Chemical Engineering 2016-02

February
2016
www.chemengonline.com
Materials Selection for

2 Machining Processes
Advances in Paints
Steam
and Coatings
Improvements in
Generators:
Seals and Gaskets Standing up to
Managing Small- and
Medium-Sized Projects
Superheater Problems
page 38
Facts at Your
Fingertips:
Weighing Equipment
Focus on Software
and Mobile Apps
Circle 16 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-16
2 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2016

February 2016 Volume 123 | no. 2
Cover Story
38 Superheater Problems in Steam Generators
Knowing the features of a good boiler will prevent problems
associated with a poor design
In the News
7 Chementator
A very efficient heat exchanger for very hot applications; Alkylate
process featuring a solid-acid catalyst can use multiple feedstocks;
Using air and hydrostatic pressure to store energy underwater; Oil-
free compressed air at a fraction of the cost; and more
12 Business News
ICA Fluor to build $1-billion petroleum-refining facility in Mexico;
Technip awarded contract by Air Products for Baytown hydrogen
plant; Dow announces startup of commercial operations for
PDH unit in Texas; Solvays phosphorous-based water additives
business acquired by Italmatch; and more
16 Newsfront Painting it Green 38

Driven by consumer demand and regulatory pressure, paint and coating
formulators, along with makers of chemical additives for those markets, have
brought to the forefront products with improved environmental and health
performance
21 Newsfront Sealing Solutions to the Rescue
Improved seals, gaskets and valve packings stand up to tougher process
conditions
16
Technical and Practical

35 Facts at your Fingertips Weighing Equipment This one-
page reference offers a host of considerations to help streamline the selection
of weighing equipment in the CPI
21
36 Technology Profile Acrylic Acid Production via
Propylene Oxidation This column describes a process for making
ester-grade acrylic acid from propylene
48 Feature Report The Relationship Between Materials

Selection and Machining Processes An awareness of the 48
impact of materials selection on the machining processes for small, complex
components can affect overall end-product quality and costs
54 Engineering Practice Managing Small- and Medium-

sized Capital Projects A real-life example is provided to show how
to stay on program and within budget
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2016 1

Equipment and Services
25 Focus on Software and Mobile Apps
Advance engineering projects with process simulation tools; Platform eases
collaboration, data sharing and compliance; Software bundle supports
multivariate data analysis; Alarm-management program reduces alarms by 80%;
Software provides validation and compliance capabilities; and more
30 New Products
This device reduces costs for compressed air; Track changes and mitigate risk
in large capital projects; These flowmeters benefit from ceramic bearings; A
new HMI with full remote-monitoring capabilities; This dosing system reduces
exposure to materials; Modular drying systems for extremely dry process air;
54 and more
Departments
5 Editors Page Ensuring a water supply
Concerns over water shortages are focusing attention on water policy and
25 desalination projects
64 Economic Indicators
Advertisers
60 Classified
30
62 Reader Service
63 Ad Index
Chemical Connections
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Webinars, Test your Knowledge Quizzes, Bookshelf
and more
Coming in March
Look for: Feature Reports on Alarm Management; and Shell-and-Tube
Heat Exchangers; A Focus on Level Measurement and Control; A Facts
at your Fingertips on Particle-Size Analysis; an Engineering
Practice article on Materials Managment; News Articles on Pumps;
and Composite Materials; and more
Cover: Rob Hudgins; cover photo courtesy of Cleaver-Brooks, Inc.

The cover photo shows a 500,000-lb/h Elevated-Drum D-Style Industrial
Watertube Nebraska Boiler

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Editor s Page
PUBLISHER ART & DESIGN
Ensuring a water supply
MICHAEL GROSSMAN ROB HUDGINS
Vice President and Group Publisher Graphic Designer
mgrossman@accessintel.com rhudgins@accessintel.com
T
his past December marked the dedication of the largest sea-
EDITORS PRODUCTION water desalination plant in the U.S. The Claude Bud Lewis
DOROTHY LOZOWSKI JOHN BLAYLOCK-COOKE Carlsbad Desalination Plant, named for the former Carlsbad,
Editor in Chief Ad Production Manager
dlozowski@chemengonline.com jcooke@accessintel.com Calif. mayor who was instrumental in choosing the location, is
INFORMATION designed to provide 50 million gallons of water per day to San Diego
GERALD ONDREY (FRANKFURT)
Senior Editor SERVICES County from the Pacific Ocean, to help minimize the areas vulnerabil-
gondrey@chemengonline.com
CHARLES SANDS ity to drought. This $1-billion project includes the desalination plant
Director of Digital Development
SCOTT JENKINS csands@accessintel.com that uses reverse osmosis (RO), a 10-mile pipeline and upgrades to
Senior Editor
sjenkins@chemengonline.com CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
facilities to distribute the water.
MARY PAGE BAILEY SUZANNE A. SHELLEY
As California confronts its fifth year of drought conditions, water-
Assistant Editor sshelley@chemengonline.com shortage concerns are at the forefront of the publics attention. A
mbailey@chemengonline.com
CHARLES BUTCHER (U.K.) recent poll by the Hoover Institution (Stanford, Calif.; www.hoover.
cbutcher@chemengonline.com
AUDIENCE
DEVELOPMENT
org) asked 1,800 Californians to prioritize policy concerns facing the
PAUL S. GRAD (AUSTRALIA) state. Dealing with the states water problems was a top finisher. And,
SARAH GARWOOD pgrad@chemengonline.com
Audience Marketing Director in another question, more than half said they would vote to end a
sgarwood@accessintel.com
TETSUO SATOH (JAPAN)
tsatoh@chemengonline.com
high-speed rail project and use the unspent money on water-storage
JESSICA GRIER
Marketing Manager
projects instead.
jgrier@accessintel.com JOY LEPREE (NEW JERSEY) The Carlsbad project may well serve as an example for future de-
jlepree@chemengonline.com
GEORGE SEVERINE salination projects in the U.S. There is already a proposal to build an-
GERALD PARKINSON (CALIFORNIA)
Fulfillment Manager
gseverine@accessintel.com
gparkinson@chemengonline.com other facility of the same capacity in Huntington Beach, Calif. (www.
hbfreshwater.com).
JEN FELLING
List Sales, Statlistics (203) 778-8700
j.felling@statlistics.com A global concern
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD While the Carlsbad mega-project is the largest seawater desalination
JOHN CARSON HENRY KISTER plant in the Western Hemisphere, it is not the largest in the world. The
Jenike & Johanson, Inc. Fluor Corp.
Sorek Desalination Plant in Israel, which also uses RO technology,
DAVID DICKEY GERHARD KREYSA (RETIRED) makes that claim, with a capacity of about 165 million gallons of water
MixTech, Inc. DECHEMA e.V.
per day. The Sorek facility was commissioned in 2013.
MUKESH DOBLE
IIT Madras, India
RAM RAMACHANDRAN(Retired) Water scarcity is a global issue, and technology plays a key role
The Linde Group
in finding ways to ensure water supplies where needed. For exam-
HEADQUARTERS
40 Wall Street, 50th floor, New York, NY 10005, U.S.
ple, according to the Carlsbad Desalination Project website (www.
Tel: 212-621-4900
Fax: 212-621-4694
carlsbaddesal.com), dramatic technological improvements have
made desalination much more cost-effective. Specifically, the longer
EUROPEAN EDITORIAL OFFICES
Zeilweg 44, D-60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
lifetimes, energy efficiency and lower cost of RO membranes as com-
Tel: 49-69-9573-8296
Fax: 49-69-5700-2484
pared to just 10 years ago were cited as cost saving advances.
The contributions of engineers and scientists are vital to finding
CIRCULATION REQUESTS:
Tel: 847-564-9290 viable ways to help alleviate water shortages. Water conservation,
Fax: 847-564-9453
Fullfillment Manager; P.O. Box 3588, reuse and wastewater treatment are all important. And only through
Northbrook, IL 60065-3588
email: chemeng@omeda.com
continuing work will further advances to help make desalination more
economical be possible
ADVERTISING REQUESTS: SEE P. 62
For reprints, licensing and permissions: Wright's Media, 1-877-652-5295, Some of the most recent technologies related to water as reported
sales@wrightsmedia.com
in Chemical Engineering include development of an organosilane-
ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC based membrane for desalination (January 2016, p. 7); switchable
DON PAZOUR SYLVIA SIERRA solvent technology for forward osmosis (November, 2015, p.13); a
Chief Executive Officer Senior Vice President,
Customer Acquisition and Retention new gas-transfer membrane for biological wastewater treatment (No-
HEATHER FARLEY vember, 2015, p. 7); and several new wastewater-treatment studies
Chief Operating Officer ALISON JOHNS
Senior Vice President, Digital Development as reported in this issue (pp. 89).
ED PINEDO
Executive Vice President MICHAEL KRAUS
& Chief Financial Officer VP, Production, Digital Media
& Design Inside this issue
MACY L. FECTO Our February issue covers a wide variety of topics,
Exec. Vice President, STEVE BARBER
Human Resources & Administration Vice President, including our cover story on boilers (pp. 3847), a
Financial Planning and Internal Audit
JENNIFER SCHWARTZ
news story on advances in paints and coatings (pp.
Senior Vice President & Group Publisher
Aerospace, Energy, Healthcare
GERALD STASKO
Vice President/Corporate Controller
1620), an article on managing small- and medium-
sized projects (pp. 5457), a feature report on mate-
ROB PACIOREK
Senior Vice President, rials selection for machining processes (pp. 4853)
9211 Corporate Blvd., 4th Floor
Chief Information Officer Rockville, MD 20850-3240
www.accessintel.com
and much more. We hope you enjoy it.
Dorothy Lozowski, Editor in Chief
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Chementator
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Edited by:
very hot applications Gerald Ondrey
Heat-dissipating gas OUT
A
t the end of last year, Mino Ceram-
ics Co. (Nagoya City, Japan; www. Special Heat- BIO-HYDROGEN
mino-ceramic.co.jp) began shipping refractory receiving
material gas OUT Scientists at Indiana Univer-
its first commercial high-temperature sity (IU; Bloomington, Ind.;
heat exchangers, which were developed in a www.iu.edu) have created
project by Thermal Management Materials a highly efficient biomaterial
and Technology Research Assn. (TherMAT, that catalyzes the formation
Tokyo, Japan; www.thermat.jp). Developed Multi- of hydrogen from water. The
tube pipe
with support from the New Energy and In- structure biomaterial could be used
dustry Technology Development Organi- to produce H2 or generate
Double- power from H2 in a fuel cell.
zation (NEDO; Kawasaki City, Japan), the tube pipe
Using methods they devel-
heat exchangers can be operated at tem- structure
oped, the IU scientists, led
peratures as high as 1,300C, with a heat- by Trevor Douglas, inserted
recovery efficiency nearly three times higher the enzyme hydrogenase
Heat-receiving
than existing technology, making them suit- gas IN into a protein shell (capsid)
able for utilizing waste energy from industrial Heat-dissipating gas IN from bacteriophage-P22, a
furnace applications. virus that infects bacterial
In addition to incorporating materials that cells. The resulting bioma-
are both highly heat resistant and durable, temperature exchangers. terial is more efficient than
the new heat exchangers (diagram) feature Mino Ceramics is planning to further en- the unaltered enzyme and
a hybrid structure of double and multiple cy- hance the performance of the heat exchang- is produced through a sim-
ple fermentation process
lindrical tubes to enhance surface area and ers for temperatures up to 1,500C, and de-
at room temperature. The
thus, the heat-recovery performance. At a velop the market for recovering waste heat biomaterial is potentially far
temperature of 1,300C, the heat-recovery in industrial applications. NEDO also contin- less expensive and more
performance of the new heat exchangers is ues to support the development of technol- environmentally friendly to
1824%, which is almost three times higher ogy for the effective utilization of waste-heat produce than other ma-
than the 57% achieved by existing high- sources, such as fine ceramics fabrication. terials currently used as
fuel-cell catalysts, such as
platinum metal. Upon en-
Alkylate process featuring a solid-acid catalyst capsulation in the capsid,
the enzyme gains signifi-
can use multiple feedstocks cantly greater resistance to
breakdown from chemicals
A
recently announced process based Exelus technology uses a proprietary in the environment, and it
on a novel solid-acid catalyst is ef- solid-acid catalyst, called ExSact-E, that fa- retains the ability to catalyze
fective at producing high-quality al- cilitates the reaction of isobutane with a vari- at room temperature.
kylate from a variety of feedstocks, ety of light olefins, including ethylene, which No one's ever had a way
including methanol. Technology developer cannot be alkylated with liquid-acid cata- to create a large enough
Exelus Inc. (Fairfield, N.J.; www.exelusinc. lysts. The ExSact-E catalyst is an engineered amount of this hydrogenase,
com) says its technology converts methanol zeolite catalyst that has optimized acid sites, despite its incredible poten-
and mixed-butanes to high-octane alkylate. and an innovative pore structure that mini- tial for biofuel production.
The process, known as M2Alk, is designed mizes deactivation of the catalyst by coking, But now we've got a method
to stabilize and produce high
to enable petroleum refiners to process according to Mitrajit Mukherjee, president of
quantities of the material
lighter natural-gas-derived feeds. At current Exelus. The catalyst has much better stability and enormous increases in
U.S. methanol and butane prices, M2Alk than conventional zeolite catalysts, the com- efficiency, says Douglas.
produces high-octane alkylate well below pany adds, allowing the use of a fixed-bed
current gasoline prices. reactor. The catalyst also eliminates the for- H2 FROM FORMIC ACID
Alkylate, a major component of modern mation of acid-soluble oils, which is typical In Japan, there are three major
gasoline that burns cleanly and reduces with liquid-acid catalysts, Mukherjee says. hydrogen-carrier systems
knocking in engines, is conventionally pro- The catalyst is easily regenerated using hy- being developed for future
duced by reacting isobutane contained in drogen, and can be used for alkylation with hydrogen-fuel filling-station
mixed butanes with C3 to C5 olefins using several feedstocks under a variety of con- applications that are based
liquid-acid catalysts, such as HF or H2SO4. ditions. Mixed butanes are components of on either methylcyclohexane,
Because of the large volumes of liquid acids natural gas liquids, while light olefins come ammonia or liquefied H2. For
required and the associated safety and en- from a variety of sources, including from example, methycyclohexane
vironmental risks, considerable R&D has fluid-catalytic cracking (FCC) units at petro- stores H2 when converted
been aimed at developing solid-acid cata- leum refineries, as well as from methanol,
(Continues on p. 8)
lysts for alkylation. bioethanol and steam crackers.
Note: For more information, circle the 56-digit number on p. 62, or use the website designation.

Using air and hydrostatic pressure to
to methylcyclohexane, and
then releases H2 when
store energy underwater
needed. Now, a promising
C
alternative H2 carrier, based onsisting of a land- Air In Air out
on formic acid, is being devel- based mechanical
oped by the group of Hajime facility and under- Motor Comp Expander Gen
Kawanami at the Research water pipelines and
Institute for Chemical Pro- accumulators, the underwa-
cess Technology, National ter compressed-air energy-
Institute of Advanced Indus- storage (UCAES) system Cold Hot tank
trial Science and Technology tank
from Hydrostor Inc. (To-
(Sendai City, Japan; https://
ronto, Ont., Canada; www. HXer
unit.aist.go.jp/cpt/034_
cpt-mfc_en.html). The re-
hydrostor.ca) takes electric-
searchers have developed a ity (potentially excess solar
Accumulator
catalyst, based on an iridium or wind energy) and uses it Thermal enhancement option
(concentrated solar, photovoltaics,
complex, that selectively to run a compressor, which natural gas, diesel, and others)
decomposes formic acid at pressurizes atmospheric air,
a temperature of less than while also enabling the capture of the heat and sizing the compressor and turbo-
100C, to produce H2 at very of compression. Once the pressure of the expander, explains Hydrostor CEO Curtis
high pressure (greater than air is equal to the hydrostatic pressure of VanWalleghem. The systems use standard
120 MPa). This temperature the nearby body of water where the accu- 12-in. pipelines, and multiple lines can be
is significantly lower than the
mulators are located, the air is sent through installed in parallel based on pressure-drop
200C needed to generate
H2 from cyclohexane-based
the pipeline to the accumulators, where it requirements. The amount of storage capac-
H2 carriers, and the formation is stored until the UCAES system needs ity required determines the required number
of pressurized H2 is advanta- to produce energy. At this time, a valve is of accumulators, which are available in either
geous in refueling vehicles. opened, allowing the weight of the water to a flexible, balloon-like version or a rigid ce-
The catalyst has a high turn- push the air back through the pipeline to a ment version. The mechanical nature of this
over frequency (1,800 h1) at network of heat exchangers, an expander energy-storage technique leads to a much
40 MPa, and generates H2 and eventually a generator. Since the direc- longer lifetime and lower costs than battery-
and CO2 at a very fast rate (1.2 tion of airflow is controlled by simply open- based technologies, says VanWalleghem
MPa/s per gram of metal). The ing a valve, this allows for black start After four months of construction, the
H2 can easily be recovered
the system can be started without using company commissioned its first installation
by a simple gas-liquid sepa-
ration at 10C to give 85%
additional power from the grid. of a UCAES system in Toronto in Novem-
H2. Further cooling to 50C The systems are designed for a specific ber 2015. In the coming months, Hydrostor
removes the remaining CO2, applications needs. A balance between expects to announce a partnership with a
and the product H2 has less water depth and the installations distance global engineering, procurement and con-
than 6 parts per million (ppm) from land is key in selecting the best sites struction (EPC) company.
by volume CO.
WATER PURIFICATION Removing harmful metals from wastewater

University of Cornell re- with crab shells
searchers, led by Will Di-
C
chtel, associate professor opper and cadmium exist naturally availability as waste products. The crushed
of chemistry and chemical in the environment, but human ac- crab shells were able to remove up to 94.7%
biology, have invented a tivity can increase their concentra- of copper (5 mg/L initial concentration), and
porous form of cyclodextrin
tions to a point where they become 85.1% of cadmium (1 mg/L initial concen-
that adsorbs pollutants from
wastewater at rates vastly
a health hazard. Conventional wastewater tration). The conditions (pH = 6, T = 25C)
superior to traditional acti- treatment to remove those metals includes closely matched the wastewater effluent
vated carbon 200 times chemical precipitation, coagulation, floccu- characteristics from industrial mining and
greater in some cases. This lation, ion exchange, membrane filtration, metal refining.
fast adsorption rate means activated carbon, and the use of carbon Crab shells consist of calcium carbonate
the material has the poten- nanotubes. However, naturally occurring bio- and protein (29.19%), ash (40.60%), lipids
tial for very low energy, flow- sorbents can clean up contaminated water (1.35%), and chitin (26.65%) on a dry weight
through water purification at the same efficiency, and with little impact basis. The researchers say the calcium car-
applications, says Dichtel. on the environment and on human health. bonate and chitin in the crab shells are found
The cyclodextrin-containing
Crab shells from Scylla serrata (mud crab) to be the most effective in removing heavy
polymer has a cup shape,
which gives it a large surface
proved to be a good biosorbent for remov- metals, especially copper and lead. This is
area. It features easier, less- ing copper and cadmium from industrial because calcium carbonate forms strong
expensive regeneration, so wastewater by researchers from the Univer- copper-carbonate and lead-carbonate bonds
it can be reused many times siti Putra Malaysia (Serdang, Malaysia; www. when reacting with copper and lead, while
with no loss in performance, upm.edu.my). The researchers chose crab chitin acts as an adsorbent for precipitation in
says Cornell. shells due to their abundance and ready the presence of those metals, they say.
A greener route for making red pigments
E
arly this year, Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; and the existence of rich adsorption sites. However, those
www.lanxess.com) will start production of bright adsorbents tend to aggregate in solution during the ad-
red iron-oxide pigments at its Ningbo, China sorption process, resulting in a decrease of adsorption ef-
production site. The production facility will uti- ficiency. Also, they require centrifugation to separate the
lize for the first time the Ningbo Process, a highly heavy metals from water, which limits their large-scale in-
sustainable production process that the company has dustrial application. Coral-like adsorbents might overcome
developed in a test reactor at its Krefeld-rdingen, Ger- this problem due to their hierarchical micro/nanostructure.
many site. Compared to the traditional Penniman pro- The microsized units are composed of curled nano-sized
duction process, which is already widely used in China units that can resist aggregation, maintain high exposed
for making yellowish-red pigments, the new Lanxess surface area, and they can be easily separated, leading to
technology ensures substantial improvements in terms high adsorption efficiency. Therefore, coral-like aluminum-
of sustainability. The new plant for iron-oxide red pig- based materials should be high efficiency adsorbents.
ments in Ningbo is being designed for an initial synthesis The researchers fabricated the nanoporous -Al2O3 by
capacity of 25,000 m.t./yr. annealing coral-like -AlOOH based on an ethylene-gly-
The Penniman process is one of four routes that are col driven self-curled assembly process. In this process
used for making pigments of various shades of red. The the ethylene-glycol works as a capping agent for the
Penniman red process produces particularly yellowish-red self-curled process of the layered structure of -AlOOH
pigments. However, the process generates oxides of ni- nanoplates, and also as a driving force for their assembly
trogen (NOx) and wastewater that contains dissolved am- through a charge shielding effect.
monium nitrate. While developing a cleaner and more The -Al2O3 unit (approx. 1.5 m) obtained by the
sustainable process, Lanxess also discovered that the group is composed of curled porous (2.5-nm-dia.
conventional route also produced significant quantities of pores) -Al2O3 nanoplates. The material obtained has
nitrous oxide a greenhouse gas (GHG) with a global- a Hg(II) removal capacity 2.5 times higher than that of
warming potential that is 300 times higher than that of commercial Al2O3 nanoparticles and 2.7 times the re-
CO2, as well as being an ozone-depleting compound. moval capacity of hollow structured -Al2O3 prepared
In the conventional process, hematite seeds are first without ethylene glycol.
produced by the reaction of scrap iron with HNO3 at a
temperature of over 90C. The hematite seeds, together
with the scrap iron and ferrous nitrate, are then developed
into pigments at temperatures of 7095C under aeration.
After the pigments are formed, they are filtered, washed,
dried and (if required) milled to the desired size.
The Ningbo Process ensures NOx emissions are re-
duced by over 90%, while also reducing energy con-
sumption by 80%. Significantly less Fe(NO3)2 is required,
which minimizes the amount of dissolved nitrates in the
wastewater. Residual NOx is removed in a nitric-acid-
recovery plant, with the recovered acid reused in the
process. The N2O, which cannot be removed by scrub-
bing, is catalytically converted into N2, O2 and H2O. Heat
from this exothermic reaction is recovered and used in
the process. Finally, a multistage wastewater-treatment
process, including sedimentation, biological denitrifica-
tion, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, produces water
that can be reused as process water.
Coral enhances the removal of

mercury from wastewater
A
convenient route for the fabrication of a bio-mi-
metic, coral-like nanoporous -Al2O3 with a higher
capacity to adsorb Hg(II) in aqueous solution than
those of commercial Al2O3, has been reported by
a research group from Anhui Jianzhu University (Hefei City,
China; www.ahjzu.edu.cn), the Chinese Academy of Sci-
ences (Hefei, China; www.cas.ac.cn), and Monash Univer-
sity (Melbourne, Australia; www.monash.edu).
Generally, nanosized -AlOOH (boehmite) or -Al2O3
adsorbents have been used to remove heavy metals,
such as mercury from water due to their high surface area

Oil-free compressed air at a fraction of the cost
T
he recently commercial- operation at extremely high Permanent Radial air Axial air
magnet motor support support
ized high-speed turbo (HST) speeds (up to 120,000 Spiral casing
compressors from BOGE rpm). Titanium impellers,
Kompressoren Otto Boge located at the end of the
GmbH & Co. KG (BOGE; Bielefield, motor shaft, rotate at high
Germany; www.boge.de) produce speeds and set the intake
100% oil-free (Class 0) compressed air in motion. Thanks to the
air at the highest degree of efficiency geometrical design of the Impeller
and with minimal maintenance effort, impeller in conjunction with
according to Matthias Eichler, head the diffuser and the spiral Intake funnel
of Branding and Marketing Services. housing, the kinetic energy
The HST compressors incorporate is effectively converted to
a number of design features that pressure energy. A sophis-
result in a radical reduction in the ticated cooling concept
number of components compared ensures effective cooling system or oil pump. As a result, the
to conventional compressors. As of the air after each compression footprint of the HST compressors is
a result, BOGE was able to reduce stage, and integrated frequency in- half that of alternative oil-free screw
the total costs, compared to oil-free verters allow the volume flowrate to compressors, and the weight is also
screw compressors, by up to 30%, be infinitely adjusted to the demand reduced by two thirds, says Eichler.
says Eichler. for compressed air. Three models will be available with
The new compressors (diagram) Other features of the HST com- a standard pressure of 7.5 bars.
are driven by a permanent magnet pressor include the following: Only Boge began serial production of the
motor, which is characterized by a one movable part per drive motor HST 55 (7.97 m3/min) in November
very high energy density. Airfoil bear- is installed, as well as significantly 2015, and will follow later this year
ings are used for the first time fewer bearings and seals. There is with the HST 110 (17.97 m3/min)
in the drive shaft, which enables no fan motor, gear unit, lubrication and the HST 220 (36.57 m3/min).
Behold the power of 7.

