August 2016 - International

August
2016
www.chemengonline.com
Engineering Reactors
for Continuous Flow
page 40
Managing SIS Risk

and Cost
Advances in Pigments
Feeding & Conveying
of Solids
Air Pollution
Control
Two-Stage
Drying
Facts at Your
Fingertips:
Distillation
Focus on Valves
Circle 05 on p. 82 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61498-05
August 2016
Volume 123 | no. 8
Cover Story
40
Microreactors: Lessons Learned from Industrial

Applications Implementing microreactors in chemical production is
quite a challenge. How these challenges can be met is described here
Chementator
H2S-scrubbing regenerates reagent, generates sulfur; Scaleup for
a new P-recovery process; Highly selective rare-earth separation
using bacteria filters; A new, economical way to synthesize twofaced organosilicons; Dow validates recyclable polyethylene that
acts as a barrier; and more
In the News
14
Business News
Dow technology selected for new MEGlobal production facility;
BASF and Markor start up polytetrahydrofuran plant in China;
Ineos to expand ethyl acetate capacity at Hull facility; Solvay to
build integrated hydrogen peroxide unit at pulp-mill site in Brazil;
and more
16
Newsfront Pigments: Going Beyond Black and White

Advanced materials and sustainability efforts are driving the evolution of modern
pigment and coloration technologies
22
Newsfront Feeding and Conveying: Keeping Solids

Moving Updated feeding and conveying products help improve product flow
40
Technical and Practical

38
Facts at your Fingertips Distillation Column Design

Factors This one-page reference provides information on key design
factors for industrial distillation columns
39
Technology Profile Chlorine Production from NaCl

This process description outlines the chlor-alkali process for generating
chlorine from brine solution
50
58
Feature Report Managing SIS Process Measurement

Risk and Cost With a focus on flowmeters, this article shows how
advances in measurement technologies help safety system designers
reduce risk and cost in their safety instrumented systems (SIS) design and
lifecycle management
16
22
50
Engineering Practice Two-Stage Drying Fluidized bed

dryers can boost capacity, energy efficiency and product quality when used in
conjunction with other primary dryers
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
AUGUST 2016
62
Environmental Manager Air-Pollution Control:

Assessing the Options Compliance with air-pollution regulations
requires ongoing effort. Follow these recommendations to assess competing
options and optimize system design while minimizing risk and cost
Equipment and Services

26
Focus on Valves
Rotary valve controls the flow of powders and granules; These severe-service
valves come in 12,000 configurations; Diaphragm valves meet the demands of
sterile applications; Pressure- and vacuum-relief valves reduce fugitive losses;
Miniature solenoid valves are designed for long service; and more
30
62
New Products
Measure viscosity over a wide temperature range; Monitor debris in hydraulic
and lubrication oiling systems; Inspect this pump without disturbing piping layout;
Stainless-steel local control stations can be designed online; New software for
enhanced corrosion management; and more
Departments
26
Editors Page Winning for green chemistry

The winners of EPAs 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards are
described here
84
Economic Indicators
71
79
80
82
83
China Special Advertising Section

Hot Products
Classified
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Ad Index
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30
Chemical Connections
Follow @ChemEngMag on Twitter
Join the Chemical Engineering Magazine
LinkedIn Group
Visit us on www.chemengonline.com for Latest News,
Webinars, Test your Knowledge Quizzes, Bookshelf
and more
Coming in September
Look for: Feature Reports on Wastewater Treatment; and Pumps;
A Focus on Process Chemicals and Performance Materials; A Facts
at your Fingertips on Water Analysis; News Articles on Flow
Batteries; and Mobile Apps; an Engineering Practice article on Design
of Experiments; New Products; and much more
Cover design: Rob Hudgins
Cover photo: Courtesy of DSM, the photo shows flow reactor modules
manufactured by 3-D printing
AUGUST 2016
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JENNIFER SCHWARTZ
ach year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA;

Washington, D.C.; www. epa.gov) recognizes green chemistry achievements innovative technologies that reduce
hazards to humans and the environment, as well as the leading scientists who contribute to this end. These achievements turn
potential problem areas into opportunities by developing safer and
environmentally sustainable processes, which is an important goal for
the chemical process industries (CPI). Details about the award and
selection criteria can be found on the EPAs website.
The winners of the 2016 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge
Awards, in each of five categories, are described here (Source: EPA).
Designing Greener Chemicals and Specific Environmental Benefit: Climate Change Award Newlight Technologies (Costa Mesa,
Calif.; www.newlight.com) has developed and commercialized a new
process that allows thermoplastic polymers to be manufactured from
methane more cost effectively than from petroleum-based raw materials. A newly developed biocatalyst can produce nine times more
product for the same amount of catalyst input as compared to earlier
technologies. In the AirCarbon process*, air and methane are mixed
with the biocatalyst to produce polymer at ambient operating conditions. A number of leading companies have adopted AirCarbon within
two years of scaleup, to make a variety of products, including bags
and containers, cell phone cases and furniture.
Greener Reaction Conditions Award Dow AgroSciences, LLC
(Indianapolis, Ind.; www.dowagro.com) was honored for development and commercialization of its aqueous microcapsule suspension
product, Instinct. This technology reduces leaching of nitrates from
fertilizers to ground and surface waters, thereby retaining applied nitrogen longer at plants roots for better crop yield, and reducing potential emissions of nitrous oxide
Greener Synthetic Pathways Award CB&I (The Woodlands,
Tex.; www.cbi.com) and Albemarle (Baton Rouge, La.; albemarle.
com) developed the AlkyClean* solid-acid alkylation process. In
the process, Albemarles AlkyStar catalyst is combined with CB&Is
novel reactor scheme*, to produce high quality alkylates without the
use of liquid acid catalysts, making the process safer with a lower
environmental impact.
Academic Award Paul Chirik, professor at Princeton University
(Princeton, N.J.; www.princeton.edu) was recognized for his work in
developing a new class of hydrosilylation catalysts* that are based on
metals such as iron and cobalt, which are more readily available and
whose use results in a lower environmental impact than the existing
platinum-based catalysts.
Small Business Award Verdezyne (Carlsbad, Calif.; verdezine.
com) won this award for developing a yeast fermentation technology
that focuses on the production of dicarboxylic acid chemical intermediates. The process uses renewable resources, such as fatty acid
feedstocks from vegetable refining. In addition to
using plant-based rather than fossil-based feedstocks, the process is considered to be safer because it eliminates the need for high temperatures
and pressures, as well as the use of nitric acid.
Dorothy Lozowski, Editor in Chief
GERALD STASKO
Senior Vice President & Group Publisher

Aerospace, Energy, Healthcare
Vice President/Corporate Controller
ROB PACIOREK
Senior Vice President,
Chief Information Officer
Winning for green chemistry
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* For more on these topics, see www.chemengonline.com, including

The 43rd Kirkpatrick Award: Winner Announced, December, 2015;
Iron-based catalyst shows promise for alkene hydrosilylations, May, 2012;
New Developments Take Shape for U.S. Refiners, May, 2016;
AUGUST 2016
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Chementator
H2S scrubbing process regenerates reagent,
produces sulfur
Macrotek
n innovative H2STreated gas, 99%
scrubbing process
Vent air
removal of H2S
employs iron particles to catalyze Sulfcat
reagent
reactions that convert H2S
to elemental sulfur. The new
Oxidation
approach improves upon
vessel
traditional H2S-scrubbing
Filter
Absorber
processes that constantly
vessel
consume reagents (like Untreated
gas
NaOH and bleach) and genAir
erate sulfate-laden wasteSulfur
water that must be treated.
The new process also improves upon more recent approaches that a specially designed absorber system. The
use chelated iron compounds to oxidize sul- H2S then undergoes a series of reactions
fur, because the chelates degrade over time that convert the absorbed gas to elemental
and the ligands pose potential health and en- S and water. The reactions are promoted by
a suspension of stabilized, sub-micron-sized
vironmental concerns.
Developed by Macrotek Inc. (Markham, iron-based particles. The addition of air in
Ont.; www.macrotek.com), the Sulfcat pro- an oxidation vessel regenerates the iron recess dramatically reduces the amount of agent. Elemental S is filtered for recovery.
Macroteks Ristevski says the company
consumable reagents and water required,
significantly lowers wastewater treatment continues to optimize the technology to further
costs and generates a potentially market- lower operating costs. Sulfcat will be used to
able byproduct (elemental sulfur). Emissions capture H2S in syngas production and landfill
of H2S are removed at levels greater than gas treatment, wastewater treatment, petro99%, and the process can be configured to leum refining and other areas where efficient
remove H2S down to less than 1 part per removal of H2S is required, the company says.
Eventus APC, LLC (Neshanic Station, NJ;
million (ppm) if needed, says Chris Ristevski,
www.eventusapc.com) has been retained by
development engineer at Macrotek.
The Sulfcat process (diagram) works by Macrotek to represent it in the commercial
first absorbing H2S from the gas stream with deployment of the Sulfcat technology.
Dow validates recyclable polyethylene packaging

that performs as barrier
he Dow Chemical Co. (Midland,

Mich.; www.dow.com) recently announced that it has completed validation of a new plastic film technology
that can be recycled in existing processes
for flexible polyethylene (PE) packaging, but
that also performs well as an oxygen barrier
in food packaging applications.
PE is a poor barrier for oxygen, so it has
been paired with polyester and other materials to make suitable food packages. But
the layered multi-polymer film cannot be recycled because it is difficult to separate the
layers. Recyclable, all-PE films have been
developed, but their O2-barrier performance
is not good, limiting their use to frozen and
certain dry foods. Dows new offering provides recyclability with greatly improved barrier performance.
Using polymer-based additives, known as

Retain, the Dow RecycleReady Technology
allows PE to be blended with ethylene vinyl
alcohol (EVOH), which possesses good O2barrier properties. Normally, PE and EVOH
are not compatible, says Stacy Fields,
North American director of packaging solutions for Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics. Dows Retain polymer modifier allows
the EVOH to disperse efficiently into the PE,
analogous to the way a surfactant could be
used to disperse oil into water.
The new technology is currently being
tested in customer trials and Dow anticipates
seeing barrier recyclable packaging on store
shelves by the end of 2016, Fields says. The
product is Dows second in a planned series
of packaging materials designed for recyclability and barrier performance.
Edited by:
Gerald Ondrey
MODIFIED YEAST
Researchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI; Emeryville, Calif.; www.jbei.org)
have developed a genetically
engineered strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that is capable of utilizing both glucose
(a six-carbon sugar), and
xylose (a five-carbon sugar)
when presented with plant
biomass sugars in bioprocessing operations. By using
pentose and hexose sugars
as a carbon source, this strain
of yeast is capable of producing a variety of compounds
from a greater proportion of
the starting material, the JBEI
researchers say. Native yeasts
have a minimal ability to metabolize xylose. The strain is
available for licensing or for
collaborative research and
development projects.
FAST REACTIONS
A microfluidic technique that
outpaces the very rapid anionic Fries rearrangement
reaction to selectively functionalize iodophenyl carbamates at the ortho position
has been developed by the
research groups of professor Jun-ichi Yoshida at Kyoto
University (Japan; Kyoto,
www.sbchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
and professor Dong-Pyo Kim
at Pohang University of Science and Technology (South
Korea; www.postech.ac.kr).
The researchers designed
and fabricated a chip microreactor (CMR) consisting of six
heat-tolerant polyamide films
with fine channels created by
laser ablation. The CMR has
a reaction volume of 25 nL,
and is capable of operating
at cryogenic temperatures
a feature that enables the
device to perform reactions
that occur within less than 10
ms. As a result, reactions with
short-lived intermediates can
be performed before side reactions or isomerizations can
occur.
(Continues on p. 10)
Note: For more information, circle the 56-digit number on p. 82, or use the website designation.
AUGUST 2016
A new, economical way to synthesize

two-faced organosilicons
rofessor Masafumi Unno

and colleagues at Gunma
University
(Kiryu
City,
Japan; element.chem-bio.
st.gunma-u.ac.jp) have developed
a simple method for the synthesis
of Janus cubes, which are nanosized organosilicons with two
different substituents (diagram).
These nanoparticles named
after the two-faced Roman god
are useful raw materials with a
unique structure used in the creation of high-performance silicon
and silicone materials, but an economical process for making them
has eluded researchers until now.
The Gunma chemists synthesized and characterized a perfect
Janus cube, octasilsesquioxane,
which is an organosilane containing fluorine. It was made by a novel
siloxane bond-forming reaction involving coupling a silanol salt and
fluorosilane: the cross-coupling of
sodium
cyclosiloxanolate and cyclic
fluorosiloxane
Silicon
half-cubes.
The reaction
Oxygen
is performed
under
mild
Carbon
conditions,
does not generate any byproducts and
1 nm
is expected to
be applicable for making organicinorganic hybrid materials, the researchers say.
The achievement is part of a project that is being led by Kazuhiko
Satoh at the National Institute of
Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology (AIST; Tsukuba; www.
aist.go.jp) with support from the
New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
(NEDO, Kawasaki City, both Japan;
Various organic
functional groups A
Inorganic hard structure

like quartz
Organic functional
groups differing from A
Gunma University
www.nedo.go.jp).
Organosilicon
compounds are widely used in a
number of industry fields, such as
the manufacture of green automobile tires, which have enhanced,
fuel-saving performance. The market for such tires is projected to
be worth $10 billion by 2030, and
NEDO aims to contribute to Japans competitiveness through the
expanded exporting of Japanese
organosilicon components.
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AUGUST 2016
CO2-free ethanol production

from lignocellulose
he research group of professor Shiro Saka at the

Dept. of Socio-Environmental Energy Science,
Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan; www.ecs.energy.kyotou.ac.jp) has developed a new process that efficiently
produces bioethanol from non-edible lignocellulose resources, without generating carbon dioxide. The twostep process is able to produce 700 L of ethanol per
ton of biomass more than double the 300-L/ton yield
of existing fermentation methods, which also discharge
about one third of the total carbon as CO2.
In the process, lignocellulose is first decomposed by
hot, pressurized water. In a two-culture fermentation process, the decomposition products are then converted to
acetic acid, followed by esterification and hydrogenolysis
to produce ethanol.
The researchers believe their achievement will contribute to reducing CO2 emissions, and are working to
enhance the process, as well as beginning collaboration
with industrial partners.
This paper has

antibacterial activity
he main mineral component of our bones and

teeth hydroxyapatite [HAP; Ca10(OH)2(PO4)6]
has been used by a Chinese team to develop
a highly flexible paper with high antibacterial activity. The paper, made from silver nanoparticle-decorated ultra-long HAP nanowires (HAPNWs@AgNPs) has
been developed by a team from the Shanghai Institute
of Ceramics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (www.
sic.cas.cn) led by professor Ying-Jie Zhu. In a previous
study (Chem. Eng., April 2014, p. 12), the team had
developed a highly flexible and fire-resistant inorganic
paper, also made from HAP nanowires.
The HAPNWs@AgNPs nanocomposites were synthesized by a simple one-step solvo-thermal procedure and
used for constructing the paper by vacuum filtration. The
nanowires have a diameter of about 20 nm and lengths
from several tens of micrometers to more than 100 micrometers. In the HAPNWs@AgNPs, the surface of the
nanowires is decorated with abundant and well-dispersed
silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). AgNPs exhibit a narrow particle size distribution with an average size of 22.5 nm.
According to the team, the ultralong HAP nanowires
endow the paper with high biocompatibility and high
thermal stability and the AgNPs endow the paper with
excellent antibacterial function.
The team says that in recent years, many nanostructured antimicrobials have been developed, including
AgNPs. However, the practical application of AgNPs
has been hampered by their strong tendency toward
nanoparticle aggregation, which limits their antimicrobial
activity. The various methods that have been developed
involved complex and tedious preparation procedures.
High-cost and biocompatibility problems have further
limited their applications. The team expects that the advantages of its HAPNWs@AgNPs paper make it a promising material for many biomedical applications.
Energy-ef cient
thermal separation
GEA -the leader in energy
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GEAs distillation and evaporation plants

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AUGUST 2016
The device was used for

the one-step synthesis of
2-(acetyloxy)-5-chloro-N-(2chloronitrophenyl)-benzamide, a bioactive molecule
(tradenamed Afesal) exhibiting anthelmintic activity. After
a reaction time of 2 s at 70C,
the CMR achieved a 67% yield
with a productivity of 5.3 g/h.
NANOFILTERS
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU;
Singapore; www.ntu.edu.sg)
have invented a new type of
nanofilter that could reduce
the energy needed to treat
wastewater by up to five
times. The proprietary nanofiltration hollow-fiber membrane is said to eliminate the
need for both ultrafiltration
and reverse osmosis (RO)
by combining these two operations. Unlike RO, which
requires pressures of 10 bars
or more, the NTU nanofilters
operate at 2 bars to achieve
comparable water purity,
thereby significantly reducing
operating costs for wastewater treatment, says NTU.
This breakthrough technology took about two years to
develop, and is now being
commercialized by an NTU
spin-off company, De.Mem
Pte. Ltd. (Singapore; www.
demembranes.com).
De.Mem, which owns water
treatment plants in Vietnam
and Singapore, will be building a pilot-production plant
in Singapore to manufacture
the new membranes.
GLASS-LINED PARTS
De Dietrich Process Systems Inc. (Mountainside,
N.J.; www.dedietrich.com)
has developed a new exterior coating for glass-lined
parts, such as manhole covers, protecting rings, some
reactor covers and piping.
Traditionally, the external
protection of process equipment in glass-lined steel is
protected by paint, which,
although offering excellent
corrosion protection, can
be subjected to mechanical
stress, and flake. The new
nickel coating provides corrosion protection, while eliminating the risk of chipping.
10
Highly selective rare-earth separation using

bacteria filters
Pre-protonation separation
ixtures of rare-earth
metals (REMs) are
Wash with lanthancide ions
Initial condition - sites unbound
only Tm, Yb and Lu biosorb
iii)
Bacterium
notoriously difficult i)
to separate, but a
team of researchers from Harvard University (Cambridge,
Ma.; www.seas.harvard.edu)
Wash with pH 1.5 acid
Wash with pH 2.5 acid
Tm, Yb and Lu desorb
iv)
has developed a method for ii)
efficiently extracting REMs
with a high level of selectivity. By taking advantage of
the complex surface chemistry of bacteria-coated filters,
the team discovered that it
could essentially tailor the filter to control tional extractive metallurgy techniques.
The team believes the scaleup potential
the bio-absorption of certain REMs while
allowing others to pass through the filter for this process is promising, and provides
for extraction. The key to this selectivity is many benefits over current industrial practhe affinity of the bacterias surface groups tices. REMs are typically separated using
for bioabsorbing different REMs. By pass- liquid-liquid extraction processes that can
ing various low-pH solutions through the often require over 50 passes to achieve
filter prior to any REMs a step the team useful purity. The bacteria-filter technology
calls pre-protonation certain surface would not only work more efficiently, and
groups become occupied with protons, with a much smaller footprint, but would also
and the REMs for which these occupied be more environmentally benign, as fewer
groups have affinity will pass through the harsh chemicals are required.
To further the technologys potential for
filter (see diagram). The team found that
pre-protonation with subsequently lower- customization, the team is investigating the
pH solutions resulted in the extraction use of various types of bacteria with different
of heavier REMs. By fine-tuning the pre- binding affinities. Recycling REMs is another
protonation step, the filter can differenti- area where the technology could be emate between extremely similar REMs, even ployed, and the team has demonstrated the
among neighboring lanthanides. The REMs use of bacteria filters for REM recovery from
are recovered from the filtrate using tradi- magnets in the laboratory.
Pilot trials completed for a new SNG process
ast month, Clariant AG (Muttenz,

Switzerland; www.clariant.com) said
that the pilot plant of a new process
for making substitute natural gas
(SNG) has been successfully tested, signifying that the technology is ready for commercial application. The process, called Vesta
Once-through Methanation New Technology with Wide H2/CO Flexibility, is a joint
development of Clariant, Wison Engineering
(Shanghai;
www.wison-engineering.com)
and Amec Foster Wheeler (London, U.K.;
www.amecfwc.com).
Clariant provided the proprietary catalyst,
Wison Engineering has been responsible for
the engineering design, construction and
operational management of the pilot plant,
and Amec Foster Wheeler offered the authorized technology. The pilot plant located
in Shanghai was built in June 2014 and
all pilot tests were completed by the end of
April 2016.
Vesta is a methanation technology for

producing SNG from synthesis gas obtained from gasification of either coal or
petroleum coke. It is a once-through operation with no need for expensive compressors. The SNG production is easy to operate, since it does not require strict control
of the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio, and therefore, the product quality is more stable and
reliable. The CO2 and H2O content of the
methane gas product can be controlled to
a minimal level so it can be operated without triethylene glycol (TEG) dehydration
systems, which in turn lowers system installation investment where one-off investment can be reduced by 20% or more, say
the companies. The catalyst is also more
active, says Clariant, with a higher conversion rate and a wider operating temperature range (230700C). Clariants methantion catalyst was also successfully used
in an industrial application in 2015.
AUGUST 2016
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Scaleup for a new P-recovery process

Phase 2
Phase 1
Last
month,
P-yield > 90%
P-yield > 90%
Thermal use of
AVA-CO2 AG Phosphorus
phosphorusOptional drying
(Zug, Switzer- precipitation
free HTC coal
70-90%
in, for example,
land;
www.
cement kilns
Fertilizer
ava-co2.com) started Wastewater
Dewatered HTC
product
treatment plant
Precipitation
coal DMC > 70%
up a pilot plant to fur(WWTP)
ther develop its AVA
Dewatered
sludge
cleanphos process.
2030%
The process recovers
Solid-liquid
Fertilizer
Separation with
valuable phosphorus
separation
Precipitation
Acid leaching
HTC-reactor
product
Filter cake
filterpress
from biocoal, which
Biocoal
Aqueous
slurry
is being produced
acid
solution
from municipal waste1% phosphorus 99% of phosphorus
water sewage sludge
Recycling 40%
as mineral salts
Membrane
Phosphoric
through the compafiltration
Process water-treatment
acid product
Process water
nys patented hydrorecycling
thermal carbonization
Cleaned permeate back to WWTP
Recycling of metal-sulfates for
(HTC) process. The
phosphorus precipitation in WWTP
HTC process offers an
economically interesting alternative to mono-incineration tion to create a slurry of HTC coal. process costs. One big advantage
and other conventional sludge-treat- After separating the water from the of the AVA cleanphos process is that
ment methods by allowing the use of solids with filter presses, the HTC coal the phosphates are much easier to
HTC coal as a replacement for fossil is then leached with acid to remove be recovered from the HTC coal than
coal in, for example, cement kilns. In phosphorus, which consequently from sewage-sludge ash meaning
addition, the process allows for an can be recovered by either precipita- less cost, he says.
Over the next 12 months, AVAefficient phosphorus recovery, which tion as a fertilizer (calcium phosphate
in Germany will soon be required by or monoammonium phosphate) or by CO2 and project partners from the
an amendment in the German Sew- membrane separation as phosphoric University of Hohenheim (Stuttgart; www.uni-hohenheim.de) and
age Sludge Ordinance, says chief acid (flow diagram).
In laboratory trials, the AVA clean- the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate
marketing officer Thomas Klusli.
Dewatered sludge enters the HTC phos process has achieved an 80% Research (Wrzburg; www.isc.
reactor where it is heated up to a tem- overall recovery of all the phos- fraunhofer.de) will perform tests
perature of around 210C. At a pres- phates present in sewage sludge, in the pilot plant, which is located
sure of 22 bars and in the absence of says Klusli. Details on energy and at AVA Green Chemistry DevelopO2, the sludge is cooked for 24 h. operating costs will be made avail- ment GmbH (Karlsruhe, Germany).
Under these conditions, the sludge able by the end of this year, he says, The project is being supported by
undergoes a number of thermo- adding that he expects the revenues the German Federal Environmenchemical reactions mainly hydro- generated from sale of fertilizer and tal Foundation (DBU; Osnabrck;
lysis, carbonization and condensa- HTC coal will probably cover the www.dbu.de).
Converting PE waste into liquid fuels and waxes
ach year, a large amount of

plastic waste is generated,
with 60% of the total plastic
content of municipal solid
waste composed of high-, lowand linear-low density polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE and LLDPE) and
polypropylene (PP). Existing methods for degrading such plastics
have not been completely satisfactory, either because they required
fairly high temperatures (above
400C), or because they led to the
formation of unwanted substances
with poor product control. Now, an
efficient and inexpensive method
for the degradation of PEs into liq12
uid fuels and waxes has been reported by a research group from
the Shanghai Institute of Organic
Chemistry, Chinese Academy of
Sciences (www.sioc.ac.cn) led by
Zheng Huang, in collaboration with
the group of professor Zhibin Guan
at the University of California at Irvine (www.uci.edu).
The new method involves a tandem-catalytic, cross-alkane metathesis process, whereby one
catalyst is used for alkane dehydrogenation and another catalyst for
olefin metathesis. First, an iridiumbased dehydrogenation catalyst
removes hydrogen from both PE
and a light alkane in a sealed system to form unsaturated species

and Ir-H2. Next, a rhenium olefinmetathesis catalyst scrambles the
alkanes, resulting in the breakdown
of PE chains. Finally, hydrogenation
of the newly formed alkanes with
Ir-H2 affords saturated alkanes. The
metathesis of PE with the light alkane reduces the chain length of PE
when an internal double bond of PE
scrambles with a double bond of the
light alkane. PE is eventually transformed into liquid hydrocarbons
suitable for transportation fuels after
multiple cycles of cross alkane men
tathesis with light alkanes.
AUGUST 2016
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14
Plant Watch
Dow technology selected for new
MEGlobal production facility
July 11, 2016 MEGlobal, a wholly owned
subsidiary of Equate Petrochemical Co., has
selected process technology from the Dow
Chemical Company (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.
com) for its monoethylene glycol (MEG) production
facility in Freeport, Tex. The new MEG production
facility has a capacity of 700,000 metric tons per
year (m.t./yr), and is expected to come online
in mid-2019.
nonwoven materials with elasticity and

expandability. The augmentation of Sunrex
facilities, when completed in November 2017,
represents a capacity increase of 6,000 m.t./yr.
Clariant boosts capacity for

water-based pigments in Mexico
June 23, 2016 Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland;
www.clariant.com) inaugurated its new plant
for water-based pigment preparations in
Santa Clara, Mexico. The new plant doubles
Clariants annual production capacity for waterbased pigment preparations in Mexico. To
complement this capacity increase, Clariant
BASF and Markor start up
is also scheduled to start up a new plant for
polytetrahydrofuran plant in China
July 8, 2016 BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, solvent-based pigment preparations at the
Germany; www.basf.com) and Xinjiang Markor same site in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Chemical Industry Co. inaugurated a new
polytetrahydrofuran plant in northwest China. Wacker expands production capacity
The plant, with an annual capacity of 50,000 for silicones in South Korea
m.t. of polytetrahydrofuran, is operated by June 22, 2016 Wacker Chemie AG (Munich,
a joint venture between BASF and Markor. Germany; www.wacker.com) is expanding
its silicone-elastomer production capacity in
Jincheon, South Korea. The new facilities will
Ineos to expand ethyl acetate
include production plants for silicone sealants,
production capacity at Hull facility
July 7, 2016 Ineos (Rolle, Switzerland; www. specialty silicones and liquid silicone rubber.
ineos.com) is embarking on a multi-million- Investments for the expansion will total around
pound expansion of its Hull, U.K. manufacturing 16 million. Production is expected to begin
facility to increase production of ethyl acetate in the first quarter of 2018.
by 100,000 m.t./yr. It is expected that the
additional capacity will be available by the Jacobs wins detailed engineering
contract for PVC plant expansion in Egypt
end of next year.
June 20, 2016 Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
(Pasadena, Calif.; www.jacobs.com) received
Covestro opens new world-scale
a contract to provide detailed engineering
plant for precursor HDI in Shanghai
July 7, 2016 Covestro AG (Leverkusen, and procurement assistance services to TCI
Germany; www.covestro.com) has inaugurated Sanmar Chemical S.A.E. for its polyvinyl chloride
a new world-scale plant in Shanghai to produce (PVC) plant expansion project in Port Said,
the precursor hexamethylene dissocyanate Egypt. When complete, the facilitys production
(HDI). The new plant can produce up to 50,000 capacity is expected to be 200,000 m.t./yr.
m.t./yr of HDI, and is part of an investment
program for the site worth more than 3 billion. Honeywell UOP opens new catalyst
production line in Shreveport
June 20, 2016 Honeywell UOP (Des Plaines,
Solvay to build integrated hydrogen
Ill.; www.uop.com) opened a new production
peroxide unit at pulp-mill site in Brazil
July 6, 2016 Solvay SA (Brussels, Belgium; line at its catalyst manufacturing facility in
www.solvay.com) and its affiliate Peroxidos Shreveport, La. The $150-million investment
do Brasil have agreed with Suzano Papel will enable the company to produce a new
e Celulose to build a dedicated hydrogen range of catalysts for the petroleum-refining
peroxide production unit using Solvays industry at the facility.
myH2O2 technology, at Suzanos pulp-mill
site in Imperatriz, Maranho, Brazil. This is Mergers & Acquisitions
the first agreement that Solvay has signed for Ineos completes acquisition
of Inovyn joint venture
its myH2O2 peroxide technology.
July 8, 2016 Ineos has completed its
acquisition of the full shareholding stake in
Mitsui to expand production capacity of
Inovyn, which Ineos and Solvay formed as a
high-performance nonwoven materials
July 5, 2016 Mitsui Chemicals Inc. 50-50 joint venture in July 2015. Solvay received
(Tokyo; www.mitsuichem.com) will expand a final exit payment of 335 million. Solvays
the Yokkaichi, Japan production facilities of exit of the joint venture originally was planned
wholly owned subsidiary Sunrex Industry for July 2018, but in March it announced its
Co. to produce premium high-performance intent to exit early.
AUGUST 2016
Lubrizol acquires U.K.-based

