March 2015 - International

March
2015
www.chemengonline.com
Improving Rotating
Machinery
Operations
03
MANAGING STEAM SYSTEMS PREVENTING COMBUSTIBLE DUST EXPLOSIONS
Interphex Show
Preview
Preventing
Combustible
Dust Explosions
Facts at Your
Fingertips: Steel
Corrosion
Carbon Capture
Technologies
Process Control:
Integrating
Instruments and
Systems
Targeting Methane
Emissions
Managing
Steam Systems
page 50
VOL. 122 NO. 3 MARCH 2015
We create
chemistry
that lets
individual needs
love global
innovation.
As the global leader in catalysis, BASF draws on the

talent and expertise of more than 1,100 researchers
working in close partnership with our customers. This
collaboration results in innovations that drive new
levels of performance and achievement, today and
over the long term. When global catalyst innovations
help our customers become more successful, its
because at BASF, we create chemistry.
www.catalysts.basf.com
Circle 4 on p. 82 or go to adlinks.che.com/56195-04
March 2015
Volume 122 | no. 3
Cover Story
50
Part 1: Why Bad Things Happen to Good Steam

Equipment Accounting for an entire steam trap population is crucial
to avoiding safety incidents and sub-optimal production high-priority
consideration must be given to steam-system management
60
Part 2: Mitigate Corrosion in CondensateReturn Systems Understanding the chemistry behind

corrosion in condensate-return systems can aid in selecting and
properly employing the best mitigation technique
In the News
7
Chementator
Catalytic filter bags can slash investment cost for offgas treatment;
This process enables Mg alloy to be cast economically; Anodeless lithium battery prototype doubles energy density; Scaleup
for modular H2 production via PEM electrolysis; Carbon fibers
enhance swine wastewater treatment; CO2 capture with
permeable polymer microcapsules; and more
16
Business News
Prayon to build food-grade hexametaphosphate plant in Georgia; Showa
Denko JV starts up alumina plant in Indonesia; Kuraray boosts production
capacity for ethylene vinyl alcohol; Arkema starts up thiochemicals plant in
Malaysia; Methanex starts up relocated Geismar methanol plant; and more
20
Newsfront Targeting Methane Emissions

New sensor, sealing and vapor-recovery technologies aim to reduce
methane (CH4) emissions
27
Newsfront Process Control Provides A Holistic View

Integration between instruments and systems allows manufacturers to align
process parameters with business performance
Technical and Practical

Facts at your Fingertips Steel Corrosion
This one-page reference provides descriptions of corrosion mechanisms and
corrosion resistance of various types of steel
48
Technology Profile Propane Dehydrogenation to

Make Propylene: the Oxydehydrogenation Approach
A process to manufacture on-purpose propylene by dehydrogenation of
propane is described
64
Feature Report Prevent Combustible Dust

Explosions With Nitrogen Inerting
Targeted use of blanketing with inert gas offers an effective strategy for
preventing combustible dust explosions in CPI facilities
WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
60
20
46
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
50
MARCH 2015
27
70
Environmental Manager Post-Combustion Carbon

Capture Technologies Several carbon-capture processes hold much
promise, but there are challenges yet to be met
74
Engineering Practice Rotating Machinery: What You

Should Know About Operational Problems
Follow this guidance to improve the operation, safety and reliability of rotating
machinery in CPI plants
Equipment and Services

33
Focus Bulk Solids Handling

A high-level detector has a mercury-free tilt switch; Magnetic pulleys help belt
conveyors to separate metals; This firm offers flow-properties testing services;
This radar level-detection probe is undaunted by uneven surfaces; Protect
powder-handling systems from explosion risk; and more
37
New Products
Tank-cleaning nozzles that can handle lower flowrates; A fully temperaturecompensated handheld pressure calibrator; These industrial-gas pressure
regulators have three outlet ports; A sealless thermoplastic pump for open tanks
and sumps; and more
42
Show Preview Interphex 2015

The Interphex conference and tradeshow will take place April 2123 in New
York City. Here are a few of the many products and services to be showcased
74
33
Departments
37
Editors Page A most-wanted safety improvement

Combustible dust is too often cited as the cause of serious accidents. The U.S.
Chemical Safety Board recommends a comprehensive standard
84
Economic Indicators
Advertisers
42
36I-1 European Special Advertising Section

79
Product Showcase
80
Classified
82
Reader Service
83
Ad Index
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Coming in April
Look for: Feature Reports on Distillation; and Vacuum Dryers;
A Focus on Compressors, Fans and Blowers; A Facts at your
Fingertips on Biotechnology; a Solids Processing article on Size
Reduction; an Engineering Practice article on Rectangular Tanks;
News Articles on Metals Recovery; and Analyzers; and more
Cover: Rob Hudgins, photo courtesy of TLV Corp.
2
MARCH 2015
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CRITICAL PROJECT EXECUTION FOR THE REFINERY AND PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES
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ats what makes us the industrys leading manufacturer
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Editor s Page
PUBLISHER
ART & DESIGN
MICHAEL GROSSMAN
ROB HUDGINS
Vice President and Group Publisher

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IIT Madras, India
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Aerospace, Energy, Healthcare
n the chemical process industries (CPI), dust can present an issue

far more menacing than a housekeeping nuisance. Combustible
dust is in fact, much too often listed as a cause of serious, and
even fatal accidents.
Incidents
In January of this year, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB; Washington, D.C., www.csb.gov) issued its report on the U.S. Ink plant
flash fire that burned seven workers. This incident, which occurred
in October 2012 in East Rutherford, N.J., was found to have resulted
from the accumulation of combustible dust inside a dust-collection
system that had been put into operation four days prior to the accident. One of the key findings in the report is that while the dustcollection system was designed for dust collection, it was modified to
include a housekeeping function, which caused insufficient flowrates.
The CSB report notes that the volume of air flow and the air velocity
were below industry recommendations.
In 2006, the CSB issued a comprehensive report on combustible
dust hazards that was based on investigations of three major industrial explosions that occurred in the U.S. in 2003 alone. The three
incidents, in North Carolina, Kentucky and Indiana, cost 14 lives and
numerous injuries. In that 2006 study, the CSB identified 281 combustible-dust incidents that occurred in the previous 25 years and
claimed 119 lives with over 700 injuries. Since 2006, the CSB documented 50 combustible-dust incidents that resulted in 29 fatalities
and 161 injuries. These include the 2008 Imperial Sugar disaster near
Savannah, Ga., and three incidents over a six-month period in 2011
at a powdered-metal plant in Gallatin, Tenn.
Standards and regulations

What is striking in the reports about dust explosions is that at least in
some cases, known engineering controls may have been preventative. In its 2006 investigation report Combustible Dust Hazard Study,
the CSB recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health
Admin. (OSHA; Washington, D.C.; www.osha.gov) issue a standard
to prevent combustible-dust fires and explosions based on standards
already available from the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA;
Quincy, Mass.; www.nfpa.org). The CSB reiterates this recommendation in numerous subsequent reports including its most recent one
issued in January. While standards exist, they are voluntary and not
enforced through federal regulations. In 2013, the CSB designated a
comprehensive general industry standard for combustible dust as its
first Most Wanted Chemical Safety Improvement.
ALISON JOHNS
ED PINEDO
Executive Vice President
& Chief Financial Officer
A most wanted safety improvement
GERALD STASKO
Vice President/Corporate Controller
ROBERT PACIOREK
Senior Vice President,
Chief Information Officer
4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor
Rockville, MD 20850
www.accessintel.com
Resources
In the meantime, a wealth of information about combustible dust
is available. The CSB website contains many lessons learned from
incident investigations in both report and video
format. The NFPA offers a number of relevant
standards. OSHA offers various resources, including information on its Combustible Dust National
Emphasis Program (NEP). And numerous articles,
such as the Feature Report in this issue (Prevent
Combustible Dust Explosions With Nitrogen Inerting, p. 64) help to share knowledge and insight into
this important issue.

Dorothy Lozowski, Editor in Chief
MARCH 2015
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Chementator
Catalytic filter bags can slash investment costs for
offgas treatment
ast January, Haldor

Clean gas side
Topse A/S (LynClean gas side
gby; www.topsoe. Raw gas side
Three-layers woven glass
com) and FLSmidth
bags with embedded
HAP*
catalyst. One of the glass
A/S (Copenhagen, both
CO2
bags with e-PTFE membrane
CO
2
Denmark; www.flsmidth.
NH3
N2
com) began a joint, global
N2
O2
Raw gas with
effort to commercialize
NOx
dust and
H2O
pollutants
a new catalytic filter-bag
O2
technology, which the partCO
ners have developed over
Dust
Three layers
the past four years. Tradeglass bags
named EnviroTex, these filand e-PTFE
membranes
ter bags are capable of reducing dust, volatile organic Dust is collected Pollutants removal Cleaned glass
catalytic
pass filter element
compounds (VOCs) and on the surface by
process
oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in a *Organic HAP includes formadehyde, benzene, toluene,
single, integrated process, styrene (m-, p-, o-) xylene, acetaldehyde and napthalene
says Mikkel Nygaard Larsen, general manager, marketing and sales pollutants are catalytically decomposed into
at Haldor Topse. Because EnviroTex treats harmless compounds (CO2, N2, O2 and H2O).
several pollutants in a single step, the physi- Even under the highest dust load, Envirocal footprint of the treatment process is re- Tex will remove particulate matter to below 2
duced compared to alternative technologies parts per million, says Nygaard Larsen. VOC
that require separate, standalone systems and NOx removal is typically more than 90%
to handle a specific pollutant, says Nygaard of the incoming concentration, he says.
Larsen, and capital expenditures (capex) are
The new filters are said to be suitable for
significantly reduced by as much as 80% a wide range of industries, including cement,
for some applications.
glass and steel production; power generaThe patent-pending EnviroTex filter bags tion; waste incineration; and coffee and grain
consist of three layers of filter fabric, each of roasting. The new filters will be manufactured
which contains a tailored catalyst that has at FLSmidths bag-production facilities in
been optimized for removing specific pollut- Evans, Ga. The bags will then be catalyzed
ants from offgases (diagram). The three-layer and assembled at Topses production site in
fabric has a porous, woven structure and the Houston. Topses production site will be excatalyst is a mixture of active base and pre- panded to include a new production line dedcious metals. As the offgas passes through icated to producing EnviroTex. Construction
the filter, dust is filtered on the first layer, and on this facility is slated for the end of 2015.
Edited by:
Gerald Ondrey
COMPOSITE COATING
A new composite material
that prevents metal corrosion, even under extreme
conditions, has been developed by researchers from
the INM Leibniz Institute
for New Materials GmbH
(Germany; www.inm-gmbh.
de). The patented composite consists of layers of particles placed on top of each
other in a staggered fashion,
creating a self-organized,
highly structured barrier,
says Carsten Becker-Willinger, head of the Nanomers Program Division. The
protective layer is just a few
micrometers thick and prevents penetration by gases
and electrolytes. It provides
protection against corrosion
caused by aggressive aqueous solutions, including salt
and acids, as well as corrosive gases under pressure.
After thermal curing, the
composite adheres to the
metal substrate, is abrasionstable and impact-resistant.
It can be applied by spraying or other commonly used
wet-chemistry processes,
and cures at 150200C. It
is suitable for steels, metal alloys and metals such as aluminum, magnesium and copper, and can be used to coat
(Continues on p. 8)
This process enables Mg alloy to be cast economically
he New Energy and Industrial

Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki;
www.nedo.go.jp) and Sankyo
Tateyama Inc. (Takaoka, both Japan;
www.st-grp.co.jp) have developed
technology that enables the casting of small-diameter (500100-mm
dia.) magnesium-alloy billets, which
are suitable for direct, compact forging. The production costs are said to
be half those of existing technology,
which involves an expensive and inefficient extrusion and forging process.
The breakthrough is expected to en-
able a wider application of magnesium

in automotive, consumer electronics
and robotic products as an alternative
to aluminum and iron.
The new casting procedure uses
an adiabatic, structured template,
which suppresses the coagulation of the melted materials within
the template and enhances the
rapid quenching and coagulation
by means of cooling water injected
at the bottom of the template. This
procedure enables the structural refinement and formation of a dense
solid texture, with average crystal-
grain size of 50 m, and a dendrite

arm spacing (DAS; a measure of the
metals microstructure) of less than
15 m. These parameters are about
half those generated by existing billet-formation technology, and thus
show that the magnesium-alloy billet
has a significantly finer and homogeneous coagulation texture.
Sankyo Tateyama has begun shipping samples of the cast billets. The
partners have also started to develop
multi-face, concurrent continuous
casting technology, which will enable
mass production.
Note: For more information, circle the 56-digit number on p. 82, or use the website designation.
MARCH 2015
any shape of plates, pipes,

gear wheels, tools or machine parts. The composite
does not contain chromium
VI or other heavy metals.
SELECTIVE MEMBRANE
New selective hollow-fiber
membranes that could enable water purification in
a single step have been
developed by researchers from the University of
Twentes (www.utwente.nl)
MESA+ Research Institute,
in collaboration with Pentair
(Enschede, both the Netherlands; www.pentair.com).
The membranes make it
possible to purify water in a
single process step (eliminating pretreatment required
in existing water-treatment
plants) while removing micropollutants, such as pharmaceutical residues (medicine residues, hormones
and pesticides).
The selective membrane is
applied to thin porous straws
(5-nm pore sizes). Multiple
thin layers of polymer coating
(of about 2-nm thick) are applied over the holes by means
of a relatively simple chemical
process that avoids solvents.
Creation of the polymer layers can be controlled very
accurately, so the number
of layers, the density and the
charge of the layers, and so
on, can be chosen to suit the
desired application.
Modules containing more
than 10,000 of the fibers (1-m
long) can be numbered up for
an industrial water-treatment
plant. Pentair is taking over
the further product development of the membrane.
GREEN TIRES
At last months Tire Technology Expo (February 1012;
Cologne, Germany), Solvay
S.A.s Silica business unit
unveiled Efficium, which the
company says is a breakthrough highly dispersible
silica (HDS). Used as a reinforcing filler, Efficium allows
for higher productivity and
greater flexibility in producing green tire compounds
for cars and trucks.
Anode-less lithium battery prototype doubles

energy density
new prototype
Carbon anode
lithium battery
with a very thin
metal
anode
achieves an energy
Separator
density of 1,200 W-h/L
at room temperature
Cathode
double that of conventional Li-ion batteries
Carbon anode cell
using graphite anodes.
600 Wh/L
The prototype battery,
developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technologys (MIT;
Cambridge, Mass.; www.mit.edu) spin-off
SolidEnergy (Waltham, Mass.; www.solidenergysystems.com), uses a standard lithiumcobalt oxide (LCO) cathode with an ultrathin,
two-layer, lithium-on-copper anode that allows larger energy density. SolidEnergy has
developed a specialized electrolyte that allows the system to work.
The key know-how is really in the electrolyte, says Qichao Hu, because conventional electrolytes do not work with this kind
of battery system. SolidEnergys electrolyte
has two parts: a liquid around the cathode
and a solid polymer composite electrolyte on
the anode of the battery. To make it work at
Silicon-composite anode
Ultra-thin metal anode

Solid polymer ionic liquid
Separator
Cathode
Cathode
Silicon anode cell

800 Wh/L
Near anode-less cell

1200 Wh/L
room temperature, SolidEnergy developed a

proprietary mixture of ionic liquids, a new salt
species and other new materials with high
conductivity and efficiency.
SolidEnergy partnered with fellow MIT product A123 Venture Technologies (Waltham,
Mass.; www.a123systems.com) to fabricate
the prototype. Going forward, SolidEnergy
will focus on supplying the new electrolytes
and anode materials to large manufacturers
of Li-ion batteries used in consumer electronics and other applications. The company
plans a pilot facility, to be completed in late
2016, that will be able to produce the materials for the equivalent of 30 million cell phone
batteries per year, says Hu.
Scaleup for modular H2 production via

PEM electrolysis
wo new proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) electrolysis systems

have debuted, targeting applications that require large volumes
of hydrogen. Prior to the launch of Proton OnSites (Wallingford, Conn.; www.
protononsite.com) M1 and M2 modular H2generation systems, the largest capacity
commercially available from PEM modules
was just 30 m3/h H2, says the company.
The M1 and M2 systems can produce 200
m3/h and 400 m3/h of H2, respectively,
representing an intensive scaleup effort.
Multiple units can be connected to achieve
even greater production capabilities for
huge-scale projects. In order to reach
these higher capacities while ensuring safe
operation, the M1 and M2 were designed
with a specific emphasis on the differential pressure (DP) between the H2 and O2
sides of the membrane. Maintaining a DP
of 30 bars across the membrane minimizes
gas crossover problems, and also allows
the system to produce a very high-quality
H2 stream. Furthermore, this DP approach
enables a simplified, low-pressure watercirculation loop that removes any hazards

due to pressurized O2, and allows for a
passive system shutdown. Another safety
advantage of employing onsite H2 generation is that the safety risks associated with
longterm H2 storage (in the case of purchased hydrogen) are eliminated. This is
especially important for remote manufacturing locations.
Applications for the M1 and M2 include
pharmaceuticals and semiconductor manufacturing, as well as large-scale industrial
heat-treating. In semiconductor applications, the generated H2 can be used for
oxygen scavenging or as a carrier gas.
Potentially, the most promising outlet for
large-scale H2 generation lies in the fields
of energy storage and fuel cells, where the
modules can be installed into existing infrastructure. The generated H2 can also be
injected into methanation processes and
integrated into the natural-gas grid or used
for upgrading biogas.
(Continues on p. 14)
MARCH 2015
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Carbon fibers enhance swine wastewater treatment
akahiro Yamashita and colleagues at the Institute of

Livestock and Grassland
Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO, Tsukuba, Japan; www.
naro.affrc.go.jp) have developed an
aerobic bioreactor that can reduce
nitrous oxide emissions by nearly
90% in the treatment of swine
wastewater. The reactor uses an
array of horizontal carbon fibers
(CF) within the reactor column to
support microorganisms.
A CF reactor with an effective volume of 10 L was tested against a conventional activated-sludge (AS) reactor
(diagram), and was shown to achieve
a 90% reduction in the released N2O
a greenhouse gas with a global
warming potential that is 300-times
higher than that of carbon dioxide.
The CF reactor also showed a drastic reduction in dissolved nitrogen.
The researchers evaluated the
water quality of influent and effluent during 73 to 176 days operation
Mesh cylinder to
after 72 days acclimation
support carrier
A
period. The removal effiTop view
ciencies of the CF reactor
Effluent
were 96% for biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD),
5 cm
94% for suspended solids
Air
Carbon fibers fixed at
a 90-deg angle
(SS), 93% for total organic
Pump
Blower
carbon (TOC) and 90% for
Influent
total nitrogen (TN). In the
Side view
55 cm
CF reactor, 156 mg/L of the
B
dissolved inorganic nitroDistance: 5 cm
gen (DIN) was removed as
11 units
Effluent
5 cm
NH4-N, which left 14 mg/L
Plastic mesh cylinder
DIN as NO3-N; the DIN as
NO2-N was almost undetectable. In comparison,
Swine
Blower
Pump
wastewater
the removal efficiencies of
(A) Aerobic bioreactor packed with carbon fibers (CF reactor)
the AS reactor were 94%
(B) Aerobic bioreactor mixed with activated sludge (AS reactor)
for BOD, 76% for SS, 82%
for TOC, and 26% for TN.
In the AS reactor, 144 mg/L of the tor were 725 g-CO2 eq/m3/d.
DIN was removed as NH4-N, leaving
NARO has now started to conduct
behind 183 mg/L DIN as NO3-N; the tests with a demonstration-scale reDIN as NO2-N was also undetect- actor with an effective working volable. N2O and CH4 emissions from ume of 700 L, and the researchers
the CF reactor were 42 g-CO2 eq/ are optimizing the reaction condim3/d, while those from the AS reactions for further scaleup.
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MARCH 2015
11
Frankfurt am Main 15 19 June 2015
Scaleup for a test facility to

grow algae for biofuels
World Forum and Leading Show
he New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO, Kawasaki; www.
nedo.go.jp) and partners IHI Corp. (Tokyo; www.
ihi.co.jp), Kobe University (www.kobe-u.ac.jp) and
Neo-Morgan Laboratory Inc. (NML; Kawasaki, all Japan;
www.neo-morgan.com) have completed construction on
an outdoor test site with 1,500-m2 of pond surface area
for further development work on the production of biofuels (including jet fuel) from algae. Located at Nanatsu Island, Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan, the facility will start
up next month, and be used for developing a complete
process for biofuel production, including the extraction
process, working to lower production costs and enable
stable mass-production. The facility is part of the NEDO
project, Development of the application technology of
the strategic next-generation bio-mass energy.
The project will be looking at further developing the
algae, Botryococcus braunii, which has a good potential for algaculture because of the type of hydrocarbons
(HCs) it produces, and the fact that up to 86 wt.% (dry)
can be long-chain HCs, which can be hydrocracked into
fuels. The main drawback for this promising algae had
been its slow growth rate.
But in 2013, IHI NeoG Algae LLC (a joint venture of IHI,
Gene & Gene Technology (G&GT; Suita, Japan) and NML
operated a 100-m2 outdoor facility in IHIs Yokohama
site. With NEDO support, the company demonstrated
the worlds fasted growth rate for a Botryococcus braunii
strain 1,000 times faster than ordinary Botryococcus
braunii. This fast-growing strain was first discovered by
professor Taira Enomoto at Kobe University, further refined by G&GT, and improved by NML. The collaborations
led to new strains with notable characteristics, such as
larger algae bodies with improved floating performance.
for the Process Industries
3,800 Exhibitors from 50 Countries

170,000 Attendees from 100 Countries
CO2 capture with permeable

polymer microcapsules
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Be informed.
Be inspired.
Be there.
www.achema.de
12
new type of CO2-capture media based on permeable polymer microcapsules has been developed by teams of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, Calif.;
www.llnl.gov), Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.;
www.harvard.edu) and the University of Illinois-UrbanaChampaign (www.illinois.edu). The materials have several advantages over amine-based approaches to absorbing CO2 from power-plant fluegas.
MARCH 2015
Using microfluidics techniques, the scientists produced

microcapsules (photo, p. 12) that contain a liquid sorbent
sodium carbonate solution combined with a catalyst
that can absorb CO2 quickly. The microcapsules are
made from a highly permeable silicone polymer material
that allows CO2 molecules to pass through, but prevents
the sorbent material from escaping. By forcing the sorbent to remain in small droplets, the microcapsules can
maximize the surface area that contacts CO2.
The permeable microbeads are inexpensive to make,
easy to handle and produce minimal waste, the researchers say, and with encapsulated fluids inside, they allow
users to combine the advantages of solid and liquid CO2capture media in the same system, while avoiding many of
the environmental and corrosion issues posed by aminebased CO2 capture.
Microcapsules have been used in a variety of products
previously, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and
food, but the scientists say their work is the first demonstration of the use of microcapsules in CO2 capture. The
project was detailed in a research paper published in a
recent issue of Nature Communications. The researchers are working on enhancements that will allow scaleup
of the technology.
Perfluorinated compounds may

pose a risk to firefighters
erfluorinated compounds firefighting foams

such as perfluorooctane sulfonates (PFOS)
have been used as fire suppressants, but some
of them, such as perfluoroalkyl acids have been
associated with serious environmental contamination.
Also, several new fluorinated surfactants have been
developed lately, and there has been concern over the
effect of those substances on wildlife and on firefighters who are most exposed to them. However, several of
those new compounds have not yet been identified and
it may be very difficult to identify them.
Now, a team from the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia; www.uq.edu.au), rebro University
(rebro, Sweden; www.oru.se), and Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia; www.qut.
edu.au) has developed a method borrowed from medicine for identifying those substances in the blood of
firefighters. The team compared the fluorinated surfactants found in the blood of 20 firefighters with compounds in the blood of 20 people who had not been
exposed to firefighting foams.
The team ran the blood samples through the traditional quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS/MS) and has identified more than
3,000 organic and fluorinated compounds. However,
when the team applied a statistical analysis to the data,
a clear distinction appeared between the firefighters
and the controls. The team found nine fluorinated compounds in the firefighters blood, either exclusively or at
much higher levels.
Only five of those compounds appeared in online chemical databases or in the literature interpreting the MS data.
The team has tentatively identified the other four, unknown
compounds as sulfonic acids analogous to PFOS.
Visit us!
ACHEMA, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
June 15 19, 2015
Hall 3.0, stand F50
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At BEUMER we have a reputation for making things a little
di erent. Take the stretch-lm pallet packaging system,
BEUMER stretch hood. In a sector where energy-intensive
shrink hooding is still common, BEUMER stretch hood uses
a non-thermal stretch-lm system. The result: better load
stability, higher throughput, up to 10 times less lm consumption and 90% energy savings. All this makes a big di erence
to productivity and to the environment.
For more information, visit www.beumergroup.com
Efficium allows for increased productivity (by up

to 30% for truck tires) due
to its impact on mixing and
extrusion throughput, says
the company. An additional
benefit is added flexibility
for compounders due to its
silanization control and reformulation opportunities,
without compromising on
rolling resistance, wear and
grip, the company adds.
NON-STICK POLYMERS
Researchers at Harvard
Universitys Wyss Institute
(Boston, Mass.; www.wyss.
harvard.edu) have developed a surface technique
that can prevent the formation of biofilms on medical
surfaces. The approach,
called liquid-infused polymers, enables polymers to
soak up and store lubricating liquids that can move
to the surface and prohibit
bacteria from forming films.
The the effect was studied
using a solid silicone.
An electrochemical process to
mimic photosynthesis
hotosynthesis is one of the best

ways to convert carbon dioxide
into renewable energy and at the
same time, reduce the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. In plants,
there are two main steps in photosynthesis:
First, water is split (via solar energy), generating a proton and releasing oxygen. The
second step (Calvin cycle) is a dark reaction
where CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere
is reduced to glucose. A proton is carried via
NADPH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
phosphate-oxidase) and transferred to the
Calvin cycle as a source of hydrogen and
energy. A key step in the process is the hydrogenation of CO2 to organic compounds.
Professor Jeffrey Chi-Sheng Wu, of the
Dept. of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University (Taipei; ntu.edu.tw), has studied the photocatalytic hydrogenation of CO2
by a novel twin reactor to mimic photosynthesis under light irradiation. His process is
said to have a higher photoconversion yield
of CO2 than that achieved in a single reactor.
The twin reactor divides the hydrogen
photocatalyst and the oxygen photocata-
lyst into two compartments using a membrane, which separates the H+ ions and O2
molecules, preventing a reverse reaction.
Wu used Pt/SrTiO3:Rh as the hydrogen
photocatalyst and BiVO4 as the O2 photocatalyst. Iron is used as an electron mediator. Oxygen is released at one side of the
reactor, while H+ ions diffuse through the
membrane to the other side. There, CO2
molecules are reduced to hydrocarbons by
the photocatalyst.
Wu investigated the diffusion of the Fe2+/
Fe3+ through a Nafion 117 membrane. The
transfer rate of mediator ions was significantly larger than the photoreaction rate,
indicating that the membrane did not delay
the water-splitting reaction in the twin reactor. The H2 generation rate reached 0.65
mol/g.h and matched the H2/O2 stoichiometric ratio of water splitting. Wu found that
the hydrogen-generation in the twin reactor system was the rate-limiting side. By
using a twin reactor, the deactivation of Pt/
SrTiO3:Rh could be minimized due to the
suppression of Fe(OH)3 formation on the
photocatalyst surface.
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Business News
LINEUP
ANELLOTECH
ARKEMA
BASF
BENTLEY
DAIKIN
FMC
JOHNSON MATTHEY
KURARAY
Plant Watch
Prayon to build food-grade sodium
hexametaphosphate plant in Georgia
February 11, 2015 Prayon S.A. (Engis,
Belgium; www.prayon.com) plans to build a
manufacturing plant for food-grade sodium
hexametaphosphate (SHMP) in Augusta,
Ga. Projected capacity of the new SHMP
unit is 10,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr).
Supplementing an existing SHMP production
site in Roches de Condrieu, France, the Augusta plant will double the companys global
SHMP production capacity.
LUBRIZOL
METHENEX
PPG
PRAYON
SHOWA DENKO
SOLVAY
STYROLUTION
TECHNIP
THERMO FISHER
SCIENTIFIC
W.R. GRACE
Look for more

latest news on
chemengonline.com
16
Showa Denko JV starts up alumina

plant in Indonesia
February 9, 2015 P.T. Indonesia Chemical Alumina, a joint venture (JV) owned by
Showa Denko K.K. (SDK; Tokyo, Japan;
www.sdk.co.jp) and PT Antam (Persero)
Tbk., of Indonesia, has started commercial operations at its new alumina
plant in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The
plants production capacity for alumina
is 300,000 m.t./yr.
Kuraray boosts production capacity for
ethylene vinyl alcohol in Belgium
February 6, 2015 Kuraray Co. (Tokyo,
Japan; www.kuraray.co.jp) will increase the
production capacity for ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) resin at the Antwerp,
Belgium site of EVAL Europe N.V., a wholly
owned Kuraray subsidiary. The capacity increase will add 11,000 m.t./yr of EVOH production capability. The expanded facilities are
expected to begin operations in late 2016.
benzene styrene monomer (EBSM) plant

to be located in Qingdao City, China. The
plants planned EBSM production capacity is
500,000 m.t./yr.
PPG plans capacity expansion for
precipitated silica at Netherlands site
February 3, 2015 PPG Industries, Inc.
(Pittsburgh, Pa.; www.ppg.com) is increasing production capacity for precipitated silica
at its manufacturing location in Delfzijl, the
Netherlands, by more than 15,000 m.t./yr.
The capacity expansion is expected to come
online in 2016.
Arkema starts up thiochemicals
plant in Malaysia
January 30, 2015 Arkema (Colombes,
France; www.arkema.com) has started up
a new thiochemicals-production facility. Located in Kerteh, Malaysia, the new site produces methyl mercaptan for use as a synthesis intermediate in animal feed and dimethyl
disulfide. Arkemas investment in the construction of this facility totaled 200 million.
Methanex starts up relocated
Geismar methanol plant
January 26, 2015 Methanex Corp. (Vancouver, B.C., Canada; www.methanex.com)
started up its methanol plant in Geismar,
La. The plants capacity is 1 million m.t./yr of
methanol. The plant was relocated from the
companys site in Punta Arenas, Chile.
BASF plans worldwide expansion
of PVP production
January 22, 2015 BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany; www.basf.com) plans to
invest up to 56 million in the expansion
of its polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) value chain
over the next four years. Through revamping existing plants in Ludwigshafen and Geismar, and introducing PVP technology at a
site in Shanghai, the company will increase
its global PVP production capacities by
up to 6,000 m.t./yr.
Styrolution opens styrene-butadiene

copolymer pilot plant in Antwerp
February 5, 2015 Styrolution Group
GmbH (Frankfurt am Main, Germany; www.
styrolution.com) launched a styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBC) pilot plant in Antwerp,
Belgium. An identical but scaled-down version
of Styrolutions larger production SBC plant in
Antwerp, which has a production capacity of
65,000 m.t./yr, the pilot plant will be used to
conduct research, and to enhance specialty Solvay building new hydrogen peroxide
plant in the Netherlands
styrenics products.
January 22, 2015 Solvay S.A. (Brussels,
Technip awarded contract for Qingdao
Belgium; www.solvay.com) plans to build
ethylbenzene styrene monomer plant
a new manufacturing and filling facility to
February 3, 2015 Technip (Paris, France; produce hydrogen peroxide grades for the
www.technip.com) was awarded a contract pharmaceutical industry. The new facility is
by Qingdao Soda Ash Industrial New Mate- located at Solvays peroxide-production site
rial & Technology Co. to provide the technol- in Linne-Herten, the Netherlands, and is exogy, engineering and services for an ethyl- pected to be completed in July 2015.
MARCH 2015
WHEN CONDITIONS HEAT UP

DONT LET CORROSION
SHUT YOU DOWN
Whether its higher temperatures, rising pressures or more acidic media, conditions in
oil re neries have never been more extreme. Tube and pipe corrosion are a constant
threat, causing as many as half of all major shutdowns. This is why hundreds of the
world s most demanding petrochemicals re ners are turning to the next generation of
corrosion resistant alloys. Like one German oil re nery, which used Sandvik SAF 2707
HD hyper-duplex heat exchanger tubes to reduce the number of shutdowns from 8 to
1 over a period of four years. The result was massive savings on material replacement.
So as your tubes performance is pushed to new heights, nd out how we can help
keep corrosion from shutting you down.
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Mergers & Acquisitions

