (discussed Haider and Levenspiel [6] (see Figure
in greater detail below) — is affected 7). Characteristic curves with dimen-
by the concentration of the particles. sionless particle size (d*) and velocity
(5) The forces acting on a particle mov- (u*) as the x- and y-axes, respectively,
ing relative to a fluid medium depend are plotted in Figure 8.
only on flow in the immediate vicinity. x-axis:
The drag coefficient for a single par-
(6) ticle in an infinite medium is defined
using Equation (7): (10)
The sphericity of a sphere is equal to

1. It is easy to calculate the spheric-
ity of regular isometric particles (this y-axis:
is demonstrated in Table 2). It should
be noted that various shapes can have (7)
the same sphericity value. Estimation
of the sphericity of irregular particles A simple definition of drag coefficient (11)
requires measurement of the surface for Stokes regime (Rep<0.2) is found in
area of particles in the bed. In prac- Equation (8):
tice, effective sphericity is back-calcu- Where:
lated from the system response (using, (8)
for example, the experimental pres-
sure drop in a packed bed and Ergun’s
equation [see Equaton (24), below]. (9)
Particle hydrodynamics While Equation (9) is commonly used

Terminal velocity and drag coef- for quick estimation of terminal veloc- dp = Equivalent volume diameter (dv)
ficient. When a single (isolated) par- ity, it does not address the conditions of the particle.
ticle is allowed to settle in a station- at higher Reynolds number and non- The dimensionless velocity (u*) for
100
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
øs = 0.5
10 u* = 3.891 (equation)
0.230 Ut = 0.096 m/s
0.123 Disks Rep= 95.57
0.043 only
øs = 0.026 CD = 1.250
1.0 Packed-bed hydrodynamics

Packed-bed voidage. A packed bed
of particles always has free space or
voids between the particles. The rela-
tive amount of voids, which is called
0.1 voidage (εb), depends on the nature of
packing and can be determined using
Equation (18). Regular hexagonal
packing (εb = 0.26) and regular cubic
(εb = 0.48) define the two bounds of
0.01 voidage for mono-sized spherical par-
1.0 10 100 103 104 ticles.
(18)
FIGURE 8. A dimensionless plot of characteristic velocity and particle size for iso-
metric irregular particles and disk-shaped particles is provided (Adapted from [7]) Bulk density, particle density and bed
voidage are inter-related:
spherical particle (ϕs = 1) can also be velocity is determined, the drag coef-
calculated using Equation (12): ficient at the terminal velocity can be (19)
calculated using empirical correla-
tions proposed by Haider and Leven-
(12) spiel [6]. (20)
Spherical particles:
For non-spherical isometric particle Using Brown’s data [1] (dp > 500 μm),
(0.5 < ϕs ≤ 1), use Equation (13): we have developed the following cor-
relations for a randomly packed bed
(Figure 9):
(13) (16)
(21)
Terminal velocity of the particle in an
infinite medium can then be calcu- Non-spherical (isometric) particles: (22)
lated using Equation (14):
(23)
(14)
(17) When the bed diameter is greater
Richardson-Zaki Correlation for than 30 times the particle diameter,
hindered settling. For multi-particle the wall effects can effectively be
systems, the presence of neighboring Where: neglected. It has also been observed
particles affects the settling character- that the local voidage at the wall (ex-
istics of all particles. The most widely tending up to 6 particle diameters)
accepted correlation for hindered set- will be lower than the bulk value. It
tling was proposed by Richardson- Worked example: is interesting to note that the packed-
Zaki [9]: Data: bed voidage is independent of particle
Particle size (volume equivalent diam- size, as long as the interparticle forces
(15) eter), dp = 1 mm = 0.001 m are relatively insignificant, which is
Particle sphericity, ϕs = 0.7 the case for most coarse, granular
The value of exponent n depends on Particle density, ρp = 2,500 kg/m3 materials.
the particle’s Reynolds number (Rep): Fluid density, ρf = 1,000 kg/m3 Pressure drop across the packed
4.65 0 < Rep ≤ 0.2 Fluid viscosity, μ = 1.002 cP bed. There are two major approaches
4.35Rep-0.03 0.2 < Rep ≤ 1 = 1.002 x10-3 kg/(m.s) or (N s/m2) for modeling pressure drop across
4.45Rep-0.1 1 < Rep ≤ 500 Solution: packed beds — using the channel-
2.39 Rep > 500 d* = 24.226 flow analogy model and using dis-
Drag coefficient (CD). Once terminal u* = 4 (graphical) crete-particle analysis. The channel-
TABLE 3. PRESSSURE DROP CALCULATIONS
USING ERGUN’S EQUATION
Cover Story Contri-
Pa or N/m2 in. H2O lb/in.2 lb/ft2
bution, %
Viscous effect 20.4 9,744.89 39.16 1.41 203.63
flow analogy models the flow similar Kinetic energy effect 69.3 33,007.54 132.65 4.79 689.74
to frictional flow in pipe channels
where the tortuosity and variations Static head 10.3 4,905.00 19.71 0.71 102.50
in channel diameter are taken into Upflow pressure drop = 47,657.43 191.52 6.92 995.87
consideration. The classic approaches Downflow pressure drop = 37,847.43 152.10 5.49 790.88
of Carmen, Kozney and Blake are
good examples of this approach (see
TABLE 4. PRESSSURE DROP CALCULATIONS
Yang [13] for details).
USING GIBILARO’S EQUATION
Conversely, the discrete particle-
analysis approach, which includes the Contri-
Pa or N/m2 in. H2O lb/in.2 lb/ft2
bution, %
analysis of the impact of drag forces
and boundary layers on individual Viscous effect 18.0 8,601.74 34.57 1.25 179.75
particles, is suitable for applications Kinetic energy effect 56.0 26,676.69 107.20 3.87 557.45
with higher Reynolds number and
Static head 10.3 4,905.00 19.71 0.71 102.50
higher voidage values.
Ergun equation. The empirical ap- Upflow pressure drop = 40,183.43 161.48 5.83 839.69
proach proposed by Ergun in 1952 Downflow pressure drop = 30,373.43 122.06 4.41 634.70
[3,7,13] has found widest acceptance,
as it is based on a large amount of laminar flow regimes for packed beds
diverse data for Geldart Class A and (27) and expanded beds (εb> 0.5).
B particles. He retained the basic
dimensionless variables used in the
channel-flow analogy but proposed Where xi is the weight fraction cor-
empirical constants for the viscous responding to particle size dpi. The (28)
and kinetic terms. calculation procedure is similar to the Where:
one outlined for dsvm earlier.
(24) Since experimental measurement
of bed voidage (εb) is fairly simple and
accurate, it is always recommended The guidelines for choosing a repre-
that the measured value be used. It sentative particle size (dp) are the
can also be calculated using Equa- same as for Ergun’s equation.
The first term is the viscous term, and tions (21) to (23). Worked example. The worked example
the second term is the kinetic term. The sphericity of a sphere is 1. For for Gibilaro’s equation uses the same
irregular particles with an arbitrary data as shown for the example for
(25) shape, it is difficult to calculate sphe- Ergun’s equation, and the results are
ricity from first principles. However, tabulated and shown in Table 4.
the effective sphericity of a bulk solid
for packed-bed applications can be Fluidized-bed hydrodynamics
(26) back-calculated from experimental Flow regime identification. Exten-
measurement of pressure drop, which sive literature is available to provide
can then be used for subsequent guidance on how to identify the flow
Use (+) for upflow and (–) for down- predictions. regimes for two-phase (gas-liquid)
flow configurations. Worked example. Calculate the pres- systems. For gas-solid flow, various
For a bed of spheres with uniform sure drop across a bed of irregular flow-regime maps have been proposed
size, the particle size (dp) can be particles: using combinations of gas velocity, pres-
unambiguously specified as the di- Particle size, dv = 2 mm = 0.002 m sure drop, voidage, slip velocity, solids
ameter of the sphere. For a bed of Particle sphericity, ϕs = 0.8 loading, Froude number and Reynolds
non-spherical (isometric) particles Packed bed voidage, εb = 0.45 number. The most comprehensive and
of uniform size, the equivalent vol- Bed height, H = 0.5 m practical flow-regime map was pro-
ume diameter (dsv=ϕs.dv) should be Fluid density, ρf = 1,000 kg/m3 posed by Grace [5] and later modified
used for dp. When the bed is com- Fluid viscosity, μ = 1.002 cP by Kunni-Levenspiel [7]. They plotted
posed of particles of different sizes = 1.002 x10-3 kg/(m.s) or (N s/m2) dimensionless superficial velocity (u*)
and shapes, one must estimate a Superficial velocity, Uf = 0.10 m/s versus dimensionless particle diameter
relevant equivalent-mean particle The calculations are summarized in (d*) (Figure 10), and demarcated re-
size (dsvm), which will result in the Table 3. gions corresponding to the major flow
same specific pressure drop per Gibilaro equation. Gibilaro and others regimes observed in gas-solid systems.
unit volume as the given bed. The [4] proposed an improved equation to This map applies to upflow conditions
equivalent-mean diameter is given calculate pressure drop. It gives bet- only. The approximate boundaries of
by Equation (27): ter predictions in both turbulent and Geldart’s classification can also be iden-
TABLE 5. FLOW REGIME
IDENTIFICATION NOMENCLATURE
Gas Flow regime
velocity Ar Archimedes number Mf Mass flowrate of fluid, kg/s
(Uf), m/s n Richardson-Zaki exponent, dimen-
( ), dimensionless
0.002 Packed bed sionless
0.004 Minimum fluidization ∆Pbed Total pressure drop across a
Ap Projected area of particle, m2
0.15 Bubbling bed packed bed, Pa
C1 Coefficient in the minimum fluidiza-
0.80 Turbulent bed ∆Pdistributor Pressure drop across gas
tion velocity correlation (Eq. 33)
distributor in a fluidized bed, Pa
1.70 Fast fluidized bed/ C2 Coefficient in the minimum fluidiza-
Pneumatic transport ∆Pfrictional Frictional pressure drop
tion velocity correlation (Eq. 33)
5.0 Pneumatic transport across packed bed due to fluid
CD Drag coefficient, dimensionless flow, Pa
TABLE 6. COEFFICIENTS FOR dv Diameter of sphere of equivalent Rep Reynolds number based on particle
GENERALIZED VERSION OF volume as the particle, m (dpUf ρf /μ), dimensionless
MINIMUM FLUIDIZATION ds Diameter of sphere of equivalent Sp Surface area of particle, m2
CORRELATION [7, 11,12] surface as the particle, m
Umf Minimum fluidization velocity, m/s
Researcher C1 C2 dsph Diameter of sphere, m
Uf Superficial fluid velocity, m/s
Wen and Yu 33.7 0.0408 dsv Diameter of sphere of with same
Ur Relative velocity between particle
Chitester et al. 28.7 0.0494 surface to volume ratio as the par-
and fluid medium, m/s
ticle, m
Grace 27.2 0.0408
Ut Terminal velocity, m/s
Saxena and 25.3 0.0571 dsvm Mean diameter of bulk solid with
Vogel finite size distribution, m Ut ε Terminal velocity under hindered
settling conditions, m/s
Babu et al. 25.25 0.0651 d Dimensionless particle diameter
*
u Dimensionless velocity
Richardson 25.7 0.0365 d50 Median particle diameter corre- *
Thonglimp 31.6 0.0425