Diamond Dispersions
July 5, 2016 The Lubrizol Corp. (Wickliffe, Ohio; www.
lubrizol.com) announced that it has acquired Diamond
Dispersions Ltd. (Sheffield, U.K.), a company exclusively
focused on the production of water-based dye and pigment
dispersions for inks used in digital printing. Diamond
Dispersions is now part of Lubrizol Advanced Materials,
reporting into Lubrizols Performance Coatings business.
Grace completes purchase of BASF
Polyolefin Catalysts business
July 5, 2016 W.R. Grace & Co. (Columbia, Md.; www.grace.
com) completed the acquisition of the assets of the BASF
Polyolefin Catalysts business. The acquisition includes LYNX
high-activity polyethylene (PE) catalyst technologies that are
used commercially in slurry processes for the production
of high-density PE resins such as bimodal film and pipe.
Grace acquired technologies, patents, trademarks and
production plants in Pasadena, Tex. and Tarragona, Spain.
Veolia acquires plastic
recycling assets in London
July 5, 2016 Veolia (Paris; www.veolia.com) has acquired
manufacturing assets in East London that will allow the
company to collect raw feedstock and produce around
10,000 m.t. of high-quality food-grade HDPE pellets
annually from recycled consumer plastics.
Tesoro acquires refining
business in North Dakota
June 28, 2016 Tesoro Corp. (San Antonio, Tex.; www.
tsocorp.com) has acquired Dakota Prairie Refining, LLC
(DPR), which owns a petroleum refinery near Dickinson,
N.D. DPRs refinery has a crude-oil capacity of 20,000
barrels per day (bbl/d), and produces ultra-low sulfur
diesel, naphtha and resid.
Wacker Chemie forms strategic
partnership for solar industry
Silicon wafer manufacturer 1366 Technologies, Inc.
(Bedford, Ma.; www.1366tech.com) and Wacker Chemie
have formed a longterm partnership to accelerate both
companies growth in the solar industry. Under the terms of
the partnership, Wacker will provide 1366 with polysilicon
for a planned commercial manufacturing plant.
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Technip acquires ethanol

dehydration technology from BP
June 22, 2016 Technip (Paris, France; www.technip.
com) has completed the acquisition of Hummingbird
ethanol-to-ethylene technology from BP Chemicals Ltd.
(London, U.K.; www.bp.com). The process uses a wide
range of ethanol feedstocks and can be integrated into
existing ethylene facilities.
PPG sells European fiber-glass
operations to Nippon Electric Glass
June 20, 2016 PPG Industries, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.;
www.ppg.com) has signed an agreement for the sale of
its European fiber-glass operations to glass manufacturer
Nippon Electric Glass Co. (NEG). PPG and NEG expect
to close the transaction in the second half of 2016.
Mary Page Bailey
Phone: +43 2672 800-0

b a n d @ b e r n d o r f. c o . a t
www.berndorf-band.at
www.berndorfband-group.com
15
Newsfront
Pigments: Going Beyond

Black and White
Advanced materials and sustainability efforts are driving the evolution of modern pigment and
coloration technologies
Lanxess
IN BRIEF
GLOBALLY SUSTAINABLE
OPERATIONS
THE NEW BLACK
TAKING CARE WITH TIO2
GETTING BACK TO
NATURE
FIGURE 2. The Ningbo Process

produces a wide range of
yellow and red pigments in a
more environmentally friendly
manner than traditional
techniques
16
he
complex
chemistries that
enable pigments
to provide bright
colors also open up much
potential for advances
in production and performance. Although pigments from nature have
been used for centuries,
synthetic pigments continue to evolve, and in
some cases, mimic their
biological
predecessors. Some advances in
pigment
technologies,
as well as the industry FIGURE 1. Lanxess recently employed a new production technique for yellow-red pigments at a site in Ningbo, China
trends that support more
sustainable operations,
ditional shades in between. This effect is
are presented here.
most noticeable in China, explains Baldus,
where production capacities have shrunk
considerably and a significant number of
Globally sustainable operations
As with countless other industries, global- small- and medium-sized producers have
ization trends are impacting pigments pro- exited the market since 2014. Baldus atducers. The leading paints and coatings tributes this trend to the recent estabmanufacturers have become increasingly lishment of environmental restrictions by
international in their activities ever since Chinese authorities.
To address the environmental implications
the onset of market globalization. Consequently, pigment suppliers are now ex- of the Penniman Red process the tradipected to grow worldwide along with them, tional production technique for yellow-red
and to make pigments of consistent quality iron-oxide pigments in China Lanxess
available everywhere in the world, explains developed an alternative production method
Hans-Peter Baldus, head of that is more efficient and sustainable. The
Lanxess AGs (Cologne, Ger- company employed this production process
many;
www.lanxess.com) for the first time earlier this year at a plant in
Inorganic Pigments business Ningbo, China (Figure 1). The hallmark of the
unit in North America. At the technology is the comprehensive waste-gas
same time, consolidation is treatment process, which eliminates harmbringing about change as ful nitrous oxide emissions. Furthermore,
well, specifically in the global Lanxess patented Ningbo Process inteindustry for the production grates an efficient water-treatment system
of synthetic iron-oxide pig- and also incorporates precise control of the
ments, which are produced formation reaction and altered synthesis of
in red, yellow, brown, black the starting materials. This process, says
and a wide variety of ad- Baldus, sets new standards worldwide in
Lanxess
AUGUST 2016
Melior Innovations
is especially important for polymer

materials, which tend to warp and
can even fail when exposed to high
heat levels. Huntsman is also investing in the development of pigments
that are designed specifically for
paints that are low in volatile organic
compounds (VOCs).
M-Tone Performance Attributes Versus Incumbent Technologies

Incumbent
M-Tone
Addictive requirement
5
4
Color
Rheology
The new black
3
2
1
Density
Cost-in-use
Thermal performace
Microwave transparency
Environmental
FIGURE 3. The ceramic nature of M-Tone pigments gives them beneficial properties and capabilities when
compared to traditional black pigments
sustainable iron oxide production.

Beyond the environmental benefits,
the process also results in pigments
with extremely high chromaticity,
says the company, allowing for the
production of the classic color range
of yellow-red pigments, as well as
new, stronger reds not previously
available (Figure 2). The plant is built
for a capacity of 25,000 metric tons
per year (m.t./yr) of iron oxide pigments. At the same site, the company also operates a mixing and milling plant for pigments with an annual
capacity of 70,000 m.t. For more information on the Ningbo production
facility, please see A Greener Route
for Making Red Pigments, Chem.
Eng., Feb. 2016, p. 9.
In terms of volume, Lanxess largest pigment demand comes from
the construction industry. The company has achieved certification from
third-party environmental program
SCS Global Services (Emeryville, Calif.;
www.scsglobalservices.com), meaning that recycled material makes up
to 94% of the iron raw materials used
in the production of its pigments. Pigments from SCS-certified suppliers
comply with Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED; www.
18
usgbc.org/leed) certification, making them approved for sustainable

building applications.
In May, Huntsman Corp. (The
Woodlands, Tex.; www.huntsman.
com) opened a new pigments production plant in Augusta, Ga. The
facility, which produces 30,000 m.t./
yr of yellow, red and black iron-oxide pigments, sources its iron raw
materials from the waste streams
of neighboring sites. According to
the company, the $172-million plant
also boasts advanced process automation and the elimination of a drying step that is typically required for
standalone pigments plants, making the pigment-production process
more efficient.
Huntsman produces several pigment products that are designed
to address specific environmental
challenges. For instance, the company has developed a line of infrared reflecting pigments, called Altiris, that are specifically designed for
use on surfaces that are exposed
to solar energy. The pigments reflective properties allow for structures to stay colder in the sun, decreasing the energy consumption
for cooling. The cooling capability
The chemistry of creating vibrant

colors occupies much of the work
being done in the industrial pigments
sector, but there is equally complex
technology for creating those colors
that are seemingly the simplest
black and white.
A new polymer-derived ceramic
material
M-Tone
from
PicOnyx Inc., a spin-out company
of Melior Innovations (Houston;
www.meliorinnovations.com) aims
to provide black pigmentation with
added performance benefits and
without some of the inherent challenges in use and processing typically associated with traditional
black pigments (Figure 3).
Produced via Melior Innovations
proprietary
polymer-to-ceramics
process, M-Tone pigments are
amorphous ceramics that contain
free carbon within the ceramic structure. The free carbon performs as
the chromophore, so pigmenting to
black with carbon is where the similarity between M-Tone and carbon
black ends says David Bening, vice
president of corporate development
for Melior and acting chief operating officer of PicOnyx. This unique
chemistry brings with it many benefits, both environmentally and operationally. M-Tones extremely inert
nature allows it to provide color
without interfering with the properties of the materials it contacts. This
makes it especially suitable for use
with thermoset systems, where other
pigments can interfere with curing
mechanisms, impacting color uniformity and dispersion. M-Tone pigments are also resistant to thermal
oxidation at temperatures greater
than 600C.
Another major advantage is the
fact that M-Tone is a non-dusting
particulate pigment. This means that
users may avoid risks stemming from
airborne exposure to residual hydro-
AUGUST 2016
Surrey Nanosystems
FIGURE 4. Precisely aligned arrays of carbon nanotubes enable Vantablacks distinctive light-absorbing
behavior
carbons or heavy metals present in

the incumbent traditional black pigment systems. M-Tone may be used
dry without the traditional health,
safety and housekeeping challenges
associated with competing materials, explains Bening. He cites the
ability to be used dry, as a stir-in pigment, or as a highly loaded dispersion paste, as an economical benefit,
since no expensive high-shear mixing
or milling processes are required for
dispersion. There are also no issues
with settling or reagglomeration, and,
unlike carbon black, which can require periodic re-dispersion, M-Tone
pigments remain well dispersed in
both aqueous and organic solutions.
Furthermore, M-Tone pigments may
be loaded into liquid polymer systems without incurring the significant
viscosity increase common to carbon blacks. It is non-thixotropic, and
therefore does not require viscosity management through the use of
rheology additives or diluents. These
attributes make M-Tone suitable for
use across a breadth of diverse polymer and diluent systems in the plastics, inks, coatings and adhesives
industries, explains Bening.
M-Tone pigments are created from
a family of proprietary polymers. The
polymers are cured and subsequently
produced at temperatures greater
than 1,000C. Then, they undergo
processing steps to manage particle
size and geometry. The manipulaCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
tion of the polymer precursor allows

for precise control over the finished
materials properties. For instance,
the electrical and thermal conductivity M-Tone pigments can be tuned
by manipulating the polymer chemistry and the processing parameters.
PicOnyx is currently producing MTone pigment grades at industrial
capacities at qualified third-party
manufacturing sites.
PicOnyx has also demonstrated
that M-Tone materials can, in addition to providing black pigmentation,
act as a functional reinforcing additive that can potentially enhance
hardness, stiffness and impact resistance. Its performance in polymermatrix systems is currently being
evaluated by PicOnyx. M-Tone,
due to its ceramic nature and compatibility across many chemistries,
emphasizes Bening, has great potential to be positioned as a performance-enhancing additive. PicOnyx
is also actively engaged in developing M-Tones application in black effect pigments that impart luminescence and sparkle into coatings, inks
and plastics.
Another innovation in black coloration comes from Surrey Nanosystems (Newhaven, U.K.; www.
surreynanosystems.com), the manufacturer of Vantablack (Vertically
Aligned Nanotube Array black), a
black thin-film coating material made
of carbon nanotubes (Figure 4). Light
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Dow
In a typical formulation,
TiO2 distribution is
random
As a formulation dries,
crowding creates
areas of high and low
concentration
Where concentration is
low, gaps in the resulting
film may occur
Where concentration is
high, overlap creates
inefficiency
Getting back to nature
FIGURE 5. Hollow-sphere polymers interact with titanium dioxide to increase formulations efficiency
radiation is rapidly absorbed by the

material as it bounces between the
equally aligned nanotubes, unable to
escape, making Vantablack materials
distinctively dark. The light energy is
reflected between tubes until it dissipates as negligible heat. Vantablack
can be applied as a coating to a diverse variety of surfaces, including
aluminum alloys, cobalt, copper, silicon and stainless steel. A sprayable
version became available in March
of this year. Created via a chemicalvapor-deposition process, the nanostructure of Vantablack imparts resilience to shock, vibration and thermal
cycling. However, due to its intricate arrangement of nanotubes, the
material is susceptible to abrasion
and breakage.
According to the company, potential applications for Vantablack
include infrared cameras, spectroscopy, solar collectors and improving the sensitivity of sensors, but the
most attractive area for its use is in
space and satellite applications. In
May 2016, Surrey Nanosystems announced Vantablacks first use in
space, absorbing light for a satellite
positioning-control system.
Taking care with TiO2
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been the

most commonly used white pigment
for decades, but there are some
shortcomings to its efficiency. TiO2
particles tend to crowd together,
creating regions of uneven distribution, which can impact the performance of a formulation. Also, from a
sustainability standpoint, processors
are seeking ways to decrease their
consumption of natural resources
like TiO2. The Dow Chemical Companys Coatings Materials business
(Midland Mich.; www.coatings.dow.
com) saw the need to address these
20
ings Materials. These interactions

can decrease TiO2 usage by up
to 20% by providing efficient light
scattering. The technology can also
increase stain and corrosion resistance, overall coverage and durability, says Dow.
TiO2-related concerns in the pigments sector. Producing TiO2 is an

energy-intensive process subject to
price fluctuation, and it contributes
substantially to the environmental
profile of an end product, says Sylvia
Insogna, North America marketing director for Dow Coating Materials.
The company has developed
opaque polymer materials that act
as an alternative to traditional white
pigments, and can augment the
performance of TiO2 in formulations.
Dows Ropaque material is a hollow
spherical polymer with light-scattering effects that effectively acts as a
pigment. As formulations dry, the
polymer develops air voids, which
scatter light in a similar manner
to TiO2, allowing for the Ropaque
polymer to be used as a direct replacement material. This can benefit formulators who want to improve
end-product performance properties
that may be negatively impacted by
increased levels of TiO2, who want
to rely on a resource other than TiO2
when supply is limited and expensive, who would prefer to diversify
and rely on two pigment sources, or
who are looking to reduce the environmental footprint of their product,
says Insogna. Taking TiO2 enhancement a step further, the company
also developed the pre-composite polymer technology known as
Evoque, which interacts with a formulations remaining TiO2 to optimize performance, improve distribution and further reduce the reliance
on TiO2. Essentially, the technology
surrounds the TiO2 molecules and
forms polymer-pigment composites
that physically separate the TiO2 in a
polymer-pigment matrix, which dries
into a tight, even film with a polymerrich surface, explains Dave Fasano,
application scientist for Dow CoatCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Historically, pigments of every color

were derived from naturally occurring
sources. Industrial advances brought
about fully synthetic pigments, but
with recent increased awareness of
sustainability, there has been a push
for products that contain more biobased components. Quinocridone
pigments typically pink, red and
purple are now being manufactured using bio-based succinic acid
by Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland;
www.clariant.com). Succinic acid
is an important raw material for the
production of quinocridones, and,
according to Clariant, switching to
bio-succinic acid supplied by biotechnology company Myriant Corp.
(Woburn, Ma.; www.myriant.com)
reduces the carbon footprint of
these pigments by up to 90%. The
bio-succinic acid is sourced from
cellulosic materials, including corn
husks, leaves and fibrous matter from
processed sugarcane.
Molecules of the isoprenoid family
are another useful component in the
production of various types of pigments. In June, Deinove (Grabels,
France; www.deinove.com) received
1.5 million in funding to develop a
process for bio-sourced isoprenoids
using Deinococcus bacteria. According to the company, the bio-based
isoprenoids could be used for the
production of specialty pigments,
including red, orange and yellow
carotenoids. Deinove is currently focused on cultivating bacterial strains
that will efficiently produce carotenoids via fermentation. Deinove is
said to be the only company currently investigating the industrial use
of Deinococcus.
Going forward, a larger emphasis
will surely continue to be placed on renewable raw materials in the pigments
industry as sustainability efforts drive
technological developments.
Mary Page Bailey
AUGUST 2016
Whats your biggest

separation challenge?
ASK YOUR
Across a range of industries, separation is
essential to sustainable growth. Whether
youre processing the worlds largest wastewater
flows,
the
most
valu able
minerals, or the next line of baby food
products, the right separation technologies
and services can have a vital impact on your
bottom line.
Whatever your separation challenge, you
can rest assured that no one has a broader
range of technologies and services
or deeper process know-how than
ANDRITZ SEPARATION. In fact, over the
past century weve consistently expanded
our global capabilities by acquiring leading

brands and products like Bird, Royal GMF
Gouda, Netzsch Filtration, and more.
Throughout 40 countries, our more than
2,000 separation specialists are dedicated
to ensuring superior performance across the
entire plant life cycle. This is why industry
leaders around the world rely on us for
everything from initial consulting through to
service agreements, process optimization,
automation, and training programs.
SEPARATION
SPECIALIST
Whats your biggest separation challenge?

Give us a call. Weve got a world of expertise
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SERVICE
andritz.com/separation
Newsfront
Keeping Solids Moving

Updated feeding and conveying products help improve product flow
Nol-Tec
IN BRIEF
REDUCING
DEGRADATION/
SEPARATION
SIMPLIFIED CLEANING
INCREASING RELIABILITY
AND UPTIME
INTEGRATION AND
SMARTER CONTROLS
22
hen it comes to feeding

and conveying operations, chemical processors struggle to minimize
unplanned downtime and maximize
throughput. For this reason, they require reliable equipment that is easy
to clean in an effort to prevent cross
contamination, feeders and conveyors that do not degrade or separate
their product, and systems that eliminate material handling issues related
to difficult-to-process materials. Time
is money and processors have labor
costs, capital equipment depreciation and overhead costs. Losses from
wasted ingredients, reagents, revenue
and profit only make the issues more
significant, explains Gordon Fenton,
engineering and product development
manager with Seepex (Enon, Ohio;
www.seepex.com). And the stakes
are so much higher for chemical processors, since many processes are FIGURE 1. To overcome resistance in the conveying line, Nol-Tec Air
batch-oriented. Batch processes have Assits are placed strategically to distribute energy throughout the
increased risks because of the poten- transport system. This results in increased efficiency and reliability
tial for wasted batches when the component from start to finish. The constant particleto-particle and particle-to-surface contact
chemical costs can be so high.
Selecting the best equipment design for during the conveying and material-handling
a specific application and its challenges, processes breaks down the material quality.
as well as integrating new equipment with The goal is to mitigate these negative effects
precise controls into existing facilities, can by reducing material turbulence within the
help chemical processors improve the flow conveyor, notes Greg Patterson, vice presiof product through their facility, while keep- dent of Hapman (Kalamazoo, Mich.; www.
ing costs associated with downtime and de- hapman.com).
Segregation, according to Patterson, is
creased throughput to a minimum.
The biggest feeding and conveying chal- another common issue. There are a numlenges for chemical producers include deg- ber of factors that influence whether your
radation and separation of product, cross material segregates as it moves through the
contamination, downtime and difficult-to- process. The size, shape, density and moisprocess materials, so manufacturers of this ture content of the ingredients; the speed of
equipment are working closely with chemical transfer; whether it is conveyed mechanically
processors to understand the specific needs or with air; the length and angle of the conof the industry and are developing units and veyor; even the presence of static electricity
systems designed to tackle the chemical influences the stability of the blend, he says.
One example of a conveyor designed to
process industries (CPI) greatest issues.
combat these issues is a tubular drag chain
conveyor. The design of this type of conReducing degradation/separation
One of the biggest challenges of handling veyor prevents product from being stirred
bulk material is maintaining product integrity or blown during movement, so there is no
AUGUST 2016
Flexicon
Seepex
FIGURE 2. Seepex now offers a

single- (shown here) and twostage Smart Conveying Technology
(SCT) pump design that allows
the pump stator and/or rotor to be
changed without disturbing suction
or discharge piping to increase reliability and decrease downtime
damage or separation as it moves

along the process, explains Patterson. Often degradation and separation of product occur at conveyor
transfer points, but with a tubular
drag conveyor, you can replace multiple conveyors and multiple transfer
points with one unit that can go horizontal, vertical, handle angles and
go around corners. We can provide
many configurations with one con-
veyor so there is no need for multiple

transfer points, thus mitigating many
of these challenges.
Nol-Tec Systems (Lionel Lakes,
Minn.; www.nol-tec.com) suggests
dense-phase transporter systems
to users who must avoid degradation in powder and granular bulksolids moving through a pipeline at
low velocity. In a typical cycle, the
transport vessel fills via gravity. When
AUGUST 2016
FIGURE 3. Flexicons Bulk-Out bulk bag dischargers are available with several accessories designed
to increase efficiency and deal with difficult-tohandle materials, including the Spout-Lock clamp
ring and Tele-Tube telescoping tube
the transporter is full, the inlet and

vent valves close and the system is
pressurized, allowing material to flow
into the conveying line and on to the
23
Hapman
FIGURE 4. Hapman provides control packages that

range from smaller panels with on/off and alarm
notifications to fully integrated packages, which
incorporate multiple pieces of equipment and link
directly to a range of hardware options and HMI
interfaces for customer-specified components and
notification requirements
destination. The low velocity minimizes degradation to materials that

are fragile, says Mike Weyandt, corporate sales manager with Nol-Tec.
Imagine moving a Rice Krispie at
high velocity. At the end of the conveyor it wouldnt be a Rice Krispie
anymore. It would be powder.
Though this type of technology is
not new, Nol-Tec is adding features
to further improve performance,
says Weyandt. To overcome the
overall resistance in the conveying
line, Air Assists are placed strategically to distribute energy throughout
the system (Figure 1). This results in
increased efficiency and reliability.
The Air Assist technology prevents
back feeding, which may be experienced with low-pressure manifold
systems. On longer systems, Air
Mizer technology can be added to
further reduce compressed air costs.
This version of Air Assist technology
introduces air only when required.
Simplified cleaning
Many processors dont have systems that are dedicated to the same
material 24/7/365. Instead, they may
be a compounder who cant have
two colors mixed or running two
incompatible materials, so crosscontamination is a major concern,
says Todd Messmer, applications
engineering manager with Schenck
Process (Whitewater, Wis.; www.
schenckprocess.com).
Because
cleanability and the time associated
with cleaning are concerns we have
to take into consideration, weve
come up with a couple of systems
that assist processors with cleaning
24
conveying equipment, such as quickdisconnect piping, couplings that

fit together and come apart without
tools, as well as a pigging system.
Messmer says the pigging system
was designed to help processors with
long conveying lines clean and avoid
cross-contamination. The device is
shaped like a torpedo and is launched
into the conveying line and, as it moves
through, scrapes and cleans the inside of the conveying line and pushes
the debris into a common collection
point, explains Messmer. This pigging system is clearly a better, faster,
more thorough way to clean pneumatic conveying lines without having
to disassemble the whole thing.
Another take on simplified cleaning is the addition of tubular trays
to vibratory feeders, says Rob Yandrick, product manager, vibratory/
screening, with Eriez (Erie, Pa.;
www.eriez.com). Trays are designed
for fast removal and cleanout to
avoid cross contamination of materials and decreased production line
downtime. Many trays offer quickrelease clamps that allow the tray
and cover to be removed without
tools so that the tray is easily lifted
and disconnected from the frame for
easy cleaning. In addition to assisting processors with avoiding cross
contamination, the tubular trays also
help with general housekeeping and
dust containment, says Yandrick.
Increasing reliability and uptime

The most valuable advances in
processing are improving mean
time before failure, predictive maintenance and making installation
and maintenance quicker, safer and
cheaper, says Seepexs Fenton. In
the past, progressive-cavity pump
manufacturers fell short on the
serviceability aspect, but Seepex
now offers a single- and two-stage
Smart Conveying Technology (SCT)
pump designs that allows the
pump stator or rotor (or both) to be
changed without disturbing suction
or discharge piping (Figure 2). The
design also does not require the
rotor and stator to be removed as
a cartridge and separated later. This
change makes most maintenance
operations a one-person operation, cuts maintenance time by up
to 85% and decreases spare part

costs, says the company.
The companys Intelligent Metering Pump (IMP) is also helping to increase uptime. It offers an Electronic
Programming Module (EPM) memory
chip on which parameters can be
pre-configured. This makes replacement of a drive simple, quick and accurate. Users can plug the EPM chip
from the previous drive into the new
one and be up and running.
It has also allowed many processors to convert from a batch to a
continuous process and eliminate
bottlenecks, says Fenton. When
combining chemicals, one of the
main components is some sort of
metering pump. Metering this type of
application used to require a pump
that pulsated and that pulsation required them to work in a batched
process to get a homogeneous mixture, he says. However, the IMP
does not have to pulsate. It offers a
continuous flow, which allows some
processors to convert to a continuous process, allowing them to increase their throughput.
The flow of difficult materials

One of the greatest obstacles to
uptime in feeding and conveying applications is dealing with problematic
materials, such as those that are
sticky, or exhibit bridging or agglomeration, because they can reduce flow,
which may result when materials dont
come out of the containers, says
David Boger, vice president, global
business development, with Flexicon
(Bethlehem, Pa.; www.flexicon.com).
But, the proper bulk bag discharge
system can help rectify this issue and
get product flowing.
Flexicons Bulk-Out bulk bag dischargers (Figure 3) are available in
several frame configurations, including the BFF Series dischargers with
bag lifting frame for forklift loading
and unloading of bulk bags and BFC
Series dischargers with cantilevered
I-beam, electric hoist and trolley for
loading and unloading of bulk bags
without the use of a forklift.
The dischargers are offered with
several accessories designed to increase efficiency and deal with difficult-to-handle materials, including
the Spout-Lock clamp ring and Tele-
AUGUST 2016
Tube telescoping tube. The clamp

ring creates a high-integrity, sealed
connection between the clean side
of the bag outlet spout and the clean
side of the telescoping tube. This prevents contamination of the product,
while eliminating the plant contamination that occurs when falling materials
displace air and dust from the hopper.
The telescoping tube prevents
dead spots and promotes flow by
raising the Spout-Lock clamp ring
for connection to the bag spout,
then lowers, applying continual
downward tension. As a result, the
spout is kept taut at all times, preventing excess spout material from
bulging outward (creating dead
pockets) or falling inward (creating
flow restrictions).
The companys pneumatically activated Flow-Flexer bag activators
promote material flow through bag
spouts. The bag activators raise and
lower the bottom edges of the bag
to direct material into the bag outlet spout and to raise the bag into
a steep V shape to promote total
have smarter control systems required

an improvement in our control capabilities. We needed to be able to handle
functions from scanning barcodes to
keeping track of all the elements in a
conveying system as product moves
through the circuit, which mandated
smarter control systems.
As such, Hapman currently offers
control packages that range from
smaller panels with on/off and alarm
notifications to fully integrated packages, which incorporate multiple
pieces of equipment and link directly
to a range of hardware options and
HMI interfaces for customer-specified components and notification requirements (Figure 4). Our customers want smart equipment that can
tell them how it is performing and
when performance isnt quite where
it needs to be, he says. So, we
have to make sure our equipment
and controls are providing the kind of
feedback processors require so they
can continue to keep their product
and process flowing.
n
Joy LePree
evacuation. Bulk bag conditioners

are also available for loosening materials solidified in bulk bags.
Integration and smarter controls

