13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy - A Must Read Chemical Engineering Fiction Novel
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
However, the actual interesting point that I would like to share is a new Chemical Engineering related fiction novel that has been introduced to me by a friend in the United States. Honestly, I have never come across a chemical engineering related fiction novel. When I was told about it, I became curious and want to read this novel. Luckily, with the help of my friend, Diane, I managed to grab hold of this novel and finally it reached me 3 days ago.
The title of this brilliant novel is 13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy. The book is written by an author whom is also an experienced Chemical Engineer, Laura Starks. I was so excited and very eager to read the book upon receiving it. Back from work, I grabbed the book and read it at the playground in front of my house and continued reading for another 3 days until I finished.My first impression of the book
The book is quite thick. It contains 347 pages. I wondered when can I finish reading this novel after holding it on my hand since I must also do my study, read and write technical papers, work on my thermodynamics etc. However, after reading the first 10 pages, I could not stop!!! The fatal incident that suddenly occurred in the newly bought over refinery made me dying to know what had actually happened. Was the deadly hydrogen sulfide gas accidentally released or was it an evil sabotage? I must say that the storyline is very interesting and intriguing. I'm very much amazed and impressed with the details that the author has shown in her writing. It's everything about the real situation in a typical refinery. From a decision either to stop a running plant (which will be tricky and dangerous) to continuing running the plant despite of the tragedy. Those who normally run a refinery pretty much know that the biggest challenge in running a refinery is during the start-up and stopping it. A mistake will possibly end up to an unwanted tragedy.
The safety, health and environmental elements were clearly displayed along the storyline, which can provide perfectly good visualization on the real life situation to chemical engineering students and readers who have never entered a plant in this lucrative industry.
The author also took the initiative to explain some of the technical unit operations that might not be understood by the readers such as the one below which is taken on the beginning of Chapter 2:-
Reactors: vessels in which raw feeds are transformed into chemically and structurally different products.
Catalytic cracking: key process for converting heavy oils into more valuable gasoline and lighter products. Average reactor temperatures are 900-1000 Fahrenheit.
And the following are other description taken from the beginning of Chapter 13:
Hydrocarbon: any of a large variety of molecules containing primarily carbon and hydrogen and ranging from methane, a gas, to asphalt, a solid.
Sour crude: crude oil containing half a percent or more of sulfur by weight. Sweet crude contains less than half a percent of sulfur. Sulfur in sour crude is removed to meet gasoline and diesel specifications. Its removal produces poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas which is converted to sulfuric acid and elemental sulfur and sold to industrial buyers.
Looking through the acknowledgment page, I know that this book was carefully written, edited repeatedly and the author was very careful about all bits of detail.
Editorial Reviews
Reviews
"A knock-down conspiracy exposing the darkest secrets of the oil industry. Starks has made an impressive debut...." -- Michael Lucker, Screenwriter (Vampire In Brooklyn, Mulan II)
"A reverse femjep." -- Jack Quick - October 2006 BookBitch.com
Reviews from the Back Cover
A rogue force controlling the planet’s oil supply would hold a knife to its throat. The planet’s refineries, where oil becomes gasoline, may be an easier grab.
Lynn Dayton, 37, self-made refining executive, manages six vast complexes that transform oil into gasoline. Robert Guillard, 33, a suave Parisian intellectual believes, as did the cult around Pythagoras, that his genius confers moral authority. He directs the sabotage of US refineries, one by one. But his financing from an Asian refining cartel terminates in thirteen days unless he produces massive shutdowns.
Robert schemes to coerce Lynn into collaborating as he pursues his outwardly humanitarian goal of building refineries in Third World countries. If she refuses, he will hold hostage her sister, Ceil Dayton, 30, whom he has lured to Paris. Ceil, in turn, hides a brutal secret.
An industrial accident at Lynn’s troubled Houston refinery arouses her suspicions. Government officials conclude routine negligence caused the accident, but her own investigation leads Lynn to suspect sabotage.
Threats to Lynn’s life intensify. Desperate for the safety of her co- workers, whom she considers in greater danger, she works cease- lessly to find the real cause of the "accident" and the saboteur. Although her company security force notifies the FBI of her suspicions, the bureau considers her facts inadequate to justify adding resources. Within a few days, explosions and fires at nearby refineries claim victims. The resulting fuel shortage affects the lives of everyone in North America.
Then Lynn is kidnapped. She fights for her life on a catwalk above a storage tank of hot, sulfurous oil and escapes.
Deciphering the full extent of Robert’s scheme, she flies to Paris. But will she be in time to derail Robert’s plans and save her sister?
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Labels: Chemical Plant, Equipments, Experience, Plant Shutdown, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 10:24 PM,
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IEM Technical Visit to Mechmar Boiler
Friday, January 20, 2012
Last November I joined a group of Institution Engineers Malaysia (IEM) members for a technical visit trip to Mechmar Boiler in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia. This was the first time I visited a boiler manufacturer company. Honestly I was thrilled to learn and explore how a boiler is made and what the factory looks like. I mean the production plant site. In total there were about 20-30 engineers from IEM. The program started at 9.30 am up to 12.30 pm.