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Polymer-reaction monitoring
T
here are many critical parameters that are im- materials, such as solid solutions of ceria and zirconia,
portant to monitor and measure in industrial which deliver good performance at high temperatures,
polymer reactions, including molecular weight, but their oxygen storage capacity (OSC) deteriorates at
viscosity and residual monomer concentration. temperatures below 300C. To overcome this drawback,
Typically, polymer reactions are characterized offline and researchers from the group of Naoki Asao at Tohoku Uni-
intermittently in a quality-control laboratory, or via infer- versity (Sendai City, Japan; www.wpi-aimr.tohoku.ac.jp/
ential models and data simulation from spectroscopic asao_labo) have developed a process to fabricate fine
probes. Now, a new technology that allows for direct, nano-rods of CeO2 that have a high OSC at tempera-
online, continuous monitoring of polymerization reac- tures below 200C.
tions has been commercialized by Advanced Polymer To make the nano-rods, a Ce-Al precursor is first cor-
Monitoring Technologies, Inc. (APMT; New Orleans, La.; roded by a selective leaching process, which uses an al-
www.apmtinc.com). APMTs product, called Automatic kaline solution under mild conditions to selectively leach
Continuous Online Monitoring of Polymerization Reac- away the Al and oxidize the Ce, followed by rapid quench-
tions (ACOMP), comes after 18 years of research at ing. The resulting CeO2 nano-rods have diameters of 5 to
Tulane University (New Orleans, La.; www.tulane.edu), 7 nm and specific-surface areas of more than 200 m2/g.
much of it funded by large chemical companies, says They exhibit an OSC of 156 mol O2/g at 200C (81 mol
APMT CEO, Alex Reed. Interest in the technology has O2/g at 100C), which is five times greater than existing
been diverse across many industry sectors, including nano-cube systems at 200C.
both producers of specialty and commodity polymers, The researchers are working to enhance the heat re-
as well as natural products producers, explains Reed, sistance of the developed materials by optimizing the
emphasizing that the ability to make these types of composition, for example by adding functional elements
measurements on fundamental polymer properties on- such as zirconium. In addition to enhancing emission-
line and in near realtime allows manufacturers to more control systems of automobiles, Asao says the nano-
efficiently control the process. rods could also find applications in catalysis, fuel cells,
The ACOMP technology employs a continuous sam- ultraviolet blockers, solar cells and sensors.
pling and conditioning system that extracts a small
stream of polymer from the process. The sample is di-
luted and sent to multiple analytical-grade detectors
for continuous, cross-correlated, non-chromatographic
measurements, which yield a complete picture of the
most important reaction characteristics at each point
in time. Data analysis and reporting functions are built
into ACOMPs software platform. The product has been
vetted on batch, semi-batch and continuous reactors in
both aqueous and organic solvents for a wide variety of
synthetic and biological polymers, says Reed.
APMT collaborated with various partner companies in
industrial instrumentation and automation to commercial-
ize ACOMP. The company is currently working to integrate
ACOMP data into predictive-control models to provide au-
tomatic feedback-control software. The company is also
investigating the use of ACOMP for chromatography-free
online determination of molecular-weight distributions. To
accompany the industrial ACOMP model, APMT is de-
veloping a version specific to research-and-development
(R&D) applications. The company also has a second prod-
uct involving high-throughput light scattering, currently in
growing use for monitoring the stability of biologic drug
formulations in the pharmaceutical industry, including po-
tential process analytical applications in that industry.
These CeO2 nano-rods store a Imagine the Possibilities

lot of O2 at low temperatures
A
utomobile catalytic converters contain cerium-
based co-catalysts to enhance the overall ef-
fectiveness of the converter by absorbing and
releasing oxygen to convert CO into CO2. Exist-
ing emission control systems typically use CeO2-based

Business News
LINEUP Plant Watch Air Liquide enters Colombian industrial-
ICA Fluor to build $1-billion gas market with construction of new plant
AIR LIQUIDE January 6, 2016 Air Liquide (Paris, France;
petroleum-refining facility in Mexico
AIR PRODUCTS January 11, 2016 ICA Fluor, Fluor Corp.s www.airliquide.com) will build and operate
(Irving, Tex.; www.fluor.com) joint venture a new facility consisting of a carbon dioxide
ALBEMARLE
(JV) with Empresas ICA, S.A.B. de C.V. production unit and a cogeneration unit. In
BP (www.ica.com.mx/ir), was authorized by addition, the site will supply nitrogen, electricity,
Pemex to proceed with the engineering, refrigerated water, compressed air and steam.
CB&I
procurement and construction (EPC) of the With an investment of around 40 million,
CELANESE Madero Clean Diesel project at the Madero the Tocancip-based facility is expected to
Refinery in Tamaulipas, Mexico. The project, start up in late 2016.
CNOOC
scheduled for completion in 2018, includes
DOW two 25,000-bbl/d diesel hydrodesulfurization Showa Denko expands production
DUPONT trains and associated facilities, as well as new of high-purity ammonia in Taiwan
hydrogen, sulfur-recovery and sour-water- December 28, 2015 Showa Denko K.K.
DYADIC treatment plants. (SDK; Tokyo, Japan; www.sdk.co.jp) has
FLUOR expanded its capacity to supply high-purity
Technip awarded contract by Air Products ammonia, which is widely used in production
HUBER processes for electronic materials, by stepping
for Baytown hydrogen plant
INDORAMA January 8, 2016 Technip (Paris, France; up the production capacity of a plant owned
www.technip.com) was awarded a contract by its manufacturing subsidiary in Taiwan from
LANXESS 2,500 to 3,500 m.t./yr.
by Air Products (Lehigh Valley, Pa.; www.
PEMEX airproducts.com) to provide technology,
engineering and procurement services for a Dow announces startup of commercial
PPG
grassroots hydrogen plant in Baytown, Tex. operations for PDH unit in Texas
SAINT-GOBAIN The plant will produce 3.5 million m3/d of December 21, 2015 The Dow Chemical Co.
hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The project (Midland, Mich.; www.dow.com) announced
SHELL CHEMICAL
is scheduled to come online in 2018. that its new propane dehydrogenation (PDH)
SHOWA DENKO unit located at the companys Oyster Creek
SIBUR PPG to increase precipitated silica site in Freeport, Tex., has begun commercial
production capacity at Lake Charles plant operations. Capacity for the new propylene
SINOPEC
January 7, 2016 PPG Industries, Inc. production facility is 750,000 m.t./yr, making
SOLVAY (Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com) is increasing it the largest on-demand propylene facility of
precipitated silica production capacity at its its kind, according to Dow.
TECHNIP
Lake Charles, La., manufacturing plant by more
than 10,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). PPG Shell-CNOOC JV to expand ethylene and
plans to achieve the capacity increase through derivative units at Nanhai complex
debottlenecking projects that are expected to December 16, 2015 Shell Chemical LP
come online in the second half of 2016. (Houston; www.shell.com/chemical) announced
that Shell Nanhai B.V. and China National
Lanxess starts up expanded plastics- Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) have signed an
compounding line in North Carolina agreement to expand their existing 50-50 JV
January 7, 2016 Lanxess AG (Cologne, in Huizhou, China. The expansion includes
Germany; www.lanxess.com) has started up a the construction of an ethylene cracker and
second production line for high-performance ethylene derivatives units, including a styrene
plastics compounding at its facility in Gastonia, monomer and propylene oxide plant. The
N.C. The new line represents an investment new cracker will increase Nanhais ethylene
of about $15 million and doubles the sites production capacity by over 1 million m.t./yr,
production capacity from 20,000 to 40,000 about double its current capacity.
m.t./yr. In the plant, the basic polymers
polyamide and polybutylene terephthalate Mergers & Acquisitions
are mixed and refined with special additives Solvays phosphorus-based water
and glass fiber. additives business acquired by Italmatch
January 12, 2016 Solvay SA (Brussels,
CB&I awarded contract for Belgium; www.solvay.com) has entered into
polypropylene unit in Heibei, China an agreement under which its business unit
January 6, 2016 CB&I (The Woodlands, consisting of desalination and water additives
Tex.; www.cbi.com) was awarded a contract based on phosphonates and phosphonic
by Hebei Haiwei Group for a polypropylene unit acid will be acquired by Italmatch Chemicals
Look for more to be built in Jingxian, Hebei Province, China. Group. In particular, the agreement covers
latest news on The unit will use CB&Is Novolen technology to the acquisition of all products, trademarks,
chemengonline.com produce 200,000 m.t./yr of polypropylene. patents and client portfolio from Solvay.
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BP to sell petrochemicals plant Albemarle finalizes sale of its Dyadic closes sale of Industrial
in Alabama to Indorama metal sulfides business Technology business to DuPont
January 6, 2016 BP plc (London; January 5, 2016 Albemarle Corp. January 4, 2016 Dyadic International,
www.bp.com) has agreed to sell its (Baton Rouge, La.; www.albemarle. Inc. (Jupiter, Fla.; www.dyadic.
petrochemical complex in Decatur, com) has completed the sale of its com) closed the sale of its Industrial
Ala., to Indorama Ventures Public Co. Tribotecc metal sulfides business Technology business to DuPont
(Bangkok, Thailand; www.indorama. to Treibacher Industrie AG. The (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont.com)
net). The parties anticipate that the transaction includes sites in Vienna for $75 million in cash. The acquired
deal will close in early 2016. The facility and Arnoldstein, Austria, and Triboteccs business will be integrated into DuPonts
can produce purified terephthalic proprietary sulfide synthesis process. Industrial Biosciences division.
acid (PTA), para-xylene and Financial terms of the transaction were
naphthalene dicarboxylate. not disclosed. Saint-Gobain acquires specialty-
tubing company in Brazil
January 4, 2016 Saint-Gobain
(Courbevoie, France ; www.saint-gobain.
com) has acquired SG Plasticos, a
producer of specialty extruded tubing
located in So Paulo, Brazil. SG
Plasticos provides differentiated and
customized solutions related to fluid
transfers in many markets.
Celanese forms JV for cellulose-

based specialty products
December 22, 2015 Celanese Corp.
(Irving, Tex.; www.celanese.com)
has entered into a memorandum of
understanding with China-based Push
Group Co. to form a new JV focused
on the production of cellulose-acetate-
based specialty products, including
plastics and films. The execution of
the agreement is expected to occur
before the end of March 2016.
Huber to purchase two business

units from Albemarle
December 17, 2015 Albemarle
Corp. has signed an agreement to
sell its Mineral Flame Retardants and
Specialty Chemicals businesses to
Huber Engineered Materials (Atlanta,
Ga.; www.hubermaterials.com). The
transaction includes Albemarles
Martinswerk GmbH subsidiary
located in Bergheim, Germany and
Albemarles 50% stake in Magnifin
Magnesiaprodukte GmbH, a JV with
RHI AG at Breitenau, Austria.
Sinopec acquires minority

stake in Sibur
December 17, 2015 Sibur (Moscow;
www.sibur.com) and China Petroleum
& Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) announced
the successful completion of Sinopecs
10% minority investment in Sibur as a
strategic investor. The investment will
lead to the sharing of joint expertise and
resources, and Sinopec will have the
right to nominate a representative to
Siburs Board of Directors.
Circle 9 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-09 Mary Page Bailey
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Newsfront
Painting it Green
Driven by consumer demand and regulatory pressure, paint and coating formulators, along with
makers of chemical additives for those markets, have brought to the forefront products with
improved environmental and health performance
IN BRIEF
M
odern paints and coatings are AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands;
complex mixtures of film-form- www.akzonobel.com).
LOW-VOC PAINT
ing substances, fillers, pigments The technology of environmentally
PERFORMANCE
and a host of additives (see box, friendly paints has expanded significantly
ZERO-VOC PAINTS p. 17). Many of the compounds traditionally over the last 10 years and this technology
NEW ADDITIVES used in paint and coating formulations pres- expansion was enabled by innovation,
ent significant environmental and human says Murray Hemsley, global market leader
DIMENSIONS OF health risks. Spurred by tightening regula- for Architectural & Protective Coatings at
SUSTAINABILITY
tions and growing demand for healthy and Eastman Chemical Co. (Kingsport, Tenn.;
ADDING FUNCTIONALITY sustainable products on the part of end- www.eastmanchemical.com). The primary
users, the paints and coatings industry has focus across both architectural and indus-
delivered a wide range of materials with trial coating applications has been on tech-
significantly improved environmental and nology that enables maximum performance
health properties. And thanks to a contin- while still meeting stringent volatile organic
ued focus on innovation, many of the newer compound (VOC) and emission require-
environmentally friendly paints and coatings ments, he remarks.
have begun to achieve parity with conven- In addition to paint formulators developing
tional products in performance. better methods for combining paint compo-
The drivers behind the development of nents, the companies supplying them are
sustainable paints are really a combination also now looking for ways to deliver more
of both regulatory pressure and consumer environmentally sustainable chemicals to
demand, says Chris Connelly, director of use in their formulations. AkzoNobels Cook
brand management at Benjamin Moore says his company, along with others, are
(Montvale, N.J.; www.benjaminmoore.com). now pushing harder on suppliers to engage
The development started as a way to com- in more sustainable practices.
ply with environmental regulations, but now,
consumers, contractors, and facility man- Low-VOC paint performance
agers are more aware of the social and en- Historically, one of the major environmental
vironmental impacts of products, and are challenges associated with paints and coat-
demanding paints with lower environmental ings has been due to high levels of VOCs
and health impact. and other species that can have negative
In general, the advancements in paint and effects on indoor air quality, contribute to
coating technology related to environmen- smog formation and adversely affect long-
tal impact have come as a result of several term human health (see box, p. 18).
factors, including the development of better Modern paint makers have moved away
formulation technology and the availability from the old model of making paints with
of new additive options. The current state solvents like ketones, toluene and other
of the art is a result of an accumulation of organic solvents, explains William Golton,
many small innovations that have added up a former industry consultant and former
to large advancements in the environmen- analytical chemist at DuPont. Now, all the
tal performance of paints, says Chris Cook, VOCs in most paints come from the addi-
director of the Planet Possible program at tives, and in many cases, the high-VOC ad-
ditives are now being substituted by
higher-boiling compounds that have PAINT COMPONENTS
the same effect on the paint proper-
P
aint can be considered a liquid mixture that, when applied to a substrate, converts to
ties, he says. a solid film. Paints are varied and can be very complex. Most paints are composed of
AkzoNobels Chris Cook con- the following four major categories for paint ingredients: binders (the film-forming com-
tinues, The development of more ponent); the solvent (to allow the application of the liquid to a surface); pigments (to impart
sustainable paints is an extension of opacity and color); and additives (to modify application and finish properties).
the long-running trend to greener Binders. Paint binders bind the pigment molecules to form a film and bind the film to the sub-
strate. Binders are usually synthetic or natural resins, such as alkyds, acrylics, vinyl-acrylics,
products, and the movement away vinyl acetate/ethylene, polyurethanes, polyesters epoxies and others. Binders are sometimes
from solvent-based products is ex- categorized by the mechanisms for drying or curing. The binder material often surrounds
panding from wall paints to the trim particles of pigment materials. The drying process involves the evaporation of the solvent, as
and wood-care products market, well as typically an oxidative cross-linking process for the polymers in the binder.
including stains, varnishes, lacquers Solvents. The solvents carry the nonvolatile parts of the paint and control the viscosity of
and polyurethanes. Paints have the paint during the application process. For waterborne paints, water is the solvent, while
solvent-borne paints can have a variety of organic compounds, including aliphatic hydrocar-
largely made that switch, already,
bons, aromatic compounds, ketones, alcohols, esters, ethers and others.
but other product sectors are doing Pigments. Pigments are generally granular solids that are incorporated to give the paint color.
the same. Titanium dioxide, pthalo blue and red iron oxide are often used to give paint opacity and color.
Lowering VOC levels in paints has Engineered molecules and dyes are often used in paints as well
been a central area of innovation Additives. Usually added in small amounts, paint additives can have a significant impact on
for the paint industry, says Golton. paint properties. Common categories for additives include rheology modifiers, surfactants,
For low-VOC automotive finishes, driers, foam-control agents, anti-settling agents, wetting agents, biocides and others.
it remains more difficult to achieve
comparable performance to solvent- from a solvent-borne product to a dustry, low-VOC is no longer a spe-
based products at the same cost waterborne product than it is to sub- cialty product offering; it is a must-
than it is for paint at this point, he stitute additives in a product that is have option for all brands in the
says. The challenge there is that it already waterborne. space, says Mary Ellen Shivetts,
is a bigger technological leap to go In the architectural-coatings in- senior product stewardship man-
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VOC HEALTH EFFECTS, LIMITS AND MEASUREMENT board, but especially at the higher
price points." One issue that remains
A
lthough definitions for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can vary depending on the
context, the key aspects for paints and coatings involve organic compounds with low
for low-VOC is glossiness a high-
boiling points that can undergo chemical reactions in the atmosphere as a result of gloss finish with no brush marks is
interaction with ultraviolet radiation. Aliphatic hydrocarbons, acetone, ethyl acetate, glycol still hard to achieve with water-based
ethers and others are VOCs that have been used as ingredients in paint and coating formula- products, Cook notes.
tions. Health effects of VOCs generally depend on the concentration in the air, and on how
long and how often a person breathes the air. Acute effects can be eye, nose and throat irrita- Zero-VOC paints
tion, nausea, headaches and exacerbation of asthma symptoms. Chronic exposure to high
While the proliferation of low-VOC
levels of VOCs can increase the risk of certain types of cancer, liver and kidney damage and
the risk of damage to the central nervous system. For more information on health and VOCs,
(designated by VOC levels lower than
visit the Indoor Air Quality Scientific Findings Resource Bank (iaqscience.lbl.gov). 250 g/L) coatings products contin-
In the U.S., VOCs in paints are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; ues, there is a considerable push to
Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov). Federal VOC limits are now set at 250 grams per liter (g/L) achieve much lower levels than that
for flat paints and 380 g/L for others. The establishment and evolution of VOC limits for paint in many market segments. Paint sell-
has seen a large degree of input from industry. The whole history of VOCs in paint is a good ers such as Benjamin Moore, Sher-
example of how industry can work with government to produce win-win situations, Golton
win-Williams and several others have
says. There are now much better-performing paints with much lower VOC content. So the
public got less pollution and the paint manufacturers got better paint. pushed the VOC levels lower, to a
Some states and regions have lowered the VOC levels for paints that can be legally sold point where they can be marketed
in their areas beyond those required by U.S. federal regulations. For example, Californias as zero-VOC paints. Truly zero-
standards are more stringent: 150 g/L for nonflat finishes and 100 g/L for flat. In areas where VOC paints do not exist, says former
smog can be a public health problem, the limits go further. The South Coast Air Quality Man- industry consultant Golton, but the
agement District (SCAQMD; Diamond Bar, Calif.; www.aqmd.gov), the air-pollution control
levels in these paints are less than 5
agency for the areas surrounding Los Angeles, has set an even more ambitious limit 50 g/L
of VOC for all finishes. So-called super-compliant products meet a standard of less than 10
g/L of VOCs in order to be classified
g/L, explains Sam Atwood of the SCAQMD. He says that over the past 20 years, more than as zero-VOC.
50 ton/d of VOC emissions have been reduced from architectural coatings through four major Benjamin Moores zero-VOC prod-
rule amendments and a fee/reporting rule adopted in 2008, which has provided incentive to uct lines Natura and Ultra Spec are
manufacturers to further lower VOC emissions. among the growing offerings. In
Legislation to limit and lower VOC emissions are becoming more common elsewhere also. the past you could expect lower
The European Union has reduced VOC limits in regulations put forth in 2007 and again in
levels of durability, or perhaps dif-
2010. Also, its REACH legislation on chemical toxicity affects VOC use. China is moving to
limit VOCs because of air-quality issues resulting in part from rapid development. ferent application characteristics [for
Measurement. Measurement of VOCs has historically been an imprecise process. EPAs zero-VOC], says Glenn Cooper, vice
Method 24 is said to be unreliable for paints with very low levels of VOCs. At lower VOC levels, president of product development for
the test has had a difficult time achieving accurate measurements. In its new GS-11 standard Benjamin Moore, "but we have really
(see box, p. 20), GreenSeal says it has incorporated a more direct method into the standard conquered those issues now.
that produces a more accurate reading as the amount gets smaller. The test is estimated to Health risks also have decreased.
be 10 times more effective and improves further as the VOC gets closer to zero
The old Test Method 24 was set up a long time ago, when a lot of the companies didn't
The zero-VOC Natura brand, for ex-
have big laboratories, says former consultant Golton. That meant it had to be easy to do, ample, has been certified asthma-
but the rudimentary test was never intended to measure VOC levels below 100 g/L. A newer and allergy-friendly by the Asthma
test method, ASTM D 6886 is based on gas chromatography, and has gained wide accep- and Allergy Foundation of America,
tance in the U.S. A similar method is the standard in Europe. Cooper notes.
The SCAQMD is aware of those drawbacks and uses Method 313-91, which is supposed to PPG offers the PPG Pittsburgh
be more accurate for no- and low-VOC paints. Although companies acknowledge the unreli-
Paints Wonder-Pure brand, a zero-
ability of Method 24, it remains the only method that can be used for certification. The EPA
has not yet revised Method 24 to give manufacturers another option. VOC interior latex paint and related
primer with low odor, which allows
painters and maintenance profes-
ager for PPG Architectural Coatings two may not be necessary, says sionals to paint in occupied spaces
(Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppgac.com) AkzoNobels Cook. with little disruption, PPG says.
in the U.S. and Canada. Eastmans Murray Hemsley
The shift to new materials has re- agrees: Companies understand that New additives
quired much effort to negotiate the consumers are not usually willing to Although typically accounting for
tradeoffs that arise among the vari- trade off quality for sustainability, and only 0.55.0 wt.% of a paint, ad-
ous attributes of paints and coat- through hard work and formulation ditives play a critical role in the
ings. In the past, the perception expertise, paint formulators are very paints properties, including those
was that a better environmental close to matching the performance having to do with environmental
profile necessarily meant a sac- of conventional paints [with their and health impact. Research and
rifice of performance, but the in- low-VOC products]. development investment over the
dustry has improved significantly in AkzoNobels Cook says perfor- past several years on new addi-
both environmental and paint per- mance improvements for low-VOC tives for paints and coatings is now
formance, a tradeoff between the paints have been made across the bearing fruit. Chemical companies
are offering new options for paint ings because of their excellent finish formulation of pigmented waterborne
formulators to reduce environmen- properties. But low-VOC regulations alkyd coatings with comparable dry
tal impact. have reduced their use in many re- times, adhesion and hardness to
For example, Eastmans MAK gions, Dow says, and waterborne those of conventional solvent-borne
(methyl n-amyl ketone) and MIAK alkyd emulsions haven't matched the alkyd coatings.
(methyl isoamyl ketone) solvents performance of solvent-borne alkyd In the architectural coatings mar-
help offer routes to reduce VOC systems. Dow has developed tech- ket, Dow has also developed binder
emissions in coatings applications. nology to disperse traditional high- materials that can be formulated at
MAK and MIAK are high-boiling viscosity, short-oil alkyds with minimal lower VOC levels, but that maintain
specialty ketones with good sol- surfactant and no polymer modifica- the hardness properties of a higher-
vent activity and slow evaporation tion. These attributes allow for the VOC paint. Typical approaches to
rates. They allow paints to achieve
higher solids and lower emissions
while maintaining excellent flow
and leveling properties and optimal
spray viscosities, Eastman says.
Eastmans Hemsley says there
have been innovations in ultra-low
VOC and zero-emission coales-
cents, molecules that help emul-
sion-based paints form a film as the
Perfection is
water evaporates. Also, specialty Better Dispersion and Control
cross-linking monomers have been
introduced to polymer manufac-
turers, which enable the polymers
contained in paint to perform at a
higher level while delivering low-
VOC-emission formulations.
Eastmans Texanol and Optifilm
products allow water-borne poly-
mers to be used in architectural
paints rather than requiring an or-
ganic solvent-based system. Op-
tifilm enhancer 400 allows the film-
forming mechanism to take place
without emissions, Hemsley says.
Texanol ester alcohol helps the dis-
crete water-borne polymer particles
to coalesce and form a strong du-
rable film, he adds.
For industrial coating applications,
Eastman cellulose-ester products, Perfecting Particle Size
such as the family of Eastman Solus The Sturtevant Micronizer jet mill reduces the
performance additives, allow for rhe- particle size of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides,
ology control and metallic flake ori- insecticides and dry chemicals to narrow particle
entation within higher-solids, lower- size distributions of 0.25 microns or larger without
emission coatings. heat buildup.
Dow Coating Materials (Philadel-
Better control properties - dispersion & reactivity
phia, Pa.; www.dowcoatingmateri-
Particle-on-particle impact, no heat generation
als.com) has also introduced several
paint-additive products that can help Simple design, easy to clean
reduce environmental impact and Abrasion resistant for long life
lower VOC content. For the industrial 348 Circuit Street Hanover, MA 02339
coatings market, Dow has developed Phone: 800.992.0209 Fax: 781.829.6515 sales@sturtevantinc.com
technology for improving the perfor-
mance of waterborne alkyd coatings.
Alkyds are polyesters modified by www.sturtevantinc.com
adding fatty acid molecules, and they
have been used for industrial coat- Circle 23 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-23

THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION mulations and improving the logistics
for upstream raw materials.
R
eflecting the growing consumer demand for products with positive sustainability char-
acteristics, third-party certification organizations focused on sustainability have be-
In addition, advances in durabil-
come a major factor driving the development and use of low-VOC paints and coatings. ity can make a difference longer
An example is the not-for-profit organization GreenSeal (Washington, D.C.; www.greenseal. lifetimes for paint mean that even a
org), which released in December 2015 an updated and expanded standard for architectural product with a higher environmental
coatings. Knowns as GS-11, the revised standard is designed to encourage paint formula- impact initially could be better overall
tors to use chemicals with less risk to human health and the environment. In order to meet if the paint lasts longer than the other
the standard, and thus be able to earn GreenSeals emblem on product labels, the products
products and does not have to be
must restrict carcinogens, toxins affecting reproduction, hazardous air pollutants, heavy met-
als, formaldehyde, certain phthalates and other chemicals, GreenSeal says. The standard
applied as often.
also ensures that certified paints, coatings, stains and finishes still deliver the same functional As the low- and zero-VOC paint
performance that consumers expect from conventional architectural coatings, GreenSeal space progresses, we find that con-
adds. Green Seals certification process involves criteria based on scientific research, an in- sumers will be looking at additional
depth review of product data, manufacturing procedures and claims on product labels, and ways to be environmentally friendly,
an on-site audit of facilities. Periodic monitoring is required to maintain certification. such as using recycled paints or
Another example of third-party certification comes from the U.S. Green Building Council
paints made from bio-renewable
(USGBC; Washington, D.C.; www.usgbc.org), the organization responsible for LEED (Lead-
ership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in new buildings. The LEED rating resources, or participating in post-
system offers a credit toward LEED certification for buildings that use low- or zero-VOC paints consumer paint recycling programs,
in construction or renovation projects. The credit covers VOC emissions into indoor air and says PPGs Shivetts
the VOC content of materials, as well as the testing methods by which indoor VOC emissions
are determined. Adding functionality
The USGBCs Brendan Owens says the organization is trying to guide project teams to
Another focus for developing better
make better decisions related to sustainability. In terms of paints, we are looking at primarily
two areas: the environmental impact of the manufacturing process, and the environmental
environmental performance in paints
and human health impact of the paint when applied. The main criteria for paint are emissions, and coatings is part of a wider trend
material sourcing, sourcing disclosures, disclosure of chemicals and optimization of material to add specific functionality to paints
ingredients to minimize the use of environmentally problematic chemistries where possible, and coatings.
Owens explains. For example, AkzoNobel has de-
He notes that 80% of the over 70,000 projects that have applied for LEED certification earn veloped exterior paint technology that
the paint credit. LEED is a huge driver for the built environment now, and the offerings for
helps buildings stay cooler in warm
low-VOC and environmentally friendly paint products are better than ever before.
weather, and thus lower the energy
costs associated with cooling them.
develop lower-VOC paint formula- process, rather than a condensation AkzoNobels KeepCool and SunRe-
tions can result in films with a tacky polymerization reaction. Perstorps flect brands are designed for use
feel. Dow investigated post-film-for- polycaprolactone products, known in tropical climates, and have been
mation polymer crosslinking chemis- as Capa, have low viscosity, so they used in Asia since 2014. By carefully
tries and worked on optimizing par- can act as solvents in paint, lowering selecting pigment molecules that do
ticle morphology for latex particles. the need for VOC-containing compo- not absorb infrared (IR) radiation, the
The companys optimized binders, nents, James says. exterior paint can reflect more IR and
including its RHOPLEX 800h Binder, Lanxess AG (Cologne, Germany; prevent it from heating up the build-
showed a significant improvement in www.lanxess.com) has taken aim at ing walls. External testing has shown
hardness profile. improving the environmental impact that the new AkzoNobel paints can
In Oct. 2015, Dow introduced RO- of processes to make inorganic paint reflect up to 90% more IR radiation
VACE 10 Emulsion, a low-VOC emul- pigments. Specifically, the company than comparable exterior paints.
sion with high (55%) solids content. will start production of red pigments This could translate into energy sav-
The product was designed for easy using a new, more sustainable pro- ings of 10% on a 15-story building,
processability and requires little or no cess. For more, see p. 9 (this issue). or higher in a small bungalow, Ak-
coalescing solvents, allowing lower zoNobel says. Another example of
VOC content, the company says. Dimensions of sustainability an environmentally relevant additive
In Europe, Perstorp AB (Stock- Although a key issue, VOC content is the companys Dulux Guardian
holm, Sweden; www.perstorp.com) in paint is not the only concern for coating products, which can absorb
has expanded production of its poly- environmental impact. In addition to air pollutant species by incorporating
caprolactone polyols products, which VOC levels, durability, recyclability, charcoal additives into the paint.
can be used as a building block to functionality and other factors can Many of PPGs zero-VOC products,
make waterborne polyurethanes have an impact on paint green- including its PPG Paint Pure Perfor-
with low VOC profile, David James, ness and sustainability profile. Ak- mance brand, incorporate a mold-
VP of innovation surface technology, zoNobels Cook remarks that making and mildew-resistant compound that
Perstorp, explains. Polycaprolactone paints more environmentally friendly makes the dry paint film resistant to a
polyols are a type of polyester made can involve lowering paints carbon range of mold species. n
with a ring-opening polymerization footprint by using lower-carbon for- Scott Jenkins
Newsfront
Sealing Solutions
to the Rescue
Improved seals, gaskets and valve packings stand up to
tougher process conditions
A.W. Chesterton
IN BRIEF
C
hemical pro- nents that are leaking
cessors expect meaning their seals,
SEALING CHALLENGES
more from their packings and gaskets
seals, gaskets and find better alter- ADVANCED
and valve packings than natives if they are not TECHNOLOGIES
ever before, as seal- meeting the current or REDUCING EMISSIONS
ing components must expected regulatory re-
meet tighter and stricter quirements. DESIGNING FOR HARSH
PROCESSES
regulations regarding In addition to a dras-
emissions, stand up to tic reduction in permis-
tougher process condi- sible emission limits
tions and perform for over the last few years,
greater lengths of time chemical processors
in the extreme seal- are also faced with the
ing environments of the prospect of dealing with
chemical process in- process changes aimed
dustries (CPI). Failure of at boosting their pro-
sealing elements is not FIGURE 1. Certified Low-E valve packings, like Ches-
duction in an effort to
tolerated because the terton 1622 valve packing, can help reduce fugitive remain competitive in
impact can be costly emissions from valves. This high-performance, graph- a global economy. For
and catastrophic. ite valve-stem packing blocks valve fugitive emis- many, this means in-
sions to below consent-decree requirements
creasing process tem-
Sealing challenges peratures, which cre-
According to industry experts, there are ates extremely harsh process environments.
several significant challenges facing chemi- Everyone wants to increase their efficiency,
cal processors and their sealing applica- which is often accomplished by increas-
tions. The first major concern is an ever-de- ing their process temperatures, explains
creasing allowable limit on emissions. While Andreas Schmiedel, technical manager of
methane is a hot-button issue for the petro- life science and process industries for Eu-
leum refining industry at the moment, there rope with Trelleborg Sealing Solutions (Fort
is a general emphasis on the reduction of Wayne, Ind.; www.tss.trelleborg.com). Not
hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds only are the higher process temperatures a
(VOCs) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- challenge for sealing components, but when
sions throughout the CPI. you increase the temperature, the media
Right now there is a major focus on the that is running through the process often be-
proposed reduction of methane emissions comes more aggressive, as well, which can
in the oil-and-gas sector, but there is a gen- also be very challenging and damaging to
eral emphasis from the [U.S.] Environmen- the seals and gaskets used in process.
tal Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, Along with the stressors of lower emissions
D.C.; www.epa.gov) on VOC emissions, and more difficult process conditions, there
as well, notes Henri Azibert, technical di- is also a need for longer intervals between
rector with the Fluid Sealing Association seal maintenance, as workforces continue to
(FSA; Wayne, Pa.; www.fluidsealing.com). shrink, uptime demands increase and costs
Because VOCs are found throughout the must continually be reduced, meaning that
CPI, processors need to look at the compo- the lifetime of seals, gaskets and valve pack-

Evonik Industries
manager can tell you that when a seal

leaks, it can bring the whole plant
down, result in drastic fines or cre-
ate dangerous working conditions,
says Raman Hanjra, global product
line manager, stationary equipment
sealing, with A.W. Chesterton Co.
(Groveland, Mass.; www.chesterton.
com). This is where sealing solu-
tion manufacturers, working with end
users, can devise sealing solutions
that do their job and do it well so that
end users can continue to focus on
their core business without worrying
about seal failure.
Matt Tones, applications engineer
with Garlock Sealing Technologies
(Palmyra, N.Y.; www.garlock.com),
FIGURE 2. Evoniks Vestakeep 5000, a ductile polyetheretherketone (PEEK), is available as a granule for agrees: We recognize that there are
injection molding and extrusion to fulfill the design challenges for seals and gaskets. A recent develop- a lot of sealing challenges in todays
ment on that initial material, Vestakeep 5000 HCM, can also be adapted to improve the sliding and wear process environment, so we have to
resistance needed in some applications
develop products that meet the regu-
ings must be extended. This makes Advanced technologies latory, process and reliability require-
for a tricky situation because we are While seals, such as bolted joint ments. Essentially, its our goal to build
expected to provide materials that seals and valve-stem seals in a pro- a better mousetrap. We are familiar
do a better job in a more difficult en- cess plant, may not appear to be that with and know how to effectively rec-
vironment, but last longer than ever significant and, as a result, may be ommend the right materials and de-
before, notes Schmiedel. neglected, any maintenance or plant signs for these applications, so the next
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Trelleborg Sealing Technologies Garlock Sealing Technologies
FIGURE 3. A PTFE-based sealing product, Turcon

Variseal Ultra-Clean from Trelleborg, was de-
veloped to stand up to the harsh environments
created by CIP, SIP and other high-temperature,
aggressive sanitary environments
step is to take those materials and de-

signs, innovate and improve the exist-
ing properties, which are already very FIGURE 4. Garlocks THERMa-PUR is a proprietary new
good, and make them even better. gasketing material designed for use in high-temperature
And, for each challenge, there is sealing applications. It provides sealing at temperatures
often an innovative solution available. up to 1,832F, where gaskets of other materials, such as
graphite, cannot survive
Reducing emissions tories and installation errors caused This is because brittle material has
Its no secret that EPA continues to by using multiple types of rings in been found to fail in shorter opera-
tighten regulations regarding allow- various orientations. It is suitable for tion times as it has a poor resistance
able limits on emissions of all types use in a variety of applications to seal against dynamic stresses, he says.
of pollutants. As part of the regula- light and heavy hydrocarbons, VOCs Another criteria gaining importance
tory requirement, processors must and most non-oxidizing chemicals is the wear resistance of the material.
have programs in place to measure in the hydrocarbon processing and A low sliding coefficient translates
and monitor emission levels at po- chemical industries. into low energy consumption.
tential points of emission, such as To meet this myriad of require-
valves and flanges, and if they find Designing for harsh processes ments, Evonik has developed Vesta-
a component leak above a certain One of the biggest concerns about keep 5000 (Figure 2), which is a
level, they are required to fix it. This sealing components in the chemical ductile polyetheretherketone (PEEK)
can be a costly method that requires industry is their ability to stand up to available as a granule for injection
a lot of labor, but its very effective, corrosion and to resist chemicals, molding and extrusion to fulfill the
notes FSAs Azibert. notes Azibert. There are different design challenges for seals and gas-
One of the ways to reduce the materials for these applications and kets. A recent development on that
emission level at any given point, manufacturers continue to develop initial material, Vestakeep 5000 HCM,
and, in turn, reduce the amount of fillers and new formulations on the can also be adapted to improve the
effort to remain in compliance, is to existing products to keep up with the sliding and wear resistance needed
employ specialized low-emission demands of the process industry. in some applications.
(Low-E) sealing solutions in problem Uwe Kannengiesser, global tech- Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is
areas, says Ron Frisard, field prod- nical coordinator and key account another material commonly used
uct manager, stationary equipment, manager for Vestakeep, with Evonik to meet the demands of the CPI,
with A.W. Chesterton. Industries AG (Essen, Germany; including chemical resistance, and
He says that using certified Low-E www.evonik.com), agrees. There is sealing product manufacturers are
valve packings, like Chesterton 1622 an increasing demand for a mate- constantly developing new formula-
valve packing (Figure 1), can help re- rial that can operate in a high-heat tions, blends and configurations to
duce fugitive emissions from valves. environment, but also provide excel- stand up to challenging conditions,
This high-performance, graphite lent resistance against corrosive and such as higher temperatures, haz-
valve-stem packing blocks valve fu- chemical media. In addition, the ma- ardous chemicals and other harsh
gitive emissions to below consent terial has to offer higher service life- conditions. For example, Garlocks
decree requirements. A non-hard- time for a significantly longer interval Gylon Stress Saver Style 3504 com-
ening, flexible packing, constructed between maintenance, he says. bines the Gylon Style 3504 PTFE
from Inconel-reinforced mesh with For example, he says that for back gasketing with aluminosilicate mi-
internal exfoliated graphite, it will valve rings and compressor plates crospheres, which provides a tighter
not shrink or absorb moisture. The there is a need for ductile mate- seal over conventional PTFE. The
single-spool solution reduces inven- rial with higher fatigue resistance. Stress Saver family of products is

designed with molded, raised ribs to peratures, which provides long life in where processors are discovering
help create a tighter seal by concen- CIP and SIP regimes. improved process yield via increased
trating the compressive load. Com- Trelleborg has also been work- temperatures, Tones says.
bining the two technologies provides ing with new materials for mechani- The products we are developing
many benefits over conventional rub- cal seals. Isolast J9876 was devel- today not only provide protection
ber or elastomeric gaskets, including oped using a new perfluorelastomer from leaks and stand up to harsh
chemical resistance, superior physi- (FFKM). The new compound re- chemical processes, but in doing
cal properties, such as greater tem- moves the need for multiple grades so, they also provide the reliability
perature and pressure capabilities, supporting different applications and our processing customers demand,
and limited creep and cold flow to it holds the necessary approvals for Tones notes.
reduce leakage. use in food contact and pharmaceu- Reliability of seals in harsh condi-
Another PTFE-based product, Tur- tical applications, such as FDA, 3A- tions is important for so many rea-
con Variseal Ultra-Clean from Trelle- Sanitary and USP Chapter 88 Class sons, continues A.W. Chestertons
borg (Figure 3), was developed to VI. It provides long-term physical Hanjra. Reliability can help mitigate
stand up to the harsh environments property retention due to its compat- the risk of an emissions leak and/or a
created by clean in place (CIP), steril- ibility with virtually all media, its suit- plant shutdown, which, in turn, helps
ize in place (SIP) and other high-tem- ability to high-temperature applica- decrease the overall cost of owner-
perature, aggressive sanitary environ- tions and its potential for application ship of the equipment. The expense
ments, says Schmiedel. In the design in steam and water, says Schmiedel. of upgrading your sealing solutions is
of this product, the spring required Similarly, Garlocks THERMa-PUR quite small when you consider that it
to activate the seal is fully enclosed (Figure 4) is a proprietary new gasket- reduces the risk of emissions leaks
within a Turcon PTFE-based case. In ing material designed for use in high- or issues that can create a safety or
food, beverage and pharmaceutical temperature sealing applications, as production issue, which can be very
applications, this ensures there is no it provides sealing at temperatures costly. Better sealing technologies
dead space for bacteria to be caught. up to 1,832F, according to Tones, are always a worthwhile investment
The seals combine wear resistance where gaskets of other materials, because they can lead to higher up-
and compatibility to virtually all chemi- such as graphite, cannot survive. time and production rates. n
cals, even in extreme operating tem- This product excels in applications Joy LePree
Meet the Future

of Chinas
Process Industry.
Now.
9 12 May 2016
10th International Exhibition and Conference
on Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
tion
j
thu b i lee edi hed
10 stablis
sfully e
succes 989
www.achemasia.de www.achema.cn since 1
Focus
Software and Mobile Apps