To pull all these pieces of equipment
and their benefits together, many equipment providers are also offering custom-engineered, integrated systems.
Flexicon, for example, can evaluate
bulk materials, plant layout, throughput rates, residual product limitations,
cleanliness requirements, access, cost,
cycle times and other parameters and
outline a solution for the situation.
Along with this type of sophisticated system, processors are
requesting more integrated and
smarter controls. Processors want
to see more of whats going on with
their system and they often want to
see it from a remote location, says
Nol-Tecs Weyandt. At the same
time, theyre asking for more automated controls for functions that
were previously manually adjusted.
Hapmans Patterson agrees: The
integrated solutions and the desire to
Get Chemical Engineerings Plant Cost Index to improve plant

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Sep 06
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513.1
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467.2
Equipment
606.5
602.3
541.2
Heat Exchanges and Tanks
565.1
560.9
509.2
Process Machinery
559.6
556.2
521.7
Pipe, valves and fittings
734.7
731.7
620.8
Process Instruments
441.4
437.2
379.5
Pumps and Compressions
788.9
788.3
756.3
Electrical equipment
418.9
414.2
374.6
Structural supports
643.7
637.7
579.3
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314.7
312.9
309.1
Buildings
476.9
475.2
444.7
Engineering Supervision
350.7
351.9
346.9
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24688
AUGUST 2016
25
Focus
Valves
Rotary valve controls the flow
of powders and granules
Coperion K-Tron
Conval, Inc.
The Coperion ZRD Heavy-Duty Premium rotary valve (photo) is designed

for industrial applications with pressure differentials up to 1.5 barg (21
psig), and temperatures to 100C
(212F); higher-temperature versions
are also available. The ZRD is used
as a discharging and metering valve
for conveying powders in granular
and powdered form (with particle
size smaller than 1 mm). Various
materials of construction are available for the housing and endplates.
These valve rotors are constructed
of stainless steel DIN 1.4541 (AISI
321L). The valves handle a throughputs ranging from 0.1 to 300 ton/h.
Thanks to its heavy-duty construction, the ZRD has an explosion-pressure shockproof rating of 10 barg,
says the company. Coperion
K-Tron Salina, Inc., Salina, Kan.
www.coperion.com
manufacturer, to increase wall thicknesses found in critical areas of the

valves (designed in accordance with
U.S. standards) while still capitalizing
on the reduced-weight benefits of
equivalent European standards. This
allows the valve to perform under
difficult pressure and temperature
conditions, such as those found in
supercritical and ultra-supercritical
coal-fired power plants which can
operate at 290 bars or 4,200 psig,
and over 600C or 1,100F while
ensuring power plant productivity,
safety and reliability. Single-piece
body manufacturing helps to eliminate fabrication welds, which reduces
the opportunity for welding-related
failures. The valve features a splitwedge gate design, which improves
operating reliability by minimizing
thermal binding and stress on valve
components, says the company.
Flowserve, Irving, Tex.
www.flowserve.com/equiwedge
These severe-service valves

come in 12,000 configurations
Diaghragm valves meet the

demands of sterile applications
Clampseal forged globe-stop, check

and stop-check valves (photo) are
U.S.-made and are available in sizes
from 0.5 to 4 in., through ASME
4500 Class. A variety of connections, including socket-weld, buttweld, threaded, clamp-connector,
and flanged-end options, are available. Materials include carbon steel
SA 105, low-alloy SA 182-F22 and
F91, stainless steel SA 182-F316,
and SA 182-F347. The valves
conform to ASME B16.34, and
they feature a pressure-seal bonnet, quick-replacement packing
chamber, and a single-piece gland
with and integral gland wrench
for easy maintenance. Addtional options include fire-safe and cryogenic
valves and actuated valve packages.
Conval, Inc., Somers, Conn.
www.conval.com
The DV-ST UltraPure family of diaphragm valves provides reliable

operation in sterile and asceptic
operations. The DV-ST UltraPure is
a compact, lightweight valve with
a modular design, enabling a wide
range of purpose-built configurations. The specified sulfur content
is standard for all forged and block
valves, safeguarding high-quality
welds, says the company. The
spring pressure can be adjusted
using a pneumatic actuator. For
all handles, over-closure protection in manual operations ensures a
defined closing pressure against
the diaphragm. The innovative design of the DV-P UltraPure allows
for more-precise flow regulation
and doubles the flowrate compared
to conventional diaghpram valve
designs at a given pressure drop,
says the company. This enables
the use of smaller feed pumps,
which helps to reduce energy and
installation costs. Alfa Laval,
Richmond, Va.
www.alfalaval.com
Borrowing best practices gives

this gate valve an edge
The new forged Equiwedge Gate
Valve incorporates two industry best
practices into one design, says the
26
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number on p. 82, or use the website designation.
AUGUST 2016
Firesafe ball valve ensure

leak-tight protection
The latest addition to the 344 Series Valves is a three-piece, firesafe
ball valve (photo) that is designed
to ensure the operational integrity
of the valve in the extreme heat of
a petroleum refinery fire. Available in
sizes from 1.4 to 2 in., the 344 Series
comes standard with an ASME Class
900 body and TFM seats. The valves
firesafe seating surface and springenergized stem seals self-adjust to
compensate for wear and changes
in pressure and temperature, ensuring a leak-tight seal to prevent both
downstream and external leakage,
says the company. It can be supplied
with various end pieces to match a
variety of process connections. Its
ISO 5211 dual-pattern, direct-mount
pad eliminates the need for a bracket
or drive coupling for automation,
and prevents side loading, which
helps to improve the valves cycle
life and reduces the height of the
package. Inline Industries, Inc.,
Baldwin Park, Calif.
www.ballvalve.com
Pressure- and vacuum-relief

valves minimize fugitive losses
The Anderson Greenwood 4000
Series pressure- and vacuumrelief valves (photo) are compliant
with the latest (7th Ed.) of the API
2000 standard, which covers normal and emergency vapor-venting
requirements for bulk-liquid storage
tanks. These valves are engineered
to open fully at 10% overpressure,
helping to protect tanks from physical damage caused by internal pressure fluctuations. As a result, the
valves can be set more closely to a
storage tanks maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP)
or maximum allowable working vacuum (MAWV), allowing
users to fill and empty tanks more
quickly and operate at higher
pressures, says the company.
The 4000 Series valves remain
closed longer, resulting in increased
productivity and reduced evaporation and fugitive emissions loss.
The valve range is available in weightor spring-loaded designs. It comes
in sizes ranging from 2 to 12 in.
A variety of coatings are available
to provide enhanced protection from
extreme temperatures and exposure
to corrosive media. Pentair Valves

& Controls, Minneapolis, Minn.
www.valves.pentair.com
Inline Industries, Inc.
Air-activated isolation valves

provide added safety
The Series P Pneumatic Isolation
Valves are pressure-activated valves
that provide protection for applications facing potentially explosive or
flammable conditions. The valves are
particularly well-suited for applications where the use of air instead of
electricity to actuate the valve makes
sense, such as potentially explosive
and flammable environments, says
the company. These two-way and
three-way valves are available with
orifice sizes from 1.8 to 6 mm. Several models are available, with wetted parts that are suitable for use in
applications involving high-purity and
chemically aggressive media. Certain
models are designed for applications
that may contain particulate matter in
the fluid stream. Clark Solutions,
Hudson, Mass.
www.clarksol.com
Pentair Valves & Controls
Miniature solenoid valves are

designed for long service
Wattmizer solenoid valves (photos)
are designed for compact areas.
These energy-efficient solenoid
valves have relatively low-wattage
coils (ranging from 0.65 to 9 W),
and have operating pressures up
to 1,200 psi. They are available to
operate on both alternating and direct current, respond rapidly in 6 to
9 ms, and provide a wide range of
pressure and flow ratings, says the
company. They come standard with
brass or stainless-steel bodies, and
stainless-steel internal parts, making them suitable for most fluid
and gas applications. Tests have
demonstrated that these valves
can function in excess of 60 million
cycles without failure, according to
the manufacturer. Solenoid Solutions, Erie, Pa.
www.solenoidsolutionsinc.com
Solenoid Solutions
Compact press-regulating
valves withstand harsh fluids
This family of pressure-regulating valves (PRVs; photo) features
compact size, modular design and
highly chemical-resistant plastic
construction with no exposed metal
parts. Offered in two models, the
AUGUST 2016
GF Piping Systems
27
DMN
AS-Schneider
pressure-reducing Type 582 valve

is designed to maintain constant
outlet pressure, while the pressureretaining Type 586 valve is designed
to maintain constant inlet pressure.
Both are well-suited to function
reliabilty in the face of aggressive
chemical process conditions, says
the manufacturer. Available in sizes
from 3/8 to 2 in., standards include
ISO 9393 for tighness and EN 1266
for leak rating. GF Piping Systems, Irvine, Calif.
www.gfps.com
changing conditions and through

the full flow range. Available in sizes
1 to 4 in., with all stainless-steel
construction, this valve has a relatively lightweight, low-profile design
that provides excellent corrosion
resistance, and operates without
linkages to ensure reliable operation
and durability, meeting AWWA C512
requirements, says the firm. DeZurik/APCO/Hilton, Sartell, Minn.
www.dezurik.com
Rotary airlock valves move

and protect bulk solids
The new KB and KC Ball Valve Series products (photo) are designed
for the most demanding CPI and
petroleum-refining applications. A
floating ball allows for relatively low
torque, even under difficult conditions. They withstand pressures
up to 420 bars, and temperatures
of 30 to 232C. Carbon steel
and stainless steel are available as
standard body materials, but other
special alloys (such as Alloy 400
and Alloy C-276) can be used for
the body. Polyether ether ketone
(PEEK) and reinforced polyetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are used for the
ball seat. The valves are tested and
certified according to ISO 15858
and are also Fire Safe tested and
certified according to ISO 10497/
API 607. AS-Schneider, Nordheim, Germany
www.as-schneider.com
The DMN High-Pressure Rotary Airlock Valve (photo) has a special body
and rotor configuration that protects
the product against degradation,
and prevents axial air leakage. It is
said to reduce air leakage by 30%
compared to competing standard
high-pressure valves. The DMN HP
rotary airlock valves are suitable for
use during metering and pneumatic
conveying of granular products. The
configuration of the body, rotor and
seals is designed to retain the best
possible pocket-fill efficiency while
reducing product degradation, says
the company. They are supplied with
a Type 316 stainless steel body and
aluminum end covers to withstand
wear. The HP valves are available
in 8-, 10- and 12-in. models, which
can handle products up to 176F.
DMN Inc., Memphis, Tenn.
www.dmn-inc.com
Compact valve reliably controls

air ingress and egress
Roto-Disc
28
The ASU-CAV is an automatic, highpressure, single-body combination

air valve, which is suited for clean or
dirty service applications in mining,
petrochemical, water-treatment, reverse osmosis and high-pressure
(150300 psi) wastewater-treatment
applications. Its venting design provides varied and predictable air flow
over a wide range of air release and
air/vacuum conditions. A large-dia.
air/vacuum disc provdes high-volume air flow for rapid venting during pipeline filling, and allows high
volumes of air to enter a pipeline
during draining. During normal pipeline flow, the dual-range air-release
design prevents air buildup and
associated flow restrictions under
These ball valves withstand

tough operating conditions
Valve device meters product

into or out of processes
The Roto-Disc Airlock/DoubleDump valves (photo) are used to
feed and measure product into and
out of pressure and vacuum environments. The Roto-Disc Cycle
Timer, coupled with enhancements
to its accumulator chamber, allows
these devices to be used for both
volumetric and gravimetric measuring, in addition to traditional
timed and manual control during
feeding. Included among the latest
capabilities is the ability to switch
among these modes of operation
seamlessly. The load-cell mounts
and level sensor ports are located
on the chamber, according to the
application requirements. RotoDisc, Inc., Erlanger.
n
www.rotodisc.com
Suzanne Shelley
AUGUST 2016
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New Products
Measure viscosity over
a wide temperature range
RheoSense
The VROC initium automatic viscometer (photo) measures absolute

viscosity as a function of shear rate
across a wide temperature range with
high repeatability. Equipped with automatic sample loading and cleaning,
the small-footprint, high-capacity device facilitates 96-well plates, as well
as 40 vial racks. Sample volumes
can be as small as 10 L, making
early-stage development more costeffective. Automatic intrinsic viscosity measurements provide the size
of molecules in various formulations
and conditions. RheoSense, Inc.,
San Ramon, Calif.
www.rheosense.com
Monitor debris in hydraulic

and lubrication systems
Gill Sensors & Controls
This companys new oil-debris sensor (photo) offers continuous, realtime monitoring of particle accumulation and contamination in hydraulic
and lubrication systems. The sensor features a three-channel output
that provides both an early warning
of damaged bearings or gears that
need maintenance to prevent unexpected downtime. Typical applications include monitoring gas-turbine
engines, turbine gearboxes and other
industrial applications. Solid particle
contamination is a major cause for
breakdown in hydraulic and lubrication oil systems, which can not
only be costly to fix, but when compounded with unscheduled downtime, can cause even higher recovery
costs. Gill Sensors & Controls Ltd.,
Hampshire, U.K.
www.gillsc.com
Inspect this pump without

disturbing piping layout
Vertiflo Pump
Quintex
30
The Model 1400LF low-flow centrifugal pump (photo) can handle flowrates up to 50 gal/min and heads
up to 345 ft, at temperatures as high
as 250F. Applications for this basemounted horizontal pump include
boiler feed, chemical processing,
washdown and spray washers. Back
pullout construction allows for simplified inspection or maintenance without disturbing the piping to the pump.
Packing or various mechanical-seal
arrangements are available as standard options. Construction material

selection includes ductile iron, bronze
fitted, 316 stainless-steel fitted and all
316 stainless steel. Vertiflo Pump
Co., Cincinnati, Ohio
www.vertiflopump.com
A smart pH sensor available

in PVDF construction
The PH10 is a smart pH sensor and
transmitter that features an industry
first a rugged polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) body. The device can
be calibrated at any time against a
standard or reference transmitter, or
laptop PC, in the instrument shop.
The calibration parameters are then
stored in an onboard memory chip.
When performing a field calibration,
operators simply take the pre-calibrated sensor to the field, connect
it to the transmitter, and allow the
transmitter to upload the calibration
parameters. The sensors design incorporates a flat membrane sensing
electrode and an ion barrier to protect the internals and reduce fouling.
The sensor also stores other parameters, such as glass resistance, reference resistance, date of manufacture, serial number and history logs
to help manage the deployment and
performance of the pH sensor.
Schneider Electric, Foxboro, Mass.
www.schneider-electric.com
Stainless-steel local control

stations can be designed online
After this company created the possibility to design GRP (glass-reinforced
polymer) control stations for use in
hazardous areas, it has now made
this possible with stainless-steel local
control stations with up to 15 modules (photo). The selection and placement follows the same procedure as
for GRP control boxes. Users simply
choose the maximum quantity of required modules on the companys
homepage. Based on the scheme
chosen, users can then select the
appropriate functions on a new definition page. By leaving out certain
points, users can create special userfriendly stations that the operator can
use intuitively. Quintex GmbH,
Lauda-Knigshofen, Germany
www.quintex.eu
AUGUST 2016
Sanitary rupture discs available

in Hastelloy construction
This PLC securely integrates

devices from multiple vendors
The Axius SC Sanitary Rupture Disc,

specifically designed for the stringent
sanitary and aseptic requirements
of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, is now available
in Hastelloy C276 material. In many
situations, Hastelloy is preferred
over stainless steel because of its
corrosion resistance in demanding
applications. In both Hastelloy and
stainless steel, the Axius SC is free
of any indentations, crevices or other
design features that may trap process contaminants. The Axius SC in
Hastelloy C276 material is available
with a broad burst-pressure range,
with full vacuum resistance at all
burst pressures, similar to the existing 316/316L stainless-steel models.
Suitable for both gas and liquid applications, the non-fragmenting rupture
discs are able to fit directly into standard industry ferrule connections.
Fike Corp., Blue Springs, Mo.
www.fike.com
tries that require discrete control

for specific PLC applications, such
as water treatment, balance-ofplant modular equipment, terminal automation, and coal and ash
handling. Honeywell Process
Solutions, Houston
www.honeywellprocess.com/plc
A valve manifold with

zoned safety capabilities
Honeywell Process Solutions
The recently launched ControlEdge

programmable logic controller (PLC;
photo), when combined with this
companys Experion Process Knowledge System, provides secure connectivity and tight integration to instruments, equipment and software
from multiple vendors. ControlEdge
is said to be the first PLC to offer
Universal I/O, providing remote configuration and flexibility for late-phase
design changes, leading to improved
project implementation. ControlEdge
PLC is designed for process indus-
ASCO Valve
The Numatics 503 Series valve manifold (photo) enables end users to
configure up to three safety circuits in
a production machine. The manifold
can create up to three independent
electro-pneumatic safety zones, while
also allowing independent non-safe
sections to coexist within one manifold assembly. The operator does not
FREE On Demand Webinars

View On Demand
Webinars at
chemengonline.com/
webcasts
Chemical Engineering magazine produces webinars on topics of critical importance

to the chemical process industries. Its not too late to participate in a live webinar or
download any of the on demand webinars at chemengonline.com/webcasts 31
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM AUGUST 2016
Rohrback Cosasco Systems
Pepperl+Fuchs
have to shut down the entire machine

by releasing compressed air with a
redundant safety or control dump
valve. Instead, the Numatics 503 Series valve manifold can be configured
to shut down air and power only to
the group of valves that controls the
machines motion in the operators
vicinity. The flexible approach also
significantly reduces safety system
cost and allows machine space to
be saved for other purposes, says
the company. ASCO Valve, Inc.,
Florham Park, N.J.
www.asco.com
process management. At the same

time, both transmission rate and
timing of the two systems are completely de-coupled. Communication
to the DCS benefits from responses
with zero delay by the PA nodes
at a transmission rate of up to 1.5
megabits/s on Profibus DP. The basic
segment coupler from FieldConnex supports a high segment count
per cabinet requiring only 20 mm on
the DIN-rail and very low heat dissipation. Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH,
Mannheim, Germany
www.pepperl+fuchs.com
New software for enhanced

corrosion management
Reduce investment and

operating costs with pneumatics
This companys new Data Offline

software (photo) provides corrosion-management personnel with
enhanced analytics and reporting
that enable new levels of insight for
controlling corrosion. The software
is compatible with all offline Microcor, ER, LPR and Ultracorr ultrasonic
corrosion-monitoring field instruments. The software package gives
users a comprehensive look at a
total system or plant, while illustrating the factors that affect corrosion
rates. Imported data from corrosionmonitoring points and other process
parameters, including laboratory
analysis, inspections and chemical injection rates, can be analyzed,
correlated and compared. The software produces time-related graphical
displays of corrosion data, allowing
direct correlation with other factors,
such as temperature and pressure,
for optimal corrosion control.
Rohrback Cosasco Systems, Inc.,
Sante Fe Springs, Calif.
www.cosasco.com
Water supply company Landeswasserversorgung (Stuttgart, Germany)

employed this companys pneumatic
automation technology for the construction of the multimedia and activated-carbon filtering basins in a
new groundwater filtration system.
The automation technology controls
the water flow using pneumatic valve
actuators (photo) and process valves
for regulation and shutoff, as well as
for preventing return flow. The company installed seven open two-tier
filters in the new groundwater filtration system. During backwashing of
one multimedia filter, the pipelines
are opened and closed by 10 shutoff valves, which are actuated by
this companys DAPS pneumatic
quarter-turn actuators. The actuators are controlled by valve terminals
with a Profinet connection. Overall,
the technology saved Landeswasserversorgung 10% on its investment
and operating costs compared to
electric automation, says this company. Festo AG, Esslingen am
Neckar, Germany
www.festo.com/water
This segment coupler provides

speed on Profibus DP
Festo
32
With the basic segment coupler

(photo) the successor to SK1 and
SK2 Profibus PA nodes appear as
DP nodes in the distributed control
system (DCS) and can be configured
and diagnosed without additional
tools. The basic segment coupler
provides this transparency without
any configuration of its own. The simplicity of this design assists in efficient
generation of big data for optimized
Comprehensive materials data

for corrosion prevention
The Dechema Materials Table
(Dechema-Werkstoff-Tabelle; DWT)
is now available as an online version. The new online edition of the
DWT provides detailed information
about the corrosion and chemical
resistance of all important metallic,
non-metallic and organic materials in contact with over 1,000 cor-
AUGUST 2016
Pump Engineering
rosive media. It provides important

guidance for preventing corrosion
damage and is thus an important
decision-making aid. Additional
benefits include the following: fast
and worldwide availability of data;
guaranteed online access at all
times; simple and immediate access; and no additional software
installation is necessary. Single and
multi-user versions are available.
Dechema e.V., Frankfurt am
Main, Germany
www.dechema.de
These hygienic pumps are

easy to clean and quick to strip
The range of CSF CS, CSA and
CSM centrifugal pumps (photo) are
capable of handling capacities from
1 to 550 m3/h at heads up to 155 m.
These pumps possess the ease of
cleaning and maintenance that are
necessary for transferring liquids in
food, brewing, pharmaceutical and
other similar hygienic process applications. CSF pumps are manufac-
clamp to enable fast and simple

dismantling. Pump Engineering
Ltd., Littlehampton, U.K.
www.pumpeng.co.uk
New wirelessly monitored

storage-tank emergency vents
Emerson Process Management
tured in investment-cast AISI 316L

stainless steel, with stainless steel
for all wetted parts. They also feature a six-vane impeller, which ensures gentle and effective handling
of the ingredients used in many
food and pharmaceutical processing applications, even those containing particles or small solids. The
pumps are designed with clean-inplace (CIP) capability to ensure the
absence of dead areas and feature
electro-polished finishing of all surfaces. CSF pumps are available with
standard or ATEX-certified motors,
which are designed for back pullout and fitted with a quick-release
The new wirelessly monitored

Enardo 2000 emergency pressurerelief vents (EPRVs; photo) provide
safety control by managing abnormally high storage-tank pressures in the oil-and-gas, chemical,
petrochemical and pharmaceutical
industries. Under normal operating conditions, an EPRV remains
CHEMICAL PROCESSING SOLUTIONS

Complete process control for every aspect of your chemical operation.
The Model 1049 Secure-Gard is a
pilot-operated vent valve intended
for installation on atmospheric and
low-pressure storage tanks, vapor
recovery systems, and process
systems.
The Model 1078 Vacu-Gard is a

pilot-operated valve, speciically
designed to reduce blanketing
gas losses on low-pressure
storage tanks.
The Model 521 is a sliding stem,

globe style, bellows sealed,
pneumatically actuated control valve
designed for maximum corrosion
resistance in pure chemical service.
For immediate access to our

product resource iles, visit
www.cashco.com/chem
www.cashco com
Innovative Solutions
Cashco, Inc. P.O. Box 6, Ellsworth, KS 67439-0006 Ph. (785) 472-4461, Fax: (785) 472-3539
AUGUST 2016
33
Sartorius Stedim Biotech
Voith Turbo
Pfeiffer Vacuum
closed. The immediate knowledge

of an open position can be vital and
should warrant quick investigation.
However, because these EPRVs are
located on top of storage tanks, they
are difficult to monitor. Site managers are increasingly looking for ways
to increase safety and efficiencies.
The new product design consists
of a proximity indicator and wireless
transmitter integrated with an EPRV.
The proximity indicator senses movement of the emergency vent. Open
or closed signals are received by the
wireless transmitter and can be sent
to a control room via a WirelessHART
gateway. Emerson Process Management, Austin, Tex.
www.emersonprocess.com
specifically for applications in the

low power range (up to 10 MW). The
Vorecon NX provides an increase in
efficiency of up to 8% in part load. In
the new series, an optimized torque
converter provides efficient speed
control, which uses only a small portion of the input power. Depending
on the speed required, this power
is fed back to the driveline by way
of the planetary gear on the driven
side. Adjustable pump blades in the
torque converter provide stepless
and wear-free control. Voith Turbo,
a Group Division of Voith GmbH,
Crailsheim, Germany
www.voith.com
This modular mini-bioreactor

system has scaleup potential
Operators of tanker and tank-container fleets now have access to a

new eco-friendly cleaning facility
in Krems an der Donau (in Lower
Austria). In June, this company
expanded its tank-interior cleaning center for all kinds of chemical
products and foodstuffs by opening a third cleaning bay. The facility is not only able to clean tankers
and tank containers, but also silo
vehicles and tipper trucks. The special features of the new cleaning bay
include automated cleaning for dispersions and synthetic resins by machine, where the water and cleaning
agents are recycled. This provides
major improvements to the interior
cleaning process and reduces water
consumption and manual cleaning
work. When removing any chemical residue with water pressure of
8 bars and a temperature of up to
90C, only certified, environmentally
friendly cleaning agents are used.
Imperial Chemical Transport GmbH,
Krems, Austria
www.imperial-international.com
Tank cleaning capacity

is expanded in Krems
The new ambr 250 modular system

(photo) is an innovative benchtop
mini bioreactor system for parallel fermentation or cell culture. This system
combines a unique single-use bioreactor vessel and expandable system
design to offer bioprocess scientists
access to advanced benchtop bioreactor technology for process development. The new ambr 250 modular
system consists of a workstation with
two, four, six or eight single-use bioreactors, with a working volume range
of 100 to 250 mL. These mini bioreactors, based on the same stirred-tank
bioreactors in the well-established
ambr 250 high-throughput system,
contain impellers suitable for fermentation or cell culture and demonstrate
excellent scaleup to larger bioreactors, says the company. They are
also fully integrated with liquid reservoirs and syringe pumps, allowing
rapid experimental setup and turnaround, significantly increasing lab efficiency. Sartorius Stedim Biotech,
Goettingen, Germany
A high-performance compact
www.sartorius.com
turbopump for ultra-high vacuum

A new variable-speed gear
for lower speed ranges
The Vorecon variable-speed planetary gear provides speed control
with maximum reliability and low lifecycle costs. With the new NX series
(photo), this company has now further developed the proven principle
34
The new HiPace 300 H turbopump

