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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WORLD 28-31 January 2015, Mumbai, India
MAY 2014
Process Intensification Smaller | Cleaner | Energy Efficient
VOL. 49 ISSUE 5 Mumbai ` 150
Chemical Engineering World
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CEW Contents CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WORLD RNI REGISTRATION NO. 11403/66 Chairman Publisher & Printer Chief Executive Officer
EDITORIAL
Editor Editorial Advisory Board Contributing Editors Sub Editor Design Team Events Management Team Subscription Team Marketing Co-ordinator Production Team
Jasu Shah Maulik Jasubhai Shah Hemant Shetty Mittravinda Ranjan (mittra_ranjan@jasubhai.com) D P Misra, N G Ashar, Prof. M C Dwivedi P V Satyanarayana, Dr S R Srinivasan, R B Darji, R P Sharma Bernard Rapose (bernard_rapose@jasubhai.com) Harshal Y Desai (harshal_desai@jasubhai.com) Arun Parab, Amol Patkar Abhijeet Mirashi Dilip Parab Brenda Fernandes V Raj Misquitta (Head), Arun Madye
VOL. 49 | NO.5 | MAY 2014 | MUMBAI | ` 150 NEWS ► Industry News / 6 Technology News / 20
NEWS FEATURES ► India Needs to Invest $830 Billion in ‘Low Carbon Strategies’ by 2030 / 28
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Process Intensification – A Perspective / 32
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– Dr D Mohunta, Commercial, Chemical and Development Company Hazards of Chemical Process Scale-up / 40 – Dr Daren Tee, Dr Simon Waldram, HEL Group Reducing the Carbon Footprint through New Chemistries / 50 – Raman Trikala, MD, Wacker Chemie India Pvt Ltd Who is Responsible for Thermal Design of Heat Exchanger? / 54 – Lakshmi Venkatesh, Petrofac Engineering India Pvt Ltd
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PRODUCTS ► / 71 EVENTS ► / 77 PROJECT UPDATE ► / 78 BACK OF BOOK ► Ad Index / 80
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Industry Awaits Positive Government Policies
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4 • May 2014
Book Shelf / 81
- K Rahul Raju, Managing Director, Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited Disclaimer: The Editorial/Content team at Jasubhai Media Pvt Ltd has not contributed to writing or editing “Marketing Initiative.” Readers would do well to treat it as an advertisement. Printed and published by Mr Maulik Jasubhai Shah on behalf of Jasubhai Media Private Limited, 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 and printed at Anitha Art Printers, 29-30, Oasis Ind. Estate, Next to Vakola Market, Santacruz (E), Mumbai-400055 and published from 3rd Floor, Taj Building, 210, Dr. D N Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. Editor: Ms Mittravinda Ranjan, 26, Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021.
Chemical Engineering World
CEW Industry News Government Cautioned About Pricing Norms of Natural Gas
Ajay Shriram Honoured with Life Time Achievement Award
New Delhi, India: The Fer tilizer Association of India (FAI) has given their perspective on Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines 2014 as well as the fertiliser subsidy payment delay to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. For enhancing the overall efficiency of the fertiliser industry, the FAI has emphasised the importance of timely payments. Some of the critical conclusions noted by the FAI on the pricing guidelines are that the domestic gas price should not be connected to imported LNG price. In the public domain, the basic data is not available and the formula for deriving the price is complex. So, the price ascertained may be questioned. The gas price must not be in US dollars but in Indian rupees. The domestic gas prices have been constantly rising in rupee terms since the price was introduced in dollars just five year back. Also, the great rise suggested in gas price will add to the subsidy outgo of urea sales by over ` 10,000 crore every year. One of the major reasons that have impacted the growth in the fertiliser industry is subsidy payment delays.
N e w D e l h i , I n d i a : A j ay S S h r i ra m , Chairman and Senior Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd has been honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award for his contribution to the Vinyl Industry. DCM Shriram Ltd has been a pioneer in the Indian PVC Industry since 1963 being the oldest operational producer of PVC resin Ajay Shriram, CMD, DCM Limited in India today, producing a wide range of PVC Resin grades at its integrated manufacturing complex at Kota, (Rajasthan).
By 2020, Plastic Output to Reach 20 MT Chennai, India: The domestic manufacturers of plastic are likely to increase the production to 20 million tonnes by 2020 as a result of the growing consumption, the production capacity at present is 12 mt, said J R Shah, Chairman, National Executive Council, Plastindia Foundation. He further added that the domestic market has reached ` 1.50 lakh crore as the applications have been constantly evolving in the automobiles, food packaging, healthcare and retail areas. There will not be much of an impact on the consumption due to the present slowdown in the automotive segment as annually, these firms use only 150 tonnes of plastics.
Speaking on the occasion Ajay S Shriram, said, „I am very honoured to receive the lifetime achievement award. This award is a strong recognition of DCM Shriram, our employees, our values, culture and philosophy of working. As a group we have been working to improve technology & forging international collaborations in the Vinyl industry. Recently we have formed a new joint Venture Company, Shriram Axiall Pvt. Ltd. that would equip the new company with world class technology in the Vinyl market place, broaden the product portfolio and change the Indian Market.‰ Chemicals & Petrochemicals Manufacturers Association (CPMA) jointly with Elite Plus Business Services (EPBS) organized the 4 th International PVC & Chlor Alkali Conference, an exciting two-day event, in Mumbai on 8 th and 9 th May, 2014. Vinyl India 2014 was a special event as PVC, the versatile polymer, completed 100 years of its commercial launch in 1913. This was an event to celebrate the centenary year of PVC.
Amalgamation of HIPL into TCL Completed GE Energy to Make Investment in WelspunÊs Solar Project New Delhi, India: GE Energy Financial Services is going to make their first investment in a solar power project in the country. The financial firm plans on putting USD 24 million into Welspun Renewables Energy Pvt Ltd (WREPL). The company began operations at their 151-megawatt solar photovoltaic power project in August 2013. Being one of the largest solar plants in the world, the Neemuch project in Madhya Pradesh reduces about 216,372 tonnes of carbon emissions per annum and gives power to 624,000 homes. WREPLÊs project is situated on an 800 acre barren land in Neemuch which is 500 m high. It is among the areas that get the highest level of radiation in India. The project reached 26 per cent capacity utilisation factor. The Madhya Pradesh State Utility buys the power generated through it. The US energy major, GE is also set to put in motion their greenfield facility near Pune by June as the company plans on doubling their market share in the Indian wind energy equipment market by 2016. Primarily focusing on the energy sector, the first phase of operations at the new facility in Chakan would be renewable energy. 6 • May 2014
New Delhi, India: The amalgamation process of their wholly owned subsidiary Homefield International Pvt Ltd (HIPL) is now complete with the necessary approvals according to Tata. The important activity of HIPL is holding investments and the company has its registered office in Mauritius. The scheme of amalgamation of HIPL (Mauritius) with Tata had been approved by the group firmÊs board in February last year. Post receiving approvals from Bombay High Court, the courtÊs order has been filed with the Registrar of Companies Maharashtra by Tata Chemicals on 29th April 2014. The filing said, „Accordingly, in terms of the Scheme, all assets and liabilities of HIPL, under the provisions of Sections 391 to 394 of the companies act 1956, stands transferred to and vested in the company.‰ It also said that the scheme was effective from the same date. Being a wholly owned subsidiary, issuing and allotment of shares in exchange or lieu of equity shares of HIPL will not happen.
IndiaÊs natural gas demand to double to 516.97 mil cu m/day by 2021-22: Platts Chemical Engineering World
8 • December 2013
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CEW Industry News AdaniÊs Coal, Rail Project in Australia Approved
Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group
A h m e d a b a d , I n d i a : A d a n i G r o u p Ês Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project has been given the environmental approval as announced by the Queensland Government. The company would implement their core pit to plug strategy through the development of the Carmichael Coal Mine with the necessary rail and port infrastructure.
On this momentous event, Gautam Adani, Chairman, Adani Group, said, „We welcome the decision of the Queensland Government and this allows us to move to the next stage of the project, ensuring that local and regional communities continue to be involved in the development of our projects and share the economic benefits. We remain committed to delivering the multi-billion dollar project, with world class standards, which will directly employ thousands of people during construction and over the operational period.‰
Decision on Fund for Protecting Local Refiners Using Iranian Oil by July New Delhi, India: The decision on the proposed sovereign fund which is meant for the protection of local refiners using Iranian crude oil will be made by July. It will be decided when the relaxations of sanctions in place by the West on imports from Iran at present would end. Since the sanctions against I r a n Ês d i s p u t e d n u c l e a r p r o g r a m m e h i n d e r e d t h e g l o b a l re-insurers from taking a risk, India has taken a decision to set up a sovereign fund of ` 2000 crore (India Energy Insurance Pool) to safeguard the domestic insurers who are covering the refineries which depend on Iranian crude oil. Even though they are not dependent on the US and EU sanctions, the Indian insurance companies are dependent on the re-insurance from companies in developed nations as high risks are involved. The countries that depend on Iran for oil like India have been asked to slowly decrease their purchases. The present relaxation on sanctions is for the period from January 20 to July 20. India has considerably reduced their import from the Gulf country after Western sanctions to close at 11 million tonnes (mt) in 2013-14 from 13.14 mt and 18.11 mt in 2012-13 and 2011-12 respectively.
Difficult Production Target Set Yet Again by CIL Kolkatta, India: An enor mous target has been set by the UPA Government for Coal India Ltd (CIL) to deal with coal production. This does not take clearing any hurdles to key mining projects into account. It has been said that miners have been asked to increase the coal production by almost 10 per cent, up from 463 million tonnes (mt) in 2013-14 to 507mt this fiscal. For CIL to meet this target, CIL will have to increase the output by 45 mt, this is almost two-third of the capacity added in the last Plan period (2007-2012). To bring the target to 500 mt, CIL would require clearances for a minimum of two big expansion projects at Ananta (Talcher) in Odisha and Kushmunda (Korba) in Chhatisgarh. CIL wants these opencast mines to increase their production to 45 mt of coal which at present is at a total of 30mt. Both these projects are stuck as of now because forest authorities are holding back the proposal for expansion of Kushmunda from 18 mt to 25 mt and the environment ministry has not made any decision on the expansion of Ananta from 12 mt to 20 mt as 2 lakh tonne more coal was lifted from there by CIL in 2012, which is above the permissible limit.
More than
280 worker died in a recent
horrific blast in a coal mine in Turkey. 8 • May 2014
New Govt to Decide on Gas Price
Mr M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, GoI
New Delhi, India: It is very likely that the new gover nment will be deciding o n t h e n ew p r i c e fo r g a s p r o d u c e d domestically, although the decision to hold off the announcement of rates is in only till the time the model code of conduct for the current elections is in effect.
The new price was to be effective from April 1 and it is estimated to be twice the present price of USD 4.2/unit (measurement of gas is in million British thermal units). There have been allegations that the government was in favour of corporate house Reliance Industries when the decision to finalise the new gas price would be taken after lifting the model code of conduct on May 17. M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, stated that the revised price would not be applicable only for KG-D6 block operated by Reliance Industries but also for all domestically produced gas. He also said that according to the revised pr icing guidelines, gas pr ices have to be notified by the government on a quar terly basis with the help of the date for the previous four quar ters with a delay of a quar ter. With the general elections being announced, the model code of conduct came into effect from March 5 and that was when the government was to notify the price for the April-June 2014 quar ter. Chemical Engineering World
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CEW Industry News Fuel Subsidy may not Alleviate State-owned Oil Companies
One Way ă ICIS Innovation Award Honours ArchromaÊs Breakthrough Sustainability Service
New Delhi, India: P Chidambaram, Finance Minister, has agreed that the state-owned oil refining companies will get subsidies only for half the losses for the petroleum products they sold below the market price in 2013-14. This means that GAIL, Oil India, and ONGC may have to bear about 46 per cent or ` 64,569 crore of the ` 1,39,800 crore loss. In comparison to ` 60,000 crore these companies absorbed in 2012-13, this is nine per cent more. Government owned refineries like Indian Oil Corporation Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum, may also have to face their share of the loss which has increased four times to ` 4,500 crore. The companies are selling diesel at a price that is ` 6.80 less than the market price per litre in first 15 days of May. There is no response on the request to increase the price made by the petroleum ministry to the Election Commission. The diesel prices have not been raised by a scheduled 50 paise per litre as the ministry had asked the state-owned refineries not to increase them since the losses were less than ` 6 per litre. The petrol price has also not been raised by refiners after it was lowered last month by ` 1.45 per litre in two fortnightly revisions.
Mumbai, India: Archroma, a global leader in color and specialty chemicals, and the former textile, paper and emulsions businesses of Clariant, today announced that its ONE WAY sustainability service has been honored with the prestigious ICIS Innovation Award for Best Business Innovation. The companyÊs ONE WAY sustainability service is being recognized for its game-changing approach to textile manufacturing based on the strong conviction that both ecological and economic benefits are reachable. ArchromaÊs ONE WAY was launched in October 2012 to help customers meet their sustainability targets in a fast and reliable manner. It is a 3-step systematic approach to the selection of chemicals and production processes that once completed, gives customers calculation results that assess the cost, performance and environmental profile of the evaluated products and processes.
Ammonia Plant to be Built by BASF & Yara Ludwigshafen, Germany: BASF and Yara have made good progress with their plan to jointly build a world-scale ammonia plant on the US Gulf Coast. The proposed plant would be located at the existing BASF site in Freeport, Texas and would have an annual capacity of 750,000 metric tonnes. It would be based on a hydrogen-synthesis process. Further details of the planned joint venture are currently under discussion between the parties. The project is subject to final approval from the respective boards of directors of BASF and Yara. BASF, which has a strong presence in the United States, is a major user of ammonia for its US downstream activities and intends to further strengthen its backward integration. Yara, with its global ammonia network and market expertise, wants to strengthen its presence in the United States.
Evonik to Open New Technology Centre Tsukuba, Japan: To cater to their expanding customer base, a new oil additives technology centre has been opened by Evonik in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The centre is now four times its previous size and has been shifted from Osaka, Kansai. Its test capabilities have also been improved to boost the product development. The reason for Evonik to boost their production capacity and enhance the technical capabilities is the fast increasing mobility in the Asian market as well as the surmounting demand for high performance lubricants with higher additive content. The idea is to provide a new level of support to the customers and OEMs based in Japan through collaborations between the advanced test capabilities and expansion at Tsukuba with oil additives technology centres of Evonik in Shanghai. 14 • May 2014
ACS Market to be Benefitted by Oil, Gas and Energy Industry Expansions: Frost & Sullivan London, England: Upcoming brownfield and greenfield projects in the oil and gas and power generation industries will sustain the demand for automation and control solutions (ACS) in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Among the countries in the region (Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Moldova), Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan will remain market hot spots as scheduled oil and gas exploration activities as well as the anticipated modernisation of the industrial automation sectors would pave the way for ACS adoption. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Analysis of the Automation and Control Solutions Market in CIS Countries, has found that the market ear ned revenues of USD 443.8 million in 2013 and estimates this to reach USD 559.2 million in 2017. While Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and safety instrumented systems (SIS) would continue to dominate the market, the Distributed Control System (DCS) segment is expected to witness the highest growth rate. Maryna Osipova, Research Analyst, Frost & Sullivan Industrial Automation and Process Control said, „As awareness increases, industries in the CIS have been deploying ACS to bolster production volumes, optimise manufactur ing processes, decrease operational costs, and boost returns. Advanced solutions that offer asset management capabilities and enable the processing, displaying and archiving of information are particularly making a mark among end users.‰
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CEW Industry News Follow-up Contract Awarded to ThyssenKrupp Mumbai, India: The Hungarian fertiliser m a nu fa c t u r e r N i t r o g é n m ü ve k Z r t . i s extending its cooperation with plant engineering specialist ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions. A granulation plant with a capacity of 1,550 tonnes per year of Ammonium Nitrate (AN) or 1,960 tonnes per year of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate Dr Hans Christoph Atzpodien, (CAN) is to start operation in Pétfürdö, CEO, ThyssenKrupp Industrial roughly 100 kilometres south west of Solutions Budapest, in fall 2016. ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions will handle engineering and procurement of the process plant. The customer will carry out installation on site. Nitrogénmüvek Zrt. is the only fertiliser producer in Hungary that manufactures its own ammonium. In Pétfürdö the company operates - amongst others - an ammonium nitrate plant, with a second currently under construction. Both plants are equipped with Uhde vacuum neutralisation technology and will produce the feedstock for the new AN/CAN granulation plant.
Bosch Packaging Aims to Strengthen Position Düsseldorf/Waiblingen, Germany: By 2020, Bosch Packaging Technology aims to grow considerably faster than the market, and to further expand its leading position in the realm of process and packaging technology around the world. „We expect to see fundamental change in the market for packaging machinery. We not only want to react to this change, we also aim to help shape it,‰ said Friedbert Klefenz, President, Bosch Packaging Technology, during the companyÊs press conference at the Interpack trade show in Düsseldorf. On the basis of its PA 2020 strategy, the manufacturer of special machinery aims to continue expanding its business in the established markets, and to grow especially in Asia and Africa. In addition to this, the company intends to spur further growth by venturing into new fields of business.
Production to Begin at Four Petrochemical Plants in Iran Tehran, Iran: The production in four petrochemical plants is scheduled to begin before March 2015 by the National Petrochemical Company (NPC). As stated in the Iranian local media, Abbas SheÊri Moghaddam, Deputy Oil Minister for Petrochemical Affairs in Iran, said that the petrochemical projects are one of the major priorities of NPC. The minister further said that besides this, the petrochemical complexes in Lorestan, Kordestan and Mahabad along with the second phase of the Kavian Petrochemical Complex located in Bushehr will be in operation by the end of the fiscal year. Hossein Shahriyari, Director of NPC Planning and Development Department stated, „In recent years, the domestic sales of petrochemical products have increased considerably, and with the implementation of the new development projects, the petrochemicals production capacity will rise significantly.‰ Since the sanctions against Iran have eased post the interim deal in November last year with the US, Russia, China, France, Germany and UK, the country wishes to increase its petrochemicals export. There was a rise of 1 per cent year-on-year in IranÊs petrochemical exports for the year ending in March 2014 to reach USD 10.72 billion.
PolyOne Plans to Launch New Innovation Centre in China Shanghai, China: Plans have been made to launch a new innovation centre in Shanghai, China, by PolyOne, a polymer materials provider. The purpose of this new centre is to ensure collaboration, hasten the application development as well as improve speed-to-market for their clients in Asia Pacific region. The centre will concentrate on R&D projects created in PolyOneÊs specialty engineered materials business. It is to be opened in an industrial park in the JinQiao Development Zone by quarter four of 2014. Craig Nikrant, the global specialty engineered materials president in PolyOne said, „Our customers in Asia will benefit from the expanded infrastructure, technical resources and unparalleled expertise that will be offered at our new innovation centre.
