CEP: December 2017 This month's cover story presents an order-of-magnitude correlation for estimating the capital investment required for a shale-gas monetization plant.
CEP: November 2017 Drug addiction has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Because chemical engineers have a duty to serve the public and address pressing societal needs, it is critical for chemical engineers to develop processes and products to help prevent and address drug addiction.
CEP: October 2017 The discipline of biomolecular engineering focuses on the interface between molecular biology, biophysical chemistry, and chemical engineering — with the goal to translate our fundamental understanding of molecular biology into useful therapies, d
CEP: September 2017 Coupling the traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach to model the fluid phase with the discrete element method (DEM) to model the particles creates a powerful numerical method to study multiphase particulate flows. See how CFD-DEM can be applied to modeling gas-solid multiphase systems. Other topics in this issue include human factors in alarm response, back to basics: boilers, and troubleshooting wastewater treatment.
CEP: August 2017 AIChE’s 35 Under 35 Award recognizes 35 outstanding young professional AIChE members, all under the age of 35. Each awardee was selected for their successes and contributions in the area of bioengineering, chemicals, education, energy, innovation, leadership, or safety.
CEP: July 2017 This issue’s special section on energy focuses on concentrating solar thermal (CST) technology. The first article provides an overview of CST and introduces various applications. The second article details the different types of solar thermochemical energy storage (TCES) that could be combined with CST in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. The final article explains how ammonia synthesis could be used for TCES in a solar receiver that would also function as an ammonia reactor.
CEP: June 2017 Cybersecurity is a concern for all businesses. Organizations from retail stores to financial institutions to healthcare providers must take measures to safeguard their computers and corporate IT networks. Chemical process industries (CPI) firms, indeed all companies that handle hazardous chemicals, must also ensure the integrity of their industrial control systems (ICSs). One article in this issue explains a matrix-based risk-assessment approach to determining how much security is enough. Another article presents prevention and mitigation strategies and offers recommendations for incorporating industrial cybersecurity into an existing process safety management (PSM) program.
CEP: May 2017 Manufacturing plants based on modular equipment are emerging as a viable and beneficial alternative to conventional stick-built processing plants.This month's article on modular plant design discusses modular equipment for the chemical process industries (CPI) and identifies the benefits and drawbacks of this type of plant.
CEP: April 2017 This month's SBE supplement presents an overview of the evolving field of plant genetic engineering, which has its roots in agriculture.
CEP: March 2017 Finding balance between work and life is a challenge for almost all of us. It’s something that most of us want, but few of us put conscious effort into achieving. And, technology makes it harder and harder to separate work and life. Here are some tips for achieving work-life balance.
CEP: February 2017 The February Back to Basics article provides an overview of the centrifugal compressors used in ethylene plants. It describes their operation, clarifies some typical industry jargon, and explains the differences between the units used for cracked-gas compression and refrigeration services.
CEP: January 2017 Troubleshooting is a common task for chemical engineers. Two articles in this issue cover the topic, one on downcomer scanning for diagnosing your tower or column and one on infrared thermal imaging cameras to troubleshoot process upsets in applications that are too severe, impractical, or unsafe for direct-contact temperature instruments.