(photo) is said to be the highest compression turbopump in the pumping speed class of 300 L/s currently
on the market. With a compression
ratio of 107 for hydrogen, it is suitable for producing high and ultra-high
vacuum. The high compression ratio
AUGUST 2016
When you need BIG POWER,

total integration generates
bigger and better results.
No matter the business renery, utility, manufacturing or petrochemical if you are in an industry that
demands big power, youll want to check out the complete range of boiler systems from Cleaver-Brooks.
For more than 80 years, we have set the industry standard in the design and production of boiler systems
that continually maximize efciency and deliver uncompromising reliability and the lowest possible emissions.
Our total integration is that every component from gas inlet to stack outlet is designed, engineered and
manufactured by just one company.
To find your nearest representative,

visit cleaverbrooks.com or call 800.250.5883.
2016 Cleaver-Brooks, Inc.
Emefcy
Piab
generates a low residual gas spectrum in the chamber, which is desirable for mass spectroscopy applications. The vacuum pump comes in
a radiation-resistant version with external electronics as an option. With
its sophisticated rotor design, the
HiPace 300 H has a very high backing
pressure compatibility of 30 hPa. This
helps the pump achieve ultra-high
vacuum when operating with high
backing pressure in combination with
diaphragm pumps. The HiPace 300
H also has an integrated intermittent
operation function that switches on
a backing pump only when the backing pressure is no longer sufficient.
This lowers the energy consumption
of the entire vacuum system by up to
90%, says the company. Pfeiffer
Vacuum GmbH, Asslar, Germany
www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com
This mechanical discharge

system is very flexible
Gericke USA
The ADM type Kokeisl mechanical

discharge and dosing module is used
for discharging bulk material in any
amount desired from silos, containers and other vessels. From a few
grams to several tons of material,
discharge is realized accurately according to the scale resolution. The
machine can be used for local applications, such as dosing on a single
machine, as well as integrated into
highly automated bagging machines,
complex multi-component weighing
systems, or even complete container
systems. Due to its electropolished
surfaces and seals that conform to
FDA regulations, the Kokeisl is also
suitable for the pharmaceutical industry. The module is available in
three sizes with a maximum outlet
aperture diameter of 90, 150 or 200
mm. Zeppelin Systems GmbH,
Friedrichshafen, Germany
www.zeppelin-systems.com
Save energy with passive

aeration wastewater treatment
This companys flat-sheet Membrane
Aerated Biofilm Reactors (MABR;
photo) provide high-effluent wastewater-treatment solutions with 90%
less energy and 50% less sludge,
according to the manufacturer. The
MABR is a spirally wound air sleeve
submerged in a tank, to which waste36
water is fed continuously and effluent

is discharged by overflow. This passive aeration process saves energy
by eliminating the need to blow air.
The design is said to ensure robust,
efficient, durable, clog-free operation.
The MABR is suitable for small- to
medium-sized plants, providing quiet
and odorless wastewater treatment
solutions, while enabling the re-use of
wastewater for irrigation. Emefcy
Ltd., Caesarea Industrial Park, Israel
www.emefcy.com
A new filter range for

conveying systems
The new, ultra-fine secondary air-filter
range (photo) is designed for use with
this companys vacuum conveying
systems. Available as standard accessories, the sterile filters are of the
ultra-fine filtration class U15-17
or ultra-low penetration air (ULPA)
filters. The filtration efficiency is rated
at 99.9999%. The new filter units
offer greatly improved filtration performance when compared with the
high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)
filters that are often used in industry
settings. Designed to fit the capacity
of any compressed-air-driven vacuum
pump, the filters can be used in a
broad range of vacuum conveying applications. Piab AB, Tby, Sweden
www.piab.com
Total screen rotation simplifies

this mills inspection
MK-3 centrifugal mill sifters (photo)
include a new basket design that enables 360-deg screen rotation within
the machine, providing flexibility to
meet the demands of both quality
inspection and hygiene within the
food, chemical and pharmaceutical
industries. The mills design simplifies inspection by allowing a single
operator to conduct inspection from
one side of the sifter, while eliminating manual handling and the inherent
hygiene implications of removing the
screen on a regular basis for inspection. Standard machines include
bearings at both ends. In addition
to the traditional nylon screens, antistatic, perforated-plate and wedge
wire screens are available to suit
many applications. Gericke USA,
Inc., Somerset, N.J.
www.gerickeusa.com
AUGUST 2016
New models of metal-sealed

internal-gear pumps
Automated sample handling

for particle analysis data
This companys G Series of metalsealed internal-gear pumps has

been expanded to include models
in three new sizes (photo): 3, 4 and
6-in. The new models are available
in cast iron, carbon steel and stainless steel, and can deliver flowrates
up to 500 gpm. The pumps are offered with both packing and mechanical seal options. The pump
casing can be easily rotated for multiple liquid porting positions, making
these pumps very simple to install
into existing internal-gear pump applications, says the manufacturer. G
Series pumps also have an enlarged
bearing housing at the backside
of the pump that allows for convenient drive-end access to the shaft
seal and single-point end-clearance
adjustment. Providing a positive,
non-pulsating flow, G Series pumps
can operate equally in both directions. EnviroGear Pumps, Grand
Terrace, Calif.
www.envirogearpump.com
The FlowCam ALH automated liquid-handling system (photo) automatically processes up to 96 samples per run without requiring human
involvement or supervision. This
eliminates the potential for human
error in sample handling and pipetting, and ensures that data are accurate. Ideal for particle characterization and quality control in a variety
of liquid and dry particle-analysis applications, the FlowCam autosampler includes built-in mixing, heating
and cooling for sample conditioning,
control over evaporation and protection against sample degradation.
The FlowCam ALH liquid-handling
system is entirely self-contained on
a compact footprint in a protective
enclosure suitable for cleanrooms to
prevent contamination and outside
activities from disturbing the operation. Fluid Imaging Technologies,
Inc., Scarborough, Me.
www.fluidimaging.com
Mary Page Bailey and Gerald Ondrey
Fluid Imaging Technologies
EnviroGear Pumps
AUGUST 2016
37
Facts At Your Fingertips

Distillation Column Design Factors
Department Editor: Scott Jenkins
istillation is a critical separation

tool for many applications in
the chemical process industries (CPI), and the intelligent design of
a distillation column can have a large
impact on eventual process performance and efficiency. This reference
sheet outlines the design process for
distillation columns and defines several key design factors in this area.
are shown in Table 2. Column designers should use these ranges as

a guide to ensure that the appropriate column design and packing have
been selected.
Column design process
Best practices for factors
Distillation column design is best accomplished using process simulation software, such as Aspen HYSYS
or a similar program. Balancing the
key design factors shown in Table 1
starts by sizing the column for maximum superficial vapor velocity (vapor
factor Fs).
Once a working design is established, engineers should check the
ratio between flowrate (gallons-perminute; gpm) and column area (gpm/
ft2). The next step should be to ensure that flood ratio, weeping point,
reflux ratio, and efficiency ratios are
all within reasonable parameters.
For basic categories of column internals, the appropriate ratio ranges
For the flood ratios, the limit is 100%.

A good rule of thumb for new column
designs is to keep the limit closer to
85%. Turndown is a vapor-pressure
balancing act the objective is to
maintain appropriate vapor velocities
but also allow the ability to turndown
without having to worry about weeping or dumping, which can crash the
column outright.
Entrainment ratio relates to physically carrying liquid from one tray to
the one above it with vapor velocity.
This ratio should be minimized wherever possible. The higher the amount
of reflux in the column, the larger the
required column size, but the purer
the distillate will be.
TABLE 2.
Column internals style
Trays
Random/dumped packing
Structured packing
gpm/ft2
120
120
120
Fs
0.21.6
0.52
0.23.5
Efficiency
5080%
HETP 3040 in.
HETP 1230 in.
P (mmHg)
410 mmHg / Tray
0.71.5 mmHg / ft
0.20.5 mmHg / ft
Other factors not covered here,

such as feed location, exact packing
type, control scheme and so on will
affect the final design of the column.
Column design is the art of balancing these factors to achieve an optimized design that can be confidently
built and operated with long-term ren
turn on investment.
References
1. Terry Tolliver, retired senior fellow Solutia/Monsanto
2. Kister, H. Z., Distillation Design, McGraw-Hill, 1992.
3. Couper, J. R. and others, Chemical Process Equipment
Selection and Design, 2nd Ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam,
2004.
Editors note: The content for this edition of Facts at your
Fingertips was provided by EPIC Systems, Inc. (St. Louis,
Mo.; www.epicmodularprocess.com). If you have additional
questions or comments, please email Stephen Benbrook:
sbenbrook@epicsysinc.com
Disclaimer: Although the information and recommendations set forth herein are presented in good faith, EPIC
Systems, Inc. and its subsidiaries make no representations
or warranties as to the completeness or accuracy thereof.
No representations or warranties, either express or implied,
or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or of any
other nature are made hereunder.
TABLE 1. DISTILLATION COLUMN DESIGN FACTORS

Factor
Flood ratio
Jet flood
What does it measure?
When is it applied?
Accumulation of liquid in the column
To all packing types
Downcomer flood
Weeping point
Entrainment ratio
Low vapor flow allowing liquid to fall

through the vapor perforations
Entrained liquid carried by the vapor to
the tray above
Limits and formulas
Only applies to columns with trays
Design for 85% for new trays and

packing
Design for 85% for new trays
To all columns
Less than 50% is acceptable
To any column
Less than 10% is acceptable
Efficiency ratio
38
Separation efficiency, based on weeping

ratio, reflux ratio and vapor rate
Most useful for trayed columns
HETP
Height equivalent of a theoretical plate
Used for packed columns
Fs vapor
Value used to determine preliminary

column sizing
To all columns
Liquid ratio: gpm/ft2
Ratio used to find column area requirements and to determine initial equipment sizing
To all columns
Col. efficiency
There are many formulas that can be

applied here. In general, the relationship
should be visualized as:
Weeping
Entrainment
Vapor rate
HETP = (Height of packing) (Number

of theoretical plates)
Fs = Us v
v = Vapor density lb/ft3
Fs = Vapor F factor
Us = Vapor superficial velocity, ft/s
gal/min per ft2 =
(liquid gal/min) (column area)
where:
gpm = gallons per minute
area = ft2
AUGUST 2016
Technology Profile
Chlorine Production from NaCl (Chlor-Alkali)
By Intratec Solutions
hlorine is among the most important chemical commodities

it is used in the manufacture
of a multitude of end products (for example, plastics, solvents, pesticides,
pharmaceuticals, disinfection chemicals
and others), as well as in processes
that produce industrial chemicals via
organochlorine intermediates, such
as polycarbonates, silicones, polyurethanes and others.
The process
The following describes chlorine production by the electrolysis of aqueous
sodium chloride (brine) using a conventional membrane process (Figure 1).
Brine purification. Initially, recycled,
depleted brine is mixed with water and
re-saturated with fresh sodium chloride. Since other metal ions (such as
Ca2+ and Mg2+) present in the brine
would harm the membranes, the brine
is treated with precipitants, so that the
metals precipitate. The precipitated
solids form a sludge, which is removed
by settling in a clarifier. Subsequently,
the clarified solution is filtered and purified by ion-exchange resins to remove
residual hardness and achieve acceptable levels of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions.
Electrolysis. The ultrapure brine and
electricity are the main inputs for the
electrolysis section. The brine is fed
into the anolyte compartments (electrolyte near the anode) of the electrochemical cells. These are separated
from the catholyte by cation-exchange
membranes. Chlorine gas is generated at the anodes and sodium ions
migrate through the membranes into
the catholyte solution. The depleted
Sodium
chloride
Water
Precipitants
NaCl, electricity
Electrolysis
(membrane)
NaCl, electricity
Electrolysis
(diaphragm)
NaCl, electricity
Electrolysis
(mercury)
HCl, electricity
Oxidation
HCl, oxygen
Chlorine
n Raw material n Process n Main product
FIGURE 2. Several viable pathways exist for industrial chlorine production
brine from the anode compartments is

dechlorinated downstream and then
returned to the brine saturation step.
On the catholyte side, water is electrolyzed, generating H2 gas and hydroxyl (OH) ions. Membranes prevent
the migration of OH ions into the anolytes, in such a way that hydroxyl ions
combine with the sodium ions to form
caustic soda (NaOH). The addition of
demineralized water keeps the catholyte concentration at the desired level.
Product recovery. Hydrogen from
the electrolysis process is compressed for sale to consumers. The
caustic soda solution is concentrated
to a saturated 50 wt.% NaOH solution the traditional commercial form
of the material. The Cl2 gas produced
is sent to drying towers where concentrated sulfuric acid circulates as a
dehydrating agent. The dry Cl2 gas is
compressed and liquefied before being sent to storage.
Chlorine pathways
Most chlorine produced at commercial scale is based on electrolysis of
aqueous sodium chloride (chlor-alkali
process). Aside from the process described above, electrolytic production
of chlorine can be accomplished by
two other basic processes: diaphragm
cell and mercury cell processes. Fig-
ure 2 shows these electrochemical

processes and other pathways for
chlorine production.
Economic performance
The total capital investment estimated to be required to construct
a plant with a capacity of 500,000
metric tons per year of chlorine in
the U.S. is about $820 million (data
from the first quarter of 2014). The
capital investment includes fixed
capital, working capital and additional capital requirements. The production costs (raw materials, utilities,
fixed costs, corporate overhead and
depreciation costs) are about $500
per metric ton of chlorine produced
(credits from sales of hydrogen and
caustic soda co-products were not
taken into account).
This column is based on Chlorine
Production from Sodium Chloride
Cost Analysis, a report by Intratec.
It can be found at: www.intratec.us/
analysis/chlorine-production-cost. n
Edited by Scott Jenkins
Editors note: The content for this column is supplied by Intratec Solutions LLC (Houston; www.intratec.us) and edited
by Chemical Engineering. The analyses and models presented
are prepared on the basis of publicly available and nonconfidential information. The content represents the opinions
of Intratec only. More information about the methodology for
preparing analysis can be found, along with terms of use, at
www.intratec.us/che.
Demineralized
water
Hydrogen
Electrolysis
Chlorine
10
4
Residues
Water vapor
ST
Caustic soda
(50 wt.%)
8
ST
11
CW
12
6
RF
13
1. Brine saturation
2. Precipitation
3. Filtration
4. Ion exchange
5. Electrolysis
6. Dechlorination
7. H2 compression
8. NaOH evaporation
9. CI2 drying
10. CI2 liquefaction
11. Steam boiler
12. Cooling tower
13. Refrigeration unit
CW Cooling water
ST Steam
RF Refrigerant
FIGURE 1. The above diagram shows chlorine production by the electrolysis of aqueous sodium chloride via a conventional membrane process
AUGUST 2016
39
Microreactors:
Lessons Learned From

Industrial Applications
Implementing microreactors in chemical production is quite a challenge. How these challenges
can be met is described here
Raf Reintjens
and Andr de
Vries
DSM
Stick with the
Hold on!
t the heart of
herd!
a chemical
Get ahead of
process
is
No way!
the herd!
the reactor,
Chasm
where the conversion Try it!
valley of death
of reactants to products occurs. DependTechnology Visionaries
Pragmatists Conservatives Skeptics
ing on the need for
enthusiasts (early
(late majority) (laggards)
(early
PROCESS
(innovators) adopters)
majority)
efficiency
or
flexibility,
INTENSIFICATION AS AN
ENGINE FOR INNOVATION the chemical process
industries (CPI) opti Easy to convince
Difficult to convince
BASIC PRINCIPLES
mize their processing
Just being new
Must work properly
DYNAMICS OF
solutions towards FIGURE 1. The critical point in the adoption of a high-tech innovation is reached when the
INNOVATION
continuous,
world- early majority needs to be convinced of their adoption decision by proven feasibility (y-axis is
scale
plants
for
bulk percentage of adopters)
HURDLES TOWARDS
chemicals,
or
to
batch
operated, multi-prod- ences the same processing history.
INDUSTRIAL
uct
plants
for
complex
fine chemicals. The
By increasing the temperature, we could
APPLICATION
struggle to stay competitive and deliver high accelerate the rate of reaction and explore
AN APPROACH TO
quality product at low cost drives the indus- ever higher productivity levels. Of course,
CROSS THE CHASM
try towards the use of increasingly larger- the landscape of possible chemical pathMANUFACTURABILITY
scale reactors. This economy-of-scale prin- ways would still require delicate navigation
VERSUS PERFORMANCE ciple helps to lower the cost level, but also
to avoid unwanted consecutive or side reimposes serious limitations on mass- and actions and maintain sufficient chemical seDESIGN STRATEGIES
heat-transfer, often resulting in moderate lectivity. In the end, when we could design
THE IMPACT OF ADDITIVE space-time yield or productivity.
this ideal reactor that allows us to follow
MANUFACTURING
the optimal pathway, the limitation to the
productivity increase would come from the
CONCLUDING REMARKS PI as an engine for innovation
Process intensification (PI) takes a different chemistry itself rather than the capabilities
approach to optimizing reactions. When look- of the reactor.
The approach of PI towards improving cost
ing at the underlying fundamental physical
and chemical processes and fluxes that occur efficiency, boils down to maximizing the perduring a chemical conversion, we can define formance-to-cost ratio. The volumetric cost
an optimal pathway for the molecules [1, 2]. level of an intensified reactor may exceed that
The aim is to fulfill the needs of the reaction, of conventional reactors due to increased
in the sense of bringing reactant molecules complexity. But as long as the productivity
together in the right stoichiometry at the right gain is more than proportional, the net cost
time and extracting the released reaction per unit of production capacity will go down.
enthalpy in a perfect way to avoid overheating and selectivity loss. The virtual absence Basic principles
of concentration and temperature gradients, Over the past decades, the use of microcombined with near to ideal plug flow, would reactors in chemical synthesis became the
ensure that every product molecule experi- subject of many papers [3, 4]. Laboratory-
IN BRIEF
40
AUGUST 2016
Capacity
Reactor
volume
Pressure
drop
(1,000 ton/yr)
(L)
(bar)
110
~2
105 106
10
10100
~2
106 107
100
1001,000
~2
107 108
Setting
Standards
Number of
channels
FLUXUS F/G721
Channel: 100 m ID, 1 m length

Productivity 10,000 100,000 kg/m3h
FIGURE 2. Numbering up requires astronomically high numbers of parallel channels
scale experiments revealed high

heat- and mass-transfer capabilities, making it possible to control
very demanding chemistries [5, 6].
To run a reaction under kinetic control, the characteristic time for transfer must be much lower than the
characteristic time of the reaction.
This characteristic time for transfer scales with the square of the
transfer distance. Ten times shorter
distance results in a hundred times
faster transfer.
Nature already applied this basic
principle long ago when pulmonary
vesicles and capillary veins evolved
to enable the rise of multicellular
organisms. The drive for intensification of transfer capabilities in reactor engineering led to reinvention
of the conventional tube reactor.
Innovative manufacturing technologies made it possible to etch reaction channels in glass chips with diameters in the micrometer domain.
Although small in size, these microreactors provided the processing
conditions to reach a thousand-fold
increase in productivity.
Dynamics of innovation
Despite its widespread success in
the laboratory, there are just a few reported microreactor applications on
industrial scale. In our opinion, the
reason for this should not be attributed to the unwillingness of industry
to adopt to new technology, as is
often suggested. For a better understanding, we must take a closer look
at the dynamics of innovation and
the factors that influence it.
In the mid 1990s, Mokyr [7] presented a theory of technological
change (innovation) based upon
evolutionary principles. Technologies can be seen as species in a

habitat, they emerge, survive and
reproduce or become extinct. As
in biology, there are selective forces
at work through which technologies
compete with each other. The selection criteria come from success
in the market, such as favorable
economics, robustness, better satisfying the needs, or even fulfilling
unmet needs (niches). To earn their
foothold in the habitat and survive,
emerging technologies must outcompete conventional technologies. Take for example the hardware
revolutions in television sets when
color broadcasting or flat-panel
technologies
were
introduced.
Plasma displays came first on the
market, followed soon by liquidcrystal (LCD) and light-emitting-diode (LED) displays. Although more
expensive than cathode-ray-tube
(CRT) based technology, emerging devices got a foothold. Finally,
CRT and plasma lost this struggle
for survival, and LED-based screens
became the dominant species.
Further, Mokyrs theory differentiates between the technical knowhow and the expression of it into
the artifact (product). The expression is the ability to turn blueprints
into reality, which requires complementary factors, such as skilled
craftsmen, manufacturing technology and high-quality materials.
Lack of these complementary factors can cause an incubation period
between the moment the invention
was made and the start of commercial success. As an example, we
can look at the development of the
light bulb. The basic principle that a
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10-1
106
100
101
Productivity (kg/m3h)
105
102
Microreactor
104
CAPEX per
1 kg/h
capacity
(1,000 )
103
Loop reactor
102
Stirred-tank reactor
101
102
103
104
105
106
Cost per unit of reactor volume ( 1,000 /m3)
Moore [9] expanded the model by focusing on this critical point (chasm) in the
bell-curve between early adopters and early
majority (Figure 1). The most difficult step is
making this transition because the expectations of the adopters change. The early
majority is more pragmatic in their decision.
They need to be convinced by real benefits and performance. A lack of technology
readiness is not accepted. Both economic
and technical feasibility need to reach a satisfying level. In our opinion this is the true
reason for the reluctance to implement industrial microreactors.
Hurdles toward industrial application

FIGURE 3. Shown here are
benchmarking metrics for
industrial microreactors
FIGURE 4. This schematic

shows the secondary flow
phenomena that occurs perpendicular to the flow direction in a curved channel
flow of electric current can produce visible

light was found by Davy in 1802, but it took
another 75 years before Edison made it a
commercial success. Better vacuum-pump
technology and filament material needed to
be developed first.
Other useful insights can be found in the
diffusion-of-innovation theory of Rogers [8],
where the adoption of a new technology
is explained in a more behavioral context.
The rate of adoption into a community can
be described by the difference in behavior
between five categories of adopters. The
degree of adoption over time (since the invention was made) follows a bell-curve. In
the beginning, the adoption is driven by the
technology enthusiasts and visionaries who
are willing to take a risk, and motivated by
newness rather than robustness. Adoption rate is low and a lot of the prototyping
fails with the subsequent shake-out of the
start-up companies. The expression of the
technology can be hampered by missing
complementary factors. The inflated expectations are brought back to reality, and without further development, the actual adoption
can even be stalled.
A-A
Primary
flow
Dean vortices (secondary flow)

A-A
A-A
Chaotic in
time and
position
Steady
Increasing
curvature
velocity
42
A-A
Lets go back to the adoption of microreactor technology in the chemical industry. The
early success in the laboratory demonstrated
the potential of the technology and created
high expectations. The product of laboratory-scale experiments, however, is information, and for this we dont need volume. A
microliter-sized reactor can tell us about the
reaction kinetics and the achievable selectivity, or produce a few grams of substance for
a library. The microreactor may be a costly
prototype as long as the value of the information is satisfactory. Things change when
the product is mass, when tons of substance are required, when operation has to
meet plant and business requirements.
The first hurdle we perceived was that
of scaleup to a sufficiently large volume to
deliver the required production capacity. Although productivity in a microreactor can
reach up to 100,000 kg/m3h, the required
reactor volume is still substantial and a single
channel will not be sufficient. Astronomically
high numbers of parallel channels would be
required (Figure 2). Numbering-up is often
hailed as the solution with the added benefit of avoiding scaleup effects. In theory this
is true, but the practical implications on the
technical feasibility (manifolding) are enormous, let alone the impact on the economics of the reactor construction. This problem
poses a true dilemma. The performance of
a microreactor comes from its micrometersized channel dimension, and traditional
scaling-up would inevitably result in loss of
that performance, bringing us back to conventional tube reactors.
The second hurdle that we encountered
was the manufacturability and its impact on
the cost level. In the early 2000s, with the
technology still in its infancy, it was difficult to
find a technology provider who could solve
the numbering-up challenge on a technical
AUGUST 2016
level. Finding someone that could do

this at a cost level that wouldnt kill
the business case was even harder.
The manufacturing cost of an industrial microreactor is influenced by
many factors. The dominant factors
are choice of construction material,
intrinsic cost level of the required
manufacturing technology and complexity of the design. Its evident that
the selected construction material
should fulfil the need for corrosion or
solvent resistance, and provide satisfying heat conductivity along with
mechanical strength to withstand
process conditions. Metals and ceramics seem to present better properties and easier compatibility with a
plant environment in comparison to
glass and polymers. The choice of
construction material also impacts
the manufacturing process since it
limits the options; for example, its
difficult to weld a ceramic.
In the universe of manufacturing technologies, we predominantly
see microreactor channels being
shaped by removing material from
a large foil or plate. Sometimes this
process delivers multiple channels
in parallel (etching, punching) but
mostly the channel is made in a serial operation, one-by-one (machining, sandblasting). This leads to
high manufacturing cost and high
consumption of material per unit of
reactor volume, which is especially
important with expensive corrosionresistant materials. After the channel
shaping, the assembly of the reactor
often requires stacking of such 2-D
plates and bonding them tightly together (diffusion bonding, clamping)
to obtain the industrial microreactor. The most influential factor will be
the complexity of the reactor design,
which is a direct consequence of the
numbering-up strategy.
manufacturability would lead us to unfamiliar terrain. Open innovation with

strategic cooperation between knowhow providers, equipment suppliers
and industrial end-users was chosen
as the way forward.
We applied the principle of P.
Drucker If you cant measure it,
you cant improve it to direct our
efforts. We needed to benchmark
the solutions that equipment suppli-
ers offered amongst each other and

compare them to conventional stateof-the-art technologies. This was a
classic example of trying to compare
apples with oranges. Information
in publications was mostly useless
since the microreactor achievement
was compared with a suboptimal
conventional process.
We developed our own metrics
based on the ratio of the volumetric
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Crossing the chasm

In the mid 2000s, it became obvious that the technology readiness
level (TRL) was insufficient. Economic
feasibility could only be reached in
niches. The expression of the basic
principles into feasible industrial microreactors required complementary
developments. The challenge was
big and the necessity to improve the
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27584
AUGUST 2016
43
Diameter
Length
Numbering-up
Production
cost level of a reactor system and the attainable productivity, or volumetric production capacity. Of course the business case
is influenced by many more factors, but it
allowed us to benchmark the economic feasibility of reactor technologies that showed
a wide range in achievable productivity (kg/
m3h) and applied different technology principles. Assuming that license-to-operate and
safety requirements are met, the cost-to-performance ratio is reflected to a large extent in
the investment level to install a certain production capacity. Two technologies can have
a different background, but if they result in the
same cost-per-unit production capacity, they
are business-wise meaningful alternatives.
An exception should be made for the comparison of existing to emerging technologies.
Here, there should be an additional value
proposition to reward the risk thats taken
with the unproven technology. We admit that
this is a simplification of the reality, but it gives
a first estimate that allows convincing of decision makers in the business.
We set off to get real input data by executing pilot projects with suppliers that
were identified as capable to deliver a microreactor with at least 1 L of volume. With
a prototype, we investigated the achievable
productivity and tried to boost it to the maximum level. From the supplier quotation and
negotiations, we derived the achievable cost
level. Over time, we filled our database with
information about an increasing number of
suppliers, and kept it up to date by following
their developments.
The dots in the diagram shown in Figure 3
represent individual microreactor suppliers.
FIGURE 6. This schematic
The first striking thing is the relatively wide
illustrates selective laser melting (a), with a closeup of of the span in cost level of the microreactor technology. Probably this is typical for an emerging
laser and metal powder (b)
FIGURE 5. This diagram illustrates the design strategy for
industrial microreactors
Laser
Scanner system scanning
direction
Powder
delivery
system
Roller
Laser
Fabrication
powder bed
Object being
fabricated
Sintered powder
particles (brown
state)
(a)
(b)
Powder delivery piston
44
Fabrication piston
Pre-placed
Laser beam powder bed
(green state)
Laser
sintering
Unsintered material
in previous layers
technology where shake-out of uncompetitive

players has not yet occurred. Furthermore,
we believe this is caused by the broad choice
in construction materials (plastics, ceramics,
glass, metals) and the associated range of
manufacturing technologies.
We found that the majority of the microreactor suppliers are represented by the red dots
that are not delivering a better capacity cost
compared to conventional technologies. The
early start-ups founded by technology enthusiasts often lack basic manufacturing skills
and construction-material knowledge. This
translated into feasibility issues or relatively
high cost levels when they tried to develop
further toward industrial reactors. However,
they can be successful on the market for laboratory-scale microreactors. To our surprise,
most of microreactor suppliers that outcompeted the conventional technologies represented by the blue dots were not in the first
wave of start-ups. These suppliers were often
unaware that their skills and expertise could
bring feasible microreactors. They had a running business that generated the budget to
diversify, and they had expertise in manufacturing and the specific construction material.
In fact, they contributed the lacking complementary factors to express the basic technology principles. What they mostly lacked was
the expertise to apply the basic principles and
generate a high-performing reactor design.
It became clear that the way forward was
found in close cooperation with a select number of equipment suppliers, building on each
others competence, striving for designs that
bring higher productivity while lowering the
manufacturing challenges.
Manufacturability versus performance

The need for lower unit cost through easier manufacturability required wider channels. This need posed the fundamental dilemma that we needed to solve. How can
we achieve micrometer performance in a
channel with a millimeter-sized diameter?
In the laminar flow (Re <10) regime of the
conventional micrometer-sized channels, heat
and mass transfer relied on diffusion and conduction. This principle loses performance rapidly at millimeter-sized channels. On the other
hand, fully turbulent flow (Re >2,300) would
result in too high of a pressure drop per unit
of channel length. Secondary flow phenomena (Figure 4) in the transient domain between
laminar and turbulent offered a way out. When
fluid flows around a bend at sufficiently high
velocity [1012], it generates vorticies perpendicular to the direction of flow. The induced
AUGUST 2016
vorticity, on its turn, creates thin fluid lamella,

which shortens the transfer distance down to
micrometers as in the basic principles. The directional change or bend could be designed
in multiple ways, constant (spiral, for example)
or periodic (such as zigzag channels). A set of
geometric parameters influenced the secondary flow, and therefore needed to be optimized
[1317]. In the end, this led to a significant
performance increase of the channel [18, 19]).
This proved to be the key to solving our
dilemma. Of course there was a price to be
paid. The pressure drop increased, but at
much lower levels compared to fully turbulent
flow. Also, the volumetric heat-transfer area
decreased, but there were still several thousand square meters per cubic meter (m2/m3)
remaining. Overall, the heat-transfer performance remained at a sufficiently high level to
cope with the challenging chemistries.
Design strategy for industrial reactors