Toyo Engg Bags Contract for Ammonia Plant Chiba, Japan: A USD 880 million contract has been awarded by Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) to Toyo Engineering for constructing a new ammonia plant (UFN-5) in Brazil. The plant would be set up in Uberaba, Minas Gerais which is in the south-eastern part of Brazil. The new facility would have a production capacity of 1,500 t per day and would be completed in the first half of 2017. The contract states that the licensing, engineering and procurement of equipment and raw materials, installation, commissioning and operation assistance services necessary for this project would be provided through a consortium having engineering firms Toyo Engineering and SOG Łleo e Gás. According to Toyo Engineering, even though the natural gas production as feedstock has increased in Brazil more recently, the country depends on fertilizer imports to meet their requirement. So, domestic fertilizer production is essential for Brazil. You can go to the company website to read more on the subject. 16 • May 2014
Chemicals Output in EU Rises for 4th Month in a Row Brussels, Belgium: In January 2014, the European Union saw a rise in the chemicals output by 3.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) for the fourth month in a row as stated in the recent report by the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic). Consistently for six months, there was an increase of 2.3 per cent YoY recorded in the Chemical Sales during the month of December 2013. The sale of EU chemicals was less in 2013 compared to 2012 by 3.3 per cent and only 1.1 per cent more than pre-crises from 2008 when it reached a full-year peak. There was a decline of 2.8 per cent YoY in the prices of EU chemicals, majorly due to the reduction in petrochemical prices which dropped by 5.1 per cent . Hubert Mandery, Director, Cefic, said, „The data highlight the urgent need to bring about the European industrial renaissance proposed by European policymakers. Growth is recovering only slowly; we have yet to return to the level of output achieved seven years ago, before the crisis.‰ Chemical Engineering World
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CEW Industry News Platform Specialty Products to Buy ChemturaÊs Agrochemicals Business Miami, USA: Chemtura has signed a deal to sell Chemtura AgroSolutions (CAS) to Platform Specialty Products, a specialty chemicals company for about USD 1 billion. Along with 2 million shares of its common stock, Platform Specialty Products would be paying USD 950 million in cash. Under brands such as Dimilin, Omite, Acramite, Vitavax, Pantera and Rancona, CAS offers seed treatment products and agrochemicals like insecticides, herbicides, miticides, fungicides, plant growth regulators and adjuvants. The company created revenue of USD 449 million and USD 101 million in EBITDA in 2013. The deal is to be financed by the company by a combination of debt and cash-in-hand. The transaction is likely to be complete in the latter half of 2014. Daniel H. Leever, CEO, Platform said, „The agrochemicals business perfectly aligns with the key values and characteristics of Platform, and meets PlatformÊs disciplined acquisition criteria. This transaction demonstrates our ability to execute our clearly defined growth strategy and provides us with a strong position in an attractive new vertical.‰ Craig A. Rogerson, Chairman, President and CEO, Chemtura stated that the sale facilitates ChemturaÊs agrochemical business with a strong and balanced level to add to its positive momentum and growth.
A Propane Dehydrogenation Facility to be Set Up by Enterprise Products in Texas Houston, USA: A Propane Dehydrogenation (PDH) is going to be set up in Mont Belvieu, Texas, US by Enterprise Products after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave them the final Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Prevention of Significant Deterioration construction permit.This propane unit, being built by the American natural gas and crude oil company will have gas turbines, heaters and catalytic reactors for conversion of propane into hydrogen and propylene. It is estimated to produce over 725,747t of propylene per annum. Ron Curry, Regional Administrator, EPA, said, „We continue to work with TexasÊ businesses to take action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We are pleased to see companies making a positive difference to reduce environmental impacts on our climate and create jobs.‰Plans were made by Enterprise Products Partners to construct a PDH unit which has a capacity of consuming up to 35,000 bpd in June 2012. The GHG regulations were finalised by the EPA since they need projects which add to the GHG emissions to have an air permit.
Kemira Selected as Sodium Chlorate Supplier Helsinki, Finland: Kemira has been selected as a supplier of sodium chlorate to KlabinÊs new 1.5 million tonne pulp mill in Paraná, Brazil. Sodium chlorate is used as a component in the bleaching process, an important process step in the manufacturing of bleached pulp. Kemira will build, own and operate a sodium chlorate plant, which is expected to increase KemiraÊs annual capital expenditure by some 15 per cent - 25 per cent in 2014-2015 compared to 2013 capital expenditure of Euro 135 million, depending on the exact timing of the project build-out. 18 • May 2014
RPMS Platform Upgraded by Honeywell Houston, USA: The Refinery and Petrochemical Modeling System (RPMS), RPMS 500, has been updated by Honeywell. This system makes it possible for refiners and chemical plant operators to maximise their profitability. An analytics software which is based on HoneywellÊs Intuition process management has been added in this updation. This system not only enables refining and petrochemical companies to take stock of their long-term investment options but also allows them to see the major differences in potential yield and value of different feed stocks. This added feature RPMS 500 makes switching to the current version of the software quite possible and is supported by Windows 7/8 64-bit platforms. The company said that this update gives users better case management, HTML-based reporting, a new graphical user interface and improved optimisation capabilities.
AkzoNobelÊs Imperatriz Chemical Island Now in Operation Amsterdam, Netherlands: AkzoNobelÊs new Euro 80 million Imperatriz Chemical Island in Brazil is now operational and has started supplying the Suzano Maranhão Pulp Mill in northern Brazil. Operated by the companyÊs Pulp and Perfor mance Chemicals business, the state-of-the-ar t Imperatriz facility represents AkzoNobelÊs second major investment in the Brazilian Pulp Industry within a two-year time frame. It will supply, store and handle all chemicals for the 1.5 million tonnes per year by Suzano mill under an agreement which runs for the next 15 years.
SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers to Increase Washington Plants Production Munich, Germany: Due to the high demand for carbon fiber in automotive production, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers is going to triple the capacity of the carbon fiber plant in Moses Lake, WA (USA). This was announced by the joint venture partners, SGL Group and BMW Group, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the planned site expansion. The expansion will be funded by an investment of USD 200 million, in addition to the previously invested USD 100 million. The site expansion, scheduled to be completed by early 2015, will make the plant in Moses Lake the worldÊs largest carbon fiber plant. With the anticipated creation of 120 new jobs, the headcount at the joint venture in Moses Lake is going to rise from 80 to about 200 people. Due to the automated production processes, the expansion of the site in Moses Lake will make it possible for the BMW Group to apply carbon fiber material in other model series in the future, at competitive costs and in large quantities. At present, the Moses Lake plant operates two production lines, exclusively for BMW i, with an annual output of approx. 3,000 tons of carbon fiber. This summer, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers would be commissioning a third and fourth production line in Moses Lake, which are still being built, thus doubling the plantÊs capacity to 6,000 tons per year. Chemical Engineering World
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Technology News Burning Issue of Hydrocarbons May Affect Human Health To k yo , J a p a n : Po l y c y c l i c A r o m a t i c Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their related molecules, Nitropolycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (NPAHs), are released when fuel ă either fossil fuels or biomass ă is bur nt. They are also present following tobacco and fat combustion. Professor Kazuichi Hayakawa, PAHs and NPAHs are known to be highly Division of Environmental Science carcinogenic and mutagenic, meaning and Engineering, Graduate School of Natural Science and they can trigger genetic mutations in living Technology, Kanazawa University, organisms. The impact of these particular Japan. molecules on human health is now being uncovered, by Kazuichi Hayakawa at Kanazawa University. Hayakawa is highly regarded for his development of an extremely sensitive method of deter mining NPAH/PAH concentrations in atmospheric particulate samples. His technique uses high performance liquid chromatography with chemiluminescence detection ă separating out the chemical components of particulate matter and classifying them according to how they emit light and heat. Hayakawa discovered that the NPAH/PAH concentration ratio in any given sample is dependent upon the original combustion temperature of the fuel. In this way, airborne particulate samples can be analysed and the original source of the pollutants can be identified ă for example burning coal, diesel or petrol. (Read complete news at www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp.)
Water Treatment with UV-light System Munich, Germany: There are numerous things in our waste water that should not find their way into the environment ă yet waste water treatment plants only remove a portion of these contaminants. In particular, bacteria commonly employed in the biological treatment stage have no effect on persistent substances, which include highly stable hydrocarbon compounds. Cleaning agent residuals and pesticides as well as pharmacological substances are reaching environmental waters. The loading from these kinds of harmful substances in the North Sea, for instance, is already clearly measurable today. Researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart together with international industrial partners have now developed a new chemical reaction system that breaks down these kinds of resilient and harmful molecules thoroughly and efficiently ă without having to add chemicals like hydrogen peroxide, for instance. Instead, the researchers are essentially utilising the „self-healing‰ power of water aided by photolysis (aka. photochemical dissociation). The principle of photolysis is based on splitting water molecules using photons. The shorter the wavelength of light, the higher the photonÊs energy. Researchers therefore use light sources in this system that emit UV light exclusively in the region of 172 nanometers ă ie, extremely energetic photons. As soon as these photons enter water, they split the H 2O molecules, forming highly reactive hydroxyl radials as a result. (Read complete PR at http://www.fraunhofer.de.) 20 • May 2014
Scientists Use Biomolecules for Cell Research Pennsylvania, USA: The ability to create conducting polymer films in a variety of shapes, thicknesses and surface properties rapidly and inexpensively will make growing and testing cells easier and more flexible, according to a team of Penn State bioengineers. „The ultimate goal of this collaborative project is to be able to create a substrate for growth and manipulation of cells,‰ said Sheereen Majd, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering. „Cells on a surface need to recognise biomolecules like extracellular matrix proteins to be able to adhere and grow. We ultimately would like to be able to use these polymer films to manipulate adhesion, growth, proliferation and migration of cells,‰ she added. Majd and her team are creating patterned films of conducting polymers on gold substrates by electrodeposition through hydrogel stamps. They reported their results in Advanced Materials dated May 9, 2014. The researchers create their hydrogel stamps from agarose - a sugar extracted from seaweed - poured into moulds. While most of the current experiments use arrays of dots, because the researchers use moulded stamps, a wide variety of shapes - dots, squares, lines - are possible. The stamp is dipped in a solution of monomer and a dopant and placed on the gold surface. An electrical current through the hydrogel and gold polymerises the monomer and dopant at the surface. If a biomolecule of interest is also included in the stamping solution, it becomes embedded in the polymer film as well. (Read more at news.psu.edu.)
New Possibilities for Clean Energy Research Houston, USA: University of Houston physicists have discovered a new thermoelectric material offering high performance at temperatures ranging from room temperature up to 300 degrees Celsius, or about 573 degrees Fahrenheit. „This new material is better than the traditional material, Bismuth telluride, and can be used for waste heat conversion into electricity much more efficiently,‰ said Zhifeng Ren, MD Anderson Chair professor of physics at UH and the lead author of a paper describing the discovery, published online by Nano Energy. Ren, who is also principal investigator at the Texas Center for Superconductivity at UH, said the work could be important for clean energy research and commercialisation at temperatures of about 300 degrees Celsius. Bismuth telluride has been the standard thermoelectric material since the 1950s and is used primarily for cooling, although it can also be used at temperatures up to 250 0 C, or 482 0 F, for power generation, with limited efficiency. For this discovery, Ren and other members of his lab used a combination of magnesium, silver and antimony to generate electricity from heat using the ther moelectric principle. They added a small amount of nickel, after which Ren said the compound worked even better. The work was done in collaboration with researchers from the UH Department of Chemistry and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (www. eurekalert.org) Chemical Engineering World
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Technology News Better and Cheaper Renewable Biofuels Singapore: Dwindling crude oil reserves, accompanied by rising prices and environmental concer ns, have led to increased interest in the use of renewable fuels. Biofuels produced from waste agricultural or forestry material are par ticularly desirable because they avoid diver ting resources from the production of food crops. Oils produced by high-temperature treatment of these waste materials, however, contain a large amount of oxygenated compounds that result in undesirable proper ties such as high viscosity and corrosiveness. Now, Jie Chang, Ar mando Borgna and co-workers from the A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineer ing Sciences in Singapore describe a series of catalysts that might be used to upgrade these oils by removing the undesirable oxygen-containing functional groups. Using the compound guaiacol as a model for oxygenated bio-der ived oils, the researchers found that the most promising catalysts for guaiacol deoxygenation are comprised of molybdenum metal on a carbon support. (Read the story at http://www.research.a-star.edu.sg.)
PlantsÊ Oil-Desaturating Enzymes Pair Up to Channel Metabolites N e w Yo r k , U S A : P l a n t s c i e n t i s t s a t t h e U S D e p a r t m e n t o f E n e r g y Ês Brookhaven National Laboratory have found that certain enzymes responsible for desaturating fatty acids, the building blocks of oils, can link up to efficiently pass intermediate products from one enzyme Researcher Jorg Schwender to another. „Engineering these enzyme interactions to channel metabolites along desired metabolic pathways could be a new approach for tailoring plants to produce useful products,‰ said Brookhaven biochemist John Shanklin, lead author on a paper reporting the results in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Getting plants to accumulate high levels of more healthful polyunsaturated fatty acids, or unusual fatty acids that could be used as raw materials in place of petroleum-derived chemicals in industrial processes, are a few possible outcomes. (Read the original news on http://www.bnl.gov. )
Chemical Engineers Discover ÂUltraselectiveÊ Process to Make Valuable Chemical from Biomass
Fraunhofer Experts Establish Principles for Consistent Recycling
Amherst, USA: Chemical engineering researchers Wei Fan, Paul Dauenhauer and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst report this week that theyÊve discovered a new chemical process to make p-xylene, an important ingredient of common plastics, at 90 percent yield from lignocellulosic biomass, the highest yield achieved to date. Details are in the current issue of Green Chemistry. As Dauenhauer explains, the chemical industr y currently produces p-xylene from more expensive petroleum, while the new process will make the same chemical from lower-cost, renewable biomass. He and colleagues call the process „ultraselective‰ because of its ability to achieve 90 percent selectivity for the desired product. „The biomassderived p-xylene can be mixed with petroleum-based plastics, and consumers will not be able to tell the difference.
Munich, Germany: Germans consume about 200 kilograms of raw materials per person each day according to the Federal Ministry of the Environment (Umweltbundesamt). It means Germans are in first place. This not only damages the environment ă it is also dangerous for GermanyÊs international competiveness. As a country poor in raw materials, Germany must commit to comprehensive resource conservation. New and efficient recycling methods are one option by which to become more independent of imported raw materials that are expensive and in short supply. Fraunhofer experts have established important principles for consistent recycling and circular manufacturing in the advanced Molecular Sorting for Resource Efficiency project. They will be presenting new methods at IFAT that facilitate the recycling of precious metals, rare ear ths, glass, wood, concrete, and a l s o p h o s p h o r u s. „ T h e s e p a ra t i o n p r o c e s s e s t a ke p l a c e i n i t i a l l y a t t h e s m a l l e s t l eve l r e q u i r e d , i . e. w e g o d ow n t o t h e m o l e c u l a r o r e v e n a t o m i c l e v e l s ,‰ e x p l a i n s t h e p r o j e c t Ês c o o r d i n a t o r, P r o fe s s o r J ö r g Wo i d a s k y f r o m t h e Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal near Karlsruhe, Germany.
But manufacturers and chemical companies will be able to operate more sustainably and at lower cost in the future because of this discovery,‰ he adds. Consumers already know the plastics made from this new process by the triangular recycling label „#1‰ on plastic containers. Xylene chemicals are used to produce a plastic called PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which is currently used in many products including soda bottles, food packaging, synthetic fibers for clothing and even automotive parts, Dauenhauer says. The UMass Amherst teamÊs discover y reveals the impact of nano-structured catalyst design on renewable chemical p r o c e s s e s . L e d by Fa n , t h ey ex a m i n e d a l a r g e n u m b e r of nano-porous catalytic materials, including zeolites, i nve s t i g a t i n g t h e i r c a p a b i l i t y fo r p r o d u c i n g p - x y l e n e . A specific mater ial identified as Âzeolite betaÊ was found to be optimal. (Read more at UniversityÊs site) 22 • May 2014
One example is the bioleaching process being developed and readied for commercial use at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgar t, Germany. Even small quantities of precious metals or rare earths can be recovered with the technique. The researchers utilize microorganisms to convert insoluble metallic compounds in ores, in combustion slag, or in scrap wood saturated with metallic salts into water-soluble salts. The dissolved metals can subsequently be chemically bound using specialized polymers and thereby selectively removed from the solution. The metals are separated in a third step. Chemical Engineering World
CEW Marketing Initiative Young Professors Recognised by DuPont for Scientific Innovation
Sandvik Asia Showcase Capabilities at Petrotech 2014
Wilmington, USA: As an initiative of their corporate effor t to acknowledge innovative research, DuPont added 10 young faculty members from all over the world to their 2014 Class of Young Professors and gave them early career grants as well. The company plans on offering this group with USD 600,000 over three years to support their work in advancing basic science to rise to the global challenges in energy, food and protection. A number of key components of DuPont science are present among the research interests within the class of 2014 Young Professors, the fields range from biotechnology, microfluidics, plant biology and reproduction, nanoscience, organic chemistry and materials science. The members of the DuPont Young Professor Class of 2014 are from 10 universities across two continents. The Young professors are Jiun-Tai Chen, Guangbin Dong, Randy Ewoldt, Micah Green, Farren Isaacs, Jeremiah Johnson, Ravi Maruthachalan, Pamela Peralta-Yahya, Feng Qin and Leslie Shor. The thought behind the DuPont Young Professor programme is to encourage promising young and untenured research faculty start their research career.
Delhi, India: Sandvik Asia, a developer and producer of advanced stainless steels, special alloys, titanium and other high-performance materials, showcased its capabilities and offer ings in this yearÊs Petrotech 2014. Major technology companies, manufacturers and Industr y leaders visited the Sandvik stall and were engaged in a focused discussion with Sandvik dignitaries and representatives.