Advance engineering projects projects, helping to increase produc-
with process simulation tools tivity for engineering, procurement
ChemCad is an intuitive suite of and construction (EPCs) and owner-
chemical-process-simulation soft- operators. Enhanced capabilities,
ware that gives engineers a variety of such as PointCloud demolition and
capabilities to improve productivity. the ability to dislay laser data directly
Version 6.5.7 includes such features on drawings, enable designers to in-
as the Thermo Acceleration operating teract with 3-D models in ways that
mode, which can help speed calcu- have not previously been possible,
Dassault Systmes Biovia
lations for complex simulations. The says the company. The softwares
software also allows for simultane- enhanced user interface helps to
ous heat-transfer and mass-transfer reduce the learning curve and move
models in distillation columns, and projects more quickly into production.
lets users run Excel Data Maps for Aveva E3D includes the introduction
each time step in dynamics mode. of HyperBubble technology, which is
Chemstations, Inc., Houston said to allow the user to work in a
www.chemstations.com fully immersed, as-built environment.
For many projects, the software's
Platform eases collaboration, capabilities can reduce the need to
data sharing and compliance remodel existing plants prior to re-
The ability to improve the aggrega- vamps, and limit the need to gener-
tion, integration, synthesis and anal- ate numerous drawings (which cuts
ysis of data from disparate resarch labor requirements). Aveva Solu-
and operating areas within an orga- tions Ltd., Cambridge, U.K. Aveva Solutions
nizations lets process engineers and www.aveva.com
managers uncover knowledge that
is often hidden in massive volumes Software bundle supports
of structured and unstructured data. multivariate data analysis
BIOVIA Pipeline Pilot (photo) is a Two software providers have collab-
graphical-authoring application that orated to release a software bundle
increases operational efficiency and called The Unscrambler X Design-
reduces costs for both scientists and Expert Upgrade, which provides
process engineers across a wide support for multivariate data analysis
spectrum of industries. With Pipeline and design of experiments. It enables
Pilot, users can complete projects advanced multivariate methods, pro-
significantly faster, by leveraging ex- vides a variety of data-visualization
isting research, process and intellec- tools, and helps users to cut through
tual property, and automating routine large data sets that are common in Honeywell
data gathering and analysis. Real- so many chemical process industries

time reporting dashboards bring (CPI) applications. The software also
into view experimental results and helps users to screen for vital factors,
process production metrics related identify ideal process settings for top
to a wide range of data-processing performance, and discover optimal
functions, such as data retrieval, product formulations. Camo Soft-
manipulation, computational analy- ware, Oslo, Norway, and Stat-Ease,
sis, filtering, and display functional- Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.
ities. Dassault Systmes Biovia www.camo.com
(formerly Accelrys), San Diego, Calif.
www.accelrys.com Alarm-management program
reduces alarms by 80%
Program speeds the execution The DynAMo Alarm and Operations
of brownfield projects Management software (photo) helps
Aveva Everything3D 2.1 (Aveva CPI operators to better manage op-
E3D; photo) builds on the softwares erations and alarms, improve opera-
proven ability to deliver time and cost tor effectiveness, plant safety, avail-
savings for brownfield and revamp ability and compliance. The solution
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number on p. 62, or use the website designation.
HBM
provides a single, unified platform unwanted access, and intentional
and user experience for all opera- or unintentional changes. HBM,
tions. It is a scalable offering that al- Marlborough, Mass.
lows customers to start with simple www.hbm.com
Alarm Management or Operator
Logbook functionality, and add other Software provides validation
functions over time, as needed, to and compliance capabilities
enable a fully integrated Operations
Integrity solution. In addition to re-
ducing alarms by up to 80% and
reducing root-cause analysis time new capabilities that make it easier
by 60% over competing methods, to perform high-speed data acqui-
the software suite can also increase sition on electric inverters and drive
throughput by up to 8% and cut en- systems. It can quickly process large
ergy consumtpion by up to 5%, with amounts of data for instance, 100
a typical return on investment of less GB within 10 s when performing
than three months, says the com- live torque and rotational-speed mea-
pany. DynAMo can work with any surements and calculations, says the
vendors control system in addition company. The softwares new eDrive
to Honeywells Experion distributed application allows users to visualize Horiba Scientific
control system (DCS) platform. torque and rotational speed as live
Honeywell, Houston curves. Version 6.60 allows users to The ProtectionPlus module (photo)
www.honeywell.com create individual workbenches that provides add-on capabilities to
can be defined with distinct restric- the companys LabSpec 6 Raman
Software upgrade benefits tions, test functions and capabilities. Spectrocopy Suite, allowing re-
electric inverters and drives Password-protection capabilities searchers to handle advanced ana-
Version 6.60 of the high-speed Per- safeguard key settings, protocols and lytical-laboratory functionalities in a
ception software (photo) provides formulas used in calculations from multi-user environment. Protection-
T +49 2961 7405-0 | info@rembe.de
Your Specialist for

Chemical Engineerings
PRESSURE RELIEF SYSTEMS
and premium product showcase
EXPLOSION SAFETY
REMBE | All rights reserved
for the latest products and

technologies in the chemical
Consulting. Engineering. Products. Service. processing industries.
Gallbergweg 21 | 59929 Brilon, Germany
F +49 2961 50714 | www.rembe.de
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T +1 704 716 7022 | F +1 704 716 7025 26033
info@rembe.us | www.rembe.us

Plus is a fully integrated module that integrated platform-independent cy- Simplify the design process
seamlessly adds a layer of security bersecurity, alarm management and without multiple tools
and data integrity, allowing sys- high-performance human-machine
tem security administrators to put interfaces. The ICS Cybersecurity
in place and enforce a wide range solution strengthens security for criti-
of security user and file policies. cal industrial-control systems. Com-
Specifically, ProtectionPlus allows panies can monitor for unauthorized
operators of the companys Raman changes (malicious attacks or inad-
instruments to work in compliance vertent engineering changes) and
with Part 11 of the FDAs CFR Title drive risk-appropriate remediating
21, with regard to electronic reactions. The Cybersecurity solution
Rockwell Automation
cords and electronic signatures, helps operators to automate the pro-
according to the manufacturer. Ad- cesses used for inventory manage- This company has added three new
ditional functionality provided by ment, security-patch management, applications to its Rockwell Software
this optional module includes user change management, and backup Studio 5000 development environ-
account management and access and recovery. The PAS Operations ment. This platform helps engineers
control, a full audit trail to track all Management solution improves situ- speed the development of automa-
data-related operations, an exter- ation awareness by helping operation systems as they design a con-
nal event log of software functions, tors to identify, evaluate and manage nected enterprise. These applica-
and electronic signatures. Hor- alarms and abnormal conditions ef- tions, along with the Studio 5000
iba Scientific, Edison, N.J. fectively. The software aggregates, Logix Designer application, help to
www.horiba.com organizes and provides in-context improve automation design produc-
visualization of information from dis- tivity. The ability to integrate multiple
Improve cybersecurity and parate sources within the enterprise, types of functionality into one plat-
operator effectiveness providing invaluable insight into criti- form simplifies the design process
Operating independently from au- cal operational and safety informa- and reduces the need for multiple
tomation vendor platforms allows tion. PAS, Houston tools, says the company. The Stu-
this company to provide seamless, www.pas.com dio 5000 Architect application is

Pointwise
the central point, where users can eling. It interfaces seamlessly with
view the overall automation system, a variety of CFD solvers from com-
configure devices such as control- mercial vendors, as well as neu-
lers and human-machine interfaces tral formats, says the company.
(to improve programming efficiency Pointwise, Fort Worth, Tex.
and runtime performance), and man- www.pointwise.com
age communication with these de-
vices. Its security features include Get more from your
a variety of user-authentication and paperless workflows
access-control options, and a new Bluebeam Revu combines powerful
privilege-escalation capability. Such PDF editing, markup and collabo-
features improve productivity and ration technology. With reliable file
system uptime by granting users the creation, the program gives users
right level of access at the right time, expanded capabilities related to
says the company. Localized batch project communications. Three edi-
control allows controller-based batch tions of Bluebeam Revu are avail-
sequencing and eventing to simplify able: Standard, CAD and eXtreme.
system architecture for single-unit For instance, users can mark up
control and process skids. Rock- PDFs with the programs customiz-
well Automation, Milwaukee, Wisc. able markup tools, adding, among
www.rockwell.com other things text, notes, clouds, CAD
symbols, stamps and highlights.
Improve CFD with advanced to numerous computational fluid dy- Such custom markups can be saved
mesh-generation software namics (CFD) codes and packages. in the Tool Chest function, allowing
Pointwise Version 17.3 R4 is the lat- The Pointwise package generates easy reuse. Users can also embed
est release of the companys high- structured, unstructured and hybrid photos and videos into markups for
fidelity meshing software (photo), meshes a key preprocessing step added clarity, track annotations in
which features new native interfaces in the successful use of CFD
Chemical mod- the integrated
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Manufactured in West Des Moines, Iowa, USA Connecticut - Illinois - California - Canada
supportCE@mschem.com
www.checkall.com sales@checkall.com miller-stephenson.com/krytox
Circle 4 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-04 Circle 11 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-11

28 Chemical Engineering www.chemengonline.com february 2016
BLU_It's_more_3-375_4-875.indd 1 1/5/2016 10:47:28 AM
can be filtered, organized, custom- that tenants of the cloud belong to systems features allow maintenance
ized and exported to Excel. Blue- the same industrial ecosystem, adds managers to analyze multiple types of
beam Software, Pasadena, Calif. the company. GE, Fairfield, Conn. predictive data (for example, electri-
www.bluebeam.com www.ge.com cal, vibration and infrared images) to
provide a comprehensive assessment
Exploit an industrial-strength Wireless system and software of the situation. This allows personnel
cloud to bring results supports condition monitoring to see correlations and trends and
This company has entered the Manual methods of tracking equip- identify emerging issues. Fluke,
cloud-services market with Predix ment health to predict faiures is an Everett, Wash.
Cloud, which is designed specifi- error-prone and time-consuming ap- www.flukeconnect.com
cally for industrial data and analytics. proach and can yield incomplete data
This platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and understanding of the existing Software helps users turn data
will capture and analyze the volume, asset conditions. Fluke Connect As- into professional graphs
velocity and variety of machine data sets is a cloud-based, wireless system Origin and OriginPro 2016 are the lat-
within a highly secure, industrial- of software and more than 30 wireless est versions of this companys data-
strength cloud environment. Cloud testing tools. The system gives main- analysis and graphing software. The
computing is expected to enable tenance managers a comprehensive software provides a variety of ex-
new levels of industrial innovation. view of all critical equipment, track- panded capabilities, including Smart
For instance, a highly protected ing baseline, historical and current Plotting with Cloneable Templates
cloud built exclusively to capture test-tool measurement data, current to quickly create multi-layer graphs
and analyze machine data will help status and past inspection data, en- with complex mapping of data plots
to reduce the incidence of countless abling users to set up and sustain a to worksheet columns. It provides
unforeseen problems and missed preventive maintenance or condition- tab-based dialogs for common anal-
opportunities, says the company. based maintenance system with min- ysis tools, and supports professional
Unlike public cloud services, which imal investment. The use of wireless report generation, as well. Origin-
are open to any individual or orga- test tools eliminates manual recording Lab, Northhampton, Mass.
nization, Predix Cloud is based on a of measurements, improving the ac- www.originlab/2016.com
gated community model to ensure curacy and validity of the data. The Suzanne Shelley
Quest Integritys Furnace Tube

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CHALLENGE CONVENTION

New Products
Parker Hannifin This device reduces costs Track changes and mitigate
for compressed air risk in large capital projects
This companys Air Saver Unit Project Data Link is a project engi-
(photo), previously released in Europe neering environment that helps re-
and Asia, is now available in North duce complexity and accommodate
America. The Air Saver Unit is suit- changes in capital projects. Project
able for use in both new and exist- Data Link translates project informa-
ing factory-floor air-nozzle and air-gun tion, including tag databases and
applications that allow uncontrolled instrument indices, from multiple
blow-offs. The device generates a sources into project deliverables. It
rapid pulse of air rather than a con- mitigates project risk by normaliz-
tinuous flow, which, according to the ing specifications into a single data
manufacturer, reduces compressed- source with traceability and an inte-
air costs by as much as 4050% over grated change-management system.
typical constant-flow applications. Project Data Link gives suppliers, en-
Unlike a continuous stream of air, the gineering firms and other stakehold-
pulsed-air blow strikes the work re- ers access to project information, in-
peatedly, improving the efficiency of cluding specifications related to field
the air blow for drying and removing devices and the distributed control
debris. The Air Saver can be easily system (DCS). In addition, data pro-
installed into existing pneumatic sys- vided in various formats are normal-
tems with no additional programming ized so that all information is available
required for the process logic control- in a single, consolidated standard
ler (PLC). Parker Hannifin Corp., view. When a change is initiated, Proj-
Cleveland, Ohio ect Data Link automatically recon-
www.parker.com ciles it against what is in the system,
identifies what needs to be changed,
These flowmeters benefit automatically sends updates to the
from ceramic bearings DCS and provides an audit of what
The Blancett B1500 Series turbine has changed. Emerson Process
Badger Meter
flowmeter (photo) is designed to per- Management, Austin, Tex.
form in harsh environments, provid- www.emersonprocess.com
ing flow measurements for standard
clean, filtered liquid-flow applications A new HMI with full
in precision industrial processes, such remote-monitoring capabilities
as batching, blending and filling. Ac- The Enhanced HG2G-5T Series 5.7-
cording to the manufacturer, B1500 in. human-machine interface (HMI;
Series flowmeters feature exceptional photo) is available in a color version
mechanical linearity, which increases and a monochrome version, both with
the usable flow range and helps miti- high resolution and increased bright-
gate output variance caused by vis- ness, allowing the screens to be easily
cosity fluctuations due to changes in read, even in direct sunlight. The En-
fluid temperature. Using a helical rotor hanced HG2G-5T HMI can communi-
IDEC design with high-performance ceramic cate with a variety of different control-
ball bearings, B1500 meters are able lers, and supports up to three different
to achieve high speed-of-response communication protocols simultane-
and minimal pressure drop. Ceramic ously. With operating temperatures
bearings are also lighter, more tolerant ranging from 20 to 60C, the HMI is
to extreme temperatures and produce rated for installation outdoors or in-
less friction than stainless-steel ball doors in washdown areas. A built-in
bearings, which are commonly found Web server allows full remote monitor-
in other turbine meters. B1500 Series ing and control via any Web browser
meters are available in nominal line running on a PC, smartphone or tab-
sizes from to 2 in., with an accuracy let. Remote users can monitor current
rating of 0.25% of reading. Ideal flow values or processes, control operation,
ranges vary between 0.25 and 250 change program values and perform
gal/min, depending on line size. troubleshooting and maintenance.
Badger Meter, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis. IDEC Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif.
www.badgermeter.com www.us.idec.com
Vortec
Fractional distillation systems for than 1,000 kg/h cover laboratory,

continuous and batch processes pilot and commercial-production
Pope Scientific scales. Various types of designs,
packings, column internals, control
systems and alternate materials,
such as Hastelloy and glass, are avail-
able. Individual key components or
partial systems are also available for
users that choose to build their own
systems. Pope Scientific, Inc.,
Saukville, Wis.
www.popeinc.com a powerful, high-velocity sheet of
laminar air over wide areas. This de-
Neutralize static in sign produces increased thrust and
film and sheet production velocity, reduced noise and unifor-
This companys Ionizing Air Knives mity, making Ionizing Air Knives suit-
This companys stainless-steel frac- (photo) neutralize static that can at- able for moving webs, films, sheets,
tional distillation systems (photo) are tract dust and contaminants, and strips and other assemblies and ob-
available for batch or continuous stop static discharges that can dam- jects. Airflow can be adjusted per
processes, and are designed for age electronic equipment and shock specific application requirements.
critical applications, including high- personnel. With this technology, Ionizing Air Knives are available in 6-,
purity processing, fragrances, foods, a static neutralizing bar generates 12-, 18- and 24-in. lengths. A sin-
specialty chemicals, pharmaceutical positively and negatively charged gle -in. NPT compressed-air inlet
intermediates, bio-based materials, ions, which are carried to the target will feed up to a 12-in. length, and
solvents and so on. Column diam- by a uniform sheet of amplified air. two inlets will accommodate longer
eters from 1 to 24 in., and flowrates The air amplifiers use a small amount models. Vortec, Cincinnati, Ohio
ranging from less than 1 to greater of filtered, compressed air to deliver www.vortec.com
Drier Steam Means Higher Profits

Steam drum design is critical to maintain steam dryness
and water quality for optimum performance of your boiler.
If water is allowed to carryover, then damage can occur
and energy is lost. Carryover is your boilers enemy.
Dyna-Therms high performance steam drums
have been protecting downstream equipment
including superheater tubes and turbines for
decades.
We offer proven designs for the following: Let us design the steam drum that best fits your system.
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SEPARATION AND STEAM DRUM SOLUTIONS SINCE 1961

Shackelford Services This dosing system reduces flowrates from 500 to 7,500 m3/h. The
exposure to materials Dry-Tec product line contains a basic
The Sure Dose portable dosing system sorption module that is used for adsorp-
(photo) allows for safer dosing of mation and desorption within the system,
terials from smaller feed tanks to larger as well as the precooler module Cool-
batch or mix tanks. Since the system Tec V and the aftercooler module Cool-
requires no lifting or suspension of the Tec N. The precooler and aftercooler
drum, operator exposure to the mate- modules can optionally be equipped
rials being transferred is reduced. Uti- with various filtration elements. In addi-
lizing differential-pressure technology, tion to achieving low relative humidity,
the closed system allows dosing of a nearly particle-free process airflow at
most liquids, such as biocides, acids the entry and exit of the module system
and caustics. Since the Sure Dose can be provided. Due to their compact
unit does not utilize delicate load cells, design and the modular assembly of
it does not require the supply drum to the overall system, the units can be
be elevated, and it can be placed on easily transported and introduced into
the floor while dispensing the material. existing production facilities. All modu-
Operators can dispense liquids using lar Dry-Tec systems are available with
various units of measure, such as level, stainless-steel housing. ULT AG,
volume or mass, via the user-friendly Lbau, Germany
interface. To ensure compatibility, the www.ult.de
dosing system is available with differ-
ent materials of construction. Available Determine solubility in a variety
Supercritical Fluid Technologies options include an automated con- of materials with this tool
trol system, along with LED indicator The Phase Monitor II (photo) deter-
lights for unit status, sensor extension mines the solubility of various com-
cables and data-logging capabilities. pounds and mixtures in supercritical
Shackelford Services LLC, Olive and high-pressure fluids. It provides
Branch, Miss. direct, visual observation of materials
www.shackservices.com/home under conditions precisely controlled
by the researcher. Experiments may
Android devices for use be performed in liquids, supercritical
in hazardous locations CO2 or other liquefied gases. The ef-
In addition to the Agile X Windows- fect of co-solvents on the solubility of
based 10.1-in. tablet PC system, compounds of interest may be inves-
this company now offers two smaller tigated as well. The Phase Monitor II
Android devices that are certified for allows the user direct observation of
hazardous areas. The Lumen X4 is the dissolution, precipitation and crys-
a 4.3-in. industrial mobile computer, tallization of compounds over a wide
and the Lumen X7 is a 7-in. indus- range of pressures and temperatures.
trial tablet for use in harsh environ- Advanced studies may be done to de-
ments. The devices survive being termine melting-point depressions and
dropped or immersed in water, and the degree of polymer swelling in CO2
are resistant to extreme tempera- or traditional solvents. Experiments
tures. The devices also have near- can be performed at pressures up to
field communication (NFC), Bluetooth 10,000 psi and from ambient temper-
3.0 and two powerful cameras. ature to 150C. Supercritical Fluid
The Lumen X4 can be optionally Technologies, Inc., Newark, Del.
Pepperl+Fuchs North America equipped with a scanner for record- www.supercriticalfluids.com
ing barcodes. Bartec GmbH, Bad
Mergentheim, Germany Precisely position movable
www.bartec.de tools with this encoder
The CVM42H CANopen multi-turn
Modular drying systems for absolute encoder (photo) features
extremely dry process air stainless-steel housing, flange and
This companys Dry-Tec product line shaft, and utilizes magnetic sampling
contains modular systems for use with to deliver 24-bit resolution position
extremely dry process air, enabling pro- values. These compact rotary encod-
cesses to achieve dewpoint tempera- ers excel in harsh environments with
tures as low as 65C, at volumetric high mechanical stresses, and can
withstand constant shocks and vi- Schenck Process Siemens
brations, high bearing loads, dirt and

temperature fluctuations. They are
typically found in mobile equipment,
steel production, wind turbine and
packaging applications. CVM42H
absolute encoders are available with
various environmental ratings and
are rated for use in operating tem-
peratures from 40 to 85C. They tion (BIC) and feedrate capabilities
are vibration resistant to 30 g, and up to 1,680 ft3/h. For sanitary en-
shock resistant to 300 g, and their vironments, open-frame models
resolution of up to 1 deg offers very of the DEA Weighbelt with wash-
precise positioning of movable tools. down capabilities are also avail-
Pepperl+Fuchs North America, able. Schenck Process LLC, in the control cabinet and in distrib-
Twinsburg, Ohio Whitewater, Wis. uted control boxes. They possess
www.pepperl-fuchs.us www.accuratefeeders.com new, practice-oriented functions,
such as device connectors and swit-
Weigh and meter dry, fragile Compact AS-i modules save chable sensor supply, which surpass
materials with these feeders space in the control cabinet the previous functional scope. The
DEA Weighbelt stainless-steel feed- This company has developed ex- 17.5-mm variants are said to be the
ers (photo) provide weight-con- tremely compact I/O (input/output) slimmest AS-i modules currently on
trolled feeding, weight indication modules for AS-Interface (actuator- the market. The new series of AS-i
and totalization for fragile materials. sensor interface; AS-i) with widths of SlimLine compact modules in degree
DEA Weighbelt feeders are offered just 17.5 and 22.5 mm. The new AS-i of protection IP20 encompasses
in 12- and 24-in. belt widths with SlimLine compact modules (photo) digital I/O modules as well as ASIsafe
easy belt detensioning and removal, are just half the width of the prede- modules with safe inputs. It replaces
POA_ChemEngineering_MAR2015.qxp_Layout
belt-weight influence compensa- cessor 1 2/10/15 9:50 PM
devices, Page
and 1 save space
they the previous S22.5 and S45 Slim-
WE TOLL
Y
S Custom Catalyst
Call Experts
INC.
the Milling and Grinding
TOLL MANUFACTURE
Screening and Classifying
SINCE 1982
Vacuum Drying
Custom Catalyst ISO 9001:2008
Rota-Cone & V-Dryers
Calcining and Incineration
Milling / Grinding Screening
Solids Mixing
Drying
Calcining / Drying Vacuum Impregnating
Rota-Cone & V-Blenders
Ribbon & Paddle Mixers
Solids or Liquid Metal Reclaim Blending and Mixing
Fluidizing Dual Shaft Mixers
Sigma Mixers & Extruders
Mixing/Blending/ Pelletizing
Metal Recovery
Packaging
Size Reduction
Ball & Ceramic Lined Mills YS Inc.
YS Inc.
Jars & Jar Rolling Mills 4531 County Road 458 Y
4531 County Road 458
Collinsville, AL 35961
Collinsville, AL 35961
888-356-3343
S
INC.
888-356-3343
855-789-9827
www.ys-inc.com | sales@pauloabbe.com www.ys-inc.com ISO 9001:2008
ysinc@ys-inc.com
www.pauloabbe.com
ysinc@ys-inc.com Certified
Circle 29 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-29 Circle 27 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-27
Chemical Engineering www.chemengonline.com february 2016 33