sponding to 50% on cumulative size Vp Volume of particle, m3
distribution curve
Bourgeois 25.5 0.0382 xi Weight fraction of particles with
d95 Particle diameter corresponding to average particle size of dpi
Lucas 25.2 – 0.0357 – 95% on cumulative size-distribution
32.1 0.0672 Greek symbols
curve
ε Voidage, dimensionless
D Vessel diameter, m
tified in the same plot. Once the x, y pair εb Bed voidage, dimensionless
F Drag force on a particle, N
is located (Figure 10), the expected flow ϕs Sphericity, dimensionless
regime can be identified. Dimension- g Acceleration due to gravity,
9.81 m/s2 ρf Fluid density, kg/m3
less particle diameter as x-axis:
Ga Galileo number (same as Archime- ρp Particle density, kg/m3
des number), dimensionless
ρbulk Bulk density, kg/m3
H Bed height of packed bed, m
(29) μ Fluid or gas viscosity, kg/m.s
Dimensionless superficial gas velocity marized in Table 5. Where:

as y-axis: Minimum fluidization velocity.
While the most reliable estimation of
minimum fluidization velocity (Umf)
is obtained experimentally (Figure 4),
(30) numerous researchers have proposed
Worked example. Identify the flow correlations for predicting it based
regimes at various superficial gas upon fluid and particle properties For bulk materials with finite size
velocities: [2, 7, 11, 12, 13 and 14]. distribution, it is recommended that
Data: We know that at the condition of readers use surface-volume mean di-
Particle density, ρp = 2,000 kg/m3 minimum fluidization, the pressure ameter (dsvm) as given by Equation (4)
Gas density, ρf = 1.3 kg/m3 drop across a bed is equal to the weight as the representative particle size dp.
Gas viscosity, μ = 0.018 cP = 1.8 x10-5 of the bed per unit cross-sectional area. Re-arranging Equation (31), mini-
kg/(m.s) or (N s/m2) Wen and Yu [11], using Ergun’s equa- mum fluidization velocity can be cal-
Particle size, dp (= dsvm) = 80 μm tion as the basis and making empiri- culated as follows:
= 80 x 10-6 m cal substitutions for bed voidage and
Acceleration due to gravity, g = 9.81 sphericity based on available data,
m/s2 proposed the following equation:
Calculated d* = 3.426. Geldart classi- (32)
fication: Type A. The results are sum- (31) Subsequently, numerous researchers
Cover Story
Pneumatic transport
Fast fluidized
beds Ut
1
10
0.9 Loose packing

Normal packing
0.8
Dense packing
0.7
s
bed
Bed voidage, εb
0.6 ent
1 urbul
T
0.5
0.4
0.3
*
Spouted beds
u
0.2
0.1
10-1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Sphericity, φs Bubbling
Umf fluidized beds
FIGURE 9. The relationship between bed voidage and particle

shape is shown here
10-2
have correlated their respective data FIGURE 10.

sets and come up with alternate con- Shown here is a
flow regime map,
stants (Table 6). A generalized version according to Grace Geldart Geldart Geldart
of Wen and Yu’s correlation can be [5] and Kunni- A B D
written as follows: Levenspiel [7] 10-3
1 10 102
(33) d
*
(34) for their data set. Therefore, sufficient Sphericity, ϕs = 0.75

safety factors must be used when Gas density, ρf = 1.3 kg/m3
For Geldart A and B materials, Wen designing processes based on any of Gas viscosity, μ = 0.018 cP
and Yu’s correlation is recommended, these correlations. Whenever feasible, = 1.8 x10–5 kg/(m.s) or (N s/m2)
while Chitester and others [7] is rec- it is recommended that minimum flu- Particle size, dp = 200 μm =
ommended for Geldart D materials. idization velocity be experimentally 200 x 10–6 m
Wen and Yu’s approach, while widely measured. Acceleration due to gravity, g =
used and accepted, still remains con- Worked example. 9.81 m/s2
troversial. It should be noted that Data: Solution:
they reported 34% standard deviation Particle density, ρp = 2,000 kg/m3 Archimedes number, Ar = 629.37
Authors
Shrikant V. Dhodapkar is a Abdolreza (Abdi) Zaltash George E. Klinzing is pro-
fellow in the Dow Elastomers is senior researcher in the fessor of chemical engineering
Process R&D Group at The Building Equipment Research and vice-provost for research
Dow Chemical Co. (Freeport, Group at Oak Ridge National at the University of Pitts-
TX 77541; Phone: 979-238- Laboratory (Oak Ridge, TN burgh (826 CL University of
7940; Email: sdhodapkar@dow. 37831; Phone: 865-574-4571; Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
com) and adjunct professor in Email: zaltasha@ornl.gov). He 15260; Phone: 412-624-0784;
chemical engineering at the received his Ph.D. in chemical Email: Klinzing@engr.pitt.
University of Pittsburgh. He engineering, M.S. in chemical edu). He earned his B.S.Ch.E.
received his B. Tech. in chemi- and petroleum engineering, degree from the University of
cal engineering from I.I.T-Delhi and B.S.Ch.E. from the Uni- Pittsburgh, and holds a Ph.D.
(India) and his M.S.Ch.E. and versity of Pittsburgh. His major in chemical engineering from
Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. During the research contributions are in the fields of heat ac- Carnegie-Mellon University. He has been active
past 20 years, he has published numerous papers tivated technologies and CHP. He has served as a in the pneumatic conveying research community,
on particle technology and contributed chapters to member of several ASHRAE technical committees and has published numerous papers, books and
several handbooks. He has extensive industrial ex- (Cogeneration Systems and Absorption and Heat book chapters on the subject. Presently Klinzing
perience in powder characterization, fluidization, Operated Machines) and contributed in the re- is exploring pressure signatures for flow analy-
pneumatic conveying, silo design, gas-solid sepa- write of Chapter 7 of the 2008 ASHRAE Handbook sis. He is a Fellow of AIChE, a member of that
ration, mixing, coating, computer modeling and on Cogeneration Systems. He has also served as a institution’s Particle Technology Forum, and
the design of solids processing plants. He is a past member of the ASME Advanced Energy Systems serves as an accreditation reviewer for ABET.
chair of AIChE’s Particle Technology Forum. Division Executive Committee, chair of the ASME
Heat Pump Technical Committee, and served as the
associate editor for the ASME Journal of Energy
Resources Technology. He is an ASME Fellow.