Technically, we should speak of millireactors
or flow reactors since we are no longer in the
micrometer domain. The design strategy had
the objective to maximize the performanceto-cost ratio by optimizing the design space
Forecast metal additive manufacturing costs [*/cm3]

-49%
3.1*
Direct
27%
-32%
1.6*
1.1*
Indirect
73%
41%
25%
59%
75%
Prerequisites
2013
2018
2023
Build speed
Machine costs
Share of monitoring
Machine utilization
Powder price
Post-processing effort
10 cm3/h
500,000
5%
86%
89/kg
1.52 h/kg
40 cm3/h
700,000
2%
84%
70/kg
1.05 h/kg
80 cm3/h
800,000
0%
81%
30/kg
0.96 h/kg
1. Direct manufacturing research center

Source: EPSRC; DMRC; expert interviews; Roland Berger [21]
given by manufacturability and performance FIGURE 7. A forecast for 3-D

parameters. Finding the optimum for a certain metal printing cost for stainless steel 316L is shown here
chemical conversion and desired capacity requires some iterations (Figure 5), as follows:
1. The hydraulic diameter is maximized to
the millimeter domain (0.55 mm), with the
upper limit determined by the required heat-
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transfer capacity and the overall

heat-transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
that can be obtained. For this purpose the diameter can be varied
over the length of the reactor to have
the highest heat-transfer capabilities
at the beginning of the channel.
2. The channel length is maximized
to several meters, and is limited
mainly by the maximum-allowed
pressure drop. The result is a relatively large channel volume that
requires less parallelization and is
easier to manufacture.
3. The channel geometry and crosssectional shape is chosen such
that secondary flow is generated
perpetually over the length of the
channel. Again, the curvature,
shape and frequency of bends
can be varied over the length to
position the most intense effect at
the beginning.
4. Multiple channels are combined in
a single module. Flow distribution
is achieved by passive control with
an internal manifold.
5. Multiple modules are combined to
reach the desired reactor volume.
Flow distribution is achieved by
passive control (external manifold)
or actively by flow controllers.
Such a modular design provided
flexibility and agility. Modules could
harbor different functionalities (mixing, heat transfer, residence time).
The modules acted as building
blocks and reduced the need for
custom design by facilitating simple
configuration. Furthermore, they allowed adoption of production capacity to growing market demands.
And their redundancy enhanced robustness because maintenance or a
problem could be taken care of by
replacement and offline repairs. In
2008, this design strategy was successfully demonstrated on an industrial scale in the production of an active pharmaceutical ingredient [20].
Additive manufacturing
In 2010, our search for game-changing manufacturing technologies
came across additive manufacturing, in particular 3-D metal printing.
Additive manufacturing, or 3-D
printing, is an innovative technology,
developed in the 1980s, that allowed
the construction of three-dimensional solid plastic objects based on

digital design files. In the late 1990s,
it became possible to print metals
as well. The process starts from a
digital design generated with computer-aided design (CAD) tools. The
3-D printer uses this design information sliced in 2-D layers to direct an
electron beam (EBM) or a powerful
laser (SLM) on a bed of fine atomized
metal powder (Figure 6). The atmosphere in the build chamber is inert
gas or vacuum to avoid oxidation
of the metal powder. At the point of
focus, the metal particles are fused
together. A full dense metal object is
built layer by layer by repeatedly lowering the build platform and depositing a fresh layer of metal powder. At
the end of the printing process, the
unused metal powder is removed
(recycled) and the printed object is
heat treated to relieve thermal stress.
Typical feature sizes are about 50
m. The final printed metal has almost the same mechanical properties as the original metal.
3-D metal printing is truly a disruptive manufacturing technology. It
changes the shaping of a channel
from removing material where we
dont want it to putting material were
we need it (channel wall).
Its main advantages are: almost
unlimited design freedom; low material consumption; rapid product development; and the ability to reduce
weight of engineered parts. This led
over the past years to exponential
growth in markets, such as medicaland dental implants, aerospace, aviation, automotive, tools and molds
making. Complexity comes almost
for free, and structures that were
impossible to produce with conventional techniques became possible.
Of course there are also disadvantages, such as relatively slow build
rates, high printer investment cost
and limited build size (about 60 cm
40 cm 50 cm).
But translated to the world of
microreactor manufacturing, the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages. The enormous freedom
in design allows one to design the
most intricate channel geometries,
thereby harnessing what the sec-
AUGUST 2016
PROCESS
PLANTS

n HYDROGENATION
n SPECIAL CHEMISTRY
n POLYMERS
n PHARMA, FOOD
COSMETICS
Your fast lane to production:

Contact USA
(201) 825 4684, usa@ekato.com
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www.ekato.com
47
FIGURE 8. These flow-reactor

modules were manufactured
by 3-D metal printing
ondary flow universe has to offer. So far, we

were able to develop 3-D printed microreactor modules with up to 600,000 kg/m3h productivity. At this level, a single liter of reactor
volume achieves close to 5,000-ton/yr production capacity.
With channel walls less than a millimeter
thick and capable to withstand hundreds
of bars internal pressure, the required consumption of construction material is extremely low. This feature allowed us to apply
very expensive corrosion-resistant metals,
such as tantalum (when needed), without
jeopardizing the economic feasibility.
The cost structure for 3-D printing is largely
determined by the high investment levels for
a printer and the relatively low building speed.
Fixed cost is therefore the main driver. Fired
by its success in the exponentially growing markets, technological development is
pushing firmly towards further reduction of
printing cost. Technology experts expect
that the cost for atomized metal powder
and printer investment will drop significantly
over the coming decade, as shown in Figure 7 [21]. Especially high-tech applications
with low consumption of construction material will benefit. 3-D printing of microreactors
(Figure 8) is such an application.
Concluding remarks
Process-intensification thinking led to
the invention of the microreactor. The early
success in the laboratory demonstrated
the potential of the technology and created high expectations. The expression of
that know-how into industrial microreactors
48
failed badly, not in the least by the

initially proposed numbering-up
approach. The vast number of required micrometer-sized channels
to come close to relevant production capacity led the industry into a
dead-end street.
The insight that not the diameter, but merely the distance between adjacent fluid lamellae in
the secondary flow needed to be
micrometer sized was the key to
unlock the stalled situation. Applying such secondary flow phenomena enabled high performance in
reactors with channel diameters in
the range of millimeters. The jump
in manufacturability led to economic feasibility for production of
high-value pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, the cost related to the
conventional manufacturing technologies withheld mainstream application in
chemical production.
With the arrival of 3-D metal printing in the
manufacturing arena, we are witnessing a further significant improvement of the feasibility.
We strongly believe that 3-D metal printing is
the disruptive manufacturing technology that
will push industrial microreactors across the
chasm and allow innovative chemical companies to develop feasible applications.
n
Edited by Gerald Ondrey
References
1. Freund, H. and Sundmacher, K., Towards a Methodology for the
Systematic Analysis and Design of Efficient Chemical Processes,
Chem. Eng. Process., Vol. 47 (12), pp. 2,0512,060, 2008.
2. Peshl, A., Freund, H. and Sundmacher, K., Methodology for the
Design of Optimal Chemical Reactors Based on the Concept of Elementary Process Functions, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 49 (21), pp.
10,53510,548, 2010.
3. Protasova, L. and others, Latest Highlights in Liquid-Phase Reactions for Organic Synthesis in Microreactors, Org. Process Res. Dev.,
Vol. 17, pp. 760791, 2013.
4. Gutmann, B., Cantillo, D., and Kappe, C.O., Continuous Flow Technology: A tool for safe manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Vol. 54, pp. 6,6886,729, 2015.
5. Hessel, V. and others, Novel Process Windows for Enabling, Speeding-up and Uplifting Chemistry, ChemSusChem, Vol. 6 (5), pp.
746789, 2013.
6. Yoshida, J., Flash Chemistry: Flow Microreactor Synthesis Based on
High-resolution Reaction Time Control, The Chemical Record, Vol.
10, pp. 332341, 2010.
7. Mokyr, J., Evolution and Technological Change: A New Metaphor for
Economic History, [ed.] R. Fox. Technological Change, R. Fox. ed.,
Harwood, London, pp. 6383, 1996.
8. Rogers, E., Diffusion of Innovations, 5th ed., Simon and Schuster,
New York, 2003.
9. Moore, G., Crossing the Chasm, Harper Business Essentials, New
York, 1991.
10. Dean, W.R., Note on the Motion of Fluid in a Curved Pipe, Philos.
Mag., Vol. 4, pp. 208223, 1927.
11. Kockmann, N., Kiefer, T., and Engeler, M., Convective Mixing and
AUGUST 2016
Chemical Reactions in Microchannels with High Flowrates, Sensors Authors

and Actuators B, Vol. 117, pp. 495508, 2006.
Raf Reintjens is competence manager pro12. Kockmann, N., Transport Phenomena in Micro Process Engineercess intensification (PI) at DSM Ahead R&D
ing, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2008.
B.V. (P.O.Box 18, 6160 MD Geleen, the Neth13. Mengeaud, V., Josserand, J., and Girault, H., Mixing Processes in a
erlands; Email: raf.reintjens@dsm.com). He
Zigzag Microchannel: Finite Element Simulations and Optical Study,
has been with DSM since 1984. During his
Analytical. Chem., Vol. 74, pp. 4,2794,286, 2002.
career, he has gained experience in process
development, business development, out14. Rosaguti, N., Fletcher, D. and Haynes, B., Laminar Flow and Heat
sourcing, plant operation, construction and
Transfer in a Periodic Serpentine Channel, Chem.Eng. & Techn., Vol.
startup, and competence management for in28, pp. 353361, 2005.
novative technologies. In his current role he is
15. Rosaguti, N., Fletcher, D., and Haynes, B., Laminar Flow and Heat
responsible for the identification of promising PI technologies, their
Transfer in a Periodic Serpentine Channel with Semi-circular Crossinternal expertise development and the transition towards applicasection, Int. J. of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 49, pp. 2,912 tion in DSMs business groups. Reintjens holds a M.S.Ch.Eng. from
2,923, 2006.
Eindhoven University.
16. Geyer, P., Fletcher, D., and Haynes, B., Laminar Flow and Heat TransAndr H.M. de Vries is program manager
fer in a Periodic Trapezoidal Channel with Semi-circular Cross-secPharma R&D projects at DSM Chemical Techtion, Int. J. of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 50, pp. 3,4713,480,
nology R&D B.V. (Urmonderbaan 22, 6167 RD
2007.
Geleen, the Netherlands; Phone: +31-46-4717. Anxionnaz, Z., tude de linfluence de la Gomtrie des Canaux sur
61573; Email; andre.vries-de@dsm.com). He
les Performances dun changeur/Racteur, Ph.D. Thesis, Institut
is also the business manager for Innosyn
National Polytechnique de Toulouse, 2009.
Route scouting services, an independent and
flexible process R&D service, especially for
18. Thron, F., and others, Characterization of the Performances of an
pharma applications, using DSMs innovative
Innovative Heat-exchanger/Reactor, Chem. Eng. and Processing:
technologies in the field of bio- and chemoProcess Intensification, Vol. 82, pp. 3041, August 2014.
catalysis and flow chemistry (for example, 3-D printed metal flow
19. Schwolow, S., and others, Kinetic and Scale-up Investigation of a reactors). Since joining DSM in 1998, he has held a number of posiMichael Addition in Microreactors, Organic Process R&D, Vol. 18
tions within the company, including competence manager homoge(11), pp. 1,5351,544, 2014.
neous catalysis. In this role he was responsible for the identification
of cost-effective catalysts and catalytic transformations, and the
20. Braune, S., and others, Selective Nitration in a Microreactor for
Pharma Production under GMP, Chemistry Today, Vol. 27, pp. smooth application of these into production processes for the fine
chemical industry. De Vries is a co-inventor of over 20 patent ap2629, JanuaryFebruary 2009.
plications. He is also co-author of over 40 papers in peer-reviewed
21. Online, www.rolandberger.de/media/pdf/roland_berger_additive_
journals. De Vries earned a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from
manufacturing_20131129.pdf, November 2013.
Mu?llerGmbH_ChemicalEngineering_e_86x123_2013.qxd:MllerGmbH_Che
the University of Groningen.
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AUGUST 2016
49
Feature Report
Managing SIS Process

Measurement Risk and Cost
With a focus on flowmeters, this article shows how advances in measurement
technologies help safety system designers reduce risk and cost in their safety
instrumented systems (SIS) design and lifecycle management
Craig McIntyre
and Nathan
Hedrick
Endress+Hauser
IN BRIEF
RISK SOURCES FOR SIS
MAINTAINING LOW
FAILURE RISK
EXTENDING PROOF-TEST
INTERVALS
TRACEABLE
CALIBRATION
VERIFICATION
REDUNDANT
REFERENCES
LIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT TOOLS
DETECTING PROBLEMS
CONCLUDING REMARKS
50
uccessful implementation and management of a safety instrumented

system (SIS) requires designers and
operators to address a range of
risks. First among these involves the specification of a proven measurement instrument,
such as a flowmeter (Figure 1), and its proper
installation for a given application, an undertaking that is fundamental to achieving the
initial targeted risk reduction.
Second is the definition of the support required to keep the flowmeter (or other measurement subsystem) available at that targeted level of risk reduction throughout the
life of the SIS equipment. The support for the
flowmeter must be defined in the design and
implementation phase.
Third involves following the recommendations found in the standard IEC 61511/
FIGURE 1. Flowmeters like the one shown here can play key
roles in reducing risks with safety instrumented systems
(SIS)
ISA 84 (International Electrotechnical Commission; Geneva, Switzerland; www.iec.ch

and International Society for Automation;
Research Triangle Park, N.C.; www.isa.org),
which provides good engineering practice
guidance for SIS development and management. The emerging IEC 61511 Edition 2 introduces some changes to these guidelines,
strengthening emphasis on the requirements
for end users to collect reliability data to
qualify or justify specifications and designs.
This article shows how to address those
risks and describes several tools, capabilities
and procedures that can be considered for
designing and managing a SIS installation in
flow-measurement applications.
AUGUST 2016
Risk sources for SIS
3.0E-02
2.5E-02
Probability of Failure on Demand
Under IEC 61511-ANSI/ISA 84, operators and SIS designers are required to qualify the appropriateness
of a SIS measurement subsystem to
be effective in addressing an application-specific safety instrumented
function (SIF). This not only includes
the initial design of the SIS itself, but
the qualification of the measurement
subsystem used in that service.
The capture and assessment of
data is used to qualify the use of
measurement instruments in SIS applications. Even after this qualification, operational data and management of change of these instruments
over their lifetimes in SIS applications
must still be captured and assessed.
SIS measurement subsystems
are typically exposed to challenging
process and environmental conditions, so they tend to contribute a
higher risk to the availability of the
SIS than safety controllers, which
are normally installed in a controlled
environment.
2.0E-02
1.5E-02
1.0E-02
Typical SIL capable coriolis flowmeter B - 160 FIT

SIL 2
5.0E-03
SIL 3
0.0E+00
0
7
8
Years
10
11
12
13
14
15
FIGURE 2. Flowmeters with a lower dangerous undetected ( du) FIT and in-situ testing capabilities may
allow extension of the interval time needed for proof tests
Maintaing low PFD and du

Risk of failure to perform an expected
function can come from probabilistic failure sources. For example, this
includes the collective probabilistic
failures of electronic components in
a transmitter. Required maintenance
and proof-test procedures must be
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51
National time
standard
International
mass
standard
Secondary
time
standard
National
mass
standard
Counter/
timer
Flow standard
(calibration rig)
Flowmeter
Reference
mass
FIGURE 3. The figure shows a traceability chain for a mass flowmeter
Risk of failure to perform an expected function can also come from

systematic failure sources. This
could include damage to a sensor while being tested, for example.
Systematic fault risk may be created
by properties of the process fluids,
operating conditions, build-up, corrosion or other factors. Periodic visual field inspections, calibrations
and maintenance that may need to
be conducted can introduce failure
risk. There is some measure of risk
from (and to) personnel who need to
follow written procedures to conduct
activities in the field and work with
instruments that may need to be removed, transported, repaired, tested
and reinstalled.
It has been stated by one of the
worlds largest chemical companies that 2% of every time we
have human intervention, we create a problem. Another leading
specialty chemical company conducted a study that concluded 4%
of all devices (instruments) that are
proof-tested get damaged during reinstallation. Reducing the need for
personnel to physically touch a measurement subsystem offers designers an avenue to reduce systematic
failure risk to a SIS.
IEC 61511 Edition 2 points to the
need to specify in the safety requirements specification (SRS) the methods and procedures required for testing SIS diagnostics. SRS clause 10
states some of the requirements for
proof-test procedures including
scope, duration, state of the tested
device, procedures used to test the
diagnostics, state of the process,
detection of common cause failures,
methods and prevention of errors.
Measurement subsystems from
several instrument suppliers are now
available with integral redundant selftesting diagnostics that can conduct
continuous availability monitoring.
This means a measurement subsystem may not only have high diagnos52
tic coverage, but also redundancy

meaning the testing functions are
redundant and continuously checking each other. This redundancy provides a number of benefits for the
lifecycle management of instruments
used in a SIS.
Extending proof-test intervals

Periodic proof-testing of the SIS
and its measurement subsystems
is required to confirm the continued operation of the required SIF,
and to reduce the probability of
dangerous undetected failures that
are not covered by diagnostics. A
proof-test procedure for a flowmeter or other measurement devices
often requires removal of the instrument and its wiring, transportation
to a testing facility, and reinstallation
afterward. In some cases, modern
instrumentation may provide the capability to conduct proof testing insitu, thus eliminating the removal of
equipment and risk of wiring, instrument or equipment damage.
Safety Integrity Level (SIL)-capable measurement subsystems
typically have hardware and software assessments conducted during their development to determine
failure mode effects and diagnostic
analysis and to manage change
processes according to IEC 615082, 3. The du and proof-test coverage values, among other safety
parameters, are provided in a safety
function manual and described in a
certificate. Lower du values give
system designers greater freedom
when setting measurement subsystem proof-test intervals, because
these intervals contribute a lower
increase in PFD over time.

For example, some Coriolis flowmeters have du values in the
range of 150 to 178 failure in time
(FIT, where 1 FIT= 1 failure in a billion hours). Others, such as two-wire
Coriolis flowmeters, have du values in the 73 to 89 FIT range. Vortex
flowmeters with du in the 70 to 87
range are also available. If all other
factors were equal, a measurement
subsystem with half the FIT value
could allow a doubling of the prooftest interval time (Figure 2).
Some measurement subsystems
offer the capability to remotely invoke
in-situ proof testing with a high degree of proof-test coverage to reduce
the PFD subsystem contribution.
Given that external visual inspections are sufficient for at least some
proof-test events, these measurement instruments might be prooftested in-situ without the need to
remove the instrument from service.
Data from these proof-tests can
be transmitted via 420-mA HART
connections from the instrument to
and through some safety control
systems to a digital network, such
as Ethernet/IP, where these data
can be captured. In short, the prooftesting event can be invoked, and
related data can be captured, managed and reported through safety
control systems supporting these
capabilities.
In-situ proof testing can create
documented evidence that diagnostic checks have been carried out,
and thereby fulfill the requirements
for documentation of proof-testing,
in accordance with IEC 61511-1,
Section 16.3.3b, Documentation
of proof testing and inspections.
When in-situ proof testing can be
engineered into an SIS design, cost
may be reduced compared to the
expense of periodically removing
the instrument from service to perform testing.
Flowmeter
True
mass flow
Sensor
Sensing
element
Transmitter
AV
Transducer
Analog- AV
to-digital
converter
Signal
processing
AV
Data
display
Measured
mass flow
(measurand)
AV1 auxiliary variable
FIGURE 4. The diagram illustrates the relationship among the various subsystem elements of a flowmeter
AUGUST 2016
AV1
[mA]
Measurement error [%]
Maximum permissible error (MPE)
AV2
[mV]
AV3
[Hz]
Tolerance interval
Flow [kg/h]
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 5. All measurements results from a particular instrument need to be within the band between the
measuring error of the instrument and the maximum permissible error for the verification to be considered positive (AV = auxiliary variable)
Traceable calibration verification

Measurement subsystem proof-test
procedures often require calibration verification of the measuring instrument. As operators seek to set
proof-test intervals, they also need
to set associated intervals for calibration verification.
Verification and documentation
to prove that the SIS subsystem
calibration is acceptable normally
requires removal of the subsystem.
This exposes the instrument to dam-
age during removal, transport and

reinstallation. There is also a risk introduced for unrealized damage or
the introduction of an error due to
process shutdowns, which are often
required when an instrument is removed from service.
The measurement subsystem
may need to be calibrated or verified with traceability to an international standard. If an organization is ISO 9001:2008-certified,
it needs to address Clause 7.6a
(Control of monitoring and measuring devices), which states: Where

necessary to ensure valid results,
measuring equipment shallbe
calibrated or verified at specified
intervals, or prior to use, against
measurement standards traceable
to international or national measurement standards.
Some measurement instruments
provide certified integral and redundant references that have been
calibrated via accredited and traceable means, and can thus have their
measurement calibration verified insitu. This eliminates sources of risk
and cost associated with removing
instruments from service, while still
meeting ISO 9001:2008 Clause
7.6a requirements.
Redundant references
Appointed with the task of coordinating the realization, improvement and
comparability of worldwide measurement systems, the International
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53
Safety controller/
logic solver
Flowmeter
subsystem
Lifecycle management/
data
Hart communication
Namur NE107
4-20mAdc LOOP
Device Lifecycle
management
Namur NE43
Ethernet/IP
Serial number F
Serial number F
Field device
management
Serial number F
FIGURE 6. Cloud- or enterprise network-based lifecycle management tools can provide support documentation for specific instruments
(Svres, France; www.bipm.org) defines traceability as the property of a

measurement result to be related to
a reference through a documented
unbroken chain of calibrations, each
contributing to the measurement uncertainty. Figure 3 shows a traceability chain for a flowmeter.
The term measurement result
can be used in two different ways to
describe the metrological features of
a measuring instrument:
1. Measurand (Process Value): Out-
put signal representing the value of

the primary process variable being
measured (that is, mass flow).
2. Auxiliary variable: Signal(s) coming
either from the instruments sensor
(transducer) or a certain element of
the transmitter, such as an analogto-digital (A/D) converter, amplifier, signal processing unit and so
on. This variable is often used to
transmit current, voltage, time, frequency, pulse and other information.
Current ranges for signal of digital transmitters
Failure information
Failure information
Measurement information
A
mA
3.6 4
20
3.8
21
20.5
Current ranges for signal identification in process control systems
Measurement information
A:=0
A:=1
A:=0
A:=1
mA
3.6 4
3.8
20
21
20.5
A =Alarm state (i0,1); M=measurement (analog mA value)
FIGURE 7. NAMUR NE43 recommendations for 420-mA d.c. transmitters (top) and process control systems (bottom) address the risk of mixing different vendor-specific current range signal levels
54
Figure 4 illustrates the basic concept and the relation among subsystem elements in a flowmeter.
During the lifecycle of any instrument, it is important to monitor measurement performance on a regular
basis (ISO 9001:2008 Chapter 7.6.a),
especially if the measurements from
the instrument can significantly impact process quality.
For example, in Figure 4, the process value is defined as mass flow,
and a traceable flow calibration system can be used to perform a proof
test. Typically, the outcome of this
test is seen in calibration certificates
as a graph depicting the relative
measuring error of the instrument
and the maximum permissible error
band. All of the measurement results
are expected to be enclosed within
this band for the verification to be
considered positive (Figure 5a).
A second approach (Figure 5b)
consists of assessing the functionality of an instrument by looking at
one or more elements that can significantly impact the process value.
In this case, verification can assist in
assessing the instruments functionality by observing the response of
the process variable and the auxiliary
variables. The auxiliary variables are
compared to specific reference values to make sure they are within a
tolerance interval established by the
manufacturer.
Typically, proof testing requires
the flowmeter to be removed from
the process line and examined with
specific equipment, such as a mobile
calibration rig or a verification unit.
This rig or unit needs to be maintained and calibrated by qualified
personnel, thus introducing a costly
and time-consuming procedure.
The process has to be shut down to
perform testing, often resulting in a
loss of production. If removal and reinstallation of the flowmeter are carried out in a hazardous area, safety
issues can arise.
Modern instruments, such as
mass flowmeters, typically have insitu proof testing built into the devices. While many instrument vendors have similar solutions, there are
significant differences in how they
work. In the cases where flowmeter
AUGUST 2016
Status signal
Color
Symbol
Normal; valid output signal
Maintenance required; still

valid output signal
Out of specification; signal out

of the specified range
Function check; temporary

non-valid output signal
Failure; non-valid output signal

FIGURE 8. Five standard status states are specified by the NAMUR NE 107 recommendation
hardware and its associated software can conduct in-situ testing, the
approach is often different as well.
For example, the authors company
embeds the verification functionality
in the device electronics of the flowmeter, so removal of the flowmeter is
not required.
A key requirement for this type of
verification method is high reliability.
The internal references used to verify
the auxiliary variables must remain
stable and avoid drift during the
service life of the instrument. And if
drift does occur, it must be detected

immediately. The stability of the references can be addressed with durable and high-quality components.
Potential drift can be detected by the
use of an additional, redundant reference, so that each can cross-check
with the other. If one or both references drift out of tolerance, these
cross-checks can trigger an alarm.
Redundancy of the references is
achieved differently depending upon
the measurement technology:
Electromagnetic flowmeters use
voltage references because the
primary signal generated by the
sensor is a voltage induced by the
conductive fluid passing through a
magnetic field
Coriolis, vortex, and ultrasonic
flowmeters use frequency generators (digital clocks) as references
because the primary signals are
measured either by a time period
(the phase-shift in a mass flowmeter or the time-of-flight differential
in an ultrasonic flowmeter), or by
the frequency of an oscillation

(such as the rate of capacitance
swings by the differential switched
capacitor sensor in vortex flowmeters)
In flowmeter models where redundant references are in place,
observing both references drifting simultaneously in the same manner is
very unlikely. On an installed base of
100,000 flowmeters, such an event
is anticipated to occur just once
every 148 years. Put another way, a
device with a typical lifecycle of 20
years would have only a 0.007%
probability of experiencing such a
drift during its life.
Independent, third-party verification of a particular redundant-references approach can be obtained by
organizations such as TV Rheinland AG (Cologne, Germany; www.
tuv.com), and verification reports
thus obtained can satisfy the need to
document the approach.
In practice, a verification report
from an independent, third-party or-
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Koch-Glitsch has developed a line of liquid distributors specifically for very
low liquid rate applications. When combined with high performance
FLEXIPAC and INTALOX structured packings, these distributors can help
optimize separations in many demanding distillation services.
Minimize liquid entrainment
Maximize usable packing surface area
Flows as low as 0.03 gpm/ft2 [70 liters/h/m2]
Baffle design helps wet every sheet in the structured packing
Secondary troughs act as flow multipliers to enhance the spreading of the liquid
Decrease in number of distribution points results in larger, more fouling resistant orifices
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AUGUST 2016
55
ganization constitutes the front end

of an unbroken, documented chain
of traceability. Since the internal references remain valid over the lifetime
of the instrument, their own factory
calibration, performed in accredited
facilities and documented, is the next
link in this chain.
In addition, a traceable calibration
of the instrument ensures that the
integrity of the device has not deteriorated during assembly or handling in the plant. Calibration of the
equipment used for calibration in the
factory can then be traced back to
national standards.
In-situ verification is therefore compliant with international standards for
traceable verification.
Lifecycle management tools