Hoyer GmbH Internationale Fachspedition Line modules. The new AS-i SlimLine Each bank, in turn, takes up to eight
compact modules supplement the discrete easy-to-fit modules. The up
product range of AS-i field modules to 24 modules that result provide flex-
and they are suitable for initial installa- ible nitrogen generation of between
tion, servicing, or whenever a change 1.3 and 265.8 Nm3/h. By combining
or expansion is made in a plant. even more of the complete systems,
Siemens AG, Munich, Germany output can be increased to meet even
www.siemens.com higher demand. Boge Kompres-
soren Otto Boge GmbH & Co. KG,
Two new small containers added Bielefeld, Germany
to this companys product range www.boge.de
This logistics specialist has expanded
its fleet of intermediate bulk containers Miniature thermometers now also
(IBCs) by adding two new container with CSA seal of approval for Ex i
types. The product range now also The intrinsically safe versions of the
includes a steam-heatable IBC and a new miniature resistance thermom-
cube-shaped IBC (photo) that is par- eters TR21, TR31 (OEM) and TR34
ticularly space-saving in storage and (photo) now also have the CSA
during transport. The steam-heatable (Canadian Standards Association) test
1,000-L container provides the ability mark for ignition protection type Ex i.
to use steam, water or oil as the heat- The seal of the CSA Group facilitates
ing medium, thus ensuring heating the use of thermometers in North
that is quick but gentle on the material. America. In addition, all three instru-
It is also suitable for use in explosion- ment types have ATEX and IECEx ap-
hazard areas and is designed for tem- proval. The new miniature thermom-
peratures up to 150C and pressures eters are designed for use in industrial
Wika Alexander Wiegand up to 6 bars. The cube-shaped Meter applications. Their design is extremely
Cube has a volumetric capacity of durable, and an autoclavable version
1,000 L and represents a practical al- is available for sanitary applications. All
ternative to a plastic IBC; the container models are designed for a tempera-
is extremely space-saving due to its ture range of 50 to 250C. Wika
special dimensions, and it is made of Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG,
high-quality stainless steel. As a result Klingenberg, Germany
of its flat construction, it can also be www.wika.com
stacked two-high for transportation,
increasing the quantity of units that A new purge-and-pressurization
are possible per transport. Hoyer solution for process automation
GmbH Internationale Fachspedition, In demanding hazardous-location pro-
Hamburg, Germany cess environments, having realtime
Boge Kompressoren Otto Boge www.hoyer-group.com control of process applications is cru-
cial. Set for release early this year, the
In-house nitrogen production Bebco 6500 Purge and Pressuriza-
for maximum independence tion Series (photo) has been designed
The centerpiece of this companys specifically for global Zone1/21 appli-
line of closely tailored nitrogen-gen- cations, and offers a control unit with
erating solutions is the N2 generator HART and Bluetooth connection and
selected from the N 7 P to N 56 P communication. In addition, the 6500
range (photo). Closely tailored to the vent provides continuous readouts
N2 demand, it delivers purity grades of both pressure and flow for added
of up to 5.0 (99.999%). The genera- monitoring functionality. A free mobile
tors can simply be connected to the application is also available for smart-
existing compressed-air network. To phones or tablets that allows end users
produce N2, the generators need a to easily link to the 6500 control unit.
supply of Class 141 purified com- The control units are engineered in
pressed air according to ISO 8573-1 316L stainless steel, and are available
(including activated-carbon adsorber). with either internal or external mount-
Thanks to its modular design, it is easy ing options. Pepperl+Fuchs GmbH,
to expand or retrofit the generator on Mannheim, Germany
Pepperl+Fuchs site. Up to two expansion banks can www.pepperl-fuchs.com
be connected to each master bank. Mary Page Bailey and Gerald Ondrey
Facts At Your Fingertips
Weighing Equipment Selection
Department Editor: Scott Jenkins
T
he number of options available sensitive internal electronics, and also TABLE 2. REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS
for scales and weighing equip- to ensure greater accuracy. WEBSITES
ment can make it difficult to de- 3. Accuracy. In the context of weigh- FM Global www.fmglobal.com
termine which instruments will offer ing, accuracy can be thought of as a ATEX ec.europa.eu/enterprise/atex
HACCP www.fda.gov/food/GuidanceRegula-
the best value and which will meet the combination of several different fac- tion/HACCP/default.htm
application requirements (Table 1). tors, including the quantifiable speci- IEC www.iec.ch
Focusing on the following ten areas fications of resolution (the smallest ISO www.iso.org
can help reduce the time needed to mass change that can be read on a NEMA www.nema.org
research available models and help scale), reproducibility (ability to weigh NTEP www.ncwm.net/ntep
ensure a good value. consistently over time and with differ- UL/CUL www.ul.com
ent operators), linearity (the variance in ETL www.intertek-etlsemko.com
CSA www.csa-international.org
1. Primary use. Identifying the instru- accuracy over the weight values within
ments primary use is the first step in the scales capacity) and uncertainty
selection. Will the instrument be used of measurement (difference between 7. Features. Additional features can
for weighing solids or liquids? Will the measured weight and true weight due customize the scale for enhanced flex-
device be used at laboratory scale, to environmental variances). ibility, ease of use, functionality, pro-
or larger? Is it needed to weigh large 4. Materials of construction. Basic tection and others. Consider whether
quantities of uniformly sized objects, materials include aluminum alloy, car- your scale would need explosion pro-
such as capsules, tablets or small bon steel, aluminum-coated steel and tection, internal calibration software,
parts? Will the instrument be used for galvanized steel. For these, cleanliness interfacing ability with a computer
weighing moving items on a produc- and corrosion-resistance are not criti- network, wireless connectivity, scale
tion line? Do you need to control con- cal. When higher levels of cleanability readouts that are separated from the
ditions inside a weighing vessel, such and chemical and environmental pro- weighing platform, multi-language
as heating, cooling or mixing? tection are required, AISI-304 and 316 displays, backlit display for dimly lit
2. Capacity. What is the largest possi- stainless steels are possibilities. areas, or other needs.
ble load that a scale would be required 5. Environment. Environmental con- 8. Price. Choosing a scale should
to handle? Do you need overload pro- ditions can affect weighing. Large never be based solely on price, but
tection? What will the overall footprint temperature fluctuations, vibration, the most expensive scale is not nec-
of the scale be and how will the items humidity, magnetic fields, air currents, essarily the best choice.
being weighed fit within the weighing corrosive chemicals and electrical 9. Installation. When installing, it is rec-
area? Would a below-balance setup, interference can all influence weight ommended to place scales in a perma-
where weight is measured via tension measurements, especially at higher nent location and connect to peripheral
instead of compression, work for your resolutions. Consider whether a par- equipment, including a remote display.
application? An unofficial guideline ticular environment would require The resolution and readability should be
recommends use of a balance for specialized padding, protective cov- set, and an initial calibration should be
samples from microgram levels to ap- ers, or more frequent calibrations. performed. For multiple load cells on a
proximately 10 kg, and load cells for 6. Industry regulations. Many indus- large vessel, a corner load test should
those samples from 10 kg to several try-specific regulations exist and may be performed to ensure even weight
metric tons. Try to have the weighed be relevant for some sectors and not distribution. Scales should generally not
quantities lie mostly in the middle of others. Table 2 contains a list of web- be moved from their point of use after
the range of the units specific capac- sites for several of the organizations installation, if possible.
ity to minimize stress or damage to that set standards and regulations. 10. Calibration and service. Regu-
larly scheduled calibration of weighing
TABLE 1. INSTRUMENT CATEGORIES equipment is necessary, because with
Simple An appropriate vessel is placed on a weighing pan, the scale is tared accordingly, and a solid use, normal stress can cause the ac-
scale or liquid sample is placed into the vessel curacy of a scale to drift slightly. A se-
Counting A small known quantity of pieces is placed on the weighing pan. The scale calculates the av-
scale erage weight of these pieces and stores it in memory. Subsequent unknown quantities of the ries of certified test weights are placed
object are instantly calculated using this average weight no matter how many are placed on on the weighing platform and the re-
the pan. Results can be stored or printed for use in record-keeping and other documentation sults recorded. When displayed results
Check- A checkweigher is the best scale for weighing moving items on a production line, where do not correspond to the test weight,
weigher speed or the need for 100% inspection prohibits manual weighing. The device weighs each
item on the production line according to preset detection limits, ejecting non-compliant items manual or automatic adjustments can
and even sorting items based on programmed user criteria. As each unit is inspected, over- be made to correct the drift. n
filled and underfilled packages are identified and can be quickly rejected
Batch Scales designed for batch weighing incorporate a load cell, connections, valves, relay hard- Editor's note: This column is adapted from the following
weighing ware and process-control software into one integrated system. This system is connected article: Titmas, R. and Carey, S., Weighing Your Options:
systems to and controls one or more feed systems that deliver different ingredients into a common The 10 Most Important Scale Considerations. Chem. Eng.,
receiving vessel at user-defined quantities to blend or create a reaction December 2007, pp. 6165.

Technology Profile
Acrylic Acid Production via Propylene Oxidation
By Intratec Solutions
Propylene Catalytic Fermentative Glucose
A
crylic acid is a moderately oxidation route syrup
strong carboxylic acid pri-

marily used as an intermedi- Glycerol Dehydration/ Acrylic acid Fermentative Raw sugar
oxidation route
ate in the production of acry-
late esters. These acrylate esters are Ethylene oxide
Carbonylation
then mainly used to manufacture ad- Reppe Acetylene
synthesis
hesives, plastics additives, coatings, Raw material Pathway Main product
paints and textiles.
FIGURE 2. Several pathways exist for acrylic acid production
The process arated by liquid-liquid extraction with a acid. Finally, the product from the ded-
Figure 1 depicts a propylene oxidation solvent. The top portion of the extrac- imerizer is sent to the bottoms strip-
process similar to technology for the tor, containing the acrylic acid, is sent per column, where the heavy ends are
production of ester-grade acrylic acid to a solvent-recovery column to recover separated and sent to waste.
(EAA) that was developed by Lurgi a two-phase overheads stream. This
GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany; part of Air two-phase stream is separated and the Economic performance
Liquide; Paris; www.airliquide.com) organic phase, containing the solvent, The total fixed capital estimated to
and Nippon Kayaku (Tokyo; www.nip- is recycled to the extractor. The aque- construct such a plant producing
ponkayaku.co.jp). This process is de- ous phase is mixed with the raffinate 150,000 metric tons per year of EAA in
scribed in the next paragraphs. from the extraction step and sent to a the second quarter of 2015 in the U.S.
Reaction and quench. Chemical- raffinate stripper to minimize the solvent is about $350 million. The total fixed
grade (CG) propylene is mixed with losses. The bottom stream from the capital estimated includes the inside-
steam and air and fed to a two-step solvent-recovery column is then fed to and outside-battery limit units (produc-
oxidation reaction system. In the first the crude acrylic-acid column, where tion units, storage installations, utilities
step, the propylene is oxidized to ac- a concentrated acrylic acid stream is facilities and auxiliary buildings).
rolein and, in the second step, the ac- obtained as the bottom product. The
rolein is oxidized to acrylic acid. Both column overhead stream, mainly com- Acrylic acid pathways
steps are carried out in tubular, fixed- prised of acetic acid and light impurities, Processes based on propylene oxida-
bed reactors. The heat generated by is sent to a recovery column. The bot- tion are traditionally most employed in
the exothermic reactions is used to tom stream from the recovery column the production of acrylic acid. Figure
generate steam. The effluent from the is sent to the crude acrylic acid column 2 illustrates other alternative pathways
reaction system is sent to a quench and the overhead stream is recycled to for the production of acrylic acid, start-
tower, where the acrylic acid formed is the solvent recovery column. ing from different feedstocks.
absorbed in water. Part of the residual Purification. In the purification area, Edited by Scott Jenkins
gas obtained by the top of the quench the concentrated acrylic acid stream
tower is incinerated, with the balance from the crude acrylic acid column
being recycled to the first-step reactor. is fed to the product column. In this Editors Note: The content for this column is supplied by
Intratec Solutions LLC (Houston; www.intratec.us) and edited
The aqueous solution is sent to down- column, ester-grade acrylic acid is ob- by Chemical Engineering. The analyses and models presented
stream units for product recovery. tained as the overhead product. The are prepared on the basis of publicly available and non-
Product recovery. The aqueous solu- column bottoms are sent to a dedi- confidential information. The content represents the opinions
of Intratec only. More information about the methodology for
tion from the quench step is fed to an merizer to convert the dimer impurity, preparing analysis can be found, along with terms of use, at
extractor, where the acrylic acid is sep- formed in the process, back to acrylic www.intratec.us/che.
Off-gas to Ester-
incineration CW grade
CW 1. First oxidation reactor
Air acrylic 2. Second oxidation reactor
CW 9 acid
3. Quench tower
ST 8
4. Liquid-liquid extractor
CG propylene ST
5 ST 5. Solvent recovery column
3 4 6. Raffinate stripper
Steam CW 7. Crude acrylic acid column
ST
8. Recovery column
10 9. Product column
10. Dedimerizer
Heavy 11. Bottoms stripper
ST ST ends
CW 11 12. Incinerator
1 2 CW to waste
13. Cooling tower
6 7 Off-gas 14. Steam boiler
12
ST CW Cooling water
ST
CW 13 ST Steam
Wastewater
ST 14
FIGURE 1. The diagram shows a process similar to the Lurgi/Nippon Kayaku technology for ester-grade acrylic acid production
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Superheater Problems
in Steam Generators
Knowing the features of a good boiler will
prevent problems associated with a poor design
Cleaver Brooks
Viswanathan
O
il- and gas-fired package steam
Ganapathy generators (or boilers; Figure
Boiler Consultant 1) are used in chemical plants,
power plants, petroleum refiner-
ies and in cogeneration plants to generate
IN BRIEF steam for process and power-generation
OVERVIEW OF THE applications. Steam parameters are typically
PROBLEM in the following ranges: steam flowrate, 40
REASONS FOR TUBE to 200 ton/h; pressure, 30 to 100 barg; and
FAILURE temperatures, 350 to 500C. A widespread
problem in several plants is the failure of su-
THREE DECADES OF perheater tubes due to overheating and the
IMPROVEMENTS
reasons can often be traced to either poor
FIGURE 1. A package oil- and gas-fired, D-type boiler in
TYPES OF design or poor operation, or a combination shipment
SUPERHEATERS of the two.
CUSTOM-DESIGNED
emphasis on process and thermal design
BOILERS Overview of the problem aspects and good features a boiler should
In the authors opinion, based on his inter- have. These topics are somewhat grey to
CONVECTIVE VERSUS national boiler consulting experience over plant engineers, who are more familiar with
RADIANT the last decade, poor design accounts for mundane aspects of a boiler, such as main-
FAILURE ANALYSIS a significant number of problems. It should tenance, operation, repair, welding issues,
be kept in mind that the average life of a refractory pouring, shipping and erection.
boiler, whose cost runs into millions of dol- Engineers tend to concentrate only on such
lars, is more than thirty years, and a well- issues before purchasing a boiler. However,
designed superheater also should last that only an engineer well versed in thermal de-
long. If the plant personnel have to spend sign aspects can quiz the boiler supplier
sleepless nights every few months fixing a about the design details and performance
poorly designed boiler that has frequent su- to ensure the right design has been offered
perheater tube failures, then it is an expen- for purchase rather than a compromised
sive nightmare they have purchased and design that can pose problems later. This is
not a steam generator. more easily said than done.
Some plants are also, unfortunately, The author also advises plants to get a re-
forced to operate their boilers at 40 to 60% view of the steam generator design they plan
capacity instead of at 100% as originally to purchase from a good boiler consultant
envisaged by them, because superheaters before they place the order so that poten-
fail if operated at higher loads. This results tial problem areas are identified before the
in under-utilization of the boiler and sig- equipment is purchased.
nificant financial losses, because the ad- One may wonder if boiler suppliers around
ditional steam has to be generated from the world are not offering well-designed
some other boiler or purchased from an steam generators. A few boiler suppliers still
expensive source. offer designs that are dated designed 30
Education of plant engineers is one to 50 years ago and are unwilling to im-
way to ensure they become knowledge- prove or modify their design due to the signifi-
able customers and dont purchase boil- cant engineering expenses and time involved
ers without asking the boiler supplier the in updating their older designs and preparing
right questions. Hence, the author has also new drawings and standards. Also engineers
been conducting courses on boilers with well-versed in thermal and process design
topics may not be available in every boiler ing sections highlight the thermal design
suppliers company. Unfortunately, many aspects with which plant engineers should
boiler sales engineers still pull out drawings be familiar to avoid selecting a boiler with
of a boiler sold 2540 years ago (for similar dated design features or with poorly de-
parameters) from their archives and offer the signed superheaters.
dated design to unwitting plant engineers,
who buy them without raising queries on Three decades of improvements
thermal design and performance aspects, Plant engineers should be familiar with some
and live with superheater failures or under of the developments that have taken place
performance for the rest of their lives. I have during the last 30 to 40 years that have
seen this during the last twelve years of my added value to steam generators in terms
international consulting experience. of thermal performance, operating costs and
This article briefly outlines the features of superheater life. If the boiler they are likely to
a good oil- and gas-fired steam generator, buy does not have any of the features listed
mainly of the D-type design, which is very below, they can question the boiler supplier
common in the industry. The features of a or opt for better boiler designs available in
good superheater design and thermal per- the market place.
formance aspects that should be looked into Completely water-cooled furnace. The oil-
are also discussed. The comments hold true and gas-fired steam generators designed 30
for the other boiler designs, too, namely the to 50 years ago did not have to deal with the
A and O-type boilers. problem of emissions regulations, particu-
larly those due to oxides of nitrogen (NOx)
Reasons for tube failures and carbon monoxide. The only concern
There are several reasons for boiler super- was efficiency, and oil- and gas-fired boilers
heater tube failures, including the following: were operating at 5 to 10% excess air.
1. Use of radiant or semi-radiant superheater Also, not much time was spent by many
design exposed to high heat flux from a package-boiler companies in understand-
furnace with low steam-side velocity or ing issues such as DNB (departure from
low steam-side pressure drop; cross-flow nucleate boiling), furnace effectiveness,
or counter-flow design; oversizing, when furnace heat flux and circulation aspects.
steam temperature is around 400500C To protect the regions prone to high heat
2. Carry-over of solids from the drum due flux in the furnace and possible departure
to poorly designed drum internals or poor from nucleate boiling, they simply poured
feed-water or boiler-water quality can re- refractory over the areas such as the fur-
sult in deposition of solids inside super- nace floor, boiler front wall and in some
heater tubes and consequent overheat- regions on the partition wall. Some older
ing. Sometimes the drum size is smaller designs still have a refractory-lined front
than it should be to prevent carryover of wall, which makes it difficult to ensure a
moisture. Load fluctuations leading to leak-proof furnace. Fluegas can leak to the
large fluctuations in steam pressure and atmosphere between the membrane side
drum level also cause carry-over of solids walls and refractory joints and if it contains
from drum vapors of sulfuric acid, this can condense
3. Burners not tuned properly can lead to on the casing to form sulfuric acid resulting
flame impingement on the superheater. If in casing corrosion.
several burners are used, certain combina- Not having a completely water-cooled fur-
tions of burners may result in non-uniform nace also results in underutilization of the
gas flow or temperature distribution at the furnace heating surface by 10 to 20% and
superheater inlet, leading to overheating of an increase in furnace exit-gas temperature
some tubes (FEGT). The higher the FEGT, the higher the
4. Mechanical issues, such as thermal direct radiation to the heating surface lo-
stresses, creep, stress corrosion, erosion cated at the furnace exit, namely the radiant
(due to particulate matter in fluegas) and superheater. Pouring refractory on furnace
compromised tube metallurgy water-cooled surfaces is like buying a long-
As mentioned earlier, a large percentage sleeved shirt in a department store and then
of plant engineers, including the manage- going to a tailor and paying him additional
ment, take it for granted when they buy money to make it a short-sleeve shirt. You
a boiler that the boiler design itself is fine are not only adding to the cost of the boiler,
and the superheater tube failures are only but also wasting a lot of labor and time on
due to operational problems. The follow- annual maintenance of refractory. Refrac-