Minimum fluidization velocity (per Summary References
Wen and Yu) = 0.0262 m/s Despite eight decades of research and 1. Brown, G.G. and others, “Unit Operations,”
Wiley, New York, 1950, pp. 210–216.
Complete fluidization velocity. development of powerful computer
2. Geldart, D., Powder Technology, Vol. 7, 1973,
Complete fluidization velocity is cal- tools, the core of fluidization technol- pp. 285–292.
culated by substituting dsvm (or Sau- ogy remains largely empirical. Scaleup 3. Geldart, D. (ed.), “Gas Fluidization Technol-
ogy,” John Wiley & Sons, 1986.
ter mean diameter) by d95 in the cor- and design of large-scale processes
4. Gibilaro L.G. and others, Chem. Eng. Sci.,
relation for minimum fluidization. based on small-scale cold flow data Vol. 40, 1985, pp.1817–1823.
This velocity is often used to define still remains a challenging problem. 5. Grace, J., The Canadian Journal of Chem.
the operating point of fluidized bed In this article, we have touched upon Eng., Vol. 64, June 1986, pp. 353–363.
6. Haider, A. and Levenspiel, O., Powder Tech-
processes. key concepts of fluidization technology nology, Vol. 58, 1989, pp. 63–70.
Comment on distributor design. and summarized key equations for 7. Kunni, D. and Levenspiel, O., “Fluidization
To achieve uniform distribution of particle characterization, particle and Engineering” (2nd Ed.), Butterworth-Heine-
mann Series in Chemical Engineering, 1991.
gas in a fluidized bed, it is recom- bed hydrodynamics. For in-depth un- 8. Pell, M., “Gas Fluidization,” Elsevier, 1990.
mended that the pressure drop across derstanding of the subject, the books 9. Richardson, J.F. and Zaki, W.N., Trans. Instn.
the distributor be at least 30% of the by Geldart [3], Kunni-Levenspiel [7], Chem. Engrs., Vol. 32, 1954, pp. 35–53.
bed pressure drop, or at least 10 in. Yang [11, 12] and Zenz-Othmer [14] 10. Turton, R. and Levenspiel, O., Powder Tech-
nology, Vol. 47, 1986, p. 83.
H2O column (2,500 Pa) on an abso- are excellent resources. ■ 11. Wen, C.Y. and Yu, Y.H., AIChE Journal, May
lute basis. More in-depth discussion Edited by Suzanne Shelley 1966, pp. 610–612.
on distributor design can be found in 12. Yang, W.C. (Ed.), “Fluidization, Solids Han-
dling and Processing,” Noyes Publication,
Yang [12]. 1999.
Acknowledgement 13. Yang, W.-C. (Ed.), “Handbook of Fluidization
We appreciate the valuable comments and Fluid Particle Systems,” Marcel-Dekker
Inc., 2003.
and suggestions offered by Ray Cocco, 14. Zenz, F.A. and Othmer, D.F, “Fluidization and
president and CEO of Particulate Fluid-Particle Systems,” Reinhold Chemical
Engineering Series, 1960.
Solid Research Inc. (Chicago, Ill.).
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Feature Report
Control Valves:
An Evolution
In Design Emily Hoop
Emerson Process
Management
Understanding the design features of

globe-style control valves can help in FIGURE 1. The typical globe-valve design
prior to the 1960s included a heavy, thick-
selection for specific applications walled body casting with two internal ports
and a top-and-bottom guided valve plug
G
lobe-style control valves are in Background its cage-style, drop-into-place internals
virtually every chemical pro- A historic disruptive innovation was avoided many of these cost creators.
cessing line where pressure brought to market in the mid-1960s Its body casting minimized material
and flow must be controlled. with the introduction of cage-style use while still complying with all de-
And for the most part, they perform trim. Prior to that time, the control sign codes and requirements. It elimi-
as required, day in and day out, re- valve shown in cross-section in Fig- nated the machining and assembly of
quiring little to no thought or atten- ure 1 was typical of the globe design the previous design’s bottom flange
tion. In short, control valves are not offered by valve manufacturers. It and internal seat-ring ports. And since
an everyday topic of discussion. featured a heavy, thick-walled body the new trim style relied upon the flow
In fact, the globe valve provides a casting with two internal ports and a cage to control valve-plug movement,
direct contrast to today’s consumer top-and-bottom guided-closure mem- the potential for misaligned valve-
electronics where major changes seem- ber, or valve plug. Single-port valves plug guides was gone (Figure 2).
ingly are announced and touted every were offered as well, and their body
year. While these valves represent an castings mirrored that of the large, Benefits for the user
evolution of gradual change, signifi- double-port design. For decades these While the valve manufacturers real-
cant improvements in control capabil- valves provided adequate service in a ized a cost reduction in the new versus
ity, reliability and breadth of applica- wide variety of applications. So why old design, so did the valve user.
tion have been made in recent years. the dramatic 1960s change in body Tight shutoff reduces lost product.
Until about 45 years ago, globe shape, mass and trim design? Improved reliability meant reduced
valves with their massive body cast- The answer, quite simply, is econom- maintenance costs and increased plant
ings and rugged stem-guided valve ics. That double-ported valve required efficiencies. Double ported valves of-
plugs prevailed across the chemical a great number of machining opera- fered ANSI/FCI Class II shutoff, while
process industries (CPI). Yet despite tions. Both the bonnet and bottom the cage-designed valve provided a
their wide usage and decades of ser- flanges were drilled and tapped. The huge step change to ANSI/FCI Class
vice, the valves of that era were quickly internal webs were also bored and VI shutoff capability. Recapturing this
replaced by a new, efficient-in-design threaded in order to accommodate lost process equated to money back
globe-valve body that utilized inter- screwed-in seat rings. Assembling the in the user’s pocket. Maintenance be-
changeable, drop-in trim packages to dual-port valve body required extra ef- came less of an issue with cage-style
meet a wide range of control needs. fort to ensure that when the valve plug trim. For the most part, a changeout of
This article answers the “what” and moved to the closed position, its seat- trim components required pulling out
“why” questions about the changes in ing surfaces contacted the seat rings the old and dropping in the new — a
control valve design, and in doing so, simultaneously. All of these machin- relatively simple procedure.
offers readers a better understanding ing and assembly procedures required Protecting your investment with
of what valve features are available time and effort that built cost into the anti-cavitation trim. Prior to the
and how they may apply to particular final valve product. cage-style valve, answers to specific
application needs. The 1960s-design globe valve with control problems, such as cavitation
FIGURE 3. Drilled-hole shape and spac-
ing in the cage wall along with flow-down
design reduces and isolates cavitation to
prevent damage
Protecting your investment with