Bentley acquires modeling
software company Acute3D
February 10, 2015 Bentley Systems, Inc. (Exton, Pa.; www.bentley.
com) has acquired Acute3D (Valbonne; France; www.acute3d.com),
a provider of software for reality modeling. Acute3Ds software automates
the generation of high-resolution,
three-dimensional representations
from digital photographs.
Thermo Fisher Scientific

acquires Advanced Scientifics
February 5, 2015 Thermo Fisher
Scientific Inc. (Waltham, Mass.; www.
thermofisher.com) has acquired Advanced Scientifics, Inc. (ASI; Millersburg, Pa.; www.asius.com) for $300
million. ASI designs, manufactures
and delivers single-use systems and
equipment for the preparation, processing, storage and transportation
of biopharmaceuticals.
W.R. Grace to split into two

separate companies
February 5, 2015 W.R. Grace &
Co. (Columbia, Md.; www.grace.
com) has announced a plan to
separate into two independent
companies. The two companies, to
be named prior to closing, will be
New Grace, comprised of Graces
Catalysts Technologies and Materials Technologies business segments, and New GCP, comprised
of Graces Construction Products
business segment and the Darex
packaging business.
Polymer processing
Sustainable
Solutions for
Processing of
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LIST Dry Processing
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Effective mixing
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Unlimited residence times
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Johnson Matthey and Anellotech

to jointly develop catalytic systems
February 4, 2015 Anellotech Inc.
(Pearl River, N.Y.; www.anellotech.
com) and Johnson Matthey plc (London; www.matthey.com) will co-develop advanced catalyst systems for
Anellotechs Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis
Process for producing bio-based
benzene, toluene and para-xylene.
FMC sells Alkali Chemicals
business to Tronox for $1.64 billion
February 4, 2015 Tronox Ltd.
(Stamford, Conn.; www.tronox.com)
has signed a definitive agreement to
acquire FMC Corp.s (Philadelphia,
Pa.; www.fmc.com) Alkali Chemicals
business for $1.64 billion.
Lubrizol acquires Brazilian
coatings company EcoQuimica
February 2, 2015 The Lubrizol
Corp. (Wickliffe, Ohio; www.lubrizol.
com) has acquired So Paulo-based
EcoQuimica Industria e Comercio
Produtos Quimica Ltda., a manufacturer and supplier of coatings
technology. EcoQuimica is now
part of Lubrizol Advanced Materials, reporting to the Performance
Coatings business.
Visit us:
The International Plastics Showcase
March 2327, 2015 | Orlando, Florida, USA | Booth W5749
ACHEMA Congress June 18, 2015 | Frankfurt/Main, Germany | 12:30 pm
Presentation: Energy eficient processes in the polymer industry
18
Solvay to divest Frankfurt-based

refrigerant business to Daikin
January 30, 2015 Solvay S.A. will
sell its refrigerant and pharma propellants business based in Frankfurt, am
Main Germany, to Daikin Industries,
Ltd. (Osaka, Japan; www.daikin.com).
The divestiture comes as Solvay increases focus on fluorine specialties
and high-purity chemicals.
Mary Page Bailey

MARCH 2015
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Newsfront
Targeting Methane Emissions

New sensor, sealing and vapor-recovery technologies aim to reduce methane emissions
Source: Hy-Bon
IN BRIEF
Vapor combustor unit (VCU)
SOURCES OF METHANE
EMISSIONS
Compressor building
INEXPENSIVE
MONITORING
SEALING TECHNOLOGY
Vapor recovery tower (VRT)
Tank battery
Vapor recovery unit (VRU)
FIGURE 1. Instead of being released to the

atmosphere, associated gas from oil wells
can be recovered at various stages of the
production process, and then be either compressed and fed to gas pipelines or used as
fuel, or burned with heat recovery
n January 14, the Obama Administration announced a new goal

to cut methane emissions from
the oil-and-gas (O&G) sector by
4045% from 2012 levels by 2025. The announcement builds on the foundation for further action laid out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington,
D.C.; www.epa.gov), which in 2012 issued
standards for volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) from the O&G industry. Last April,
EPA published five technical white papers*
that focus on technical issues of compressors; completions (the process of getting
a well ready to produce gas after it is drilled
and fractured) and ongoing production of
hydraulically-fractured oil wells; leaks; liquids
unloading; and pneumatic devices.
Based on peer reviews and public input
received, EPA will initiate a rule-making effort to set up standards for CH4 and VOC
emissions from new and modified O&G production sources, as well as natural gas (NG)
processes and transmission sources. The
rule is expected to be issued this summer,
with a final rule ready by 2016.
Sources of methane emissons

Methane emissions accounted for nearly
10% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2012, of which nearly 30% came
* www.epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/whitepapers
20
To well heads
Low pressure separator
from the production, transmission and distribution of NG. Although emissions from the
O&G sector are down 16% from 1990 levels,
the emissions are projected to rise more than
25% by 2025 without additional steps to
lower them, according to The White House
Office of the Press Secretary. Achieving the
Administrations target would save up to 180
billion cubic feet of NG. The initiative would
also support businesses that manufacture
and sell cost-effective technologies to identify, quantify and reduce emissions.
One of the largest sources of methane
emissions in the O&G industry is the flaring
and venting of associated gas from oil-production facilities. The two main contributors
are storage-tank vent gas (26.6 billion ft3/yr)
and well venting and flaring (18 billion ft3/yr),
according to Hy-Bon Engineering Company,
Inc. (Midland, Tex.; www.hy-bon.com) a
major supplier of vapor-recovery technology
(Figure 1). In the past, this associated gas has
simply been vented at various places during
the path from the well to the storage tank,
says Inayat Virani, vice president, sales at HyBon. This includes the gas released from the
separator, as well as the vapors that accumulate in the headspace of the storage tank. In
the U.S. alone, CH4 vent-gas emissions are
lost from storage tanks at the rate of 26.6 billion ft3/yr, he says.
Vapor recovery units (VRUs) are one of the
Best Management Practices of the EPAs Nat-
MARCH 2015
ural Gas STAR program,* and they

capture 95% or more of hydrocarbon
(HC) vapors being vented from storage tanks. These recovered vapors
have a higher energy (Btu)content
than pipeline-quality NG. Recovered
vapors are thus more valuable than
NG, and have multiple uses, including condensate recovery. In a majority of cases, VRUs have a return
on investment of about six months,
says Virani.
Inexpensive monitoring
Although CH4 is easily detected
using infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy and other techniques, the
high costs of sensing technology
have prevented routine applications
for identifying and quantifying leaks
especially in remote, outdoor locations involving large numbers of
wells and pipelines. Today there is
a diverse group of leak detectors
available, with IR cameras being
state-of-the-art, says Ben Ratner,
senior manager, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF; Washington, D.C.;
www.edf.org). The problem is, such
devices are very expensive (costing
$80,000100,000). Also, they tend
to be less selective and are only able
to find large leaks, he says. Because
of this, the number of detectors being
used in the field is limited, and then,
only for periodic spot-checks. As a
result, a leak could go undetected
for many months. The challenge is
to develop CH4 monitors that are
inexpensive, have good quality and
ultimately can lead to reduced emissions, says Ratner.
With this in mind, EDF and seven
O&G companies began the Methane
Detectors Challenge in order to encourage the development of the next
generation of sensors. We want
cheap, distributed sensors that can
find leaks in realtime, thus changing
the detection of leaks from months
to minutes, says Ratner.
From the 22 teams submitting proposals in 2014, the following four most
promising were selected by a team
from EDF, industry and independent
advisors to advance to round two:
SensAir AB (Delsbo, Sweden) and
* For more information on the EPA's STAR program, see the longer version of this article at
22
Honeywells RAE Systems (San

Jose, Calif.; raesystems.com) for
a leak detection system that integrates continuous sampling and
a non-dispersive IR sensor for low
parts-per-million methane detection
The University of Colorado (Boulder; www.ucolorado.edu) for a
metal-oxide sensor network on a
single integrated circuit board
Dalian Actech, Inc. (Dalian, Liaoning, China; www.dlactech.com)
and Foller & Associates (San Francisco, Calif.; www.foller.net) for an
IR laser-based system for continuous monitoring
Quanta3 LLC (Longmont, Colo.;
www.quanta3.com) for a CH4-specific diode laser detection system
Next month, round two of the competition begins, in which these systems will undergo independent testing
by the Southwest Research Institute
(SWRI; San Antonio, Tex.; www.swri.
org). By the end of this year, round
three will begin, which involves demonstrations at industry pilot sites.
Meanwhile, last December, the U.S.
Dept. of Energy (DOE; Washington,
use a variety of modified carbon nanotube (CNT) sensors to build (print) a

sensor array that can identify, quantify
and locate CH4 leaks. And GE Global
Research (Niskayuna, N.Y.; www.geglobalresearch.com) will use a novel
microstructured optical fiber as part
of an IR spectroscopy system. The
design will allow detection along the
length of hollow optical fibers.
Sealing technology
As work on lower-cost leak detection
progresses, another group of companies has been developing new sealing
systems and gaskets that last longer
and have reduced leakage. Some of
these technologies have already been
proven in other sectors of the chemical process industries (CPI), such as
the chemical industry, where even
miniscule leaks can lead to hazards
or lost revenue. And others are being
specifically developed to handle common leak sources in the O&G sector.
The Fluid Sealing Association
(FSA; Wayne, Pa.; www.fluidsealing.
com) has endorsed the EPAs goals
for reducing CH4 emissions, and
The problem is, everyone wants to see a return on

investment within three months instead of two to three
years, says FSAs Henri Azibert
D.C.; www.energy.gov) announced
the funding of 11 new projects to
enable CH4-emissions reductions
through its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E; www.
arpa-e.energy.gov). As a part of
ARPA-Es newest program, Methane
Observation Networks with Innovative Technology to Obtain Reductions (MONITOR), $30 million has
been distributed among 11 projects
involving U.S. companies for developing new detector technologies.
For example, IBM (Yorktown
Heights, N.Y.; www.research.ibm.
com) has received $4.5 million to
develop new, low-cost optical sensors and integrate them in a distributed sensor network. The sensors
will use on-chip, tunable diode laser
absorption spectroscopy enabled by
shortwave IR silicon photonics technology. In another project, Palo Alto
Research Center (PARC; a Xerox
company; Calif.; www.parc.com) will
has offered its support to help the

Obama Administration reach its CH4reduction target. Normally, nobody
thinks about seals unless they leak
and a fire or explosion ensues, says
FSAs technical director Henri Azibert. For example, nobody is going to
dedicate a $10,000 VOC analyzer to
monitor for leaks for a joint that uses
a $1050 gasket. One can look at
any gasketed joint, and it might only
be releasing a few parts-per-million
of CH4. However, because there
are such large numbers of gasketed
joints at a production facility, the accumulated emissions can become
very significant, he says. Aside from
the environmental issues, that is
lost product, says Azibert. Reducing these fugitive emissions can be
achieved through the proper selection and installation of gaskets. In the
end, such good practice is not only
good for the environment, but it will
save money, he says.
MARCH 2015
The sad part is, the O&G industry

can actually benefit by being more conscientious. Good sealing solutions can
save money in the long run, says Azibert. The problem is, everyone wants to
see a return on investment within three
months instead of 23 years. That is
being too short-sighted.
FSA has developed a calculator
to help users determine the lifecycle
costs for sealing systems. In some
cases, a user can save millions of
dollars over the lifetime of the system by using a $600 seal versus a
$200 seal, says Azibert.
One area prone to fugitive emissions
is compressors, which are widely used
throughout the O&G sector, as well as
across the CPI. Recent developments
in sealing technology can greatly reduce and even eliminate CH4
leakage from compressors.
The O&G sector uses two types of
compressors, centrifugal and reciprocating. For centrifugal compressors, there are two sealing options.
One uses oil as a barrier to seal the
system. Because of the high rota-
tional speeds involved, this type of

seal needs to leak oil, otherwise the
system will burn up due to frictional
heat, explains Azibert. Although the
oil is recycled, it is full of gas, and this
gas has typically been vented in the
past. The alternative is to use a dry
seal, which uses gas for the sealing. FSA is working on an economic
analysis of changing from wet to dry
seals. The idea is that not only is the
gas contained, but in doing so, it will
save money over time, says Azibert.
In recent years in part due to
the efforts of EPAs STAR program
wet seals have actually become
obsolete for centrifugal compressors, says Chris Kapp, head of
Compression
Technology
Systems at Hoerbiger (Houston; www.
hoerbiger.com). But because older
machines are still in operation, some
still need to be convinced to make
the switch, he says.
For reciprocating compressors, the
situation is totally different, because
these machines use a system of valves
and pistons to compress gas, similar
to that used in car engines, instead of

a rotating shaft. The piston rod-sealing
system is one of the key factors determining the efficiency and reliability
of the reciprocating compressor. With
conventional packing, no matter how
elaborate the design, there will always
be a certain amount of leakage as
much as 500 to 1,000 L/h from a single
packing, and a compressor can have
up to eight packings, says Christian
Hold, global product manager, Rings
& Packing at Hoerbiger Ventilwerke
GmbH & Co. KG (Vienna, Austria).
In 2008, Hoerbiger introduced
its BCD packing technology, which
incorporated a new seal ring. The
packing features a split design that
enables it to compensate for wear.
As a result, leakage rates from this
design are reduced by 23 times, and
wear occurs uniformly. The lifetime of
the packing has also been extended
significantly by 50% to even 800%
in some cases. But it is still impossible to predict the integrity of such
packing, so leakage rates are also
impossible to predict, says Hold.
With manufacturing facilities in North America

and Asia, TITAN Metal Fabricators has the
design, fabrication and welding expertise to
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Main packing
Oil seals
Oil
Gas
Pressurized oil barrier
Piston rod
FIGURE 2. The XperSEAL (left) completely eliminates leakage from the piston rod of reciprocating compressors. It does this by means of a pressurized oil barrier (right)
Now, Hoerbiger offers a completely

new system tradenamed XperSEAL
(Figure 2). Whereas leakage rates
with BCD are cut in half, XperSEAL is
inherently leak-free true zero leakage under both dynamic and static
operations, says Hold. The sealing
system also has the advantage that
it does not require a packing cooling
system, and it allows packing condition to be monitored continuously.
In XperSEAL, a pressurized volume
of oil surrounds the reciprocating rod
and is sealed by specially designed
oil seal rings. This oil barrier prevents
pressurized process gas from leaking
along the rod. Another effect that oc-
curs with using oil (as opposed to gas

seals) is that the reciprocating motion
of the rod makes it possible to pump
oil after it has leaked out of the barrier, back into the barrier against the
counteracting pressure gradient.
The first XperSEAL system was installed in the field in February 2012 at a
CNG (compressed natural gas) refilling
station operated by resundskraft AB
(Helsingborg, Sweden). In this case,
NG is compressed in four stages from
4 to 250 bars. Measurement showed
that indeed CH4 emissions were below
the detection limit.
Other applications include a gascompression unit at a NG gather-
ing and treatment operated at NAM

(Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij)
B.V. a JV of Shell Nederland B.V.
and ExxonMobileNAM in Assen,
the Netherlands, where the new seal
was specifically tested for its ability
to prevent gas leakage. In another
application a compressor for a
propane refrigeration unit in Egypt,
the user was able to reduce operating costs by more than $100,000/
yr by preventing loss of the valuable
propane through leakage. All three
of these field trials were presented
at the 9th EFRC Conference (Sept.
1112, 2014; Vienna, Austria).
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2015 CHEM SHOW

NOV 17-19 / JAVITS CENTER / NYC
U S H E R I N G I N T H E N E X T 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F P R O C E S S I N N OVAT I O N
Since 1915, The Chem Show is where producers of chemicals, pharmaceuticals,
food and other processed products find the latest equipment and solutions
for their operations. Join us in New York City as we embark on a
new century of innovation in process technology.
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E N D O R S E D BY
Newsfront
Process Control Provides

A Holistic View
Integration between instruments and systems allows manufacturers to
align process parameters with business performance
Source: Rockwell Automation
IN BRIEF
TRANSPARENT
INTEGRATION
SIMPLIFIED
CONNECTIONS
INTERNET OF THINGS
FIGURE 1. Modern DCS

systems have plantwide capabilities, such as the PlantPAx
modern DCS system installed
at BASF in Ludwigshafen,
Germany
s technological advances in instrumentation and control continue to

progress, processors are beginning
to realize that not only can their process control system keep a watchful eye on
the process, but with the addition of some
newer technology, it can also be used to determine the effect the process has on the entire enterprise. However, properly integrating
the various instruments and systems, and distributing the data and information that would
allow this holistic view can be a challenge. For
this reason, more and more processors are
asking for intelligent instruments and smart
add-on systems that integrate flawlessly and
securely with their distributed control systems
(DCS), as well as a simple way for separate
departments to view, analyze, interpret and
use the collected information and data.
Processors want more capabilities in their
instruments, which can be addressed through
hardware, software and technology that can
be put inside protective envelopes and deployed in the chemical process industries
(CPI), says Donald Clark, vice president of
global application consulting with Schneider
Electric (Palatine, Ill.; www.schneider-electric.
com). This practice has generated more in-
formation than weve traditionally collected,

explains Clark. At the same time, processors
are realizing that the plant process isnt just
about making a product, but also about making a profit. In other words, theres more to
examine than temperatures and pressures.
Theres a business here and they want to
make sure that not only are the pressure and
other process parameters under control, but
that they are also making money via the controlled process. As a result, more demands
from both the operational and business segments are being placed on control systems.
And, when you begin to extend process
control into the business domain, he says,
you can obtain business information in realtime. Processors cant afford to wait until the
end of the month for these critical numbers.
They want to know right now how much energy the process is consuming, how much
product they are making and if they are on
target to meet production and profitability
goals, says Clark.
Transparent integration of systems

In order to achieve this view of the business
domain without departing from process
control, it becomes necessary to integrate,
MARCH 2015
27
nearly transparently, a large number

of foreign instruments and systems
under one larger infrastructure. So,
providers of control systems are attempting to make this not only possible, but also seamless and simple.
As such, Schneider Electric offers
its Foxboro Evo product. Its like an
integrating umbrella and hanging off
it are controllers, maintenance systems, laboratory systems and the
like, explains Clark. And Foxboro
EVO brings all these systems under
one common infrastructure while
providing a single human interface
with schematics and diagrams and
the ability to fetch information from
any of these sources and integrate
it into the ERP [enterprise resource
planning], where it can be viewed,
managed and administrated.
Foxboro Evo is referred to as an
enterprise control system (ECS)
that provides users with the opportunity to expand from process control
into enterprise control with a single
system through the available capabilities including a scalable network, cybersecurity hardening, unified control
and safety, engineering tools, human/
machine interface, enterprise historian and a maintenance dashboard.
Gordon Bordelon, industry solutions principal, chemicals, with Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee, Wisc.;
ww.rockwellautomation.com) agrees
that tighter integration between process and business networks is indeed
a trend. This allows information to be
shared between the plant floor and
the enterprise, he says. This is not
traditional chemical process control.
Instead, its blurring the line between
process control and information
technology (IT). Modern DCS and information systems now provide realtime process analytics to operations
to empower process manufacturers
to make more informed decisions
resulting in improved profitability of
production assets.
Bordelon says the DCS can no
longer be an isolated operation. As
organizations move toward gaining
greater visibility into their operations,
their need to establish a seamless
flow of information from device to enterprise has become a requirement
of a modern DCS. For this reason,
the PlantPAx system from Rockwell
Automation (Figure 1) is based on
28
Source: Emerson Process Management
Source: Phoenix Contact
FIGURE 3. MACX signal conditioners meet the

standards for functional safety in all phases of the
product lifecycle, while also making integration
and wiring easy
FIGURE 2. Improved integration efficiency with

smart device connections is simplified by the DeltaV S-Series Ethernet I/O Card
open communication standards,

leveraging EtherNet/IP as its backbone. As a result, secure, realtime
information can be made available
throughout the enterprise for better business decisions. In addition,
it allows the use of commercial, offthe-shelf products, smart field instruments and supports the adoption of
the latest IT technology for automa-
tion infrastructure, such as virtualization and industrial data centers.

At the same time, he says, many
CPI processors are looking to standardize controls across the enterprise. This means they would
employ the same control system infrastructure, consistent applications
and the same implementation methods across multiple plants, explains
Bordelon. As technology evolves,
the technologies become easier to
standardize, allowing processors to
have common controls, standards,
practices and management across
many plants.
The PlantPAx modern DCS platform with open and common
building blocks, sample code and
Source: Endress+Hauser
FIGURE 4. The Promass Coriolis density and mass flow family of flowmeters, as well as other flow and
analytical instruments from this manufacturer, implement the ODVA EtherNet/IP Standard
MARCH 2015
configuration tools provides the

groundwork for creating standards
across an organization, says Bordelon. Weve created standard reference architectures for how networks
are deployed. Our controller and I/O
platform, which is the core of our
modern DCS platform, has the ability to span multiple levels of a companys enterprise.
Simplified connections
While the sharing between operations
and enterprise or between multiple
plants opens up a host of businessoptimization opportunities, getting
the data from the instruments to
the control system to facilitate such
sharing can be a problem. For this
reason, Emerson Process Managements (Austin, Tex.; www.emersonprocess.com) DeltaV digital control
system offers I/O on Demand. Regardless of I/O type traditionally
wired I/O, Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus DP, DeviceNet, AS-ibus or even
redundant wireless users can add
and begin using the information, natively and with far less engineering,
design and fieldwork.
Most recently, says Dave Imming,
vice president of product and services and marketing with the Process
Systems and Solutions business unit
of Emerson Process Management,
the company has added Ethernet I/O
cards (EIOC) to provide a platform to
access data from intelligent field devices within the DeltaV system (Figure 2). Field devices capable of Modbus TCP, EtherNet/IP and EIC 61850
MMS protocols are all supported. The
EIOC provides access to and control
over the data of the device network
by running control modules inside. In
this way, PLCs, whole motor control
or centers of single drives or switchgears can be controlled directly by
the EIOC. The EIOC can be used to
monitor or control directly any Ethernet protocol-based intelligent field
devices. All the data coming into the
EIOC can be used in control modules running inside the EIOC, allowing them to generate alarms when
needed and be monitored by the
operator. Each EIOC is capable of
handling large amounts of data in up
to 2,000 control modules received
from a maximum of 256 physical
and 256 logical devices. Up to 60
EIOCs can be added to the DeltaV

I/O network, allowing freedom when
it comes to segregation of networks.
And, user-configurable IP addressing allows the EIOC to be used in
almost any plant environment. The
EIOC and the intelligent field devices
must simply be on the same IP subnet to communicate.
We see a lot of devices with Ethernet capability and this allows us to
bring in a large amount of data via
Ethernet ports and then bring things
together, keep data relevant and get

it to the right people, says Emersons Imming.
Similarly, Emerson also offers DeltaV Virtual Ethernet I/O Card (vEIOC)
for realtime, smart-device control and
data integration. The vEIOC card resides in the I/O network in the DeltaV
hierarchy. The card can be used with
both online and offline systems. Modules needed to process the data from
the field devices are configured, assigned and run in the vEIOC. In this
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Recognize and honor the mostnoteworthy

chemical-engineering technology by
nominating it for the Kirkpatrick Chemical
Engineering Achievement Award
Winner is selected by a Board of Judges comprised

of current chairs of chemical-engineering
departments at accredited U.S. and E.U. universities.
It is this unbiased selection process, combined
with a more than 80-year tradition that makes
the Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement
Award one of the most prestigious honors that a
CPI company can receive. The Kirkpatrick Chemical
Engineering Achievement Award will be bestowed in
November at the Chem Show in New York.
For the full list of winners and

submission details, please visit:
chemengonline.com/kirkpatrick
The aim of the Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering

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ChemicalEngineering magazine has awarded this
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25487
Industrial IoT
Cloud
Remote
Corporate
Outbound
connection
Two-way
data flow
Plant
Source: Skkynet
Device
FIGURE 5. A cloud-based server will likely be the center of the industrial Internet of Things
way, the vEIOC is self-contained and

does not need an external controller to
process the data. Values can be read
from another controllers control strategy via external references. Access to
interface graphics, as well as alarming
and history collection, is the same as
any other module in the DeltaV DCS.
In addition to making it easier to
get data from the devices into the
system, the devices themselves are
becoming easier to integrate. The
ability to easily integrate is especially
important when it comes to safety

integrity level (SIL)-rated equipment.
Easy connection helps ensure
that everything is working properly
and meeting the safety regulations,
as well as safety-related business
goals, says Zachary Stank, product marketing specialist with Phoenix Contact (Harrisburg, Pa; www.
phoenixcontact.com). Processors
dont need or want to spend a lot of
time putting safety products into the
DCS, so they want something that
THE INTERNET OF THINGS MEETS PROCESS CONTROL
he Internet of Things (IoT) is defined as the interconnection of devices within the existing
Internet infrastructure. It is suggested that it will offer connectivity of devices, systems
and services operating on a multitude of protocols. How this may translate into the
future of process control is still up in the air. However, experts in control and computing have
some ideas.
Automation will look different in the future because we can push the intelligence of devices
further into the process, because smart devices are getting smaller and cheaper, says Donald Clark with Schneider Electric. In the past, automation was stuck on, like an appendage
outside of the process, but with wireless and smart devices becoming smaller, we are able to
take a sensor or controller and put it inside a reactor, pipe or pump and allow the equipment
to not only report on temperature or pressure, but also provide diagnostics on itself, too. This
means a pump could report on and control the process, but also administrate itself and send
this information where someone can see it and act upon it.
Putting automation directly inside pieces of equipment and collecting those data is where
the Internet of Things is taking us, says Clark.
Already, some companies are taking steps that they say may redefine the future of process
control. Skkynet Cloud Systems (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; skkynet.com) has partnered
with B+B SmartWorx (Ottawa, Ill.; www.bb-smartworx.com) to create intelligent networks that
can collect, manage and analyze data generated by billions of sensors, transforming those
data into actionable intelligence that lets companies make predictions and prescribe actions
to cut costs, increase productivity or increase revenue.
The partnership is being launched with a focus on the IoT. B+B SmartWorx will provide a
cellular router that collects raw data from devices and protocols and emits the data to Skkynets Secure Cloud Service via the cellular network. From the Cloud, users from operators
to plant engineers to managers, analysts and customers can access the information in a
secure manner (Figure 5). This is a more secure option than a VPN because the central plant
is not attached, so theres no opportunity to attack, says Andrew Thomas, CEO with Skkynet.
The service is capable of handling over 50,000 data changes per second per client, at speeds
just a few milliseconds over Internet latency. Secure by design, it requires no VPN, no open
firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware.
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integrates easily.
For this reason, Phoenix Contact
developed MACX signal conditioners (Figure 3) with functional safety
for processors who want to do analog signal conditioning but need to
maintain an SIL rating. The signal
conditioners have been developed
and produced according to the standards for functional safety. In addition, they are available with maximum explosion protection and, with
MACX Safety, users can integrate
analog signals easily into the safety

application, for intrinsically safe circuits in hazardous areas.
Another example of simplified
integration of devices includes
Endress+Hausers (E+H; Greenwood, Ind.; www.us.endress.com)
Promass Coriolis density/massflow
family of flowmeters, as well as other
E+H flow and analytical instruments,
which implement the ODVA EtherNet/IP Standard (Figure 4).
Intelligent devices continue to
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flourish by moving from supplying

self-diagnostic information to providing operators/technicians with actionable problem-solving guidance,
says Craig McIntyre, industry manager, chemical, with E+H.
The benefits of employing a Webbased device like the Promass Coriolis flowmeter are many, according to
McIntyre, including a direct, two-way,
high-speed digital communication of
density, flow, volume flow, temperature and diagnostics/configuration
information into an EtherNet/IP architecture environment in place of a traditional one-way analog/frequency/
pulse I/O and associated controller
scaling/integration programming.
The server-based Promass has
an embedded Electronic Data Sheet
and associated add-on profile, which
are installed on the controller side,
supporting rapid pre-configured integration for control and visualization. Pre-engineered faceplates for
Promass are provided for rapid HMI
visualization development. And addon instruction exchanges data between each process variable located
in the Promass and the faceplate installed on the display. The name of
the specific add-on instruction becomes the link from the Promass to
the faceplate on the graphic.
Further, says McIntyre, additional cost and risk reductions can
be gained during the integration,
field implementation and field service phases through the associated lifecycle-management system.
Integrated application-engineering
tools, factory-maintained device
documentation and maintenance
tools, and information-integrated
support of engineering software implementations can bring increased
information value and access to associated stakeholders.
The use of server-based devices
integrated into secure local and WAN
implementations to reduce integration
costs and facilitate remote management is increasing, says McIntyre.
And, this type of intelligent device,
with its ability to seamlessly deliver data
and information to a control system
that ties process information to enterprise information in realtime, may mark
the arrival of the Internet of Things in the
process control industry.

