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• Rethink College Chemistry Labs

  By Mark Rosenzweig, Editor in Chief

  Chemical engineering students generally don’t get a good grounding about real-world equipment and processes while in college, as I’ve repeatedly noted — e.g., in “Young Engineers Need Our Help.” A similar lack of appreciation for actual industrial practices certainly also applies to…

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• 8 Keys To Deftly Deploy Digital Tools

  By Mike Edgett, Infor

  Most industry pundits seem to agree that, despite continuing volatility in the global economic environment, the chemical manufacturing outlook is showing good signs of growth. However, chemical companies generally lag firms in other sectors in embracing a wide range of digital advances —…

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• Energy Saver: Don’t Get Tangled Up By Complexity

  By Alan Rossiter, Energy Columnist

  The first time I set foot in a large oil refinery, as a member of group of young chemical engineering students, my jaw almost hit the ground. It wasn’t just the size; it was the shear complexity. Pipes seemed to go everywhere, huge towers and stacks loomed above my head, and steam leaks hissed…

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• Cybersecurity Gaps Threaten Operations

  By Dawn Cappelli, VP of global security and chief information security officer, Rockwell Automation

  Too many manufacturers are leaving their operations exposed to cybersecurity threats because their information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) teams are not working together to address security in a unified way. A lack of cohesion and collaboration between these groups can create…

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• Project Management: Don’t Stop At The Drawings

  By Dirk Willard, Contributing Editor

  A pipefitter was welding within a few feet of a chloro-silicon tank. That wasn’t the only hazard. No safety shield was up, so the flash from the torch could blind drivers on a plant road only ten yards away. Light cables were lying about and we expected rain and sleet later. The foreman was…

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• Process Puzzler: Mend A Mixing Mix-Up

  This Month’s Puzzler As a process control consultant, I was brought in to fix a blending problem with a set of static mixers installed to replace an agitator ( see figure). The four static mixers are supposed to blend ingredients together before sending them to a feed tank for a packaging line.

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