ISA 84 and IEC 61511 in particular, edition 2 clause 11 of the IEC
document require end users to
collect reliability data to qualify or
justify specification and design data.
According to these documents, data
quality and sources:
Shall be credible, traceable, documented and justified
Shall be based on the field feedback existing on similar devices
used in similar operating
environments
Can use engineering judgment to
assess missing reliability data or
evaluate the impact on reliability
data collected in a different operating environment
Collecting reliability data for SIS
is costly, but lifecycle management
tools are available to reduce the risk
and required time for some of these
activities. Several vendors offer lifecycle management tools that can
work externally or through the safety
system environment. They can also
capture lifecycle events, such as
systematic and probabilistic failures.
If anomalies are detected, SIS components can be repaired or replaced.
The right configurations can then be
uploaded, reducing required time
and risk of errors.
Field device management tools
can work externally or through the
safety system environment to invoke
subsystem proof-testing and calibration verification, and to capture
56
lifecycle events, such as systematic

and probabilistic failures in the measurement subsystems. Subsystems
can be repaired and replaced, and
then the correct configurations can
be uploaded, reducing time and risk
of errors.
At least one field device management tool follows the Field Device
Tool (FDT) standard from the FDT
Group (Jodoigne, Belgium; www.
fdtgroup.org), which provides a unified structure for accessing measurement subsystem parameters,
configuring and operating them, and
diagnosing problems. A logic solver
with HART I/O and HART passthrough management capabilities
can allow such a tool to work with
the measurement subsystem to invoke in-situ proof testing and traceable calibration verification.
Some field-device-management
tools can be used with device lifecycle management tools to aid in subsystem-related data support access
and capture. These tools can also be
integrated with overall lifecycle-management tools.
Several instrument suppliers provide, populate and maintain a realtime Cloud- or enterprise-based
device lifecycle-management tool
connection for individual device-specific support documentation, certificates, history, changes and calibration information.
For example, Figure 6 illustrates
one possible configuration. In this
case, information flows between a
flowmeter subsystem through a logic
solver (safety controller) to a fielddevice-management tool and device
lifecycle-management software in
the Cloud or on a local server.
In this example, the flowmeter
and logic solver both use NAMUR
NE 43-recommended current loop
signal settings to reduce systematic
risk from mixing the different vendorspecific current loop signal levels.
Also, the flowmeter and logic solver
both use standard HART Communication commands including the
NAMUR NE 107 recommendation,
which provides five clear actionable
subsystem status indicators.
In the case of the authors employer, the FDT communicates
though the logic solver with the flowmeter via 420-mA HART to monitor the device, to invoke in situ proof
testing and calibration functions,
and to diagnose problems. The
field-device-management tool communicates via Ethernet/IP to a lifecycle management server installed
within the users network or the
Cloud, where all flowmeter data are
stored in accordance with ISA and
IEC standards. The flowmeter data
are synchronized and maintained
from the flowmeter along with all associated data via its serial numbers.
The goal of this kind of field-device-management software is to enable plant operators to design a system that provides the following:
Device power and wiring condition monitoring through the logic
solver or safety controller
Device primary current loop/secondary HART communication and
status management through the
logic solver
Device repair/replace management through the logic solver
Device proof testing management
through the logic solver
Device traceable verification of
calibration management through
the logic solver
Capture and management of device proof testing, calibration, and
other lifecycle data that may reduce risk and cost in SIS designs
and lifecycle management
Detecting problems
A typical SIL-capable instrument,
such as a flowmeter, connects to
the logic solver or safety controller
via 420-mA or 420-mA HART.
These signals are also used to indicate problems.
Current signals per NAMUR NE 43
recommendations (Figure 7) convey
measurement and failure information
from the flowmeter to the safety controller via the 420-mA loop. Most
every instrumentation and control
system supplier offers options to
support this standard. Essentially,
any flowmeter and logic solver that
follows the NAMUR NE 43 recommendation uses 420 mA for the
measurement, and signals of less
than 3.6 mA or greater than 20.5
AUGUST 2016
mA to indicate failures. The benefit

of following this practice is reducing
the risk of mixing different instrument
vendor-specific signal level variations
with different safety controller signal level settings something that
could happen during a repair or replacement event.
Figure 8 shows the five standard status states specified by the
NAMUR NE 107 recommendation.
The NE 107 recommendation is now
implemented within many HARTenabled devices for standard status communication. Under NE 107,
problems are identified as normal,
failure, out-of-specification, maintenance required and function check.
The purpose of NE 107 is to alert
systems and operations personnel in
an actionable way if a problem exists. When the logic controller sees
a NE 107 status indication change,
it notifies the operator. Field-devicemanagement tools can be used to
provide additional diagnostic data to
help identify specific problems.
Concluding remarks
Authors
Implementation of a SIS requires

process risk protection to a targeted
minimum while maintaining design
and lifecycle costs at a reasonable
level. Intelligent instruments and lifecycle management tools can help
process plant personnel reduce risks
and costs associated with a SIS system. They can also aid in capturing
reliability data.
Instrumentation suppliers who
serial-number their components are
able to provide operators a realtime
Cloud- or enterprise-based connection between the measurement device
in the field and serial number-based
support documentation, certificates,
history, changes and calibration information. These data are maintained
by the supplier for the user. Additional
user data can be captured, including
service history. This can help reduce
the time required to obtain needed information, as well as reduce the risk
of using the wrong information.
n
Edited by Scott Jenkins
Nathan Hedrick is the flow product marketing manager at

Endress+Hauser (2350 Endress
Place, Greenwood, IN. 46143;
Phone: 1-888-363-7377; Email:
nathan.hedrick@us.endress.
com). Hedrick has more than six
years of experience consulting on
process automation. He graduated
from the Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology in 2009 with a B.S.Ch.E. He began his career with Endress+Hauser in 2009 as a technical support engineer. In 2014, Hedrick became the technical
support team manager for flow, where he was responsible for managing the technical support team covering
the flow product line. He has recently taken on his current position.
Craig McIntyre is the chemical
industry
manager
with
Endress+Hauser (same address
as above; Phone: 1-888-3637377; Email: craig.mcintyre@
us.endress.com). McIntyre has
held several positions with
Endress+Hauser over the past 17
years. They include level product
manager, communications product manager and business development manager. Prior
to joining E+H, he was director of marketing for an Emerson Electric subsidiary. McIntyre holds a B.S. degree
in physics from Greenville College and an MBA from the
Keller Graduate School of Management.
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AUGUST 2016
57
Engineering Practice
The Benefits Of Two-Stage Drying
Circular fluidized-bed dryers can boost the capacity, energy efficiency and product
quality when used in conjunction with other primary dryers
James Schak and Sunny Nwadinma
Kason Corp.
wo-stage drying provides

benefits from the standpoints of cost, energy savings, efficiency and product
quality. This is especially the case
when a circular, vibrating fluidizedbed dryer is employed as the auxiliary dryer positioned downstream of
a spray dryer, or upstream or downstream of a rectangular fluidizedbed dryer, rotary dryer, belt dryer or
other drying equipment.
Typical applications for two-stage
drying include food products, such
as flavors, yeast, starches, proteins,
milk products and carbohydrates;
organic products; agricultural chemicals; cellulose; fertilizers and other
heat-sensitive products. In the milk
industry, most spray dryers available
today are two-stage dryers incorporating a fluidized bed dryer.
Spray dryer with 2nd stage

The most common application
for adding a second-stage dryer
is with a single-stage spray dryer.
Spray drying is relatively expensive
in terms of capital investment, operational costs, installation and construction. Not only can a two-stage
dryer reduce costs, but often can
produce a lower heat history and a
higher quality product.
In Figure 1, a two-stage spray
dryer with a circular fluidized bed
as the second stage reduces the
evaporative load from the more expensive and less energy-efficient
spray dryer. The spray dryer dries
the product to approximately 10
wt.% moisture (depending on the
product), after which the circular
fluidized-bed processor completes
the drying and cooling.
Vibratory motion of the circular
fluidized-bed dryer causes the material fed into the center of the fluidized bed chamber to flow outward
58
FIGURE 1. A two-stage spray

dryer, with a fluidized bed as
the second stage, reduces
the evaporative load from the
spray dryer
Wet pumpable feed
First-stage
spray dryer
(SD)
Air exhaust to cyclones

(can also be exhausted
to the top of the spray
dryer)
Fluidized bed
exhaust into SD
chamber
Second-stage
fluidized bed
Steam control
valve 50 psig
30o F H20/glycol
Dehumidifying
coil
Dry and cooled

powder
Main air filter
Condensate
Prefilter
to the discharge. Unlike static fluidized beds that rely on complete fluidization, the vibrating fluidized bed
can handle a wide range of particle
sizes, densities and shapes without rat-holing or excessive elutriation. The airflow can be adjusted to
maximize drying efficiency without
worrying about the degree of fluidization. Continuous vertical, uniform airflow maintains consistent
product moisture and temperature.
Total drying time extended

Figure 2 shows how the secondstage fluidized bed optimizes the
drying process as a longer drying

time reduces the heat history. The
longer retention time in the fluidized bed dryer provides the extended time needed in the final drying stage (falling rate drying zone).
In a spray dryer, retention time is
typically around 25 seconds, while
in a fluidized bed, 5 to 10 minutes
is not uncommon.
Spray dryers and fluidized bed
dryers are both considered air suspension dryers wherein particles
remain in contact with the air 100%
of the time. Longer retention time
in the fluidized bed permits lower
TABLE 1. OPERATING ADVANTAGES OF TWO-STAGE DRYING

Feed moisture: 70%
Product moistures: 10% between stages and 5% final
Example
1
One-stage air temperature, F
500230
900280
300170
Two-stage spray dryer air temperature, F
300145
500300
900245
Product gain, %
26
21
17
Heat saving, %
24
18
13
AUGUST 2016
45
Single-stage spray dryers
(retention time in seconds)
40
Fluidized bed dryers

(Retention time in minutes)
35
25
20
Warm up
Moisture content, %
30
15
Constant
rate
Falling
rate
10
5
0
Time
FIGURE 2. This typical drying curve helps to illustrate how a second-stage dryer can optimize the drying
process
operating air temperatures, making

drying more energy efficient than
with spray drying alone, while reducing overall heat history.
Operating advantages
Table 1 shows the operating advantages of two-stage drying. The
inefficiency of a direct dryer (that
uses air to dry) is seen in the hot air
exhausted. By reducing the temperature of the air exhausted or the
amount of air consumed, energy
consumption will be reduced. At
the same time, a lower spray-dryer
outlet temperature will increase the
temperature difference (T) and thus
increase the evaporation capacity.
For Example 1, as mentioned in
Table 1, the intermediate temperaInternal (circular fluidized beds):
Wet feed is distributed (seeded to start)
Good localized mixing gives consistent
blended moisture
Once-through design versus multiple passes
with external backmix
Deeper bed in center
Vibrator can be adjusted for plug flow or
backmix direction
ture of a two-stage dryer is 25 degrees lower than that of the single

stage alone (170145F) starting
with a spray-dryer inlet-air temperature of 300F. The energy savings of
the two-stage drying is 24%, while
the productivity increase is 26%.
At higher temperatures, as represented by Examples 2 and 3 in the
table, the results are less dramatic,
but still substantial.
Although the energy savings and
productivity gains justify the cost of
a second stage, so can the quality improvements, depending on
the material being dried. Whereas
a spray-dried product is greatly affected by the spray dryers outlet
air temperature due to evaporative
cooling, the lower outlet air temperaExternal (rectangular fluidized bed):
Hot dry product is discharged into a conveying system
back into a paddle mixer that blends the sloppy feed
with the dry product
Some product may be redried more than once
increasing the heat history
Rectangular, vibrating fluidized bed requires external
backmixing for too-wet feeds
Shallow bed in inlet section
Conveys in one direction
Wet feed
Recycled dry
powder
Wet feed
Backmixer
Conveys in one direction
Dry powder
Semi-dried material
blends with wet feed
Dry powder
FIGURE 3. Some products may need re-drying and multiple back mixing passes, but internal back mixing, inherent in circular fluidized beds, accomplishes drying with minimal heat history to the product
AUGUST 2016
ture of a second-stage fluidized bed

results in a lower heat history of the
product. A second cooling section
can be added to the fluidized bed
stage to further cushion heat sensitive products.
A spray dryer with an added circular fluidized bed will gain the following advantages:
Lower heat history and higher
quality product
Increased capacity
Higher energy efficiency
Less buildup of material
Handle stickier products
Controlled particle size
Larger window of operation
Lower cost
Can add an agglomeration step
More uniform drying of larger,
difficult-to-dry,
agglomerated
particles
Additional advantages of a twostage spray and fluidized-bed dryer
combination include the following:
1. Direct top or bottom spray agglomeration capability in the circular fluidized-bed dryer
2. Dry larger particles via fines recirculation over the nozzle atomizer during spray agglomeration
3. Small footprint and plant space
when using circular, instead of
horizontal, fluidized bed as the
second stage
4. Fluidized bed exhaust is recirculated into the spray dryer, gaining energy efficiency
5. Wider window of operation with
cleaner spray-dryer chamber
because of larger discharge port
to the fluidized bed
A caveat is that two-stage drying
may not be effective if the product
undergoes a sticky stage or encounters flow issues at higher intermediate moisture levels.
Internal vs. external backmixing

The circular fluidized-bed dryers
internal backmixing, once-through
design, as described in Figure 3, allows for a larger window of operation
for difficult-to-handle feed materials.
Other types of dryers use external
backmixing, where some material
may be re-dried more than once, increasing the heat history.
The circular vibrating fluidizedbed dryer, with internal backmixing, thus can handle a wetter feed
than most other dryers. Internal
59
dryer, a circular fluidized-bed dryer

can be added to pre-condition and
pre-dry the material, greatly reducing moisture fluctuations that cause
product buildup.
A pre- or post-dryer can also accomplish the following:
1. Increase capacity
2. Convert the cooling section of
the dryer to a dryer zone and
add cooling with a circular fluidized bed
3. Recirculate exhaust air to another stage for better energy
efficiency
4. Add an agglomeration step to
the circular fluidized bed, for example, spray liquid into the powdered material to form agglomerates as the material is fluidized
and dried
Predryer
Rotary Dryer
Or post
dryer
Or
Belt dryer
Or
Or
Rectangular fluidized bed

Or
FIGURE 4. A circular fluidized-bed dryer can

also function as a pre-dryer upstream or postdryer downstream of an existing dryer
Post dryer
New dryer designs
backmixing has been used successfully with deep-bed, static

fluidized beds for many years. It
has been further advanced with
the circular vibrating fluidized-bed
dryer, because internal backmixing
allows handling of finer, non-freeflowing materials without requiring
complete fluidization. The benefits
of internal backmixing versus external backmixing are less heat
history, less hardware, lower cost
and smaller footprint.
Moist air to
baghouse
Pre- or post-dryer
A circular fluidized-bed dryer can
also function as a pre-dryer and
pre-conditioner upstream or as a
post-dryer and cooler downstream
of an existing rectangular fluidizedbed dryer, rotary dryer, belt, flash
or other dryer (Figure 4). Product
buildup in the feed zone of these
dryers can occur due to moisture
fluctuations, lumps, stickiness,
degradation and contaminants.
Rather than replace the primary
Feed
Heated or cooled
Inlet air-2
fluidized bed plate
Moist air to baghouse

Exhaust air
fluidized bed plate

Product
(dry & cool)
Inlet air-1
Heated or cooled
FIGURE 5. A new dryer design includes two separate air inlets and allows for drying and cooling in
one unit
60
New designs include a patent-pending one for vibrating circular fluidized

beds as shown in Figure 5, which
allows two separate stages for heat
transfer. That is, drying and cooling,
or drying and drying, or cooling and
cooling, at different temperatures.
The unit has two separate fresh air
supplies each with its own temperature controls.
n
Edited by Dorothy Lozowski
Authors
James Schak is product manager of fluidized-bed processing
equipment for Kason Corp. (6771 East Willow St., Millburn, NJ
07041; Phone: 973-467-8140;
Email: jschak@kason.com). He
has 30-plus years of experience
with direct and indirect dryers
ranging from process engineering and design to teaching and
marketing, and previously was Chem Systems national
sales manager for GEA Niro. Schak also teaches a
Drying Technology course for the University of Wisconsin. He holds a B.S.Ch.E. from New Jersey Institute of
Technology.
Sunny Nwadinma is an applications engineer with Kason Corp.
(same address and phone as
above; Email: snwadinma@
kason.com). He covers product
lines of circular fluidized-bed dryers, coolers and moisturizers, circular vibratory and centrifugal
screeners, and static sieve
screeners. He was previously laboratory manager. He studied engineering technology at
Essex Community College and studied mechanical engineering and science at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He holds certificates from the Dale Carnegie
course on fluidized-bed technology from University of
Wisconsin, and the Effective Facilitator Course offered
by the Leadership Strategies institute.
AUGUST 2016
Thursday, September 15, 2016 | The Warwick Rittenhouse Square | Philadelphia
BULK SOLIDS HANDLING WORKSHOP

Best Practices for Challenges, Safety & Solutions
Preliminary Agenda
A Keynote address by Herman Purutyan, CEO of Jenike and Johanson will kick off the workshop and the following sessions will follow:
Bulk Solids Characterization
The design of successful bulk handling installations starts with an understanding of the properties of the materials involved. This lecture
covers the proper sampling of bulk materials and the measurement of the three key parameters for flowability analysis cohesive
strength, bulk density, and wall friction. Flowability measurements for product quality control are also reviewed, as are the two most
common particle size measurement techniques laser diffraction and sieve analysis.
Presenter: Timothy A. Bell, P.E., Engineering Fellow and Group Technology Leader, DuPont Engineering Research and Technology
Flow of Solids
The field of bulk material handling is quite complex. Bulk solids theory has unique terminology, scientific flow principles that are not the
same as fluid or gas flow behaviors, and often are not taught to engineers at the university level. Personnel responsible for designing,
fabricating, installing, and operating bulk material handling equipment are often unaware of the complex flow behaviors that can occur
with bulk solids. Dr. Orlando will be covering the basics of Bulk Solids Handling while discussing Common Flow Problems, Material Testing,
Design Considerations and Design Tools to solve your solids flow issues.
Presenter: Andrs Orlando, Ph.D., Project Engineer, Jenike & Johanson
Combustible Dust Safety
Many powders will burn slowly or with difficulty as a layer on a surface, but can explode if dispersed as a cloud. In fact, the vast majority
of powders can form explosible dust clouds if the particle size is small, moisture content is low, and the dust cloud concentration
(measured in g/m3) is above the Minimum Explosible Concentration (MEC). This presentation will discuss a well-tried approach to identify,
assess, and eliminate/control dust explosion hazards in facilities. This presentation will also include the Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA)
requirements of the New National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 652: Standard on Fundamentals of Combustible Dusts.
Presenter: Vahid Ebadat, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, Chilworth Technology
Feeders and Rotary Valves
Virtually all solids handling systems require the metering of solids from one part of the process to the next, often with precise rate control,
and sometimes across gas pressure differentials. This lecture covers most common feeding devices, with a particular emphasis on screw
feeders used in loss-in-weight applications. Applications of rotary valves as feeders and as air locks will also be discussed, as will the role
of rotary valve leakage in pneumatic conveying operations.
Presenter: Timothy A. Bell
Pneumatic Conveying
Although many pneumatic conveying equipment advances have been made, costly problems including wear, attrition, rate limitation and
line plugging continue to occur. Brian will cover the basic components of pneumatic conveying systems, as well as discussing the basic
troubleshooting of systems to identify issues in your lines.
Presenter: Brian Pittenger, Senior Consultant, Jenike & Johanson
Register today at chemengonline.com/bulksolids.com

28088
Environmental Manager
Air-Pollution Control: Assessing the Options
Compliance with air-pollution regulations requires ongoing effort. Follow these
recommendations to assess competing options and optimize system design while
minimizing cost and risk
Tom McGowan
Thomas F. McGowan
TMTS Associates, Inc.
he goal of air-pollution control

(APC) is to limit the amount
of pollutants entering the
environment. These include
particulate matter (PM), acid gases,
greenhouse gases, organic vapors
such as hazardous air pollutants
(HAPs), volatile organic compounds
(VOCs), non-condensed gases
(NCGs), aerosols, dioxins, oxides of
nitrogen (NOx), metals and others.
This article focuses on pollution from
combustion sources, but the equipment discussed here can be applied
to other applications, as well.
It has been said that a good engineer can build for a dime what any
fool can build for a dollar. The same
can be said for savvy plant managers. Smart chemical process industries (CPI) firms do their homework
before installing air-pollution control
systems [1]. They consider process
changes (such as switching to the
production of low-VOC coatings),
plant-siting considerations (for instance, avoiding non-attainment
areas, or those with complex terrain
that may require tall stacks), and better capture systems (to reduce the
volume of fume to be treated) before
making a final decision on hardware.
Nonetheless, other choices must be
made such as choosing a wet or
dry system, and tradeoffs between
cost of power versus capital to
optimize the final systems design.
FIGURE 1. This wood-fired boiler furnace with a pneumatic spreader stoker shows lots of wood particles
and burning embers above the grates
cle density and the nature of the upstream process and feedstock. The
smaller the particle, the more easily it is carried by the fluegas, even
at relatively low gas velocity. As the
gas velocity increases, larger particles can be carried by the fluegas
stream, and the number of particles
of all sizes that can be carried increases (Figure 1).
U.S. federal and state regulations related to particulate matter vary with the process and
the scale of the equipment. In
the U.S., historic state and federal particulate limits (for example,
the Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act, or RCRA) were typically 0.08 grains/dscf (180 mg/
dscm). By comparison, newer limits
are generally at or below 0.02 grains/
dscf (45 mg/dscm). This requires
better, more-expensive controls, and
better design, operation and maintenance strategies. Coal- and woodfired boilers [2], and cement kilns are
some examples of applications with
high particulate levels upstream of
the APC systems.
Dry-particle-removal
systems.
When it comes to removing dry particulate matter from fluegas streams,
Tom McGowan
Removal of particulate matter

Particle loading in the fluegas from
any industrial process is measured
in grains/dry std. ft3 (grains/dscf) or
mg/dry std. m3 (mg/dscm) or mg/
normal m3. The particle loading in
the gas will vary widely depending
upon a number of factors, including
the gas velocity, particle size, parti62
FIGURE 2. The image at left shows two baghouses installed in parallel. On the right, the cage is inserted
into filter bags, and pulse-jet pipes provide blowback to clean the dust off the filter
AUGUST 2016
Bionomic Industries
Verantis Ceilcote
Charging section
Packing
Venturi throat
Inlet
Acid gas absorber
FIGURE 3. Shown here is a venturi scrubber and

slinger tank/acid gas absorber with an internal
mist-elimination system
FIGURE 4. In this two-stage ionizing wet scrubber, particles are charged, then removed on grounded
plates and on packing; a periodic wash flushes and cleans the plates and packing
the options include cyclones, fabric

filters (Figure 2), and electrostatic
precipitators (ESPs). If acid gases
are present in the fluegas stream,
these devices must be insulated
to keep their shells above the acid
dewpoint. The American Society of
Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and
other sources publish charts, graphs
and calculators to determine SO2
and HCl dewpoints. If the wall temperatures of these pollution-control
systems fall below the acid dewpoint
temperature, acid vapors may condense on the metal surface and this
will result in high rates of corrosion.
Wet-particle-removal and vaporremoval systems. When unwanted
pollutants must be removed from the
fluegas stream, the options include
wet cyclones, venturis (Figure 3), wet
electrostatic precipitators (WESP),
and ionizing wet scrubbers (IWS;
Figure 4). With regard to particulate
emissions, venturis (Figure 3) tend
to have limited ability to remove fine
particles, and they experience exponentially higher pressure drops when
forced to remove particulate matter.
In recent years, with tighter U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
limits, the use of venturis as a standalone particulate-removal device has
fallen out of favor.
Due to more stringent and complex regulations for multiple pollutants, different APC systems are fre-
quently used in series. For instance,

a venturi scrubber may be used to
remove particulate matter, followed
by a packed tower to remove acid
gases, followed by a mist-elimination system to reduce droplets in the
stack (Figure 3).
The wet-versus-dry decision is far
from clear cut. Some industries tend
to use dry systems (for example,
the ESPs used in coal-fired power
plants), while others prefer wet systems, such as an ionizing wet scrubber (Figure 4). Preferences change
over time with more-stringent regu-
lations. Disposal options for the removed particulate matter (that is,
the resulting dry dust, wet sludge, or
stabilized mixture that is formed during treatment) is another major factor in decision making. Cement kilns
are an example, where baghouses
are used to capture cement kiln dust
(CKD), which is a salable product,
while a wet capture system would
form unsaleable (and system-fouling)
cement solids.
For dry ESPs, the resistivity of
the collected flyash is an issue, and
changing the coal feed source can
Verantis Ceilcote
100.00%
99.00%
IWS
Removal/efficiency
98.00%
97.00%
Baghouse
96.00%
95.00%
ESP
94.00%
0.0
1.0
Particle size, microns
2.0
FIGURE 5. In this graph of particle size versus removal efficiency, three of the most commonly used APC
devices experience a decline in collection efficiency as the particle size of the pollutants falls. This phenomenon is least pronounced for the ionizing wet scrubber (IWS)
AUGUST 2016
63
Tom McGowan
change the resistivity and associated

particulate-removal efficiency. Dust
with high resistivity can be held too
strongly to the grounded ESP plates,
while low-resistivity dust may become re-entrained in the gas stream.
By comparison, an IWS is immune to
the effects of flyash resistivity.
Each of the devices mentioned
here has its own characteristic operating curve. Figure 5 provides a
comparison for an IWS, baghouse
and dry ESP. Note that the collection efficiency for all of these devices
begins to fall off for smaller particles,
with the IWS having the least-rapid
decay of its efficiency curve. IWS are
frequently used in series with two or
three in a row, in part, to maintain
removal efficiency during their required periodic wash cycle; in this
scenario, a downstream unit operates while the upstream unit is being
washed down.
FIGURE 6. Fouling of spray nozzle by lime solids

requires periodic changeout or chemical treatment
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Acid-gas removal
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64
Combustion systems, chemical

process operations, metals-recovery systems and incinerators produce acid gases, such as HCl and
SO2. Acid-gas removal can be accomplished using either a wet or
dry system.
Wet systems. The wet system generally has a higher removal efficiency
and uses more nearly stoichiometric
amounts of a basic (alkaline) reagent
compared to the dry system. In general, wet systems use a basic material such as lime or NaOH (caustic)
to neutralize and remove the acid.
For wet systems, blowdown must
be handled (generally limited to 5%
total dissolved and suspended solids), and operators should note that
publicly owned treatment works
(POTWs) and sewers may have limits on the salt content and temperature of accepted discharge streams.
Fouling of spray nozzles is to be
expected over time (Figure 6). Good
design allows for nozzles to be pulled
from the outside of the unit for easier
maintenance. It is a good practice
to bench-test nozzles both new
and after cleaning with water, to
make sure the spray pattern is what
is expected. Use of small amounts
of sequestering agents, like hexametaphosphate for lime fouling, can
significantly reduce nozzle plugging. In some CPI applications, an
acid gas (such as HCl) can be captured during fluegas treatment, and
then concentrated and reused in
the process.
Dry systems. Dry systems typically
AUGUST 2016
FuelTech
Reagent
injectors for
SNCR NOx
control
FIGURE 7. CFD modeling results are shown here

for a large-scale boiler NOx-control application
using a SNCR system. The colors are coded to
show velocity. The green-yellow streams show
the zones of NH3 regent injection and mixing with
fluegas
rely on one of two approaches

they inject powered lime or sodiumbased reagents upstream of dry
fabric filters or ESPs, or they spray
a lime slurry into the spray-drying
tower. These reagents adsorb and
react with acid gases, removing
them from the fluegas in the form of
solid particles.
While not an acid gas, CO2 produces greenhouse gas issues. For
each pound of carbon burned in a
CPI process, 3.67 lb of CO2 is released. Using engineering principles
to maximize fuel economy, maintain insulation, and carry out regular
steam-trap maintenance can help to
reduce the CO2 burden. While EPA
has put forth limits on utility power
plants, in the CPI, CO2 emissions are
driven principally by longterm corporate goals rather than regulations.
Much has been said about CO2
capture. However, this is a costly undertaking. And, parasitic power loss
for associated utility operations has
been estimated to be in the range
of 30% for amine-based systems
including the cost of CO2 compression, and some consider burning
30% more fuel to capture CO2 a
questionable practice.
NOx control
EPA requires control of NOx, as
NOx reacts with organic vapors in
the presence of sunlight to produce
ground-level ozone. The low-cost
way to limit NOx is to do so upCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
stream in the combustion process,

for instance, via low-NOx burners,
and low-oxygen firing systems [3].
This article focuses on the downstream or end-of-pipe methods that
are most widely used.
The NOx levels resulting from any
combustion operation are a function of a number of factors, including flame geometry, oxygen level,
mixing, temperature, time and nitrogen level in the fuel. All conventional combustion systems produce
prompt NOx, and thermal NOx.
In addition, fuel NOx is created
when the fuel contains nitrogen.
Some processes, such as cement and lime kilns, preheat air in
the range of 2,000F and operate
at very high temperatures. NOx levels of 2,000 ppm are not unusual.
Normal NOx levels from standard
burners (for instance, those used in
packaged boilers) are in the range
of 100200 ppm. So-called lowNOx burners typically produce less
than 50 ppm of NOx, with ultra-lowNOx burners producing NOx at levels below 25 ppm. When preparing
a permit application, use U.S. EPA
AP-42 estimates [4] or conservative
vendor quotes for NOx levels.
Fluegas recirculation is a popular
NOx-reduction method for packaged
boilers, both new and retrofit. With
such a system, low-oxygen fluegas
is injected into the burner along with
fresh combustion air. When carried
out properly, there is little change in
efficiency and boiler output. However, it takes more sophisticated
controls to maintain sufficient oxygen levels to ensure combustion
while reducing overall oxygen levels with this system to minimize
NOx formation.
Post-combustion control options
to reduce NOx emissions consist of
selective catalytic reduction (SCR)
and selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), both of which involve
the injection of a chemical reagent
(ammonia or urea) into the fluegas
stream. SCR processes typically
operate at lower operating temperatures, ranging from 450 to 700F.
By comparison, SNCR processes
operate at higher temperatures
(just downstream from the furnace),
ranging from 1,600 to 2,100F. SCR
systems are more efficient in NOx removal than SNCR systems, but have
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much higher capital costs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling (Figure 7) is frequently done for
SNCR systems, to help users to optimize injection points, enhance mixing and estimate NOx-removal efficiency. In general, CFD is not used
as frequently for modeling SCRs, because such systems use a chamber
to house the catalyst and the catalyst pressure drop helps to even out
fluegas flow.
VOC control
The primary non-transportation
sources of VOC emissions are chemical process operations (such as reactions); storage and transfer (such
as pumping and working losses and
tank-breathing losses); manufacturing (solvents); and surface coating
(spray painting and dipping).
Three primary control technologies
are used for VOC: thermal oxidation;
adsorption via activated carbon or
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66
zeolites (or both); and condensation.