noise attenuation trim. Through-
out the CPI, steam applications
with high pressures and large
pressure drops can be noise
generators that cause equip-
ment damage and control
issues. Because it can affect
plant availability and prof-
itability, control valve noise
is a concern shared by plant
operators and maintenance
personnel. Equally significant
FIGURE 2. This 1960s globe-valve de- is the fact that high noise levels
sign has cage-style trim can cause health concerns for per-
sonnel whose workday keeps them on
and operating noise extremes, in- drops are above 207 bars (3,000 psi) the plant floor.
volved use of expensive and often less- and cavitation is a serious problem. It The prevalent noise source of aero-
than-successful solutions. With simple stages the pressure drop across suc- dynamic flow is fluid turbulence within
trim changes, these problems could cessively larger flow areas, such that the control valve body. Before cage-
now be solved with cost-effective and more than 90% of the overall pres- style trim, noise control techniques
reliable solutions. sure drop is taken in the first stages did not consider the reduction of flow
Staging the pressure drop so that where there is little danger of bubble turbulence as an answer. Instead,
the pressure remains above the liq- formation. Cavitation is completely they centered on the use of acoustic
uid’s vapor pressure can prove effective avoided, thus protecting the valve, wrap on the valve and adjacent pip-
in avoiding cavitation. With the pre- and providing an answer to the high ing, which served only to mask the
1960s valve, staging often involved the cost of valve trim replacement. noise. While this approach may have
use of an orifice plate downstream of The evolution of the specialty, anti- been adequate in protecting personnel
the main valve or the use of two valves cavitation trims has extended to ser- who were working close to the valve,
in series. However, these techniques vices where the fluid may have en- the noise would reappear downstream
typically displaced cavitation from the trained particulate matter that could relatively unabated.
main valve to the downstream restric- plug trim passages or cause erosion In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
tion and did not effectively control the damage to conventional anti-cavitation studies focusing on the mechanisms
cavitation in the system. They also trims. Used frequently in high pres- and abatement of control valve noise
increased valve size, as less pressure sure-drop applications up to 4,200 psid, led to the development of different
drop was available to process the same this trim design employs a combined strategies to control fluid-generated
amount of flow. Cavitation control was axial and radial flow path with large noise. Today, putting these strategies
often less than successful, and the con- openings that allow particulate matter to work are cage-style trims that uti-
tinual need to replace damaged piping up to ¾ in. in diameter to pass through lize unique flow-passage shapes and
components proved costly. the valve. Due to the need for tight multi-stage pressure reduction — ca-
The cage-style valve delivered an shutoff in many applications, its multi- pabilities not possible with previous
answer to this cavitation dilemma stage design features a protected seat generation valve designs.
with its specialized cages. For exam- where the shutoff function of the valve A principle noise-reduction strat-
ple, one cage design contains a mul- is separate from the throttling areas of egy is to break the aerodynamic flow
titude of highly engineered, shaped the trim. All significant pressure drops stream into many small, parallel
holes that improves the flow perfor- are taken downstream of the seating flow passages that ensure exit jet
mance. The holes are radially aligned surface, and the seating surfaces are independence as flow exits the cage.
to flow cavitating jets of liquid to col- not worn away by throttling control This technique reduces the power of
lide in the center of the flow stream, action. The result, once again, is that the noise source as it shifts the fre-
thereby avoiding damage to valve and replacement trim costs are avoided. quencies to a higher, more easily dis-
pipe surfaces (Figure 3). Continued product evolution of that sipated range. Up to 18 dB(A) of at-
A more-extreme pressure-drop mid-60s valve innovation created an- tenuation is typical.
cage trim is designed specifically for swers to other long-standing control Yet another cage architecture uti-
liquid applications where pressure valve problems. lizes drilled hole technology to deliver
Feature Report
excellent noise reduction for a wide been essential to the CPI, today the
range of vapor, gas and steam applica- demands are different thanks to global
tions. Providing up to 30 dB(A) of at- competition and continued pressure to
tenuation, these cages also employ jet boost plant performance and improve
independence and frequency shifting. process reliability. As never before, the
The design of this style flow cage gives control valve has a direct impact on a FIGURE 4. The laser-cut, stacked-disk
the added benefits of flexibility of size, facility’s operational excellence — a cage design is a concept in multi-path,
multistage acoustic energy manage-
pressure class, materials of construc- combination of profitability, plant effi- ment that reduces valve-caused aerody-
tion, rangeability and attenuation. ciency, quality and safety — putting it namic noise
At the top of the noise attenuation at the top of the process engineer’s list
hierarchy is the laser-cut, stacked- of critical control equipment. Texas, only 14 of those valves actually
disk cage assembly (Figure 4) that Looking ahead, will there be an- needed service. By evaluating, diag-
provides up to 40 dB(A) attenuation in other control-valve design revolution nosing and prioritizing control valves
even the most severe applications. It to match that of the 1960s? The basic for maintenance prior to a plant turn-
employs unique passage shapes that concept of a globe valve with drop-in, around, the user realized substantial
stage pressure reduction to reduce cage-style trim continues to provide cost savings.
acoustic efficiency and turbulence. dependable process control over an This ability to analyze a control
Utilizing the expanding area principle extreme range of applications. How- valve’s operating condition, aptly
to compensate for volumetric expan- ever, while change and development called performance diagnostics, en-
sion of depressurizing gas, the veloc- of the globe-style control valve march ables performance monitoring of the
ity is managed through the valve. The ahead at a slow and measured pace, entire valve assembly (not just the
parallel flow passages ensure exit jet that’s not the situation with valve- digital valve controller) while the
independence, avoiding jet recombina- related instruments. valve is actively controlling the pro-
tion and providing efficient coupling cess. Examples of identifiable issues
into the valve body. This stacked-disk The digital valve controller include the following:
cage design actually shifts the fre- The introduction of the digital valve • Low air supply or pressure drop
quency spectrum, which reduces the controller some 15 years ago marked • Incorrect regulator setting
audible acoustic energy and strain a step-change in control valve opera- • Dirty air supply
energy in piping. Combined with the tion and maintenance by enabling • External air leak (actuator dia-
complementary body design of the functionality that goes far beyond phragm or tubing)
control valve, the solution prevents that of the traditional analog or pneu- • Calibration shift
impingement on the body wall and of- matic positioner. • Valve stuck
fers enough cavity size and shape to Today, the role of the digital valve • Piston actuator O-ring failure
control secondary noise sources. controller is to ensure control valve • Excessive valve-assembly friction
Cavitation and noise control trims performance and reliability, first by ac- • Excessive valve-assembly deadband
are but two examples of how control curately establishing and maintaining • Elastomer failure
valve capabilities have evolved since a control valve’s operating position to • Broken actuator spring
the 1960s globe-valve revolution. reduce process variability, and second Performance diagnostics continu-
by diagnosing the operating health of ously analyze the valve assembly
Environmental challenges the assembly to allow predictive and and passively gather data without
Continued studies into the mecha- effective control-valve maintenance. disturbing or interrupting the control
nisms of fluid flow brought answers For example, the digital valve con- valve while it is in the process. These
to other tough applications, such as troller — when interfaced with ad- diagnostics may be used to help de-
extreme high-pressure control and vanced asset-management applica- tect problems; and when identified,
related clearance flow problems. Cryo- tions — provides a way to increase the diagnostic provides a description
genic liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant reliability and productivity while and severity of the problem, a proba-
services needed answers on how to reducing costs. Diagnostic software ble cause and a recommended course
ensure continued valve operation utilized with the controller serves as (or courses) of action.
and survival at temperatures down a configuration, calibration and diag- Dynamic performance diagnostics
to –321°F (–196°C), and valve metal- nostic tool. Of particular importance are run optimally as part of a plant
lurgists helped provide those answers. is that the software provides feedback shutdown. These full-stroke tests vary
Environmental mandates required an- regarding control valve operation, re- the digital valve-controller setpoint
swers to valve-related fugitive emis- sulting in the identification of poorly and plot valve operation to provide
sions. Extended studies and evaluation functioning valves that are impacting insight into the dynamic performance
programs led to packing systems that process efficiency. of the valve/actuator assembly. Per-
not only perform beyond minimum As an example, in one of many such formed while the valve is isolated
requirements, but also ensure smooth instances when valve diagnostic soft- from the process, the tests include
and continued valve operation. ware was utilized to evaluate 188 valve signature, dynamic error band,
While control valves have always valves at a major chemical plant in step response and stroke check.
cal linkages inherently prone to ing costs, improved product quality,
wear. A magnet array connected greater product throughput and in-
to the valve stem slides through creased levels of worker safety.
a Hall-effect sensor in the digital Available today are smart wireless
valve controller to detect valve adapters for use on digital valve con-
travel. The digital valve control- trollers that utilize the HART com-
ler paired with this control valve munications protocol. The adapter
provides a local pushbutton for provides an easy way to access other-
calibration. This feature brings wise “stranded” valve diagnostics. The
the control valve into a new realm wireless adapter also can be used to
of intuitive use for instrument pass along important valve operating
and control technicians. and maintenance information, includ-
The decision to design this ing valve friction, pneumatic leaks (air
product may have been driven by mass-flow test), and instrument prob-
economics, but it was made possi- lems (I/P [going from an electric signal
ble by means of modern tools and to a pneumatic signal] and relay integ-
processes previously not available. rity test), that can be viewed and ana-
Tools — such as computer aided lyzed to improve process performance.
FIGURE 5. This compact chemical-service design (CAD) software — im- Wireless valve monitoring is avail-
control valve is equipped with an integrated
digital valve controller that features non-con-
proved the ability for foundries to able today. Wireless valve control is
tact, linkage-less technology make consistent patterns to cap- not. Yet many plant operations are
ture the design intent. Today, pat- embracing today’s position monitor-
Since a process control plant, regard- terns are made directly from 3D mod- ing and looking toward wireless valve
less of industry, makes money based els to ensure accuracy. Finite element automation and control in the near
on its ability to minimize variability analysis (FEA) is used to calculate future. Designers of control strate-
and maximize availability, the digital stresses to optimize casting weight. gies will take increasing advantage of
valve controller becomes an essential Fluid dynamic modeling is used to wireless instrumentation to expand
control valve component thanks to its analyze flow geometry for an optimal the reach of automated valve control
ability to maintain control valve posi- performing design. Manufacturing as well as gain increased valve-health
tion, provide assembly diagnoses and processes also evolved to a new level of awareness. The digital communica-
enable predictive maintenance. efficiency. Not only are the tools care- tion link with globe valves has de-
fully defined for each step of assem- creased the cost of commissioning
The digitally integrated valve bly, but also the process in which the thanks to auto-tune and auto-cali-
While keeping up with the latest re- product is tested throughout assembly, brate features.
vision of our consumer electronics, both improve the overall quality. An- The possibility of wireless control
our culture has grown accustomed other level of precision and quality is will greatly reduce commissioning
to products that are intuitive. These achieved by using the lost wax-casting cost. Performance diagnostics im-
products allow us to do our jobs faster, process to achieve design goals. These prove the reliability of globe valves
more efficiently and most often with modern processes finally provided the by communicating impending prob-
fewer resources. A recent innova- means to execute the ideal control- lems so that repair can be planned
tion was the design of the digitally valve design for CPI users — smaller, and executed prior to an unplanned
integrated control valve (Figure 5). lighter and less expensive. outage. Once again, the driving force
The valve, actuator and digital valve of globe valve evolution is economics,
controller were designed together, Wireless valve control reducing the total cost of ownership.
providing optimized performance Wireless technology in process control This, in all likelihood, is the next con-
and using the theoretical minimum is becoming a game-changer. It low- trol valve revolution. ■
of parts needed. Alloy constructions ers implementation costs, creates new Edited by Dorothy Lozowski
became much more affordable to the approaches to valve monitoring and
Author
CPI user than previous valve designs, control strategy, and expands access
Emily Hoop is the mar-
including the 1960s cage-style design. to areas within the plant that were keting manager for sliding
Reliability and maintenance were im- previously out of reasonable reach. stem control valves with
Emerson Process Manage-
proved and, of course, the cost to the While the simplicity and economic ment, Fisher Business Unit
(301 South 1st Ave., Mar-
user reduced yet again. advantages of wireless are chang- shalltown, IA, 50158; Email:
This concept offered a tidy and coming new-project and new-installation Emily.hoop@emerson.com;
Phone: 641-754-3750). She
pact solution, having eliminated ex- wiring practices, the largest target of has been with Emerson for
ternal tubing and reducing the overall opportunity lies with valves that are 9 years. Hoop started her
career in sales engineering
envelope dimensions. Now the digital already installed. Plants that imple- and worked in both the chemical and refining
valve controller could sense the valve ment wireless feedback gain the com- industries. She received a B.S. in mechanical
engineering from Iowa State University of Sci-
stem position without using mechani- petitive advantages of reduced operat- ence and Technology.