LANXESS Facilitates Collaborative Development for Rubber Industry Chennai, India: Lanxess, the global specialty chemicals company, has taken a novel initiative towards innovation in partnership with its leading distributor for rubber businesses, Ram Charan Co Pvt Ltd, which is a strategic business partner to leading manufacturers in rubber, plastics and, inks and coatings industries. The assets of the erstwhile Lanxess Rubber Chemicals Technical Centre in Thane have now been relocated to the Tech Centre of Ram Charan at Chennai. This Tech Centre would have all rubber testing equipment provided by Lanxess and will undertake testing, formulation development and application development to address specific customer problems in the rubber industry. From this Centre, Lanxess and Ram Charan will be able to especially serve the fast growing rubber markets in South India and Sri Lanka. Besides the rubber chemicals business of Lanxess, Ram Charan is also the distributor for High Performance Elastomers, Keltan Elastomers and products from Rhein Chemie. This mutual agreement between Lanxess and Ram Charan will therefore benefit the customers of these businesses as well. In another event in Mumbai, Neelanjan Banerjee, Senior Executive Director, LANXESS India Private Limited was honoured as being one of IndiaÊs Top 40 under 40 business leaders by The Economic Times and Spencer Stuart. With the goal of recognizing the next generation of leaders, Spencer Stuar t collaborated with the Economic Times, to identify 40 leaders under 40 who are the crème-de-la-crème of India IncÊs young upcoming leadership and are potential contenders for the CEOÊs office. He was chosen from among a long list of 2000 leaders. 26 • May 2014
Major players in the Oil and Gas industry showed a lot of interest in the products that were on display at the event. The products exhibited at the event once again showed SandvikÊs broad Programme of high performance tubular materials which aid in improving productivity, reliability and cost efficiency in demanding O&G applications. Available throughout the Conference and Exhibition, Sandvik product experts were able to advise and demonstrate the material benefits of the high quality tubing to improve customer productivity, reliability and cost efficiency. Speaking on the occasion Sharath Satish, Tube and Primary Products Manager, said, „It was indeed a pleasure to be part of Petrotech 2014. It was a very good platform for knowledge sharing with all the stakeholders of the industry. The initiative demonstrates the importance of connecting with a multitude of stakeholders to support our current and prospective clients in India. Our products were highly appreciated by leading companies of the sector. The entire exercise was definitely fruitful and once again reiterates our commitment to the Indian market.‰
B o s c h Pa ck a g i n g Te c h n o l o g y A i m s t o Ke e p Strengthening Position Until 2020 D ü s s e l d o r f / Wa i bl i n g e n , G e r m a ny : B y 2 0 2 0 , B o s c h Pa ck a g i n g Te c h n o l o g y a i m s t o gr ow c o n s i d e ra bl y fa s t e r than the market, and to fur ther expand its leading position in the realm of process and packaging technology around the world. „We expect to see fundamental change in the mar ket for packaging machinery. We not only want to react to this change, we also aim to help shape it,‰ said Friedbert Klefenz, President of Bosch Packaging Technology, during the companyÊs press conference at the Interpack trade show in Düsseldorf. On the basis of its PA 2020 strategy, the manufacturer of special machiner y aims to continue expanding its business in the established markets, and to grow especially in Asia and Africa. In addition to this, the company intends to spur fur ther growth by venturing into new fields of business. „We are well on our way to realizing our plans,‰ Klefenz said. Last year, Bosch Packaging TechnologyÊs sales exceeded the onebillion euro mark for the first time. In fiscal 2013, the company increased its sales by 22 per cent, from 914 million euros to 1.1 billion euros. Chemical Engineering World
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CEW News Features
India Needs to invest $830 Billion in ‘Low Carbon Strategies’ by 2030 The total CO 2 emissions will increase much more moderately to 3,830 Mt and per capita emissions to 2.6 tonnes by the year 2030. The decline in emissions intensity of GDP nearly doubles to 42 per cent, over 2007 levels, by 2030, states the report.
I
ndia, despite being among the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in per capita terms, is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, and the country needs to invest as much as USD 830 Billion in ÂLow Carbon StrategiesÊ by 2030, revealed a new report prepared by an Expert Group set up by the Planning Commission of India. The report states that though India is one of the lowest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, yet it is threatened by the impact of global warming and climate change. „And this impact is not just a concern of the distant future! An increased frequency and intensity of extreme natural conditions such as storms, cyclones, longer dry spells, erratic rainfall, etc. is already perceptible today,‰ the report reads further. All the projection in the report has been made on the bases of the official greenhouse gas inventory available for the year 2007, and makes projections going forward up to the year 2030. Highlighting the contribution of different sectors in the report, the expert group headed by Kirit Parikh, a former member of the Planning Commission (Energy) suggests that as accelerating urbanisation takes urban population to 600 million plus by 2030, demand for electricity will rise, and the country will need to invest in regulatory standards, and also formulates promotional schemes, which encourage the use of efficient lighting, heating, ventilation, airconditioning (HVAC), and electric motor based appliances in the residential and commercial establishments across the country. Pointing out construction activity as the second largest economic activity
28 • May 2014
As per NATCOM 2007, India emitted 1,728 million tonnes CO 2 equivalent of greenhouse gases, making it the sixth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. India is, however, conscious of its global responsibility, and in December 2009, it announced that it would reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 20 to 25 percent, over the 2005 levels, by the year 2020. This voluntary commitment, which India has made to the international community, shows IndiaÊs resolve to ensure that its growth process is sustainable and based on low carbon principles. With the approval of the Twelfth Five Plan by the National Development Council, sustainability has become an integral part of IndiaÊs growth policy at both central and state levels. The Final Report of the Expert Group on Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive Growth
in India, one of the analysis in the report estimates carbon abatement potential, by appropriating ÂEnergy Conservation Building CodeÊ into the proposed construction of buildings, to help reduce the need for lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The Expert Group emphasises the importance of creating a policy environment that incentivises builders and owners alike, to opt for energy efficient options in their buildings. Further, the report highlights the importance of efficient coal power plants in future and use of renewable energy resources. It also states, „Integration of
R e a d Wa c k e r C h e m i e ’s M D Raman Trikala’s views on New Chemistries on Page Number 50 large scale wind and solar power requires additional technologies, which can ensure smooth grid operation.‰ The report includes analysis of options and outcomes in a macroeconomic model that combines bottom-up and top-down approaches gauging different policy options, and explore individual policy options, and the scope of reducing energy use and emissions in households, buildings, industry and transport sectors respectively. It also explores the problems of expanding capacities of renewable power based on solar and wind energy. The Model output is summarized through two endpoint scenarios: the BIG (Baseline, Inclusive Growth) and the LCIG (Low Carbon, Inclusive Growth). While inclusive actions remain unchanged between the two scenarios, low carbon strategies span the vector space between them. Pursuit of Low Carbon Strategies brings down the average GDP growth rate by 0.15 percentage points, while per capita CO2 emissions (in 2030) fall from 3.6 tonnes per person in the BIG scenario to 2.6 tonnes per person in the LCIG scenario. However, in both the scenarios, the total carbon emissions continue to rise up to the year 2030, states the report. Have a look at some of the charts presented in the report on the next page. The entire report is available at http:// planningcommission.nic.in/. - Harshal Desai Chemical Engineering World
CEW News Features Emissions of Different Gases from Each Sector in 2007
Total CO 2 Emissions
Per Capita CO 2 Emissions
Source-wise Contibution to Total Primanry Energy in 2030 (in Mtoe)
Installed Power Capacity (in GW) by Source in 2030
30 â&#x20AC;˘ May 2014
Power Generation (in BU) by Source in 2030
Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features Guest Column
Process Intensification - A Perspective Process intensification (PI) is a word coined by Professor Colin Ramshaw of University of Newcastle. The concept is perhaps about two decades old. PI could be defined as any chemical engineering development that leads to a substantially smaller, cleaner, and more energy-efficient process technology. In this article, Dr D M Mohunta, Commercial, Chemical and Development Company, takes stock of some of the new developments.
t the core of this concept is creativity and innovation, creativity is the capability or act of conceiving something original or unusual; innovation is the implementation of something new. Creativity is not measurable whereas Innovation is measurable; there can be many metrics of measurement. An inventionÊs uniqueness can always be tested.
A
Some 72 typical equipment types and processing methods were identified, and as a first step 47 technologies were reviewed in detail. It is a monument to the coordinated strategy among industry, universities and the EU for moving forward on an initiative that is vital to the future competitiveness of Europe. Some 66 individuals from industries, public organisations, gave detailed inputs for the report.
In other words process intensification consists of the development of novel apparatuses and techniques or combinations, as compared to the present practice, to bring dramatic improvements in manufacturing and processing, substantially decreasing equipment size/production-capacity ratio, energy consumption, or waste production, thus optimising capital, energy, reducing environmental impact and enhancing safety.
Another EU initiative has been F3 Factory, defined as Flexible, Fast, Future factory, and a Euro 30 million project that was successfully concluded in 2013. A major coordinated effort between industry and academia involves, 25 partners from 9 European Member States and, successful demonstration of 7 industrial processes
The potential benefits of process intensification awakened the European industry and resulted in the European Union and Dutch Government creating a European Roadmap for Process Intensification (Creative Energy, 2008) in four major industrial sectors, namely petrochemicals and bulk chemicals (PETCHEM), specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals (FINEPHARM), food ingredients (INFOOD), and consumer food (CONFOOD). It answers all the whyÊs of process intensification. 32 • May 2014
F3 Factory Plant concept is to develop new modular, standardised, continuous production technology with fast integration of novel (PI) technologies. There would be a back bone of services such as supply of utilities, process fluids, raw materials and process control system. To this backbone will be connected process equipment container (PEC) and within each PEC will be process equipment assemblies. The PECs are mobile and easily transportable (typical ISO container size); they can be docked to a generic backbone facility. Whereas the PEAs and their internal intensified process equipment are generally specific to a given production
Many decades ago Eastman Chemicals was operating a nitrobenzene plant that did not use mixed acid. One day there was an explosion in the plant and then operations were discontinued. The root cause of the explosion was found, but it was difficult to ensure safe conditions and it was given up. At that time work was being done in an Indian University and this was also halted. With the advent of microreactors and mixers, perhaps the process could be revived.
application, the PECs are standardised and are characterised by speed and ease of docking and replacement with robust standardised connections to the backbone. The F3 factory concept takes advantage of process intensification by combining a modular container based approach with a plug and play philosophy for both flexible multi-product production and flexible scaleup by replicating for dedicated singleproduct production. A modular continuousflow production system would be composed of several clearly identified continuous-flow process units, each process unit more or less independent of the other. The cases were: 1. acrylic acid-based copolymer 2. homo-polymerisation of acrylic acid Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features Technology
Commercial
P r o c e s s -30% steps
T i m e - t o - -50% Market
Parameter
M i c r o Continuous Reactor Stirred Tank 3s
1760 s
-20%
Residence time
Foot print
Opex
S o l v e n t -100% Capex reduction
-40%
Pressure
3-5 bar
Atmospheric
Conversion
>99%
Capacity
-30%
30-95% (oscillating)
-50%
+20% Logistics
Space time 1 0 0 E n e r g y -30% yield fold consumption Table 1: Quantified potential of intensification
and copolymerisation of acrylic acid with second monomer having different copolymerisation parameters 3. Partial oxidation, epoxidation and hydroformylation 4. Detergent production intensification of two key reactions stages (SO 2 oxidation and sulphonation) using novel reaction technology 5. Reaction of glycerol with propylene to produce acrolien and from it acrylic acid & acrylates 6. Intermediate, five stage reaction steps with intermediate isolation 7. Highly viscous polymer processing without the use of solvent The 7 cases showed a quantified potential of intensification (See table 1) Are such initiatives possible in India? I would say virtually impossible but readers can correct me. Few Recent Developments Some of the hardware inventions that have been spawned by the emphasis on process intensification are HIGEE column, spinning disc reactor, oscillating flow reactor, loop reactors, spinning tube in tube reactor, heat exchange reactor, static mixing catalysts, micro channel reactors, micro channel heat exchangers, etc. Modeling of such novel systems, like spin disc reactor and others has matured, but in many cases still lags behind the mechanical developments.
Selectivity
>99%
R e a c t i o n 3 cm 3 volume Throughput
>99% 2900 cm 3
4300 cm 3 5930 cm3 h-1 h-1
Space-time 500 h-1 yield
0.7-2.0 h-1
Table 2a: Oxidation of Ethanol to Acetic Acid
Another development has been the imposition of external fields, sonic, ultrasound, microwave, gravitational, etc. on the process. It should be noted than when one moves from batch to continuous, the scale of flows reduces considerably; thus a product of 5000 TPY will be only 600-700 kg/hr flows, as chemical plants go it is very small. Thus the pipelines sizes, equipment sizes reduce considerably, so does the need for utilities. The processing time changes from minutes to seconds and hours to minutes. There are other demands like continuous monitoring, requiring very sophisticated analytical instrumentation. Some examples of medium sized plants that are possible are shown in table 2a & 2b above. Organic Nitration Many nitration processes that were almost impossible to carry out in conventional equipment have been carried out successfully in microreactors. Many decades ago Eastman Chemicals was operating a nitrobenzene plant that did not use mixed acid. One day there was an explosion in the plant and then operations were discontinued. The root cause of the
It should be noted than when one moves from batch to continuous the scale of flows reduces considerably thus a product of 5000 TPY will be only 600-700 kg/hr flows, as chemical plants go it is very small. 34 â&#x20AC;˘ May 2014
Microreactor T u b u l a r Reactor Yield
0.5% higher than the traditional process
High-boiling 0.12 wt % substance
0.21 wt %
Process 2 recycle ratio
17
Table 2b: Rearrangement of cumene hydroperoxide in a traditional tubular reactor and micro reactor
explosion was found, but it was difficult to ensure safe conditions and it was given up. At that time work was being done in an Indian University and this was also halted. With the advent of microreactors and mixers, perhaps the process could be revived. Hydrogen Peroxide More than a decade back Sulzer had changed the process of hydrogen peroxide distillation. A Norwegian company had intensified the process of manufacturing hydrogen peroxide which used static mixers extensively to combine oxidation and extraction, etc. The present situation is that a catalytic process has been commercialised, that directly converts hydrogen and oxygen to hydrogen peroxide and further a portable peroxide plant is in advanced stage of development; thus making the earlier PI efforts obsolete. However, PI would still be used in parts of process. Polymerisation Batch or semi-batch polymerisation and copolymerisation have been, in many instances, converted to continuous polymerisation. Specially configured reactors easily meet requirements of emulsion polymerisation process, namely good mixing, relatively long reaction times, limited residence time distribution and high final conversion. The productivity is much higher than batch process. Copolymerisation of styrene and acrylates, production of vinyl acetate with ethylene (EVA), PVA, uniform seed latex, etc. are examples. Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features Perhaps one of the early attempts (1945) at what is now called PI was the reactive distillation column for production of Dioctyl Phthalate (DOP) by Othmer. It is doubtful whether any Indian company adopted it. In spite of the antiquity and the rapid developments in last couple of decades, the Indian industry does not seem to have embraced PI enthusiastically. Another type of compact continuous reactor for production volumes has been used for grafting reactions of Acrylic Acid, Methacrylic Acid, Maleic Anhydride to PolyolefinĂ&#x160;s; EP Rubber Vinylsiloxane grafting to SEBS Block Copolymer; Polyethylene (silane cross linking), etc.
28-31 January 2015, Mumbai, India
Indian Industry Perhaps one of the early attempts (1945) at what is now called PI was the reactive distillation column for production of Dioctyl Phthalate (DOP) by Othmer. It is doubtful whether any Indian company adopted it. In spite of the antiquity and the rapid developments in last couple of decades, Indian industry does not seem to have embraced PI enthusiastically. As Bernard Shaw said, â&#x20AC;&#x17E;You see things as they are and say why but I dream of things that never were and say why notâ&#x20AC;°, it implies taking a risk, a journey into uncharted territory with few signboards and many heuristic moves. Something most Indian managements are averse to. Most Indian companies will take business risk but rarely technological risk. Thus in the words of Professor D M Newitt, an industry that always demands cast iron guarantees will be condemned to obsolescent technology. Over arcing in the mind is the thought, if it does not work, or does not achieve the goal. There are other mindsets â&#x20AC;&#x17E;we have been doing this way for decades, so why changeâ&#x20AC;° or â&#x20AC;&#x17E;if there are no problems why changeâ&#x20AC;° or â&#x20AC;&#x17E;what will happen to the existing investmentâ&#x20AC;°. Therefore, in words of Professor Ramshaw, â&#x20AC;&#x17E;A major cultural change is required on behalf of chemists, engineers and managers and it is this, rather than technical difficulty which represents the main obstacle to progressâ&#x20AC;°. Many Indian pharma companies do use micro reactors and few others have taken to PI seriously, but the record is patchy. Given the pulls and pushes Indian companies take inordinately long time to make decisions to move forward, usually year or more. What the management and the technical personal require is a will to overcome problems that inevitable arise in any new development and avoid blame games. As Edison said, â&#x20AC;&#x17E;Remember nothing thatĂ&#x160;s any good works by itself. YouĂ&#x160;ve got to make the damn thing work! â &#x201E;.. I failed my way to success.â&#x20AC;° 38 â&#x20AC;˘ May 2014
Chemical Engineering World
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CEW Features Technical Article
Hazards of Chemical Process Scale-up Chemical process scale-up of reacting systems necessitates an understanding of the importance of, and inter-relationships between, chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer rates, fluid mixing and economics. Some common pitfalls that lead to scale-up problems are discussed in this paper.