Joy LePree
MARCH 2015
Focus
Handling Bulk Solids

High-level detector has
mercury-free tilt switch
The patent-pending BM-TSM tilt
switch (photo) used for high-level
detection of powders and bulk solids
mounts on the top of bins and activates an alarm when material rises
and tilts the switching mechanism by
15 deg. The shaft of the tilt switch
can be custom made in lengths from
1 to 8 ft, to accommodate site-specific needs. It is available with either a
paddle or sphere mount at the end of
the shaft, and can be used with materials that have a bulk density of at
least 15 lb/ft3. Its simple mechanical
design can be used as an alternative
to a top-mounted rotary level indicator, and it is suitable for a wide range
of solid materials in many industries,
says the manufacturer. It can be installed through a 1.24-in. NPT process connection on the roof of the
bin and sends an alert status to a
horn, light or control panel. BinMaster, Div. of Garner Industries,
Lincoln, Neb.
www.binmaster.com
Magnetic pulleys help belt

conveyors to separate metals
When used with conveyor belt systems, these permanent and electric magnetic pulleys (photo) automatically separate heavy tramp iron
contaminants from the transported
materials. Facilities can convert their
belt conveyor into a self-cleaning
magnetic separators by adding the
pulley. These pulleys are constructed
of steel center tubes with welded
dividers to securely hold magnet
stacks. Standard pulley models use
powerful ceramic magnets in an axial
interpole circuit. These magnetic pulleys are available in a wide range of
diameters, and larger sizes and customization options are available.
Eriez, Erie, Pa.
www.eriez.com
Ensure proper material flow

with these vibrating hoppers
These fully assembled, self-contained vibrating hoppers are de-
signed to promote the flow of any

dry material. Capacities range from
3 to 100 ft3 of storage. The Live Bin
(photo) is designed to provide positive discharge of fine particles and
fibrous or flaky materials, on a firstin, first-out basis, ensuring mass
flow and eliminating material segregation. These hoppers can be used
to discharge to any feeder or process line, or in applications where a
surge bin is required. They are suitable for use in sanitary applications,
says the company. Vibra-Screw,
Totowa, N.J.
www.vibrascrew.com
BinMaster
This firm offers flow-properties

testing services
To ensure sound, predictable operation of processes involving bulk
solids, operators must have a thorough understanding of the bulk
materials flow properties. Such insight is essential when designing
silos, bins, hoppers, feeding systems, chutes, conveyors and more,
and can help to identify the cause
of poor flow, powder flooding and
rate limitations, segregation issues
and product non-uniformity. This
company provides a wide array of
testing services, to assess a materials cohesive strength, wall friction,
internal friction, compressibility, permeability, angle of repose, density
and more. Jenike & Johanson,
Tyngsboro, Mass.
www.jenike.com
Eriez
Vibra-Screw
This level-measuring device

is undaunted by dust
Pulse radar is a proven technique
for sensing bulk-materials level in
silos and tanks, and is reliable and
accurate when the space has a high
level of suspended particles. The MP
Series microwave-based, pulseradar devices are used to determine
the level of bulk solids in silos or
tanks. The MP70 model has a measuring distance of up to 230 ft (70
m). Transmitting at a frequency of
26 GHz with a narrow beam angle
of 8 deg, the MP Series radar de-
Note: For more information, circle the 3-digit number on p. 82, or use the website designation.
MARCH 2015
33
Buss-SMS-Canzler
Your partner in developing new
products and processes
vices provide consistent, accurate

measurements even in dusty environments, says the firm. Bindicator,
Spartanburg, S.C.
www.bindicator.com
These devices provide the full

range of level detection
Automation Products
Thermoformed belt makes this

conveyor ideal for sanitary use
Symetix
Molecular
Distillation
with Short Path Evaporators
for effective thermal separation
of heat sensitive products
under high vacuum of min.
0,001 mbar (a)
www.sms-vt.com
We live process engineering

and special manufacturing
Buss-SMS-Canzler GmbH
Kaiserstrae 13-15 35510 Butzbach Germany
Tel: +49 60 33 - 85 - 0 Fax: +49 60 33 - 85 - 249
E-Mail: info@sms-vt.com
The Sanitary Belt Conveyor (photo,

top left) is designed for bulk tablets,
capsules, softgels and powders, as
well as ingredients handled on regulated and over-the-counter pharmaceutical and nutritional-supplement
manufacturing and packaging lines.
Featuring a positive-drive, urethane
belt, stainless-steel frame and components, open construction and
other sanitary features, this belt conveyor eases cleaning, which reduces
labor, speeds product changeover
and increases uptime while improving equipment and product hygiene.
Designed for conveying ingredients
to blending and mixing operations,
and finished products to packaging
operations, the versatile conveyor
comes in cantilever, flat and inclined
configurations that can be mounted
to the floor, mounted on casters or
suspended. The belts can be designed with a flat surface or with a variety of shaped flights or flexible side
walls to contain the product in the
pockets during operation. The FDAcompliant belting is thermoformed to
ensure a homogeneous and seamless belt, which reduces the risk of
bacterial contamination and fouling.
It can accommodate throughput
from less than 2,000 lb/h to more
than 60,000 lb/h. Symetix, Walla
Walla, Wash.
www.symetix.com
The full family of Dynatrol bulk-solids

level indicators (photo) provide probes
that are well-suited for a diverse array
of bulk solids materials. The DJ Series
handles products ranging from lowdensity flakes and powders to heavy
granules and pellets. The GJ Detector is constructed to handle problem
applications that have a tendency to
pack or bridge. The GSS sensor operates successfully with consistent
results on difficult product applications (such as precipitated powders,
fines, low-density powders and materials as light as 0.5 lb/ft3. Side-wallmount and suspended models are
available. These rugged probes have
no moving parts, ensuring long life in
service. Automation Products, Dynatrol Div., Houston
www.dynatrolusa.com
Bulk-bag filling station has a

variety of design features
Flexicon
The stainless steel, sanitary Bulk Bag

Filler (photo) fills bags by weight. It
includes an integral metal detector/
separator that removes tramp metals as the material enters the filler,
MARCH 2015
and then ejects the collected metals through a chute. The filler frame
uses a patented twin centerpost
design, which is said to maximize
strength and improve accessibility to bag hooks. The height of the
fill head is adjustable, to allow for
bags of many sizes to be used,
and an inflatable cuff forms a highintegrity seal to the bag inlet spout.
An automated vibratory deaeration
and densification system maximizes
capacity and stabilizes the bag for
storage and shipment. This bulkbag filler has received USDA acceptance, is constructed of Type 316
stainless steel and finished to sanitary standards, and is configured
with full-length forklift tubes, allowing it to be easily moved throughout the facility. Flexicon Corp.,
Bethlehem, Pa.
www.flexicon.com
Radar level-detection probe is

undaunted by uneven surfaces
The Optiwave 6300 C radar instrument provides accurate measurement of solids level in silos, hoppers, bulk storage containers, and
on conveyor belts, and is said to be
especially well-suited for measuring
the uneven surface of silo contents.
The patent-pending drop form of the
plastic antenna generates a smaller
beam angle (2 deg) compared to
conventional antennas, eliminating
the need for an antenna-aiming kit to
amplify the reflected signal. The drop
form also helps to minimize crusting
or dust buildup on the antenna, making it ideal for applications involving
materials with high dust potential,
such as mineral powders, granulates
and wood chips. Users can choose
from a 3-in.-dia. antenna made from
polypropylene or polytetrafluoroethylene, or a 6-in.-dia. (DN150)
antenna made from polypropylene.
Conventional stainless steel horn antennas up to 6 in. (DN150) are also
available. An installation wizard and
comprehensive help capabilities,
available in nine languages, ease
setup and startup. Khrone, Inc.,
Peabody, Mass.
www.us.krohne.com
Norres Schlauchtechnik
making them well-suited to handle

high flowrates of extremely abrasive
solids, such as sand gravel, grain,
refuse glass and chips. The abrasion
resistance of this hose is 2.5 to 5
times higher than comparably sized
hoses of most rubber materials, and
is about 3 to 4 times higher than
those constructed from most soft
polyvinylchlorides (PVC), says the
company. The smooth interior helps
to optimize flow. A sister product
the Norplast PUR-CU 387 AS features metallic grounding wire and a
permanently antistatic polyurethane
inside liner, which extends the scope
of applications by making the hose
suitable for use in areas exposed
to potential explosion hazards.
Norres Schlauchtechnik GmbH,
Gelsenirchen-Schalke, Germany
www.norres.com
Protect powder-handling
systems from explosion risk
A full line of explosion-protection solutions offers protection for facilities
handling potentially explosive bulk
solids. This company offers a wide
array of ATEX-certified explosion
vents, flameless explosion-venting
systems,
explosion-suppression
systems, explosion-isolation systems, and explosion detectors. The
company also offers state-of-the-art
explosion-testing services to evaluate materials in accordance with
ASTM and ISO procedures. Fike
Corp., Blue Springs, Mo.
www.fike.com
Particulate-monitoring device
is approved for hazardous duty
Auburn Systems
Lightweight, flexible conveying

hose resists abrasion
Norplast PUR 387 hoses (figure)
provide good abrasion resistance,
PRISMAPLUS
The Auburn U3400H is a two-wire,

loop-powered, dynamic-range par-
The perfect solution

for mass spectrometry
Modular design offers

optimum adaptability
Compact size yet high
performance
A variety of interfaces
make for simple
systems integration
Are you looking for a

perfect vacuum solution?
Please contact us:
Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH
Headquarters/Germany
T +49 6441 802-0
F +49 6441 802-1202
info@pfeiffer-vacuum.de
www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com
MARCH 2015
35
ticulate monitor for both high- and

low-temperature applications using
HART protocol (photo). It is designed for use in particulate-matter
monitoring applications that require
hazardous location certification. It
is designed for emission monitoring
and process flow applications (such
as bag-leak detection, or monitoring flow increases or decreases) for
which a continuous 4-20-mA signal
is needed. The HART protocol allows
for bi-directional communication with
the unit for remote access and control. The U3400H is designed to be
wired directly to a PLC, DCS, data
logger or any control device capable
of providing the 24-V loop power
while simultaneously receiving the
continuous 4-20-mA signal.
Auburn Systems, Danvers, Mass.
www.auburnsys.com
Vibratory feeders convey

bulk solids smoothly
Available in electric or air-operated
models, these heavy-duty vibratory
feeders are designed with above-,
below- or side-mounted drives and
Piab
Best Process Solutions
can be arranged for base mounting or overhead suspension (photo).

Feeders come in a range of vibrating
trough lengths and special designs
are available. The companys optional BPS Inertial Isolation System
is designed to eliminate the transfer
of vibratory energy to support structures and buildings. Best Process
Solutions, Brunswick, Ohio
www.pbsvibes.com
This vacuum technology uses

the venturi effect
Vacuum conveying technology
is widely used to provide gentle
transport of dry bulk solids and
YOUR PIPING
INTEGRITY
Quest Integrity offers a comprehensive solution

for piping circuits using our proprietary,
ultrasonic-based intelligent pigging technology
combined with LifeQuest Fitness-for-Service
software.
This vibratory separator can

handle wet or dry materials
The Finex Separator vibratory separator is designed for accurate grading, scalping or sizing of wet or dry
materials, and can produce up to
five different size fractions in a single
operation. Compared with traditional
spring-suspension separators, these
systems are said to have improved
accuracy, capacity, noise levels and
flexibility in terms of system upgrades. Four sizes are available: 30-,
40-, 48- and 60-in. dia. Russell
Finex, Inc., Pineville, N.C.
www.russellfinex.com
ENSURE
In todays operating environment, its more

important than ever that the piping within
your Mechanical Integrity Program complies
with standards such as API-570 and API-574.
powders in a range of applications.

This firm offers a family of vacuum
pumps and vacuum generators,
based on patented, multistage
Coax technology. The vacuum
pump (photo) uses compressed air
as the input, and through a venturi
effect, is able to generate 22-in.-Hg
vacuum, while driving air volumes
(std. ft3/min) that are three times
the volume of the compressed air
inlet. Through the use of multiple
stages, high vacuum is generated
as the air flow is ramped up. This
pump has no electric parts, which
reduces maintenance and ensures
long life and inherent safety in dusty
or hazardous environments. Piab
USA, Hingham, Mass.
www.piab.com
100% inspection of
internal and external
pipe surfaces
Inspection results
tailored to comply with
API-570 and API-574
LifeQuest Fitnessfor-Service results
tailored to comply with
API-579
Ensure your piping integrity by identifying

degradation before loss of containment occurs.
www.QuestIntegrity.com
A TEAM Industrial Services Company
Seal designs and more for

powder handling are offered
Maintaining a proper seal against dry
particulates or chemicals can present
challenges. This company offers a
variety of seal designs and materials,
such as quick connect and disconnect seals for hoppers, bulk-bag filler
systems and transfer cars, inflatable
follower plate and drum-filling seals,
FDA-compliant thermoplastic elastomer compression gaskets to seal
doors and other machine closures,
and more. Pawling Engineered
Products, Pawling, NY.
www.pawlingep.com
Suzanne Shelley
36
MARCH 2015
Europe 2015 Special Advertising Section

Germanys 2015 trade fair season
celebrates European success
CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING
ESSENTIALS FOR CPI PROFESSIONALS
Inside the Europe Special

Advertising Section 2015
Giant ACHEMA event in June is a world forum for the CPI
brings several events of interest to engineers and managers in the CPI. Anuga
FoodTec (www.anugafoodtec.com), showcasing food and drink technology, takes
place in Cologne, 2427 March. The previous event in 2012 attracted nearly 1,300 exhibitors and around 43,000 visitors.
The European Coatings Show (www.
european-coatings-show.com) will be held
in Nuremberg,
> page 36I-2
PHOTO: DECHEMA
his 2015 Europe Special Advertising

Section celebrates European equipment
manufacturers and service providers across
the chemical process industries (CPI). In
the next 16 pages you will find entries from
Germany, Austria and Italy the heartland
of Europes success in process equipment,
engineering services and complete plants.
Germany is also the undisputed leader
in international trade shows, and this year
Trade fairs such as ACHEMA are meeting places for vendors, customers and researchers
Brilliant technology
Planex System:
multi-patented paddle vacuum
dryer with ZeroFriction planetary
movement eccentric agitator
Criox System:
patented rotary
vacuum dryer/pulverizer
AUMA
Berndorf Band
BEUMER Maschinenfabrik
Brkert Fluid Control Systems
Buss-SMS-Canzler
Dec Group
Finder Pompe
GEA Process Engineering
GEA Wiegand
Italvacuum
LIST
Mller
Pfeiffer Vacuum
Phoenix Contact
Pompetravaini
Sandvik Process Systems
ThyssenKrupp Industrial
VEGA
Italian quality
Multispray Cabinet Dryer:

tray vacuum dryer
with extractable shelves
Saurus939:
low maintenance
LubriZero vacuum pump
Frankfurt (Germany),
15 - 19 June
Stand B44, Hall 4.0
Your vacuum drying specialist

marketing@italvacuum.com | italvacuum.com
MARCH 2015
36I-1
Simulation proves
control systems
GEA Wiegand highlights the
advantages of testing
photo: DEChEMA
Discussions in front of real equipment items are a traditional part of the

ACHEMA formula: here, a screw compressor on show at ACHEMA 2012
> page 36I-1
2123 April, covering
paints, coatings, sealants, adhesives, printing inks, and construction chemicals.
Chemspec Europe (www.chemspecev
ents.com/europe/), held 2425 June in
Cologne, targets manufacturers and suppliers of fine and specialty chemicals, formulators, and custom processors.
For the CPI as a whole, the most important event of the year is ACHEMA (www.
achema.de), which takes place 1519 June
in Frankfurt. This three-yearly exhibition and
congress is a world forum for process engineering and biotechnology. Around 3,800
exhibitors and 170,000 visitors are expected, says organizer DECHEMA eV (Frankfurt,
Germany; www.dechema.de).
In terms of exhibition groups, the leaders in terms of numbers are the traditionally
strong areas of instrumentation, control and
automation; mechanical processes; and laboratory and analytical techniques. High demand has also brought additional space for
pharmaceuticals, packaging and storage.
These strengths reflect overall trends in
ACHEMAs core sectors: machinery, plant
engineering, and the chemical industry.
Despite the turbulent international business environment, these sectors are proving surprisingly resilient, DECHEMA points
out. Particularly at international level, they
are hard-wired for growth, and exhibitor
numbers reflect trends such as the shale
gas bonanza in the US and continuing industrial growth in India and China.
The three focal themes of ACHEMA 2015
are BiobasedWorld, Innovative Process
Analytical Technology (PAT), and Industrial
Water Management. Visitors should not expect to see separate exhibition areas for
36I-2
these, however. What distinguishes focal

themes is that they impact and shake up
the process industry as a whole, explains
Dr. Thomas Scheuring, CEO of DECHEMA
Ausstellungs-GmbH. The development
of new technologies and solutions thrives
on the interplay of different sectors and
disciplines.
As a result, exhibitors involved in these
themes can be found in diverse areas of the
exhibition. BiobasedWorld, for instance,
celebrates the bio-based economy through
a spectrum ranging from process development to sensors, and from suppliers of
stainless steel fermenters to processors of
bio-based packaging materials.
The soon-to-be-published ACHEMA congress program will be more streamlined
than before, DECHEMA says, and will avoid
parallel scheduling of thematically related
sessions. Hot topics include energy efficiency, materials and materials testing, and
safety technology.
On four days a panel discussion or plenary lecture will tackle key themes like the
implications of the shale gas boom for the
bioeconomy, trends in chemical production,
Germanys energy turnaround, and developments in industrial water use. There will
also be many guest and partner events.
New this year will be the ACHEMA
PRAXISforums: short presentations held
near the relevant exhibition halls. This will
help to promote the exchange of views by
shortening the distance between lecture
areas and exhibition stands. Topics include
Single-Use Technologies, Pharmaceutical
Production, Components and Equipment,
Mixing and Separation, and Safety and
www.achema.de
Plant Control.
ike any other plant asset, automation

systems can benefit from simulation at
the design and construction stage, says
thermal processing and separations specialist GEA Wiegand.
Automation systems for large process
plants combine supervisory control and
data acquisition (SCADA), long-term data
storage, and associated engineering systems, allowing investment and operating
costs to be optimized on the basis of real
plant data. Simulations before the plant is
commissioned reveal any weak points in
both the system
itself and the underlying processes, so problems
can be corrected
in time.
GEA Wiegand
uses its own programs based on
WinMOD software to model
complex plants.
Customized program modules
simulate the
process itself,
and this system
connects to the
real automation
system via fieldAs the real plant is
bus. This virtual
being built, a virtual
plant allows enmodel allows checks
gineers to check
of the control system
the performance
to avoid any surprises
of the automation
when the time comes
system in real
for commissioning
time and to simulate incidents. Simulation facilitates:
communication checks between the
plants measurement and power devices
and the control system;
verification of control program steps;
safe testing of critical process steps;
accurate setting of control parameters;
testing of complex control algorithms such
as predictive and state-space control;
operator training before the physical plant
is complete;
testing unusual or time-consuming plant
conditions;
rapid checks on the feasibility of requests
from demanding customers.
www.gea-wiegand.com
MARCH 2015
We know
what makes a
GOOD
POWDER
To make superior powders, look for a GEA Niro drying system. We specialise in supplying
industrial drying systems designed to match your exact product and plant specifications, and
with more than 10,000 references worldwide our expertise is unsurpassed. Our comprehensive
product range includes GEA Niro spray dryers, fluid bed systems, spray congealers and the
SWIRL FLUIDIZER. At our extensive test facilities, the most experienced test engineers and
process technologists in the business will help you move rapidly from idea to product development
and profitable production.
GEA Process Engineering A/S

Gladsaxevej 305, DK-2860 Soeborg, Denmark
Tel: +45 39 54 54 54, Fax: +45 39 54 58 00
gea-niro.chemical@gea.com, www.gea.com
engineering for a better world
Lobe blowers feature the finest Italian engineering

Pompetravaini has added a range of blowers and vacuum boosters manufactured in
Modena, a city with a long tradition of high-quality mechanical engineering
Fit for the race track: BORA blowers will become more widely
known now that they are owned and distributed by Pompetravaini
ith the acquisition of BORA Blowers, Italian manufacturer

Pompetravaini has again extended its offer in the world of
rotating equipment. BORA, now Pompetravaini-BORA, started two
decades ago in Modena, a city famous for the production of dream
cars including Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati and for fine
mechanics in general.
BORA lobe blowers and vacuum boosters have always been
technology leaders in terms of their design, materials, casting and
machining quality, and the care taken during assembly. As a result,
the performance and reliability of these machines are well known
to users all over the world, Pompetravaini says. The acquisition will
contribute to the wider distribution of BORA products, which from
now on can take advantage of Pompetravainis worldwide network
of skilled distributors and service centers.
The range comprises four main product families: blowers, exhausters (including air-cooled versions), vacuum boosters, and the
FP (Food Packaging) range of accelerator boosters. Together, the
Pompetravaini-BORA range covers pressures of 0.012800 mbar (a)
and flowrates up to 3000 m3/h. Blowers and exhausters can be supplied completed with filters, silencers, valves, and sound cabins.
Boosters can be fitted with the DVD2 PLC control system, which protects the machine from misuse while pushing it safely to the best
efficiency limit. Pompetravaini also offers integrated packaged solutions in the form of customized skids for boosters, ejectors, and
www.pompetravaini.com
liquid-ring vacuum pumps.
Amalgamation creates Engineering Excellence3

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions offers the combined capacity of three established
engineering companies within the ThyssenKrupp group
hyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is the amalgamation of

ThyssenKrupp Resource Technologies (itself created by the
merger of ThyssenKrupp Frdertechnik and ThyssenKrupp Polysius)
and ThyssenKrupp Uhde. Each of these companies in itself is a
global player; by combining its plant engineering and construction
expertise in the Process Technologies and Resource Technologies
business units, the group is now able to offer its customers
Engineering Excellence3.
With numerous subsidiaries on every continent, ThyssenKrupp
Industrial Solutions is a world leader in international heavy plant
engineering, helping customers to realize their projects through innovative technology and comprehensive know-how.
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions always strives for solutions
that are outside the box and consequently able to provide better
value to customers. The group is also committed to better use of
natural resources. When environmental and climate protection concerns have to be taken into account, and with raw materials prices
rising, ThyssenKrupps engineering expertise enables its customers
to achieve considerable competitive advantages. Innovation means
not standing still, so the organization adapts continually to optimize its processes and structures.
The Process Technologies business unit is one of the worlds
leading engineering experts in planning and constructing chemical
works, refineries, and plants for coke and other products. It offers
the full range of services of an EPC contractor, with cost-efficient
36I-4
For the Egyptian Propylene & Polypropylene Company (EPPC)

ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions built a turnkey petrochemical
complex in Port Said, some 170 km north-east of Cairo. The
complex consists of a propylene plant and a polypropylene plant
with respective annual production capacities of 350,000 tonnes
high-tech solutions covering the entire life cycle of the plant.
www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com
MARCH 2015
The radar sensor for bulk solids

VEGAPULS 69
Level measurement with bulk solids radar, making the impossible possible:
The most modern radar level technology and a frequency range of 79 GHz has made the new VEGAPULS 69
radar the sensor of choice for bulk solids industries. This sensor is capable of measuring poorly relecting
bulk solids over long ranges, in narrow, or even segmented vessels.
Measuring range: up to 120 m
Very good focusing: simpliies the setup
Encapsulated antennas:
reliable results even with buildup
One device for all bulk solids:

Standardization of sensors
Link to website:
www.vega.com/vegapuls69
Long-term value in solids handling and packaging

A new bag filling system is the latest addition to BEUMERs range of sustainable systems for
conveying, loading, palletizing and packaging granular products
BEUMERs new stretch hood machine in action
he Beckum-based BEUMER Group (Germany), with its affiliations around the globe, is a leading international manufacturer
of intralogistics systems. BEUMER specializes in conveying, loading, palletizing and packaging technology, as well as in systems for
sorting and distribution. Together with Crisplant a/s and Enexco

Teknologies India Limited, the Group employs about 3,900 people
and achieves an annual turnover of about EUR 627 million (2014).
A new addition to the product range is the BEUMER fillpac,
which fills bulk materials in bags. This allows BEUMER to offer its
customers a full line of packaging machinery from a single source.
A built-in electronic weighing system ensures that each bag has the
correct weight.
Another recent development is an addition to BEUMERs stretch
hood range (photo). The companys specialists designed the new
model from scratch, optimizing the components in terms of function, arrangement and ergonomics. The layer palletizers in the
BEUMER paletpac series, meanwhile, palletize bags with geometric
accuracy and high stability. This enables easy storage and ensures
secure conveyance to the packaging system downstream.
BEUMER also provides extensive customer support, ensuring
that all of the users systems have a high level of availability. Highly
capable experts located all over the world provide professional repair and maintenance services, deliver spare parts and carry out
customer training.
The BEUMER Group is committed to a total value of ownership (TVO) approach based on ecological and social considerations
such as ergonomic human-machine interfaces as well as economics. This allows customers to maximize the total value of their
investments over the long term.
www.beumergroup.com
High-performance safe coupling relays just 6 mm wide

The worlds narrowest solution for SIL-certified safe coupling relays saves space,
cuts energy use, and simplifies testing, says Phoenix Contact
lectrical isolation and power amplification are the primary goals of safe coupling relays. Although the relays are vital
and necessary in many applications, for the
user they involve additional space and effort
for the integration. With its PSRmini product
family, Phoenix Contact now provides the
worlds narrowest solution for SIL-certified
coupling relays. Though they are just 6 mm
wide they ensure a high level of functional
safety, thanks to proven EN 50205-certified, force-guided contacts. The compact
design is made possible through Phoenix
Contacts newly developed relay technology.
The design is based on a slim but powerful
elementary relay characterized by minimal
space requirements, low energy consumption, and high system availability.
Comprehensive tests and approvals ensure that the safe coupling modules can
also be flexibly used in applications and
environments that exceed the norm. For
example, the relays are G3-compliant in
accordance with ISA S71.04 for use in especially corrosive atmospheres, and are
36I-6
IECEx-certified to facilitate the decentralized design of an application in Ex Zone 2.

The proof test prescribed by the standards
can easily be performed via a simple visual
check of the device. Complex and timeconsuming manual measurements that are
mandatory when using standard relays that
do not comply with EN 50205 are, therefore,
no longer required. In addition, the coupling modules feature built-in diagnostics
that change the line input signal to A1 in the
event of an internal fault. This is registered
as an alarm by the control system, and reduces to a minimum the effort required for
a proof test. The use of the existing control
system infrastructure eliminates the requirement for additional alarm inputs and
wiring installation, minimizing downtime
and significantly increasing system efficiency. Corresponding termination carriers are
also available for the PSRmini product family, which provide the option of using system
cabling solutions for quick, error-free commissioning and connection in the field.
www.phoenixcontact.com
Safety at 6 mm: The new safe coupling

relays from Phoenix Contact
MARCH 2015
INGENIOUS INDUSTRIAL PUMP SOLUTIONS.

CREATED FROM HEART POWER
We work with HEART, MIND and BODY, because we are PEOPLE

PEOPLE serving PEOPLE, with PASSION, INTELLIGENCE and COMMITTMENT
thats why we are able to offer SOLUTION PACKAGES, NOT JUST PUMPS
Design for excellence

Personalized guidance in the pump selection process
Fast response and delivery
Long term after market support
Trained service and spare parts available worldwide
Pompetravaini has been manufacturing industrial pump since 1929.
85 years of passionate service!
www.pompetravaini.it
Pompetravaini Spa Via per Turbigo, 44 20022 Castano Primo (Mi) Tel. +39.0331.889000 Fax +39.0331.889057
vendite@pompetravaini.it www.pompetravaini.it
A wide range of pumps for heavy-duty tasks

Finder Pompes ability to supply both centrifugal and positive-displacement pumps in
large sizes has helped the company win two large orders in Saudi Arabia
ecent investment
by Finder Pompe
to rationalize and simplify the design of
its API 676 positive-displacement (PD) twin-screw
pumps, as well as a new oil test loop specifically designed
for screw pumps, have already brought interesting results,
the company says.
Finder supplies large twin-screw pumps like the one above to
handle heavy fuel oil in Saudi power stations
In fact Finder has recently delivered its

biggest-ever order. Besides ISO 5199 vertical
turbine and sump pumps and API 610 vertical
sump pumps, this also included a significant
number of API 676 twin-screw PD pumps. The pumps will be installed at SECs Jeddah South Thermal Power Plant, Saudi Arabia, to
handle heavy fuel oil/crude oil, boiler water, seawater, and process
water, depending on the various applications.
The pumps had to meet challenging specifications, including high
flowrate (>2,000 m3/h) and 380 CSt viscosity for the steam-jacketed screw pumps, with double API Plan 53B sealing system serving
four mechanical seals; and high-capacity (>1800 m3/h) vertical turbine pumps made from duplex steel for seawater service.
Besides its ability to meet the difficult technical requirements,
Finder won the order from lead contractor Hyundai Heavy Industries
(HHI) thanks to its good previous performance, excellent customer
support, and competitive pricing and delivery times. Finder was
considered a crucial vendor because of its wide range of approved
API and non-API centrifugal pumps, as well as API 676 screw pumps.
Finder is now working on a second project for HHI, for delivery in
mid-2015. This is the Shuqaiq power plant, also owned by SEC and
a twin of the Jeddah South plant.
Finder plans to further develop its range of twin-screw pumps,
improving their performance in terms of differential pressure and
www.finderpompe.com
the fluid viscosities they can handle.
Turnkey systems for efficient solidification

Pastillation specialist SBS Steel Belt Systems and steel belt expert Berndorf Band work
together to provide dust-free handling of a wide range of products
BS Steel Belt Systems Srl is an Italian

company, founded in 1984, which produces steel belt machinery and turnkey
plants for a wide range of industries: chemical, petrochemical, food, rubber and powder coatings.
SBS is a partner of the multinational
Berndorf Band Group, whose headquarters are in Austria. SBS itself is located in
Venegono Inferiore (Varese), a small town
close to Milans Malpensa airport.
SBS Steel Belt Systems Srl (Italy) and
its partner SBS Steel Belt Systems Inc.
(USA) have pioneered the development
of pastillating units for a wide range of
products.
In recent years SBS Group has moved
into sulfur solidification technology, providing several oil refineries and gas fields with
turnkey solutions complete with:
liquid sulfur pumps and piping
water cooling systems
sulfur solidification units equipped with
continuous Berndorf steel belts
solid sulfur belt collectors and silos
36I-8
Leaders in pastillation for sulfur and other

products: SBS and Berndorf Band
bagging equipment and truck loaders.
The SBS pastillation head, known as
ACCUDROP, has recently been upgraded
through the use of a very effective rotating
outer shell. With its high pipe wall thickness
and innovative drilling pattern, ACCUDROP
now has the ability to produce pastilles with
a diameter of around 4 mm, better spherical
shape, and higher mechanical strength.
These characteristics help to reduce a

well-known problem in the pastillation industry: dust. Caused by abrasion during
handling (for instance in packing, unpacking, loading, and unloading), dust formation
is influenced by the properties of the product. Small, smooth and strong pastilles produce only a negligible amount of dust, thus
resulting in an eco-friendly product.
The combination of an ACCUDROP pastillation head and a Berndorf steel belt
provides an efficient and secure process.
Excellent flatness of the belt and regular
service from both SBS Steel Belt Systems
Group and Berndorf Band ensure long operating life and lower maintenance costs.
In recent years SBS Group has collaborated with some of the largest engineering and construction companies to supply
refineries in southern Italy, Spain, Serbia,
Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia,
Qatar, Jordan and many other countries all
over the world.
ACHEMA Hall 5.1, D61
www.berndorf-band.at
www.steelbeltsystems.it
MARCH 2015
Nobody
manufactures
6 mm
safety relays.
Until now.
Maximum SIL3 performance

in hazardous areas
Relay Technology
Designed by PHOENIX CONTACT
PSRmini are the worlds narrowest

SIL-certified coupling relays. They
are just 6 mm and 12 mm wide and
ensure optimum functional safety
thanks to force-guided contacts.
The highly compact design saves
up to 70 % installation space made
possible by Phoenix Contacts newly
developed relay technology. The
safe coupling relays enable simple
diagnostics directly on the device or
the controller and can be used for
applications in Ex zone 2.
For additional information call

+49 52 35 3-00 or visit
phoenixcontact.com
ION04-15.001.L1
PHOENIX CONTACT 2015
Energy-efficient processes for polymers

Roland Kunkel of LIST AG explains how equipment designed to operate with little or no
solvent can simplify process design, improve product quality and cut emissions
Conventional technology
Reactants Solvent
Reactants
Vapor
Dry Processing
LIST KneaderReactor
To solvent separation
and recovery
Final product
New KneaderReactor technology
Excellent heat transfer allows LISTs KneaderReactor to operate

at polymer concentrations of 4099%
rocess intensification the reduction of processing steps and

equipment is a revolutionary approach to process and plant
design that minimizes costs, increases flexibility and delivers higher

yields. The gateway to process intensification for both living and
free-radical polymerization is the innovative LIST KneaderReactor.
Conventional stirred-tank reactor technology has many shortcomings due to its requirement for solvents with a concentration of
up to 90% to transfer heat and facilitate the mixing of the polymer
solution during polymerization. Additionally, the likely occurrence
of hotspots and thermal degradation make it difficult to reduce the
solvent concentration. Once polymerization is complete, the solvents must then be removed and treated increasing cost, safety
risks and environmental impact.
The LIST KneaderReactor is designed to operate in the concentrated phase with little to no solvent, reaching a polymer concentration of 4099% during polymerization. Its design provides constant
surface renewal that improves heat transfer, allows excellent temperature control, and minimizes the diffusion and mass transfer limitations particularly effective for exothermic bulk polymerizations
with a polydispersity index less than 2.
Due to this process intensification, several process steps can
be eliminated. As a result, the optimized process saves raw materials, reduces energy consumption, increases process efficiency, improves product quality, and lowers both CAPEX and OPEX.
Processing in the concentrated phase also minimizes the environmental impact by eliminating solvents and toxic materials.
www.listdryprocessing.com
Focusing on the essential in level measurement

VEGAs new radar sensor for bulk solids, the VEGAPULS 69, detects even the smallest
reflected signals thanks to its 79 GHz operating frequency and high dynamic range
adar level measuring instruments have created their own success story, largely superseding measurement principles such
as electromechanical sounding systems or ultrasonic devices in
many sectors of industry. Yet although radars areas of application
have gradually grown, experts agree that no single radar level instrument is currently able to cover every application. Thanks to its
high operating frequency and other advances, however, the new
VEGAPULS 69 from VEGA comes very close to this ideal.
The VEGAPULS 69 features a much wider range of application
than previous radar instruments. With a measuring range of up to
120 m and an accuracy of 5 mm, it has enough power reserves even
for unusual assignments such as mine shafts and distance measurement in conveyor systems.
The VEGAPULS 69 operates with a frequency of 79 GHz and an
antenna size of 75 mm to achieves a beam angle of just 4. The
narrow beam avoids obstacles or deposits on vessel walls, and so
makes measurements more accurate and reliable.
A large dynamic range (120 dB) allows the VEGAPULS 69 to detect even the smallest reflections. For highly reflective media such
as coal, ore, and rock, this guarantees even better certainty and
reliability in measurements. For poorly reflective media such as
plastic powders, fly ash and dry sawdust, it means measurements
of much higher quality, with reliable operation at distances up to
120 m. The VEGAPULS 69 can even measure substances such as
polystyrene pellets and fumed silica powder that are traditionally
36I-10
beyond the reach of radar level

measurement altogether.
Inspired by the spirit
level apps available for
smartphones, VEGA
engineers came up
with a clever idea.
They developed an
app that can be used
to set the angle of inclination when installing the
VEGAPULS 69. To do this, the
phone is simply placed on
the instrument, allowing the
sensor to be aligned quickly and
optimally.
www.vega.com/
vegapuls69
5 mm at 120 m: The VEGAPULS 69 takes radar to new levels
MARCH 2015
Simulation for better drying
Endless steel belt systems

for the chemical &
petrochemical industry
A new supercomputer aids spray dryer design

at GEA Process Engineering
new supercomputer
an HPC cluster with 512
cores, 90 TB of disk space
and 2 TB of RAM puts
in a league of its own for
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations
of spray drying processes.
The benefit for customers
is even better and more
efficient spray drying
plants, the company says.
Process simulations are
the key to developing highperforming and cost-effective
processing plants, and here
GEA Process Engineering has
been ahead of the game since the
company introduced the DRYNETICS
method in 2008. By using real drying properties established from singledroplet experiments, the CFD simulations
provide far more precise results than they
would otherwise. Compared to the previModern CFD simulation of spray dryers on powerful computers
provides a high level of accuracy, making it possible to optimize
the design of entire plants as well as individual components
ous computer used for CFD, the new 512-core HPC cluster has more
and faster CPUs, more RAM and larger storage capacity, making it
more than six times as powerful. This allows GEAs fluid mechanics specialists to push the boundaries of possibility even further,
whether the job is to prove the performance of a given design, help
with troubleshooting on an existing plant, or develop new dryer
components.
With this computer we can process the smaller and less complicated simulations a lot faster, avoiding bottlenecks, and at the
same time complete far larger and more complicated calculations
within a reasonable amount of time, says Mads Reck from the Fluid
Mechanics R&D team in Copenhagen. It allows us to do simulations so advanced that it puts us ahead of any and all competition.
Had competitors started to catch up, this is a giant leap effectively
leaving them behind, Reck says.
Extensive CFD simulations were key when GEA designed the
worlds biggest dairy spray drying plant, Fonterras Darfield D2 in
New Zealand. Every component was examined and optimized for
operation as part of the complete process line. Advanced CFD modelling techniques were then used to further optimize and confirm
the design of all critical parts. The plant was started up successfully
last year and has continued to perform as designed throughout its
first season. Another use of CFD simulation is in troubleshooting
and optimizing existing spray dryers, where it is applied during reconfiguration of the dryer for new operating conditions or to remove
any bottlenecks.
GEA is using the new supercomputer to simulate not just spray
www.gea.com
dryers but also mixing equipment.
SBS
Group
designs
and
builds
continuous process plants, equipped
with steel belts from Berndorf Band,
for a wide range of applications in
the chemical, petrochemical, rubber
and food industry.
Having been pioneers in the development of pastillating units, SBS now
supplies also complete packages for
the solidiication of liquid sulphur into
pastilles.
Rolldrop and Accudrop are
registered trademarks of SBS Group.
SBS Steel Belt Systems s.r.l.