You & Your Job
Process Lead
Responsibilities
In Design Projects
Picking the right people for the job,
and knowing what is required of them
is essential for the success of a project
Mohammad Toghraei
Vista Projects
rbitrarily, process leads can be requirements by doing three things: who require both the method, and
A categorized into three different

sub-categories or levels. Level
one process leads are those
who directly interact with the client
to achieve the results required of the
Planning, budgeting, and scheduling.
Planning means assigning the
right person to the right task. This
can be done by realizing each per-
son’s skills (and desires) and having
the means to do so, perhaps through
an example or demonstration.
4. Lastly, group four consists of engi-
neers who require the method, the
means, an example or demonstra-
project, and are therefore accountable a clear understanding about the na- tion, and step-by-step supervision to
for any and all mishaps. Additionally, ture of each task. ensure the accuracy of their results.
these leads supervise other lead pro- Scheduling tasks means preautho- Another way to categorize process en-
cess engineers who in turn supervise rizing each task to meet the project gineers is based on either their capa-
a team of their own. deadlines. bility to work in front-end engineering
In the second level, process leads Budgeting can be money budgeting design (FEED) and Pre-FEED stages
only supervise a group of lead process or man-hour budgeting. In man-hour of a project, or their ability to work in
engineers in charge of their own teams budgeting, a process lead should be the detailed engineering stage of proj-
but they don’t communicate with the able to estimate the required time ects. Generally, process engineers who
client directly. At the lowest level, pro- needed to finish each task. work in FEED/Pre-FEED stages are
cess leads are in charge of a group of more senior-level engineers. They are
non-lead process engineers. Each of Planning: Person for the task the engineers who have the high level
the process engineers in levels two or Process engineer’s skills. Engi- of skills in doing studies, cost estima-
three can be named as sub-leads. neers are commonly categorized into tions, calculations and so on. Usually
In this article, we are mainly focused three levels: senior, intermediate and they are engineers with expertise in
on groups two and three and will not junior. A balance must be created in one area of the chemical process indus-
discuss the relationship between the the mix of each of these categories tries (CPI). For example we can have a
process lead and the client. within the team. process engineer for FEED stage of a
Every lead must satisfy project At the same time, however, it may petroleum-refining, water-treatment
needs, team needs and the individual be more beneficial for the lead to cat- or ink-making project. It not popular
needs of his or her team members. The egorize his or her team within four to have a process engineer in FEED
focus of this article is on project needs. other categories, as follows: stage to be able to work in two totally
1. Group one consists of individuals separate process industries.
Project needs with the ability to both determine On the other hand, process engi-
Each project has three main aspects: the methodology in which results neers in the detailed engineering
quality, cost and schedule. A project can be achieved as well as the skills stage are more “general” process engi-
should be done with the quality re- required to do so. neers with less experience or senior-
quired by client (which is not neces- 2. Group two consists of individuals ity. Generally they are good in piping
sarily the “highest” quality) in the with the skills required to achieve and instrumentation diagram (P&ID)
specified time and for the cost antici- results once they have been given development and calculations. To be
pated. Violation from any of these as- the methodology in which it can be a good process engineer, it is good to
pects will decrease the success of the done. have a mix of two areas of process en-
project. A process lead addresses these 3. Group three consists of engineers gineering. For an engineer working ex-
Every lead must
clusively in FEED/Pre-FEED stage of satisfy project needs, lated to accuracy and completeness
project, it is difficult to design a plant of the document.
with good operability.
team needs and the Accuracy and completeness. The
Specialists versus generalists.
When considering specific task as-
individual needs of his accuracy and the level of complete-
ness of documents presented to the
signments, the lead must determine or her team members client are not quantifiable qualities,
whether his or her team members are but rather subjective ones. It is there-
specialists with experience in only cer- fore the process lead’s responsibility
tain topics or generalists with a less ally, ideas travelling from the peak to sense the importance of the level
thorough knowledge of all general of the pyramid down grow less am- of accuracy conveyed in a document.
topics. It is most efficient to encour- biguous and more clear, while results In this case, document accuracy is de-
age “semi-specialists” who possess a achieved at the bottom of the pyramid pendent on two parameters, the first
general understanding of all topics as and travelling upward undergo a de- being the time-criticality of the docu-
well as thorough understanding of one crease in unnecessary and excessive ment and the second being the scope
or two limited topics. In this way, we details (Figure 1). of the document.
are “building” a person who can give Delegating tasks to the team. Fol- Time-criticality. It is sensible to
specialist ideas in some topics, while lowing every project meeting, the lead place the accuracy of a document re-
at the same time preventing a major must update and delegate the respon- quired at the beginning of a project
loss for the group after he or she might sibilities assigned to his team by the low on the engineer’s list of priori-
leave the group. One way of “building” project managers, and to assign inter- ties, because throughout the course
such persons is by assigning 60% of nal deadlines while keeping in mind of the project, a document created at
the tasks to a person in one topic. potential time-consuming back-and- the preliminary stages will undoubt-
Information routes in a team. forth communication that may arise. edly undergo many revisions. There-
There is an inherent executive hierar- Therefore, the internal deadlines fore, a large quantity of time spent
chy in the workplace where the indi- might exist before the actual deadlines on such a document will be ineffi-
vidual at the top (hereafter known as to account for any such problems. cient and unnecessary.
level A) oversees the few immediately Project information and require- As an example, the first draft of a
below him or her in the pyramid (level ments that the lead’s team must be document marked IFR (Issue For Re-
B), and each of those individuals su- made aware of, should be filtered and view) is not in need of such painstaking
pervise those immediately below them their target audience must be identi- accuracy as the revision marked IFC
(on level C). As a result, it is more fied. One way of doing this is transfer- (Issue For Construction), due to their
efficient for each person on level C ring the “required” information for the placements within the project timeline.
to abide by a “filtering rule” that re- project schedule to a simple Gant chart An alternate aspect of this parame-
quires only the result of their work to (for example, in Excel), which can be ter for criticality is the occasional need
be reported to individuals in level B, distributed to process engineers in an for the creation of a document before
whose knowledge of the level-C indi- internal process meeting. other tasks can begin. The lead needs
vidual’s process may be unnecessary When no deadline is specified, it is to understand that the importance of
and unnecessarily time-consuming. in everyone’s best interest for the lead the accuracy of the starting document
Subsequently, the persons on level B to determine an arbitrary deadline for is understandably not crucial in phase
will only report their results to level the task assigner’s approval in order one of a project where it may be simply
A, foregoing the disclosure of any un- to prevent future conflicts. a hypothetical placeholder. However,
necessary details. For every task, a lead should com- in the final phases, such a document
Conversely, when assigning tasks municate clearly with his (or her) pro- would require a higher grade of accu-
the person on level A will present the cess engineers about his expectations racy simply due to its proximity to the
supervisors on level B with a vague to hold them accountable. He needs to end of the project. Inaccurate data in
idea of what he or she requires of tell them about the quality of work. the final stages of a project can prove
them and trust the supervisors with The level of details, the deadline and to be disastrous for both the firm and
creating the details and determining the approximate hours needed should the client.
the approximate deadlines that ac- be defined. Document scope. The second pa-
company it. As a direct result, what rameter is the target of any given
may be considered a detailed version Deliverables features document: equipment, instruments or
of person A’s idea on level B, will still Three main aspects of a project software adjustments. If a document
be added upon in the work of those (quality, cost and schedule) can be is relevant to the design of equipment
working on level C. applied to each task/deliverable in — which are expensive and in certain
All these guidelines can help each the project. Each deliverable should cases may be long lead items — then
level of the workplace hierarchy run meet the required quality within the it is of the highest grade criticality. For
smoothly and efficiently to create an specified manhours and in the re- instruments, which a process group
ideal result. quired time frame. Furthermore, the usually specifies, a “range” rather
In summary it can be said that ide- quality of a deliverable can be trans- than a single design number is given.
You & Your Job
Level A
Instruments are therefore of lower dizes the credibility

