Holistic Optimization of Unit Operations at WFC 13
Like the Olympics, the World Filtration Conference is held every four years. Only, in the case of WFC 13, it’s been six years since we’ve all been able to meet. The event, postponed twice by the pandemic, is on for October 6 – 9 2022 in San Diego. This conference will be one of the largest Congresses for Filtration & Separation welcoming many speakers from around the world. I'm looking forward to great conversation about holistic optimization of unit operations. I am fortunate to be…
Global Experts Contribute Know-How in Integration and Optimization of Unit Operations
Over my career of 40 years in the process industry and unit operations, writing has always been a passion for me. It represents an opportunity to convey concepts, ideas, and technical information in a manner that makes sense to the audience. My technical and marketing application articles — more than 150 to date — culminated in 2015 with the publication of my first book for Elsevier, Handbook of Solid-Liquid Filtration. On the strength of the Handbook’s market acceptance, Elsevier asked me…
Safely mothballing and decommissioning plants
Helping to solve process problems and install equipment and technology solutions is always great fun. I've had forty plus years now meeting these challenges in the chemical, pharma, energy, environmental, and water industries. Now, I'm involved in battery materials processing too! Throughout all these experiences, sometimes the task is mothballing or decommissioning plants. This could be as a result of market conditions, economic forces, or simple process obsolescence. It's sad to see a plant…
Clarifying Process Liquids: New Approaches for Chemical and Pharmaceutical Applications
Image Source: IFN How can the process engineer successfully automate the clarification processes to improve filtration while minimizing operator exposure? Over my career in solid-liquid separation, I've seen many examples of process engineers struggling with clarifying process liquids. In one resin facility, the slurry was in a formaldehyde process and the "masked" operators were opening up a manual plate filter to dig out the cake. In another case, during the manufacturing of zeolites, the…
Process Engineering Partnership Provides a Holistic Approach to Operations
Image source: https://www.humanperf.com/en/blog/project-management/articles/holistic-approach-serving-transformation Process engineering cannot succeed in a silo. As I often say, it’s best to take a holistic view of process operations. To that end, I’m pleased to announce my new collaboration with Procegence. Let me tell you more about our process engineering approach. Happily, one of my blogs on batch to continuous processing prompted Nima Yazdanpanah, President of Procegence, to reach…