Phone: +39 0331 864841
info@steelbeltsystems.it
www.steelbeltsystems.it
www.berndorfband-group.com
The importance of correct steam pipe and valve sizing

Efficient and reliable plant operation often depends on specialist steam equipment that is
properly designed and maintained, says Brkert Fluid Handling Systems
Element steam valves from Brkert
team is widely used in the process industries for heating and hygiene. Yet
among all the specialisms required on a
modern plant, steam equipment is some-
RECE
IVE FU
LL
times overlooked, notes Ian Webster,

Hygienic Processing Segment Manager at
the UK subsidiary of fluids handling specialist Brkert. This can lead to breakdowns
that could have been avoided if some basic
principles were better understood, he says.
As a rule of thumb, engineers should
use 25 m/s as the reference velocity when
sizing pipes and valves. This is a crucial part
of the design, since oversized pipework
costs more in terms of materials and installation. Larger pipework also means greater
heat loss, more condensate, and hence additional steam trapping to stop wet steam
from reaching the point of use. On the other
hand, undersized pipework results in reduced pressure at the point of use, which
may impede the performance of the equipment. High steam velocities can also cause
water hammer and erode pipework.
Tables are available to help in sizing
pipework, valves and fittings, including
steam traps. However, the designer needs

accurate information on the system layout, the available steam pressure, and the
flowrate of steam required.
As a general rule, drain pockets should
be of the same pipe diameter as the steam
main, up to a size of DN100, and at least
100 mm deep. Condensate can skip over
narrower pockets, and if these overflow
they can also cause water hammer.
Condensate pipework needs to be sized
to account for the presence of flash steam,
which can make up 9599% of the total flow
by volume.
Control valve sizing is more complex,
and here it may be advisable to seek expert
assistance from a manufacturer such as
Brkert. Provided the basic design information is available, proper sizing tools can calculate valve sizes and orifice diameters, and
warn of possible cavitation, flashing and
choked flow.
www.burkert.com
ACCE
to ALL
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Finge f Chemical
rtips a
E
rticles ngineering
s
in one
conve Facts at Yo
nient
locati ur
on.
SS
EACH INFORMATION
PACKED PDF ARTICLE includes graphs, charts, tables, equations
and columns on the full chemical engineering processes you deal with on
a daily basis. This is the tool you will come to rely on, referring back to the
information again and again with just the click of a mouse.
Receive full access today by visiting

store.chemengonline.com/product/facts
36I-12
24670
MARCH 2015
A new process for This mass spectrometer adds value

Pfeiffer Vacuums PrismaPlus is a compact, sensitive and
recovering TDI
Buss-SMS-Canzler explains
Combi Fluidization
Vacuum
Separation column
Spray condenser
Vapor dome
TDI
cooler
Heating
medium
Recovered
TDI
CFT
Dryer
Heating
medium
Cooling
medium
Cooler
Vacuum
Cooling
medium
Lock vessel
Dry tar
Combi Fluidization Technology is a simple

and economic way to treat TDI residue
roduction of toluene-2, 4-diisocyanate

(TDI) yields a large amount of distillation
residue containing 3070% free TDI, notes
Buss-SMS-Canzler, so overall profitability
depends on economic recovery of TDI from
this residue. Thermal separation by evaporation and drying gives 100% TDI recovery,
and is therefore accepted as state-of-the-art
technology. However, in practice this recovery process is highly demanding, since the
concentrated residue becomes highly viscous and sticky. It can solidify suddenly and
may block the system with solids.
Buss-SMS-Canzlers Combi Fluidization
Technology (CFT) is excellently suited to
overcome these challenges. The unique CFT
dryer combines contact and fluidized bed
drying, and has its strengths in the economic treatment of sludges and pastes.
A rotor within the horizontal dryer produces a mechanically fluidized bed. The wet
product is evenly dispersed, so the dryer
can handle materials that pass through viscous, pasty, sticky, crust-forming or crystallizing phases during drying. The CFT dryer
thus offers a simple and economic way to
treat TDI residue.
www.sms-vt.com
intelligent mass spectrometer
he PrismaPlus from Pfeiffer Vacuum is

a mass spectrometer for qualitative and
quantitative gas analysis and leak detection. Its key feature is a combination of high
sensitivity, stability and intelligent operation, while during routine operation users
benefit from its robust, compact design and
simple systems integration.
The PrismaPlus delivers precise results
over three different mass ranges (1100,
1200 and 1300 amu) down to a detection limit of 1 1014 mbar. With a choice of
Faraday or electron multiplier detectors,
even low-level contamination in vacuum
systems can be quickly identified. In addition to displaying selectable partial pressures, direct attachment of a pressure
gauge also enables the PrismaPlus to monitor total pressure accurately.
The supplied Quadera software is easy
to operate and offers an easy-to-read platform for capturing and visualizing both
Pfeiffer Vacuums PrismaPlus

mass spectrometer
measured data and parameter records.
Together with a wide selection of interfaces
such as Ethernet, digital and analog inputs
and outputs, this makes systems integration easy. A simple mouse click activates
the pre-programmed functions, while the
integrated VSTA editor lets advanced users
write their own automated measurement
www.pfeiffer-vacuum.com
routines.
The horizontal CFT dryer uses a rotor to

fluidize and disperse material to be dried
MARCH 2015
36I-13
Proven success
for pastillation
Move products between pallets
Pallet transfer units from Mller makes light work of moving

Sandvik marks 35 years of its incoming goods from wooden to plastic pallets
cessing area. To reduce the labor needed for
Rotoform process
niform, free-flowing pastilles are produced by controlled cooling of droplets

deposited onto a water-cooled endless steel
belt. Its a simple principle but one that has
endured: after 35 years of worldwide success, the Rotoform system remains the
most effective process for the pastillation of
many chemical products, says Sandvik.
The Rotoform device itself consists of
a heated, cylindrical stator and a perforated rotating shell that turns concentrically
around the stator, depositing measured
drops onto the steel belt. The speed of the
Rotoform is synchronized with that of the
belt cooler so the drops are placed without
deformation. Cooling water sprayed onto
the underside of the belt solidifies the droplets into consistently sized pastilles. The
A single operator can transfer a 1,000 kg

load in just 30 seconds
n factories producing pharmaceuticals

and food products, wooden pallets are
taboo for reasons of hygiene. This means
that incoming materials must be repalletized between the delivery dock and the pro-
this task to a minimum, Mller offers pallet

transfer units that can also act as an up-todate and reliable clean zone interface.
Since 1988 Mller pallet transfer units
have been easing loads delivered on wooden pallets onto hygienic pallets.
Pallet transfer units can be loaded for
material flow in one or both directions, from
the gray zone into the white zone or vice
versa. Loads are transferred smoothly, and
nothing gets damaged or tilted. Moving a
1,000 kg load takes only 30 seconds.
This system is simple and can handle
various types of loads even asymmetrical
ones. It is easy to operate, requiring just
one person, and transfers the load from one
pallet onto another without problems or the
need for muscle power.
In the same way loads ready for shipment can be transferred from the internal
metal or plastic pallets back onto wooden
pallets. Fully automated versions, with
transfer in one or both directions, are availwww.mueller-gmbh.com
able too.
The evolution of the species

Rotoform yields free-flowing pastilles
even from difficult subcooling melts
indirect heat transfer avoids any danger of
cross-contamination.
Products handled include sulfur, resins,
waxes, fatty chemicals, antioxidants, and
fine chemicals. Sandvik has developed solutions for products of widely varying properties. Some, for instance, have a tendency
to curl away from the steel belt; this can be
overcome through carefully calculated temperature profiles and special heating of the
drum that drives the steel belt cooler.
Subcooling melts are another challenge
associated with rubber chemicals, agrochemicals, photochemicals, stabilizers, and
plastic additives. Here the product remains
liquid even when the temperature falls
below the melting point. Sandviks supercooling process overcomes this by introducing a homogeneous suspension of seeding
crystals into the upstream melt. This remains the only viable way to produce highquality pastilles from subcooling melts.
www.processsystems.sandvik.com
36I-14
The CosmoDry System from Italvacuum takes drying

performance for granted; ease of cleaning is the key
he CosmoDry System from Italvacuum is

an innovative horizontal paddle vacuum
dryer with a concentric agitator. Designed
for maximum ease of cleaning, maintenance
and internal inspection, it is ideal for multiproduct applications.
The CosmoDry System targets the drying
of wet powders from filters or centrifuges,
especially pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals,
and intermediates. Its mixing power, loading flexibility, drying speed, ease of unloading, and product quality are all givens.
What sets the CosmoDry System apart
from conventional paddle vacuum dryers,
however, is the fact that the concentric agitator on its heated shaft can be dismounted
in sections for easy cleaning and inspection.
The agitator is designed for optimum
mixing and heat transfer, while limiting mechanical and thermal stresses to aid the
drying of temperature-sensitive products.
Product deposition is kept to a minimum.
The design facilitates both exterior and
interior cleaning, the latter with the aid of
an efficient CIP system.
The CosmoDry System features a

dismountable agitator for ease of access
The CosmoDry System is available in
volumes of 1504,400 l. Loading capacity is
3080% of the chamber volume, depending
on the product. The dryers are designed and
manufactured to strict safety standards,
and meet cGMP and ATEX regulations.
www.italvacuum.com
MARCH 2015
Experts in reactor charging
Dryer discharging and precise dosing

into drums with Decs PTS, Dosivalve and
Drum Containment System (DCS)
harging reactors with hazardous bulk

materials is still a major cause of accidents, says Dec. Risks can be avoided
by using Decs patented Powder Transfer
System (PTS), which uses low-velocity
dense-phase (plug-flow) conveying to avoid
electrostatic charges. All components are

grounded, and the system keeps the reactor
inert by separating the air from the powder.
As well as reactor charging, the PTS can
be combined with other powder handling
equipment to boost production and reduce
risks in filling, discharging, blending, and
dosing applications. A recent advance is
the Dosivalve, which works with the PTS to
create a low-cost dosing system that is easily integrated to overcome problems when
handling materials with poor flowability.
The Dosivalve, which works with a pneumatic piston, eliminates the need for a buffer vessel between transferring and dosing.
With a Continuous Liner System (CLS), the
PTS/Dosivalve also enables accurate dosing
and packaging of powders into bags.
Dec provides integrated solutions from
a single source. The company is the North
American representative of LUGAIA, a provider of packaging and transfer solutions,
and now MAVAG, a specialist in filtration,
drying and agitation. Interphex booth 1025
www.dec-group.net
Electric actuator specialist AUMA has a wide range of

approved solutions for safety-critical applications
unctional safety, one of the most highprofile topics in the process industries,
is especially important for chemical, oil
and gas installations, where protection of
people and the environment is essential
and financial losses in event of accidents
can be extremely high. As one of the worlds
leading manufacturers of electric actuators,
AUMA offers a broad range of devices providing cost-effective solutions for different
SIL requirements.
Internationally renowned test institutes
have determined the safety parameters and
SIL capabilities of AUMA products. A new
TV certificate confirms that the companys
SA multi-turn actuators and SQ part-turn
actuators with AC.2 SIL integral controls are
suitable for applications up to SIL 3 (in redundant systems). These products comply
with the second edition of IEC 61508.
Design advantages of AUMAs SIL actuators include configuration with different seating criteria, such as forced limit or
torque seating, for example, to protect the
mechanical integrity of the valve.
Evaporation and
Rectification
Recovering recyclables
Treating solvents
Producing alcohol
Cleaning waste water
Safe actuation for SIL applications

F
GW2e15
Very few can match bulk handling expert Dec when it comes
to safely adding powders to reactor vessels
AUMA SIL actuators in a typical safety

instrumented system (SIS), including
sensor (1), safety PLC (2) and actor (3),
consisting of actuator and valve
AUMA can supply customers with safety
parameters, test reports, certificates, comprehensive safety manuals, and checklists
for commissioning and proof testing.
Reinforcing its commitment to safety
matters in actuation, AUMA is co-organizer
of an international functional safety conference in October 2015 in Copenhagen
(www.fscph.com).
www.auma.com
This is just a small selection of

applications for which we can
offer the most economic plant
concepts and equipment. Our
experts will nd the optimum
solution for
your requirements.
ACHEMA 2015
15-19 June
Hall 4.0, Stand F46
GEA Wiegand GmbH

Phone: +49 7243 705-0
Internet: www.gea-wiegand.com
engineering for a better world
MARCH 2015
36I-15
New Products
Tank-cleaning nozzles that
can handle lower flowrates
The expanded HydroWhirl Poseidon
line of tank-washing nozzles (photo)
now includes lower flowrates. The
nozzles can now handle flowrates
ranging from 4.45 to 26.3 gal/min.
The smaller-sized nozzles are designed to fit through openings as small
as 2 in., while maintaining a slow and
controlled rotation speed. Complete
360-deg omnidirectional coverage allows for increased cleaning efficiency,
and the nozzles slow-spinning spray
and longer spray dwell time on the
target surface increase impact when
compared to conventional rotating
designs. Fluid-driven and lubricated,
these rotating tank-cleaning nozzles
are constructed of corrosion-resistant
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) material and are ideal for harsh chemical
environments. BETE Fog Nozzle,
Inc., Greenfield, Mass.
www.bete.com
A fully temperature-compensated
handheld pressure calibrator
The new HPC40 Series handheld pressure calibrator (photo) is said to be the
worlds first milliamp-loop calibrator
that is fully temperature compensated
from 20 to 50C, enabling it to deliver
the same accuracy whether measuring
pressure, current, voltage or temperature. Suitable for calibrating pressures
ranging from vacuum to 15,000 psi,
with an accuracy of 0.035% of reading
for all ranges, HPC40 instruments are
designed for process-control applications, such as verification or calibration
of pressure gages, transducers, transmitters, pressure switches and safety
valves. A single HPC40 Series device
can typically replace several gages or
calibrators. Crystal Engineering,
San Luis Obispo, Calif.
www.crystalengineering.net
These industrial-gas pressure

regulators have three outlet ports
The T39 Series of industrial-gas pressure regulators (photo) incorporates
three outlet ports within a single regulator, allowing for more versatility, as
well as potentially simplified piping
layouts. T39 Series regulators are
available with a choice of seat materials, in six spring-pressure ranges from
030 to 0225 psig. The regulators

are equipped with 302 stainless-steel
diaphragms, and nickel and stainless-steel housings are available on
request. Each regulator comes with a
four-seat valve-disc block, which can
be rotated to provide a fresh valvedisc sealing surface, with spare valve
discs provided. Marsh Bellofram
Corp., Newell, W. Va.
www.marshbellofram.com
Use this wireless device to

remotely monitor storage tanks
BETE Fog Nozzle
Crystal Engineering
The TankLink 95 (photo) is a wireless

monitoring device for chemicals in
vented and unvented storage tanks
in hazardous locations, providing access to tank data (such as critical level
and daily usage history) remotely. The
TankLink 95 utilizes 3G and 4G mobile networks to monitor tank data,
preventing personnel from having to
enter hazardous areas (such as those
where flammable vapor and gases
or other ignition threats are present)
to collect tank information. Telular
Corp., Chicago, Ill.
www.tanklink.com
Marsh Bellofram
This new SmartBob features

horizontal mounting
The SmartBob HM (horizontal mount)
is a weight-and-cable-based level
sensor that can be mounted on the
side of a bin, tank or silo. The SmartBob HM features a rigid extension to
install on the side of the bin. Precise
level measurements are taken at predetermined time intervals at a location
directly below the probe to continuously monitor the inventory of material
inside of the bin. The devices continuous level sensor works like an automated tape measure, but eliminates
the need to climb bins for manual
measurements. It is listed for Class
II, Groups E, F, & G and enclosure
types NEMA 4X, 5 and 12, ensuring
the sensor is safe to use in locations
where combustible dust may be
present. BinMaster, Lincoln, Neb.
www.binmaster.com
Telular
A pod system that eliminates

the need for hand dosing
This modular pod system (photo, p.
38) is a self-contained, batch weighing and metering system that delivers
MARCH 2015
37
WIKA Alexander Wiegand
stainless steel. The fittings are available in PTFE, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) or polyvinyl chloride
(PVC). The transmitted level signal is
converted to a 420-mA analog signal via a remotely mounted DIN rail
transmitter. Kobold Instruments
Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.
www.koboldusa.com
A sealless thermoplastic pump

for open tanks and sumps
Michael Smith Engineers
pumps (photo) are ideal for situations

where metal pumps could suffer
from the effects of corrosion. ARBO
single-stage immersible pumps can
handle capacities up to 300 m3/h
at differential heads up to 80 m and
liquids with viscosities up to 100 cP.
The pumps can be supplied in PP
as standard, as well as the options
of high-modulus PE, polyvinylidene
difluoride (PVDF) and PTFE for applications where more corrosive liquids,
higher temperatures, or higher solid
concentrations are involved. Michael Smith Engineers Ltd., Woking,
Surrey, U.K.
www.michael-smith-engineers.co.uk
A space-saving digital indicator

with many functions
The model DI32-1 (photo) is multifunctional and, with its small dimensions (48 24 52 mm), ideal for
applications with limited mounting
space. The multifunction input of the
DI32-1 digital indicator offers 23 input
The new range of ARBO sealless, configurations. Thus, the measured
thermoplastic immersible centrifugal values from transmitters with current
and voltage signals, as well as those

from resistance thermometers and
thermocouples can be displayed.
The instrument is also suitable for
frequency and rotational-speed measurements, and, in addition, as an
up/down counter. The indicator also
records minimum or maximum values, enables the linearization of sensor values with up to five programmable points and has a tare function.
WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE &
Co. KG, Klingenberg, Germany
www.wika.com
Analyze steels in the field, even

for hot-tapping applications
The Belec Compact Port (photo, p.
40) is a versatile mobile spectrometer
currently going through the evaluation
process with a Fortune-500 oil-andgas organization for the detection of
www.burkert.com
Insider Tip!
Did you know? The Brkert Type 330 is
more than just a solenoid valve: its many in
one. Featuring a body made of plastic, brass,
aluminium or stainless steel and with various
ports and sealants, it adapts to perfectly fit
every requirement. Which means its unique
and versatile valve technology is suitable for
use in nearly all industries. Full encapsulation,
the IP65 rating and an explosion-proof enclosure make the 330 fit for rough environments
and critical media. Its long service life ensures
it wont be a thing of the past tomorrow.
So spread the word!
We make ideas flow.
| Process & Control Valves | Pneumatics & Process Interfaces | Sensors | Transmitters & Controllers | MicroFluidics | Mass Flow Controllers | Solenoid Control Valves
Rota Val
culations at 350F for hot tapping

applications Innovated Analytical
Solutions LLC, Bremen, Ala.
www.steelanalyzer.com
CFD optimizes this modular

range of blowing seal valves
One of the problems faced with
blowing-seal type rotary valves is
to maintain the air velocity between
the valve and the conveying pipe
while still achieving a good rotor
pocket purge. Designers at this
company have solved this problem
using computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) software, in conjunction with
a standard CAD package to determine the profile that would guarantee minimum pressure loss and
maximum pocket purge. One of
these CFD-designed profiles was
chosen (photo) for the comanys
new modular valve range. There is
hardly any drop in air velocity during conveying with the smoother
airflow through the valve, which
results in improved rotor life and
efficient pocket purging. This in
Innovated Analytical Solutions
sulfidation corrosion in hot applications. The Compact Port incorporates features required by oil-andgas inspection professionals. The
system has ultraviolet (UV) probes
to detect C, P, S, B and N in Duplex
stainless steels, with probe lengths
from 3 to 5 m for hard-to-test areas.
The system has temperature-stabilized optics for stable low-level detection limits. The system detects
low levels of carbon in stainless or
low-alloy steels while meeting the
requirements of API 578 and API
939-C in the field, and is capable of
conducting carbon-equivalency cal-
turn leads to increased valve life,

because high velocity-wear erosion
is reduced by the fuller, smoother
airflow. Rota Val Ltd., Chippenham, Wiltshire, U.K.
www.rotaval.co.uk
A highly concentrated additive

that prolongs biodiesel shelf life
Introduced in January, Baynox Ultra is
a highly active liquid stabilizer specially
designed for biodiesel made from
polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as
soybean and sunflower methyl esters.
This easily metered additive contains
a balanced blend of highly active antioxidants and a chelator, dissolved in
a green solvent. Thanks to the high
active-ingredient content of over 40%,
200 to 500 ppm of Baynox Ultra is
generally sufficient to ensure a reliable
shelf life for biodiesel. As the product
also remains liquid to 5C, storage
Visit us
Interphex NY
21 23 April 2015
booth 1025
Your #1 replacement for C.T.F.E, Silicone & FluoroSilicone Lubricants
Inert Light Oil & Grease
Achema, Germany
15 19 June 2015
booth D8, hall 5.0
We keep you safe

Reactor Charging Powder Handling
Process Isolation
Designed For:
Chemical Metering Pumps
Hydrocarbon Metering Pumps
Diaphragm Pumps
Mechanical Seals
Valves
O-rings
Focus Industries:
Chemical Toll Processing
Fuel Reineries
Cryogenic Plants
High Pressure Gases
Water Treatment
Oxygen
MS-1010
MS-2010
TM
s
An Alliance of Technology & Expert Knowledge
www.dec-group.net
40
Connecticut Illinois California Canada

For technical information: 800.992.2424 or 203.743.4447
supportCE@mschem.com miller-stephenson.com
MARCH 2015
tanks and pipes do not need to be

heated in winter. Another additive
(Baynox Cargo), designed to stabilize
biodiesel tanks in ships and ports, has
also been introduced. Lanxess AG,
Cologne, Germany
www.lanxess.com
Safety and diagnostic features

enhance this flowmeter line
Emerson Process
The new Rosemount 8700M Magnetic Flowmeter line (photo) provides

enhanced safety for hazardous-area
applications, along with intelligent diagnostics. Glass feed-throughs transmit signals between isolated compartments of the transmitter enclosure,
providing the most effective barrier for
safety and reliability. The all-welded
sensor design and dual-compartment
transmitter housing keep critical components isolated from environmental

hazards a leading cause of electronics failures. Enhanced diagnostics, including Smart Meter Verification and the new Electrode Coating
Detection provide users with more information than ever before about the
flowmeter, installation and process,
enabling more informed decisionmaking, easier identification of process issues, and simplified flowmeter
verification. The Electrode Coating
Detection diagnostic identifies coating on the electrode before the sensor
signal is compromised, helping to prevent inaccurate flow measurement.
Emerson Process Management,
Shakopee, Minn.
www.rosemount.com/8700
A new full-stroke, integral piston

diaphragm model
This manufacturer of air-operated
double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps
has recently introduced its 76-mm
(3-in.) size Full-Stroke Integral Piston
Diaphragm (FSIPD). The new FSIPD
Wilden
(photo) is ideal for use in the companys Saniflo FDA pumps, as well
as its Original, Advanced and Advanced FIT series of AODD pumps.
These 3-in. diaphragms are said to
be well-suited for hygienic applications because they are constructed
of food-grade Wil-Flex (Santoprene),
and unlike conventional diaphragms,
the integral piston is completely
encapsulated within the TPE material, meaning there is no outer
piston that can trap fluid and particles. The diaphragms withstand
temperatures from 40 to 107C,
and meet the requirements of FDA
CRF 21.177, EHEDG and 3A.
Wilden, part of PSG, a Dover Co.,
Grand Terrace, Calif.
www.wildendiaphragms.com
Gerald Ondrey and Mary Page Bailey
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41
Show Preview
Newark Wire Cloth
ighlighting technology and

innovations in the sectors of
pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturing,
Interphex 2015 is taking place April
2123 at the Jacob Javits Convention
Center in New York City. Over 12,000
professionals are expected to visit
the events workshops, networking
sessions and exhibit hall. The following product descriptions represent a
small selection of the more than 600
exhibitors who will be showcased
at Interphex 2015.
These strainers handle both

coarse and fine-particle filtering
Rigaku Raman
NJM Packaging
The SaniClean line of strainers are

specifically designed for use in processing applications where cleaning
is critical, such as those requiring
coarse straining or fine-particle filtration in the pharmaceutical, food, dairy
and beverage industries. The strainers
are suitable for both continuous production cycles and small-batch runs.
A variety of capacities are available,
ranging from low creeping flowrates
to high-volume production outputs.
The strainers can be integrated into
existing or new piping configurations.
The standard material of construction is 316L stainless steel (photo),
but other corrosion-resistant alloys
are available. Booth 3370 Newark
Wire Cloth Co., Clifton, N.J.
www.sanicleanstrainers.com
Positively validate materials with

this handheld Raman analyzer
The Progeny line of handheld Raman
analyzers (photo) is designed for
quick, non-destructive material validation, allowing for immediate rejection of non-conforming materials
and fewer quarantined shipments.
The raw-material identification provided by Raman spectroscopy helps
to ensure that manufacturing standards are met, and that final products
meet specifications and comply with
regulations. With a design inspired by
smartphones, Progeny analyzers feature touchscreen user interfaces, an
integrated digital camera and largesized display buttons. Also included
are a 1,064-nm excitation laser and a
built-in, adjustable nose cone, which
42
allows measurement even through

thick polymer materials or dark glass.
Booth 2878 Rigaku Raman Technologies Inc., Wilmington, Mass.
www.rigakuraman.com
This compact tablet counter

accommodates four modules
The Cremer Model CFS-622*4 fourmodule tablet counter (photo) can
count almost any kind of tablet or capsule, and fill almost any kind of plastic
or glass bottle, including those with
round, oval or rectangular shapes.
The small-footprint design allows for
simple integration into new or existing
lines, and its transparent enclosure
provides accessibility. A vision-inspection feature allows for the detection
of broken and rogue tablets; when a
faulty container is detected, the CFS622*4 will reject it. Other standard
features include a central product
hopper, a touchscreen control panel
and a servo-driven feedscrew. A central dust-extraction mechanism, a
product eject system and an ionizer
to eliminate static electricity are optional add-ons. Booth 2353 NJM
Packaging, Lebanon, N.H.
www.njmpackaging.com
This isolator system features a

fast decontamination process
The Pharmaceutical Safety Isolator
L-Flange (PSI-L) system is a modular isolator system outfitted with an
L-shaped flange. The unique flange
design enables equipment to be
changed quickly, and the possibility of using an empty flange plate
provides maximum flexibility. The
systems short (less than 20 min) decontamination cycle and a return air
filter create a sterile environment for
aseptic or highly active pharmaceutical products. Booth 3055 SKAN
AG, Allschwil, Switzerland
www.skan.ch
Constant-pressure processors
that ensure uniform handling
This companys Microfluidizer family of high-shear fluid processors enables uniform particle-size reduction,
bottom-up crystallization and efficient
cell disruption, and can be used in
the development of nano-enabled
MARCH 2015
CASE STUDY
SUCCESSES
2015 AFPM Reliability & Maintenance
Conference and Exhibition
Austin Convention Center
Austin, Texas
May 19 22, 2015
Register at
www.afpm.org
202.457.0480
Join your colleagues as Operating Companies

share strategies they implemented to meet and
beat operational challenges through a series of
case studies. Reap the benefits of others
experiences and learn from your peers.
BE A PART OF IT.
Boccard Life Sciences
medicines, chemicals and consumer

products. The key to the Microfluidizers uniform material-handling capability is its ability to maintain a consistent
process pressure within the system.
Suitable for a variety of applications,
including both laboratory use and full
commercial production, these processors provide size reduction and disruption in the sub-micrometer range,
and numerous scaleup options are
available. Booth 1653 Microfluidics
International Corp., Westwood, Mass.
www.microfluidicscorp.com
Forming, filling and sealing for

multi-product manufacturers
Adaptive Manufacturing Technologies
Optima Packaging Group
The QuickPouch Vertical (photo) is a

compact, customizable machine designed to form, fill and seal pouches.
The system can handle package sizes
of up to 6 in. in width and 9 in. in height.
The machines simple design is advantageous to manufacturers with multiple products; changeovers are simple,
taking as little as 15 min. The QuickPouch Vertical is available with many
options, including printing, automatic
loading, liquid or powder filling, diecutting and more. Applying a hot die to
imprint the pouch form, the cycle-ondemand system is equipped with time,
pressure and monitoring functions.
Pouch materials include foil laminate,
paper laminate and plastic laminate.
Booth 3857 Adaptive Manufacturing Technologies, Ronkonkoma, N.Y.
www.amtautomation.com
A compact filling and closing

machine with 10 filling positions
Watson-Marlow Pumps Group
44
This companys H4 filling and closing

machine (photo) can process nested
vials, syringes and cartridges, and also
allows for the pre-manufacture of certain modules, providing cost savings
and flexibility for a number of diverse
applications. Even within a compact
footprint, the H4s transport system
achieves a high output rate of 24,000
objects/h, which can be expanded to
36,000 objects/h with certain retrofitting options. The H4 comes equipped
with a ten-position filling system. For
filling flexibility and simple format
changes, rotary-piston pumps, as
well as peristaltic or time-pressure
filling systems can be added at any
time. Further customizations are availCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
able through the addition of upgraded

in-process controls and the insertion
of vacuum stoppers. Booth 3103
Optima Packaging Group GmbH,
Schwbisch Hall, Germany
www.optima-packaging-group.de
Safeguard sensitive
connections with this tool
The BocLock intelligent connection system (photo) safeguards process connections in mechanical and automated
systems, and is specifically designed
for flow-transfer panels with frequent
connections. Suitable for very sensitive
processes, the system features a multicolored indicator light that continuously
informs the operators of the connection
status. This includes notifying the operator if the connection is awaiting action, or
if the connection is dirty, clean or incompatible. The BocLocks stainless-steel
construction allows for in-situ cleaning,
and the system comes equipped with
an integral passage with a standard hygienic seal. Booth 3168 Boccard Life
Sciences, Inc., Sugar Land, Tex.
www.boccard-bls.com
Cloud-based temperature and

humidity monitoring
The OneVue intelligent platform is a
cloud-based system that monitors
critical temperature and humidity data.
With its responsive design, the OneVue platform can be configured on any
tablet, smartphone, laptop or desktop
computer. Alert routing rules can be
set up to deliver notifications via email,
text message or phone. According to
the company, the platform is unique
in that the data generated by sensors
are tied to the room, physical equipment (such as refrigerators) or inventory (such as pharmaceuticals) being
monitored, rather than to the sensor
itself, creating historical data trails.
Booth 1015 Primex Wireless, Lake
Geneva, Wisc.
www.primexwireless.com
Single-use fluid-path components

designed for bioprocessing
This companys BioPure family of
single-use fluid-path components is
manufactured specifically for bioprocessing applications, and includes the
following products: BioClamp plastic
quick-release tri-clamps (photo); BioWWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
MARCH 2015
Barb hose-tail to tri-clamp adaptors; FlatBioEndCap connectors for

endcaps, BioEndCaps, which are
designed to permanently terminate
a disposable manifold until an inprocess new sterile connection is
to be made; BioY equal-barbed Yconnectors; and BioValve restriction
flow-control and shutoff valves for
silicone tubes. These fully traceable
components are intended to emulate
over-molded products. Featuring
full-through bore diameters, these
components are designed to reduce
dead spots in processes. Booth 2833
Watson-Marlow Pumps Group,
L.B. Bohle Maschinen + Verfahren
Wilmington, Mass.
gaps between the rollers are conwww.watson-marlow.com
trolled and monitored with sensors,
Filter bags designed with safety and can range from 1 to 6 mm. Senand security in mind
sors also monitor the forces on the
rollers. Below the rollers is a chopper
Sefar
unit, where the flakes are processed
into granules. A built-in conical sieve
with exchangeable sieve units allows
control over particle size. Within the
machine, the axes are mechanically
stable so that elastic deformation is
prevented, eliminating the need for
complete axis control. Booth 2811
L.B. Bohle Maschinen + Verfahren
GmbH, Ennigerloh, Germany
www.lbbohle.de
This companys Pharma-Grade Filter Bags (photo) for fluid-bed dryers are constructed in a dedicated
cleanroom to ensure high standards
of purity and detail. The bags have
been developed to avoid possible
contamination from staple fibers. A
microporous membrane laminated
on polyester or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) provides efficient filtration. An antistatic version of the
bags is available, with an incorporated high-conductivity stainlesssteel matrix, which provides excellent explosion protection. Booth
2137 Sefar, Inc., Depew, N.Y.
www.sefar.com
These dry granulators have

sensor-controlled rollers
BRC 25 dry granulators (photo)
process powders into free-flowing
granules. Fed via a dosing unit, the
powder is compacted between two
rollers and discharged as flakes. The
Achieve precise wet milling and

emulsifying with this system
The HV model combination emulsifier and wet mill is designed for
precise emulsifying in a single pass,
and is capable of wet milling some
active pharmaceutical ingredients to
the 1020 m range. Operating at
an extremely high rotational velocity,
tooling tip speeds of up to 70 m/s
are achieved, providing more than
55 times the shear-energy input
compared with conventional rotorstator systems, says the company.
This performance envelope fills the
gap between existing rotor-stator
technologies and high-pressure homogenizers. The HV emulsifier and
wet mill is available in three models
with scalability ranges for laboratory, pilot and production volumes.
Booth 1653 Quadro Engineering,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
www.quadro.com
Mary Page Bailey
PROVEN
PERFORMANCE
ROTOFORM
GRANULATION
FOR PETROCHEMICALS
AND OLEOCHEMICALS
High productivity solidi cation of

products as di erent as resins, hot
melts, waxes, fat chemicals and
caprolactam has made Rotoform the
granulation system of choice for
chemical processors the world over.
Whatever your solidi cation
requirements, choose Rotoform for
reliable, proven performance and a
premium quality end product.
High productivity
on-stream factor of 96%
Proven Rotoform technology
nearly 2000 systems installed
in 30+ years
Complete process lines or
retro t of existing equipment
Global service / spare parts supply
Sandvik Process Systems