criticality and in less need of accuracy. of the information.
Meanwhile, software adjustments, On a different note, Decreasing Increasing
details Level B clarity
which hold little to no financial bur- it is important to un-
den, are of the lowest criticality. derstand that even
As an example, in tank design a at the governmental
process engineer needs to provide the level, ambiguity may
exact physical dimensions, but only be present within the Level C
a range of measurements in regards rules and regulations
to level-meter, and simply a set point dictated. In such
for the high-level tank alarm, which cases, a case-specific FIGURE 1. Ideas travelling from the peak of the pyramid
could easily be adjusted at a later interpretation may down grow less ambiguous and more clear, while results
point in the project with minimum be required through achieved at the bottom of the pyramid and travelling upward
cost impact. discussion — be it undergo a decrease in unnecessary and excessive details
Instructions for preparing docu- oral or written —
ments. In creating documents and that must be recorded with the results Scheduling: Task deadlines
completing tasks, the engineer must of the discussion for future reference In determining achievable dead-
abide by several sets of guidelines and the advisement of new employees. lines, it is important to know the
and standards of procedures dictated These records may be presented to total required man hours to finish a
by various sources, within a hierar- the client as job specification upon the task, which comprise three elements.
chy of importance. The guidelines completion of the project. Firstly, time must be allotted for the
presented may only be followed in the Preparing deliverables. In the technical content of the task to be cre-
case that they do not interfere with or field of engineering, it can be said ated. Secondly, the time required for
contradict the sets of guidelines supe- that all critical documents undergo the determination and transferring
rior to themselves. three different steps before being to the appropriate format and lastly,
At the first and most supreme level considered approved or completed. time must be allotted for gaining the
there may be governmental rules and First, they must be originated by a required approvals and signatures
regulations that must be obeyed, fol- process engineer, then they must be and official issuing.
lowed by the instructions from the checked by another individual with Accelerating a task. In some cases,
clients, then any project-specific stan- experience in the topic covered by tasks may be in need of acceleration in
dards that must be met, the engineer- the document, and lastly they must order to meet the deadline. To acceler-
ing firm’s own set of rules, and lastly be officially approved by a third pro- ate a task there are two alternatives
the industrial common practices that cess engineer who may or may not be available: boosting human resources
may not have been addressed by any the process lead. and simplifying the task.
of the above guidelines. It is imperative to remember, how- Boosting human resources may in-
These industrial common practices ever, that it is not the responsibility clude the short-term external/internal
may be verified through the check- of the checker to scrutinize every as- hiring of additional personnel, encourag-
ing of credible and up-to-date pub- pect of the document. As a general ing employees to work over-time, or re-
lished material, such as scientific rule of thumb, the checker should assigning tasks to the semi-specialists.
peer-reviewed journals, or industrial only spend a tenth of the time spent For the other alternative, it may
magazines and articles presented creating the document to check it; if be appropriate to develop calculation
in scientific conferences. It should more time is required, the document templates, algorithms, decision-mak-
be noted that information retrieved might be in need of a complete revi- ing matrices, or bulleted-type instruc-
from the internet lack credibility and sion by the originator and may even tions to simplify the task.
should only be relied on when ob- be reassigned to another individual Unscheduled tasks. A reality of
tained from credible online scientific completely. The checker will check working as a process lead is the pres-
journals. However, it is important to for faulty assumptions and inac- ence of unscheduled tasks that may be
remain cautious when interpreting curate methodology utilized in the requested by various outside players.
information retrieved from published document before passing it along to In such cases, overly flexible process
material, as it may prove to be det- be officially approved. Though at the leads will always accept these tasks
rimental to make assumptions or to highest level, the approver will spend while overly “tough” leads will always
extrapolate — and in certain cases, even less time on the document, decline them. However there are vari-
even interpolate — from the informa- sparing only the briefest of glances ous available paths a lead can take in
tion provided. At the same time, any to ensure the result “appears” logical such a case.
theories formed must undergo labora- before signing off on the document. Firstly, the request and the sug-
tory, pilot, and industrial-scale test- Therefore, it is advisable for the gested deadline can be accepted if it
ing in order to ensure credibility and originator to double, and even triple- will not negatively impact the team
to be qualified for use in design. The check his or her work before passing nor hinder the completion of the
absence of any of these tests jeopar- it along to the checker. scheduled task.
days only a handful of not be unnecessarily informed of
manhours will be put minute details. Additionally, overly
Man-hour forward for the task, formal Emails in regard to what is
whereas in the next in essence a casual interaction may
several days the engi- cause alienation and result in friction
neer might be capable between team members.
of completing more When communicating with people
than the ten estimated across different disciplines, such as
hours per day. This materials or piping, it is important to
number will decrease keep in mind that the same word when
Time once more in the final used by various persons can mean dif-
days, until the task is ferent things. For example, one can use
FIGURE 2. Manhour usage is not linear over time, completed. In this way, the term “trim” to refer to a internal
but follows a bell curve it is wiser to visualize part of a valve, while another individ-
that a graph depicting ual will use the same term to refer to
Secondly, the request and the dead- the rate of manhour usage is not a tank attachments.
line may both be accepted, but at the straight line — or a constant rate — At the same time, it is important for
cost of quality and accuracy, should but rather a bell curve (Figure 2). members of each discipline to keep in
the other party accept these terms. In As a result, it may be wise to con- mind the needs, standards and scope
this case, a less accurate or incomplete sider alternate tasks for the engineer of interest of others.
form of the deliverable will be passed during the off-peak stages of the task. For example, when a person from
to the “internal customer” if it is dis- During this time, the engineer may a materials group asks for velocity
cussed and agreed beforehand. be capable of assisting other tasks of liquid in pipes, he or she is looking
Thirdly, the request may be ac- or even other projects at the peak of for a rough range of velocities and if a
cepted with an adjusted deadline that their own respective bell curves. Orga- process engineer prepares an accurate
will neither impact the team nor the nization for the purpose of simplifying list of velocities with decimal points, it
completion of the scheduled tasks. future projects may also be beneficial, will be waste of time.
And lastly, the request can be re- as may be training sessions and team- As an extension of this, it is impor-
spectfully denied for various reasons building activities and so on. tant to remember that when discuss-
that include — but are not limited to Consequently, when at the peak of ing a hypothetical pump, a mechani-
— the discussed task not being part a task’s bell curve, a lead may utilize cally oriented person will refer to it
of the team’s scope of responsibility others during their off-peak stages, ask as the “centrifugal pump” while a
or it jeopardizing the completion and his or her own team to work overtime process engineer will use “crude oil
quality of the scheduled tasks. In this or attempt a higher level of efficiency, pump” and an individual from the
case, the lead should remain loyal to or request a short-time hire. The last piping discipline will allude to “the
the scheduled tasks, even though this should be viewed as a last resort due pump in building A”.
denial may go against the lead’s per- to its tarnishing of a company’s repu- Therefore it is imperative to clarify
sonal character and generosity. tation in hiring and letting go an indi- the specifics when interacting with
vidual within a short period of time. other disciplines, and to keep in mind
Budgeting: Manhours the terminology and “language” uti-
Regarding manhour estimates, it is Interdisciplinary lized by each discipline. ■
important for the lead to realize that communication Edited by Gerald Ondrey
the numbers resulting from such a In communicating with others, it is
calculation often refer to the esti- important for the lead to ensure his Author
mated amount of time intermediate or her team members can make dis- Mohammad Toghraei, MSc.
P.Eng. is currently a senior
engineers will require to complete tinctions between various modes; for process engineer with Vista
the task. Should a team be comprised example, at the most informal level Projects (330-4000 4th St.
SE Calgary, Alberta, Canada
mainly of junior or senior engineers, of communication, a verbal interac- T2G 2W3; Phone: 403-255-
the man-hour estimations will need to tion is sufficient. In regards to more 3455; Fax: 403-258-2192;
email: mohammad.toghraei@
undergo an adjustment befitting the formal interactions, Emails may be vistaprojects.com) and is the
instructor of several process
efficiency of the team. more appropriate and at the most engineering courses with
At the same time, it is important to formal level, the most effective so- progress seminars. Toghraei
has over 20 years experience in the field of indus-
understand that given 100 estimated lution would be to interact through trial water treatment. His main expertise is in
man-hours within a period of ten days Email with the supervisor copied to the treatment of wastewater from oil and petro-
chemical complexes. For the past seven years he
for a specific task, an engineer will (as a “CC” recipient of) the exchange. has taken on different technical and leadership
not necessarily be able to fulfill a flat In doing so, the lead can ensure that roles in water treatment areas of SAGD (steam-
assisted gravity drainage) projects. Toghraei has
number of ten hours per day for each each mode of communication is ap- received a B.Sc. in chemical engineering from Is-
fahan University of Technology and an M.Sc. in
of the ten days. Rather, it is more re- propriate to the interaction so that, environmental engineering from the University
alistic to presume that in the first few hypothetically, the supervisor would of Tehran, and is a member of APEGGA.