T
his paper is concerned with the type of industrial chemistry that is usually carried out in the liquid phase in batch or semi-batch reactors. 1. Introduction Most novel chemical synthesis routes are developed on the small scale in the laboratory by synthetic organic chemists. Because, over time, they work on many different processes, the equipment they use tends to be multi-purpose. Their reaction „workhorse‰ is the well-stirred batch, or semi-batch reactor. This is understandable - and to some extent - even logical, because for many systems it is relatively easy to make this type of reacting system conform closely to the „ideal‰ assumptions that enable the batch reactor to be modelled by a first order differential equation. Because of this, interpretation of experimental data, and parameter extraction or estimation (eg, determination of orders of reaction and activation energies) is relatively straightforward. Alternative approaches might be to use a Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR) or a Plug Flow Reactor (PFR). However, this requires feed vessels and pumps as well as product tanks and a much larger inventory of chemicals is needed. In addition, the implicit assumptions associated with the ideal PFR (perfect radial mixing to give uniformity of composition and temperature within a specific reactor cross section, but no axial mixing between fluid elements that enter the reactor at different times) are surprisingly difficult to achieve
in the laboratory: therefore parameter extraction is either more inaccurate (if overly simple models are used to describe the reactor) or more complex (if realistic reactor models are developed.) For these, and other, reasons the idea! Batch reactor continues to be used widely as the preferred process development tool: because of this when scale up occurs there is a tendency to „stick with the familiar‰ and „off the shelf batch reactors (eg, from manufacturers such as Pfaudler) are the norm in the fine chemical industry. Often the reactor performance will determine whether a specific process is financially viable. After all, downstream separation duties will depend, sometimes entirely, on whether the desired product is mixed with un-reacted feeds or contaminated with undesired by-products. In the limit one can envisage the perfect reactor being a smallscale unit capable of receiving an imported feed (eg, from stock tanks or a road tanker, etc.) and being capable of delivering a quality product for immediate export without further processing. Rather than continuing to use large „off the shelf reactors, this type of purpose designed, small reactor unit should be our ideal. 2. Predicting Reactor Performance Probably the greatest hazard associated with process scale-up is a financial one. It occurs when the full-scale process fails to deliver the product at the anticipated rate and with the desired purity. For this reason,
Probably the greatest hazard associated with process scale-up is a financial one. It occurs when the full-scale process fails to deliver the product at the anticipated rate and with the desired purity. 40 • May 2014
in the past, conservative approaches to scale-up have been followed, through several sizes of pilot plant, before full-scale plant capital authorisation is issued. With good modern equipment and appropriate mathematical modelling and parameter extraction this staged scale-up is no longer necessary for many relatively simple processes. There are two common approaches. 2.1 Making Sure that Process Conditions are Scale Invariant: If reacting molecules experience a particular compositiontemperature-time (or in the case of continuous flow systems compositiontemperature-position) history in a laboratory scale reactor, then reproducing that history on the larger scale should result in an identical product. If this can be achieved then product quality is guaranteed and scale-up has been possible without any detailed understanding of the kinetics or thermodynamics of the reaction(s) involved. This is the tactic that is still adopted, for instance, by many companies involved in the manufacture of pharmaceutical intermediates and products. However, physical processes such as mixing, heat transfer and mass transfer are likely to be involved so changes in the stirrer design, mixing speed or blending of inlet feed streams may have a dramatic effect on product yield. In addition other variables such as details of a gas delivery system, or bubble sizes of gases or liquids, may be of crucial importance. This method of scale-up may be relatively quick but is often risky (financially and from a safety perspective) for all but the simplest processes. 2.2 Following a Rigorous Reactor Design Methodology: This procedure has long been recognised as preferable Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features thermally neutral an energy balance is not required and for single-phase systems with low heats of reaction, block 6 will be of no consequence in terms of the design equations. For batch reactions with kinetics that are slow compared with the time scale on which good mixing on the molecular scale can be made to occur, essentially no input from block 5 is required if there is only a single reaction. If the reaction kinetics are very fast then instantaneous reaction with a heat output related directly to a feed rate may be a reasonable assumption. In this case, of course, the reactor could in theory be infinitesimally small, but in practice it must still incorporate a heat transfer system capable of removing the steady state enthalpy release, so a finite small size will be required. With all of this information, detailed predictions of reactor performance can be made, the economic robustness of the project can be examined (for instance in relation to changing feedstock prices, energy costs, cooling costs or product price) and rational project management and reactor design decisions can be made. If step changes in the quality of reactor design are to be made then this is the only valid approach. For example for fast reactions, small-scale, high throughput, continuous flow reactors may be possible rather than huge stirred vessels into which a semi-batch feed is slowly trickled. Or, for particularly hazardous reactions, systems with a much reduced reacting inventory may be possible. [4]
Figure 1: The interactive and iterative nature of reactor design
by the chemical engineering community, but is surprisingly unfamiliar to many chemists: reference 1 was one of the earlier textbooks in this area. The key elements of reactor design are illustrated in Figure 1. The methodology is to gather data for the system of interest and then to integrate that data into a mathematical model (appropriate mass and energy balances) that is developed to describe the full-scale reactor. Solution of the model enables predictions to be made for the yield, selectivity, temperature, etc. that can be expected to result from specific start or inlet conditions. Many commercially available software packages are available to carry out just this function, see for example references 2 and 3, and they contain preprogrammed models of many common types of reactor. 42 â&#x20AC;˘ May 2014
Figure 1 emphasises that rational and fundamental design of reactors is not possible without: 1. A specific proposal for the reactor type to be used, block 2 2. An understanding of the chemical kinetics of all the reactions involved, including undesired reactions, block 3 3. A knowledge of the heat effects associated with each reaction, block 4 4. An adequate description of the mixing within the reactor or, for a continuous flow system, the flow pattern through the reactor, block 5 5. A description of the rates of heat and mass transfer that will be present in the system, block 6 In many instances this integrated approach can be simplified very considerably. Thus, for example, for reactions that are essentially
Figure 2 emphasises that the approach described in section 2.1 is really the same as that described in section 2.2 but with all the key information missing. For all but the simplest systems, scale-up using this method is therefore based largely on ignorance and trial and error rather than firm principles. 3.Modern Approaches to Process Development 3.1. Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment: Within the European Community unified legislation is becoming the norm. Current UK legislation relating to industrial health and safety requires all companies (employing more than 5 people) to make risk assessments of their activities and to keep records of these. The first stage of the risk assessment Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features of any resulting runaway reaction to be followed. (But be aware that the magnitude of the temperature rise, and the time scale on which this occurs, may be very different on the large-scale: however, reliable ways of allowing for this, experimentally and theoretically, have been developed. [6] ) Appropriate adiabatic calorimetry will also reveal whether a thermal runaway from normal reaction conditions is capable of triggering additional exotherms that might be associated, for instance, with decomposition reactions. In most Western European countries, this type of approach is now required by national regulatory authorities. A profoundly important corollary of this requirement is that for most new processes much of the experimental data relating to blocks 3 and 4 in figure 1 will be available. Designing an appropriate reactor from fundamentals therefore becomes an increasingly realistic objective.
Figure 2: Only reactor design by trial and error is possible without basic data
is to identify the hazards that may be present: the second stage is to consider the risks that are associated with specific activities bearing in mind the nature of the hazards that have been revealed. A ÂBasis of SafetyÊ then needs to be defined for a particular activity so that the risks to which personnel and the environment are exposed can be controlled at levels deemed to be acceptable. When developing a chemical process these procedures necessitate, inter alia, a detailed understanding of the properties of the materials being handled and a knowledge of the reactions that may occur between the chemicals present. The consequences of such reactions (both desired and undesired) must be appreciated and the time scale on which specific hazards may develop (eg, creation 44 • May 2014
of overpressure within equipment) should be known. [5] Such safety considerations should be seamless activities that take place continuously throughout the chemical process lifecycle. At the earliest stages of process development, they may simply take the form of literature surveys, references to databases or websites and some simple hand calculations (e.g. to estimate the enthalpy of reaction or calculate the oxygen balance of key molecules.) Later on, as laboratory work commences, some small-scale safety related screening tests are likely to be required. As the scale of laboratory work continues to grow, more detailed studies of the process in a reaction calorimeter will give a direct measure of the enthalpy release associated with the desired reaction(s). Adiabatic calorimetry will enable the consequences of loss of cooling to be studied and the trajectory
3.2. Experimental Design: Time to marketplace is often crucially important with a new product and can have a dramatic effect on cash flow. Process development must therefore be carried out in a near optimal fashion. Statistical experimental design techniques are now widely used: see reference 7 for a general introduction to the field. Software packages to facilitate both the planning of experiments and the interpretation of data are readily available. [8] With modern equipment the emerging possibilities of carrying out multiple experiments in parallel enables large programmes of two-level factorial design experiments to be completed quickly. Key factors (eg, temperature or temperature profile, composition, feed rate, mixing speed, etc.) that affect the product Âobjective functionÊ (eg, yield, purity, profit margin, etc.) can be rapidly identified and a relatively small number of further experiments enables detailed response surfaces of this objective function to be mapped as a function of these key variables. 4. Process Design 4.1. Anticipating Credible Worst Case Scenarios: The training of chemical engineers, at least in the UK, is brought to a focus in the final stages of their course by the required completion of a detailed Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features design project. Many of the individual strands of the undergraduate course can be integrated and woven into this type of team-based activity. Arguably, we are quite effective at training chemical engineers to design plants for an intended activity. What often receives insufficient attention in undergraduate training is that the plant must also be designed to be adequately safe when unintended activities occur. 4.2. Designing for Both the Desired Reaction and for Worst Credible Maloperation: A formal approach, or several, for identifying hazards is required. HAZOP is one of the most successful and most commonly used. [9] In the context of chemical reactions, the first step is to realise that the reactions that take place are not always the desired ones. [10] Neither are they confined to taking place within reactors. Reactions in plant items such as evaporators, storage tanks, distillation columns or pipelines are not uncommon and may be induced by credible maloperations such as occurred at Bhopal and Castleford. [11,12] This means that the effects of credible maloperations such as contamination, recipe mistakes, temperature errors or mixing problems must be investigated and understood so as to reveal the transient conditions and variable ranges for which the process design must remain safe. Thus, for instance, a reactor pressure relief system cannot be specified until the maloperation that leads to its emergency use has been fully characterised. [13] 5. Some Guideline Rules 5.1. Heat Transfer Duties: Well established methods exist for estimating reaction enthalpies. [14] Good reaction calorimetry experiments allow this system characteristic to be measured directly. They also allow the rate of heat evolution (ie, power output) to be determined as a function of time. Enshrined in such a power versus time, curves are the kinetics of all the reactions taking place. Unravelling such information can be difficult, particularly for multiple reactions, and in this context an in-situ FTIR probe can generate very useful concentration/time data. This in turn permits improved modelling of the global reaction kinetics, and specification of plant scale cooling requirements. 46 • May 2014
5.2. The Influence of Mixing on Reaction Rates: As noted in reference 1, the problem of mixing of fluids during reaction is important for multiple reactions, fast reactions in homogeneous systems and for all heterogeneous systems. The mixing that occurs on the molecular level is called micromixing whereas the large scale eddies, turbulence and swirls that deliver material from point to point within the reactor are the result of the macromixing. For single-phase systems some of the most important situations in which mixing may influence reaction rates are: Ć Situations in which several competing reactions are present and dependent to a different extent on the concentrations of the individual species present. Ć Situations in which the time scale on which the reactions occur can be fast relative to the timescales on which mixing is complete. Some guideline rules are given by Sharratt in reference 15 and can be summerised as follows: Ć Where the reaction rate is low there should be no influence of mixing on reaction rate. When scaling up ensure that the macromixing time is less than the reaction time. Ć With fast reactions, there may be a local concentration excess of one reactant due to macromixing being slower than reaction. On scale-up aim for a constant macromixing time. For geometrically similar systems, this means using the same impeller tip speed. Ć For very fast reactions, there may be a local concentration excess of one reactant due to micromixing limitations. On scale-up aim for a constant micromixing time. This means using the same mixing power per unit reactor volume. The dimensionless reaction number is given by tkCAon*\ where t is a reactor characteristic time (mean residence time for a continuous flow system or holding time in a batch reactor), k is the Arrhenius rate coefficient, CAo is the initial (or inlet) concentration of the limiting reaction species and n is the reaction order. This useful group is a ratio of characteristic
reactor time to characteristic reaction time: as a general rule, irrespective of the reactor type (ie, mixing pattern) a larger value of UCCAO‰ Â will result in a higher feed conversion, see chapter 5 of reference 1. Conversely a lower value will mean smaller conversions. These and many other aspects of batch and semi-batch reactor design are discussed in references 1 and 16. 5.3. Multiphase Systems: If a reaction requires the presence of more than one phase to proceed at the rate that it does occur at, then it is heterogeneous. Heterogeneous systems require reacting species to be delivered either between phases or to or from surface interfaces (solid-liquid, solid-gas or liquid-liquid). The limiting step in the mechanism for such delivery is usually rate of mass transfer or diffusion, so reaction rates in these circumstances will often be functions of coefficients for these transport processes. These have to be calculated from correlations, that are usually expressed in terms of dimensionless groups and that relate to the specific type of system being used (eg, slurry reactor, bubble column, trickle bed reactor, etc.) The scale-up of these types of reacting system is considerably more difficult than for homogeneous systems and still requires the use of one or more stages of pilot plant development. Systems, in which the reaction rate is controlled by transport processes, rather than intrinsic chemical kinetics, will usually display much lower activation energy. 5.4. The Residence Time Distribution: In continuous flow systems material passing through the system does so with a range of characteristic residence times: this is called the Residence Time Distribution, or RTD, see 7 block 5 of Figure 1. This can be measured using inert flow mixing tracer techniques. In the case of single, first order reactions, the form of the residence time distribution is sufficient to define uniquely the conversion that will be attained. For more complex reactions additional information is required and this can be difficult to extract, see chapter 5 of reference 16 for instance. Not only is the Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features Forward Focus
Reducing the Carbon Footprint through New Chemistries Greenhouse gas emissions can only be limited if energy is used more efficiently than it has been to date. Home heating, air conditioning and hot water account for the lion’s share of private energy consumption. This is unlikely to change in the near future, since nobody wants to make do without hot water and comfortable living, nor should they have to. Nevertheless, there are ways to reduce domestic energy demand. In recent years, the construction and chemical industries have developed innovative technologies and products that contribute significantly to increased energy efficiency and to an improved carbon footprint.
Raman Trikala MD, Wacker Chemie India Pvt Ltd
Innovative nno chemicals can also help to reduce CO2 emissions in manufacturing processes of the construction industry. An example is the production of clay bricks, in which the density, and thus the quality, is specifically governed by the firing temperature. Lowering the firing temperature can save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ons
50 • May 2014
O
ne of the most reliable methods of preventing energy losses in buildings is using External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS). The better a building is insulated, the less energy is needed to create a permanently comfortable interior climate ă regardless of whether the building needs to be heated or cooled. ETICS reduce temperature differences between indoor air and wall surfaces, thus significantly improving the comfort level inside. Independent studies, calculating the long-term effect of an ETICS in a typical one-family or duplex house with 24-cm walls, found that over a period of 40 years, the annual energy consumption can be slashed from roughly 24,200 kWh to 9,600 kWh. Seen over the entire period, this translates into a saving of about 65,000 liters of crude oil and reduces the carbon footprint of a residential home significantly. Originally, ETICS were used to reduce heating costs in the cooler regions of Europe. However, they are also becoming increasingly popular in warmer regions, as a facade covered with an ETICS
also wards off heat very efficiently. Applied to the outside of a building, the insulation prevents unnecessary heating of exterior walls during the hottest days of summer. In addition, ETICS reduce temperature differences between the indoor air and the wall surfaces, thereby greatly improving the comfort level inside. Insulation systems can be incorporated in the design of new buildings right from the start, but they can also be applied to buildings under renovation. ETICS consist of a multi-layered material composite, the various components of which each perform a different task. The most important thing is that the different layers bond well to one another and to the substrate. Mineral-based mortars by themselves donÊt actually adhere to modern insulation materials like polystyrene at all. A firm bond to the insulating material, resulting in a permanently stable insulation system, can be achieved only by adding specialised dispersible polymer powders such as VINNAPAS. Just two to three per cent of VINNAPAS in the mortar Chemical Engineering World
Features CEW is sufficient for creating a durable and stable bond between the polystyrene board and the adhesive respectively embedding mortar. This, by the way, is true for improved adhesion to all substrates, be they concrete, brickwork or wood. External thermal insulation composite systems are therefore ideal for anyone looking for sustainable energy savings. Interior insulation measures play an increasingly important role in reducing carbon footprints as well. Even for insulation materials conventionally in use indoors, innovative technology can improve energy savings still further. For instance, rendering insulation materials such as aerated concrete or mineral wool water-repellent (hydrophobic) saves heating as well as air-conditioning costs. Since damp construction materials insulate far less efficiently, such a measure alone can save a lot of energy and money. The insulating capacity of such materials decreases enormously with moisture. Tests show that a moisture content of five per cent in a plain brick wall, for example, can lower insulation performance by up to 50 per cent. One single square meter of uninsulated damp brickwork leads to twelve extra liters of home heating oil consumed each year. This is caused by the significantly higher thermal conductivity of damp materials. Dry insulation materials have a vast number of air-filled cavities reducing the exchange of heat to a minimum. But if moisture collects in the pores of the material, a lot more heat is transferred than would be possible if the cavities were filled with air. Whereas thermal conductivity in mineral-based construction materials such as aerated concrete increases directly in proportion with the water content, thermal conductivity in mineral wool is already increased by very little moisture. On construction sites, insulation materials are often left unprotected and exposed to moisture. Left untreated, perlite or mineral wool can absorb large amounts of moisture, in some cases up to nine times their own weight. Such water reservoirs in the wall will later lead to mold formation and salt efflorescence in the home, and even to frost cracks in extreme cases. To prevent this, many manufacturers choose to make their insulation materials water-repellent. In this way, the glass wool retains its insulating capacity even if it is not stored properly in a dry place prior to use. In addition, water vapor can get out, but liquid water cannot penetrate indoors. Experts at Wacker have developed a range of specialized silicone emulsions, sold under the name SILRES BS, to make insulation materials hydrophobic. These emulsions are free of solvents and can be diluted with water; they align with the surface layer and make it water-repellent. When treated with water-repellent additives from Wacker, these insulation materials help save energy. They contribute to a reduction in CO 2 emissions and provide a more comfortable indoor climate. In addition, they contribute to a more sustainable use of construction materials as regards longevity and durability. For us, sustainability also means enabling effective protection against improper treatment. Chemical Engineering World
In a recent report titled as “Low Carbon Strategies for Inclusive Growth,” a group of experts of Planning Commission has suggested to invest USD 834 BILLION in nearly two decades to reduce country’s carbon footprint. The report, which has been prepared under the guidance of former member of the Planning Commission (Energy) Kirit Parikh, stressed on the need to use renewable energy in a big way. The report states that at least one third of power generation by 2030 must be fossil-fuel free. Innovative chemicals can also help reduce CO 2 emissions in manufacturing processes of the construction industry. An example is the production of clay bricks, in which the density, and thus the quality, is specifically governed by the firing temperature. Lowering the firing temperature can save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is of particular interest for the largest brick market in the world: India. Most of the manufacturing facilities do not have energy-efficient high-tech furnaces. Energy savings can be achieved if the bricks are sprayed with a mixture of water and silicones before the bricks are fired. Using the right kind of tile adhesive is another example. In most Asian countries, tiles are usually laid in an unmodified mortar bed which is at least 15 to 30 mm thick in order to obtain sufficient adhesion to the wall. Although quite common, the thick bed technique has drawbacks: it is difficult to handle, it is fault-prone and it consumes a considerable amount of mortar. Therefore, chemical companies like Wacker developed dispersible polymer powders which improve the adhesion and flexibility of the mortar significantly. These dry-mix mortars are usually pre-packed and ready-to-use. All you have to do is mix it with water on site. The polymeric binder which is an integral part of the mixture allows you to reduce the thickness of the mortar layer down to 2-4 mm ă which saves up to 15 per cent material. Dry-mix mortars also simplify transport and storage, which in turn helps to reduce the carbon dioxide footprint during construction work. Altogether, modern construction chemicals can contribute decisively to a more cost-effective, ÂgreenerÊ energy balance for buildings, and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions effectively. May 2014 • 51
CEW Features form of the residence time distribution (which characterises the macromixing) required but also the manner in which it occurs (which characterises the micromixing). This can only be achieved by using multiple reacting tracer systems. 5.5. Crystallisation Processes and Ostwald Ripening: Where a solid phase is formed in a reaction process, there is usually a subsequent need for separation, often by filtration. Particle size distribution of the solids can vary with scale with the result that filtration times on the large scale are unacceptably long. If supersaturation during reaction can be developed in a controlled manner, and if both primary and secondary nucleation can also be controlled, then it may be possible to manipulate the size distribution of the solid phase. An alternative is to carry out some post reaction conditioning of the solid phase, and one way of achieving this is to repeatedly cycle the temperature of the reactor contents (solid and liquid); this is called Ostwald ripening. If correct conditions are chosen then in each temperature cycle some of the smaller solids can be dissolved during the heating stage and during subsequent cooling new solids can be persuaded to grow on nuclei of the existing solids. Several such cycles can produce dramatic improvements in processing times. In one instance three heating and cooling cycles between 45 Degree Celsius and 50 Degree Celsius reduced filtration time from 12 to 1.5 hours, washing time from 45 hours to less than 2 hours and drying time from 168 to 66 hours. [17] 5.6. KISS: The most important principle of all is to Keep It Simple, Stupid! (KISS). Always work with experiments, measurements, mathematical models and computer programmes that are suited to the task at hand. „Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler‰ is an oft quoted maxim. Evaluation of a large number of unknown parameters in a model may enable a good fit to be made to experimental data, but that does not imply that the model is necessarily of the correct form, or that the parameter values are realistic. A better approach is to determine as many parameters as possible by independent means and then to evaluate the final few by, for instance, non-linear regression. In this way greater confidence can be gained that parameter values have real physical meaning and fall in realistic ranges. Without this approach a multi-parameter fitting exercise may reduce to more than empirical curve fitting. 6. Conclusions Many processes that looked promising on the small scale in the laboratory have been consigned to the process development graveyard because they failed to meet performance expectations on the larger scale. Such failure is not random, or unlucky, but can be explained in terms of the interactions between mixing, kinetics and heat and mass transfer within the reactor. To understand these phenomena, and to predict performance in particular circumstances, requires detailed mathematical models. Such models, and the system parameters needed within them, can be generated using commonly available equipment and software. 52 • May 2014
References: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Levenspiel O, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Wiley, 1972 ASPEN software, see http://www.aspentec.com BATCHCAD software, see http://www.chempute.com/batchcad.htm Kletz T A, Plant Design for Safety, a User Friendly Approach, Taylor and Francis, 1991, ISBN 156 032 0680 5. Designing and Operating Safe Chemical Reaction Processes, HSE Books, 2000,HSGI43. ISBN0 7176 10519 6. Fisher H G, Ed, Emergency Relief System Design Using DIERS Technology, AIChE, 1992, ISBN 0 8169 0568 1 7. Davies L, Efficiency in Research, Development and Production: the Statistical Design and Analysis of Chemical Experiments, RSC, 1993, ISBN 0 85186 137 7 8. Design Ease software, see http://www.statease.com 9. Crawley F et al, HAZOP: Guide to Best Practice, IChemE, 2000, ISBN 0 85295 497 1 10. Lees F P, Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 2nd Edition, Butterworth Heinemann, 1996, ISBN 0 7506 1547 8. Appendix 3, Seveso 11. Lees F P, Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 2nd Edition, Butterworth Heinemann, 1996, ISBN 0 7506 1547 8. Appendix 3, Bhopal 12. The Fire at Hickson and Welch Ltd, HSE Books, 1994, ISBN 0 7176 0702X 13. Etchells J, Wilday J, Workbook for Chemical Reactor Relief System Sizing, HSE Books, 1998, CRR 136/1998, ISBN 0 7176 1389 5 14. CHETAH software, see http://www.normas.com/ASTM/BOOKS/ DS51C.html 15. Hoyle W, Ed, Pilot Plants and Scale-up of Chemical Processes, Batch Versus Continuous Processing, RSC, 1997, ISBN 0 85404 796 4. Section by Sharratt, P N, page 13 16. Sharratt P N, Ed, Handbook of Batch Process Design, Blackie Academic and Professional, 1997, ISBN 0 7514 0369 5 17. HEL application note number 98002.
