Get Expert Advice From Your Peers

July 30, 2003

This issue marks the roll-out of Process Puzzler, a new monthly department for readers who are wrestling with a particular process problem or question and need expert advice.

Maybe you're considering buying a piece of filtration equipment you're unfamilar with. Maybe you have a particularly intractable pumping or mixing problem. Perhaps a new measurement transmitter isn't working as well as it should in your installation.

Any question or problem related to manufacturing and process operations in a chemical plant is fair game. Send it to us. We'll print it here, post it on our Web site, and ask readers to help by sending in answers and solutions.

We're counting on you, and on the knowledge and experience of the Chemical Processing community, to make today's toughest process and equipment problems disappear. Answer the call of "comrades in need" with solutions, suggestions, anecdotes of past experiences, and whatever wisdom you can share. You may need help from your peers when you meet with a thorny problem or question in the future.

This department will operate on a two-month cycle. We'll print and post the answers to this month's question in the September issue. The question we pose here next month will be answered in October.

Let's get busy.

SEPTEMBER'S QUESTION

Can I use a drive to control flow?

I've been hearing lately that using a drive with my pump and motor setup will allow me to control flow better than using control valves alone. Is this true, and are the improvements worth it? Will I still need some other measure of flow control, besides a shut-off valve?

Send us your comments, suggestions, or solutions for this question. We'll include as many of them as possible in the September 2003 issue and post all of them on our Web site. Send visuals, too -- a sketch is fine. E-mail us at [email protected] or mail to Process Puzzler, Chemical Processing, 555 W. Pierce Rd., Suite 301, Itasca, IL 60143. Fax: (630)467-1120.

Please include your company, location and title in the response.

And, of course, if you have a process problem you'd like to pose to the readers,
send it along and we'll include it as soon as possible.