EnvironmentalColumn
Fractionation Manager
Writing your
Mike Resetarits is the
technical director at
Fractionation Research,
Inc. (FRI; Stillwater, Okla.;
employees’ www.fri.org), a distilla-

tion research consortium.
Each month, Mike shares
resumes his first-hand experience

with CE readers
y June 2011 editorial (CE, spective employers. I want you all to work that I performed was for them
M p. 27) recommended the hir-

ing of happy people. It in-
cluded a photograph of the
present FRI technician staff. After a
recent safety meeting, I handed all
learn as many things at FRI as you
possibly can. We will teach you. We
will pay for training courses. We do
not want any of you to leave us, but
we understand that there might come
— not against them. They fully under-
stood, maybe for the first time, that
they were working for a great com-
pany, and they were indeed learning
many things.
staff members fresh copies of their re- a time where your spouse insists that Some technicians thought it might
sumes. Once they picked their jaws off your entire family rejoin her Aunt be “funny” to take the new resumes
the floor, I explained: Helen in Nova Scotia and...” home to their spouses and state, “I
“I wrote, from scratch, seven dif- I offered to help the FRI technicians had a not-so-good day at work today,
ferent resumes for the seven of you. to update their resumes at a future honey. At a meeting with the tech-
I started with job descriptions. All of date. I promised to provide positive nical director, he handed me a new
these new resumes look very good. I recommendations if I am ever called job resume that he had authored
purposely used many catch phrases upon to provide reference. I am happy just for me. Does Nova Scotia have a
like ‘gas chromatography’ and ‘gamma to say that every technician seemed to football team?”
scanning’ to catch the attention of pro- understand that the resume writing All of the FRI technicians are above-
average performers, with very above-
average attitudes. I am wondering
how such a resume-writing exercise
would work with a below-average
RECEIVE FULL ACCESS performer. It might cause such a per-
son to realize that he or she has a
good job working for a not-so-bad per-
enie nt location.
Facts at Your Fingertips articles in one conv son. It might improve his or her own
to ALL of Chemical Engineering’s
outlook. Unfortunately — and I wish
EACH INFORMATION PACKED PDF that I did not have to say this — I
article includes graphs, charts, tables, have not seen many leopards change
equations and columns on the full their spots.
chemical engineering processes you deal I need to update the job descrip-
with on a daily basis. This is the tool you tions of the FRI engineers. When
will come to rely on, referring back to the
I do, I will use the opportunity to
information again and again with just the
author new resumes for them too.
click of a mouse.
With this particular gang, there is
Facts at Your Fingertips Topics Include: no protectionism. All of them are
 Conservation Economics: Carbon 100% willing to share everything
Pricing Impacts they know with their colleagues.
 Distillation Tray Design
 Burner Operating Characteristics Their new resumes will be impres-
 Measurement Guide for Replacement Seals sive. I hope that these resumes do
 Steam Tracer Lines and Traps not fall into the hands of distillation
 Positive Displacement Pumps companies who are looking for dis-
 Low-Pressure Measurement for
tillation experts.
Control Valves
 Creating Installed Gain Graphs In your own work, it might prove
 Aboveground and Underground Storage Tanks to be a valuable exercise to write
 Chemical Resistance of Thermoplastics resumes for your employees. Mean-
 Heat Transfer: System Design II while, it might be even more ground-
 Adsorption
breaking if you considered how it
❯❯
Receivefull
Receive fullaccess
accesstoday
todayby
by visiting
visiting  Flowmeter Selection
 Specialty Metals would read if your boss authored one
www.omeda.com/cbm/facts
http://store.che.com/product/facts for you. ■
 Plus much, much more…
17872 Mike Resetarits
resetarits@fri.org
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The Chemical Engineering bookstore offers a