Front Back
FIGURE 2. Completely water- tory-lined boilers have to be started up more In order to meet NOx and CO emissions
cooled furnaces, such as the slowly than a water-cooled furnace due to standards of today, steam generators widely
one shown here, help lower
NOx emission and increase
potential formation of cracks in the refractory use fluegas recirculation (FGR) ranging from
furnace effectiveness if started up quickly. 10 to 25% depending on the combustion
The completely water-cooled furnace temperature of the fuel and NOx emission
(Figure 2) has several advantages over re- limits; excess air ranges from 12 to 18% to
fractory-lined boilers, such as lower NOx limit the CO emissions in natural-gas- and
emission rates, better utilization of furnace oil-fired boilers. In a completely water-cooled
surface and lower FEGT. This results in lower furnace that offers a cooler enclosure all
tube-wall temperatures in the heat transfer around the flame, the NOx emissions are
surfaces located downstream of the furnace, lower compared to a refractory-lined boiler.
such as the superheater, which, as a result, Refractory used in the front wall and areas
enjoys longer life. The FEGT is lower due to close to the floor and side walls reradiates
the higher furnace effective area for a given energy back to the flame, increasing NOx
volume of furnace; hence the ratio of net formation. Hence lower FGR is required to
heat input to furnace divided by the effective limit the NOx in a fully water-cooled furnace
furnace area is smaller (Figure 3) [1]. compared to the refractory-lined boiler.
The refractory-lined front wall reradiates Higher excess air and FGR simply in-
energy back to the flame, increasing its local crease the fluegas mass flow through the
temperatures and thus increasing the NOx boiler for the same steam parameters, thus
FIGURE 3. This chart shows levels. A furnace with water-cooled front wall, increasing the fan power consumption. Re-
the effect of heat input side walls and floor, as shown in Figure 2 (left), member that the size of a boiler depends on
divided by effective surface offers a benign enclosure to the flame and the fluegas quantity handled by the boiler
area versus FEGT [sometimes
known as furnace outlet tem- lowers the NOx emissions, besides lowering heating surfaces and not the steam param-
perature (FOT)] the heat flux and area heat-release rate. eters. Custom-designed boiler manufac-
turers consider this fact and redesign their
heating surfaces (by changing tube spac-
1400 ing, increasing the size of economizer) and
1350 ensure high efficiency and low fluegas pres-
sure drop through the unit. Unfortunately, a
1300 few boiler suppliers still offer standard, off-
1250
the-shelf designs selected based on steam
parameters alone, which will have lower ef-
FOT, oC
Gas
1200
Oil
ficiency or higher fan power consumption if
1150
FGR has to be used.
Convective superheater design versus
1100 radiant superheater. Superheaters of boil-
1050
ers designed decades ago were located at
the furnace exit, irrespective of steam tem-
1000
150 200 250 300 250 400 450 500 550 600
perature required; the superheater was in
Neat heat release rate, kW/m2 the radiant zone and hence exposed to high
heat flux and direct radiation from the 3
furnace flame, resulting often in tube 2 Furnace
failures (Figure 4A). These superheaters 1
3
were called radiant superheaters. There 1 2 Furnace
is another option where the superheater
is located in the convection bank itself,
but without a screen. This is called a
semi-radiant superheater (Figure 4B).
Gas out
Present-day designs from a few boiler
FIGURE 4A. Depending on its location, a superheater can be either convective (left) or radiant (right).
suppliers who specialize in custom- The numbers identify the superheater (1), burner (2) and screen, evaporator (3)
designed units, have convective su-
perheaters with a large screen section,
shielding it from direct furnace radiation
(Figure 4C). Burner Furnace
A radiant superheater is not good Gas in
choice for package boilers and is bet-

ter avoided because the superheater
is located in a harsh environment. A Evaporator Evaporator 2 stage SH
radiant superheater receives radiant
energy from the furnace flame, while a
convective superheater is shielded from
furnace radiation because it is located Gas out
in a much cooler region behind several To economizer Desuperheater

rows of screen (evaporator) tubes. FIGURE 4B. A semi-radiant superheater without a screen section is shown here
A number of factors impact the design
and thermal performance of semi-radiant
or radiant superheaters and boiler plant
Burner Furnace
engineers must be aware of them. Only
then can they appreciate the fact that
they are buying a design with great po-
tential for tube overheating and failures.
1. It is difficult to estimate the FEGT ac-
curately. A good boiler designer knows Evaporator 2 stage SH Screen
this. Variations in fuel analysis, excess
air, furnace geometry, burner location
and flame shape to mention a few, af-
fect the FEGT, which in turn directly
Gas out
affects the superheater duty and tube
To economizer
wall temperature. The correlations for Desuperheater
furnace performance are not clearly FIGURE 4C. Shown here is a convective superheater with vertical headers and horizontal tubes lo-
established (like the convective heat- cated beyond the screen section
transfer-coefficient correlations for flu-
id flow inside or outside tubes, which [(1,373)4 versus (1,273)4]. The loga-
you can see in any textbook on heat rithmic mean temperature difference
transfer). FEGT is mainly established (LMTD) in the superheater also will
based on field data of similar boiler be affected, resulting in some uncer-
designs and operating data. Variations tainty in the duty and performance
of 50120C are likely in its estimation, evaluation of the superheater. A high-
which can affect the energy transfer er LMTD than estimated will not only
to the superheater and its tube wall increase the duty of the superheater
temperature. The external radiation but will also increase the heat flux and
energy transferred to the superheater the tube wall temperature.
tubes will also be proportional to the 2. A semi-radiant superheater receives
FEGT to the power of four. One can direct radiation from the furnace and
appreciate the problem if, while esti- depending on the tube spacing-to-
mating the FEGT, the designer comes diameter ratio, the fraction of energy
up with a value like 1,000C while in absorbed in each row will vary (Figure
operation it is close to 1,100C. The 5). If the superheater tubes are closely
direct radiation will be higher by 35% spaced, then more direct radiation

1.0 the superheater can have cross flow and a
0.9
portion can have parallel flow and the frac-
24
22
20
tion of each can vary with load. Thus its
0.8 18 performance prediction becomes a guess-
16
14 ing game. One is taking chances with such
0.7
12 a location for the superheater.
0.6 10 5. If the flame shape is not properly set, the
9
flame can lick the first few rows of su-
8
Kn
0.5 perheater facing the furnace. Since the

7
0.4
6 heat-transfer coefficient is much lower
5 inside a superheater tube (about 6 to 10
4
0.3 times lower than that of the evaporator or
3
furnace tubes), the increase in tube wall
0.2 ST
O O 2 No. of rows de
ep n
temperature can be high, leading to tube
O O failures.
0.1 O O 1
Gas flow 6. On the other hand, the convective super-
0 heater is located in a safe region far away
1 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
ST/d from the furnace outlet. The number of
Distribution of external radiation to tubes screen rows (the function of screen tubes
is the same as that of the evaporator) can
FIGURE 5. This chart shows will be absorbed by the superheater in the be as high as 10 to even 40 rows depend-
the distribution of external ra- first two to three rows facing the furnace, ing on steam temperature desired. There
diation from furnace to heat-
ing surfaces at the furnace thus increasing the tube wall temperature are three advantages of using a screen
exit (Kn is fraction of direct in these rows. Typically four to five rows of section. One, the gas temperature drops
radiation absorbed by each tubes absorb the complete external radia- significantly before entering the super-
row and ST is the transverse tion, as seen from the chart in Figure 5. This heater say by 250500F (depending on
spacing of tubes)
adds to the heat flux inside the superheater the number of screen rows) and the heat
tubes. Typically the tube wall temperature flux inside the tubes is significantly lower
can go up by 20 to 40C due to external ra- compared to the radiant design. The sec-
diation; at tube wall operating temperatures ond is that the fluegas mixes well beyond
close to 600650C, even a 10C increase the turn and becomes uniform before
can result in tube failure. At partial loads, entering the superheater due to the gas
the increase in tube wall temperature will pressure drop in the screen section, and
be higher, as shown in some worked out hence the prediction of superheater per-
examples in Ref. 1. formance is far more reliable, unlike the
3. With uncertainty in the estimation of FEGT, situation for a radiant superheater. Thirdly,
the direct radiation from furnace to the su- the direct radiation contribution from the
perheater is also difficult to predict. While furnace is also avoided as the screen or
evaluating the tube wall temperature in the evaporator tubes pick up the direct radia-
superheater, one has to add the heat flux tion and since the screen or evaporator
arising out of direct radiation, convection tubes have a high-boiling heat-transfer
and non-luminous radiation. The contribu- coefficient inside the tubes (exceeding
tion of direct radiation is a function of the 2,500 Btu/ft2hF compared to 200350
location of the tube facing the opening and Btu/ft2hF for the superheater), the evap-
the tube spacing as shown in Figure 5. It orator tube wall temperature increase is
can be seen that when the tube spacing not a concern at all.
to the convection bank is large, a large 7. A major advantage for the convective su-
amount of energy is sent to the next row perheater is its lower tube-wall tempera-
and so on. The radiant superheater also ture, which results in a longer life com-
absorbs more enthalpy at partial loads pared to the radiant superheater. This is
compared to full load. At low loads, the due to the lower gas-entering temperature
flow distribution on both gas and steam and absence of direct radiation. A simplis-
side will be poor. Hence tube overheating tic tube life calculation below illustrates this
is likely at all loads [1]. point.
4. The turning section where the superheater 8. In heavy-oil-fired boilers, the slag formed
is located adds to non-uniformity in gas due to the melting of ash in fuel oil can
flow, velocity and temperature profiles deposit on a radiant superheater, which
across the superheater, making it difficult is operating at high temperature and can
to predict its performance. A portion of cause high-temperature corrosion failures,
FIGURE 6A. Shown here is a superheater with a vertical tube FIGURE 6B. Two different views of a superheater with a hori-
of inverted loop design zontal tube design
mainly due to vanadium, sodium salts it is an unnecessary risk for steam temper-
and their compounds. The convective su- atures up to 500C. High-pressure, high-
perheater can be located where fluegas temperature utility boilers, which operate
temperatures are far below the slagging at 165 kg/cm2g and 540550C with re-
temperature. heat require radiant designs as superheat-
9. Variations in excess air, flame shape or ers, and have to be located in high gas-
FGR will have a lesser effect on steam temperature regions for compactness. But
temperature in a convective superheater package boilers operating at much lower
due to the additional cooling and mixing steam pressures need not have radiant or
in the screen section ahead of the super- semi-radiant superheaters. The author has
heater. designed several hundred units with fully
10. The boiler can be started up faster convective type superheaters which are in
because the gas temperature entering operation around the world without prob-
the superheater will be much lower in a lems since 1990. The only advantage of
convective design compared to the radi- radiant design is that some surface area is
ant design. If the guideline is, say, 600C reduced and hence labor costs are lower
maximum at the superheater, then it takes for superheater fabrication, but materials
less time to reach this temperature with are costlier, and shorter life and frequent
a convective superheater. A boiler with failures and repair costs more than com-
a radiant superheater has to be started pensate for this small advantage.
up more slowly to ensure that 550600C
is not reached at the superheater before Types of superheaters
steam starts flowing through the super- Basically two types of superheater designs
heater. are available for package boilers and are
Hence the radiant or semi-radiant super- widely used. One is the inverted loop super-
heater design should be avoided if possible heater (Figure 6A), and the other is the hori-
for a longer life of superheater and trouble- zontal tube superheater (Figure 6B).
free operation as it poses more risks com- Inverted loop. In the inverted loop design,
pared to a convective superheater. the inlet and exit steam headers are hori-
This is not to say that all boilers with zontal and located inside or outside the
radiant superheaters will have problems gas path; baffle plates are used at appro-
in operation. Good radiant superheaters priate places in the header to obtain the
are designed with better materials, steam necessary number of streams (or tubes
flow arrangement (referring to whether carrying the total steam flow) in order to
it is the primary or intermediate stage of optimize the steam-side pressure drop.
superheating, and flow direction, whether If 100,000 lb/h is the steam flowrate and
parallel or counter flow) and high tube-side there are six tubes on each header (12
mass velocities and steam-side pressure across the boiler bank width) and, say, 20
drops to ensure trouble-free operation, but rows deep (along gas flow direction) and

40 wrong selection of this parameter [2].
35
Horizontal tube. In the horizontal-tube su-
perheater design, vertical headers are used;
Stress, 1,000 psi
30
the number of tubes in each row (or a mul-
25 tiple of it) can be the number of streams.
20 Central inlet and exit nozzles are preferred
15 for steam inlet or exit.
T22
A superheater configuration can be par-
10 T11 allel-flow or counter-flow or cross-flow and
0 with single or multi-stages with intermediate
32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
LMP parameter (T + 460) (20 + log t)/1,000 desuperheating for steam temperature con-
trol. Performance calculations will reveal the
FIGURE 7. This plot of stress 24 streams are required to meet the ve- best option for the superheater and are done
versus LMP for T11,T22 ma- locity and pressure drop considerations, on a case-by-case basis, as illustrated in ex-
terials is useful for predicting
then there will be a baffle after the 4 th row amples in the references.
the life of a superheater (T is
in the inlet header (6 4 = 24 streams),
the temperature in F, t the life
in h, and LMP is the Larson after the 8 th row in the outlet header, after Custom designed boilers
Miller Parameter [1]) the 12 th row in the inlet header and so on. The concept of custom-designed boilers
Selection of streams for the superheater started evolving around the 1980s when
is a very important task and many super- emissions of NOx and CO were regulated
heater failures have been attributed to a and new boilers were required to adhere to
limits on these pollutants. Fluegas recircu-
lation was one method used to limit NOx
TABLE 1. TUBE GEOMETRY OF BOILER WITH RADIANT SUPERHEATER
and excess air and low-NOx burners with
Section Screen Superheater Evaporator Economizer staged combustion were introduced. Even
Tube OD, in. 2.0 2.0 2.0 2 today, several boiler suppliers offer what
Thickness, in. 0.120 0.200 0.120 0.120 are called standard, off-the-shelf pack-
Tubes/row 12 12 12 16 age boilers with low cost. However, a few
boiler suppliers also offer what are called
Rows deep 2 16 72 12
custom-designed boilers, which consider
Length, ft 9 8.5 9 15 the impact of fluegas flow on boiler perfor-
Transverse pitch, in. 5 4.8 5 4 mance and optimize the design for lower
Longitudinal pitch 4 4 4 4 operating cost and better efficiency. This
Streams 24 8 is done by manipulating the boiler bank
spacing, length of evaporator tubes, su-
Material Sa 178a T22 Sa 178a Sa 178a
perheater location, number of screen
Flow direction Counter Counter tubes, economizer fin optimization and so
Fins/in. height thickness 5 0.75 on. Custom-designed units can lower fan
0.05 power consumption and also ensure long
Surface area, ft2 113 855 4,072 16,417 superheater life. When the degree of steam
superheat is, say, only 5 to 10C, the su-
TABLE 2. TUBE GEOMETRY OF BOILER WITH CONVECTIVE SUPERHEATER perheater may be located between the
Section Screen Superheater Evaporator Economizer evaporator and economizer. A great flexibil-
ity thus exists in custom-designed boilers.
Tube OD, in 2.0 2.0 2.0 2
The author is even aware of a case where
Thickness, in 0.120 0.15 0.120 0.12 a customer wanted only 20C of superheat
Tubes/row 12 12 12 16 and the boiler supplier had no idea how to
Rows deep 13 24 53 12 handle such a low degree of superheat and
Length, ft 9 8.5 9 15 suggested to the plant to purchase a sepa-
rately fired superheater. This clearly shows
Transverse pitch, in 5 4.8 5 4
that not many boiler suppliers can custom-
Longitudinal pitch 4 4 4 4 design boilers for a difficult and challenging
Streams 24 8 boiler application.
Material Sa 178a T22 Sa 178a Sa 178a Several examples of custom-designed
Flow direction Counter Counter boiler applications that have created value
for end users may be seen in the references
Fins/in height thickness 5 0.75
0.05
cited. A standard off-the-shelf boiler is like a
ready-made garment, it may fit you well or
Surface area, ft2 735 1,065 2,997 16,417
not, whereas a custom-designed boiler is
like a tailor-made dress that fits perfectly. TABLE 3. PERFORMANCE OF BOILER WITH AND WITHOUT FGR
Designs of standard boilers were devel- Item Radiant Convective Radiant su- Convective
oped several decades ago when there were super- superheater perheater superheater
no emission regulations. As mentioned ear- heater
lier The FGR and excess air rates will vary Excess air,% 15 15 15 15
with type of fuel, combustion temperature, Fluegas Recirculation rate,% 0 0 20 20
NOx and CO emission limits, and hence,
Steam temp. at 100% load,10F 807 812 777 800
two boilers with identical steam parameters
may differ in size depending on the total flu- SH tube wall temperature, 10F 1,085 1,020 1,030 990
egas quantity flowing through the unit. Stan- Gas temp to superheater, 10F 2,379 1,980 2,138 1,828
dard boiler suppliers have fewer options to Gas temp to evaporator, 10F 1,897 1478 1,762 1,420
choose from and one has to carefully review Gas temp to economizer, ,10F 795 823 809 834
the efficiency, fan power consumption and
Gas temp leaving eco, ,10F 300 300 320 324
overall performance.
Efficiency, % HHV 84.27 84.27 83.6 83.5
Convective versus radiant superheaters Steam temperature@ 50% load 815 767 814 785
In order to understand how boilers with radi-
ant versus convective superheaters differ in from direct radiation from the furnace. By
performance, an example is now presented. using a slightly higher tube thickness, the
Design and operating parameters. A same superheater material can be used for
boiler is designed to deliver 137,000 lb/h of both the radiant and convective design.
steam at 720 psig and 800F, with a feed- 2. The life of the superheater is significantly
water temperature of 230F. Fuel is natural reduced due to an increase in tube wall
gas (90% methane, 5% ethane and 5% ni- temperature. Let us estimate the life as-
trogen). Tables 1 and 2 show the tube ge- suming the boiler operates at 100% load
ometry that is used for both designs. The all the time. Figure 7, showing the stress
radiant superheater is located at the turn- versus Larson Miller Parameter (LMP), is
ing section as shown in Figure 4B, while used to estimate the life [1].
the convective superheater is located sev- First estimate the operating stress, which
eral rows downstream of the screen sec- is given by the relation: Stress = pressure
tion (Figure 4C). The superheated steam radius/thickness.
temperature is uncontrolled as variations For the radiant superheater: Stress = 720
up to 20F are accepted by the plant. 1/0.2 = 3,600 psi. From Figure 6, the LMP
Furnace dimensions are the same for both corresponding to this value is 39. The absolute
options, namely 30-ft long, 8.5-ft high and tube-wall temperature is found by T = 1,085 +
7-ft wide, and is a completely water-cooled 460 = 1,545R. 39,000/1,545 = 25.24 = (20 +
furnace. The same economizer is used in log t) or t = 174,000 h or about 22 yr.
both options. The only difference is in the For the convective superheater: Stress =
tube thickness of the superheater and the 720 1/0.15 = 4,800 psi. LMP = 38.3. T
number of rows of screen and evaporator. = 1,020 + 460=1,480R. 38,300/1,480 =
Excess air used is 15% and no fluegas re- 25.87 = (20 + log t) or t=743,000 h or more
circulation is used in the basic design. The than 92 yr.
same boiler is likely to operate with 20% Though this is a simplistic method of esti-
fluegas recirculation (FGR) later. The per- mation of potential lifespan, it shows that the
formance for both designs was calculated life of the convective design is much longer
and the results are presented in Table 3 than that of the radiant design, due to the
(Design and off-design calculation meth- lower operating temperatures.
ods for superheaters and tube-wall tem- 3. The surface area of the convective super-
perature are detailed in Ref. 2). heater is much larger and hence costlier,
Discussions on the two designs. The fol- but considering the low operating tube-
lowing points may be noted from Table 3. wall temperature, it is considered a bet-
1. Though the steam temperature is nearly ter design. The author has seen several
the same at 100% load for both the radi- superheaters with radiant design fail in a
ant and convective designs, the tube wall short period due to overheating. Frequent
temperature for the radiant design is about repairs and shutdowns are expensive and
1,085F versus 1,020F for the convective impacts the cost of business. As men-
design. This is due to the higher gas tem- tioned earlier, there are non-uniformities
perature (nearly 400F) entering the radiant in gas temperatures and fluegas flows
superheater and with some contribution entering the superheater, particularly if it