AuthorsÊ Details Dr Daren Tee Consultancy Group Hazard Evaluation Laboratory Email: swaldram@helgroup.com AuthorÊs Details Dr Simon Waldram Consultancy Group Hazard Evaluation Laboratory Email: swaldram@helgroup.com Chemical Engineering World
CEW Features Technical Article
Who is Responsible for Thermal Design of Heat Exchanger? Heat Exchanger is one of the most crucial equipment in any plant, and its design is crucial for its performance. The article highlights why heat exchanger is different from other equipment, and illustrates some of the critical features during mechanical design, which may result in change in a shell & tube exchanger thermal design. The author was one of the winners in the Leadership Excellence awards for women (Women of Achievement) in the Oil & Gas sector by MEPEC 2013 in Bahrain.
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hen we ask ă „Who is responsible for the thermal design of the heat exchanger?‰ ă to professionals engaged in different operations in chemical industry, the responses vary as all of them ă be it an end user, an EPC contractor, a consultant or an equipment manufacturer ă may have different perspectives. Similarly, when a question arises if a process engineer or a mechanical engineers is best suited for the job, responses may vary again. Regardless of the responses, what matters the most is the performance of the equipment within the process unit and the fact that they deliver as per the intended design. Project Lifecycle To analyse this issue let us look at the various phases of a project lifecycle 1. Select phase: This is the initial phase where the process is selected based on an evaluation of the technologies available and the market requirements. 2. Define phase: In this phase generally a basic engineering or front-end engineering package is developed that defines the project, establishes the design requirements and standards. 3. Execute phase: This phase consists of a number of steps such as: a. Design: Where the detailed design of the plant including the equipment, piping, instrument, electrical, civil and structural is done b. Procure: Where tagged equipment/ instrument and bulks are procured. This involves identifying the vendors,
54 • May 2014
making requisitions, performing technical bid evaluations, managing vendor documentation, concession and deviations, delivery and quality c. Construct and Install: Where the action shifts to the actual site and equipment, instrumentation, electricals are installed and piping and civils are constructed as per intent of the design phase and mechanically accepted d. Commission: This involves preparing commissioning and handover procedures, witnessing factory acceptance tests, performing leak tests, functional tests of systems, powering up the plant and introducing the process fluids into the system. 4. Operate: This phase takes place after commissioning when the owner/ operator takes over the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the plant. When we analyse these phases (See the Lifecycle of Heat Transfer Equipment table on next page), it is obvious that the major controversies and differences of opinion would arise in the „execute‰ phase due to the large number of parties involved that have different priorities. However, if in the execution of the project, the basic interest ie, to have an efficient, safe and operable plant gets faded, the conflicts will escalate.
Why is Heat Exchanger Different from Other Equipment? There are a number of equipment within the plant like vessels, columns, pumps, compressors, where there is no disagreement regarding the responsibilities of the various parties. Vendor Specific: Pumps and compressors are vendor specific and the plant design contractor has very little to do with the actual design of the equipment. So once the major parameters are defined, like flow, head, seal requirements etc., the vendor takes over with his expertise. This is also true to a large extent with column and equipment internals, and also to vendor proprietary heat exchanger equipment like plate, spiral, brazed aluminium exchangers. In all the aforesaid equipment, the vendor, in addition to mechanical guarantee, assures the performance. Fabricated Equipment: The fabricated items like vessels and columns can be mechanically designed once the basic parameters like design conditions and size are defined. The vendor only provides mechanical guarantee. Heat Exchangers: For exchangers, however, there is disagreement as it falls
The fabricated items like vessels and columns can be mechanically designed once the basic parameters like design conditions and size are defined. The vendor only provides mechanical guarantee. Chemical Engineering World
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CEW Features
The Lifecycle of Heat Transfer Equipment Phase
Activities
Parties involved
Select
Ć Simple model of the exchanger within the simulation defining the functionality Ć Owner/operator Ć Some preliminary criteria like approach temperature, final product temperature Ć Licensor or conceptual design office used during modelling
Define
Ć Ć Ć Ć
Execute
Ć Complete thermal and mechanical design of the heat transfer equipment including the associated components like fans, controls Ć Analyses of varying operating conditions (summer/winter or SOR/EOR etc) Ć Compliance with all local and international codes Ć Fabrication, testing and erection of the heat exchanger
Operate
Ć Review exchanger performance, analyse for fouling, corrosion, etc Ć Owner/ Operator Ć Analyse performance for increased throughput, varying inputs etc during lifetime of plant
Types of exchangers (Shell & tube, air cooled, plate) decided Utilities condition fixed Energy analysis options studied Some preliminary design done to the extent required for cost estimation
between the above two options; some treat it like a fabricated piece of equipment, where the vendor is responsible only for the mechanical guarantee, whereas others require the vendor to provide thermal guarantee as well.
packages. This defines the hardware configuration of the exchanger.
Major Steps in Exchanger Design Process Data Sheet: The process data sheet specifies the duty requirement, fluid conditions and properties, fouling tendency, need for cleaning. Additional information like heating/cooling curve is provided in case of phase change within the exchanger.
This interaction between the mechanical design and the thermal design makes the exchanger design complex. (See the table below)
Thermal Design: During this stage, the exchanger is designed either manually or more often using specialised software
Mechanical Design: In this stage, the mechanical design of the various parts within the exchanger is defined.
Project Considerations Let us look at a case, where a new project is being executed by an EPC contractor for a client. The process data is supplied as part of the tender documents prepared by the FEED
Some of the Critical Features During Mechanical Design, Which May Result in Change in a Shell & Tube Exchanger Thermal Design 1
Tube sheet thickness
Affects the effective tube length and hence the heat transfer area
2
Sealing strips location
Affects bypass streams, hence heat transfer coefficient
3
Nozzle location
Affects inlet/outlet baffle location, and can impact heat transfer
4
Location of U bend Affects heat transfer area in the U bend region, and can support affect acoustic vibration
5
Tie rods
May affect number of tubes that can be fitted within bundle
6
Clearances
May affect number of tubes that can be fitted within bundle, impacts heat transfer coefficients and vibration
7
Baffle spacing
Affects heat transfer coefficients, may impact vibration
56 • May 2014
Ć Owner/operator Ć FEED contractor
Ć Ć Ć Ć Ć Ć
Owner/ Operator PMC (if applicable) EPC contractor Thermal design specialists (if applicable) Vendor / Fabricator 3 rd party inspection
contractor and given to the EPC contractor. The EPC contractor verifies the process data and has a number of options available. a) It can send the process data sheet to a manufacturer/fabricator and ask for a total design including thermal and mechanical b) If it has in-house capability, he can get the thermal design done in-house. This document is then sent to the manufacturer/fabricator. c) If the EPC contractor does not have in-house capability or availability of resources, it engages a thermal design specialist or agency to carry out the thermal design. This document is then sent to the manufacturer / fabricator. Generally major EPC organisations adopt option b or c, due to a number of reasons. Consider a project with 10 exchangers; if the enquiries are sent to 5 vendors, it is theoretically possible to come up with 50 different designs. During the vendor evaluation, the EPC contractor faces a challenge of bringing the various vendors at par for price comparison. The price will include not only the equipment in itself but also all the associated costs like foundation, instrumentation, intermediate piping etc. Additionally, there is always a schedule constraint. In the absence of a design, further downstream activities like piping, layout, civil and structural cannot be Chemical Engineering World
Chemical Engineering World
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October 2013 â&#x20AC;˘ 11
29-10-2013 10:51:19
CEW Features finalised and will need to wait for the vendor selection which may be months away. To overcome these, a middle path is chosen as in options b & c. Here a preferred configuration is provided to the vendors by the EPC contractor. This is the base design and the vendor is expected to either endorse the design or redesign if he considers the design unsuitable to deliver the required performance. This effectively simplifies the bid evaluation process and also enables the downstream activities to proceed without waiting for the final vendor selection and design. Changes from vendorÊs side are expected to be minor and not lead to major rework in the downstream activities. Managing Uncertainties In addition to the project consideration, another question is of ÂuncertaintyÊ in the input; this uncertainty is managed generally through the addition of a Âmargin.Ê The issue is - who is responsible for the margin? The EPC contractor (maybe in-line with the contract, or in order to cover his own risks) may add a flow margin or duty margin of 10 per cent. Also, in the case of an air cooler, he may specify maximum potential air temperature of say 55 degree celsius. Fouling is another factor, which may or may not eventually occur. But this data is crucial and defines the ÂrequirementsÊ to the vendor. That is the input for which the vendor is required to guarantee a thermal performance. The vendor in order to guarantee performance may add more margins to ensure that it can achieve the performance guarantee, since vendorÊs information is limited to what is requested via the data sheet. When the plant starts up, the flows are low, the temperature is normal, the tubes
are clean, etc. and the performance test is satisfied, even though the actual design requirements are not seen or experienced. Hence the exchanger is not tested for the actual performance it was supposed to guarantee. The vendors are also aware of this fact and know that the order is awarded to the lowest cost provider who is willing to take the most risk in terms of margins, ie, lowest margins. Pitfalls The dilution of thermal design activities makes vendors think that they are not responsible for it. As we have seen earlier, the close interaction between thermal and mechanical design does not allow for this interpretation. Another area of concern is that the EPC contractor is tempted to go to a fabricator who has little or no thermal design capability. At a later stage, there are disputes since the fabricated exchanger may be inadequate for the required performance due to the impact of the mechanical design factors on the thermal performance. In such a scenario, the question for thermal guarantee becomes more pronounced. What is the Way Forward? In my opinion, the client needs to monitor the FEED closely to ensure that the ÂmarginsÊ in terms of overdesign and fouling factors are adequately specified based on their past experience and/ or licensor inputs. This sets the base design which is further validated by the EPC contractor.
It is essential that the fabricator invests and develops an in-house thermal group or engages services of a good thermal design engineer and involves him or her during periodic reviews. In the event of performance failure, the liability of the EPC contractor is higher than the vendorÊs. Therefore it is in the interest of the EPC contractor and the owner to do their own checks, have regular audits and inspections during the engineering and fabrication phases to ensure thermal performance is achieved with the design.
The fabricator needs to stand guarantee for the thermal performance of the exchanger since it is responsible for the mechanical design, fabrication to the required tolerances, and the quality of the final product.
The fabricator needs to stand guarantee for the thermal performance of the exchanger since it is responsible for the mechanical design, fabrication to the required tolerances, and the quality of the final product. 58 • May 2014
The fabricator needs to improve its capability in the thermal design area to ensure it understands the implication of the mechanical design on the thermal performance and hence takes the required corrective action at the early design stage. In the present scenario, there are limited fabricators which have this expertise. The thermal engineers and mechanical designers need to work very closely and talk frequently when collaborating on design projects. If the mechanical engineer needs to alter anything or modify the design to suit mechanical design requirements, it is imperative that the thermal design engineer is updated about it immediately. The enabling factor has been the continued improvement in the availability of specialised software. Thermal design software like HTRI, HTFS are becoming more user friendly and the results becoming easier to analyse with a number of graphical outputs that simplify the task of the user. Quick analysis of the impact of various changes on the thermal performance is easily possible.
AuthorÊs Details Lakshmi Venkatesh Dy GM - Process Petrofac Engineering India (Pvt) Ltd Email: lakshmi.venkatesh@petrofac.com Chemical Engineering World
CEW Market Insights
Amines Market to Grow $17,363.1 Million by 2018 at CAGR of 7.5% Ć BASF to set up a world-scale specialty amines production plant in China Ć Balaji Amines reported a net profit increase of 59.47 per cent
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he amines market is expected to reach USD 17,363.1 million by 2018 at a strong compound annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent for the period 2013-2018 as compared to USD 10,258.0 million in 2012, a recent report - "Amines Market by Type (Ethanolamines, Alkylamines, Fatty Amines, Specialty Amines And Ethylene Amines), by Application (Agricultural Chemicals, Cleaning Products, Gas Treatment, Personal Care Industry, Petroleum, Water Treatment & Others) & Geography - Trends and Forecasts to 2018" ă stated. A number of industries like pesticides, agricultural chemicals, solvents, gas treatment, personal care, detergents and fabric softeners, paper chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber processing and textile make substantial use of amines. A careful overview shows that applications in the petroleum and agricultural chemicals as well as personal care industry account for a large share of the entire demand for amines. The report by MarketsandMarkets states that by 2018, from the perspective of market volume, the amines market is estimated to touch 5,581.6 kilo tonnes at a steady CAGR of 5.2 per cent. The amines market along with its end products has seen a sizable growth globally and would continue to grow in the following years. The global amines market will grow mainly because of some of the chief demand drivers like existing market expansions and creation of new ones, innovation in the techniques as well as development of novel applications like wood preservation, glyphosate herbicides, detergents, etc. Among all the amines types, ethanolamines have the biggest volume share. Due to the boost in the personal care sector which accounts for almost 17 per cent of the demand, fatty amines may see a quick growth. Another type of amines that is experiencing substantial growth is gas treatment amines; this is because of the numerous applications working on gas globally. These products have the largest consumption in the Asia-Pacific market at present. Although the market volume in Europe would be low in comparison, the CAGR of the region would most likely be steady between 2013 and 2018. With regards to strategic initiatives, the Asia-Pacific and ROW markets are very active as a result of the mature as well as emerging market demands. If all the countries in the region are taken into account, India and China would come out as the leaders in the amines market. Cumulatively, by 2018, these two countries are estimated to make up for the largest share in the Asia-Pacific regional volumetric consumption. The accelerated growth in the amines market is also due to the increasing population.
60 • May 2014
China, India, Japan, Russia & Brazil would continue to see good growth prospects in future The rising demand for amines in the Asia-Pacific market has spurred BASF, an international chemical company to set up a world-scale specialty amines production plant. Its plant would be built at its wholly-owned site in ChinaÊs Nanjing Chemical Industry Park and would focus on Polyetheramines (PEA) and Dimethylaminopropylamine (DMAPA) as their main products. The plant is estimated to go on stream in the latter part of 2015. According to Sanjeev Gandhi, President, BASF Intermediates division, „BASF is a leading supplier of DMAPA and PEA globally, and this investment reflects our continued commitment to meeting the growing market demand in Asia Pacific. Our ability to produce these products within the region will strengthen our supply reliability and better serve our customers with shorter lead times.‰ Dr Guido Voit, Senior VP, BASF Intermediates, Asia-Pacific, is of the opinion that growing consumption of personal care products due to the rising middle class and development taking place in the construction, wind energy and coatings in the AsiaPacific region has driven this investment. In India, Alkyl Amines Chemicals Ltd and Balaji Amines Ltd are the leading amines manufacturers. Just recently, Balaji Amines reported an increase in the net profit by 59.47 per cent to reach ` 9.09 crore when Q4 ended in March 2014. The net profit reported in the previous quarter stood at ` 5.70 crore. In comparison with the ` 141.48 crore sales of the previous quarter, there was an increase of 21.22 per cent to ` 171.50 crore in March 2014. In FY 2013-14, the net profit reported was ` 33.53 which was a rise of 7.54 per cent for the entire year; in FY 2012-13, the net profit stood at ` 31.18 crore. Also, the sales increased by 19.21 percent in FY 2013-14 to ` 610.13 crore which is much higher than the previous yearÊs ` 511.80 crore. The report states that China, India, Japan, Russia and Brazil would continue to see good growth prospects in the future.