Division of Sandvik Materials Technology Deutschland GmbH
Salierstr. 35, 70736 Fellbach, Germany
Tel: +49 711 5105-0 Fax: +49 711 5105-152
info.spsde@sandvik.com
www.processsystems.sandvik.com
MARCH 2015
45
Facts At Your Fingertips

Steel Corrosion
Department Editor: Scott Jenkins
orrosion of steel is a key

concern in many industrial
settings, both from an assetmanagement perspective and from
a safety perspective. The following
briefly describes corrosion mechanisms for various classes of steel,
and provides information on the corrosion resistance of these ubiquitous
iron-based alloys.
Carbon steels contain only iron
and carbon, with carbon making up
between 0.002 and 2.1 wt.%. Lowalloy steels contain a variety of other
elements added to achieve desired
properties of corrosion resistance,
strength, formability and other characteristics. Steel is classified as stainless steel if its chromium content is at
least 10.5 wt.%, and its carbon content is less than 1.20 wt.%, as defined in ASTM Standard A240 (ASTM
International; West Conshohocken,
Pa.; www.astm.org).
Iron oxidation
Steel corrosion is an electrochemical
process requiring the simultaneous
presence of water and oxygen. The
anode reaction involves the formation of Fe2+ ions and the release of
electrons, while the cathode reaction
involves a reduction of dissolved oxygen, with water as an electrolyte.
Fe0 > Fe2+ + 2e
O2 + 2H2O + 4e > 4OH
Iron ions react with the hydroxide to form iron hyroxides [such as
Fe(OH)2], which react further with
oxygen to give Fe2O3H2O (rust). The
presence of acids and chlorides accelerates the corrosion process.
Stainless steel
The chromium in stainless steels allows the generation of a complex
chromium-oxide surface layer that
resists further oxidation (passive layer). The chromium-oxide layer is thin
(microns) but tough. It will reform if
removed by scratching or machining.
The addition of nickel to the structure
(8 wt.% Ni minimum in the commonly
used 304 type stainless steel and 10
46
TABLE 1. ALLOYING ELEMENTS AFFECT STAINLESS-STEEL CORROSION PROPERTIES

ELEMENT
Chromium
Molybdenum
Copper
Manganese
Titianium/Niobium
EFFECT ON STAINLESS STEEL

Forms a passive film with oxygen that prevents further diffusion of oxygen into the
surface of the steel
Increases ductility and toughness; increases corrosion resistance to acids;
Ni addition creates non-magnetic structure
Increases pitting and crevice corrosin resistance; increases resistance to chlorides
Increases corrosion resistance to sulfuric acid
Acts as a substitute for nickel in 200-series stainless steel
Ties up carbon and prevents inter-granular corrosion in welded zone of ferritic grades
Nitrogen
Increases strength and corrosion resistance in austenitic and duplex grades
Silicon
Improves resistance to high-temperature scaling
Nickel
Sulfur
Usually kept low except for free-machining grades
Carbon
Usually kept low; used in martensitic grades to increase strength and hardness
Source: Alloying Elements in Stainless Steel by Pierre-Jean Cunat,

Published by the Internation Chromium Development Association
wt.% Ni minimum in the more corrosion-resistant 316) broadens the

range of passivity established by the
chromium. Further, addition of molybdenum (2 wt.% minimum in 316)
further expands the passivity range
and improves corrosion resistance
(see table).
Corrosion mechanisms
Stainless steel resists general corrosion well, but several mechanisms
can result in localized corrosion of
stainless steel. For example, pitting
occurs in areas where the stainless
steels protective passive layer breaks
down on an exposed surface. Once
initiated, the growth rate of the pit can
be relatively rapid and can result in localized, deep cavities.
Crevice corrosion occurs in locations where oxygen cannot freely circulate, such as tight joints, under fastener heads and in other areas where
pieces of metal are in close contact.
Pitting and crevice corrosion of
stainless steels generally occurs in
the presence of halide ions (chloride
is most common). Moisture from the
environment, along with chloride salts
and pollutants, accumulates in the
crevices, creating an acidic environment inside the crevice where oxygen
is depleted and chloride concentration is elevated. This environment
promotes the breakdown of the passive film and anodic dissolution.
The main environmental factors
that favor localized attack include
higher chloride concentration, elevated temperature, lower pH and
more cathodic corrosion potentials.
Specific corrosive environments,

such as the presence of chlorides,
combined with tensile stress, can
crack stainless steels in a mode of
attack known as stress corrosion
cracking (SCC).
Another corrosion mechanism involves the metals microscopic grain
structure. Rapid corrosive attack of
immediately adjacent grain boundaries with little or no attack of the grains
is called intergranular corrosion.
Corrosion resistance
Corrosion of carbon steel can be
minimized with protective paints and
coatings, or by cathodic protection,
such as galvanizing (applying a zinc
coating to interfere with the natural
electrochemical reactions in corrosion). Modifying the operating environment with corrosion inhibitors can
also be effective in some cases. The
resistance of a stainless steel to localized attack is strongly related to
its alloy content.
Chemical passivation refers to the
chemical treatment of stainless steel
with a mild oxidant, such as nitric
acid or citric acid solution, for the
purpose of enhancing the spontaneous formation of the protective passive chromium oxide film.
n
For more on corrosion, see Chem. Eng., March 2014, pp.
4043 and July 2012, pp. 2629.
Relevant links
1. Specialty Steel Industry of North America. www.ssina.
com/overview/alloyelements_intro.html
2. ASTM International. Standard A380. www.astm.org/
Standards/A380/
3. Steelconstruction.info
4. Corrosionist. www.corrosionist.com/Pitting_Crevice_Corrosion.htm
MARCH 2015
When the Temperature Rises, Will You be Able to Handle the Heat?
Its no secret that corrosion prevention is a huge
issue many industries face every day. Industries with
infrastructure that is exposed to high temperatures
face an increased challenge in their prevention and
mitigation efforts. To educate those addressing this
challenge, NACE is once again hosting the popular
Bring on the Heat Conference. The event brings
together over 300 end-users, contractors, inspectors,
and manufacturers to discuss the following topics:
Corrosion under insulation (CUI)
Passive fire protection (PFP)
Thermal spray aluminum

High-temperature coatings
Generic coatings for CUI
Application of cement, light weight cementitious

and epoxy intumescent PFP
Coatings needs for owners
area
To register or for more information

go to both.nace.org
SHOW FEATURES:
Owners panel
Demonstration day
20+ exhibits
Copy of presentations
Case Studies Round Table
REGISTER TODAY
Save $25 when
you register by
March 27, 2015
Official Publications:
Technology Profile
Propane Dehydrogenation: Oxydehydrogenation
By Intratec Solutions
ropylene is a major component of the global olefins market and is widely used as an
intermediate for an array of
chemical and plastic products.
Propylene is produced as a byproduct in steam crackers and through
fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) processes. However, due to the increased
availability of inexpensive ethane from
shale gas, ethane has been preferentially used as a feedstock in steam
crackers over naphtha, a practice that
results in minor propylene production.
In this context, on-purpose propylene production routes are of great
interest to the petrochemical marketplace. Among them, propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology is an attractive option, and has been applied
in several plants around the world.
The process
The PDH process depicted in Figure
1 is similar to the STAR (steam active
reforming) process (Uhde GmbH; Dortmand, Germany; now ThyssenKrupp
Industrial Solutions; www.thyssenkrupp.com), which applies the oxydehydrogenation principle. Two other PDH
processes were previously discussed
in this column (Chem. Eng., Feb. 2013,
p. 33 and Jan. 2014, p. 27).
The STAR process was the first to
apply the oxydehydrogenation principle
for propylene production, significantly
enhancing performance. In this technology, O2 is added to the system to
react with H2, forming water. This reaction lowers H2 partial pressure, shifting
the equilibrium to higher conversion of
propane into propylene while providing
Conversion propane (%)
55
50
45
40
35
Without oxygen
02/HC ratio = 0.05
02/HC ratio = 0.1
30
25
20
550
560
570
580
Temperature (oC)
Economic performance
An economic evaluation of a PDH plant
was conducted, assuming a facility
with a nominal capacity of 450,000
ton/yr of PG propylene erected at a
petrochemical complex on the U.S.
Gulf Coast (no storage for feedstock
and product was considered).
Estimated capital expenses (total
fixed investment, working capital and
initial expenses) for such a plant are
$400 million and estimated operating
expenses are $770/ton of product.
Editors Note: The content for this column is supplied by
Intratec Solutions LLC (Houston; www.intratec.us) and edited
by Chemical Engineering. The analyses and models presented are prepared on the basis of publicly available and
non-confidential information. The content represents the opinions of Intratec only. More information about the methodology
for preparing analysis can be found, along with terms of use,
at www.intratec.us/che.
Lights
to fuel
RF
14
RF
FU
Lights
to fuel
10
2
CW
CW
PG
propylene
ST
CW
12
CO2
BFW
Propane
RF
6
O2/air
ST
13
ST
ST
BFW
ST
Heavies
to fuel
Water
MDEA Piperazine
make-up make-up make-up
600
from the cold box is sent to the fractionation area, which consists of a deethanizer column for removal of lights
and a propane-propylene (P-P) splitter,
where polymer-grade (PG) propylene is
obtained. Unreacted propane from the
splitter bottoms is recycled.
11
Air
590
FIGURE 2. O2 impact on propane conversion
H2 byproduct
ST
60
the required heat of reaction. Figure 2

shows the effect of O2 addition on propane conversion, according to different
O2-to-propane molar ratios.
Reaction. Propane is fed into a depropanizer column for heavy impurities
removal. The depropanizer distillate is
vaporized, mixed with steam, and preheated before entering the reformer reactor, which is an externally fired tubular reactor where most of the propane
conversion occurs. Next, the reformer
effluent is fed to the oxyreactor, where
H2 is selectively combusted by O2.
The process gas is cooled in a series
of heat exchangers to recover process
heat. Then, it is compressed and sent
to the next area.
CO2 separation. The compressed
gas is fed to an absorption column,
where CO2 is removed in the bottoms
by washing with an aqueous piperazine-activated methyldiethanolamine
(MDEA) solution. The bottoms stream
is depressurized, liberating gases that
are recycled to the absorption column.
The CO2-rich liquid solution from the
flash vessel is fed to the solvent regeneration column, which separates
CO2 in the overheads from the MDEA
solution in the bottoms, which is recycled to the absorption column.
Gas separation. The overhead
stream of the absorption column is
dried in a molecular sieve and fed to
a low-temperature separation system
(cold box) for the removal of lights. In
this system, a H2-rich stream is also
obtained, and is purified in a pressure
swing adsorber (PSA) unit to obtain
high-purity H2 byproduct.
Fractionation. The liquid fraction
ST
1) Depropanizer column
2) Reformer reactor
3) Feed pre-heater
4) Oxyreactor
5) Compression system
6) Absorption column
7) Flash vessel
8) Regeneration column
9) Molecular sieve unit
10) Cold box
11) PSA unit
12) Deethanizer column
13) P-P splitter
14) Refrigeration unit
MDEA Methyl
diethanolamine
BFW Boiler feed water
CW Cooling water
FU Fuel
RF Refrigeration fluid
ST Steam
FIGURE 1. Propane dehydrogenation process similar to the Uhde (now ThyssenKrupp) STAR process
48
MARCH 2015
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24742
Why Bad Things Happen

to Good Steam Equipment
Part 1
Accounting for an entire steam-trap population is crucial to avoiding safety incidents and suboptimal production high-priority consideration must be given to steam-system management
James R. Risko
TLV Corp.
IN BRIEF
WHAT CAN GO WRONG
IN A STEAM SYSTEM?
ANALYZING A STEAMTRAP POPULATION
MANAGEMENT
PRIORITIZATION
EVALUATING THE
NUMBERS
SYSTEM GOALS
CREATING A NEW
PARADIGM
50
istorically, steam systems

have provided the most
effective source of readily conveyable heat to
industrial process applications, including those in the chemical process industries (CPI), and there is
no similar low-cost substitute that
can replace steam. Without steam,
industrial production would be dramatically curtailed, and the low-cost
manufactured products that are
made from steams heat or powergeneration assistance would not
exist. Without steam, our quality of
life, economies and society in general would suffer.
While many CPI workers may appreciate that steam systems are a
necessity, the same individuals may
have also experienced negative
steam-related incidents throughout
their careers, making them harbor
unfavorable thoughts. Specifically,
these events may have resulted in
safety issues, equipment failures
and unscheduled shutdowns of a
unit or a full production line. Safety
events are extremely challenging
and sorrowful issues if someone FIGURE 1. Effective steam traps keep heat in the system to optimize
production rates and heat quality, and they also discharge condensate to
is injured, and shutdowns can be provide for system safety and reliability. Major problems can occur if condisruptive to the entire workforce. densate is not readily drained from the system
It is not surprising, then, that people lack an enthusiastic attitude when it ment. Such destruction may render critical
comes to steam.
process equipment, such as turbines, flares
or heat exchangers, unusable. Additionally,
What can go wrong in a steam system? high return-system backpressure caused by
What types of issues can arise in a steam steam leakage or blowthrough from bypass
system, and can listing and classifying these steam might restrict production quantity or
items help to determine an executable pre- quality through heat-exchange equipment.
vention path or risk-mitigation procedure? Of Backpressure can also cause the heat-excourse, it is relatively easy to identify the most change application to be put on bypass or
common maladies seen in a steam system. to waste condensate by routing to ground
There can be waterhammer, erosion damage level. While some steam-system failures are
and steam leaks in utility systems or equip- common, the challenge then is to identify the
MARCH 2015
12,000
FIGURE 2. A typical steam

plant has less in-service
condensate discharge locations (CDLs) than the original
design. As total failures are
reduced through monthly
replacements, the number
of good CDLs increases. If
actual replacements are less
than known total failures, carryover failures result, thereby
reducing available good CDLs
to effectively drain the system
in the subsequent year. For
more details, see the calculation box on p. 26
Design CDLs
In-service CDLs
10,000
Good
Number of CDLs
8,000
6,000
4,000
Total failures actual
2,000
Carryover failures
Total failures target

Target monthly replacements
0
1
7
Month
sources of these incidents. This leads to the

larger question, Why do bad things happen
to good steam equipment?
The technical answer lies in understanding
that the cause for a large percentage of failures
might be due to the steam system not being
maintained to the as-built or design specification. The original designers analyzed the
plant requirements and determined the most
suitable design, according to their expertise
and standards. That original design included
the correct number of steam traps and the assemblage of piping and components that help
to drain condensate from the system. Commonly referred to as a condensate discharge
location (CDL), the total assembly is required
to remove condensate and effectively maintain
the design performance of the steam system.
Once built, the plant is handed over to the end
user for operation and maintenance with
the expectation of sustaining the initial design.
Unfortunately, that is when operational budgets, personnel turnover and, in some cases,
inexperience with steam systems may play a
causal role in negative events.
10
11
12
Actual monthly
replacements
commissioned, because no part of the plant

had been shut down.
When the in-service quantity of CDLs is
lower than the design calls for, then it may
be that the reduction was due to a misunderstanding of the importance in maintaining the design total, or possibly from general
neglect of the trap population. If the discrepancy is not explainable, then the systems
drainage is restricted from the originally required capability. Here, the target for total inservice CDLs should be increased to equal
the original design total of 11,000 CDLs.
When routinely administered, steamtrap surveys conducted by plant personnel
(Figure 3) provide invaluable information for
evaluating the health of the steam system.
As it turns out, in this hypothetical example,
several years had passed since the last trap
survey was completed. So, when the current
survey was finished, it was found that there
were 3,000 trap failures (both hot leaking
failures and cold-blocked low-temperature
failures occurred); and 7,000 traps were
considered to be in good condition. This sit-
FIGURE 3. Accurate and

regularly sustained diagnosis
of steam traps operating
conditions is essential to
determining the populations
current health (state of the
population). Once failures
are identified, the information is valuable for allocating
resources to restore all condensate discharge locations
to an as designed operating
condition for safety and reliable performance
Analyzing a steam-trap population

Steam traps (Figure 1) are ubiquitous in
steam systems, and when operating effectively, they can efficiently retain heat in the
system. Consider the analysis of a hypothetical plants steam-trap population shown in
Figure 2. Based on this plants state of the
population summary, it is seen that the original design (and as-built) condition included
11,000 CDLs. Over time, the plants management decided to decommission and remove
1,000 steam traps from service, leaving only
10,000 in-service CDLs. In this example, no
plant personnel could find documentation
to support why 1,000 steam traps were deCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
MARCH 2015
51
CALCULATION EXAMPLES
Estimating annual new failures
Annual Failure Rate
(Reported failures Carryover failures) / Years between surveys
(Annual new failures) / (Total in-service population)
Example: (3,000 reported failures 1,000 carryover

failures) / 2 years = 1,000 annual new failures
Example: 1,000 traps / 10,000 traps = 10% annual

failure rate
State of the Population

Average trap life
(Total in-service population) / (Annual new failures)
52
(Failures) / (Total in-service population)

(Good traps) / (Total in-service population)
Example: 10,000 traps / 1,000 traps failed in a year =

10 year trap life expectancy
Example: 3,000 failures / 10,000 traps = 30% state

of failure
7,000 good traps / 10,000 traps = 70% good state
uation creates a significant operational and

maintenance dilemma for the site.
If the goal is to have a zero reset scenario, in which all failed traps must be repaired, and the cost to repair the average
failure is $600, then $1.8 million is needed
from the years budget to accomplish the
target. To achieve this goal, 250 steam traps
must be replaced each month, which represents two or three maintenance crews working full time for a year, assuming that every
trap is accessible and can be isolated for
repair or replacement. It is certainly a monumental task that may have been caused by
an improper course of action a number of
years before, when trap replacements were
not completed in sufficient quantity to keep
pace with the annual failure rate (amount of
failures per year) of the population.
Consider that the average annual failure
rate of a steam trap population in a mature
plant can be estimated from historical records, provided that there are at least two
survey events within a period of 45 years.
Simply subtract the carryover failures (failed
traps recorded from a prior survey for which
no action was taken to repair) from the reported failures that were recorded in the
survey. The remainder is the quantity of new
failures. The number of new failures can be
divided by the number of years since the prior
survey to provide an estimate of the average
annual new failures of a steam trap population. Several related useful calculations are
shown in the box above.
In this hypothetical plant history, if the
management of the trap population had
been continuous and sustainable at an annual failure rate of 1,000 (10%), then the
plant should only have to support the repair
of 84 traps per month, not 250 traps. However, in this case, the trap population was allowed to deteriorate to 3,000 failures (30%
failure state), and this situation places a tremendous burden on resources. Worse still, if
not corrected, the failures can be expected
to grow until catastrophic events occur.

One takeaway from this example is that for
every 1,000 traps that must be repaired in
a year, there is a requirement for the planning and repair resources to correct 84 traps
monthly without fail. That replacement requirement equates to repairing 45 CDLs
per day, with any lesser amount creating a
gap at year-end; the difference here equaling
the next years carryover failures.
Steam traps must be replenished or repaired in order to maintain a sustainable
operation. Not taking the highest-priority
corrective action with regard to steam trap
failures is somewhat comparable to reusing
a teabag even though it no longer dispenses
flavor although there is a teabag in service, it no longer provides a useful purpose.
Similarly, if a steam trap has failed particularly via a cold failure then the CDL is
no longer serving its intended purpose, and
must be repaired.
Is there any question about what outcome
should be expected if all of the steam traps
and related CDLs in a system were simply isolated by valving, thereby completely removing their drainage capability? There would be
no way to automatically remove condensate
from the system, creating a highly dangerous
situation. What about if just 30% were shut
off, or 50%? It is akin to gambling with the
safety of the plant, as the potential formation of condensate slugs in the pipeline can
lead to unstable, hazardous conditions. It is
extremely distressing to consider a site that
is not replacing trap failures due to a budget constraint, because the timely repair of
traps allows the system to operate at the
intended conditions. This must be seen as
an inflexible demand. Timely action should
be mandatory, not optional, to optimize the
operation of a steam system.
Management prioritization
In a properly drained and maintained steam
system, it is critical that the steam flowing
MARCH 2015
1,600
FIGURE 4. Often, high priority is given to

fixing the leakage failures or hot failures
to reduce steam loss and increase profit.
Commonly, the repair of hot failures with
high-value loss is given first priority in
instances other than very critical applications. A representative example of the
correlation of yearly repairs to reduction
in steam loss is shown here
35,000
Number of steam leaks
* 20 lb/h average leak
Cumulative steam loss
1,400
30,000
25,000

1,000
20,000
800
15,000
600
Steam loss (lb/h)
Number of steam leaks
1,200
10,000
400
5,000
200
0
0
6
Month
within the system remains at nearsaturated quality and that avoidable

backpressure in the return header is
reduced, in order to diminish the likelihood of waterhammer, erosion, corrosion and plating. Superheated steam
or steam with near-saturation quality
normally cannot cause hammer or high
erosion at normal velocities because
there is not enough condensate to be
propelled downstream. Hammer and
erosion occur when liquid pools in the
system are thrust at high speeds, but
when a system is properly drained, the
damaging component is missing. Once
again, it is evident that steam-trap failure rates are reduced in successfully
maintained steam systems, enabling
efficient condensate removal from
the system.
Maintaining CDLs to manufacturer
specifications helps to eliminate steam
leakage (hot failures) and blocked discharge conditions (cold failures). When
CDL failures both hot and cold
are minimized, insulation is maintained
and boilers are not pushed beyond their
specified limits, the steam system can
be optimized with regards to condensate drainage, as well as the ability to
sustain steam quality when transported
throughout the system.
It sounds simple enough maintain
the insulation, keep the boiler within its
limits and ensure that the steam trap
population provides for quality condensate drainage. It certainly sounds
straightforward in concept. If it were
so readily attainable, then why isnt this
goal accomplished more often?
10
11
12
Evaluating the numbers

In many plants, the typical program to
manage the steam trap population may
be controlled by budget constraints, by
changing responsibilities or by a lack of
priority. Although plant operations can
be critically affected, the budget may be
controlled by maintenance that requires
close collaboration and coordination
between departments. However, regardless of the circumstance or cause,
it sometimes seems that once a system has reached a manageable level
after years of cooperation and dedication, then the operational problems are
minimized and some portion of the trap
maintenance budget is reassigned to a
different project not related to trap repair.
Then, the portion of the trap population
considered to be good suffers by seeing an increase in carryover failures, and
often no survey action takes place for
an extended time. All the while, new failures are accumulating, thereby reducing
the safety, reliability and performance
of the system. This situation is unfortunate, because the system had finally
reached a relatively sustainable condition. Subsequently, after several years of
inaction, the plants trap population may
deteriorate so much that a significant
negative incident occurs. At this point,
the follow-up (some might say knee-jerk)
reaction may be to fix the steam system
very hastily. This is an all-too-frequent
scenario that can lead to the previously
presented example where 3,000 traps
failed at a single site.
Once failures have been identified,
then the focus is often placed on fixing
MARCH 2015
53
FIGURE 5. For zero reset of

all 3,000 failures, monthly
replacement of 250 CDLs is
required. If actual replacemnents monthly are reduced,
the gap results in year-end
carryover failures that reduce
the effective good in-service
CDLs in the next year
3,000
2,500
Total failures actual
Number of failures
2,000
Total failures target
1,500
1,000
Carryover
failures
500
Target monthly replacements
Actual replacements
0
0
the hot failures, because these repairs can

be readily justified by simple energy-cost
analysis. Figure 4 illustrates a typical close
relationship between hot-failure traps and reduced steam loss. Especially in times of very
high energy prices, incredible emphasis is
placed on reducing the cost of operations by
fixing leaking steam traps. A progress chart,
similar to the one shown in Figure 4, can be
generated and tracked. Thus, if the project
plan is to eliminate 3,000 failures from the
hypothetical plant, then the corresponding
requirement is to repair 250 CDLs per month,
otherwise there will be a carryover failures
gap (see Figure 5 for additional analysis).
The carryover failures represent the real
world; rarely do plants correct all or even
nearly all of the failures. The result is that
a significant number of CDLs are not restored to proper drainage operation, and it
is not uncommon to carry a sizable number
of failures over to the following year. Once
carryover failures are accepted in a plants
operations, the steam system becomes
destined for sub-optimal and potentially
unreliable operation.
What follows when 1,000 carryover failures
are extended into the following year? Instead
of correcting all 3,000 failed steam traps (a
zero reset mentality), suppose that the plant
management allocated a budget for repair
of only 2,000 failures instead. Perhaps this
thought process stems from the expectation that with 2,000 failures corrected, the
next annual period will only require budget
for 1,000 failures. However, that is not an
accurate scenario, because those 1,000
CDLs represent carryover failures only, and
the plant also must consider new failures. In
54
6
Month
10
11
12
a plant with an average steam-trap lifecycle

of ten years, the actual failures could be estimated as 2,000, consisting of the 1,000
carryover failures just identified and 1,000
new failures. While the diagnosis of each
trap in the population is performed at regular
intervals (usually annually or semi-annually),
new failures are constantly occurring, as illustrated in Figure 6.
If carryover failures are included as part of
the repair strategy, a significant number of
CDLs will be operating improperly, thereby
increasing the chances of a debilitating incident occurring within the plant. For this
reason, it is not recommended to adopt a
work process that allows carryover failures
and focuses only on those traps that have
already been fixed. Instead, a paradigm shift
is required.
System goals
Applying maintenance action to individual
steam traps is a path action, but not an
overarching system goal. Risk lies in the
false sense of security that is given when
the goal is simply to repair a given number
of steam traps, and the real goal of achieving an optimized steam system is neglected.
So, if the annual target is established to fix
2,000 steam traps and only 1,000 traps are
repaired, there might be some explanation of
mitigating events that explains the lapse. In
such a situation, the carryover failures might
be considered acceptable under the circumstances, and a new goal is assigned for the
next year. However, this is a dangerous situation, because while the potential for damage is not visible, it is prevalent in the unaddressed sections of the steam system, and
MARCH 2015
12,000
FIGURE 6. There is always an

identification-repair responsetime lag between diagnosis
and maintenance action.
Although a site may elect to
perform sufficient repairs to
reach a target state of the CDL
population at year-end, new
failures occuring during the
repair period always lower the
actual year-end state. It is just
one of many justifications for
adopting a zero reset
mentality for maintenanceresponse planning
Design CDLs
In-service CDLs
10,000
Target
state
Zero reset
Number of CDLs
8,000
Actual
6,000
4,000
2,000
New failures
0
0
the downstream recipients of that steam.

The potential for peril can increase in severity over time.
Without a full understanding of the longterm impact on a steam system, there can
exist a false impression that a system can
be well managed, even if there is allowance
for carryover failures. Figure 7 provides additional insight into a longer-term view. As it
turns out, the best possible theoretical state
of the population occurs only after a zero
reset condition is experienced from the prior
survey report, and when accumulated repairs equal new accumulated failures. After
the midway point, zero reset has been theoretically reached, and new replacements
cease, as there are no known failures that
remain to be repaired. However, unidentified
new failures are still occurring and will not be
7
8
Month
10
11
12
13
14
recognized until the next survey.