p concerns with this design:
p Friction loss
Superheater location is at the turn around
Total loss section at the furnace exit with uncertain
Total loss
h gas flow pattern and non-uniformity in flu-
0 egas flow and gas temperatures
p
Gravity loss p m1 m2 Mass loss It is a single-pass cross-flow design with
Friction loss low steam-mass velocity inside the tubes
Gravity loss
0 Mass loss m1 Ambiguous region
and hence low steam-side pressure drop
p The superheater is facing the furnace and
Upward flow Downward flow
hence has direct radiation from the furnace
in addition to convective and non-luminous
FIGURE 8. Flow versus pres- is located at the turning section. Hence, heat fluxes
sure drop in upward- and prediction of its performance and tube wall Low steam-side pressure drop impacts
downward-flowing tubes
temperature is less accurate compared to the downward flow of steam in long tubes,
that of the convective design. When buy- as explained below
ing new boilers, plant engineers should One of the problems with tall inverted-
give preference to designs with convective loop superheaters is the effect of steam-
superheaters and be aware of the likely side pressure drop at low loads as shown
problems with a radiant design. At par- in Figure 8 when steam flow is in the vertical
tial loads, the steam flow inside the tubes downward direction.
also will have a non-uniformity due to low When steam flows upward, both the
steam pressure drop and this can also add gravity loss and friction loss are additive
to the increase in tube wall temperature in and hence their sum is always positive and
certain tubes. the total pressure loss versus flow curve is
4. Effect of adding FGR: As far as the steam monotonic [2].
temperature is concerned, the variation In the downward flow section, at low
in steam temperature is much larger be- loads, the enthalpy pick up will be higher
tween 100 and 50% loads with a radiant in a radiant superheater compared to a
superheater compared to the convective convective one (due to the contribution of
design, where the screen section damp- furnace radiation) and the density of steam
ens the large variations in fluegas flow decreases and hence lower gravity loss.
and temperature. As steam flow increases, the specific vol-
ume reaches a steady value and the steam
Failure analysis density also will be higher while friction loss
The author was asked to investigate fre- increases as the square of flow. The total
quent tube-failure problems in an inverted- loss curve will have two operating points as
loop superheater with cross-flow design as shown at low loads while at higher loads
shown in Figure 6A. This boiler could nei- the total loss curve is monotonic and hence
ther be operated near 90100% load nor stagnation is not a concern. This trend is
at lower than 40% load, as tube failures exhibited with a convective superheater
would occur. This is a poor superheater also, but due to lower gas temperatures
design to start with and the author would at lower loads, the tubes are much safer.
FIGURE 9. The problem of tube have advised the plant against purchasing Hence superheaters of inverted-loop de-
failures discussed in the text
was solved with baffles and a this boiler and to go for a design with a con- sign should be designed with a reasonably
parallel flow design vective superheater. There were a few major high steam-side pressure drop, which en-
sures gravity loss is not low enough at low
+ Superheated steam out
loads to cause flow stagnation or ambigu-
ity in flow. A safe pressure drop is arrived
at in the design stage at 100% load based
on steam pressure, height of superheater
tubes and steam pressure. One has to also
Gas flow Gas flow
perform partial-load calculations and ensure
flow stagnation will not be an issue. Unfor-
Upper
tunately, many boiler designers do not un-
+ header derstand this, and design superheaters with
a low steam-side pressure drop resulting in
Lower tube failures at low loads.
+ header
Solution. Nothing much could be done
+
Saturated steam in Saturated steam in Saturated steam out
about the location of the superheater. It was
Mud drum present design Suggested modification determined through calculations that the
superheater was designed with a ture region into the cooler gas- granted. Plant engineers should
low steam pressure drop resulting in temperature region, thus limiting look at designs of custom-designed
overheating of the tubes over a wide the tube wall temperatures. boilers and learn about their features
load range due to a low tube-side However, it should be noted that and advantages and not simply buy
heat-transfer coefficient and direct to begin with, the design could a boiler because the same design
radiation from the furnace. At lower have been avoided. The best op- has been offered by the boiler com-
loads, the problem became worse, tion would have been to purchase a pany for five decades. n
as there was stagnation in some convective superheater with a large Edited by Gerald Ondrey
tubes due to the gravity head loss screen section with several advan-
being higher than the steam pres- tages as cited earlier. References
sure drop, as explained earlier. The 1. Ganapathy, V., Industrial Boilers and HRSGs, CRC
boiler could be operated only in a Concluding remarks Press, Florida, 2003.
narrow range of load and even then Plants invest several million dollars 2. Ganapathy, V., Steam Generators and Waste Heat
Boilers for Process and Plant Engineers, CRC Press,
tube failures were rampant. in steam generators and should re- Florida, 2015.
The author reviewed the design and view if a particular design is good in
introduced a baffle in the inlet header, the long run. Even if the superheater Author
thereby making the superheater a runs well, the higher tube wall tem- Viswanathan Ganapathy is a
two-pass design with parallel flow perature limits the life as shown boiler consultant from Chennai,
India (v_ganapathy@yahoo.
configuration (Figure 9). This modifica- earlier. A convective superheater com), who specializes in thermal
tion brought in several advantages. design should be preferred. Though design and performance as-
1. The steam-side pressure drop in- the steam generator may be slightly pects. He has over 40 years of
experience in the thermal design
creased eight times, which was more expensive, it pays off in the and performance aspects of
still acceptable to the plant. The long run due to lower maintenance steam generators and waste-
heat boilers. He has authored
cooling effect of steam was much and repair costs. Plants should also over 250 articles on boiler-related subjects that have
better and there were no concerns hire a consultant to review the boiler been published in a number of U.S., Indian and U.K.
about stagnation at low loads. design from a thermal and process magazines. He has also authored several books and
conducts courses on boilers. He graduated from the
2. The parallel flow configuration took viewpoint instead of simply tak- Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras with a degree in
away the higher steam tempera- ing the boiler suppliers words for mechanical engineering.
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Feature Report
The Relationship Between
Materials Selection and
Machining Processes
An awareness of the impact of materials selection on the machining processes for
small, complex components can affect overall end-product quality and costs
Kenneth Rinier
FIGURE 1. There are many implications
Vallorbs Jewel Co. for materials selection of threaded
parts, especially when the machining
process is considered
IN BRIEF
MATERIAL SELECTION
FACTORS
THREADED PARTS AND

VALVES
MACHINING
SPECIFICATION
MACHINING SOLUTIONS
T
he importance of material selection the designer may not be aware of the poten-
for small, complex components found tial issues that can arise.
in equipment critical to the chemical There is an important relationship between
process industries (CPI) cannot be material selection and precision, ease of ma-
understated. For small metal parts, such chining and final finish that is often overlooked.
as valves and threaded fasteners, the steps These factors can have significant effects
product engineers take for selecting a mate- on the quality and cost of the component in
rial are fairly linear. The engineer determines question. The use of an ineffective machining
the functionality and the operating environ- method for small components can cause is-
ment of the components and chooses the sues in certain materials, especially if they are
material. Environmental factors taken into exotic or hard-to-machine metals. These is-
consideration include corrosion resistance, sues include fouled operating environments,
exposure to harsh chemicals and extreme premature component failure and oxidation
temperatures. After evaluating the material effects, and are sometimes the result of inad-
based on these conditions, design engineers equate machining and material selection. This
often make the final material decision for the article provides guidance to help design engi-
specific part. However, the desired material neers consider the relationship between ma-
may have certain properties that can present terial selection, existing machining processes
challenges in operation and machining, and and the quality and cost of the end product.
Material selection factors als can cause increased corrosion
Functionality in the operating envi- rates. High-temperature materials in-
ronment is generally a high prior- clude iron-, nickel- and cobalt-based
ity for material selection of compo- metal alloys.
nents, especially when it comes to Cost. A major factor in the materials-
the long- and short-term safety and selection decision typically involves
reliability of the equipment. The fol- the initial cost of the material, the FIGURE 2. Threaded parts must be able to with-
stand a number of harsh conditions in CPI applica-
lowing sections introduce some im- ease of machining and repair and the tions, including exposure to corrosive materials,
portant factors that must be consid- availability of the material. Cost influ- high temperatures and pressures and other envi-
ered in material selection for small, ences the balance between materials ronmental restrictions
complex components. and machining in the case of mate-
Corrosion resistance. Corrosion is rial grades. For example, if an engi- For small threaded parts (such as
a major concern that dictates mate- neer chooses Inconel as the material threaded valve connectors) that play
rial selection in many operating en- for the product, the grade affects the a significant role in the performance
vironments. For example, chloride machining cost. Since Inconel 600 is and longevity of chemical processing
ions cause stress corrosion cracking much easier to machine than Inconel equipment, metals are most often
(SCC) in stainless steels, so a mate- 718, the time and cost of machining selected for these properties. How-
rial like titanium is selected because can change considerably depending ever, in some precision equipment,
of its chloride-resistant properties. on which grade is chosen. Figure 1 such as gears, ceramics and other
These factors are critical because shows some threaded parts that are hard materials are corrosion-resis-
corrosion in equipment can result in constructed of Inconel 718. However, tant and can achieve equal or better
a number of negative effects, includ- note that cost is usually secondary to surface finishes than some metals.
ing fires, explosions and both brittle the other considerations that involve Other non-metallic materials, such
and mechanical failures, as well as consistent and reliable operation of as high-performance polymers, are
the release of hazardous gases, liq- the part in its application. used in place of metals to reduce the
uids or vapors. Restrictive applications. In most weight of equipment.
Oxidation is commonly observed CPI applications, the selection of the
in materials like the stainless-steel appropriate material can usually pre- Threaded parts and valves
alloys. These metals naturally form vent the negative effects associated Threaded parts (Figure 2) and valves
oxide layers for corrosion protection, with the operating environment, but are used in processing equipment in
which can cause uneven surfaces. some applications are more restric- countless CPI applications, but can
This occurrence requires passiva- tive. Due to strict operating-environ- often be overlooked. An understand-
tion treatment to reduce the nega- ment protocols, designing parts for ing of these complex parts gives en-
tive effects of these oxide layers and certain applications, such as nuclear gineers insight into the materials-se-
to keep the surfaces smooth and processing, can be limiting when it lection and machining processes.
free of imperfections that can cause comes to choosing a material. Areas Fasteners and threads. Fasten-
equipment failure. at risk for fire or explosions, such ers and threaded parts can be the
Exposure to chemicals. Materi- as oil-and-gas processing facilities, smallest parts in chemical process-
als can have adverse reactions to are also restrictive when considering equipment, but are often critical
chemicals in various environments. ing equipment material. Certifica- to the assembly of larger equipment.
Environmental chemical factors can tion systems, such as the Interna- These components must be strong,
include high acidity and the presence tional Electrotechnical Commissions durable and corrosion-resistant to
of oxygen or aqueous solutions, or (IEC; Geneva, Switzerland; www. ensure that equipment performs
even harsh cleaning or sanitizing iec.ch) globally recognized System safely and reliably. As mentioned, ex-
agents. Although the production for Certification to Standards Relat- otic metals, including stainless-steel
environment may be non-corrosive, ing to Equipment for Use in Explo- alloys, titanium and Inconel, which
the presence of these chemicals can sive Atmospheres (IECEx System; have greater resistance to harsh
cause materials to react, so a de- www.iecex.com), may require the chemicals and can endure very high
signer should consider the risks when provision of specific material prop- temperatures, are examples of desir-
selecting materials. erties to improve equipment and able materials for fasteners used in
Temperature resistance. The engi- personnel safety. heat exchangers, exhaust systems,
neer should be aware that the me- The most common class of mate- tanks, vessels and other process-
chanical limits of materials can be rials chosen for chemical processing ing equipment. Mechanical proper-
negatively affected by high tempera- equipment is metal, because metal ties, such as high strength-to-weight
tures, potentially causing thermal materials are typically stronger, more ratios, will also lead a designer to
failure or deformation. Materials are resistant to fatigue and cracking, choose an exotic metal.
also selected based on tempera- and are typically easier to machine Valves. Valves are highly involved
ture resistance because the effect than other material classes, such as in chemical processing equipment,
of extreme temperatures on materi- glasses, polymers and ceramics. such as the piping systems that

off and foul the operating environ-
ment or cause excessive friction.
Thread rolling is a work-hardening
process in which flat or cylindrical
dies apply great amounts of pres-
sure to the blank material, forcing
the material outward into the shape
of threads. Because the material is
displaced instead of removed, rolled
threads are typically hardened and
have smooth finishes. Figure 4 il-
lustrates the physical differences
between parts that undergo thread
cutting and thread rolling.
In CPI applications that require
thread accuracy, rolling has signifi-
cant advantages over thread cut-
ting. Rolled threads have smooth fin-
FIGURE 3. Stainless steel provides many beneficial properties for valve internals, but this material can ishes, very tight tolerances, superior
pose challenges for machining processes
strength, resistance to fatigue and
control the flow of liquids, gases and To ensure peak performance of these consistent thread geometry all de-
vapors. Valve systems can be very complex components, exotic metals sirable properties of equipment used
complex, with multiple parts and com- are chosen. However, the selection of for chemical processing. Thread ac-
ponents, and each one must perform these exotic metals can present addi- curacy and consistency is critical for
as expected by resisting corrosion and tional design challenges related to ma- any harsh environment. When as-
fatigue. In harsh chemical-processing chining that design engineers are often sembling a product, ensuring con-
applications, valve systems are often unaware of that can negatively impact sistent flow and preventing leakage
custom designed to maintain pres- product quality and inadvertently drive results in a more reliable and efficient
sure levels and prevent dangerous, up costs. Figure 3 depicts internal final product. This will not only im-
and sometimes lethal, fugitive emis- components from a high-pressure prove the safety of personnel, but it
sions. The control of fugitive emis- gas valve that are constructed of 316 will also reduce the loss of expensive
sions, no matter how small, is a major stainless steel. chemicals. Consistent surface fin-
concern for plant engineers because ishes also prevent harsh chemicals
they can be harmful to personnel, Machining specification from attaching to imperfections, pits
equipment and the environment. For threaded parts, it is common or tool marks on the metal surface.
Many of the basic external and in- for design engineers to leave the At this point, a design engineer
ternal components of a valve system machining method unspecified on may ask: how does thread rolling
depend on strong and tight threaded a request for quote (RFQ) or design relate to material selection? As men-
joints and connections for safe, reli- specification. The method is then tioned, metals are the most com-
able and efficient performance under left up to the machine shop to de- monly chosen material class for the
demanding operating environments. cide, which can result in missed op- design of chemical processing equip-
An example of a threaded compo- portunities for the designer to avoid ment. Despite being more corrosion-
nent in a valve is the valve body. Valve premature failure, improve product resistant, stronger and resistant to
bodies make up the structural foun- quality and reduce costs, especially fracture, metals can also possess
dation and contain the internal com- if the selected materials are difficult qualities that make them difficult to
ponents of most pressure valves. to machine. Knowing the available machine. Because the CPI count on
They are connected to piping via machining options can help a de- many types of metals for safety and
threaded or welded joints. The body signer to make the most appropriate reliability, choosing the most suitable
is commonly attached to the valve design choices. machining method for specific ma-
bonnet with threaded connections. Machining method options. The terials is important for the design of
The bonnet houses the valve stem. two most common methods for threaded parts and valves.
Valve stems are typically attached to the machining of external and inter-
a disk (or ball, depending on the valve nal threads are cutting and rolling. Machining solutions
type) via threads. As the threaded Thread cutting is a process in which As previously discussed, exotic and
stem spins into or out of the valve a sharpened cutting tool is used to hard-to-machine metals, such as
bonnet, the disk moves, controlling physically remove material from a stainless steels, titanium and nickel-
the chemical flow. The seal between blank, metal round bar or hole to based alloys like Inconel, are often
the stem and disk must be tight, and form threads. This results in the pro- chosen due to their physical proper-
uniform thread finishes are important duction of rough, uneven threads ties capabilities in the required ap-
to prevent leaks. with microscopic chips that can flake plication. However, these materials
also have various undesirable prop-
erties that can create challenges.
These potential issues can usually
be overcome by selecting the correct
machining method.
Ease of machining. Ductility, or a
materials ability to deform without
fracture, is a major property that de-
termines its machinability. Steels and
nonferrous metals that are less ductile
will typically break and produce chips Rolled threads
and impurities as material is removed.

As a result, thread cutting is a very inef-
fective method of machining for these
materials. Although these metals do
not deform easily and require much
greater amounts of pressure to form
threads, they typically roll very effi-
ciently and yield the consistent thread
geometry and smooth surfaces that
are desirable for equipment compo-
nents used in the CPI. The ductility of Cut threads
a specific material can be acquired
from an ASTM International test.
Smooth surfaces. When a material FIGURE 4. Thread cutting and thread rolling are the two most commonly used methods for the machining
of threaded parts
is cut, the microscopic particles that
are left behind can cause thread gall- for threads and mated parts. tions of the U.S. Department of Ag-
ing. Galling is a form of wear caused If the surfaces of the threads have riculture (USDA; Washington, D.C;
by the sliding and friction between impurities or imperfections, they will www.usda.gov) or the U.S. Food
two metal surfaces. Unlike some cause increased friction as parts and Drug Administration (FDA; Silver
forms of wear that occur over time, tighten. This causes the oxide films Spring, Md.; www.fda.gov) to avoid
the negative effects of galling will be on the surface to be scraped away, contamination. In these cases, thread
observed as soon as the metal parts leaving behind damage to the under- rolling can be a means of eliminat-
are assembled and in sliding contact. lying layers of metal. These damaged ing the impurities that can adhere to
When a metal surface galls, micro- and exposed layers are prime start- these surfaces and cause oxide lay-
scopic particles break off and foul ing points for galling. Typically, sur- ers to come apart.
the operating environment. Galling face finishes are used as a preventive Complete material isolation. In CPI
is most common in ductile metals measure, but in many chemical-pro- applications, the isolation of material
like aluminum compounds, because cessing applications, such as food is often critical, so valves are used to
particles are more prone to transfer or pharmaceutical processing, the constrain the flow of gases, liquids or
during motion. selected finish must meet the regula- vapors to a specific location. These
Although these ductile metals are
more likely to gall, the high pressures
of the dies during the thread-rolling
process makes the metal surfaces
harder and denser. This means that
the presence of microscopic particles
that typically form during the machin-
ing of ductile metals is significantly
reduced. Choosing thread rolling is
a strategy that a designer can take
prior to production that can result in
smooth surfaces on various types of
metal fasteners and threads.
Protecting against oxidation. As
discussed, oxide layers form in many
types of metals, such as stainless
steel, titanium or aluminum, for in-
creased corrosion protection. How- FIGURE 5. An understanding of the thread-rolling technique helps engineers to save costs when specify-
ever, this can cause significant issues ing materials for valve internals

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DIANE BURLESON | Direct: 512-337-7890 | dburleson@accessintel.com
24742
isolation valves require highly reli- An understanding of the intended Author
able shutoff and sealing capabilities functionality and operating environ- Kenneth Rinier is the general
in order to prevent dangerous leaks ment is significant in deciding on a manager of Vallorbs Jewel Co.
(2599 Old Philadelphia Pike,
in harsh operating environments. material for a small threaded part or Bird-In-Hand, PA 17505; Website:
Application-specific materials may valve component in the CPI, but this is www.vallorbs.com; Phone: 1-717-
prevent corrosion, but rolled threads only part of the process. Going a step 392-3978), a precision parts ma-
chining company that specializes
can help to ensure stronger seals further in the design of these com- in small, complex components.
and connections. ponents by specifying the machining Rinier is a trade-school graduate
in precision machining, having
Rolled threads are work-hardened method is another way of ensuring studied advanced blueprint reading, geometric dimen-
without the removal of material, so that the part will operate at peak per- sioning and tolerances and lean manufacturing. He has
the natural material grains are left formance when manufactured from over 36 years of on-the-job experience at Vallorbs as a
Swiss screw machine operator, tool designer and fabri-
unbroken and continuous. As a re- the desired material. cator, quality-control supervisor and site manager.
sult, these threads have much higher Edited by Mary Page Bailey
yield strengths and tighter tolerances
than that of cut threads. The uniform
thread geometry of rolled threads al-
lows parts to fit together better, with
fewer chances for sliding or loosen-
NACE CORROSION RISK
ing. Depending on the ductility of the
material, tolerances of rolled threads
MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE
can be as tight as 0.015 mm. M AY 2 3 - 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 H O U S T O N , T E X A S
These tight tolerances are ideal for
threaded valve joints and connections
HOUSTON MARRIOT T WESTCHASE
that require reliable material isolation
and shut-off.
Production costs. As with material
selection, the selection of the machin-
MANAGE RISKS.
ing method can impact costs. The
thread-rolling process is much more
efficient than cutting, and in some
REDUCE FAILURES.
cases can result in 90% decreases in The NACE Corrosion Risk Management Conference brings together
production times. Unlike the cutting experts from oil & gas, pipeline, chemical process, power generation,
tools that must be sharpened and and infrastructure industries, to share knowledge and best practices in
reset periodically during machining, corrosion risk management.
the dies used for rolling can continue
production for long periods of time. Attend to Learn How to:
Die lifetime is an important factor in
considering machining costs. Figure Understand industry regulations and how
5 shows an example of some inter- they impact risk management
nal components from a high-pressure Understand different risk assessment methods
fog valve that are constructed of 316 and how to apply them to your industry
stainless steel. For such components, Understand the role corrosion science and
the designer has the option to specify engineering plays in risk management
full thread crest, if required. However, Allocate resources effectively to mitigate
if an application does not require full
unanticipated failures
thread crest, the costs will be lowered
because the die life is increased when
the crest is not full. This has no impact
on the effective portion of the thread.
Full thread crest was not specified for
the components in Figure 5. REGISTER TODAY
The accuracy of rolled threads
is another factor that makes them
Save $100 when you register by April 6
cost-effective, because the need to
frequently inspect threads for con-
sistency during production runs is
eliminated. This saves on costs of
Go to corrosionrisk.nace.org
labor. By rolling threads, the design for more information
engineer will observe the exact same
thread geometry for the first part as
the last. Circle 13 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-13