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New Product Information August 2012
JustFAXit! or go to www.che.com/adlinks
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✁
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email | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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
03 inorganic Chemicals
18 other———————————— YOU RECOMMEND, 51 solids handling equipment
04 Plastics, synthetic resins
JOB FUNCTION SPECIFY, PURCHASE 52 tanks, Vessels, reactors
05 Drugs & Cosmetics (please circle all that apply)
20 Corporate management 53 Valves
06 soaps & Detergents 40 Drying equipment
21 Plant operations incl. mainte- 54 engineering Computers/soft-
07 Paints & allied Products 41 Filtration/separation equipment
nance ware/Peripherals
08 organic Chemicals 42 heat transfer/energy Conserva-
22 engineering 55 water treatment Chemicals
09 agricultural Chemicals tion equipment
23 research & Development & equipment
10 Petroleum reining, 43 instrumentation & Control sys-
24 safety & environmental 56 hazardous waste management
Coal Products tems
26 other———————————— systems
11 rubber & misc. Plastics 44 mixing, Blending equipment 57 Chemicals & raw materials
12 stone, Clay, glass, Ceramics EMPLOYEE SIZE 45 motors, motor Controls 58 materials of Construction
13 metallurgical & metal Products 28 less than 10 employees 46 Piping, tubing, Fittings 59 Compressors
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
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Advertisers’ Index
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Phone number Reader Service # Phone number Reader Service # Phone number Reader Service #
Abbe, Paul O. 29 Müller GmbH 6 Samson AG 11
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Check-All Valves 14
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Chemstations, Inc. 10 Advertiser Page number
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Product Showcase . . . . . . . . . . 57
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WHO’S WHO
Dearth Scott Palucci Cohen Dalvi
Calgon Carbon Corp. (Pittsfield, (Pontardawe, Wales), which special- Powder Systems Ltd. (Mumbai,
Pa.) names Randall Dearth as presi- izes in materials engineering. India) appoints Vaibhav Dalvi as
dent and CEO and Seth Schofield as sales and service manager.
independent chairman of the board. Frank Palucci joins Finish Thomp-
son, Inc. (Montreal) as director of Vincent Donovan becomes head of the
Jörg Krüger joins Orion Engineered global alliances. BioPharmaceutical Process Solutions
Carbons (Kingwood, Tex.) as senior division of EMD Millipore (the life
vice president of global operations. Jerry Pyatt is promoted to president science division of Germany’s Merck
and CEO of natural resources firm KGaA), in its Bedford, Mass., office.
Russell Scott becomes president of the The Doe Run Co. (St. Louis, Mo.), re-
U.K.-based Institution of Chemical placing Bruce Neil, who is retiring. Mike Cook becomes the technical ser-
Engineers (IChemE; London). vices director for the mechanical field
Brian Cohen becomes president and services group of HPI, LLC (Houston),
Kevin Nolan becomes European man- CEO of Aeration Industries Inter- a supplier of turbomachinery. ■
aging director for Wall Colmonoy national (Chaska, Minn.) Suzanne Shelley
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Economic Indicators
BUSINESS NEWS
site and will supply Evonik with locally manu- weight products including polymeric ma-
PLANT WATCH
factured raw materials. terials and composites, with applications
BASF plans to expand vinylformamide in the automotive and aerospace industry.
capacity in Ludwigshafen and . . . SABIC also has a strong interest in solar en-
Dow invests in water technology
July 5, 2012 — BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, ergy technology.
manufacturing in China
Germany; www.basf.com) is planning to
June 7, 2012 — The Dow Chemical Com-
expand the manufacturing plant for vinylfor- GTC Technology signs MOU with Beijing
pany (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) has
mamide (VFA) in Ludwigshafen. In addition, Sanju for cooperation in sulfur removal
announced plans to invest in a world-class
it intends to increase the polymerization June 21, 2012 — GTC Technology US, LLC,
manufacturing facility for its Filmtec reverse
capacity at this site and build a new polym- (Houston; www.gtctech.com ),has an-
osmosis (RO) elements in Huzhou, China.
erization line for VFA in China for further pro- nounced a memorandum of understand-
The new facility will be online in 2013.The fa-
cessing of the feedstock from Ludwigshafen. ing (MOU) with Beijing Sanju Environmental
cility joins Dow’s ultrafiltration manufacturing
This facility will be built at the Zhenjiang site, Protection and New Material Co., for coop-
facility in Huzhou and ion-exchange resin
Jiangsu province.The total investment is in eration in sulfur removal technologies.The
facility in Qingpu.
the three-digit million euro range. Produc- MOU expands GTC’s platform of acid-gas
tion is scheduled by the end of 2014. removal technology and allows GTC to
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
expand its offerings to applications of less
. . . to build a butadiene extraction Gevo and Beta Renewables sign JDA to than 1 ton/day of sulfur removal.
plant in Antwerp develop process for cellulosic isobutanol
July 4, 2012 — BASF SE plans to build a buta- July 10, 2012 — Gevo, Inc. (Englewood, Cabot corporation plans to
diene extraction plant at its Verbund site in Colo.; www.gevo.com), a renewable chemi- acquire Norit N.V.
Antwerp, Belgium.The plant will have a pro- cals and next-generation biofuels com- June 21, 2012 — Cabot Corp. (Boston, Mass.;
duction capacity of 155,000 metric tons per pany, and Beta Renewables, a joint venture www.cabot-corp.com) has entered into an
year (m.t./yr) and is scheduled to start up between Chemtex and TPG, have signed a agreement to purchase Norit N.V. from af-
during 2014.The investment amount will be joint development agreement (JDA) to de- filiates of Doughty Hanson & Co. Managers
in the high double-digit million euro range. velop an integrated process for the produc- Ltd. and Euroland Investments B.V. for $1.1
tion of bio-based isobutanol from cellulosic, billion. Cabot expects the acquisition to be
Ineos Technologies has been selected by non-food biomass.The project would inte- financed with a combination of approxi-
Sibur for four PE units grate technologies from both companies mately $200 million of cash and $300 million
June 29, 2012 —Ineos Technologies (Lynd- with anticipated production plants to be of borrowings under its existing revolver. In
hurst, U.K.; www.ineos.com) has licensed located where cellulosic feedstocks will be addition, the company plans to issue ap-
its Innovene G and Innovene S processes readily available. proximately $600 million of long-term debt
for the manufacture of linear low density prior to closing.The transaction is expected
and high density polyethylene (PE) prod- DeZurik to acquire Hilton Valve to create a to close in 2012 and is conditional upon
ucts to the ZapSibNeftekhim production broad-ranging valve-supply company Dutch works council consultation and
complex of Sibur in Tobolsk, Russia.The two June 29, 2012 — DeZurik, Inc. (Sartell, Minn.; advice and approval of the competition
400,000-ton/yr Innovene G plants and the www.dezurik.com) has reached a definitive authorities in the U.S. and Germany.
two 350,000 -ton/yr Innovene S plants will agreement to acquire Hilton Valve, Inc. De-
produce a full range of Ziegler monomodal, Zurik will acquire all Hilton products and pro- AkzoNobel completes demerger
Ziegler bimodal, chromium and metallo- duction capability, while Hilton operations of Pakistan activities
cene products.The ZapSibNeftekhim plants will remain in its Redmond, Wash. facility.The June 14, 2012 — AkzoNobel (Amsterdam,
will be positioned to deliver specialty and Hilton name will be retained as a brand of the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com)
commodity PE products for the Russian and DeZurik, Inc. Consolidated sales activity will has completed the restructuring of its ac-
export markets. be coordinated between DeZurik and Hilton tivities in Pakistan by formally establishing
with continuing product technical and proj- AkzoNobel Pakistan Ltd. as a separate legal
Evonik plans new facility in Brazil for feed ect engineering support provided by Hilton. entity from ICI Pakistan.The split means that
additive for animal nutrition the company has started the formal sale
June 19, 20120 — Evonik Industries AG (Es- SABIC signs research agreement with process to divest its 75.81% shareholding in
sen, Germany; www.evonik.com) intends to German research organization ICI Pakistan.The new AkzoNobel Pakistan
build a facility for the biotechnology produc- June 23, 2012 — The Saudi Basic Industries Ltd. business is focused on three core areas
tion of Biolys in the Brazilian town of Castro in Corp. (SABIC; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; www. — decorative paints, performance coatings
the state of Paraná. Biolys is a source of the sabic.com) and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a and specialty chemicals. Jehanzeb Khan
amino acid L-lysine that is used as a feed German organization for applied research, has been appointed as its CEO.The coat-
additive in animal nutrition.The plant will be have signed a multiyear agreement to ings activities of ICI Pakistan were transferred
built at a site owned by the U.S.-based com- mutually develop advanced technologies to AkzoNobel Pakistan Ltd. through a legal
pany Cargill and is scheduled to become into innovative solutions in areas such as process of demerger. ICI Pakistan’s business
operational in 2014. Both companies have lightweight construction and renewable now comprises polyester fiber, soda ash, life
signed a letter of intent, according to which energy. SABIC is especially interested in sciences and chemicals. ■
Cargill will provide the infrastructure at the research cooperation in fields such as light- Dorothy Lozowski
FOR ADDITIONAL NEWS AS IT DEVELOPS, PLEASE VISIT WWW.CHE.COM

August 2012; VOL. 119; NO. 8
Chemical Engineering copyright @ 2012 (ISSN 0009-2460) is published monthly, with an additional issue in October, by Access Intelligence, LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd
Floor, Rockville, MD, 20850. Chemical Engineering Executive, Editorial, Advertising and Publication Offices: 88 Pine Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10005; Phone: 212-621-4674, Fax:
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FOR MORE ECONOMIC INDICATORS, SEE NEXT PAGE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM AUGUST 2012 63
Economic Indicators 2010 2011 2012
DOWNLOAD THE CEPCI TWO WEEKS SOONER AT WWW.CHE.COM/PCI
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT COST INDEX (CEPCI)

650
(1957-59 = 100) May. '12 Apr. '12 May. '11
Annual
Prelim. Final Final
593.8 595.9 581.9
Index:
CE Index 600
Equipment 726.2 730.2 707.5 2004 = 444.2
Heat exchangers & tanks 683.6 686.9 673.0 2005 = 468.2
550
Process machinery 680.1 680.7 663.7 2006 = 499.6
Pipe, valves & fittings 926.7 935.7 861.8 2007 = 525.4
Process instruments 428.9 430.8 441.8 500
2008 = 575.4
Pumps & compressors 928.1 921.8 905.4
2009 = 521.9
Electrical equipment 515.2 514.9 503.0 450
Structural supports & misc 763.8 774.2 755.7
2010 = 550.8
Construction labor 322.9 320.7 325.2 2011 = 585.7
400
Buildings 527.7 527.1 518.6
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Engineering & supervision 328.3 328.4 332.9
CURRENT BUSINESS INDICATORS LATEST PREVIOUS YEAR AGO
CPI output index (2007 = 100) Jun. '12 = 88.4 May. '12 = 87.9 Apr. '12 = 88.7 Jun. '11 = 86.9
CPI value of output, $ billions May. '12 = 2,133.8 Apr. '12 = 2,132.6 Mar. '12 = 2,167.3 May. '11 = 2,085.9
CPI operating rate, % Jun. '12 = 76.3 May. '12 = 75.9 Apr. '12 = 76.6 Jun. '11 = 75.0
Producer prices, industrial chemicals (1982 = 100) Jun. '12 = 312.7 May. '12 = 324.4 Apr. '12 = 329.6 Jun. '11 = 339.6
Industrial Production in Manufacturing (2007=100) Jun. '12 = 94.7 May. '12 = 94.0 Apr. '12 = 94.7 Jun. '11 = 89.7
Hourly earnings index, chemical & allied products (1992 = 100) Jun. '12 = 156.7 May. '12 = 157.6 Apr. '12 = 160.5 Jun. '11 = 157.6
Productivity index, chemicals & allied products (1992 = 100) Jun. '12 = 104.5 May. '12 = 104.0 Apr. '12 = 104.7 Jun. '11 = 107.5
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
apital equipment prices, as reflected in the CE Plant Cost clining prices for organic chemicals (–1.1%), inorganic chemicals
C Index (CEPCI; top), dropped 2% from April to May (the most
recent data). Meanwhile, all of the Current Business Indicators
(–0.1%), synthetic rubber (–7.8%), and plastics resins (–2.6%) were
only partially offset by a gain in manmade fiber prices (+2.8%).
from IHS Global Insight (middle), including the operating rate, Feedstock costs fell 21.3% in June following a 3.3% decline in May.
increased slightly from May to June. Specialty chemical prices fell 0.7%, with similar declines in coat-
According to the American Chemistry Council (ACC; Washing- ings and other specialties. Small increases occurred in agricultural
ton, D.C.; www.americanchemistry.com), in its most recent weekly chemicals (0.9%) and consumer chemistry (0.2%).
report at CE press time, overall prices for chemicals fell by 1.0% Compared to last year, prices for basic chemicals, inorganic
in June after rising 0.5% in May. June prices fell for pharmaceu- chemicals, specialty chemicals, synthetic rubber and plastic resins
ticals (–0.6%) and other chemistry (excluding pharmaceuticals; are up, ACC says. Prices for bulk petrochemical and organics,
–1.2%), ACC says. Prices for basic chemicals fell by 1.4% as de- however, are off compared to a year ago, down by 1.2%. ■

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