- Girija Dalvi Chemical Engineering World
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“We Plan to Capture the Market with Engineered and State-of-the-art Products” Gardner Denver in the past 150 years has grown by acquiring the strategic companies. We are open to right M&A which complement our business or can help us improve our service to the customer by providing right products and services, says Abid Ahmed , General Manager ă India, Gardner Denver. Please apprise us of companyÊs performance in India over the years. The company has been reported to target over ` 800-crore sales turnover over the next three years. Will you please share some more insights into this development? Gardner Denver, Inc. is a leading global manufacturer of highly engineered compressors, blowers, pumps and other fluid transfer equipment. Our products and engineered solutions are sold through multi-channel, worldwide distribution systems and are used for applications in virtually every market sector, including industrial manufacturing, transportation, environmental processes, healthcare applications, and energy production. We have been playing in the Indian market initially via our distributor and in the last 2 years with our own sales office. We have steadily been able to make an inroad into the Indian market. Our Energy business has generated revenue worth ` 40 crore last year and IPG has generated revenue worth ` 15 crore in India. Indian market for air and gas compressors, blowers, and vacuum pump is estimated to be ` 6000 crore and growing at a rapid speed with industrialisation. We plan to capture this market with our engineered and state-of-the-art products in the next couple of year. With the unmatched breadth of products, strong sales & service team coupled with our local manufacturing, will help us achieve the 800-cr target which we have set for ourselves. Local plants will not only allow us to manufacture product at competitive price but also improve deliveries to our customers. How will the new manufacturing facilities help the organisation boost its business in India? The new local manufacturing facilities not only allow us to manufacture products at competitive prices but also will help us improve the deliveries to our esteemed customers. The availability of good suppliers in India for our 62 • May 2014
type of component will help us quickly localise our products. We have already developed a network of more than 100 suppliers to meet the demand for our products. Thus we are not only creating jobs in our plant but also at our partner suppliers. We also see that this facility will be able to support global business with competitive products being shipped out of Indian plants. Gardner Denver is looking at India as one of our key strategic manufacturing location for global supply. I would like to mention, Gardner Denver takes pride in the fact that product shipped out of any facility meets global standard and by following our Gardner Denver way we ensure that the product quality of each plants is same. This manufacturing facility will also help us develop our engineering capabilities, which in turn will ensure that our provided products are more suited for Indian application and environments. Which industries do you think can be crucial for the growth of Gardner & Denver? How significant is developing chemical and petrochemical industry for the company? As mentioned earlier, we play in most of the industries. Gardner Denver plays in Power, Chemical Industry, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceutical, Automobile, Mining, Transportation, Medical, Paper, Marine, Food and Beverage to name a few. We have broad range of products for each application. We are the leaders in providing specialised standard products and customised solution for air and gas application in both chemical and petrochemical industries. We see that with our specialised vacuum system, blowers and compressors we will play a significant role in the growth of Indian Chemical and Petrochemical sectors. Our products not only meet the needs of these two sectors as they are specially designed to work in tough environment but customers will also be benefited because our
products are energy efficient as well as very reliable. Post-election most of the industries will see a major growth, as people have been waiting for the right environment. What are your plans for future? At this moment our plan is to aggressively grow Gardner Denver India business by providing right solutions and services to the Indian customers. Our management is optimistic on India market, which can be seen from the fact that we have put two plants in Ahmedabad and Pune. In our view, Indian Compressor, blower and vacuum market is today looking for an alternate global player which can provide them with optimal solution for their needs. Gardner Denver is globally recognised for its engineered products with a world class service. We are confident that Indian customer will feel the difference of our products and services. From our sales to our customer service, we ensure we provide solutions which are best suited for particular need. We take pride in being the expert in handling air and gas need of the customer by providing the most optimal solution to them globally. This will be the corner stone for our growth and we look forward to serving our customers.
Gardner Denver Engineered Products India Pvt. Ltd. Block No. 878, Opposite: Gallops Industrial Park, Sarkhej - Bavla Road, Rajoda - Bavla, Ahmedabad - 382220, Gujarat, India Phone: (+91)-2714-619300 Fax: (+91)-2714-619329 Mobile: (+91) 9724793997 Web: www.gardnerdenver.com E-Mail:krutesh.shah@gardnerdenver.com Chemical Engineering World
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Brilliant Technology, Italian Quality Where the others are stopped...the vacuum pump Saurus939 by Italvacuum continues! Low maintenance LubriZero ÂŽ piston vacuum pump designed and manufactured for continuous operation in demanding applications.
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hanks to its simple and traditional design, together with innovative solutions, as the new LubriZero ÂŽ system - that consists of new materials in PTFE with special charges that, besides being resistant to corrosion, practically do not require any lubrication, also allowing the use of synthetic FDA approved oils - the versatile piston vacuum pump Saurus939 confirms its ability to give incomparable performances in all chemical and pharmaceutical processes: such as drying, distillation, reaction and crystallization, ensuring a complete recovery of the extracted solvents, also under continuous and severe operation conditions, with an unchanged efficiency over time. In case of common solvents (Methylic Alcohol, Ethylic Alcohol, Chloroform, Acetone, Ethyl Acetate, Methyl Chloride, Benzene, Toluene, Isopropylic Alcohol, Ethyl Ether, Heptane) and even the most aggressive ones (Hydrochloric Acid, Acetic Acid, Chlorobenzene, Dimethylformamide, Acrylonitrile, Dichloroethane, Cyclohexane, Pyridine, Dimethyl Sulfoxide, Dichloromethane), Saurus939 guarantees: Ä&#x2020; Absolute safety for the operators and the environment Ä&#x2020; Complete separation between process side and mechanical side Ä&#x2020; High resistance against corrosion Ä&#x2020; High endurance against powders, condensate solvents and secondary products of distillation Ä&#x2020; Use without limits in all vacuum range Ä&#x2020; Low operation speed (250 rpm) Ä&#x2020; Low working temperature Ä&#x2020; Installation in dangerous environment Ä&#x2020; Long life and absolute reliability Ä&#x2020; Operational costs lower than other vacuum technologies Ä&#x2020; Simple and cheap maintenance 64 â&#x20AC;˘ May 2014
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Uncontaminated vacuum Not only incomparable performances with meaningless oil consumption and an absolute reliability over time, even with severe operative conditions. A recent analysis of the Material Science and Chemical Engineering Department by TurinĂ&#x160;s Polytechnic also certifies the purity of the product produced using the vacuum pump Saurus939 in the drying process. ATEX certification until zone 0 Saurus939 also complies to ATEX norms. Ä&#x2020; In its standard model, CE ex II 2 G T4, it is suitable for an area classified as Zone 1 Gas and Temperature Class T4 (1350C). Ä&#x2020; In special models the vacuum pump is suitable for zone '0' internal-gas, zone '1' external-gas with three different classes of temperature T4 (135 0C)/ T 150 0C/T3 (200 0C), depending on operation conditions. (www.italvacuum. com)
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Sandvik Hyper Duplex Tubes- SAF 2707 HD Sandvik SAF 2707 HD® is a high alloy duplex (austenitic ferritic) stainless steel for service in highly corrosive conditions. It is particularly suited to aggressive acidic, chloride containing environments. The following technical article focusses on Grade characteristics, Application in Refineries and hot tropical sea waters, and Application in Organic acids. 1. Grade Characteristics: It include Excellent resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion, Excellent resistance to stress corrosion cracking in chloride bearing environments, High resistance to general corrosion, Very high mechanical strengths, Physical properties that offer design advantages and Good weldability. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION (NOMINAL%) C (Max)
Si
0.030
0.3 1.0
Mn P (Max.) 0.035
S (Max.)
Cr Ni
0.010
27 6.5 4.8
Mo Others N = 0.4 Co = 1.0
Steel Standard: UNS 32707 Seamless tube and pipe: ASTM A789 Sandvik SAF 2707 HD (UNS S32707) has a well-balanced composition, with approximately 50% ferrite and 50% austenite and is designed for use in acidic chloride containing environments. The combination of chromium, nitrogen and molybdenum increases resistance to localized corrosion, ie, pitting and crevice corrosion. In duplex materials, it is important that the individual PRE numbers of the two phases, austenite and ferrite are similar, in order to prevent the initiation of corrosion attack in the weaker phase. In Sandvik SAF 2707 HD, the nominal PRE number is 49, where PRE=%Cr + 3.3%Mo + 16%N (% by weight). It is also characterised with high hardness that can allow it to be used in case there is also an observed phenomenon of erosion corrosion. Pitting and Crevice Corrosion: One of the most severe pitting corrosion tests, applied to stainless steels, is ASTM G48 ie, exposure to 6% FeCl3. In a modified version of the ASTM G48A test, the sample is exposed for periods of 24 hours. When pits are detected, together with a substantial weight loss (>5 mg), the test is interrupted. Otherwise, the temperature is increased by 50C (90F) and the test continued with the same sample.
Figure 1: Showing critical pitting temperature measured in modified G48A and ‘Green death’. Critical crevice corrosion temperature obtained in MTI-2 testing
66 • May 2014
The corrosion resistance of Sandvik SAF 2707 HD in oxidizing chloride solutions is illustrated by critical pitting temperature (CPT), determined in a „Green-Death‰ solution (1% FeCl3 + 1% CuCl2 +11% H 2SO 4 + 1.2% HCl). The crevice corrosion test was performed in 6% FeCl 3 with a crevice specified in the MTI-2 procedure, where an
artificial crevice is mounted on the sample with a torque of 0.28 Nm. The values obtained and a comparison with Sandvik SAF 2507 is given in Figure 1. All test results show significantly higher values for Sandvik SAF 2707 HD than for Sandvik SAF 2507. Stress Corrosion Cracking: Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is perhaps the most serious form of corrosion encountered in industrial processes as it can lead to rapid material failure. Standard austenitic grades can crack even at very low chloride levels. The risk of SCC can be eliminated with the use of more resistant materials, such as high nickel alloys or duplex stainless steels. While the austenitic steels in many cases become resistant at Ni levels above 25%, the duplex alloys will have the same or higher resistance at much lower alloying levels, due to the dual phase structure. The SCC resistance of Sandvik SAF 2707 HD in chloride solutions at high temperatures is illustrated in below figure. An autoclave SCC test, where the samples are loaded to the yield strength Rp0.2 level, was conducted. The pressure was approximately 100 bar and the oxygen content 8 ppm. Fresh NaCl solution was pumped constantly into the chamber and duration of the test was 1000h (6 weeks). Figure 2: SCC resistance in oxygen bearing (abt There were no signs of SCC 8ppm) neutral chloride solutions. Testing time 1000 hours. Applied stress equal to proof strength at testing up to 1000 ppm Cl- /3000C temperature. and 10000 ppm Cl- /2500C. Conclusion Sandvik SAF 2707 HD has excellent resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion in chloride containing environments, as well as to chloride induced stress corrosion cracking. Further, the mechanical properties of Sandvik SAF 2707 HD are high, and the high yield strength may give design and cost advantages compared to other high performance materials. The Weldability of Sandvik SAF 2707 HD is also good, and the excellent corrosion performance of Sandvik SAF 2707 HD has been verified in a number of process plant heat exchanger installations. 2. Application in Refineries and hot tropical sea waters Below information is based on study done at some refineries in India where sea water is used as a cooling media in heat exchanger on tube side and there is process media on shell side which needs to be cooled or condensed. According to Sandvik Materials Technology, 22% Cr duplex is not suitable for warm seawater applications, especially not if the seawater is chlorinated. The reason for this is that the chlorination increases the corrosion potential dramatically for the stainless steel and 22% Cr simply does not have good enough corrosion resistance. A better material choice is super duplex stainless steel, eg, Sandvik SAF 2507®, if the seawater temperature is ~400C and the equipment has reliable temperature control. If the seawater is warmer or if Chemical Engineering World
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Marketing Initiative the equipment is difficult to control, then Sandvik SAF 2707 HD® is recommended. The corrosion potential on tube side and shell side is evaluated individually. Shell side: When it comes to shell side, the main components are hydrocarbons and/ or hydrogen plus anticipated corrosive compounds like H2S and chlorides. The most likely phenomenon for hydrogen and H 2S service in low temperatures (the condensers and coolers where duplex is being used are operating at low temperatures) is HE and/ or HIC. In this regard, all duplex grades are good for hydrogen service and H2S in the refinery operations. The higher alloyed duplex like Sandvik SAF 2707 HD® performs better compared to low alloyed duplex. In a study done on ‰Hydrogen embrittlement of duplex in connection with cathodic protection in chloride solutions‰ which considers the dual impact of cathodic protection plus the presence of hydrogen the conclusion was that duplex steels perform well in said conditions until/ up to stress values corresponding to 90% of tensile strength. We also have results to show that duplex is the best alloy when it comes to ammonium bisulphide/ammonium chloride deposits getting formed. Tube side: Sea water Data from Arabian Sea water analysis done on 3 different days. pH
8.3
8.2
8.3
Total hardness
ppm as CaCO3 9194.6
9029.4
9122.3
Calcium hardness
ppm as CaCO3
2125.3
2215.3
2165.2
Total Alkalinity
ppm as CaCO3
279.3
264.1
274.5
21524.7
21632.1 21426.3
Phenolphthalein Alk. ppm Chloride
ppm as Cl
Total dissolved solids ppm
53256.6 53457.1 54124.1
Suspended Solids
ppm as NaNO2
675
712
698.2
Iron
ppm as Fe
nil
nil
nil
1.34
1.32
1.35
33.4
31.3
34.7
COC Turbidity
NTU
CCT should be used for material selection. Therefore super duplex Sandvik SAF 2507® can in some seawater applications be close to the corrosion limits off the material. Sandvik SAF 2707® has both CPT and CCT high enough to withstand chlorinated seawater also in the presence of crevices or deposits. 3. Application in Organic acids In general for organic acids, High Nickel alloys have been used as a material of construction especially in heat exchangers. Hyper duplex with much lower Nickel % are more cost effective compared to commonly used high nickel alloys in this industry and with corrosion resistance as good and sometime better than High Nickel alloys. Here we present the data from few studies. a) Tartaric acid: Below data is from recent trials conducted in a bulk drugs industry for Tartaric acid service where there was a reported failure of haste alloy. Service conditions Fluid on Shell Side: Steam with traces of Sulphuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid and Tartaric Acid; Fluid on tube Side: Tartaric Acid 35% to 65% solution in water (Initially it is dissolved after evaporation some solids are in suspended form), Sulphuric acid 6 to 7 %, HCl - around 100 ppm; Inlet and outlet temperatures: 70 to 850C, Tartaric Acid Concentration: 35% to 65% Corrosion rate in mm per year for SAF2707HD= 0.05566 mm per year based on test done. Test result show that, 2707HD is having very low corrosion rate in this solution and is a very good option to be used. b) Acetic and formic acid: Sandvik SAF 2707 HD is also corrosion resistant in certain conditions to organic acids like acetic acid and formic acid. (Ref Figure 3a & 3b below). As is seen from these graphs, the resistance to inorganic acids is comparable to, or even better than
Critical Pitting Temperature /Critical Crevice Temperature data of Sandvik SAF 2205/2507/2707 HD as per G48 test results Grade
CPT (oC)
CCT (oC)
SAF 2205
45
20
SAF 2507
75
50
SAF 2707HD
> 95
70
Conclusion Based on the hardness of the seawater (9194.6) we can say that there is a risk of carbonate precipitation at temperature levels of around 55600C. ASTM G48 testing can be used to predict temperature limits for stainless steel alloys in applications using chlorinated seawater. Normal duplex Sandvik SAF 2205® are therefore totally ruled out for sea water cooler/condensers. This has been proven by the fact that pitting corrosion has been seen in tubes at some refineries on normal duplex. In case of super duplex the CPT is well within the temperature limits of pitting but if there is a risk for carbonate precipitation the 68 • May 2014
Figure 3a: Isocorrosion diagram in naturally aerated acetic acid. The curve represents a corrosion rate of 0.1 mm/ year (4 mpy) in a stagnant test solution
Figure 3b: Isocorrosion diagram in naturally aerated formic acid. The curve represents a corrosion rate of 0.1 mm/ year (4 mpy) in a stagnant test solution
that of high alloy austenitic stainless steels in certain concentration ranges. The alloy is, therefore, a competitive alternative to high alloyed austenitic stainless steels and Ni-base alloys, in applications where standard austenitic stainless steels corrode at a high rate.
AuthorsÊ Details Karan Jain and Venkat Ramesh, Sandvik Materials Technology Email: karan.jain@sandvik.com; venkat.ramesh@sandvik.com Website: www.smt.sandvik.com Chemical Engineering World
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* Various Types of direct & gear driven Agitators, Agitators with mechanical seal & Gland packing. â&#x2014;? Modular design enables various mounting arrangements. (i.e. from open tank to closed tank.) â&#x2014;? High efďŹ ciency impellers designed for speciďŹ c process applications. â&#x2014;? EfďŹ cient Chemical duty Totally Enclosed (TEFC or Explosion Proof Motors and Air Motor. â&#x2014;? Variable output speed by Variable Frequency Drive. â&#x2014;? Power range from 0.06 HP to 100 HP & onwards. * Agitators with reaction vessels, Pressure vessels. Dosing systems & Pilot plants. * High speed dispersers, EmulsiďŹ ers with hydraulically or pneumatically operated lifting lowering arrangement. * Drum Hoop mixer for mixing homogenizing viscous liquids. * Static Mixers with standard & custom design. * Drum press-out for liquid ďŹ lling applications. E-2/4, Popular Prestige, Near Highway Bridge, Warje, Pune â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 411 058, Maharashtra, INDIA. Telefax: (020) 25294091, 25293397, Mobile : 94220 09479, 98222 79409 E-mail: ďŹ&#x201A;uidyme@vsnl.net Website: www.ďŹ&#x201A;uidymetechnologies.com
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OEM Components for Gas Monitoring & Control Solving your gas measurement challenges with innovative, easy-to-integrate OEM sub-systems and components with Swiss Made quality and precision
G
as monitoring and control plays an important role in making our environment cleaner and our lives safer. Many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMÊs) have specialized in providing systems for emission & environmental monitoring, analytical instrumentation and safety installations. Axetris provides innovative sub-systems and components to make these instruments better. We increase performance, reliability and cost effectiveness - or simply enable new applications for our OEM customers. Our product range includes ultra-compact, high-accuracy and fast response mass-flow meter and controller modules, rugged infrared light sources for advanced gas sensing applications in the mid-infrared, and highly selective laser gas detector modules based on tuneable diode laser spectrometry. Laser Gas Analyzer OEM Modules Laser gas detection, based on Tunable Diode Laser Spectrometry or TDLS, provides a solution to many challenges in environmental gas monitoring and process control. Axetris uses proprietary technology-enhanced TDLS for gas detection, where a 0.1 nm narrow bandwidth diode laser beam is scanned across an absorption band of the target gas, thus performing a high-resolution near-infrared absorption measurement. The technology is an innovative alternative to sub-optimal traditional detection technologies and offers unique advantages like precise optical, contact-less laser-based measurements, excellent target gas selectivity and ppm-level detectivity for gases such as CH4, NH3, H2O and CO2. The LGD is a perfect tool and cost effective solution for OEM integrators active in emission control and environmental monitoring and allows for simple integration due to its self-contained and stand-alone system design. It also offers hot-gas measurements up to 190ĈC, which is particularly important in de-NOx installations where selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is used to monitor environmentally harmful NH3 slip. The LGD covers further gas monitoring & detection applications in combustion control, 70 • May 2014
even when disturbance variables are present (for example pressure pulses). The unsurpassed high turn down ratio of 1:2Ê000 allows measuring and controlling a broad range of flows and gases with one single unit. The products are available for Air, N2, O2, Ar, CO2, He, H2 and for flow rates from 10 to 3Ê000 sccm (full scale, N2 equivalent).