The result is that the best state deteriorates between the prior and new surveys,
with the theoretical best sustainable condition being realized at the beginning date
of the next survey. This theoretical point
occurs midway between the prior survey
and the next survey date if annual surveys are conducted, and repair is immediate
and linear, then the best good state occurs
at midyear.
If the original goal of the designers is
recalled, it was to have 11,000 fully functional CDLs at the site. For whatever reasons, the plants management decided to
decommission and remove 1,000 installations, leaving a population of only 10,000
in-service CDLs (a 9% reduction from the
design). Even if there is perfect harmony
12,000
Design CDLs
In-service CDLs
10,000
*
Best
Best
sustainable
Target
8,000
Number of CDLs
Actual
6,000
Adjustment for
new failures
FIGURE 7. Sites sometimes

decide upon a fixed number
of annual repairs instead
of striving for zero reset,
thinking they can achieve a
nearly 100% good in-service
CDL population state over
several years. However, due
to new failures during the
repair cycle, the theoretical
best sustainable condition
is reached midway through a
perfectly correlated, linear inspection and repair term, after
which the number of CDLs in
good condition will decline
4,000
Accumulated repairs
2,000
New accumulated failures
0
0
12
18
24
30
36
Month
MARCH 2015
55
Design
In-service
Best
Best Sustainable
Minimum
Caution
Warning
Number of CDLs
FIGURE 8. The number of

in-service CDLs is already a
reduction from the number of
CDLs in the original design,
which is not desirable unless
clearly justified; and even with
a zero reset focus and perfectly harmonized inspection
and repair, the best sustainable condition is controlled
by the number of annual
failures. Establishing critical
threshold values provides
clear direction for sustainable
steam-system performance
Cold failures
Hot failures
Total failures
Danger
Warning
Caution
Minimum
Best sustainable
Best
Design
In-service
Danger
3,000
Total failures
2,000
1,000
0
Hot failures
0
6
Month
with replacement equipment to achieve a

best sustainable state, that already represents an 18% drop in drainage capability
from the design. At this point, it is also important to consider how much redundancy
the professional engineering firm included
in the original design. Understanding the
effect of reducing the number of in-service
good CDLs from the design, it can be seen
that a key step is to increase the quantity of
in-service CDLs until it reaches the design
total, less any trap stations clearly suitable
for decommissioning.
Furthermore, once carryover failures and
FIGURE 9. A paradigm shift

directs full attention to the
performance-based method,
rather than focusing mainly
on hot failures. Knowing the
number of good CDLs relative to key threshold levels
provides a clear indication of
the steam systems health and
performance expectations
10
11
12
new failures are considered, it is possible to

have only 7,000 or 8,000 correctly functioning CDLs; which in the case of the former,
represents just 63% of the original design.
Starting the next year with only 63% of the
original design total considered to be in good
condition is dangerous, especially if there is
an additional lapse in repair action. It can be
expected that another 1,000 traps would fail
without any repair of previously failed traps.
In such an instance, the portion of the population functioning correctly for system drainage could be reduced to 6,000 traps only
54% of the original design.
Best sustainable good
Minimum good
Caution
Year
Failure-based method
56
Good
Good
Good
Cold failures
Hot
failures
Cold failures
Hot
failures
Hot failures
Cold
failures
Warning
Danger
Year
Performance-based method
MARCH 2015
Creating a new paradigm
repaired CDL. In some instances at least,

This is where the necessity of a paradigm the engagement and dedication to a steam
shift comes to the forefront. The goal is not system by owner personnel can be higher
to repair failed traps, but rather to maintain than with contractors, so a regular and ona minimum threshold of CDLs in functional going audit process is recommended to help
condition. That quantity of good CDLs should obtain sustained high-quality work on such
always refer to the original design total, not critical responsibilities.
With consideration for the site employees
to the quantity that are currently in service.
Instead of the focus on hot failures, steam who manage the steam system because
loss or accumulated repairs, a site should responsibilities and personnel change
shift attention to sustaining an acceptable guidelines must be established. In order to
good threshold value for the state
of the population with specific,
strict dates to start the survey every
period. The established survey start
date becomes sacrosanct and is
held steadfast, regardless of daily
interferences. The survey takes
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such a high priority simply because
a steam system is indispensable to
the production success of a safely
operating plant. It should not be a
second- or third-priority focus, but
AND HIGH-TEMPERATURE PERFORMANCE
the key focus, thus helping to enfor transmission of
sure an optimized steam system.
Another important factor that must
all made with
be addressed is outsourcing, which

is the allocation of responsibilities to
.
third-party entities as contractors
to perform certain work. In order
to achieve a sustainable program
under an outsourcing scenario, there
are several crucial requirements:
certified test personnel; validated
equipment for making accurate
condition judgments; and standardized application drawings for correct installation of repaired equipment. In some plants, testing and
maintenance may be conducted by
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suitably educated and certified for
these tasks. Most critically, there
should exist a regular audit process
to check and confirm the accuracy
of the surveyors qualification cer 2014 The Lubrizol Corporation, all rights reserved. All marks are the property of The Lubrizol Corporation.
tificates, the actual judgments perThe Lubrizol Corporation is a Berkshire Hathaway company.
GC 140681
formed by those surveyors, and in
the case of maintenance contractors, the correct installation of each
CORROSION RESISTANCE
CHEMICAL FLUIDS
LUBRIZOL TECHNOLOGY
TO GIVE YOU MORE INSIDE
MARCH 2015
57
implement clear ongoing parameters for safe

and reliable operation, a plant should determine required threshold target and notification values that can be used as the primary
focus for the team responsible for maintaining system performance. Figure 8 shows the
different key threshold levels of good CDLs
as: minimum, caution, warning and
danger. Note that best sustainable is a
theoretical condition for which it is possible
to approach this level, and minimum is the
determined threshold below which safe and

reliable operation of the steam system can
be adversely affected. Other tiers provide
information to operations and maintenance
personnel on the reasonable expectations
of increased risk, should appropriate action
not be executed.
If a plant wants to have a secondary focus
on cold failures to reduce problems caused
by condensate in the system, or to repair
hot failures to reduce backpressure and
recover profits lost to unnecessary
energy production, that is certainly a
fine approach to fixing failed CDLs.
However, when the big picture is to
achieve safe and reliable plant operations, the primary focus, as shown
in Figure 9, must be to measure the
number of good CDLs that are draining the system. Plants should establish the target of keeping the good
CDLs between the minimum good
and best sustainable good state
threshold values.
When the goal is to maintain a
state of the population at or above
minimum good levels for safety
and reliability considerations, the
target is straightforward. Now,
the repair of failures becomes
just a path, not a goal. With a
clear message to personnel, the
steam-system drainage can be
optimized and sustained for best
plant performance.
Edited by Mary Page Bailey
For suggested additional reading on steam systems, see the online version of this article
at www.chemengonline.com.
Author
James R. Risko is the president
of TLV Corp. (13901 South Lakes
Dr., Charlotte, N.C. 29873;
Phone: (704) 597-9070; Email:
risko@tlvengineering.com). The
author of more than 30 articles
related to steam and condensate
systems, Risko is active in both
the standards and technicalwriting activities of the Fluid
Controls Institute (FCI), and has previously served as
the organizations chairman, standards chair, and
chair of the Secondary Pressure and Steam Trap sections. He has earned three energy-management certifications, from the Association of Energy Engineers,
North Carolina State Univ., and the Institute of Energy
Professionals. He holds an M.B.A from Wilkes University, and two B.S. degrees, in mathematics/education
and business administration/accounting, from Kutztown University. He is also licensed as a Certified
Energy Manager (CEM) and a Professional
Energy Manager (PEM).
58
MARCH 2015
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Seven Tools for Project Success
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Pressure-Vessel Quality Control Requirements

Compressible Fluid Flow Calculation Methods
Quick Pipe and Duct Flow Calculations
Mass Transfer in Fermentation Scaleup
Implementing a Corrosion- Under-Insulation Program
Protecting Against Compressor Pulsations
Integrally Geared Compressors in the CPI
Overcoming Solids Caking with Flow Aid
Piping-System Leak Detection and Monitoring for the CPI
Unlocking the Secrets of Plate-and-Frame Heat Exchangers
Industrial Control Systems Security: The Owner-Operators Challenge
Fine Tune the Design of Sour-water Strippers Using Rate-based Simulation
Combining the use of Rupture Discs with Relief Valves
Control Valve Selection: True Cost Savings Are Available
A Primer on Reverse Osmosis Technology
New Horizons For Dividing Wall Columns
Advanced Control Methods for Combustion
Magnetically Driven Pumps: An overview
Modern Water-Treatment Challenges
Challenges of Drying Sticky Wastewater Sludge
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Pressure Transmitter Basics: Selection Guidelines

Pressure Transmitter Basics: DP Transmitters
Reactive Chemistry in the CPI
Burner Inspection and Maintenance
Critical Connections Demand Certain
Bulk solids: Operating Direct-Contact Heat Exchangers
Achieving Excellence in Energy Efficiency
Improve Your Contingency Estimates for More Realistic Project Budgets
Solids Handling: Using Flowsheet Simulation to Improve Process Design
Fire-Water Pumps for CPI Facilities
Find this and other related reference

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Part 2
Mitigate Corrosion in
Condensate-Return
Systems
Understanding the chemistry behind corrosion in condensate-return systems can aid in
selecting and properly employing the best mitigation technique
S.K. Mukherjee
Consultant
IN BRIEF
CORROSION
MECHANISMS
COMBATTING
CORROSION
CONTROLLING
CORROSION
MONITORING
CORROSION
he importance of steam-condensate
return systems to boilers in the chemical process industries (CPI) cannot
be overemphasized, especially with
regard to enhancing operating efficiency.
This also enables water conservation by reducing waste. However, condensate-return
systems are prone to severe corrosion due
to the presence of non-condensable gases,
like carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2),
which are associated with steam generation.
This often renders a condensate-return system ineffective, and can result in additional
energy costs, as well as the extra cost of replacing lost boiler feedwater. Table 1 provides
an example of the costly effects of corrosion
(in this case, two 2-mm holes that developed
in a condensate line due to corrosion that
caused water loss). The cost impact of lost
condensate and makeup water can be substantial if several leaks develop in the entire
condensate-return system. This article provides an overview of some current technologies used to combat the underlying corrosion
issues in condensate-return systems, and the
ways to deploy these corrosion-mitigation
techniques effectively.
Corrosion mechanisms
As a first step to combat condensate-system corrosion, the ingress of gases into
the condensate system should be minimized. Ingress of gases can occur in the
following ways:
Non-condensable gases (CO2 or O2)
absorbed from the air can dissolve in
boiler makeup water; in this case, the
non-condensable gas flashes over the
steam and eventually finds its way into
the condensate
60
TABLE 1. EFFECTS OF CORROSION ON FUEL-OIL

COSTS AND MAKEUP WATER USAGE
Condensate header pressure, barg
Condensate temperature, C
159
Makeup water temperature, C
30
Boiler efficiency, %
80
Fuel-oil cost, $/million kJ
24.2
Additional fuel-oil cost, $/yr
97,300
Additional makeup water, metric tons (m.t.)/yr
5,900
Absorption of non-condensable gases in

equipment that is initially full of air (steaming operation during startup) or air leakage in equipment that is handling steam at
sub-atmospheric pressures
CO2 produced in the boiler by
the decomposition of boiler-feedwater alkalinity that has dissolved into
the condensate
The following section outlines some specific chemical-reaction mechanisms that
can cause corrosion in steam-condensate
return systems.
Condensate system corrosion in the presence of oxygen. The following reaction represents the corrosion of iron (Fe) in water [1]:
Fe + 2H2O D Fe(OH)2 + H2
This reaction continues to equilibrium if no
O2 is present [2]. Also, the formation of ferrous hydroxide (Fe(OH)2) increases the condensate pH and retards the reaction rate.
When O2 is present in the condensate, the
following reaction occurs, forming hydrated
ferric oxide (Fe2O3.H2O):
4Fe(OH)2 + O2 D 2Fe2O3.H2O + 2H2O
MARCH 2015
TLV
leads to debris that can deposit in

small parts, causing blockage, as
seen in Figure 2.
Combatting corrosion
FIGURE 1. In the presence of oxygen, ferric-oxide corrosion occurs, and can wreak havoc on condensatesystem equipment
Ferric oxide, also called hematite or red rust, is a loosely adhering

oxide layer, and can travel with the
condensate flow through the condensate piping. An example of ironoxide corrosion is shown in Figure
1. The ingress of dissolved O2 in
the condensate prevents equilibrium
from being reached, and ferrous hydroxide is removed continuously
from the inner walls of the piping
and fittings [2].
The following are the two types
of corrosion that occur when O2
is present [3]:
Generalized corrosion on the metal
surface, which causes a loss of
metal from the entire surface
Oxygen pitting, which causes a
highly localized loss of metal that
can result in a catastrophic failure in
a short time. Pitting begins at weak
points in the oxide film and at locations where the film is damaged.
The corrosion penetrates into the
surface, effectively drilling a hole
into the metal
Condensate system corrosion in
the presence of CO2. Carbonates
and bicarbonates, such as sodium
bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or sodium
carbonate (Na2CO3), are commonly
present in boiler makeup water, and
these anions are generally called
water alkalinity. With the application
of heat, these carbonates undergo the
following reactions in the boiler [1, 3]:
2NaHCO3 + heat D Na2CO3 +

CO2 + H2O
Na2CO3 + H2O + heat D 2NaOH
+ CO2
As the steam from the boiler
transfers its latent heat and condenses, the CO2 dissolves in the
condensate, depressing the pH.
The following reversible reactions
take place:
H2O + CO2 D H2CO3
H2CO3 D H+ + HCO3
HCO3 D H+ + CO32
The corrosion of iron by carbonic
acid (H2CO3) is promoted by hydrogen ions (H+) from the above
dissociation reactions. The overall
reaction forming ferrous bicarbonate
(Fe(HCO3)2) is:
2H+ + 2HCO3 + Fe D Fe(HCO3)2 + H2
A low pH causes generalized loss
of metal, rather than the localized
pitting caused by O2. Corrosion is
characterized by the general thinning
of the pipe wall or grooving along the
bottom of the pipe [2]. This thinning
often leads to failures, particularly at
threaded joints. In addition, corrosion that causes decay of pipe walls
MARCH 2015
As stated previously, the ingress of

O2 or CO2 into the condensate is the
main cause of corrosion in condensate systems. Hence, any effort to reduce corrosion to acceptable levels
must deal with expelling these gases
from boiler water and neutralizing
their corrosive effect with the addition of chemicals [1,3]. The main processes for fighting condensate-system corrosion are summarized in the
following sections.
Deaeration. The boiler feedwater is
mainly comprised of makeup water
and return condensate. Dissolved O2
is primarily present in boiler makeup
water, while dissolved CO2 can be
present in the return condensate.
Both gases introduce corrosion potential for the boiler and the condensate system. Deaeration effectively
reduces dissolved non-condensable
gases from feedwater. In the deaeration process, the makeup water
and return condensate are heated
in a deaerator vessel with lowpressure steam to a temperature
that is sufficient to reduce the partial pressure of the dissolved gases
over the water surface. This results
in almost all of the dissolved gases
coming out of the liquid phase. The
dissolved gases are vented from the
deaerator vessel along with a small
amount of low-pressure steam to aid
venting. This process is known as
mechanical deaeration.
Chemical oxygen scavenging.
Some residual O2 remains after mechanical deaeration, as the partial
pressure of O2 cannot be reduced
to zero. This is a potential source for
O2 corrosion. Chemicals are added
to react with the leftover O2. The
chemical is usually added below the
water level in the water-storage section of the deaerator. The most common O2 scavenger is catalyzed sodium sulfite (2NaSO3), which has the
following reaction:
2NaSO3 + O2 D 2NaSO4
Another O2 scavenger is diethylhydroxylamine (DEHA; 4(C2H5)2NOH).
The overall reaction of O2 with DEHA is
as follows:
61
TLV
existing deposits and the sludge can

foul the condensate-return system.
This sludge can potentially reach the
boiler, causing tube failures. However, for uniform and effective coverage of a large condensate-return
system, a blend of a straight filming
amine with a neutralizing amine and
emulsifiers provides a superior film
bond, reduces deposit problems and
provides better and more economical
system coverage [3].
Yet another option for abating corrosion in condensate systems is the
use of DEHA as a metal passivator
and O2 scavenger. DEHA converts
loose, unprotective iron oxide (red
hematite) deposits on the condensate pipes inner surfaces to a black
magnetite protective film, ferrous
oxide magnetite (Fe3O4). The following is the chemical reaction for this
conversion [1]:
4(C2H5)2NOH + 6Fe2O3 D 4Fe3O4
+ 4CH3COOH + 3H2O
FIGURE 2. Corrosion in pipe walls can lead to widespread issues, including the formation of deposits and
blockages in small piping components
4(C2H5)2NOH + 9O2 D 8CH3COOH

+ 2N2 + 6H2O
The addition of DEHA also has a
passivating action on metal surfaces.
When hydroxide alkalinity is present
in the boiler water, the acetic acid
is neutralized and removed in blowdown as sodium acetate.
Controlling corrosion
The objective of chemical control
in the condensate is to elevate the
condensates pH so that the ingress
of carbonic acid is neutralized. Neutralizing amines (RNH2) are used to
neutralize the acidic H+ that is generated by the dissociation of carbonic
acid. Neutralizing amines also serve
to increase the pH of the condensate. The amines hydrolyze when
added to water, and generate the
hydroxide ions that are necessary for
neutralization. The chemical reaction
for a neutralizing amine in water is
as follows:
RNH2 + H2O D RNH3+ + OH
The overall neutralization reaction is
shown below:
RNH3 + OH + H2CO3 D RNH3+
+ HCO3 + H2O
62
By regulating the dosing rate of

the neutralizing amine, the pH of the
condensate can be elevated to the
desired level. Many amines are used
for condensate-acid neutralization
and pH elevation. Morpholine and
cyclohexylamine are common neutralizing amines. Often, a blend of
morpholine and cyclohexylamine
is a better choice than using either
alone. The choice of neutralizing
amine depends upon the distribution ratio and the number of condensation sites [3].
Another option for controlling condensate-system corrosion is the use
of filming amines. Octadecylamine
is a common filming amine. Filming amines are introduced into the
steam header, and form a very thin
amine-film barrier on the metal surface by replacing the loose oxide
scale. This barrier layer prevents O2
and carbonic acid from reaching the
base metal in the condensate-return
lines. During the initial dosing period, loosely adhered oxide deposits are lifted off of the metal surface
and replaced by an amine film. This
is due to the surfactant properties of
the amine.
In the case of old or untreated
condensate lines, excessive dosage
of filming amines can dislodge preCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
The magnetite layer on the metal

surfaces reduces corrosion rates
from O2 and carbonic acid. DEHA
is usually dosed along with a neutralizing amine, as it is most effective
at a pH higher than 8. DEHA has a
high distribution ratio due to its high
volatility, and hence provides effective protection by directly dosing it
into the boiler feedwater instead of
into the steam header. Due to the
high distribution ratio, DEHA also
spreads more effectively to the entire steam and condensate system
[1].
Boiler makeup water that is low
in alkalinity helps in reducing carbonic acid corrosion in condensate
systems. Also, less amine addition
is required. Dealkalizers and reverse
osmosis can be considered for the
treatment of boiler makeup water to
reduce alkalinity.
When condensate in the piping is
near its saturation temperature, carbonic acid formation is minimized, as
the solubility of CO2 in the condensate is low. However, if the temperature of the condensate is below the
saturation temperature, likely due to
improper insulation of the condensate lines, more CO2 goes into solution, causing potential carbonic-acid
corrosion. Therefore, it is important
that condensate return lines are
properly insulated and that the in-
MARCH 2015
tegrity of the insulation is maintained

during the lifespan of the steamcondensate system.
Monitoring corrosion
Monitoring corrosion in condensatereturn systems allows for early detection of problems when the problems are still minor. If these problems
go unnoticed, they can very soon
become major problems, leading to
leaks, plugging of condensate lines
or catastrophic boiler-tube failure.
Without proper corrosion-monitoring
procedures in place, steam systems
can have underlying issues that
persist for long periods of time. Depending on the treatment method,
condensate monitoring can vary, but
generally, the following tests are required:
1. pH testing at various locations in
the condensate system
2. Measurement of iron levels in
the condensate
3. Measurement of residual amine
in the condensate
4. Corrosion coupons
Evaluating pH. It is necessary to test
the condensates pH to determine if
it is high enough to prevent carbonicacid corrosion from occurring. Condensate pH measurement should be
carried out at more than one location, to ensure that carbonic acid
does not attack differently in separate sections of the system. This can
happen when neutralizing amines
with low distribution ratios (like
morpholine) are used with multiple
condensation sites.
While collecting condensate samples, it should be ensured that exposure to air is minimized, and that the
pH test is run as quickly as possible. Also, the sample should be well
cooled otherwise, CO2 and amine
can both flash off of a hot sample,
altering the pH. A pH of 8.3 or higher
should be targeted.
Iron measurement. Iron, as a corrosion byproduct, is an indirect indicator of either low pH or the presence of
O2 somewhere upstream of the condensate sampling point. If this area is
not being checked for pH measurements, iron measurement should be
done. The sample should be from
a continuously flowing stream to
avoid a slug of iron oxide from the
opening of a valve. A valve which is
opened from a closed position (while
taking a sample) can release a slug
of iron which was sitting upstream

of the closed valve. There are three
different tests that can be run, for
which proprietary methods of testing
are available.
The suspended-iron test measures
insoluble suspended iron by passing the sample through a membrane filter. Suspended iron, mostly
ferric iron (Fe2O3 or Fe3O4, which is
Fe2O3 + FeO) is the result of an oxidizing condition in the condensate.
The point of this test is to indicate
Similarly, O2 scavenger concentration must be precise within the

system. If DEHA is used, a residual
of 100150 ppb should be targeted
[5]. This residual quantity will take
some time to appear, as the DEHA
will initially be consumed in passivating the system. A cooling coil should
be used for collecting the sample
to avoid loss of volatile chemicals if
there is steam flashing.
Corrosion coupons. Pre-weighed
strips of metal (coupons) with very
Without proper corrosion-monitoring procedures in place,

steam systems can have underlying issues that persist for
long periods of time.
the presence of O2 in the system,
either through improved deaeration or the use of better O2 scavenging in the boiler. Suspended
iron levels in excess of 50 parts
per billion (ppb) are indicative of
serious corrosion
The total ferrous and ferric iron
test measures both dissolved iron
(mostly ferrous) and suspended
iron (mostly ferric). If a membrane
filter is used to remove the suspended iron, the test will measure
dissolved iron. For most industries,
a test result of 0.5 parts per million (ppm) is considered a good
test result
The total iron test allows for
tracking total iron over time without regard for oxidation state.
This test provides valuable feedback about the effectiveness of
the amine treatment program of
the condensate
Residual filming amine and O2
scavengers. If a filming amine is
utilized, the residual should be measured. As stated earlier, the most
common filming amine for boilers is
octadecylamine. It should be measured on a steam sample not a
condensate sample. Dosage can be
controlled to give 0.20.6 ppm octadecylamine in steam. Octadecylamine is most effective in condensate
with a pH range of 6 to 8. Thus, the
product may require supplemental
neutralizing amine to be added. A
cooling coil is required during sampling to prevent steam from flashing
off, which will concentrate the amine
in the sample.
MARCH 2015
similar composition to the metallurgy of the condensate system can

be used to monitor the corrosion
rate. Corrosion coupon racks that
hold three coupons are generally
used. One coupon is exposed for 30
days, one for 60 days and one for
90 days. The coupons are removed
for each time interval, and the weight
loss of the coupon is determined.
From the observed weight deterioration in the coupon, the corrosion
rate is calculated in mils (0.0001 in.)
per year (mpy).

Edited by Mary Page Bailey
References
1. Brenner, M.A., How Steam System Chemistry and
Control Affect Steam Side Coil Corrosion, Western
Dry Kiln Association Meeting Proceedings, Portland,
Oreg., May 2004.
2. Deaerating Boiler Feedwater, HPAC Engineering,
http://hpac.com/heating/boiler-feedwater, April 2008.
3. Betz Laboratories Inc., Betz Industrial Water Conditioning, 9th ed., Sept. 1991.
4. Hydroserve, Typical Boiler Questions, www.
hydroserve.com/boiler_questions.htm.
5. Jamaica Association of Sugar Technologists,
Sugar Boiler Water Treatment Technology,
www.jamaicasugar.org/siriSection/jast/jastpapers/
papers/y2010/boiler%20water.pdf, 2010.
Author
S.K.Mukherjee (Email: mukherjee.sk@gmail.com) is currently a
process-safety engineering consultant with Cholamandalam MS
Risk Services Ltd. He is a chemical
engineer and a Functional Safety
Professional with more than 40
years of experience in petroleum
refining and process-safety consulting. His interests lie in process
design, operations, troubleshooting, hazard evaluation
and functional safety. He was previously employed at
Hindustan Petroleum Corp.s Mumbai refinery.
63
Feature Report
Prevent Combustible Dust

Explosions with N2 Inerting
Targeted use of blanketing with inert gas offers an effective strategy for preventing
combustible dust explosions in CPI facilities
64
Regulations expand dust hazard scope
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
In December 2015, the Occupational Safety

& Health Administration (OSHA; Washington, D.C.; www.osha.gov) will begin fully
enforcing its new Hazard Communication
(HazCom) standard, which adopts the Globally Harmonized System for the Labeling and
Classification of Chemicals (GHS). Originally
announced in 2012, the standard impacts a
wide cross-section of industry sectors. One
of the most significant changes in the new
standard involves combustible dust. With
the new HazCom standard, manufacturers
will need to include combustible dust hazards in HazCom labeling, as well as in hazard
evaluation and planning [1].
As a result, many chemicals not previously classified as hazardous will be officially
designated as combustible dust hazards
and will require adherence to NFPA 654,
the combustible-dust explosion protection
standard of the National Fire Protection Association (Quincy, Mass.; www.nfpa.org).
While housekeeping and dust mitigation are
recommended as a primary step to prevent
combustible dust explosions, NFPA 654 also
nfi
on
rsi
ne
Dis
me
nt
pe
of
du
st
Dust
explosion
en/air
Oxyg
IN BRIEF
EXAMPLES
Co
us
d
of
Ignitio
n sou
rce
Bridget Nyland
ombustible dust is a critical safety
Air Products
concern for the chemical process
Tom Lee, Mitch
industries (CPI). The use of nitrogen
Lund and
gas as an inert blanket offers an efMichael Thiel
fective approach to preventing combustible
Nol-Tec Systems, Inc. dust explosions by displacing the oxidant required for an explosion. Nitrogen inerting is a
practical solution to help prevent the devastation to personnel and property that can result from combustible dust explosions. Moreover, while nitrogen is not the right solution for
every system, when properly designed and
installed, it is often safer, less expensive and
REGULATIONS EXPAND
easier to maintain than alternative mechaniDUST HAZARD SCOPE
cal solutions. Using a set of examples, this
COMBUSTIBLE DUST
article explores how nitrogen can be used to
FUNDAMENTALS
prevent not just mitigate combustible
dust explosions in CPI facilities.
INERT GAS FOR DUST
Combustible dust/fume
FIGURE 1. Five elements are required for a dust explosion to

occur. Nitrogen inerting targets the oxidant by displacing it
recommends explosion-mitigation devices

to control explosions and limit damage. For
example, the standard recommends including blowout panels in baghouses to release
pressure from an explosion, or inline suppression systems to quickly extinguish an
explosion or fire. However, these recommendations still leave the process fundamentally
unsafe by only dealing with the explosion
rather than preventing it. A safer way to comply with NFPA 654 is to use targeted nitrogen inerting rather than mechanical relief and
suppression devices in selected areas.
Combustible dust fundamentals

While a triangle of required ingredients determines whether or not a fire can be sustained,
combustible dust explosions are governed
by a pentagon of interacting factors: oxygen,
fuel, containment, ignition and dust dispersion (Figure 1). If one side of the pentagon is
eliminated, an explosion is not possible.
Most materials can explode under the right
conditions. In fact, it is easier to identify the
materials that will not combust. OSHAs Na-
MARCH 2015
tional Emphasis Program (NEP) on

combustible dust defines the term
as, A combustible particulate solid
that presents a fire or deflagration
hazard when suspended in air or
some other oxidizing medium over a
range of concentrations, regardless
of particle size or shape.
Defining which particulate matter
presents a deflagration hazard requires specific laboratory analyses of
several properties that are essential
to determine the severity of a combustible dust hazard for a given material. These properties include, at
a minimum, the limiting oxygen for
combustion (LOC), minimum ignition
energy (MIE), minimum ignition temperature (MIT), and the layer ignition
temperature (LIT). Specialized laboratories can conduct these material
characterizations and offer analysis
of the resulting hazard.
Several parameters define a materials properties with regard to its
combustibility. In terms of particle
size, 425 m (40 mesh) is generally
defined as the limiting size to classify
a material as a dust, although certain materials with high surface area
(such as fibers) may be combustible
above that size threshold. A materials Kst (dust deflagration index) provides an indication of the severity of
a dust explosion hazard. NFPA classifies dusts by Kst value. A dust is
only considered inert with a Kst value
of 0. Class 1 dusts are rated below
200 Kst, Class 2 dusts range from
200 to 300 Kst, and Class 3 dusts
are rated above 300 Kst.
The minimum explosive concentration (MEC) is the limiting dust concentration to create an explosive atmosphere. The MIE and MIT are values
used to define explosive conditions
for particular materials. Table 1 contains the applicable dust properties of
some common materials.
Following laboratory analysis, manufacturers will be able to determine
the severity of the combustible dust
hazard and document whether, in fact,
the dust is not combustible. However,
the majority of dusts are combustible,
so most manufacturers will use these
properties not to define whether the
dust is combustible, but rather to define the severity of the hazard.
Several high-profile accidents have
recently raised the awareness of this
hazard in the manufacturing indusCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
try. For example, in 2008, 14 people

were killed and 44 people were injured at one of the largest industrial
incidents at the Imperial Sugar factory in Port Wentworth, Ga. Sugar
dust that had built up to explosive
concentrations in the factory ignited,
sending a fireball cascading through
the building. Many dust explosions
have occurred with seemingly innocuous materials, such as organic
compounds like sugar.
Following the Imperial accident,
OSHA began focusing on the dangers of combustible dust explosions.
In 2008, OSHA launched its NEP on
combustible dust. Using the General
Industry Standard 29 CFR 1910, Section 5(a)(i) of the Occupational Health
and Safety Act (commonly known as
the general duty clause [2]), along
with generally accepted good practices, such as NFPA 654, OSHA
began conducting extensive inspections in facilities containing dust.
In 2009 alone, 1,000 inspections
were completed, and over 4,900 violations were issued for non-compliance, including poor housekeeping,
inadequate hazard communication,
and inadequate hazard control [3].
To date, most of the regulatory and
industry focus in designing systems
to handle combustible dust has addressed either the dust itself (through
housekeeping initiatives), or the confinement of explosions. For explosion
confinement, systems are designed
so that energy can be released in a
controlled manner. Examples of this
type of control include blowout panels on silos or overdesigning ducting
to withstand the force of an explosion. However, such measures focus
on mitigation the explosion still
occurs. One of the safety infractions
commonly cited by OSHA combustible dust inspectors are knock-out
panel reliefs that vent to areas where
employees are working. In such
cases, the severity of the explosion
may be mitigated, yet the risks of
personnel injury still remain.
The case for inert gas for dust

Gas inerting represents an alternative
approach, and works by disrupting
the oxidant side of the dust-explosion
pentagon. Insufficient oxygen means
no combustion. Note, however, that
there are some chemicals, such as
peroxides, that contain bound oxygen
MARCH 2015
TABLE 1: KST VALUES OF COMMON

MATERIALS
Common Dusts
Kst Value
Activated carbon
44
Aluminum powder
400
Barley grain dust
240
Brown coal
123
Cotton
24
Magnesium
508
Methyl cellulose
209
Milk powder
90
Polyurethane
156
Rice starch
190
Silicon
126
Soap
111
Soybean flour
110
Sulfur
151
Toner
145
Wood dust
102
and could still present a fire of explosion hazard in the absence of oxygen
gas. For those chemicals, additional
safety steps, including close control
of temperature, are required.
The CPI has been using inerting to
eliminate fires from flammable materials for years. Fires require the presence of oxidant, fuel and heat (the fire
triangle). For every chemical, there is
a minimum level of oxygen required
for combustion, called the minimum oxygen concentration (MOC),
measured in percent oxygen. For
decades, chemical manufacturers
have been mitigating their fire risks
from flammable materials by blanketing tanks and reaction vessels
with nitrogen to reduce the oxygen
content below the MOC. A similar
methodology can be transferred to
combustible dust explosions, where
the inert-gas approach has not been
typically applied.
The reasons for industry resistance to inerting boil down to three
main perceived issues: nitrogen
cost, safety and practicality. In reality, the perceived disadvantages can
be easily overcome.
Cost. The cost of inert gas can be
reduced in several ways. Depending on the application, inert gas
use may be targeted to selected
units or processes. Alternatively, the
MOCs of many combustible dusts
do not require 99.99% pure industrial grade nitrogen from a liquid nitrogen source. By using lower-purity
nitrogen such as 95 or 98% pure
65
4-in N 2 recovery line