Biofilters can also be used in some
applications. Choosing the right
control for each application involves
knowing the following:
Vent flowrate and concentration of
VOC in the fume stream
Chemical properties of the fume
and oxygen content (especially
the presence of chlorine or sulfur,
as this produces acid gases when
oxidized)
The nature of the process (continuous, cyclical or variable)
The ability to use waste heat generated by the control device
State and federal regulations
The control system includes the
hoods, ductwork, fans and controls
needed to capture and deliver the
VOCs to the control device, such
as a refrigerated condenser unit, an
activated-carbon adsorption unit,
or more usually, a thermal oxidizer.
Thermal oxidation devices convert
VOCs to carbon dioxide and water
vapor. The most widely used types
of thermal oxidizers, in order of decreasing VOC concentration, are the
following [5, 6]:
Flare (Figure 8)
Direct-fired oxidizer
Recuperative oxidizer
Catalytic recuperative oxidizer
Regenerative thermal oxidizer
(RTO) with hot-gas bypass
RTO with 95% heat recuperation
(Figure 9)
Catalytic RTO
Space does not allow addressing
every detail that must be considered
in choosing the right oxidizer, but
some considerations are presented:
Flares are limited to gases above
the lower explosion limit (LEL), but
a fume can be boosted with natural gas if its heating value is marginal or variable
An enclosed elevated flare, or elevated flare, has no test ports,
and is not subject to VOC-control
stack testing
Direct thermal oxidizers can handle high particulate-matter loading, while recuperative, RTOs,
catalytic and recuperative catalytic
types do not fare well with it
RTOs subject to cold-face
buildup on the heat-exchange
media from blue haze (aerosol
liquids) from wood dryers and
carryover from spray-paint coat-
AUGUST 2016
TABLE 1. CONTROL DEVICE PRESSURE DROP

APC Device
Direct thermal oxidizer
Regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO)
Venturi scrubber
Acid gas absorber
Coalescing mist eliminator
Baghouse fabric filter
Dry electrostatic precipitator (ESP)
IWS
Emission
Organic vapors
Organic vapors
Particulate matter
Acid gases
Submicron liquid aerosols
Particulate matter
Particulate matter
Particulate matter
Pressure drop
1 in. water column (w.c.)
15 in. w.c.
1080 in. w.c.
26 in. w.c.
10 in. w.c.
48 in. w.c.
1 in. w.c. per stage
1 in. w.c. per stage
TABLE 2. POLLUTION CONTROL SYSTEM POWER AND ELECTRICAL COST

Device
Venturi
Venturi
Baghouse
Pressure
Drop, in. w.c.
10 in.
60 in.
7 in.
Particulate
loading, gr/dscf
<0.08
<0.02
<0.02
Motor
horsepower
75
400
50
Annual electrical cost*

$43,000
$230,000
$ 30,000
*Based on $0.10/kWh x 8760 h/yr x 90% onstream x 0.746 kWh/hp
ings require a periodic bake out

cycle to keep them clean; otherwise they may cause plugging
or overheat when the buildup
eventually catches fire
Three-chamber RTOs (or rotaryvalve RTOs, or those with puff
chambers) should be considered
for odor-control applications, to
prevent the release of untreated
gases during the small intervals

when valves change the direction
of gas flow
Flashback-prevention
devices
(such as seal pots, flame arrestors and others) are required for
some applications
Capturing VOCs is an issue, and
EPA requires capture tests for some
sources, to make sure that fugitive
emissions do not exceed limits. Capture tests can be eliminated if a permanent total enclosure (PTE) is used
to prevent VOC losses in a manufacturing environment. For tank farms,
conservation vents reduce losses to
the ductwork system [7].
Condensing systems return the
vapor back into a usable liquid; however, they only work on vent streams
with relatively high concentrations
(for instance, 50 vol.% VOC). Carbon and zeolite adsorbers capture
the VOCs temporarily, then release
them when the adsorbent is heated
with steam or hot air. Some of these
systems can concentrate the material sufficiently for recovery while others send the concentrated vapors to
thermal oxidizers.
Mercury and dioxins

Mercury and air toxics (MATS) regulations have impacted coal boilers
in a big way. The usual approach
to managing mercury is to inject
powdered activated carbon (PAC)
upstream of fabric filters and ESPs.
AUGUST 2016
67
John Zink
Durr Environmental
Independent burners
Clean
process air
Purge air
Heat
exchange
media
Solvent-laden process air
FIGURE 9. This three-chamber RTO, with 95%

heat recuperation, has the ability to capture and
treat fumes when the valve change over occurs to
reverse the direction of flow
FIGURE 8. Shown here (above left and top) is a

small, elevated enclosed flare that operates in a
smokeless, air- assisted type
ters for PM removal, combined with

urea or ammonia injection for NOx
control and 1-in. thick catalytically
treated filter walls. Temperatures of
400F are preferred for dry-reagent
injection for SO2 removal (Figure 10).
Yet another firm sells filter bags with
a coating that removes dioxins. Activated carbon can be added for mercury and dioxin removal.
Auxiliary systems
PAC producers have made major

expansions over the past five years
to keep up with demand. PAC is effective at temperatures up to 350F.
Higher than that, heat desorbs the
mercury. Typical carbon-injection
rates are 2 to 5 lb/million acf (actual
cubic foot) of stack gas, varying with
the amount of mercury in the coal
and type of particulate filter.
Wet scrubbers can be used to
remove elemental mercury if they
are equipped with cooling towers
to reduce stack exit temperatures
to the required level. Meanwhile,
dioxins are formed from organic
chlorine in the feedstock, and even
inorganic chlorine forms some HCl
and Cl2 in high-temperature combustion processes. The solution
here is twofold keep baghouse
or ESP temperatures below 450F
to limit de novo formation from
the chlorine in the stack gas, and
use PAC or catalyst-coated filters to
remove it.
Fans and blowers. These components are of prime importance because they move both the air into a
combustor and the fluegas or process vent streams out of it. Combustion air is supplied by either a
forced-draft fan, an induced-draft
fan or both.
Fans may be driven by electric
motors or in large sizes, steam turbines. The speed of the fan may be
variable or fixed. Fixed-speed fans
and blowers control air flow via a

mechanical damper on the inlet to
the fan, while variable-speed systems control air flow by changing
the shaft speed. Variable-speed
drives (VFDs) are popular, due to
decreased power costs when compared to damper flow control. Gas
temperature, fan alloy, resistance to
corrosion, and sound level must be
figured into the fan specifications.
Power required for the induced
draft (ID) fan is equal to flow times
pressure drop. In most applications,
the flowrate of fume is fixed, however, pressure drop and power
consumption varies widely with
the control device. Table 1 provides
some typical pressure drop values.
As can be seen, venturis are not a
good choice at high pressure drops,
and even then, may struggle to remove very fine particles.
Mist and aerosol eliminators.
PM and NOx with reagent
Tri-Mer
High temp for PM removal
Particulate
captured
on filter
surface
Nano-catalysts embedded
in the walls of the filter
PM does not
penetrate walls
of the filter
Airflow
Ceramic filter tubes in the

ultratemp filtration system
for hot gas filtration
Small ultratemp module
incorporating new
ceramic filter tubes
Airflow
NOx and ammonia react with

catalyst to destroy NOx
Control of PM, SO2, NOx in one system

Sorbent
Urea/
injection
for SO2/HCI ammonia
injection for
control
NOx control
Ceramic filters with embedded

catalyst for NOx and dioxin
control, PM capture
Multi-pollutant control
While individual APC components
can be placed in series to get the job
done, single units with multiple capabilities also exist. An example are fil68
FIGURE 10. This example of an all-in-one, multi-pollutant-removal system uses reagent injection and
catalytic bag filters
AUGUST 2016
Gas leaving a wet scrubber or a

condenser will contain mist and
fog droplets. A mist-elimination
unit or entrainment separator is
used to remove them. Such devices typically use a wire or plastic mesh pad, or a series of baffle
plates, which intercept the mist
and allow them to coalesce into
larger droplets, which then drain
from the system.
Removal of very small aerosol
droplets (less than 1-micron size),
such as SO3/H2SO4, require the
use of coalescing mist-eliminator
candles or mats made of a thick,
dense packing, and this often results
in correspondingly higher pressure
drops and power requirements. An
IWS can also remove submicron
liquid aerosols and reduce stack
opacity. Some states require (and
some operating companies prefer)
to have a clear stack (for example,
a high-tech chip maker operating in
the middle of a city). Wet scrubbers
typically produce a white steam
plume, and this can be eliminated
by adding a heat exchanger or

stack burner. Finally, in addition to
the front half catch of hard, dry
particulate matter in the front of an
EPA test train, some permits require
measurement of the back half
catch of condensable liquids. Unfortunately, these include pseudo
particulates that do not exist in the
stack but rather are formed in the
cooled test train impingers. The author has had success working out
this issue with regulators when the
failure was due to pseudo not
real condensables.
Stacks. Predicted ground-level pollutant concentrations per dispersion
models can be high and unacceptable if there is downwash due to
nearby structures. Hence, we suggest stacks be at least 75 ft tall.
Per codes, at a bare minimum, they
must be 10 ft above nearby equipment and roof tops; this is to protect
personnel and air intakes. Even if the
current permit is not subject to dispersion, it may be subject to it in the
future. Downdrafts can also trigger
complaints from nearby neighbors

by bringing emissions to ground
level.
For testing, it is important to design in two test ports at 90 deg to
each other, each with a minimum
3-in. dia., with stack clips to aid
stack testers in their test work, with
a minimum of 2 diameters upstream
and a half diameter downstream
of unobstructed straight run. Freestanding stacks, installed without
the use of guywires, are preferred, in
terms of test crew access and general site safety.
Energy efficiency and cost

Total APC costs include costs related to capital expenditures, operating costs, maintenance costs
and compliance-related expenses.
Costing of actual systems is beyond
the scope of this article; however, it
is worth discussing energy use and
power costs via the example discussed next. A process produces
a stack gas volume of 35,000 actual ft3/min (acfm) at 60F. The ex-
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69
isting APC system utilizes a venturi

scrubber with 10in. w.c. pressure
drop to limit particulate-matter emissions to 0.08 grains/dry std. ft3 (gr/
dscf). The fan that drives the system
is equipped with a 75-hp motor. A
higher particulate matter emissionremoval efficiency is now required to
limit emissions to 0.02 gr/dscf. Two
options can be considered: Downsize the venturi throat and increase
the pressure drop on the venturi system to 60in. w.c. to improve particulate removal, or replace the venturi
with a baghouse filter. Table 2 shows
the power required for the current
system, as well as the two options.
In this example, it is clear that the
baghouse has significant power savings compared to the high-pressure
drop venturi. The same would be the
case for an IWS, should a wet system be desired.
What might have been the right
choice years ago a low-pressure drop venturi is now the
wrong choice, based on lowered
particulate limits and energy cost
70
for applications with high loading

of fine particles. With proper bag
selection and maintenance, many
baghouses are capable of limiting stack emissions to 0.010.02
gr/dscf range, allowing for tighter
regulations and for reduced total
annual emissions.
Closing thoughts
When selecting new APC or upgrading old, look first at your regulatory
limits, then factor in the characteristics of the fume, and all the pollutants that must be controlled. Then
select candidate systems, and estimate capital and operating costs
before making your final, welln
informed choice.
Edited by Suzanne Shelley
References
1. McGowan, Thomas F., D. Coughlin, B. Axon, T.
Wechsler and J. Santoleri, VOC Emission Controls
for the CPI, Chem. Eng., February 2007.
2. McGowan, T., Chief Editor, Biomass and Alternate Fuels Systems: An Engineering and Economic
Guide, AIChE/John Wiley & Sons, 2009, ISBN: 9780-470-41028-8. Associate Editors Brown, M., Bulpitt, W., and Walsh Jr.
3. McGowan, Thomas F., Charting a Path for Costeffective NOx Control, Chem. Eng., October, 2004.
4. U.S. EPA AP-42, Emission Factors; by chapter and
fuel type (www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/ch01/) and
by industry (www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/ap42/).
5. McGowan, Thomas F., VOC and Air Toxics Control by
Oxidation and Other Methods, Air Pollution Control,
September 2014.
6. McGowan, Thomas F., Oxidizers for Control of VOCs
and Other Air Toxics: Application and Design, Process Heating, October 2013.
7. Industrial Ventilation: A Manual of Recommended
Practice for Design, 28th Ed., www.acgih.org/
Author
Thomas F. McGowan is president
and founder of TMTS Associates
Inc. (399 Pavillion St., Atlanta, GA
30315; Phone: 404-627-4722;
Email:
tmtsassociates1000@
mindspring.com; www.tmtsassociates.com), a firm that specializes in thermal systems and airpollution control. He was
previously employed by RMT/Four
Nines, the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and Particulate Solid Research, Inc. McGowan has 40 years of experience in air-pollution control, filtration, combustion,
and bulk-solids handling. He holds an M.S.Ch.E. from
Manhattan College in New York City, and an M.S. in
industrial management from Georgia Tech.
AUGUST 2016
China
LUXIZENG/ISTOCK
special advertising section
CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
ESSENTIALS FOR CPI PROFESSIONALS
China 2016 Special Advertising Section
China: An economy in transformation
AK ROCKEFELLER/FLICKR
Despite slower growth in recent years, plenty of business opportunities remain for Western
firms as China works to transform itself into a consumption-driven economy
Dawn of a new age? Chinas chemical process industries are

a key force in the move towards a new normal economy
s China works to transform itself from an investment economy

to one driven by domestic consumption, the phenomenal expansion of the last two decades has slowed considerably, and stock
markets have been jittery. Yet, China is still growing at a rate most
developed nations would envy: 6.9% according to the official figures for 2015, or 5% in the view of some more-sceptical economists.
The slowdown could be a temporary slump; more likely, it is simply
the beginning of a new normal for the Chinese economy.
The chemical process industries (CPI) remain a key driver for the
countrys prosperity. The shift towards a more conventional economy
brings opportunities for Chinese businesses to consolidate and invest in the new technology they need to gain competitive advantage
or meet tightening environmental standards, and the same is true of
investors from the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Increasingly sophisticated projects thus give U.S. and European equipment vendors a chance
to compete on performance against lower-cost Chinese suppliers.
That was certainly the view of several German experts in
the run-up to AchemAsia 2016, which took place in Beijing in
May. The three-yearly trade exhibition and conference is run by
DECHEMA e.V. (dechema.de/en/; Frankfurt-am-Main). Even with
lower growth, business opportunities are still good, said Martin
Wansleben, Chief Executive of the Association of German Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) in an interview with the Neue
Osnabrcker Zeitung newspaper.
Sanjeev Gandhi, Head of BASFs operations in Greater China and
Asia Pacific, told the China Daily that BASF was very, very confident about the China market. And speaking to the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel, Axel Schweitzer, CEO of Alba Group, said: The
second-largest national economy in the world cannot grow continuously by six or seven percent. Schweitzer sees the slowdown as a
healthy development, and Alba has recently invested massively in
plants for recycling electronic scrap and urban waste in China.
Policy to stimulate innovation

Although China today has an outward appearance of rampant capitalism, the government remains committed to many of the habits
of thought inspired by Communist doctrine. This raises questions
about how the economy can be successfully managed without the
openness and democratic controls most Western companies are accustomed to. On the other hand, central control allows the government to force the pace of change astonishingly quickly and until
recently the Chinese leadership has been dominated by scientists
and engineers.
2006 saw the launch of a 15-year Medium to Long Term Science
and Technology Development Program. Three years in the making,
this ambitious plan recognized that
Continued on p73 >
CTEF exhibition shows off technology for fine chemicals

T
he 8th China
(Shanghai)
International
Chemical
Technology &
Equipment Fair
(CTEF) takes place
2325 August at
the Shanghai New
International Expo
Centre. This annual
event, the largest of its kind in China, acts
as an indicator of the state of the nations
chemical process industries.
Last years CTEF occupied 35,000 m2 of
exhibition space and attracted 502 exibiting
companies from 35 countries, including the
U.S., Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, and
Russia. This year, the focus will be on technology and equipment for the manufacture
72
of fine chemicals, with the associated topics

of energy efficiency, environmental protection, and security. Chinas average annual
growth rate in fine and specialty chemicals
and new materials is 56%, says exhibition
organizer Guangzhou Zhenwei International
Exhibition Co., Ltd., or around 23% higher than the rate for chemicals as a whole.
Chemical engineering as applied to fine
chemicals is also developing significantly
faster than in the rest of the industry.
As a result, the Chinese government sets
great store by this sector in its quest for
sustainable growth. In a fiercely competitive
market, companies who take advantage of
up-to-date technology will be able to adjust
their business strategies rapidly as market
demand changes, and hence get the greatest profit from development trends.
Alongside the many Chinese companies
CTEF takes place at the Shanghai

New International Expo Centre
(pictured). The cover photo on p. 71
shows the Shanghai skyline.
exhibiting at CTEF, foreign visitors will find a
number of familiar names from the West.
www.ctef.net
www.zhenweiexpo.com
AUGUST 2016
Electric valve actuators for China
Inside:
Andritz Separation
AUMA
Bungartz
Butting
Eastman Chemical Co.
EKATO
Flexicon
FLEXIM
GEA
Mller
Siemens
76
73
77
75
74
77
75
77
76
75
74
< Continued from p72

the existing drivers of the Chinese boom
cheap manufacturing, technology imports and foreign investment would not
carry the country through its next phase
of growth in the face of challenges such
as shortage of energy and resources, polluted air and water, and poor capacity for
innovation. Even today, the great majority
of Chinese companies do not own the key
intellectual property on which their businesses depend.
The 2006 plan said that China should
aim to be among the top five countries
worldwide in terms of patents and scientific citations, with advances in science and
technology eventually accounting for 60%
of economic growth. By the end of 2020
China will achieve more science and technological breakthroughs of great world influence, qualifying it to join the ranks of the
worlds most innovative countries, said
President Hu Jintao at the launch. By 2013,
China was second only to the U.S. in R&D
spending, though this represented just
1.6% of GDP compared to 2.8% in the U.S.
Made in China for 2025

In May 2015, the State Council reinforced
this trend through a new Made in China
2025 strategy that aims to transform China
in a leading manufacturing power. The focus
is on innovation and the combination of
manufacturing and services, with emphasis
on digital technologies. The 13th Five Year
Plan, published this year, pays great attention to reducing pollution and using alternative energy to cut carbon emissions.
Global operators must thus anticipate
serious future competition from high-tech
Chinese companies. On the other hand,
many of the technologies needed to make
Made in China 2025 a reality are not yet
available from domestic vendors. As a result, Chinas transformation will open up
business opportunities for suppliers from
all over the world, especially in process
equipment, systems integration and automation.
Charles Butcher
AUMA is a world leader in the global supply of electric

actuators, controls and gearboxes
or over five decades, AUMA actuators

have provided reliable and efficient service in an unequalled variety of chemical,
petrochemical, water and power plants.
Regional representation is key to
AUMAs international success, ensuring
high-level and responsive local support
worldwide. Recognizing the increasing
importance of the Chinese market, the
Germany-headquartered actuator supplier
founded its local subsidiary AUMA China
in 2004. In 2010, AUMA China moved to its
new state-of-the-art production facilities in
Taicang, Jiangsu, China. On a manufacturing
site covering approximately 9,000 m2, electric actuators and gearboxes for the Chinese
market are produced following the highest AUMA quality standards. AUMA experts
in eight regional offices located in Beijing,
Shanghai, Xian, Chan Chun, Guanzhou,
Chengdu, Urumqi, and Wuhan provide reliable consultancy services and fast on-site
support all over the Middle Kingdom.
Major corporations turn to AUMA for
tailored electric actuation solutions that
meet the precise requirements and varying
environmental conditions of each project.
AUMA is a leading supplier of electric

valve actuators for the Chinese market
The comprehensive product range includes
high-performance multi-turn, part-turn, linear, and lever actuators and gearboxes.
AUMAs modular SA multi-turn and SQ
part-turn actuators with intelligent AC actuator controls adapt perfectly to any process
requirements and offer extensive options
for networking and diagnostics. These products have an outstanding reputation for
easy handling, reliability, long life, low operating costs, and a design that simplifies
www.auma.com
retrofits.
Recent projects in China

July 8, 2016 BASF SE (Ludwigshafen,
Germany; www.basf.com) and Xinjiang
Markor Chemical Industry Co. opened a
new PolyTHF (polytetrahydrofuran) plant
in Korla, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwest China. The plant has
an annual capacity of 50,000 metric tons
(m.t.) of PolyTHF, which is used elastomers and thermoplastic polyurethanes.
July 7, 2016 With growing demand in
Asia for performance coatings and adhesives, materials manufacturer Covestro AG
(Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com)
has opened a 50,000 m.t./y plant for hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) in Shanghai.
June 17, 2016 Haldor Topsoe A/S
(Lyngby, Denmark; www.topsoe.com)
officially opened an advanced automotive-catalysts plant in Tianjin EconomicTechnological Development Area (TEDA)
an investment of RMB 600 million (more
than $90 million). Topsoe has had an office in Beijing since 1984 and today employs 170 people in China.
June 16, 2016 PPG Industries, Inc.
(Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com) marked
AUGUST 2016
the completion of a new $10 million coatings center of excellence at its existing
complex in Tianjin. The new facility will
serve regional customers in automotive
plastics and decorative accessories. PPG
built its first coatings plant in China at the
Tianjin site in 1994.
June 1, 2016 SABIC (Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia; www.sabic.com) has signed a project development agreement with Shenhua
Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co. (SNCG),
a subsidiary of Shenhua Group Corp.,
relating to a proposed greenfield petrochemical complex in the Ningxia Hui region of China. SNCG would supply coal for
use as a feedstock.
June 1, 2016 KBR, Inc. (Houston; www.
kbr.com) has been awarded a license
and basic engineering design contract
by a confidential client for a grassroots
Distill-Max stabilizer column in Shandong
Province in China. KBRs Distill-Max dividing-wall technology cuts column costs by
improving separation efficiency.
Original reporting by Scott Jenkins
and Mary Page Bailey
73
Heat transfer fluid systems in China

Eastman has the numbers, having participated in an extended
period of high GDP growth in China for nearly 40 years
ince 1978, China has averaged nearly 10% per annum GDP
growth. Therminol heat transfer fluids have been a trusted solution in China during this same period. And for more than 50 years,
Therminol heat transfer fluids have been the products of choice in
more than 15,000 heat transfer system installations worldwide.
With a broad product line having an operating range of 115C to
400C, and backed by Eastmans expertise in more than 120 different heat transfer and cooling applications including renewable energy, oil and gas, chemicals, plastics, food/beverage manufacturing
Therminol fluids have demonstrated high performance and long
life in nearly every operating condition and environment. In China,
Therminol 66 and VP-1 have been products of choice for the PET,
chemical, and concentrating solar power (CSP) industries due to the
high-temperature performance of these products.
Thousands of design and operations engineers have relied on
the Eastman TLC Total Lifecycle Care program, a collection of services and tools offered to extend the life of a heat transfer fluid system: design assistance, startup assistance, operational and safety
training (seminars, webinars), flush fluid/refill assistance, calculators, and more.
As part of the TLC program, four global Eastman labs test and
analyze a combined 5,000 customer in-service fluid samples each
year, providing performance trends and insights for each Eastman
customer to optimize their plant performance for the life of the system and avoid costly downtime and expense.
Eastman Therminol fluids are manufactured in four regional operational facilities, including the companys newest site in Newport,
U.K., and a manufacturing site in Suzhou, China. The Suzhou manufacturing site provides the same high-quality, reliable Therminol
products, available in stock for local purchase and also available
globally. Inside China, Eastman has a dedicated team of Therminol
heat transfer fluid sales and technical specialists ready to serve.
For a list of applications using Therminol heat transfer fluids in
China, visit: http://www.szsolutia.com/yyzx_en.html. For more information, contact a Therminol fluid specialist in China by calling:
+86-512-68258167.
To locate an Eastman sales or technical specialist outside China,
visit www.therminol.com and click on the contact us tab.
www.therminol.com
Integrated solutions, from transmitter to control room

Whether you need flow, level, pressure, or temperature measurement, weighing
technology or positioners with the Siemens portfolio, the chemistry is just right
oxicity, reactivity,
corrosivity, and
instability are just a
few of the everyday
hazards the chemical
industry faces. Add
in business demands
such as tight margins
and feedstock cost pressure, and it is obvious
why the twin imperatives
of safety and efficiency are
number one priorities, points
out control and instrumentation
supplier Siemens.
Process materials, temperatures and
pressures can all affect the choice of components. With on-board maintenance and
diagnostic functions, Sitrans devices translate data and alerts into timely and effective
action. Advanced diagnostics and functions
such as self-test, drag indication, partial
stroke tests and multiple adjustable limit
values are accessible at any time during operation. Safe upper and lower limits for
74
items such as temperatures, pressures,

flows and compositions are vital for
plant safety and cost
control.
Another important aspect in plant
control and safety
is the automation
system. Openness
and the support of
industry standards are core features of seamless automation, and are thus
the focus of process control right down to
the device level. Many Sitrans field devices
have features that cannot be directly integrated into an automation solution via established industry standards. This gap is
being closed by the Sitrans Library. Offering
device-specific faceplates, this engineering and operation tool offers plant owners a
new degree of transparency, allowing easier
operation and fast troubleshooting.
The Sitrans Library also aids the protec-
tion of assets. An example is valves, which

depending on their size can represent
large investments. This is why the Sipart
PS2 electropneumatic valve positioner is
equipped with additional functions to protect the valve and to cut maintenance costs.
The Sipart PS2 faceplate shows the following information at a glance, and saves operators from having to create project-specific
function blocks from scratch:
valve opening and closing;
switching from automatic to manual control of the valve;
setting limit values;
visualizes the binary inputs and outputs;
trend curves; and
alarm management.
With this interplay between the SIMATIC
PCS 7 process control system and the
Sitrans Library, operators can reap the benefits of the entire functional scope of their
field devices. The result is a simpler and
safer automation solution with less engineering overhead.
www.siemens.com/
processinstrumentation
AUGUST 2016
Handle virtually any bulk solid material