“Axetris allows system integrators to access innovative laser gas detection technology”
leak detection, green-house gas monitoring (CH4), safety and many more. Mass Flow Meters & Controllers Stable and accurately controlled gas flows are vital for analytical instruments because they directly influence overall performance. Good examples are the carrier gas flow control in Gas Chromatographs (GC) and the inert or reactive gas control in Thermo-gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The need for high repeatability is a common requirement for most analytical instruments. Further demanding requirements from instrument manufacturers include: high turn down ratio, multi-gas capability (e.g. He, H2, N2 in one device), small size and fast control. Last but not least, minimum temperature drift as well as excellent long term stability is expected. AxetrisÊs modular range of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) based mass flow meters and controllers, exactly addresses these needs and are being integrated by an increasing number of major analytical instrument manufacturers. Ultra-compact match box-sized meter- and controller- modules, designed for system integration, as well as complete stand-alone mass flow meters and controllers are offered, whereas modular component design allows for simplified OEM product customization. All types are multi-gas and multi-range capable. Market-leading repeatability and fast reaction time of our in-house fabricated MEMS based sensing element allows for fast and precise gas flow control,
MEMS based IR sources for gas detection AxetrisÊs Infrared (IR) source is a preferred component for optical infrared analysers used in life saving medical instruments, automotive emission control devices and in demanding, safety-relevant applications in the oil & gas industry. Further applications include water analysis, breath alcohol testing and refrigerant monitoring. Integration into optical gas detection systems using NonDispersive Infrared Absorption (NDIR), photo acoustic (PAS) or attenuated total reflection (ATR) techniques allow the monitoring of gases such as CO2, CO, CH4, C2H4, NH3, H2S, SF6, NOx, SOx, CS2, VOCÊs, H2O, N2O and many others. The IR source is a MEMS Chip-based black body emitter with broadband emission (2 to 14øm), high mechanical stability, high emissivity, low power consumption and long lifetime (>10 years). The exceptional modulation speed of up to 100 Hz and high modulation depth is a result of the low thermal mass of the heated micromechanical ceramic membrane. Axetris offers a wide range of packaging options such as protective caps or reflectors combined with either sapphire or CaF2, BaF2 or Germanium windows. Custom beam shaping solutions and support from AxetrisÊs optical- and application engineering team enables system solutions, which are superior in terms of signal-to-noise, power efficiency and lifetime of the device.
Axetris AG Schwarzenbergstr. 10-12,6056 Kaegiswil, Switzerland T: +41 41 662 7474 E: sales@axetris.com W: www.axetris.com Chemical Engineering World
Products CEW Laboratory Refrigerators
Gas Generators
These refrigerators operate with stable temp and are developed for the consistent storage of samples. Refrigerators are equipped with external digital temp display and fully electronic temp control that ensures a correct set temp between +2 C to +8 C and are developed for the consistent storage of samples. The refrigerators have large control panel. Its large display provides an easy view of the current cabinet temp. You can view temp history with the illustrative graph chart that can be generated on the screen. Temperature data can also be downloaded with the USB data logging system. Mobility is, in addition, enhanced by the castors, which makes positioning and re-positioning effortless and is equipped with an ergonomic door handle for better grip and LED lighting for clear viewing of contents.
Cole-Parmer offers Parker BalstonÊs hydrogen gas generators. These generators are compact and reliable. Its unique display lighting, changes colour for easy status checks and water level indication. Its exclusive water management system and control circuitry maximize uptime.Parker BalstonÊs Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) cell eliminates the use of liquid electrolytes with hydrogen generators. The maintenance of the equipment requires only a few moments per year at no inconvenient and extended downtime. One have to simply change the filters every six months and the desiccant cartridge whenever it turns dark brown. De-ionized water is all that is required to generate hydrogen for weeks of continuous operation. With an output capacity of up to 510 cc/ minute, one generator can supply 99.9995% pure hydrogen for up to several FIDÊs. Based on cylinder gas savings alone, a Parker Balston hydrogen generator pays for itself in less than a year. All Parker Balston hydrogen generators meet NFPA requirements and OSHA 1910.103 regulations governing the storage of hydrogen.
For details contact: Cole-Parmer India 403-404, Delphi B, Hiranandani Business Park, Powai Mumbai 400 076 Tel: 022-67162253, 67162222 Fax: 91-022-67162211 E-mail: response@coleparmer.in / info@coleparmer.in
For details contact: Cole-Parmer India 403-404, Delphi - B, Hiranandani Business Park, Powai Mumbai 400 076 Tel: 022-67162253, 67162229, Fax: 91-022-67162211 E-mail: response@colepar mer.in / info@colepar mer.in
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Continuous Nitration System KEC specialises in stainless steel fabrication of pressure vessels including reactors, columns, condensers, heat exchangers and storage tanks. GMP and non-GMP equipment for chemical and pharma sectors are manufactured in accordance with international standards: ASME, TEMA, DIN and BS. KEC has ample expertise to manufacture various tailormade equipment for mixing of highly viscous materials, especially for paint industries, operating at high RMP. KEC have fabricated and delivered equipment under all the major third party inspection agencies like BVIS, TUV, SGS, Chempro Mott Macdonald, Joshi & Associates, etc. Nitration system operate continuously for 24x7. The entire set of equipment consist of 12 equipment (7 are for rotating equipment for mixing and 5 are separation vessels). All 12 equipment are interconnected and mounted on skid frame. For details contact: Kwality Process Equipments Pvt Ltd Plot No: 8, Laxmi Indl Estate Nandore Road, Opp: Vinod Cookware Palghar (E ), Dist: Thane Maharashtra 401 404 Tel: 02525-654248 | Fax: 91-0250-2457710 E-mail: pdmakwana@vsnl.net / padmakwana@chemicalequipments.com or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 3
Chemical Engineering World
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CEW Products Pneumatic Boiler Tube Cleaner The tubes and piping of boiler, heat exchangers and condensers must be kept clean in order to maintain 100 per cent production efficiency and to prevent damage to the boiler due to overheating. Being one of the pioneers in tube cleaning field, DBX tool has developed new pneumatic boiler and heat exchanger tube cleaner, which cleans tubes thoroughly by mechanical means. This air motor along with cutter or brush goes inside the tubes of vessels and cleans the tubes. This system consist of few moveable parts and easy to operate. It saves manpower and time for handling tube cleaning jobs, gives polished inner surface, can clean straight and bent tubes, even U-bents, of any length from tube ID 25 up to 150 mm. Air pressures required is 6 kg. For details contact: DH Boiler Exchangers Tools Pvt Ltd 3101 Bhandup Indl Estate, Pannalal Silk Mill Compound LBS Marg, Bhandup (W) Mumbai 400 078 Tel: 022-66711682, 25948419, 25948420 Fax: 91-022-25948419 E-mail: dh.boilertools@gmail.com / info@dbxtool.com or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 4
Kli-nit CT-2 Electrical Contact Cleaner
Furnace Oil Out-flow Heaters
Electrical cleaners are used to remove contaminants that could provide a path for tracking or arcing, and to remove grime that would cause overheating. These cleaners can also be used to advantage to clean stripped wires before joining terminals and so forth and are used by users in industries, power plants, defence, electricity boards, etc. Kli-nit CT-2 is non-oily and does not contain CTC.Kli-nit CT-2 cleaner is used to clean the cables of all greases, oily stains, insulation burrs and foreign particles. Kli-nit CT-2 evaporates within 20 seconds, making the joint ready for casting. The easy to use aerosol is especially useful in ducts and manholes, where there is limited space. CT-2 cleans faulty electrical contacts in relays, thermostats, pyrometers, motors and tarters, contactors, drum controllers, spark plugs, points, battery terminals, radio, TV, switches, etc. Kli-nit contact cleaner is now available, besides standard 350 mL packaging, also in 200 mL handy and convenient packaging. This is particularly useful for hard-to-reach places.
Vacunair Engg Co Pvt Ltd offers furnace oil out-flow heaters in the capacity range from 1-kW to 200-kW and oil flow 10 to 3,000 LPH. Furnace oil has viscosity of 1,500 sec redwood No: 1 at 100 o F. With a fall in temperature, this viscosity goes fur ther up making oil to flow extremely difficult.
For details contact: Kappa Sigma Corpn 104 Shiv Indl Estate, Mumbai 400 012 Tel: 022-237 12345 E-mail: sales@kli-nit.com or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 5
72 • May 2014
To meet this demand, outflow heaters have been designed. These heaters are installed at little above the tank bottom. The beauty of the heater is that it does not heat entire tank filled with oil, it only heats the oil that flows through the heater thus cutting down the kilowatt rating, which otherwise may require to heat entire oil tank. Installation is easy and safe. For details contact: Vacunair Engineering Co Pvt Ltd Nr Gujarat Bottling, Rakhial Ahmedabad, Gujarat 380 023 Tel: 079-22910771 Fax: 91-079-22910770 E-mail: info@vacunair.com or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 6
Chemical Engineering World
Products CEW Hot Water Generator Aero Therm offers custom-built units for higher temperature and heat output rating fitted with fully automatic oil/gas burners. Fuel consumption is based on NCV of 10,200-kcal per kg for LDO; 9,650-kcal per kg for FO; and 8,400-kcal per m 3 for natural gas. Features coil from seamless ASTHMA 106 GR-B pipes; independent drive for fuel pump 1,440 RPM; no scale formation; outside the purview of IBR; etc. For details contact: Aero Therm Systems Pvt Ltd Plot No: 1517, Phase III, GIDC Vatva, Ahmedabad Gujarat 382 445 Tel: 079-25890158, 25834987 Fax: 91-079-25834987 E-mail: contact@aerothermsystems.com or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 7
Digital Moisture Meter The moisture content is determined by measuring the electrical conductive of the material, which always is proportional to the content of the moisture. R S Electronics offer different types of moisture meter suits to different application such as wood/Timber paper, Board, packing material, yarn bobbins, fabric rolls, cotton bales, fibre flocks, wool, rayon, linen, nylon, acrylic, polyester, etc. This instrument is designed with microprocessor-based control circuit, which will give good accuracy and longer life. R S Electronics can provide separate pin type moisture probe for different material to measure the moisture contents. The unit is having data hold, records max and min reading function, measure up to 30 per cent moisture contents and built in RS-232 computer interface. 0-100 per cent scaling is also possible for some of their instruments. The portable battery operated instrument can be handled easily and reading can be seen in big LCD display. For details contact: R S Electronics 15/1 A2, Plot: III, Lakshminagar Ramamoorthy Street, Moondramkattlai, Chennai 600 128 E-mail: rselectronics75@ymail.com / ramakrishnan25@hotmail.co.in or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 8
Chemical Engineering World
May 2014 • 73
CEW Products Agitators Fluidyme manufacture various types of direct and gear driven agitators, agitators with single and double mechanical seal and gland packing. Agitators are heavy-duty designed to process a wide range of fluids of varying viscosities and specific gravities in various processes like blending, dispersion, reactions in solution, elocculation, dissolution, solid suspension, gas dispersion, high viscosity mixing, heat transfer, crystallization/precipitation in the industries, viz, pharmaceutical, chemicals, paint and coatings, screen ink, adhesives, resins, sealants, plastisols, concentrates, biotech, lubricant, coolant, paper, chemicals, dye, cosmetics, food, etc. Modular design of the agitator enables various mounting arrangements, ie, from open tank to closed tank. High efficiency impellers designed for specific process applications. Efficient chemical duty totally enclosed (TEFC) or explosion proof motors and air motors can be offered. Variable output speed by variable frequency drive and inverter duty motors with power range from 0.06 HP to 50 HP and onwards. Fluidyme also manufacture agitators with reaction vessels, pressure vessels. dosing systems and pilot plants. high speed dispersers, emulsifiers with hydraulically or pneumatically operated lifting lowering arrangement., Drum hoop mixer for mixing homogenizing viscous liquids, static mixers with standard and custom design, drum press-out for liquid filling applications. For details contact: Fluidyme Process Flow Technologies E-2/4,Popular Prestige, Off Highway Bridge, Warje, Pune, Maharashtra 411 058 E-mail: fluidyme@vsnl.net. Tel: 022-67162253, 67162222 | Fax: 91-022-67162211 E-mail: response@coleparmer.in or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 9
Antidrip Functionality on Masterflex Digital Process Drives All Masterflex L/S and I/P digital process drives include antidrip functionality, which briefly reverses the motor at the end of the dispense cycle for greater accuracy. The L/S digital process drives are ideal for automated process applications including fluid transfer, dispensing and metering in lab, process and washdown environments. Automate dispensing by using the programmable dispense interval with a selectable delay between cycles. Programmed calibration delivers dispense and display accuracy, with the drive storing one calibration per tubing size. Easy-to-clean washdown drives can be simply hosed down. Full remote control capabilities included for added convenience. The I/P digital process drives offer rugged performance with precise control. Used for fluid transfer, dispensing, and metering applications in lab, process and industrial environments, these drives can be found in pharmaceutical, food and beverage, chemical, manufacturing and water treatment facilities. A programmable dispense interval allows users to set the delay between dispense cycles for automated dispensing by time or volume. Precise PWM speed control (μ0.1%) maximizes accuracy and efficiency while the brushless motor provides maintenance-free reliability. For details contact: Cole-Parmer India Pvt Ltd 403-404, Delphi - B Hiranandani Business Park, Powai, Mumbai 400 076 Tel: 022-67162253, 67162222 Fax: 91-022-67162211 E-mail: response@coleparmer.in or Circle ReadersÊ Service Card 10
74 • May 2014
Chemical Engineering World
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ENGINEERING WORLD APRIL 2014 VOL. 49 ISSUE 4 Mumbai
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76 • May 2014
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Chemical Engineering World
Global Petroleum Show Dates: 10 - 12 June, 2014 Venue: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Details: Pe t r o l e u m show on production and transpor tation of oil gas technologies Organiser: DMG World Media Contact: +1 403 209 3555 Email: amystadel@dmgevents.com Website: www.globalpetroleumshow.com
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Surface & Coatings Expo 2014
Global Petroleum Show
Dates: 4-6 July 2014 Venue: Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai Details: Exhibit technology for cleaning, preparation, coating, painting of surface Organiser: Confederation of Indian Industry Contact: +91 44 4244 4555 Email: b.jeikrishnan@cii.in; businessfairs@cii.in Website: www.cii.in
Dates: 10-12 June 2014 Venue: Big Four Building, Calgary, Canada Details: Global Petroleum Show presents a world throbbing with power - the world of oil & gas Organiser: DMG World Media Contact: +1 403 209 3555 (Toll-free: 888 799-2545) Email: paulaarnold@dmgevents.com Website: www.globalpetroleumshow.com
Watertech India 2014
Chemspec Europe
Dates: 10-12 September 2014 Venue: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi Details: Trade Fair for Water & Wastewater Treatment & Management Organiser: Messe Frankfurt Trade Fairs India Pvt Ltd Contact: +91 22 6144 5900 Email: rohit.rebello@india.messefrankfurt.com Website: www.watertechindia.com
Dates: 18-19 June 2014 Venue: HUNGEXPO Budapest Fair Center, Budapest, Hungary Details: Exhibition of fine and speciality chemicals Organiser: Quartz Business Media Limited Contact: +44 1737 855 076; +44 1737 855 000 Email: johnlane@quartzltd.com Website: www.chemspecevents.com
World PetroCoal Congress
13 th Clean Coal Forum 2014
Dates: 15-17 Feb, 2015 Venue: Convention Centre-NDCC, New Delhi Details: On sustainable usage of the non-renewable resources Organiser: Energy and Environment Foundation Contact: +91 11 2275 8149 Email: punit.nagi@ee-foundation.org Website: www.worldpetrocoal.com
Dates: 9-13 June 2014 Venue: Beijing, China Details: Key investment hotspots in AsiaĂ&#x160;s Coal Conversion and Utilisation Organiser: CDMC Contact: +86 21 6840 7631 Email: elvaq@cdmc.org.cn; ccf@cdmc.org.cn Website: www.cdmc.org.cn
India Chem
International Conference on Chemical Structures
Dates: 9-11 October 2014 Venue: Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC), Mumbai D e t a i l s : A n ex h i b i t i o n o n c h e m i c a l , p e t r o c h e m i c a l a n d pharmaceutical sector Organiser: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Contact: +91 11 2373 8760; +91 11 2376 5081 Email: manoj.mehta@ficci.com Website: www.indiachem.in
Dates: 1-5 June 2014 Venue: NH Conference Centre Leeuwenhorst, Noordwijk, Netherlands Details: Conference to cover aspects of cheminformatics and molecular modeling Organiser: American Chemical Society, and other societies. Contact: +49 30 6128 8887 Email: iccs@mcc-pr.de Website: www.int-conf-chem-structures.org
Chemical Engineering World
May 2014 â&#x20AC;˘ 77
CEW Project Update
New Contracts/Expansions/Revamps The following list is a brief insight into the latest new projects by various companies in India. Ć CHEMICALS Punjab Chemicals & Crop Protection is planning a thiamethoxam manufacturing project in village: Kolimajra and Samalheri, district: Mohali, Punjab. The project will come up at the companyÊs existing plant premises. The project is in planning stage. SK Solvochem Private Limited is planning a 1,500-TPA dye and dye intermediates, bulk drug and intermediates excluding drug formulations, synthetic rubbers, basic organic chemicals, other synthetic organic chemicals and chemical intermediates manufacturing project at a cost of ` 20-million in village: Nimbua, district: Mohali, Punjab. The Public hearing was held in January 2014. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. Nuray Chemicals is implementing a ferric citrate-manufacturing project at the existing unit in SIDCO Industrial Estate, Kakalur, district: Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. Civil, mechanical and engineering work is in progress. The project is scheduled for completion in Q4 2014. Equipment is already available. Lion Tapes Private Limited a sister concern of Stretch Bands (Gujarat is planning a 100-TPM synthetic organic chemicals manufacturing project in GIDC, Chitra Estate, district: Bhavnagar, Gujarat. As of October 2013, the project is waiting for environmental clearance. Work on the project is expected to commence soon. According to the MoEF sources, the project includes products like 40-TPM of Fast Red B Base, 20-TPM of Fast Bordeaux GP Base, 10-TPM of Fast MNPT (Red G) Base, 5-TPM of Fast Red 3GL Base, 10-TPM of Fast Scarlet RC Base, 5-TPM of Fast Yellow GC Base, 5-TPM of Fast Orange GC Base and 5-TPM of Fast Red RC Base. The commercial waste generated from administration building would be disposed through sale to scrap vendors The generated industrial wastewater will be treated in ETP and treated effluent will be discharged through common pipeline. Ascent Pharma is planning a synthetic organic chemical manufacturing project at Village Veraval, district: Rajkot, Gujarat. As of September 2013, the capacity of the proposed unit is yet to be finalized. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. Work on the project is expected to commence soon. Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited is planning a 1-(2-Phenylethyl) piperidin-4-one chemical manufacturing project in district: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. As of September 2013, the project is waiting for Government approval. 1-(2-Phenylethyl) piperidin-4-one is used as an intermediate in the manufacture of chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs. This is a new product line in the existing plant. The company also plans to produce Amitriptyline HCl in the same unit in future. 78 • May 2014