Nitrogen supply system
(various options)
10 ft3
surge hopper
O2 sensor
Air operated
discharge valve
Dust filter
Air operated
vent valve
20 ft3 hopper
Air compressor
Surge tank
Air operated
discharge valve
10 ft3
transporter
3-in Conveyline
To milling process
FIGURE 2. The pneumatic conveying system depicted here is equipped with traditional mechanical protection systems for combustible dust, including explosion-detection systems and blowout panels
nitrogen, such as that generated by

a membrane or pressure swing adsorption (PSA) system total nitrogen operating costs can be reduced.
NPFA 69 and 654 provide guidance
on determining the MOC for a combustible dust and the required nitrogen purity for safe inerting.
Safety. Asphyxiation risks are managed with basic safety training and
simple engineering controls, such as
O2 monitoring and O2-concentration
control, as well as restricting inerting
to appropriate areas.
Practicality. Maintenance on the nitrogen system is typically handled by
the nitrogen provider and not by the
end user. Nitrogen systems are in fact
not all that maintenance-intensive,
and unlike explosion detectors they
do not require quarterly inspections.
Potential dust-related applications
of nitrogen inerting include closedloop pneumatic conveying, hopper
storage, shredders, reactors, tanks,
vessels and enclosures. Through
smart design, inerting systems can
eliminate the possibility of an explosion, increase worker safety, and
provide a more cost-effective solution relative to other mechanical-protection systems.
polyester and polyurethane compounds are also common. At particle

sizes less than 100 m (140 mesh),
these plastics are highly combustible. In fact, PE powder is among the
most common fuels for combustibledust explosions because of its broad
usage and its combustibility.
For example, fugitive PE dust
caused an explosion at the West
Pharmaceutical plant in Kinston,
N.C., in 2003. According to the
Proceedings of the 5th International
Seminar on Fire and Explosion Hazards, the PE was used in a slurry to
coat rubber parts, and fugitive PE
dust from dried slurries accumulated in the suspended ceilings and
cooling air ducts. A spark from a
mill motor caused the dust to ignite,
sending a flame propagating through
the ducting. The ducting then overpressurized, sending the explosion front and burned dust into the
suspended ceiling, which caused a
larger explosion from the dust that
had settled in the ceiling.
66
Economic analysis
One of the main misconceptions
about nitrogen inerting is that it is
much more expensive than traditional mechanical explosion-protection systems. In reality, on a total
net-present-value (NPV) basis, nitrogen inerting systems are very comparable to reactionary mechanical
systems and, in the case of even a
small incident requiring cleanup with
a mechanical system, the nitrogen
inerting system is often more economical. The following example illustrates how the economics could
N2 recovery line
Nitrogen supply system
(various options)
Example 1. Plastic powder

Plastic powder coatings require a
very fine powder to ensure a smooth
coating when applied. The powders
are created by pneumatically conveying plastic pellets into a mill for
fine grinding. Particle sizes less than
100 m (140 mesh) are frequently required for coating production.
Polyethylene (PE) is the most common plastic used in powder coating
manufacturing, but polyvinylchloride,
This case is particularly noteworthy

because there was no previous accumulation of dust in the facility, due
to top-class housekeeping practices.
The facility had recently upgraded its
dust-collection system and believed
that the dust in the ceilings was inert
based on previous laboratory testing.
Indeed, investigative testing of the
dust in the dust collectors indicated
a largely inert dust. However, based
on investigations following the explosion, only 280 lb of PE was required
to produce the magnitude of the explosion felt during the incident. For a
10,000-ft2 ceiling, that amounts to a
layer of PE dust with a thickness of
only 0.013 in. about the thickness
of four sheets of copy paper [4].
The explosion and subsequent fire
resulted in six fatalities and multiple
injuries. In the case of West Pharmaceutical, while it would be difficult to
inert the ceiling ducting, it is quite
possible that the mill itself could
have been inerted, preventing the
initial reaction. Either way, the incident highlights the significant danger
of PE powder.
Dust filter
10 ft3 hopper
From process
10 ft3
hopper
6-in Rotary airlock

10-hp blower
Air operated
discharge valve
Convey line
To milling process
FIGURE 3. The pneumatic conveying system depicted here is protected by nitrogen inerting
MARCH 2015
Liquid tank
the dilute conveying case requires a

higher volume of air for the conveying medium. More air leads to higher
severity in the event of an explosion, therefore requiring more robust
explosion-prevention capital. When
looking at the nitrogen protection
case, the combination of the positive-displacement blower and airlock
required for dilute-phase conveying
is a higher cost than that of the gasrecovery compressor needed on the
nitrogen dense-phase system.
Second, operating costs for the dilute-phase nitrogen system are higher
due to the higher volume of nitrogen
needed for the dilute-phase system.
In this case, the dense-phase system
concept requires less than 10% of
the average air or nitrogen usage than
the dilute-phase system concept.
Third, maintenance costs for the
mechanical-protection systems are
higher than those for the nitrogenprotection systems, mainly due to the
costs of annual inspections required
by the explosion-protection devices.
Finally, looking at the dense-phase
conveying scenario and considering
the costs from a small incident occurring once in five years, the nitrogen system is cheaper on a five-year,
NPV basis. Because of the high gas
flowrates required, the nitrogen system for the dilute-phase pneumatic
conveying system is more expensive
on a five-year, NPV basis.
However, beyond a simple NPV calculation, this exercise does not take
into account all factors that should be
considered when designing a dilutephase pneumatic conveying system.
For example, plant layout is an important consideration. Due to location
in the plant, a system retrofit design
would require much more explosion
protection than a system that could
Ambient-air vaporizer
Gauges
Control manifold
Telemetry unit
Gaseous product
to customer
Top fill valve
Bottom fill valve
FIGURE 4. A typical bulk liquid-nitrogen supply system can be laid out as showm here
work. Consider a pneumatic conveying and milling system for PE-powder-coating manufacturing. Figures 2
and 3 show the two cases that were
developed. In Figure 2, the system is
protected using traditional mechanical combustible-dust protection systems, including explosion detection
devices, suppression systems and
blowout panels. Figure 3 depicts the
system as protected by nitrogen inerting. Table 2 shows the technical
specifications for the PE that was
used in the case study models.
Both dilute and dense phase conveying conditions were modeled in
the case study. Table 3 shows the
process specifications for the cases
that were modeled.
The nitrogen-protected system relies on the pressure of the nitrogen
bulk tank to drive the pneumatic conveying process. A typical liquid-nitrogen bulk system can deliver gaseous
nitrogen to house lines at pressures
up to 200 psi without auxiliary compression. The vaporized gas is fed
directly into the pneumatic conveying system. Figure 4 shows a typical
liquid-nitrogen-supply system layout.
The supply tank ranges in size from
60 gal to upwards of 11,000 gal to fit
a wide variety of system needs.
To make efficient use of the nitrogen, a gas recovery unit was included
in the system design. The gas recovery unit can recycle about 80% of the
nitrogen used in conveying, drastically
reducing the nitrogen consumption.
The mechanically protected system includes blowout panels for explosion protection. Please note that
this is a basic explosion-protection
system design, assuming an ideal
plant layout for blowout panels. DeCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
pending on the working environment,

system layout, and other safety considerations, additional explosion detection or suppression devices may
be needed. The estimate includes
one explosion incident in a five-year
period requiring one week of downtime and cleanup. The incident-related costs include the time for lost
production and related cleanup and
replacement costs.
Tables 4 and 5 summarize the
scope differences between the cases.
The costs for each case are based
on actual quotations for capital and
maintenance, and current national
U.S. averages for nitrogen and electric costs. An interest rate of 6% was
assumed for the NPV calculation.
When comparing the estimated
cost differences between these four
scenarios, several observations can
be made. First, for both the nitrogen-protected and mechanically
protected dilute-phase systems, the
capital costs are higher than the respective capital costs for the densephase systems. When looking at
the mechanical protection case,
TABLE 2: TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS FOR POLYETHYLENE IN EXAMPLE 1

Material
High-density PE
Flowability
Free-flowing
Density (aerated/loose/packed; lb/ft3)
22.7/25.3/28.4
Kst
134
Material Description
Fine, subangular, flake/sliver/granular particles
TABLE 3: PROCESS SPECIFICATIONS FOR CONVEYING SYSTEM IN EXAMPLE 1

Case 1
Case 2
Conveying phase
Dense
Dilute
Production rate
400 lb/h
400 lb/h
Conveying length
400 ft
400 ft
Conveying pipe diameter
3 in.
3 in.
MARCH 2015
67
TABLE 4: COSTS REQUIRED FOR NITROGEN- AND MECHANICAL-PROTECTED SYSTEMS

Mechanical
Nitrogen
Capital costs
Blowout panels
Explosion detection (optional)
Isolation valves (optional)
Suppression devices (optional)
Air compressor (dense phase)
Positive displacement blower (dilute phase)
Rotary airlock (dilute phase)
Nitrogen system foundation

Gas recovery unit
Operating costs
Compressor/blower electricity costs
Nitrogen
Gas-recovery electricity costs
Maintenance costs
Quarterly inspections
Annual inspections
System preventive maintenance
System preventive maintenance
Explosion
consequences
Assume system mitigates one explosion in five

years. Assume explosion requires one week lost
production and cleanup
Explosion is prevented with

inerted system
be placed in an ideal location. Vents

for explosion panels may require long
ducting lines or secondary protection
systems to prevent employee injury
a practice discouraged by NFPA
68 because shorter ducts decrease
explosion severity. In certain retrofit
cases, mechanical explosion protection can leave manufacturers with a
difficult challenge in trying to meet
code requirements safely.
Each incident will be specific to
a manufacturers particular product
and protection system, so the cost
and frequency of an incident occurring may vary. However, even small
incidents may require plant downtime, replacement of protection
systems, and cleanup of hazardous
material. A nitrogen system greatly
decreases the risk of any explosion
happening at all, as well as any related expenses. In this case, an NPV
difference of $100,000 is minimal in
comparison to the total capital of a
pneumatic system and the significantly reduced explosion risk that
comes with an inherently safe inert
system over the course of the systems life.
Example 2. Tire manufacturing

One industry that will be heavily impacted by the adoption of the GHS
Example 3. Grain manufacturing
is the tire manufacturing industry.

Under the new regulations, carbon
black, a material used extensively in
tire production, will be classified as
a combustible dust. This will require
tire manufacturers to review their existing processing plants and retrofit
them to comply with NFPA regulations, potentially requiring expensive
capital investments if traditional suppression controls are utilized.
However, tire manufacturing is an
application that lends itself to nitrogen inerting because nitrogen is
often already used in the tire curing
process at many plants, where it is
injected into the tire molds to cure the
tires. Because the nitrogen is already
onsite, it can easily be incorporated
into a dust-control scheme using inerting without incurring additional installation costs. In addition, since the
nitrogen used for curing can be recycled through the pneumatic lines,
the nitrogen needed for curing easily
supplies the need for inerting. This
simple system removes the need to
install mechanical retrofits to comply with NFPA 654. This system has
been installed at large tire producers
specifically to combat the dust hazards identified with the new classification of carbon black dust.
The food industry may be the most

impacted with the new changes.
Some of the most highly combustible dusts are found in the food
manufacturing industry, with sugar
and grain being two of the more notorious culprits. It is estimated that
150 people have died in food-related
combustible-dust explosions in the
last 20 years in the U.S.
Some components of a food processing plant are impractical to inert,
such as grain elevators, but there are
many contained areas that can be
inerted safely and economically. Selective inerting as part of a combustible dust plan can reduce the cost
of overall protection. Hoppers are a
great example of how smart design
can make nitrogen inerting possible.
The authors were involved with a
recently designed and installed nitrogen-inerting system in a large biomass hopper with the aid of computation fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling.
The CFD models provided precise
estimates of the methane offgas concentration levels throughout the silo
and guided the placement and orientation of nitrogen-injection nozzles
throughout the silo (Figure 5). Rather
than flood the silo with nitrogen, the
hopper owner was able to apply nitrogen in locations and amounts that
exactly matched what was required
to prevent a dust explosion within a
large space.
The same process could be used
for smaller silos and hoppers in the
food processing industry, as well as
other storage containers. Closedloop pneumatic conveying lines are
another prime target for incorporating nitrogen inerting.
Beyond economics
Beyond the economics, there are
several other qualitative differences
between mechanical explosion mitigation and nitrogen inerting systems
TABLE 5: ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FOUR DUST-EXPLOSION-PROTECTION SCENARIOS

Mechanical Protection
68
Nitrogen Protection
Case1 (dense)
Case 2 (dilute)
Case 1 (dense)
Case 2 (dilute)
Capital costs
$20,000
$35,000
$30,000
$42,500
Continuous operating costs
$15,000
$6,000
$25,705
$84,615
Annual maintenance costs
$8,500
$10,000
$2,500
$4,000
Lost production and

cleanup costs
$147,800
$147,800
$0
$0
Five-year NPV
($216,000)
($201,000)
($137,607)
($354,500)
MARCH 2015
O2
0.21
0.20
0.19
0.18
0.17
0.16
0l15
0.14
0.13
0.12
0.10
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.00
FIGURE 5. Computational fluid dynamics modeling

can help pinpoint areas of oxygen concentration
that should be considered. First, from

a safety perspective, the nitrogen
system creates an inherently safe
environment with regard to explosion protection, while the mechanical
system reacts to the explosion. In the
mechanical system, there are several modes of failure for the system,
and components like blowout panels
are difficult to test in order to confirm
functionality. Further, testing suppression devices and explosion detection
systems require a system shutdown.
In contrast, there is only one failure
mechanism for the nitrogen system:
loss of nitrogen. A pneumatic conveying system can be driven by the
pressure from the nitrogen system,
so the system automatically shuts
down with a loss of nitrogen supply.
For manufacturers who do not
currently use nitrogen in significant
amounts, one of the major concerns
is the potential risk of nitrogen asphyxiation. Already used widely in the
CPI, nitrogen can be implemented
safely as long as proper procedures
for storage, handling and use are followed [5]. Nitrogen should never be
vented into a location where workers
are present or into a confined space
that could be unintentionally created.
In addition, oxygen monitors must be
installed to alert workers in the event
of an oxygen-deficient atmosphere.
Implementing N2 inerting
For manufacturers interested in implementing nitrogen inerting for dust

safety, there are guidelines that can
be followed.
Process design. Nitrogen inerting works best in certain enclosed
or semi-enclosed areas, such as
closed-loop pneumatic conveying
systems, storage hoppers, vessels,
dryers, spray dryers, grinding mills,

granulators, shredders and mixers.
Nitrogen supply. Nitrogen requirements will vary greatly depending on
the material being processed, production rate, process conditions, size
of the vessels, number of use points,
and MOC. All of the required flowrates can be supplied by a nitrogen
system, but the mode of supply will
depend on the average consumption,
as well as on peak requirements and
usage pattern. For example, at low
flowrates, a microbulk system may
provide the most cost-effective supply. For the highest flowrates, onsite
nitrogen generation systems could
be considered. In many cases, a
nitrogen-recovery and recycling unit
greatly improves the overall system
economics to reduce nitrogen usage.
With any nitrogen system installation, an oxygen-sampling system
needs to be installed to verify the
atmospheric oxygen content. These
systems must also be designed with
adequate controls to ensure that the
correct oxygen levels are maintained.
Oxygen monitoring can also include
built-in controls to provide protection
for emergency inerting should the
process conditions change.
Pneumatic conveying system. In
general, a pneumatic conveying system should be considered in situations where there is limited footprint
or flexibility. Pneumatic systems are
much easier to install in an existing plant space because it is easy
to route a small-diameter conveying pipe around existing equipment.
Pneumatic systems are totally enclosed, resulting in excellent dust
control, and they have few moving
parts, which saves on plant maintenance costs.
In all cases, when considering
whether to install a nitrogen-inerting
system, it is important to understand
your current process well, including the properties of the materials in
your process and their associated
combustible-dust hazards. With that
knowledge in hand, nitrogen experts
and pneumatic conveying experts
can be a good resource in the design of a safe and economic nitrogen
inerting system.
While there are many places
where nitrogen systems can be designed practically, cost effectively,
and safely, there are situations where
nitrogen inerting does not work as
MARCH 2015
well. For example, large dust collectors or ductwork are usually not conducive to nitrogen inerting because
of high flowrates and large spaces.
Similarly, bucket elevators are usually not practical for nitrogen inerting
because of the large spaces, lack of
containment, and worker presence.
In such situations, diligent housekeeping is the key to reducing the
risk posed by dust explosions.
OSHAs adoption of the GHS will
require manufacturers in the U.S. to
comply with many aspects of NFPA
654 for materials not previously considered combustible dusts. Manufacturers can choose to implement
systems that mitigate the damage
caused by combustible dust explosions, or they can choose to prevent
combustible dust explosions from
n
occurring in the first place.
Edited by Scott Jenkins
References
1. OSHA memorandum, 12/23/2013, www.osha.gov/
pls/oshaweb/
2. OSHA Combustible Dust Standard, www.osha.gov/
dsg/combustibledust/standards.html.
3. OSHA Combustible Dust NEP Report, www.osha.
gov/dep/combustible_dust_nep_rpt_102009.html.
4. Baker, Q., Kinston Dust Explosion, Proceedings of
the 5th International Seminar on Fire and Explosion
Hazards, Edinburgh, U.K., April 2007. www.see.
ed.ac.uk/feh5.
5. Air Products, Use Nitrogen Safely, www.airproducts.
com/~/media/downloads/article/U/en-use-nitrogen-safely-312-12-023.pdf.
Authors
Bridget Nyland is an applications engineer at Air Products
(7201 Hamilton Boulevard, Allentown, PA 18195-1501; Phone
415-766-1594;
E-mail:
nylandbe@airproducts.com). She
manages the evaluation and installation of all industrial gases
applications for the chemical,
pharmaceutical, rubber and plastics industries in the West Coast. She received a
B.S.Ch.E. from Villanova University in 2011, and is a
member of AICHE, SWE, EWB and WIB.
Tom Lee is a research and development engineer at NolTec Systems (425 Apollo Drive, Lino Lakes, MN 55014;
Phone 651-203-2547; E-mail: TomLee@nol-tec.com).
With 27 years of material handling experience, he manages all aspects of Nol-Tecs test facility, from evaluating
current designs to devising new equipment.
Mitch Lund is a technical services engineer at NolTec Systems (same address as above; Phone 612418-7108; E-mail: MitchLund@nol-tec.com). He
received a B.S.Ch.E. from the University of MinnesotaTwin Cities in 2012 and is involved in the innovation
and design of new products and technologies.
Michael Thiel is the technical services group manager
at Nol-Tec Systems (same address; Phone 612-7994573; E-mail: MichaelThiel@nol-tec.com). He received
a B.S.Ch.E. from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2005 and has managed the Technical Services
Group since 2012, leading product development and
new technology efforts.
69
Environmental Manager
Post-Combustion Carbon Capture
Technologies
Several CCS processes hold much promise, and there are challenges yet to be met
Julie Horn and Raymond Zbacnik
Kiewit Power Engineers
IN BRIEF
number of post-combustion carbon capture technologies have the

CURRENT CCS
capability to reduce the amount of
REGULATIONS
carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere from fossil-fuel-fired industrial and
ADSORPTION-BASED
utility-power plants. Further interest has been
TECHNOLOGIES
placed in this technology in light of growing
ABSORPTION-BASED
concerns about climate change. This article
TECHNOLOGIES
investigates a few of the more promising
post-combustion carbon capture processes,
MEMBRANE-BASED
including amine-based absorption, ammoTECHNOLOGIES
nia-based absorption, solid sorbent adsorpALGAE-BASED
tion, membrane filtration and algae. This arTECHNOLOGIES
ticle also considers some of the challenges
COMPRESSION,
associated with compression, transportation
TRANSPORTATION AND and storage of carbon dioxide.
SEQUESTRATION
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a
greenhouse gas that most scientists consider to be largely responsible for climate
change. Among the most significant sources
of atmospheric CO2 is fossil-fuel-fired power
generation. For many years, technologies
for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)
have been under investigation and development as a means of mitigating CO2 emissions
while still allowing industries to burn fossil
fuels. Currently, three of the most promising
techniques for CCS are being developed:
post-combustion capture, pre-combustion
capture, and oxy-combustion capture. Of
these three, post-combustion CCS with
amines and with chilled ammonia have had
the most relative success and are discussed
further in this article.
Current CCS regulations

Governmental support and regulations are
needed to provide the incentive for CCS to
become widely used in the chemical process industries (CPI) as well as the utility industries. Except for the case in which CO2
is used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) to
increase the capacity of oil wells, CCS currently is not considered financially viable. For
the power industry, the main reason is that
CCS systems impose an energy penalty of
up to 40% of the overall output of plants.
When EOR is not feasible, it is not likely
70
that the power industry will provide the investment to install capture systems without
regulations or legislation that require carbon
emissions reductions.
On June 25, 2013, U.S. President Barack
Obama outlined a new national climate action plan that includes focusing on the use of
cleaner energy and reducing carbon pollution. The President specifically called for the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA;
Washington, D.C.; www.epa.gov) to complete new limitations on carbon emissions
from both new and existing power plants.
Following that, in September 2013, the EPA
proposed a cap for CO2 emissions for all
new coal-fired power plants. This proposal
would limit carbon emissions to 500 kilograms per megawatt hour (kg/MWh), which
is about half of what average coal plants
currently emit. The fundamental effect of this
proposed rule would be that no new coalfired power plants would be built, unless they
had the capability for CCS. Furthermore, the
November 2013 United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
laid the foundation for a post-Kyoto Protocol
agreement to be made in 2015. The 1997
Kyoto Protocol set international carbonemission-reduction goals and includes two
commitment periods. The first period sets a
goal that the involved countries will reduce
their carbon emissions to 5% below those
of 1990. The second commitment period
increases that margin to 18% below 1990
emission levels. After the second commitment period ends in 2020, the 2015 agreement will come into place. Reports on the
UNFCCC meeting state that the new rule
will focus on mitigation, adaptation, finance,
technology readiness and transparency of
action as it relates to CO2 emissions.
On September 20, 2013, the EPA issued
draft carbon-pollution standards for new
power plants under Clean Air Act Section
111(b) New Source Provisions. The draft was
published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2014. On May 9, 2014 the comment
period closed with over 2 million comments.
MARCH 2015
Source: Folger, CRS Report [1]
Water wash
Feed gas
cooler
Feed
gas
Knockout
drum
Stripper/regenerator
Lean amine
cooler
Filter
Amine solvent
makeup
CO2 product
gas
CW
Reflux
Reboiler
Booster fan
Reclaimer
STM
Lean amine
Rich amine
Solvent waste
FIGURE 1. An overview of post-combustion, amine-based carbon capture is depicted here
Gas
Water
CO2 rich
CO2 lean
CO2
Ammonia
refrigerant
Clean combustion gas

fluegas
Water wash
Cooling
with
water
Fluegas
Alstom (Levallois-Perret Cedex,

France; www.alstom.com) developed a process using chilled ammonia that has had success on the
pilot-plant level. The process uses
ammonium carbonate that has been
chilled to about 20C as the solvent to
absorb the CO2 from fluegas, which
has also been cooled. The relatively
low temperature in the absorber prevents significant ammonia slip from
occurring. The overall system flow is
similar to the amine-based systems:
the CO2-solvent stream is sent to
the regenerator where heat is added
to cause the CO2 to come out of solution. Then the CO2 stream may be
compressed and stored, while the
regenerated solvent is recycled to
the absorber and used again. While
the Alstom process has controlled
the amount of ammonia slip by chilling the solvent and fluegas, there
are very significant energy costs associated with this chilling. Therefore,
ammonia-based processes must be
optimized to minimize ammonia slip
Ammonia
refrigerant
Booster fan
CO2 product
gas
Steam
Note 3
Note 1
Compressor
Regenerator
mic reaction. The overhead CO2 is

then compressed and fed to a pipeline, while the CO2-lean amine solvent is recycled back to the absorber
for reuse.
Ammonia-based. Ammonia-based
CCS systems show promise for a
number of reasons. As compared to
amine solvents, ammonia solvents
are less-expensive, have lower heats
of reaction, and require less energy
for regeneration. The use of ammonia could drive overall plant costs
down as a result of ammonias ability to simultaneously absorb multiple
pollutants, such as CO2, SO2, NOx
and Hg.
A major challenge associated with
ammonia-based systems is that of
ammonia slip. Because ammonia
is more volatile than amines, it can
sometimes be released into the
fluegas stream during absorption. If
ammonia-based processes are to
be economically viable, ammonia
slip must be controlled to avoid the
need for additional fluegas cleanup.
Stripper
Amine-based. The CPI have had the

most success with developing CCS
technologies using amine-based solvents, such as monoethanolamine
(MEA), diethylamine (DEA), methyl
diethanoloamine (MDEA), piperazine
(PIPA) and 2-amino-2-methylpropanol (AMP). Such chemical solvents
have desirable properties in that
they often react strongly and quickly
with CO2, yet they also release the
CO2 while regenerating the solvent.
Amine-based solvents are able to
remove large amounts of CO2 from
fluegas at low pressures.
The basis behind amine-based
carbon capture processes is fairly
simple (Figure 1). Fluegas from utility and industrial boilers typically
contains mostly nitrogen (about 70
vol.%), smaller amounts of water and
CO2 (about 20%), and impurities of
SO2, NOx, mercury and ash particulate matter. An air-pollution control
system must be in place to greatly
reduce the presence of these impurities in the fluegas before entering the
carbon capture system. The cleaned
fluegas then enters a small scrubber
vessel to cool the gas and remove
more trace sulfur impurities. From the
quencher, the fluegas enters the absorber. The absorber uses the amine
as a solvent to reduce the CO2 level
in the fluegas. This exothermic reaction typically removes about 8590%
of the CO2 from the entering fluegas.
The CO2-rich solvent mixture is then
sent to a heat exchanger before entering the regenerator. In the regenerator, the solvent is steam-stripped,
causing the essentially pure CO2 to
come out of solution in an endother-
Condenser
Absorber
Absorption-based technologies
Exhaust gas
Absorber
EPA is still reviewing comments on

the draft and intends to issue a final
regulation in the summer of 2015.
On October 28, 2014, the EPA
issued draft carbon-pollution standards for existing power plants. The
draft was published in the Federal
Register on November 4, 2014. After
receiving over 2 million comments
on the draft regulation, on January
15, 2015, the EPA announced that
it would review and restructure the
carbon pollution plan for existing
power plants including revising the
state targets for carbon pollution reduction. A new revised draft is expected in the summer of 2015.
Refrig.
Cooling
Steam
Note
2
Purge
Note 1: ammonia-ammonium carbonate-water solution
Note 2: ammonium bicarbonate-ammonium carbamate-water solution
Note 3: water, with some ammonia
HP pump
FIGURE 2. The chilled ammonia process has had success on the pilot-plant scale
MARCH 2015
71
N2
the inlet gas stream that may have

accidentally passed through the
membrane. Another concept uses
enzymes to mimic nature. A liquid
membrane system uses carbonic
anhydrase, the enzyme that transports CO2 in mammal respiratory
systems, to catalyze the transport
of CO2 through the membrane.
However, membrane CCS systems
encounter issues with fouling and
scaleup for industrial settings.
CO2
N2
CO2
CO2
N2
CO2
N2
CO2
CO2
CO2
N2
CO2
N2
CO2
N2
CO2
N2
CO2
CO2
CO2
CO2
N2
CO2
N2
Algae-based technologies
FIGURE 3. Solid sorbents for carbon capture work by adsorbing carbon dioxide onto their surfaces
in the most efficient way possible.

Figure 2 shows an outline of the Alstom chilled-ammonia process.
Adsorption-based technologies
Solid sorbents work by adsorbing
the CO2 onto their surfaces (Figure
3). The sorbent is regenerated by
changing the temperature or pressure, which causes the CO2 to be
released. Solid sorbents hold economic promise over amine-based
CCS systems, because less energy
is required in the regeneration step.
There is no need for steam, and solid
sorbents typically have lower energy
requirements for sensible heating of
regeneration gas than liquid waterbased solvents. This means that less
sensible heat is required to regenerate the sorbent.
Adsorption can be a physical or
chemical process. Physical adsorption involves materials such as activated carbon, zeolites and metal
organic frameworks (MOFs). Activated carbon is known to have a
large inter-particulate surface area,
thus increasing its CO2 loading capacity. MOFs and zeolites are crystalline sorbents that capture CO2 in
their void spaces. Concerns about
solids that adsorb physically include: selectivity in carbon capture,
CO2 carrying capacity, and physical
degradation. Chemical adsorption is
similar to the liquid absorption carbon-capture processes. The sorbent
can be certain carbonates or amines
supported on the surface of other
materials, such as activated carbon.
Amine sorbents supported on activated carbon have been shown in
bench-scale tests to have high CO2
carrying capacities and lower regeneration-energy requirements, since
these systems lack water. However,
care must be taken to prevent foul72
ing and degradation over time.

Solid sorbents have their own associated challenges, which are different
than those found with liquid solvents.
As noted, care must be taken that the
solid does not deteriorate over time.
Solids are also more difficult to handle than liquids, which typically only
require pumps. One key engineering
challenge is designing a long-lasting
sorbent that has a high surface area
available for CO2 capture, called carrying capacity. Engineers must also
optimize the process to find the best
method of handling solids, how to
reduce regeneration-energy requirements further, the minimum possible
pressure drop, and how to increase
reaction rates.
Membrane-based technologies
Membranes are porous materials that
filter CO2 from fluegas streams. Gas
streams are either pushed or pulled
through membranes by a pressure
differential. Pressure can be applied
to one side of the membrane to push
the gas through, or a vacuum can
be created on the other side of the
membrane to pull the gas through.
Membrane quality is determined
by selectivity and permeability. Selectivity refers to a membranes ability to filter one component (such as
CO2) rather than a different one (for
example, N2). Permeability denotes
how much of a substance may pass
through the membrane for a certain
pressure difference. Permeability directly relates to the required membrane surface area needed for adequate CO2 separation.
Research has been done on the
laboratory and bench scale to improve membrane selectivity. In one
line of research, an amine solvent
contacts one side of the membrane
to selectively absorb any CO2 from
Because algae metabolize CO2 to

grow, algae ponds have been considered as a CCS method. In addition, waste heat from industrial
plants could be used to warm the
ponds in winter. Algae grow quickly
and can be used for biofuels. The
need for pond water is not of significant concern because many algae
strains prefer salt water, meaning
algae ponds will have no effect on
potable fresh water demand.
There are, however, many challenges to overcome when considering algae for CCS. Algae do not take
in CO2 very quickly, thus mandating
the need for huge, city-sized ponds
to process a typical industrial plants
CO2 output. In addition, the algal
biofuel will eventually be burned, releasing its CO2 into the atmosphere.
Such an action reduces, but does
not eliminate the carbon footprint associated with power production.
Compression, transportation
and sequestration
Once the CO2 has been captured, it
must be compressed, transported,
and either used or stored. The compression and transportation steps
are mature technologies. Captured
CO2 is often compressed to about
140 bars so that it becomes a supercritical fluid and behaves like a
liquid, making it possible to transport
CO2 via a centrifugal pump through
a pipeline. The critical point of CO2 is
reached at 31C and 74 bars. Therefore, if the temperature and pressure
are maintained at about 38C and
100 bars respectively, the CO2 will
still behave somewhat like a liquid
and can be pumped to 140 bars for
final disposition.
For the transportation of supercritical CO2 in a pipeline, booster pumping stations can be placed along the
pipeline to maintain sufficient termi-
MARCH 2015
nal point pressure if needed. The

transport of CO2 through pipelines is
a well-understood and safe practice.
Carbon dioxide pipelines typically
have very few leaks and have not
caused any recorded injuries or fatalities. Carbon dioxide may also be
transported by ship, but this is only
done in small quantities.
Storage and use. It is the final step
of CCS, the sequestration or storage of CO2, that has resulted in the
greatest controversy. Much of the
captured CO2 will be injected underground and stored with minimal
leakage. Public opinion as of late has
pushed for the practical use, rather
than simple storage of the CO2. For
industrial boilers in CPI facilities, carbon capture can sometimes be used
for the production of chemicals such
as urea, methanol, formic acid, cyclic carbonates and polycarbonates.
Carbon dioxide can also be used
in the production of food and soft
drinks. However, this consumption
provides only temporary storage for
CO2 because much of it is immediately released into the atmosphere
upon use. More permanent uses for
CO2 include the production of plastics, fertilizers, ceramics and new
types of cement. Integration of CO2
use in these areas is likely to take
time, so other storage options must
be considered.
It is expected that most captured
CO2 will be injected and stored underground. The ability to do this depends on the presence of appropriate
geological formations that can hold
the CO2. Characteristics of an appropriate formation include sufficient
volumetric capacity to hold the CO2,
the ability to prevent this CO2 from
reaching the atmosphere or potable
groundwater sources, and the ability
to accept CO2 injection at rates comparable to those of oil-and-gas extraction in industry. Some formations
that can have the ability to accept
CO2 injection include sedimentary
rock, oil and gas fields, saline aquifers
and coal seams. Underground injection is a safe practice, provided that
the injection site is carefully selected,
the injection operations are properly
performed, and the CO2 is monitored
during and after injection.
Looking ahead
Carbon capture and sequestration
are both likely to increase in imCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
portance in the near future. International focus on reducing carbon

emissions has brought forth new
regulations that enforce and promote CCS technologies. The most
advanced CCS methods include
post-combustion
amine-based
and ammonia-based absorption of
CO2, but other methods are being
researched and developed as well.
While the compression and transport of CO2 is a mature technology,
the storage and use of CO2 have
been a source of controversy. More
research needs to be done in order
to find additional ways to permanently use CO2, and to ensure the
safety of underground injection.
Edited by Dorothy Lozowski
Acknowledgments
Content Licensing for

Every Marketing Strategy
Marketing solutions it for:
Outdoor Direct Mail
Print Advertising Tradeshow/
POP Displays Social Media
Radio & Television
The authors thank Mitchell Krasnopoler of Kiewit Power Engineers for

providing valuable comments for
this article.
References
1. Folger, P., Carbon Capture: A Technology Assessment, Congressional Research Service Reports, Retrieved from Digital Commons@University of Nebraska-Lincoln: digitalcommons.unl.edu/
crsdocs/19/, November 5, 2013.
2. Mills, R. M., Capturing Carbon: The New Weapon in the War
Against Climate Change, New York, Columbia University Press,
2010.
3. Rameshni, M., Carbon Capture Overview, Worley Parsons, Retrieved January 7, 2014, from www.worleyparsons.com/CSG/
hydrocarbons/specialtycapabilities/documents/carbon%20capture%20overview%20(3).pdf, 2010.
For more on CCS, see CO2 Gets Grounded, Chem.