Flexicon stand-alone equipment and automated plant-wide systems convey, discharge,
condition, fill, dump and weigh batch bulk materials dust-free
lexicon engineers and manufactures a broad range of equipment that handles virtually any bulk material, from large pellets
to sub-micron powders, including free-flowing and non-free-flowing
products that pack, cake, plug, smear, fluidize, or separate.
Individual bulk handling equipment includes: flexible screw conveyors, tubular cable conveyors, pneumatic conveying systems,
bulk bag dischargers, bulk bag conditioners, bulk bag fillers, bag
dump stations, drum/box/container dumpers, and weigh batching/
blending systems. Each of these product groups encompasses a
broad range of models that can be custom engineered for specialized applications, and integrated with new or existing upstream and
downstream processes and storage vessels.
All equipment is available to food, dairy, pharmaceutical and industrial standards.
For large-scale bulk handling projects, Flexicons separate Project
Engineering Division provides dedicated Project Managers and engineering teams on four continents to handle projects from concept
to completion. Working with each customers preferred engineering
firm or directly with their in-house team, Flexicon adheres strictly to
the customers unique standards, documentation requirements and
timelines through a single point of contact, eliminating the risk of
coordinating multiple suppliers. Flexicons worldwide testing facilities simulate full-size customer equipment and systems.
In 2015 the company doubled the size of its manufacturing facility and world headquarters in Bethlehem, PA, and also operates
Flexicon offers stand-alone bulk handling equipment as well as

plant-wide systems integrated with new or existing processes
manufacturing facilities in Kent, United Kingdom; QLD, Australia;
and Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Customers in China are served by a factory-direct sales office in Singapore: Flexicon Singapore Pte Ltd., +65 6778 9225,
www.flexicon.com
sales@flexicon.com.sg.
Piping for a giant paper mill Handling systems are key

I
H
n May 2015, BUTTING China

acquired the biggest order in
its history to date: pipework for
a huge paper mill in Sumatra.
Indonesian papermaker Asia
Pulp & Paper is building the 2.6
million ton/y OKI mill, which will
be the worlds largest when it
starts up later this year. The site
is accessible only by boat.
The contract is worth around
eur 32 million.It comprises
material deliveries, prefabrication of more than 20,000 piping
components, transportation,
assembly and on-site supervision, says Jens Ellermann,
managing director of BUTTING
China. Its a mega-challenge!
To handle such a large job,
BUTTING China took on 50 new
staff members.
BUTTING China ordered
eur 4 million-worth of pipe
made from Sandvik 254 SMO
stainless steel from its parent
company in Schwedt, Germany.
Prefabrication took place at
Stefan Tietz (l) passes on his

expertise to a colleague
BUTTINGs sites in Schwedt and
Knesebeck.
So far, the project has consumed 150 km of pipe, with
2,500 tons in stainless steel and
1,000 tons in carbon steel, SMO,
titanium and GRP, plus 2,000
tons of carbon steel brackets
and 60,000 elbows, tees and
reducers.
Contact Jens Ellermann, tel:
+86 24 76219000, email jens.
ellermann@butting.com.cn.
www.butting.com
andling systems are one

of the key factors in process economics, notes specialist supplier Mller. Whether in
the pharmaceutical, chemical
or food industry, cost-effective
production depends on handling equipment that combines
performance with safety and
reliability. Mller has over 30
years of experience in this field:
the company designs, develops
and manufactures everything itself. As a result, customers can
count on individual solutions of
world-class quality to meet the
most demanding needs, with
full CE compliance. Customers
worldwide appreciate the slender design of Mllers lifting
columns, which ensures a good
view of the drum or container.
All lifters have electromechanical drives for all machine functions. This design has low
maintenance requirements,
and is cost-effective, safe, ergonomic and quiet. Typical tasks
AUGUST 2016
Slender lifting columns

dont obstruct the view
include feeding machines like
tablet presses, capsule fillers and blister pack machines.
Maximum repeatability for all
travel positions makes Mller
lifting columns the perfect
choice, especially when working with split-valve systems.
Customer can choose between
relays or programmable logic
controllers (PLCs), with optional
peripherals such as metering
butterfly valves and vibrators.
www.muellersyshand.com/en
75
Rectification plant for the recovery of isopropyl alcohol

In just 14 months from contract to full production, GEA has supplied and commissioned an
energy-saving distillation plant that needs no steam supply in normal operation
n June, GEA successfully commissioned a two-stage rectification

plant for the recovery of isopropyl alcohol. The new plant is installed at a facility making xanthan gum at Jungbunzlauer Austria
AG, which specializes in biodegradable ingredients of natural origin.
The technical highlight is a unique GEA technology for saving energy, using columns designed for super-efficient heating by means
of multiple mechanical vapor recompression (MVR). The concept allows energy savings of more than 50% compared to a conventional
MVR-heated column system, GEA says. During normal operation,
the system requires no external steam supply at all.
GEA delivered this innovative plant as a turnkey project within a
very tight time frame. Within 14 months from award of contract, the
plant reached full performance. This allowed:
just five months for mechanical and electrical installation, with
approximately 28,000 weld seams and 30 km of cabling; and
only two months for commissioning and field checks.
Faced with such a demanding schedule, GEA used specifically
adapted program modules to simulate the complete plant in real
time. This allowed all communication checks to be made and step
chains verified in advance. The plants complex control algorithms
and safety-related process steps were also thoroughly tested before installation. GEA thanks Jungbunzlauer AG for the opportunity
to work on such an interesting challenge, and for their trust and
support during all the phases of the project.
With over 17,000 employees, GEA is one of the largest suppliers
GEAs innovative column design uses multiple vaporrecompression units to slash energy requirements
of equipment and technology to the food processing industry and a
wide range of other process industries. Consolidated revenues totaled approximately eur 4.6 billion in 2015. More than 70% of this
revenue comes the food sector, which is enjoying long-term sustainwww.gea.com
able growth.
The right solution for every separation challenge

ANDRITZ SEPARATIONs new service and repair center and product developments are
also compatible with third-party products
s a company offering more separation technologies and services

than anyone else in the world, ANDRITZ SEPARATION provides
solutions for every customer, whatever their existing setup. The
OEM for many of the worlds leading brands employs 2,000 specialists in 40 countries worldwide. ANDRITZ SEPARATION solutions are
found in oil and gas refineries, batch chemical processing plants,
PVC production facilities, specialty chemical plants, and the plastics
industries. The services and products are brought right to the customers site, whether in an industrial complex or a remote plant far
from any urban infrastructure.
The separation solutions are based on the companys leading
brands of screens, filters, drains, presses, thickeners, centrifuges,
dryers and coolers. ANDRITZ SEPARATION also has a comprehensive service and support network that handles nearly all brands of
separation equipment and systems.
ANDRITZ SEPARATION provides everything from initial consulting and service agreements, process optimization, and automation,
through to training programs. Minimizing downtime, increasing predictability and driving up overall production efficiency are achieved
through the fact that ANDRITZ SEPARATION is not only one of the
worlds largest OEMs, but also has a vast service network for spare
parts, rentals, repairs, upgrades and modernization. The recently
opened service and repair center in Krefeld, Germany, enhanced the
service offerings for the Central European market together with
service teams in Cologne, Selb, Ravensburg, and Vierkirchen even
76
for customers using other manufacturers products.

Gerd Reisner, the head of ANDRITZ SEPARATION Service, says:
Our service philosophy is simple: One phone call, one contact person, one dedicated team that speaks your language and knows your
equipment and process. This is not an empty promise. It is backed by
a network of 550 service specialists for solid/liquid separation equipment and systems as well as service centers all around the world.
Working with other products doesnt end with service as seen
in the new centrifuge control system launched this year. ANDRITZ
CentriTune is a PLC (programmable logic controller)-based system
that increases the performance and availability of new and existing decanter centrifuges, regardless of whether or not these are
ANDRITZ machines.
With a strong track record in the chemical industry, ANDRITZ
provides solid/liquid separation and drying solutions which deliver
efficient operation and high purity of output. The company even has
the ability to test options in its own pilot facility to help the customer develop the right solution. Once installed, the equipment comes
with the support of a powerful global service network for the chemical processing industry.
andritz.com/separation
AUGUST 2016
Hydrogenation
plant technology
EKATO has the expertise to
scale up from lab to plant
These pumps solve problems

By tackling difficult applications, specialist pumping
solutions from Bungartz save both time and money
ydrogenation reactions are challenging, as

the solubility of hydrogen in most solvents
is poor and the heat of reaction is often very
high. EKATOs high-performance hydrogenation reactors use a two-stage gassing system
to overcome these issues. At the bottom of
the reactor is a primary dispersing impeller,
while a self-inducing turbine acts like an internal compressor to recirculate undissolved hydrogen. Internal heat exchangers, meanwhile,
provide excellent cooling. The outstanding
combination of mass and heat transfer allows
short batch times with lower catalyst concentrations and fewer by-products.
Hydrogenation processes are also difficult to scale up from the lab to industrial
size. The interaction between mass transfer,
Frank Bungartz, the third generation

of his family to run the company,
with an MPCH DryRun model
ifficult liquids feeding tasks appear in

nearly all branches of the chemical process industries, notes German pumping
specialist Paul Bungartz GmbH & Co. KG.
Bungartz centrifugal pumps, which are designed with high levels of intrinsic safety,
are ideal for extreme assignments that are
too demanding for others. The company
specializes in pumps that are cavitation-free
and self-regulating. Typical applications include problems with shaft seals, poor feed
conditions, entrained gas, liquids close to
their boiling points, and corrosive or abrasive media. The companys success is based
on three pillars:
1. Sealing technology: Almost all Bungartz
pumps combine a hydrodynamic primary
shaft seal with a downstream secondary
seal (a packed gland, mechanical seal or
magnetic drive).
2. Special physics: Bungartz V-AN (abnormal) centrifugal pumps adapt automatically to changing feed rates, and require
zero NPSH.
3. Materials: These range from gray cast
iron to stainless steel, titanium, zirconium, other special alloys, and even SiC.
Horizontal and vertical pumps are available
in radial, axial and torque-flow designs,
with non-contact hydrodynamic shaft seals
or mechanical seals. Models suitable for
dry running also include magnetically coupled pumps in horizontal, vertical and submerged designs.
www.bungartz.de
Measure extremely low flows

The new FLUXUS XLF clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeter from
FLEXIM records flowrates down to 3.5l/h and below
EKATOs special reactor design ensures

high rates of mass and heat transfer
heat release, and catalyst concentration is
complex, and requires iteration. EKATO supplies not only the reactor system itself, but
also the know-how needed to design a complete hydrogenation plant, including catalyst handling systems and other equipment.
EKATO operates hydrogenation pilot
plants of 560 liters, at pressures up to
100 bar and temperatures up to 250C, in
stainless steel and Hastelloy.
www.ekato.com
or the non-invasive measurement of

extremely low flowrates, the FLUXUS
XLF flowmeter from FLEXIM works down
to below 3.5 l/h on pipe sizes from 6 to
50 mm. Its measurements are accurate,
reproducible, and long-term stable. Since
clamp-on ultrasonic transducers simply
mount onto the outside of the pipe, the
flowmeter can be installed without interrupting the process.
The FLUXUS XLF can be used on all pipe
materials and with any pipe wall thickness.
Measurements are also independent of the
pressure in the pipe. Unlike flowmeters with
wetted parts, the system is not subject to
any mechanical stress or wear and tear from
the process medium. This results in lower
lifetime operating costs, and is significantly
safer because there is no risk of leakage.
The high accuracy and reproducibility of the FLUXUS XLF, even at the lowest
flowrates, is based on carefully paired ultrasonic transducers with internal temperature
compensation to ANSI/ASME MFC 5.12011,
highly sensitive electronics, intelligent sig-
AUGUST 2016
Clamp-on ultrasonic flowmeters are easy

to install, and capable of high accuracy
nal processing, and accurate wet calibration
that is traceable to national standards.
The inherently sturdy measuring system is also available in a particularly durable stainless steel (316L /1.4404) design,
sealed to IP66 for use under the most
challenging conditions. The transmitter
is certified for Zone 2 hazardous areas.
Transducers for ATEX Zone 1 are available,
as well as IP68 transducers for continuous
operation while submerged.
www.flexim.com
77
A Guide to Advanced and Next-Generation

Battery Technology and Materials
This comprehensive guidebook provides descriptions
of the major battery technologies and materials in the
advanced and next-generation battery markets, as well
as information on many of the companies operating in
the advanced and next-generation battery industries.
Included in this guidebook is a table that represents a
list of selected technology-development companies in
the advanced batteryspace, along with their areas of
focus, contact information and technology status.
Itlists both established companies and startup
companies that have made technologicalstrides
in recent years toward commercially viable battery
technologies.
Major application areas for advanced and
next-generation batteries
Key parameters for advanced and
next-generation batteries
A sampling of academic and national laboratory
research groups and lead investigators that
arefocused on technology for advanced batteries
Details Include:
Advanced lead-acid batteries
Driving forces
Battery materials
Supply-chain logistics
Advanced batteries
Li-ion variants
Next-generation batteries
Developments by application area
Grid-energy storage
Lithium-ion technology
78
Wearable batteries
Lithium-sulfur battery technology
Redox ow batteries
Battery materials and components
Production capacity
Research stage
Advanced battery companies and specic
technologies
References
Learn more at store.chemengonline.com

28014
XXXXX 2015
Step up to the Vari-Flow Distribution Valve

Internal Guide & Support System:
The Vari-Flow Distribution Valve has been designed with a superior
internal guide system that supports the stem and disc providing support
needed to allow the valve to be used for balancing ow.
Maintenance Free Operation:
Manufactured from 304 stainless steel and UHMW plastic, which eliminates corrosion and maintenance concerns. Bushing assembly replaces
easily from exterior, eliminating costly downtime.
Industrial Cooling
Tower Services, Inc.
www.ictsinc.com
Positive Shutoff:
An improved gasket system allows complete (positive) shut-off of the water
stream without the persistent leaking associated with conventional valves.
Dependable and Energy Efficient Direct Steam

Injection Heater
Process industries demand reliable water heating equipment offering
precise temperature control. Pick direct steam injection heaters satisfy both
requirements. Picks proven, robust design provides continuous service
with minimal maintenance. Discharge temperature is held to extremely
close tolerance within 1C or less while providing rapid yet controlled
response to changing process conditions.
Pick Heaters, Inc.

www.pickheaters.com
Pick steam injection heaters provide 100% heat transfer efciency eliminating ash and heat losses inherent with indirect exchangers. Pick Heaters are the right choice for:
Tank and Equipment Cleaning
Batch Filling of Tanks
CIP and Sterilization
Plant Sanitation / Hose Stations
Jacketed Vessel Heating
Versatile Feeder Handles Wide Range of Bulk Solid Materials

The industry leading MECHATRON dry material feeder has all the
unique design features that manufacturers require for their processing applications. Complete disassembly from the non process side of the feeder
eliminates the need to remove upper extension hoppers, bins, bulk bags,
and IBCs to clean or maintain the feeder. Flexible or all stainless steel
hoppers are available to accommodate any unique dry material feeding
application.
MECHATRON feeders are perfectly suited to handle a wide range of
volumetric or gravimetric feeding applications for bulk solid materials
such as TiO2, Wood Flour, and Carbon Black. Additionally, the MECHATRON can achieve feed rates from .002 to 1,100 cubic feet per hour.
Schenck Process LLC
www.accuratefeeders.com/mechatronfeeders.html
Circle 38 on p. 82 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61498-38w
AUGUST 2016
79
New & Used Equipment
UltraCat Catalytic
Filter System
Low Temperature NOx Removal
- Particulate to less than 0.001 grain/dscf
Advertise in
the Buyers' Guide
One system for PM, NOx, SO2, HCl, dioxins,

mercury, cement HAPs or any combination
Low temp NOx control by catalyst-embedded
filters eliminates costly SCR
Outlet
Integrated dry sorbent injection

removes SO2, HCl, mercury
Particulate captured
on the surface; does not
penetrate the surface wall
Nano-catalyst embedded
in the filter walls destroys
NOx, dioxins, Cement O-HAPS
CLEAN
AIR
Air Flow
Buyers' Guide
2017
Contact:
Diane Burleson
Tel: 512-337-7890
Fax: 512-213-4855
Email: dburleson@
accessintel.com
Polluted Gas
Inlet gas composition Particulate PM, Sorbents

for SO2, HCl, NOx + injected ammonia
Meets EPA Regulations
(989) 321-2991
kevin.moss@tri-mer.com
www.tri-mer.com
Technology Leader, air pollution control
Since 1960 Factory and Headquarters: Owosso, Michigan
2016 Tri-Mer Corp.
Circle 245 on p. 82 or go to
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61498-245
Hot Topics
in the
Chemical
Processing
Industry
Valves
Managing Vapor and

Particulate Emissions
Guidebook
Selection, Operation and Troubleshooting
Optimal Pump
Management
CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
Valves Selection:
Operation and
Troubleshooting
Optimal Pump
Management
Managing Vapor
and Particulate
Emissions
Find these and other related CPI titles in the store.chemengonline.com

80
AUGUST 2016
New & Used Equipment

KnightHawk Engineering
Specialists in design, failure analysis
and troubleshooting of static
and rotating equipment
www.knighthawk.com
Contact Jim Salter 281-282-9200
HEAT EXCHANGERS
STATIC
MIXERS
For turbulent or laminar flow.

LPD/LLPD/ISG for ultra-low P &
unlimited viscosity. Most in stock!
Scan to learn more.
Liquid Cooled
Try our mobile app:

mixers.com/web-app
FOR
1-800-243-ROSS
Air Cooled
GASES & LIQUIDS!
Talk Directly with Design Engineers!

Blower Cooling
Vent Condensing
www.StaticMixers.com
WABASH SELLS & RENTS

Boilers
20,000 - 400,000 #/Hr.
(952) 933-2559 info@xchanger.com
Diesel & Turbine Generators
Gears & Turbines
50 - 25,000 KW
25 - 4000 HP
We stock large inventories of:

Air Pre-Heaters Economizers Deaerators
Pumps Motors Fuel Oil Heating and Pump Sets
Valves Tubes Controls Compressors
Pulverizers Rental Boilers & Generators
24/7 Fast Emergency Service
800-704-2002
Phone: 847-541-5600 Fax: 847-541-1279
Written for engineers,

by engineers
More and more,
business in the
Chemical Process
Industries (CPI) is
Funda
not local, its global.
menta
High-S
ls
o
f
hear D
To keep up with
ispers
ers
this rapidly evolving
marketplace, you
need a magazine
that covers it all, not just one country
or region, not just one vertical market,
but the entire CPI. With editorial
offices around the world, Chemical
Engineering is well-positioned to keep
abreast of all the latest innovations in
the equipment, technology, materials,
and services used by process plants
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AUGUST 2016
Advertisers Index
Advertiser............. Page number
Phone number
Reader Service #

Phone number
Reader Service #

Phone number
Reader Service #
Abbe, Paul O ........................25d
Fluid Line Products, Inc. .......23d
Mller GmbH ..........................49
1-855-789-9827
1-440-946-9470
+49 (0) 7623/969 0

Andritz AG .............................. 21
Fluid Metering Inc...................53
Pick Heaters, inc ....................79
1-800-223-3388
1-262-338-1191
*GEA Group ............................ 9i
*Plast-O-Matic Valves, Inc. ....17i
AUMA Riester GmbH

& Co. KG .............................. 19d
*AUMA Riester GmbH

& Co. KG ................................19i
GEM Valves, Inc. ...............43d
RedGuard ..............................37
1-678-553-3400
1-855-REDGUARD
*Berndorf Band GmbH...........15i
H. Butting GmbH & Co. KG ... 51
Rembe GMBH........................45
+43 2672 800-0

+49 5834 50-7155

1-704-716-7022
Bluebeam Software, Inc. ....... C2

Hayward Industrial
Products, Inc. ....................... 31d
Ross, Charles
& Son Company ...................... 11
Bungartz, Paul GmbH

& Co. KG ................................45
1-888-429-4635
1-800-243-ROSS
Industrial Cooling
Tower Services, Inc. ...............79
Schenck Process ...................79
1-225-261-3180
*Siemens ................................29
John Zink Company LLC ........ 13
Sturtevant, Inc. .......................64
1-918-234-1800
1-800-992-0209
Koch-Glitsch ..........................55
Tri-Mer Corporation ...............65
1-316-828-5110
1-989-723-7838
Load Controls ........................69
USA Industries, Inc. ................67
1-888-600-3247
1-832-850-5295
Miller-Stephenson Chemical
Company ............................... 51
WEFTEC .................................66
Cleaver-Brooks Inc. ...............35

1-800-250-5883
1-800-992-2424
YS-Inc ....................................49
+49 (0) 211 57 79 05-0

Cashco, Inc. ...........................33

1-785-472-4461
Check-All Valve Mfg. Co. .......53

1-515-224-2301
Chemstations ...........................8
1-800-CHEMCAD
Clean Air Group, LLC ........... 15d

1-973-947-8787
Collins Instrument
Company, Inc. ........................57
1-979-849-8266
Conval, Inc ...........................25d

Drger Safety ...........................6

Eastman Chemical
Company .............................. C4
1-800-426-2463
Ekato Process
Technologies GmbH ..............47
1-201-825-4684
Endress+Hauser, Inc. ...............4

1-888-ENDRESS
Flexicon Corp. ..........................3

1-888-FLEXICON
* International Edition
1-888-356-3343
Classiied Index August 2016

Advertiser
Phone number
Page number
Reader Service #
Applied e-Simulators
Software................................. 81
1-480-380-4738
Indeck Power
Equipment Company ............. 81
1-800-446-3325
KnightHawk Engineering ........ 81

1-281-282-9200
Ross, Charles
& Son Company ..................... 81
1-800-243-ROSS
Flexim GmbH ......................... 41

Equipment, New & Used . . . 80

Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Advertiser
Phone number
Page number
Reader Service #
Tri-Mer Corporation ...................80

1-989-321-2991
Vesconite Bearings .................... 81

1-866-635-7596
Wabash Power Equipment Co ... 81

1-800-704-2002
Xchanger, Inc. ............................ 81

1-952-933-2559
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August 2016; VOL. 123; NO. 8
Chemical Engineering copyright @ 2016 (ISSN 0009-2460) is published monthly by Access Intelligence, LLC, 9211 Corporate Blvd, 4th Floor, Rockville, MD, 20850. Chemical Engineering Executive, Editorial, Advertising and Publication Offices: 88 Pine
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AUGUST 2016
83
Economic Indicators
2014
2015
2016
Download the CEPCI two weeks sooner at www.chemengonline.com/pci
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT COST INDEX (CEPCI)

625
(1957-59 = 100)
CE Index ______________________________________________
Equipment ____________________________________________
Heat exchangers & tanks _________________________________
Process machinery _____________________________________
Pipe, valves & fittings ____________________________________
Process instruments ____________________________________
Pumps & compressors ___________________________________
Electrical equipment ____________________________________
Structural supports & misc ________________________________
Construction labor _______________________________________
Buildings _____________________________________________
Engineering & supervision _________________________________
May '16
Prelim.
Apr. '16
Final
May '15
Final
543.5
649.2
560.5
649.7
813.0
385.3
970.4
508.7
719.1
325.8
543.5
316.0
537.5
640.5
548.8
649.3
801.6
382.7
970.5
508.2
701.5
325.0
540.8
316.2
560.5
675.6
603.5
658.7
843.6
402.6
958.0
513.0
740.1
322.7
542.7
319.5
Annual Index:
2008 = 575.4
600
2009 = 521.9
2010 = 550.8
575
2011 = 585.7
2012 = 584.6
550
2013 = 567.3
525
2014 = 576.1
2015 = 556.8
500
Starting with the April 2007 Final numbers, several of the data series for labor and compressors have been converted to
accommodate series IDs that were discontinued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
CURRENT BUSINESS INDICATORS
LATEST
PREVIOUS
YEAR AGO
CPI output index (2012 = 100) ____________________________________________________

CPI value of output, $ billions _____________________________________________________
CPI operating rate, % __________________________________________________________
Producer prices, industrial chemicals (1982 = 100) ____________________________________
Jun. '16
May '16
Jun. '16
Jun. '16
=
=
=
=
101.2
1,713.3
74.4
227.9
May '16
Apr. '16
May '16
May '16
=
=
=
=
101.6
1,711.2
74.7
225.0
Apr.'16
Mar.'16
Apr.'16
Apr.'16
=
=
=
=
101.5
1,702.4
74.6
221.6
Jun '15
May '15
Jun '15
Jun '15
=
=
=
=
101.3
1,864.2
74.9
251.2
Industrial Production in Manufacturing (2012=100)* ____________________________________

Hourly earnings index, chemical & allied products (1992 = 100) ____________________________
Productivity index, chemicals & allied products (1992 = 100) ______________________________
Jun. '16
Jun. '16
Jun. '16
=
=
=
103.2
165.2
101.3
May '16
May '16
May '16
=
=
=
102.8
164.4
101.6
Apr.'16
Apr.'16
Apr.'16
=
=
=
103.0
161.4
102.0
Jun '15
Jun '15
Jun '15
=
=
=
102.8
157.6
101.7
CPI OUTPUT VALUE ($ BILLIONS)
CPI OUTPUT INDEX (2000 = 100)

110
105
CPI OPERATING RATE (%)
2300
80
2200
78
100
2100
76
95
2000
90
74
1900
85
72
1800
80
75
70
1700
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
*Due to discontinuance, the Index of Industrial Activity has been replaced by the Industrial Production in Manufacturing index from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.
For the current months CPI output index values, the base year was changed from 2000 to 2012
Current business indicators provided by Global Insight, Inc., Lexington, Mass.
CURRENT TRENDS
T
EXCLUSIVE AD SPACE AVAILABLE!
Feature your marketing message alongside this two-page editorial department
Each issue includes editorial departments that feature the latest business news,
current industry trends and the Plant Cost Index. As one of the most valued sections
in the magazine, your ad is guaranteed to reach decision makers each month. Ad
runs opposite Cover 3 within the Economic Indicators department.
Contact your sales representative for more information:
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ptrautes@accessintel.com
+49 69 58604760
27206
84
he May 2016 preliminary value for

the CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI; top;
the most recent available) is higher than
the previous month, with the Equipment
and Buildings indices rising by a significant amount. The preliminary May 2016
CEPCI value is 3.0% lower than the corresponding value from May last year.
The year-over-year difference continues
to decline as the values approach those
from a year ago. Meanwhile, the latest
Current Business Indicators (CBI; middle)
for June 2016 showed a small decrease
in the CPI output index compared to the
previous month. Producer prices for industrial chemicals edged higher in June
and the May number for the CPI value of
output index also increased slightly from
the previous month.
AUGUST 2016
NOW AVAILABLE IN THE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING STORE
Pump Essentials
Most engineers would agree that pumps represent the workhorse component
in any chemical process industries (CPI) facility. Every day, countless decisions
must be made related to the proper selection and specification, sizing and
installation, operation and maintenance, and troubleshooting of these critical
machines.
This Chemical Engineering reference book provides a wealth of practical engineering guidance on the proper use and operation of several different types
of pumps. Articles focus on the sizing and selection of centrifugal pumps, and
tips for managing the impact of pumps whose operation deviates from the best
efficiency point (BEP). Others provide engineering tips for understanding and
optimizing magnetically driven and sealless pumps, and guidance for calculating net positive suction head (NPSH).
Pump Essentials
Included is detailed information on condition monitoring and maintenance of

pumps, recommendations for designing and operating safe and accurate pressure-relief systems, and selecting variable frequency drives (VFD) for centrifugal pumps.
Text also encompasses data related to lifecycle cost analysis, construction-cost
indices for CPI equipment, and budget considerations for capital-intensive CPI
operations.
Valve Essentials
Engineers are routinely challenged when it comes to the proper selection,
specification and sizing, and installation, operation and maintenance, and
troubleshooting of valves to control fluid flow while ensuring overall reliability
and safety.
This resource provides engineering articles which focus on the proper selection and operation of control valves and control valve positioners and sensors.
Included is information provide sizing calculations for pressure-relief valves
and related systems, plus tips for using pressure-relief valves with rupture
disks.
Valve Essentials
Guidance is offered on reducing fugitive emissions and troubleshooting valves

in the field, as well as engineering recommendations related to material selection, planning for plant revamps, improving operability, and managing challenges associated with hygienic operation.
Learn more at store.chemengonline.com

28381
WHEN IT COMES
TO MAINTENANCE,
LESS IS MORE.
In your industry, the more you produce, the better. However, this can
also lead to more maintenance, more downtime and more headaches.
Thats why, at Eastman, we specialize in keeping you up and running with
our advanced Therminol heat transfer luids. And with our industry-deining
Total Lifecycle Care Program, you can count on us being there throughout the
systems lifecycle. To learn more about our TLC Program and what the
Eastman Therminol team can do for you, go to Therminol.com or call
1-800-426-2463 in North America. In Europe, call 32.2.746.5134.
2014 Eastman Chemical Company or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. As used herein, denotes registered trademark status in the U.S. only.

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Volume 123 | no. 8

Microreactors: Lessons Learned from Industrial

Newsfront Pigments: Going Beyond Black and White

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Facts at your Fingertips Distillation Column Design

Technology Profile Chlorine Production from NaCl

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Engineering Practice Two-Stage Drying Fluidized bed

Environmental Manager Air-Pollution Control:

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