Resil Chemicals Private Limited is planning a specialty chemicals (used for garments) manufacturing project in Malur, district: Kolar, Karnataka. As of July 2013, land has been partially acquired. The project is in conceptual stage. Other details are yet to be finalized. Ć MINING Sri Venkatesh Granites is planning a colour granite mining project in Kamanpur, district: Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh. As of December 2012, environmental clearance has been received. The project will come up on 4.56-hectare of leased area. Global Enviro Labs is the environmental consultant. Western Coalfields is planning the Penganga open cast coal mining project (3-MTPA and peak capacity is 4.5-MTPA) on 781-hectare land in village: Wirur, district: Chandrapur, Maharashtra. As of November 2012, the project has been submitted in the 59 th EAC (Thermal & Coal Mining Projects) meeting held on 6 th November, 2012. Central Coal Fields is planning 0.3-MTPA Ray Bachra underground coal mining project in district: Ramgarh, Jharkhand on 1,215.45-hectare land. As of September 2012, the project has been submitted in the 57 th EAC (Thermal & Coal Mining Projects) meeting held on 17 th September 2012. Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam is planning the open cast Parsa East and Kanta Basan coal mining project (10-MTPA) and a coal washery (10-MTPA) in Udaipur, district: Surguja, Chhattisgarh. As of August 2012, the project has been submitted in the 55 th Meeting of the EAC (Thermal & Coal Mining Projects) held on 28th August 2012. Odisha Power Generation Corporation is planning the Manoharpur coal mining project in district: Sundergarh, Odisha. As of July 2012, the company is waiting for environmental clearance. Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation is planning open cast and underground coal mining project in district: Surguja Chhattisgarh. As of July 2012, the company is waiting for environmental and forest clearance. C e n t r a l C o a l f i e l d s L i m i t e d p l a n s ex p a n s i o n o f i t s Churi Benti UGP coal mining capacity from 0.16 MTPA to 0.81-MTPA in district: Chatra, Jharkhand. As of June 2012, MoEF clearance has been received and the project is planned for completion in 2 years from zero date. Zain Coke & Energy India is planning a 150,000-TPA metallurgical coke manufacturing project at a cost of Rs 150 to ` 500 million in Chickanthapura, district: Bellary, Chemical Engineering World
Project Update CEW Karnataka. As of May 2012, the project is waiting for revenue and statutory clearance and is planned for completion in 10 months from zero date. Jaiprakash Associates is planning limestone mining project in village: Kothar, district: Satna, Madhya Pradesh. As of March 2012, the project is waiting for environmental clearance and the project completion date is yet to be finalized. Ć NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY Siddheshwari Paper Udyog is implementing a 5-MW rice husk-based captive power project in Kashipur, district: Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. The project is coming up with an expansion of its kraft paper-manufacturing unit. Civil work is nearing completion and machinery has been ordered. The Jeypore Sugar Company Limited is planning an expansion of its bagasse-based co-generation power plant from initial 0.5-MW to 8.5-MW in Chagallu village, district: West Godavari. Andhra Pradesh. As of January 2014, the project will come up along with a new 120-KLD grain-based distillery. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. Savera Beverages is planning a 5-MW coal and bagasse-based captive power project in village: Hiranwali, district: Fazilka, Punjab. The project is waiting for environmental clearance and is planned for completion in 6 months from zero date. 28-acre of land has been acquired. The project will come up along with a 100-KLD grain-based distillery to produce extra neutral alcohol. Arunodaya Techsolar Power Projects Private Limited, an SPV of BM Solar Systems LLP, is planning a 5-MW solar IPP in village: Kudluru, district: Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Work on the project commenced in November 2013. 26-acre of land has been acquired. DPR is yet to be prepared. Approval has been received from the Central Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Azure Sun Energy Private Limited, a group company of Azure Power India, is planning a 2.5-MW solar rooftop power project at a cost of ` 250-million in district: Gandhinagar, Gujarat. As of May 2013, the project is to be set under Gandhinagar Photovoltaic Rooftop Program (GPRP). The project is planned for completion in Q2 of 2014. BVM Energy & Residency Private Limited is planning a 10-MW solar PV power project in district: Rangareddy, Andhra Pradesh. As of February 2013, EPC contractor is yet to be appointed. The project is planned for completion in 7 months from zero date. Aeon Renewable Energy Solution Private Limited is planning a 25-MW solar power project at a cost of ` 2,500-million in Tamil Nadu. As of January 2013, the company has entered into an agreement with China-based solar panel manufacturing firm Yingli Solar for technical support and equipment for South India. The company proposes to develop 5-MW from Pudukottai in the first Chemical Engineering World
phase, 10-MW in Virudhunagar in the second phase and 5-MW each in both the locations in the third phase. The company is also planning to set up a solar panel manufacturing unit which will be finalized in 2016. Ć NON-CONVENTIONAL POWER IPL Sugars & Allied Industries, a group company of Indian Potash, is planning a 20-MW bagasse and rice husk-based IPP spread over 250-acre of land in village: Motipur, district: Muzaffarpur, Bihar. As of March 2012, the existing plant will be demolished and the new plant will be constructed. The project is planned for completion in 1 year from zero date. Ć THERMAL POWER Hira Electro Smelters, formerly known as RVR Smelters, belonging to the Hira Group is planning a 20-MW waste heat recovery based captive power project in Bobbili, district: Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh. The project is in conceptual stage. Work on the project is expected to commence in 2017. The project will come up along with a 50,000-TPA coke oven products manufacturing project. Jai Bhole Cement Combine, a group company of Zawar Sales, is planning a coal and waste heat recovery based captive power project - 72-MW (coal as fuel) and 10-MW (waste heat recovery as fuel) in Velabai, district: Yavatmal, Maharashtra. Equipment supplier is yet to be appointed. The project is waiting for final approval of environmental clearance. Work on the project commenced in March 2014 and is planned for completion in H1 2017. The project will come up as part of its ` 151-billion integrated cement project spread over 2,500-acre of acquired land. Aditya Birla Nuvo is planning an expansion of its coal and lignite-based captive power project from 34.5-MW to 54.5-MW at a cost of ` 8,500-million (inclusive of viscose filament yarn project) at Indian Rayon unit at Veraval, district: Gir Somnath, Gujarat. The project is waiting for environmental clearance and is planned for completion in 2 years from zero date. Cauvery Power Generation Chennai, an SPV promoted by the promoters of Kaveri Gas Power, is planning an expansion of its coal-based power project in village: Sirupuzhalpettai and Billakuppam, district: Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. The capacity will be augmented from 63-MW to 213-MW. The coal for the plant is imported from Indonesia and supplied by Coastal Energy. The project is in a conceptual stage. The 63-MW coal-based power project stands commissioned since 2012. Rashi Steel & Power, formerly known as Rashi Strips, is implementing a 43-MW coal-based captive power project in village: Paraghat and Beltukri, district: Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. Grass Roots Research and Creation India are the consultants to this project. Civil work is in progress and the total project is scheduled for completion in 4 years. According to MoEF sources, total land requirement is 199-acre, out of which 77-acre has been acquired and the remaining 122-acre is under acquisition. May 2014 • 79
CEW Ad Index Sr No
Client’s Name
Page No
Sr No
Client’s Name
Page No
1
Atomic Vacuum Company (Exports) Inside Cover I
19
Jitamitra Electro Engg Pvt Ltd
67
2
BHS-Sonthofen (India) Pvt Ltd
73
20
Kevin Enterprise Pvt Ltd
29
3
Busch Vacuum India Pvt Ltd
39
21
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd
Inside Cover II
4
Chempro Technovation Pvt Ltd
84
22
Kishor Pumps Pvt Ltd
65
5
Chemtech World Expo 2015
61
23
Kwality Process Equipment Pvt Ltd
33
6
D H Boiler Exchnagers Tools Pvt Ltd
69
24
Leister Technolgoies India Pvt Ltd
45
7
De Dietrich Process Systems (I) Pvt Ltd
11
25
Paharpur Cooling Towers Ltd
35
8
Dipflon Engineering & Co
7
26
Rasaii Flow Lines Pvt Ltd
41
9
Dover India Pvt Ltd
15
27
Sandvik Materials Technology
19
10
Emjay Engineers
21
28
Super Industrial Lining Pvt Ltd
3
11
Filter Concept Pvt Ltd
43
29
Suraj Ltd
65
12
Fluidyme Process Flow Technologies
69
30
Surface Coatings
59
13
Garnder Denver Engineered Products India
31
Toshniwal Instruments (Madras) Pvt Ltd
47
Pvt Ltd
10
32
Tranter India Pvt Ltd
31
14
Goodie International Pvt Ltd
55
33
Uni Klinger Ltd
53
15
Gopani Product Systems
Back Cover
34
Universal Forces Industries
17
16
Hitech Applicator
57
35
Warade Automation Solutions Pvt Ltd
23
17
Integral Process Controls India Pvt Ltd
27
36
Watertech
67
18
Jasubhai Engineering Pvt Ltd
5
37
Zeeco Inc
9
80 • May 2014
Chemical Engineering World
Book Shelf CEW Fine Chemicals: The Industry and the Business Author Price No. of Pages Publisher
: Peter Pollak : USD 107.07 : 312 [Hardcover] : Wiley
About the Book : A second, revised edition, which takes into consideration the developments in the field since the first edition was written, including substantial updating of facts and figures and other content, like a discussion of the offer/demand balance for fine chemicals. This book is a comprehensive reference on one of the most exciting and challenging segments of the modern chemical industry, and a practical guide for developing and succeeding in the multibillion fine chemicals business. The book is divided into three parts: 1. The Fine Chemicals Industry ă definitions, products, technologies, facilities, costs, and management aspects; 2. The Business ă the market, customers, and marketing; and 3. Outlook ă changes in the offer/demand scenario, the role of emerging companies in Asia (especially China and India), and forecast of market changes.
Instrumentation and Process Control Author Price No. of Pages Publisher
: : : :
Terry L M Bartelt USD 88.47 304 pages (Paperback) Delmar Cengage Learning
About the Book : Delve into the components, circuits, instruments and control techniques being used in todayÊs process control technology field! Ideal for technicians who will be installing, troubleshooting, repairing, tuning and calibrating these devices in a process control facility, this outstanding book fosters both an understanding and appreciation for the instrumentation and process control field. The author employs an easy reading style that sidesteps high-level math while providing learners with an in-depth, practical application approach to essential process control concepts. Topics include essential industrial automation control techniques as On/Off, PID, Ratio, Cascade, etc.
D e s i g n o f M u n i c i p a l Wa s t e w a t e r Tr e a t m e n t Plants Author: Water Environment Federation Price: ` 16,084 Pages: 2600 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional About the Book : Fully revised and updated, this three-volume set from the Water Environment Federation and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers presents the current plant planning, configuration, and design practices of wastewater engineering professionals, augmented by performance information from operating facilities. Design of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants, Fifth Edition, includes design approaches that reflect the experience of more than 300 authors and reviewers from around the world. Chemical Engineering World
P ro c e s s E n g i n e e r i n g fo r a Small Planet: How to Reuse, Re-Purpose, and Retrofit Existing Process Equipment Author : Norman P Lieberman Price : USD 76.50 No. of Pages : 296 [Hardcover] Publisher : Wiley About the book : Our earth is just one big, complex Process Facility with limited air, water, and mineral resources. It responds to a number of process variables·among them, humanity and the environmental effects of our carbon consumption. What can professionals in the Hydrocarbon Process Industry do to retard environmental degradation? Rather than looking to exotic technology for solutions, Process Engineering for a Small Planet details ready-at-hand methods that the process engineer can employ to help combat the environmental crisis. Drawing from the authorÊs professional experience working with petroleum refineries petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, and natural gas wells, this handbook explains how to operate and retrofit process facilities to Reuse existing process equipment; Save energy; Reduce greenhouse gas emissions; Expand plant capacity without installing new equipment and Reduce corrosion and equipment failures. Covering topics from expanding fractionator and compressor capacity and vacuum tower heater expansion to minimising process water consumption and increasing centrifugal pump capacity, Process Engineering for a Small Planet offers big ideas for saving our small planet. May 2014 • 81
CEW Interview
Industry Awaits Positive Government Policies
Non-availability of gas and lack of alternate gas supplies have been affecting the industry to a great extent, says K Rahul Raju, Managing Director, Nagarjuna Fertilzers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL). In an exclusive interview with Mittravinda Ranjan, he further talks about why there is lesser interest in investments from gas producers in the country, CCEA’s decision to increase domestic gas prices, decontrolling urea segment and more. Raju also shares insights into the latest developments within the company, including the status of refinery in Cuddalore. Though the government has prioritised the fertiliser sector in allocating natural gas, the low production of natural gas within the country remains a big challenge. What is the pressure fertiliser manufacturers are facing in the current situation in terms of sourcing the gas to keep the plants running? In terms of gas availability, the fertiliser industry is under tremendous pressure due to
82 • May 2014
steep drop in KG D6 gas that was supposed to be available. Due to lack of RLNG terminal on the east coast, fertiliser manufacturers are already facing a drop of 20 per cent in urea production, which has adversely affected the profitability of NFCL during the year 2013-14. How has the drop in gas production in KG D6 impacted
the urea production at NFCL in Kakinada? Is NFCLÊs Kakinada facility relying only on the gas from KG basin or it has established gas linkages with other sources as well? As I mentioned earlier, our profitability has dropped due to non-availability of gas and there is also lack of alternate gas supplies. Historically, NFCL has been getting gas from ONGC wells through GAIL.
Chemical Engineering World
Interview CEW However, since 2009, we started procuring 60 per cent of gas requirement from RIL and continued supplies through GAIL where also productivity has gone down. As a result, the urea production at NFCL has gone down by approximately 800 - 1000 MT/day than its capacity of 4600 MT/day. Currently, we are getting landed gas at the rate of USD 5.8 per MMBTU which are likely to get doubled after the directive on new pricing that is soon to be given by the Government of India. Lack of implementing market driven gas prices in country have resulted in lesser interest in investments from the gas producers in country, and it is one of the key reasons behind India not being able to realise the available gas potential in the country. In this scenario, how justified it is to not to revise the gas prices in country? There is lesser interest in investments from gas producers in the country primarily because of slow decision making process and bureaucratic delays, and the second reason is not offering market driven prices to the gas producers. Though gas prices must be revised to incentivise the producers to implement the projects in order to step up gas production, the prices for the fertiliser industry could be maintained at the levels to keep the indigenous manufacturers competitive against the imports. This is a very important as India relies on 30 per cent of urea supplies from the overseas market to meet the domestic demand. What is your take on the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decision to increase domestic gas prices which is still nominal as compared to the imported gas prices? Once the revised prices are implemented, what are the various strategies, that fertiliser manufacturers will have to adopt to balance the companyÊs top and bottom lines? The CCEA’s decision to increase domestic gas prices is fair and the gas produced within the country cannot be compared with the imported RLNG. No country does that for survival of its end users. Once, the revised prices are implemented by the Department of Fertilizers (DoF), Chemical Engineering World
Government of India, and ensured that the Fertiliser Manufacturers are competitive by imposing extra customs duty for imported urea; the Industry will become efficient to survive against the global manufactures. What is your outlook for the price trends in ammonia and phosphates, which are again critical for fertiliser production, over the next couple of years? How do you plan to balance the profit margins in the times of volatile feedstock prices and increasing subsidies? Ammonia and phosphate prices seem to be stable in the next couple of years, though there are some seasonal fluctuations in the same. We are banking on the Indian government to decontrol urea segment as they have done for the phosphate and potash segments. The subsidies by the government have to be decreased by increasing the price of urea which is currently very low and is being misused. To what extent the feedstock diversification from natural gas to coal gasification, which is capital intensive, be realised in Indian context by the fertiliser industry? What kind of support would fertiliser sector need from the government in context to coal technologies? The technology for coal gasification for production of ammonia is available today in countries like China and few other European countries, and they are producing ammonia by using this technology. However, high ash content continues to be a major problem with Indian coal and using this would incur high capital cost and sizeable maintenance cost. Currently, the availability of coal from Coal India is also an issue and gas seems to be the best option for production of ammonia and urea for the Indian Industry. What is the future outlook for the fertiliser business? What are the current projects and growth targets for NFCL and what are the future expansion plans of the company? The requirement of fertilisers in Indian agriculture would always exist. Currently, India imports approximately 30 per cent of its urea requirement and is completely dependent upon imports for intermediates
or finished goods for phosphates and potash. “N” is the only sector where import dependency can be reduced by providing sufficient gas availability locally. The business outlook for the fertiliser sector will improve if the policies of the Government of India support the domestic Production by decontrolling and de-canalising the “N” segment as well. Please apprise us of the status of refinery in Cuddalore in the proposed PCPIR. The 6 MMTPA Refinery at Cuddalore is about 58 per cent complete. This Refinery has been identified as the “anchor tenant” in the PCPIR approved by CCEA for the state of Tamil Nadu for the Cuddalore-Nagapattinam belt. The Refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index (NCI) of about 8.7 and will be capable of producing E-IV grades of gasoline & diesel. Owing to its location, the refinery can evacuate products through road (trucks), rail (wagons), sea (ships) and pipeline (IOCL’s CTM pipeline) in domestic market. IOC’s Chennai - Trichy - Madurai (CTM) product pipeline runs close to NOCL site. NOCL’s products can be evacuated by connecting to this pipeline; however, we intend to initiate the discussions with IOCL closer to commissioning of refinery, which is targeted during the financial year 2016-17. We also plan to ship the products to international markets through sea route. Please update us on the ongoing projects, expansion plans, growth target in the next five years. We have ambitious growth plans and want NFCL to become one of the top 3 companies in the plant nutrition business in the next 5 years. These plans are dependent upon market related policies by the government of India, especially for the ‘N’ segment. The projects would be implemented in the country as well as outside India depending upon the merits and returns that they will generate for the company. We have a couple of projects on the drawing board for the production of additional urea and phosphates for NFCL and are waiting for the announcement of policies for the next 5-8 years to take a final decision on the same. May 2014 • 83
8 â&#x20AC;˘ December 2013
Final Ad template amol.indd 8
Chemical Engineering World
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R.N.I. No. 11403/1966 Date of Publication: 1â&#x20AC;&#x2122;st of every month. Postal Registration No: MH/MR/SOUTH-125/2012-14. Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai 400001, on 29th & 30th of every month. Total Page No.: 86
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