Engineering Practice
Managing Small and Medium-sized

Capital Projects
A real-life example is provided to show how to stay on program and within budget
Construction Business Associates, LLC
Peter Hessler
Construction Business
Associates, LLC
O
ver the past few years,
much has been written
in the trade press about
how to manage large, $1-
billion-plus plant-construction and
expansion projects in the chemical
process industries (CPI). However,
when it comes to managing projects
with a smaller scope say, proj-
ects in the $25250 million range
a variety of nuanced manage-
ment issues arise. Such projects
include small new plants, additions
to existing plants, and expansions
of currently operating facilities. This
article suggests practical and imme- FIGURE 1. Can the owner of this chemical plant expansion be assured that this relatively small project
diate ways to deal with some of the will be completed on time and within budget? Yes, and with relative ease, if the team follows the recom-
mendations proposed here
unique management challenges that
often arise.
Large mega-projects are usually budget, defy timeline constraints, simply not experts at managing a
managed by one of the larger, world- present numerous surprises, and team of contractors.
renowned contractor firms, which even lead to lawsuits. Nonetheless, many CPI organiza-
have a full suite of project-manage- One reason is that the CPI plant tions still try to manage the contrac-
ment tools, capabilities and expertise personnel who are frequently tasked tors who are building their small or
at their disposal. Such contractors with the responsibility of oversee- medium-sized new plant or expan-
have built larger-than-life projects, ing such projects are not, by train- sion projects by using only their exist-
using tried-and-true project-man- ing, project managers. Rather, their ing plant personnel. Sometimes they
agement protocols that have been expertise lies in running the plant on derive comfort from assurances from
successfully used on hundreds of a day-to-day basis ensuring that their contractors, who say nothing
projects over many decades around raw materials are available, that ex- will go wrong.
the world. Although problems do isting equipment is ready for produc- Often this is due to a reluctance
occur, they are more often related to tion, and that trained personnel are to spend extra money on third-party
misunderstandings than surprises, available to make the product. Their overseers. Sometimes it is due to a
and the contractor usually has the expertise does not lie in the realm perception that since project build-
deep expertise needed to address of managing engineering manhours ing and construction management
any of these problems as they arise. for plant design, or in procuring and are not based on finely tuned formu-
However, smaller, more frequently expediting the delivery and deploy- las and recipes, these activities can
incurred projects, such as plant ex- ment of large tanks, reactor vessels, simply be overseen by existing plant
pansions or conversions, are often pumps, motors and more. And the personnel, adding just a few hours
managed by smaller, less-experi- experience and expertise required per week of extra duties to an al-
enced contractors, who do not al- to determine if the construction por- ready full-time schedule.
ways have expertise or experience tion of the project is progressing as Unfortunately, as is often the case,
with the sophisticated project-man- promised and as needed to meet the result of such an approach is a
agement processes that are used by budget, schedule, quality and safety scenario characterized by budget
the mega-contractors. As a result, norms is typically beyond the skill set overruns, schedule delays, and at
such projects often run way over of most plant personnel they are times, lawsuits.
A real-life example One day the plant manager decided of the 14 vessels or reactors had yet
Discussed below is a real-life ex- his staff was too short-handed to re- been placed in the building. Almost
ample of what can happen when ally know where the project stood. no connecting piping had been re-
the meager are challenged by the There were more than 100 crafts- ceived onsite. And a check of the
eager. At one CPI facility (Figure 1), men on the job, large vessels, warehouse receiving area showed
a plant expansion was undertaken, tanks and reactors were arriving almost no valves, instruments and
involving the construction of a new on a regular basis, pipe prefabrica- other sundry items on hand and
facility to replace an existing one, tion had begun at an off-site facility, ready for installation. It was clear that
with the goal of more than doubling and safety issues were cropping up. the 46% complete number was not
the number of products from 80 to The plant staff just could not stay on a realistic reflection of the situation at
170. The project was planned to be top of it all. So a third-party overseer that time. So then the open question
performed with no downtime so was engaged. was, what should it have been?
the existing facility continued to pro- That engagement resulted in a
duce the initial 80 products through- series of project reviews and sub- Measuring progress
out this initiative. sequent discussions. The first item Since the project would ultimately
Now envision this new facility that was discussed was the current have more than 5 miles of piping,
designed for 14 newly added pro- project status that is, what was the contractor suggested the proj-
duction vessels and reactors, each the contractors perception in terms ects progress could be measured in
requiring its own pumps, motors of the percent of the work complete terms of feet of piping installed. This
and valves, and tapping into shared at that time? At that point, the con- logic was agreed upon, because
service systems. Imagine more than tractor was reporting that the project everything in the plant (outside of
two dozen extra-large holding tanks, was 46% complete. electrical work) was ultimately de-
indoors and outdoors, each with its The first question from the third- pendent on the piping in one way or
own set of pipes, pumps, motors party consultant was: So that another. For example, the steel was
and valves, all feeding into the 14 means theres only 54% more to go, needed not only to frame the build-
production vessels and reactors. and then youre done? The answer ing in which the piping would reside,
Add to this the need to build a was not a resounding yes. The next but also to support the piping as it
structure to house all of this just question sought to learn how the was being hung. The piping then
one aspect of the project that required 46% assessment was derived. As it would connect all of the 14 produc-
more than 2,500 cubic yards of con- turned out, that estimate had noth- tion systems, their vessels, tanks,
crete (enough to build a ten-mile long ing to do with the work effort actually reactors, pumps and motors. Even
sidewalk), and more than 600 tons of being expended the primary mea- installation of most of the valves and
structural building and support steel. surement needed to predict when a instruments (not yet onsite) would
The five miles of stainless steel pip- capital project will be done, and at ultimately be dependent upon the
ing connecting all of these tanks, ves- what cost. piping. Ditto for the insulation. There-
sels, and reactors required 15,000 Therefore the discussions turned fore tying the project progress to the
individual butt welds. Also required to how to better recalibrate progress amount of piping installation com-
were power cables more than 13 measurement. The contractor was pleted made sense.
miles of them and nearly 30 miles encouraged to look at the remain- However, that was not the end of
of instrumentation cables to con- ing work and decide how it should the story. The contractors sugges-
nect more than 1,500 instruments. be scheduled going forward by tion that using the number of feet
Although this project involved only individual disciplines (such as civil of piping installed as a proxy for
one main contractor, there were 50 works, steel erection and piping), or the projects progress had an obvi-
subcontractors involved, and each by entire systems (such as reactor ous flaw. Since progress measure-
required coordination and support, in vessel systems 1, 2, 3 and so on)? ment, which is tied to schedule and
a planned period of 14 months. Because if the project really was cost, is really about work effort, the
How does the plant manager, 46% complete, the work measure- manhours required to put piping in
or his or her designee, know when ment and focus should have been place had to be considered. For ex-
trouble might be just around the cor- on reactor vessel systems instead of ample, how much effort does it take
ner? Usually, the main contractor disciplines for quite some time. Ev- to raise into place a two-foot section
promises that nothing major will go eryone agreed on this. of pipe versus a four-foot section?
wrong, but in the event that there are To improve the progress-measure- Essentially the same, except that the
signs of impending problems, the ment process, the contractor re- four-foot piece could claim twice the
contractor promises that the man- structured the schedule to reflect the progress of the two-foot piece.
agement tools and protocols being work that remained in order to com- So a slightly different measurement
used will highlight them in plenty of plete the original 14 production ves- was required, and that measurement
time to allow corrective action to sels and reactors and their support was the number of pipe connec-
be taken. This was the case in the equipment. This now allowed the tions, in this case welds. Regardless
above-described project. plant manager and staff to visualize of the length of the pipe, only the
where progress was actually occur- number of completed welds truly re-
When reality sets in ring, and where it was not. flects the real progress of the piping
At some point, reality does set in, At the time the contractor pro- work; hence this measure serves as
as it did in the case discussed here. fessed 46% progress, almost none an even better proxy for the progress

Welding progress Construction Business Associates, LLC
2,000 14,000 BUILD TRANSPARENCY

1,800 The key to building transparency in a
12,000 complex expansion or revamp project is
1,600
Cumulative welds required

to know:
Monthly welds required
1,400 10,000
When to switch from measuring by dis-
1,200 cipline to measuring by system
8,000
1,000 How to determine progress as it relates
800 6,000 to work effort
600 How to measure progress as it relates
4,000
to productivity
400
2,000 How to measure progress as it relates
200 to budget
0 0 How to determine overall project com-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Months pletion
n Achieved n Required Total achieved Total required
FIGURE 2. Shown here is a snapshot of the remaining 12,000 welds required to complete the project, and
required that the percent complete
the actual pace of completion needed to be measured and plot-
ted against time, so that the project
of the overall capital project. However, once a construction could progress going forward. Figure
Therefore, a system of weld counts project, such as this chemical plant 3 provides an example of this.
was developed. This approach, uni- expansion, reaches that 50% com- As shown in Figure 3, plotting man-
versally used in the construction of pletion stage, the focus needs to hours (on the left vertical axis), and
large power plants, was easily ap- shift to include commissioning and percent complete (on the right verti-
plied to this project. Since almost all startup. In this case, it was com- cal axis) against time on the horizon-
of the welds were of the same size forting to finally know that after 5 tal axis, both against a planned per-
and wall thickness, a straightforward months of welding, approximately cent-complete curve (shown with a
count of welds sufficed, as opposed half of the work effort was complete black dashed line), tells an interesting
to the concept of determining equiv- but this did not assure that all 14 story. It shows that after 7 months,
alent welds. systems would be ready for commis- the 14-month project is essentially at
The system was simple. Using sioning and startup, as needed, for the 50% point, just as was planned.
the design documents, most of the the upcoming production cycle. So, However, it also shows that the costs
15,000 welds were assigned to each attention was shifted to determine are exceeding the budget, and actu-
of the 14 systems and the remainder which of the 14 systems needed to ally have been since the work was ini-
were attributed to a category called be ready when. The systems were tiated. If this were allowed to continue
common. In this manner, as welds prioritized, and this effort helped to without a change in course, it would
were completed, one could now not determine exactly which welds had have resulted in a 20% overrun (or
only determine the projects overall to be made next. greater) of the budget.
percent complete, but also deter- One could now take the position In most scenarios, this is not ac-
mine the approximate state of readi- that, having established a rational ceptable. So the project team
ness of each of the 14 systems. approach for measuring progress needed to review the plans that were
For example, lets say that each and establishing priorities, the work in place for completing the second
system had approximately 1,000 was well in hand and minimal at- half of this project.The goal was to
welds associated with it. That then tention needed to be paid to the re- see if there might be alternate ap-
left 1,000 welds to be assigned maining efforts of the contractor. Un- proaches that would still maintain
to the common category. So the fortunately, such a position is never the schedule while also maintaining
agreement was that only once 7,500 prudent, and letting go of the man- or reducing the costs and resources
welds were complete could the proj- agement details could still end up required. Usually, at this stage of the
ect work be called 50% complete, with the project in a state of disaster. project, there are still some opportu-
and this was not yet the case. For this real-life project, this was for- nities to change the trajectory of the
When the consultant was engaged, tunately recognized by all parties. budget projections and timelines. In
a detailed weld count revealed that this particular project, with half of the
only 3,000 of the 15,000 welds had Costs welding still to be completed, chang-
been completed leaving 12,000 The question to be asked at this ing from manual to orbital welding
welds still to be completed. Figure stage of the project was whether or provided an ideal opportunity to re-
2 shows the plan for those remain- not the contractor could meet the duce future costs (by reducing the
ing 12,000 welds over the next nine resource requirements to get from number of hours required to com-
months, and the actual progress to the current 50% to 100% within plete this work).
the mid-point of the job. the allotted budget, in accordance
As shown in Figure 2, 50% of the with the restructured schedule. To The outcome
total 15,000 welds were completed answer this question, an additional Ultimately, this project was com-
in the fifth month of welding. Per the view of the project was required pleted on time and within budget.
earlier agreement, that then equated beyond just measuring the per- However, it is doubtful that outcome
to a project completion of 50%. cent completed. The added insight would have been the result without
Progress graph
120
Actual Projected
120% calculated as follows:
Mechanical work = 65% of the project

100 100%
x 50% complete
= 33% of the total project
80 80% completed
Manhours x 1,000
Percent complete
E&I work = 35% of the project
60 60%
x 20% complete
= 7% of the total project com-
40 Budget manhours 40% pleted
Actual manhours
Planned % complete Adding these two numbers (33%
20 20%
Actual % complete plus 7%) demonstrates that 40% of
the total work had been completed.
0 0% This measurement process contin-
Month 1
Month 2
Month 3
Month 4
Month 5
Month 6
Month 7
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10
Month 11
Month 12
Month 13
Month 14
ued until the project reached com-
pletion (100%).
Construction Business Associates, LLC
The takeaway
FIGURE 3. This progress graph projects that if no changes are made, the project will still be completed on In summary, when faced with an
time, but almost 20% over budget
EPC plant build-out or expansion
the intervention of someone attuned quired to complete the work). Com- project that does not involve a large,
to the intricacies of project manage- paring these two metrics (percent dedicated industrial plant construc-
ment, someone who understood the complete and manhours still to be tion contractor, thought should be
complexities of linking the worlds of expended) against a timeline pro- given to what could go wrong. Does
engineering and equipment procure- vides insight into whether the project the plant staff have the project man-
ment with the world of construction will be completed on time and within agement experience to ensure total
(classically called EPC manage- budget. In this case, the answer was transparency between the contrac-
ment). The intervention started with no, unless other, less costly or more- tor and the plant? Even if it does, will
a shift to manage the project not by efficient ways were found to com- the plant management staff have the
physical disciplines, such as civil, plete the remainder of the work. This time required to ensure this? Is there
steel and mechanical erection (the challenge was addressed by switch- someone available who can provide
traditional approach), but by producing to orbital welding. the proverbial sniff test that all as-
tion systems (discussed earlier). This pects are on track? In other words,
allowed everyones focus to be re- The rest of the story is someone available on staff to drill
aligned to concentrate on, and pre- The prior discussion concentrated down into the details of the project
pare for, the systems readiness. on the mechanical work required to to ensure this transparency?
The next step was to develop a complete this project. Similar ap- If the answer to all of these ques-
system of progress measurement proaches were taken with the electri- tions is a definite yes, then no more
that reflected actual work effort ex- cal work and the instrumentation wir- is required. However, if it is not an un-
pended versus the effort that was ing. These disciplines, within each of qualified yes, then the project would
still required. In other words, if a proj- the 14 systems, were also measured benefit from a third-party partner to
ect is 46% complete, does that truly and compared to percent complete provide support and oversight. n
translate into only 54% more work against time. Edited by Suzanne Shelley
effort manhours required to complete For the electrical work, wiring
the project? The challenge here is to terminations were used in a simi- Author
pick a measurement that is readily lar manner as weld counts (as a Peter Hessler is the president of
understood, yet representative of reasonable proxy for work com- Construction Business Associates,
LLC (2310 Seven Lakes South,
both the actual work performed and pleted). The mechanical work then West End, NC 27376; 910-400-
the remaining work still to be per- was prorated with the electrical 3113; Email: pghessler@
formed. In this case, settling on the and instrumentation (E&I) work constrbiz.com), a provider of busi-
measurement of the number of pip- to derive a total percent of the project ness-management services to the
power and process construction
ing welds completed was key. completed. For this project, the me- industries. He has almost 40 years
The third step was to marry the chanical work was assigned a value of experience in the power and
progress measurement and per- of 65% (based on total manhour re- industrial plant construction and maintenance industry,
worldwide, having worked as an owner, contractor, and
cent-complete with the work effort quirements). The E&I work was col- now as a consultant. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engi-
expended. In reality, the goal was lectively assigned a 35% value. So neering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and is the
to determine the work effort still re- when half of the mechanical work author of two books on the subject of power-plant con-
struction management. He also has published numer-
quired to get to completion (that is, was complete (50%), and the 20% ous articles on various aspects of managing large in-
how many manhours have been of the E&I work was complete, the dustrial projects.
used versus how many more are re- overall project was 40% complete,

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Chemical Engineering Chemical Engineering Sales Representative
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Advertisers Index
Advertiser............. Page number Advertiser............. Page number Advertiser............. Page number
Phone number Reader Service # Phone number Reader Service # Phone number Reader Service #
Abbe, Paul O. .........................33 Pick Heaters ..........................59 Schenck Process ...................59

1-855-789-9827 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-12 1-800-558-0184
* Plast-O-Matic Valves, Inc. ....4I
American Filtration & adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-14 Sierra Instruments, Inc. ............3
Separations Society ...............47 1-800-866-0200
1-832-296-6624 Quest Integrity Group, LLC ....29 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-22
Sturtevant Inc. ........................ 19
Badger Meter, Inc. ................ 4D RedGuard .......SECOND COVER 1-800-992-0209
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-02 1-855-REDGUARD adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-23
BETE Fog Nozzle .....................6 TEAM Industrial Services........ 15
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-03 Rembe GmbH ........................26 1-800-662-8326
49 2961 50714 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-24
Check-All Valve Mfg. Co. .......28 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-17
1-515-224-2301 Technical Database
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-04 Ross, Charles & Services .................................27
Son Company ................9, 11, 13 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-25
Chemstations ......................... 10 1-800-243-ROSS
1-800-CHEMCAD adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-18, 19, 20 TLV Corporation .....................37
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-05 1-704-597-9070
Saint-Gobain Ceramics ...........17 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-26
DECHEMA Ausstellungs- 1-716-278-6263
GmbH/AchemAsia .................24 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-21 YS Inc. ....................................33
Dyna-Therm ........................... 31
1-281-987-0726 Classiied Index February 2016
Advertiser Page number
Phone number Reader Service #
Advertiser's Product
Flexicon Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Corporation ..... FOURTH COVER Amandus Kahl GmbH Computer Software . . . . . . . 61
1-888-FLEXICON
& Co. KG ................................60
Equipment, New & Used . . . 61
Inline Industries ...................... 14 Applied e-Simulators

1-800-568-8998 Software................................. 61
Advertiser Page number
1-800-469-4887 Phone number Reader Service #
Load Controls ........................22 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-245
1-888-600-3247 Indeck Power Equipment Co....61
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-10 1-800-446-3325 Vesconite Bearings ................ 61
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-242 27 11 616 11 11
Miller-Stephenson Chemical adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-246
Company, Inc. ........................28 KnightHawk Engineering ........ 61
1-800-992-2424 1-281-282-9200 Wabash Power
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-11 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-243 Equipment Co. ....................... 61
1-800-704-2002
NACE International .................53 Micromold Products............... 61 adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-247
adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-244 Xchanger, Inc. ........................ 61
1-952-933-2559
* International Edition
Ross, Charles & adlinks.chemengonline.com/61492-248
See bottom of opposite page for Son Company ........................ 61

1-800-243-ROSS
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February 2016; VOL. 123; NO. 2
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Economic Indicators
2013 2014 2015
Download the CEPCI two weeks sooner at www.chemengonline.com/pci
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT COST INDEX (CEPCI)

625
(1957-59 = 100) Nov. '15 Oct. '15 Nov.'14 Annual Index:

Prelim. Final Final
2007 = 525.4 600
CE Index ______________________________________________ 543.0 547.2 578.4
Equipment ____________________________________________ 648.9 654.9 702.5 2008 = 575.4
Heat exchangers & tanks _________________________________ 566.6 575.4 649.3
2009 = 521.9 575
Process machinery _____________________________________ 652.3 655.0 662.9
Pipe, valves & fittings ____________________________________ 803.4 808.6 875.4 2010 = 550.8
Process instruments ____________________________________ 386.6 390.1 411.7 2011 = 585.7 550
Pumps & compressors ___________________________________ 956.5 956.4 942.9
Electrical equipment ____________________________________ 508.4 508.2 516.2 2012 = 584.6
Structural supports & misc ________________________________ 713.4 723.6 769.9 2013 = 567.3 525
Construction labor _______________________________________ 324.3 325.8 322.4
Buildings _____________________________________________ 539.3 540.4 546.9 2014 = 576.1
Engineering & supervision _________________________________ 318.2 317.7 320.1 500
J F M A M J J A S O N D
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) ____________________________________________________ Dec. '15 = 105.4 Nov. '15 = 106.0 Oct. '15 = 105.9 Dec. '14 = 105.3
CPI value of output, $ billions _____________________________________________________ Nov. '15 = 1,803.7 Oct. '15 = 1,813.3 Sept. '15 = 1,818.9 Nov. '14 = 2,069.4
CPI operating rate, % __________________________________________________________ Dec. '15 = 75.8 Nov. '15 = 76.3 Oct. '15 = 76.4 Dec. '14 = 76.6
Producer prices, industrial chemicals (1982 = 100) ____________________________________ Dec. '15 = 233.4 Nov. '15 = 234.6 Oct. '15 = 237.3 Dec. '14 = 263.4
Industrial Production in Manufacturing (2012=100)* ____________________________________ Dec. '15 = 106.0 Nov. '15 = 106.1 Oct. '15 = 106.2 Dec. '14 = 105.2
Hourly earnings index, chemical & allied products (1992 = 100) ____________________________ Dec. '15 = 159.4 Nov. '15 = 160.4 Oct. '15 = 159.3 Dec. '14 = 157.3
Productivity index, chemicals & allied products (1992 = 100) ______________________________ Dec. '15 = 107.5 Nov. '15 = 107.0 Oct. '15 = 105.8 Dec. '14 = 106.1
CPI OUTPUT INDEX (2000 = 100) CPI OUTPUT VALUE ($ BILLIONS) CPI OPERATING RATE (%)
110 2300 80
105
2200 78
100
95 2100 76
90
2000 74
85
1900 72
80
75 1800 70
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
EXCLUSIVE AD SPACE AVAILABLE!
Feature your marketing message T he preliminary value for the No-
vember 2015 CE Plant Cost Index
(CEPCI; top; the most recent available)
The Economic Indicators department includes current industry declined again from the previous month,
trends and the Plant Cost Index. As one of the most valued sections driven by a relatively large decrease in
in the magazine, your ad is guaranteed to reach decision makers the Equipment subindex and small de-
each month. Contact your sales representative to secure this spot. creases in the Buildings and Construc-
tion Labor subindices. The Engineering
JASON BULLOCK TERRY DAVIS and Supervision subindex saw a small
jbullock@chemengonline.com tdavis@chemengonline.com increase in November. The preliminary
CEPCI value for November 2015 is 6.1%
DAN GENTILE PETRA TRAUTES lower than the corresponding value from
dgentile@chemengonline.com ptrautes@accessintel.com chemengonline.com/mediakit a year ago at the same time. Meanwhile,
the latest Current Business Indicators
(CBI; middle) numbers showed a de-
cline in the CPI output index, as well as
in the CPI value of output index and in
producer prices for industrial chemicals.
The productivity index was up slightly.
The Chemical Engineering store offers a variety of industry topics
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Advanced Engineering Mathematics, 5th Edition Machinerys Handbook 29th Edition - Large Print
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February

Materials Selection for

2 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM FEBRUARY 2016

February 2016 Volume 123 | no. 2

16 Newsfront Painting it Green 38

Technical and Practical

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