Eng., April 2014 at www.chemengonline.com.
Authors
Julie Horn is a process engineer for Kiewit Power Engineers
Co. (9401 Renner Blvd., Lenexa,
KS 666219; Email:julia.horn@
kiewit.com). She recently graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where
she obtained a B.S.Ch.E. Horn
performed research as part of an
REU (research experience for undergraduates) at Iowa State University and has also interned at Aventine Renewable Energy.
Raymond Eric Zbacnik is a
senior process engineer for Kiewit
Power Engineers (Email: raymond.
zbacnik@kiewit.com).
Zbacnik
has about 40 years of chemical
process engineering experience,
which includes 20 years of airquality control systems (AQCS)
experience in the power industry.
He worked at Babcock & Wilcox,
at HDR: Cummins & Barnard and at Foster Wheeler.
Zbacnik has a B.S.Ch.E. from Purdue University, and an
M.E.Ch.E. from Manhattan College. He is a member of
the AIChE, IChemE, ACS and AWMA.
MARCH 2015
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73
Engineering Practice
Rotating Machinery: What You Should Know
About Operational Problems
Follow this guidance to improve the operation, safety and reliability of
rotating machinery in chemical process plants
Amin Almasi
Consultant
roubleshooting problems in
rotating machinery (such as
compressors, pumps, steam
turbines, gas turbines, turboexpanders and more) can present
difficult challenges during day-to-day
operations in facilities throughout the
chemical process industries (CPI).
Reliable operation is an important
factor in keeping plants running, particularly as plants push to operate at
higher capacities. Lost profits due to
persistent machinery problems can
never be recovered.
Rotating machinery often presents the most difficult operational
problems in a CPI plant. This article
provides a practical, in-depth review
of the art and science of machinery
troubleshooting and problem solving. Five case studies are presented
to cover a variety of relevant rotating-machinery systems, such as
compressors, pumps, gas turbines
and steam turbines. All of the case
studies presented here were developed from actual field experience.
This article offers a broad working
knowledge of troubleshooting principles and practice, to help operators
gain insight into different techniques
and various methods for machinery
problem solving.
A systematic approach
Proper CPI plant operation requires
sustained attention to the following:
Identifying opportunities to improve machinery reliability and
safety
Developing solutions for chronically problematic rotating machines
74
FIGURE 1. Shown here is a steam turbine dismantled for repair. This is the driver of the centrifugal compressor
A systematic approach is the key for

solving any machinery operational
problem. Comprehensive machinery
assessments should be carried out
using advanced data-collection tools
and methods (Figure 1). For instance,
the use of automated machinedata-collection software which
automatically collects a wealth of information specific to the machinery
component coupled with sophisticated modeling techniques, can
provide great insight to support troubleshooting efforts related to complex rotating machinery. Such insight
can help operators to diagnose the
actual root causes of underperforming machinery and premature machinery failures.
When CPI operators rely too
heavily on alarms and trips, there is
limited time to take remedial action
in response to a machinery issue.
Instead, a proactive monitoring apCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
proach provides greater value, by

enabling earlier machinery troubleshooting through improved early
detection of unusual deviations. This
can provide an earlier indication of
problems that may be developing.
In modern operations, expert operators often opt to manage critical
machine components using timebased data trends. Useful trends can
be developed when the behavior of
individual performance variables,
such as pressure, temperature, flow,
lubrication oil characteristics and
more, are plotted over time on a
graph. These trends can then be analyzed in conjunction with additional
information, such as that derived
from alarm screens and plant control-system graphics. By monitoring
trends, operators can anticipate potential problems and propose smart
solutions before any major upset
occurs. Trends in relevant data can
MARCH 2015
support operators and machinery

engineers, allowing them to stay
aware of situations as they begin
to arise, diagnose the root cause
of problems and resolve abnormal
situations. The ability to gather and
analyze trend data can also help operators to compare past and present
behavior, thereby supporting efforts
to anticipate future changes.
Keep an eye on key variables

Vibration monitoring is an important
indicator that can help operators to
identify machinery problems at an
early stage. The location of vibration
sensors is vital, to avoid introducing
errors during the measurement. In
general, the best location for vibration sensors in rotating machinery
is at the bearing or bearing housing
(Figure 2). Vibration measurements
at the machinery casing, in addition
to bearing vibration, can provide
useful data for identifying and solving machinery problems.
However, monitoring vibration
alone is not sufficient to gauge the
health of rotating machinery especially when large, critical machines
are concerned. For instance, in a recent case, it was observed that one
electric motors temperature and
current increased when the machine
was overloaded well before any
vibration was detected. This underscores the importance of monitoring
other parameters (such as temperature and current), in addition to vibration, to allow for early fault diagnosis
of electric machines.
When vibration analysis is used
alone, it may be difficult to establish the real cause of the vibration.
In general, it is better to monitor
both vibration and overall machinery performance (such as delivered
pressure and flow in pumps or compressors) to obtain a more reliable
fault diagnosis. And, it is important
to realize that the vibration produced
by the machinery is not a fault on its
own but rather a symptom (and
early warning sign) of a developing
failure condition.
Temperature is another critical
variable, and the ability to monitor it accurately is of paramount
importance in CPI plants. Today, a
wide range of temperature sensors
and measurement systems exists,
including thermocouples, resisCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
THE IMPORTANCE OF MONITORING

In one situation, a CPI company avoided an estimated $10 million in property damage and
business-interruption loss in a year as a result of the early detection of high vibration levels
in its rotating machinery. The high-vibration monitors indicated the deteriorating conditions
(a developing problem) within a large, critical compressor train. The developing problem
resulted in the loss of half of the bolts, a circumferential crack in the coupling spacer (about
80 mm long) and a radial crack emanating from the initial break at the time of shutdown.
If the fault had progressed and all of the bolts had sheared before operator intervention, the compressor would have been unrestrained with potentially disastrous consequences. This clearly illustrates why, particularly in large CPI plants, it is vital to monitor
critical components on a continuous basis.
tance thermal detectors (RTDs; also

known as resistance thermometers),
thermistors, filled thermal systems,
pyrometers, infrared thermography
techniques and glass thermometers.
All are widely used to provide
process and machinery temperature
measurements.
The measurement of flowrate provides another useful indicator for the
health of many processes and machinery systems. Traditionally, techniques based on differential pressure, turbine and vortex shedding
have been used to measure fluid
flowrate. However, these methods
might not be suitable if an accurate
measurement is required for gases,
since errors can be introduced in the
measurement due the compressible
nature of gases. To use these methods with gas flows, it would be necessary to compensate for the gas
density fluctuation in order to reduce
the errors.
Modern Coriolis mass flowmeters are a more appropriate choice
for measuring gas flowrate, which is
usually independent of temperature,
pressure, density and composition.
This meter uses the Coriolis effect to
measure the amount of mass moving through the element. In a simple
form, the fluid to be measured runs
through a U-shaped tube that is
caused to vibrate in a perpendicular direction to the flow. Fluid forces
running through the tube interact
with the vibration, causing it to twist.
The greater the angle of the twist,
the higher the flow. These flowmeters have no rotating parts. Modern
Coriolis flowmeters are highly accurate (providing accuracy to around
0.5% of the mass flowrate).
For relatively low-speed rotating
machines, vibration analysis may not
be suitable to detect degradation
or operational problems. However,
acoustic-emission sensors, strategically located on the machine, can
MARCH 2015
give operators early indication of deterioration in the machines operating

condition.
Control valves are vital components in every process and in many
types of equipment packages where
fluid is handled and regulated. However, the most common malfunction
with control valves is internal leakage, which cannot be detected easily. Internal leakage can result from
one of several factors, including an
eroded valve plugs or seats, or insufficient seat load.
Five case studies

Case study 1: Insects in an aircompressor inlet filter. In a CPI
plant in a remote area, insects
caused problems for the inlet-air filtration unit of a large process-type
air compressor. The accumulation of
insects on the filters led to high differential pressure in the unit, leading
to periodic compressor shutdowns.
Multiple cases of surge and surgerelated trips occurred because of
this issue. Regarding a problem of
persistent insects impacting the aircompressor, two solutions should be
considered:
1. A multi-sided insect screen. For
example, three-, four- or fivesided insect screens can be constructed (for instance, in a cube or
similar configuration) in the front
of the air filter, with a surface area
roughly three to four times that of
the front face of the air filter inlet.
The rationale is that insects will
gather on the larger-surface area
of the screen (far from actual intake) and thus experience less
intake air velocity, allowing them
to fly away, reducing their opportunity to trap and plug the air filter.
When a screen is built with three
times the area of the air intake,
the air velocity across the insect
screen would be around 33% of
the original velocity. When the
75
FIGURE 2. Tilting pad thrust bearings are widely used in relatively high-speed rotating machinery. These
bearings are vulerable and can be damaged easily; shown here is one that was removed for repair
screen is built at four times the intake area, the air velocity across
the screen would be just 0.25%
of the original velocity.
2. Specially designed pulse-clean
filters. Another possibility is to
install pulse-clean filters that
apply a periodic reverse pulse of
air to dislodge the accumulated
dirt and insects from the filter
inlet at a pre-disposed differential pressure. This will require a
specialized filter assembly with
a compressed-air supply and
associated equipment and controls. However, this solution is not
usually recommended since this
is a complex, expensive and risky
option.
In this case study, the first proposed solution was used and a
four-sided insect screen was built.
For such an installation, the mesh
size should be selected properly to
stop the smallest anticipated insects
from penetrating, and it should be
reasonably rigid to allow for cleaning
with a soft brush. If the mesh has a
dense or tight weave (say, with holes
around 1-mm dia.) to ensure that
small insects cannot pass through,
then it may be necessary to compensate with increased surface area
(so that air intake is not impeded and
pressure drop is not increased). For
this case, a window screen mesh
(with holes roughly 1-3-mm dia.)
was selected. Routine inspections
by technicians have been required
to clean the screen. The structure of
the insect screen was made rugged
enough to resist wind and ensure
longevity of the asset. This insect
screen provides an added bene76
fit, by helping to keep rain and dirt

from being driven into the filter inlet
by wind.
Case study 2: Discrepancies in
performance maps. During the
commissioning stage of a CPI plant,
it was noted that there were two different sets of performance maps in
the manual for a particular, critical
centrifugal compressor one from
the compressor manufacturer and
another from the anti-surge-system
sub-vendor. The compressor had
been delivered three years earlier
but it was not installed and commissioned upon delivery because of a
three-year delay in the project and a
stop in the plant construction. Some
of the engineers who had worked
on this machine and associated unit
had left their jobs and there was no
proper documentation to clarify how
this discrepancy originated.
At this facility, there were concerns
about surge. During the initial period
of operation, the compressor was
tripped several times because of
surge or other operational issues related to the existence of two different
performance maps and the allowable operating range. Any attempt to
identify which performance map and
surge line were the most appropriate for use failed because of personnel changes at both the compressor
vendor and the anti-surge- system
sub-vendor during the 3-yr period.
In general, turbocompressors
should be surge tested once they
are installed, to develop accurate,
as-built surge lines. For this machine,
it was decided to perform the surge
test at the site to identify the surge
line and the correct performance
map. This test was completed by

hooking proper surge-detection
hardware into the compressors vibration-monitoring system. At each
operating speed, the compressor
discharge valve was slowly closed.
Prior to the surge, the surge-detection system (using vibration sensors as part of the compressor vibration-monitoring system) detected an
increase in low-frequency vibration,
which indicated the onset of surge.
This was used to define the surge
line. The compressor was not actually surged, just taken to the point
of onset of stall. Once the as-built
surge line was identified using this
technique, it was seen to be different
from what both the vendor and the
sub-vendor indicated in their respective performance maps.
Often, it is common to obtain a
site-tested, as-built surge line that
differs from the vendor-calculated
surge line, or even the shop-tested
surge line, because of different compressor piping and arrangement in
the vendor shop test compared to
the final site installation. The sitetested, as-built surge line should be
considered the most reliable data for
any operator.
Case study 3: Re-rating a steam
turbine. The steam turbine driver
of a large pump train in a CPI unit
created a bottleneck that prevented
the unit from achieving a desired 5%
increase in capacity. The operation
team asked to run the steam turbine using 49-barg steam instead
of 46-barg steam to achieve higher
power generation from the turbine
and higher pump capacity. Simulations showed that using 49-barg
steam, it was possible to generate
higher power, and this modeling also
showed that the pump train could
handle higher power and generate
more flow within the pump curve. In
fact, this investigation showed that
the new pump operating point was a
bit closer to the best efficiency point
(BEP) than the old operating point. In
general, significant engineering assessments are required in order to
re-rate a steam turbine.
The steam turbine casing in this
case was originally designed and
rated to 46 barg. In order to increase
the pressure rating, the design of
the casing was checked by both
the vendors engineering team and
MARCH 2015
an independent consultant. It was

determined that it could safely and
reliably contain steam at 49 barg.
The casing was re-rated, after
a proper hydro-testing, as per
code requirements.
Using the same rotor, the pressure
drop per stage was increased. The
existing impellers were checked to
ensure that they were strong enough
and the rotor did not require changing. Simulations and investigations
showed that diametric changes and
changes to internal static components within the casing were not
required. The steam turbine was
re-rated for 49 barg. The steam-turbine-driven pump train has enjoyed
smooth and trouble-free operation
since re-rating after the changes
were made.
Case study 4: Inlet filter for gas
turbines. In general, gas turbines
ingest different materials depending on the location and the plant
primarily dirt and dust, but also ice,
rain, snow and salt. The cleanliness
of a gas turbine is the key factor in its
efficiency, reliability and safety. Accu-
mulated dirt in the air-compressor

section of a gas turbine can increase
fuel consumption, and lead to more
frequent maintenance outages and a
decreased hot-section life.
At a given CPI plant, gas turbines
were used to both generate power
and drive the gas compressor. The
original air filters were used in these
gas turbine air-inlet systems, which
mandated turbine shutdown and offline water washing every six months.
The dirty air reduced the efficiency
of the gas turbine fleet between
cleanings. For instance, the gas turbine trains exhibited efficiency drop
of as much as 2.5% on average in
the three-month period before each
offline water washing. The scheduled offline water washing every six
months on each gas turbine of the
CPI plant (just for cleaning), in addition to other outages for inspection
and maintenance, was wasteful and
non-productive. The operation team
asked for a solution.
Getting maximum performance
and reliability out of a gas turbine
requires keeping the blades clean
in order to reduce drag and improve

the heat rate and power output. Inlet
air filters play a significant role in the
degree of fouling that gas turbines
experience. With the original, olderstyle air filters, the operators of this
plant were faced with a tradeoff: Installing higher-efficiency filters that
remove more of the airborne particles creates a higher initial pressure
drop and typically have a shorter life
span compared to lower-efficiency
filters. The filter pressure drop decreases the density of the air going
to the gas turbine, which reduces
the gas turbines output power.
Added pressure drop across the air
filters increases the amount of energy needed to draw air into the gas
turbine, which increases the gas turbines heat rate.
In general, there are tradeoffs between efficiency, cost, filter life and
pressure drop that all need to be
considered when evaluating which
air filters may be best for a particular operation. The small particles that
cause most of gas turbine fouling
are less than 3 micrometers (m;
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40
VOL.
122 NO.
2
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FEBRUA
5
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MARCH 2015
77
sometimes less than 0.5 m) in size,

below the standard capabilities of
old-fashioned filters. Thus, emphasis should be placed on comparing
the differences in filter efficiency for
the removal of particles smaller than
3 m (as well as considering filter
efficiency on particles smaller than
0.5 m) since those particle sizes
generally contribute more to
air-compressor fouling rather than
larger particles.
Switching to better, higher-efficiency air-inlet filters is a good way
to keep air-compressors cleaner,
but they can offer some drawbacks.
The most appropriate air filter should
be selected with respect to the efficiency, the filter life and pressure
they reach their expected lifespan.

Modern hydrophobic HEPA filters
were installed for all gas turbines
in this CPI plant. They completely
eliminated the need to shutdown the
gas-turbine trains for offline water
washing. The operation has been
satisfactory since the filter change.
Case study 5: Problems in turbines steam-admission valves.
In this case, problems in the steamadmission valves used to supply the
steam turbine reduced the required
steam flow into the steam turbine,
which impacted the performance of a
critical centrifugal compressor driven
by the turbine, and this negatively
impacted the plants production rate.
There were four poppet valves in the
There are tradeoffs between efficiency, cost, filter life

and pressure drop that need to be considered when
evaluating which air filters may be best for a particular
operation.
drop. Today, new filter designs can
keep the gas turbine clean with the
same pressure drop and a better filter life compared to older-style filters.
Todays modern filters have a structure and layers that allow for the effective capture of even the smallest
particles (below 3 m and sometimes below 0.5 m) to keep the
gas-turbine intake air clean without
significant filter plugging.
Advanced hydrophobic high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters
have the same pressure drop as the
older filters. However, the key to their
improved filter performance is a novel
multi-layer media construction that
includes a hydrophobic membrane
layer. Usually the first filter layer captures most of the airborne dirt. The
middle layer or layers are most
often made from expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes
or similar, and they stop both submicron particles and water that may
penetrate the first layer. Other layers
are support layers added to provide
strength and burst pressure resistance. These support layers give the
filter more than twice the required
burst strength of the old-fashioned
filters. This extra burst strength prevents filters from breaking before
78
steam chest of this steam turbine.

These should be staged to open at
different load requirements.
Problems and issues for steamadmission valves have been reported extensively for steam turbines
in different CPI plants. For any steam
turbine governor or admission-valve
issues, the following initial investigations are recommended:
1. Study the changes in performance of the steam-admission
valve system and governor system
2. Evaluate the actual performance
of steam turbine versus the design specification
3. Investigate the possible causes
for discrepancies
Usually one or more of the following issues are reported for steamadmission valves:
Insufficient nozzle-opening size
Blockage inside the admission
valve system
Incorrect calibration of the admission valve system
Problem with internal setup of the
steam-admission valve system
Gradual buildup of deposition or
degradation products
Based on the steam-turbine manual for this unit, the governor should
only be opened to around 78% for

the first normal operating condition
case. The investigation showed the
position indicator on the governor
was at 90% for this operating case
(around 12% discrepancy). The initial
suggestion was that the governor or
steam-admission valves might not
be correctly calibrated. The physical
movement of the admission valves
has not changed since commissioning, which indicated that the problem was not related to the gradual
build-up of deposition or to degradation. A highly nonlinear relationship
was reported at low valve-opening
positions (around 020% of the rated
flow). Below 20% of the governor
position, there was very little steam
flow through the steam turbine. This
indicated that there was a problem
with the first poppet valve.
There was almost zero increase
in the steam flow once the governor
position got higher than 91% of the
rated flow. This was evident from
the sharp drop-off at the end of the
stroke-versus-steam-flow curve of
the admission valve. There was also
a problem with the last poppet valve.
In other words, the lack of response
during the first 20% of governor
opening indicated a problem with
the first poppet valve. The lack of response to the final 9% of governor
opening indicated a problem with
the last poppet valve. The steamadmission valve was overhauled for
quick replacements of the first and
last valves. The steam turbine operation has been satisfactory after this
n
valve change.
Edited by Suzanne Shelley
Author
Amin Almasi is a rotating-equipment consultant in Australia
(Email: amin.almasi@ymail.com).
He previously worked at Worley
Parsons Services Pty Ltd. (Brisbane, Australia), Technicas Reunidas (Madrid, Spain) and Fluor
Corp. (various offices). He holds a
chartered professional engineer
license from Engineers Australia
(MIEAust CPEng Mechanical), a chartered engineer
certificate from IMechE (CEng MIMechE), RPEQ (registered professional engineer in Queensland) and he also
holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in mechanical engineering.
He specializes in rotating machines, including centrifugal, screw and reciprocating compressors, gas and
steam turbines, pumps, condition monitoring and reliability. Almasi is an active member of Engineers Australia, IMechE, ASME, Vibration Institute, SPE, IEEE, and
IDGTE. He has authored more than 60 papers and articles dealing with rotating machines.
MARCH 2015
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Advertisers Index
Advertiser ........................ Page number
Reader Service #
Phone number
Abbe, Paul O. ..................................24D

1-800-524-2188

NACE International ............................ 47
Orion Instruments.............................. 25
AFPM - American Fuel & Petrochemical

Manufacturers ................................... 43
Paharpur Cooling Towers...................21
1-202-457-0480
91-33-4013 3000
AUMA Riester GmbH & Co. KG .........31
Pfeiffer Vacuum GmbH ..................... 35
49 6441 802-0
BASF...........................SECOND COVER
* Berndorf Band GmbH................ 36I-11
* Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG .....

36I-9
1-847-841-3300
49 5235 3-00
Beumer Group GmbH & Co. KG .......13
Brkert Werke GmbH ....................... 39
Buss-SMS-Canzler GmbH ................ 34

49 60 33-85-0
Check-All Valve Mfg. Co. .................. 38

1-515-224-2301
Chemshow 2015 ............................... 26

1-203-221-9232
Corzan HP Piping Systems ............... 57

1-216-447-7397
Reader Service #
Phone number
Reader Service #
Phone number
Ross, Charles & Son Company........... 6

1-800-243-ROSS
Saint-Gobain Ceramics ......................14

1-716-278-6233
Sandvik Materials Technology ............ 17
Sandvik Process Systems ................. 45

49 711 5105-0
Seepex Inc. ....................................... 58
* Plast-O-Matic Valves, Inc. ........ 36I-16

1-973-256-3000
PNC Financial Services Group 32a-32b

1-855-762-2361
Sturtevant Inc. ................................... 32

1-800-992-0209
Team Industrial Services ....................19

1-800-622-8326
ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions AG29
* PompeTravaini ............................ 36I-7

39.0331.889000
Tiger Tower, an EMCOR Industrial Services company .................................... 3
Quest Integrity ................................... 36
1-866-890-7794
RedGuard ............................................ 4
Titan Metal Fabricators, Inc. .............. 23
1-855-REDGUARD
1-805-487-5050
* VEGA Grieshaber KG..................36I-5
Dechema E.V......................................12
Classiied Index March 2015
Dietrich Engineering Consultants SA. 40
Emerson Process Management ......... 9

Endress + Hauser...............................15
1-888-ENDRESS
* Finder Pompe ........................... 36I-13

39-039-9982.1
Fluid Line Products ........................... 11D

1-440-946-9470
* GEA Process Engineering A/S ....36I-3

45 39 54 54 54
* GEA Wiegand GmbH ................ 36I-15

49 7243 705-0
Hawk Management ........................24D

1-978-304-3000
Advertiser
Page number
Phone number
Reader Service #
Aaron Equipment Company.............. 80

1-855-714-8359
Applied e-Simulators Software.......... 80
Busch LLC ......................................... 80
CU Services LLC ............................... 79
Advertiser
Page number
1-847-439-2303
Phone number
Reader Service #
Elcan Industries ................................. 80
KnightHawk Engineering ................... 80
1-914-381-7500
1-281-282-9200
Engineering Software ........................ 80

1-301-540-3605
Interphex 2015....................................10
Genck International ........................... 80
* Italvacuum....................................36I-1
Advertisers Product
Showcase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Computer Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Consulting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Equipment,
New & Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8081
Recruitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
1-708-748-7200
H2ecO Bulk Water LLC ......................81
Neuhaus Neotec ............................... 79
Ross, Charles & Son Company..........81

1-800-243-ROSS
Vesconite Bearings ............................81

27 11 616 11 11
List AG ................................................18
1-888-227-7177
Load Controls.....................................41
Heat Transfer Research, Inc./HTRI ... 80
972 52 383 4174
Indeck Power Equipment Co. ............81
Wabash Power Equipment Co...........81
Magnetrol ................... FOURTH COVER
1-800-446-3325
1-800-704-2002
Miller-Stevenson ................................ 40
John R. Robinson, Inc. ...................... 80
Xchanger, Inc. ....................................81
1-800-726-1026
1-952-933-2559
1-888-600-3247
1-800-992-2424
VisiMix ............................................... 80
Mller GmbH ..................................... 38

49 (0) 76 23/969-0
Send Advertisements and Box replies to: Diane Burleson

Chemical Engineering, 11000 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77042 * E-mail: dburleson@che.com * Tel: 512-337-7890
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Chemical Engineering copyright @ 2015 (ISSN 0009-2460) is published monthly by Access Intelligence, LLC, 4 Choke Cherry Road, 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD, 20850. Chemical Engineering Executive, Editorial, Advertising and Publication Offices: 88 Pine
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MARCH 2015
* International Edition
83
Economic Indicators
2012
2013
2014
2015
Download the CEPCI two weeks sooner at www.chemengonline.com/pci
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT COST INDEX (CEPCI)

(1957-59 = 100)
CE Index ______________________________________________
Equipment ____________________________________________
Heat exchangers & tanks _________________________________
Process machinery _____________________________________
Pipe, valves & fittings ____________________________________
Process instruments ____________________________________
Pumps & compressors ___________________________________
Electrical equipment ____________________________________
Structural supports & misc ________________________________
Construction labor _______________________________________
Buildings _____________________________________________
Engineering & supervision _________________________________
Dec. '14
Prelim.
Nov. '14
Final
Dec. '13
Final
575.8
698.8
642.5
662.8
872.2
410.8
943.4
515.2
765.8
322.1
546.4
319.6
578.4
702.5
649.3
662.9
875.4
411.7
942.9
516.2
769.9
322.4
546.9
320.1
567.5
687.9
621.6
656.0
875.7
412.5
925.8
513.8
746.9
318.7
532.8
322.0
625
Annual Index:
2006 = 499.6
600
2007 = 525.4
2008 = 575.4
575
2009 = 521.9
2010 = 550.8
550
2011 = 585.7
2012 = 584.6
525
2013 = 567.3
500
Starting with the April 2007 Final numbers, several of the data series for labor and compressors have been converted to
accommodate series IDs that were discontinued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
CURRENT BUSINESS INDICATORS
LATEST
PREVIOUS
YEAR AGO
CPI output index (2000 = 100) ____________________________________________________

CPI value of output, $ billions _____________________________________________________
CPI operating rate, % __________________________________________________________
Producer prices, industrial chemicals (1982 = 100) ____________________________________
Jan.'15
Dec.'14
Jan.'15
Jan.'15
=
=
=
=
93.9
1,917.2
78.6
246.4
Dec.'14
Nov.'14
Dec.'14
Dec.'14
=
=
=
=
93.5
2,024.2
78.3
271.0
Nov.'14
Oct.'14
Nov.'14
Nov.'14
=
=
=
=
93.1
2,057.2
78.2
283.4
Jan.'14
Dec.'13
Jan.'14
Jan.'14
=
=
=
=
88.8
2,177.3
75.1
295.8
Industrial Production in Manufacturing (2002=100)* ____________________________________

Hourly earnings index, chemical & allied products (1992 = 100) ____________________________
Productivity index, chemicals & allied products (1992 = 100) ______________________________
Jan.'15
Jan.'15
Jan.'15
=
=
=
102.1
157.5
109.2
Dec.'14
Dec.'14
Dec.'14
=
=
=
102.0
157.3
108.2
Nov.'14
Nov.'14
Nov.'14
=
=
=
102.0
157.5
107.6
Jan.'14
Jan.'14
Jan.'14
=
=
=
96.8
157.9
107.3
CPI OUTPUT INDEX (2000 = 100)
CPI OUTPUT VALUE ($ BILLIONS)
CPI OPERATING RATE (%)
100
2300
80
95
2200
78
90
2100
76
85
2000
74
80
1900
72
75
70
1800
J F M A M J
J A S O N D
J F M A M J
J A S O N D
J F M A M J
J A S O N D
*Due to discontinuance, the Index of Industrial Activity has been replaced by the Industrial Production in Manufacturing index from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board.
Current business indicators provided by Global insight, Inc., Lexington, Mass.
EXCLUSIVE AD SPACE AVAILABLE!

Feature your marketing message
The Economic Indicators department includes current industry

trends and the Plant Cost Index. As one of the most valued sections
in the magazine, your ad is guaranteed to reach decision makers
each month. Contact your sales representative to secure this spot.
JASON BULLOCK
jbullock@chemengonline.com
TERRY DAVIS
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DAN GENTILE
PETRA TRAUTES
dgentile@chemengonline.com ptrautes@accessintel.com
84
chemengonline.com/mediakit
CURRENT TRENDS
he preliminary value for the December

2014 CE Plant Cost Index (CEPCI;
top; most recent available) inched downward compared to the final value for November, continuing a three-month trend.
The index value sits at 1.45% above its
level from December 2013. Meanwhile,
updated values for the Current Business
Indicators from IHS Global Insight (middle) show a very small increase for CPI
output, but a decrease for CPI value of
output. This is the second consecutive
month for similar behavior in these categories. Producer prices fell in January.
MARCH 2015
Now Available in the Chemical Engineering Store:
Process Water and Wastewater Treatment

and Reuse Guidebook- Volume 2
This guidebook contains how-to engineering articles formerly published in Chemical Engineering. The
articles in Volume 2 provide practical engineering recommendations for process operators faced with the
challenge of treating inlet water for process use, and treating industrial wastewater to make it suitable for
discharge or reuse.
There is a focus on the importance of closed-loop or zero-discharge plant design, as well as the selection,
operation and maintenance of membrane-based treatment systems; treating water for use in recirculatedwater cooling systems; managing water treatment to ensure trouble-free steam service; designing stripping
columns for water treatment; and more.
Table of Contents
Process Water Treatment Challenges and Solutions

Water Reuse and Conservation in the CPI
Strategies to Minimize Wastewater Discharge
Strategies for Water Reuse
Wastewater: A Reliable Water Resource
Membranes for Process Water Reuse
Strategies for Controlling Membrane Fouling
Fact at Your Fingertips: Membranes
Facts at Your Fingertips: Membrane Configurations
Facts at Your Fingertips: Controlling Membrane Fouling

Biodegradation and Testing of Scale Inhibitors
Keeping Cooling Water Clean
Caring for Cooling Water Systems
Purifying Coke-Cooling Wastewater
Non-Chemical Water Treatment
CPI Water and Steam Chemistry
Designing Steam Stripping Columns for Wastewater
Order your copy today by visiting store.chemengonline.com

20611
Density calibration is just one less thing to worry about

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March 2015 - International

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March

MANAGING STEAM SYSTEMS PREVENTING COMBUSTIBLE DUST EXPLOSIONS

VOL. 122 NO. 3 MARCH 2015

As the global leader in catalysis, BASF draws on the

Volume 122 | no. 3

Part 1: Why Bad Things Happen to Good Steam

Part 2: Mitigate Corrosion in CondensateReturn Systems Understanding the chemistry behind

Newsfront Targeting Methane Emissions

Newsfront Process Control Provides A Holistic View

Technical and Practical

Technology Profile Propane Dehydrogenation to

Feature Report Prevent Combustible Dust

Environmental Manager Post-Combustion Carbon

Engineering Practice Rotating Machinery: What You

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Focus Bulk Solids Handling

Show Preview Interphex 2015

Editors Page A most-wanted safety improvement

36I-1 European Special Advertising Section

For Tiger Tower, our entire world is

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AT REDGUARD, THE WORK WE DO IS MORE

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Vice President and Group Publisher

GERALD ONDREY (Frankfurt)

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Chief Executive Officer

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Senior Vice President, Digital

n the chemical process industries (CPI), dust can present an issue

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