Some information about Mechmar Corporation (Malaysia) Berhad
Mechmar Boiler was established over 30 years ago. Currently, Mechmar Boiler is the leading industrial boiler and pressure vessel manufacturer within the Asian Pacific region.
With a core emphasis on superior engineering and strict manufacturing quality standards, Mechmar continually strives and meets the ever increasing expectations of today’s customers for reliable heat, power or steam generation at an economical investment cost.
Mechmar wide product range serves to meet the heat, steam or power needs of our customers regardless of their industry and location. Their products are the result of years of continuous and rigorous detailed engineering and dedication to providing quality in our manufacture and in our service to our customers.
The headquartered of Mechmar is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mechmar’s engineering team reinforces their commitment to their customers by providing sound engineering input with attention to detail. With two world class manufacturing and fabrication facilities in South East Asia both of which are ISO9001 certified by Lloyds, we meet this commitment with speed and at competitive prices. (Information taken from Mechmar official website).
Products manufactured by Mechmar
Here are the list of products manufactured by Mechmar Corporation (Malaysia) Berhad:Oil/Gas-Fired Boiler
- Titan HT
- Titan AS
- Titan MB
- Titan MCC
- Titan MCH
- Titan BD
- Titan MTH
-Various Custom Made Boilers
-Reconditioned boilers
For more comprehensive list of products, please click here.
One of the oil/gas fired boiler nearly completed
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Labels: Boiler, diesel, Energy, Equipments, IEM. IChemE, Technology, Training
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 6:48 PM,
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Power Failure in Our Industry!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Once upon a time in the Chemical Reaction Engineering Research Laboratory
On a sweet Thursday afternoon (today) when I just started my experiment, a sudden power failure occurred without warning. I was actually in the toilet when the power cut off took place. My wife called and asked, "Do you have electricity there in the lab?". I answered, "We have power here in the lab and I just started my experiment". Then 2 lab assistants walk out from the polymer lab (which is next to the reaction engineering lab) and informed me that the power failure just happened. I was surprised.
Immediately I ran into the lab and discovered that the lab black out. Oh my God!!! This is not good. It's not really about my experiment. It's the Gas Chromatography (GC) which I'm more worried about. The GC is such an important equipment for me and the rest of the students as we use it to identify and quantify our products from the reactor. The GC is very sensitive and frequent power cut-off can jeopardize the equipment and interrupt our research activities. Repairing the GC cost huge amount of money and with limited research budget, we need to do everything to avoid the GC from malfunctioning.After about 15 to 20 minutes the electrical power resumed. Thank God. I switched it on. I then checked the GC and its PC hoping that nothing will go wrong. When the power failure occurred just now, the oven temperature (of the GC) was 250oC. The standard operating procedure to switch off the GC is when the oven temperature is below 40oC. Sudden GC shut down is not recommended at all. It is strictly a big NO. Luckily the GC works well and nothing seems to be wrong. I restarted my experiment and completed it 3 hours later.
Power Failure in the Plant
The incident reminded me on the power failure that once in a while also occurred in the physical refinery plant I worked in several years ago. Such unavoidable power cut-off from the Electricity Company will firstly trigger chaos within the control room and the entire plant. The supervisor, shift leader and plant operators have to act fast to close all main valves manually from various sections. The flow, temperature and pressure from numerous unit operation equipment such as Niagara filter (filter leaves), deodoriser, packed column, heat exchanger need to be controlled until power resumed. The huge 3000 tonnes per day plant can only be minimally controlled via the PLC which was temporarily powered with UPS (uninterupted power supply) - which provided a few minutes power back up.
Secondly, the power cut off will result in substantial lost and I have to assess and make report about it. Even a milisecond power failure will result in vacuum drop in the plant in result to oil rejection (due to quality off-spec). That also will cost massive lost to the company.What can we do?
As for my case, in the lab... nothing much can be done. I rest my faith to the God. It's good to install UPS for the GC. If UPS is the answer, then we must have 4 UPS unit in the lab as there are all together 3 GC's and 1 GCMS. However, having UPS alone will not entirely protect this expansive machines. For me, the power company (electricity supplier) must be responsible in providing smooth and reliable power for us (the customers). They should pay all the damage and losses that hit us. Maybe this does not sound like an engineer's solution...
Other option?
A more interesting option is to create and manage our own power system...but can we do it with our resources? I'm referring to solar, wind and frequency (Tesla) energy. I would love to develop one of this power sources AFTER I complete my study. I'll try and do it at my home first... :)
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FREE Recommended magazines to get you updated with current engineering news
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Image #1 credited to: http://www.wkow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14691294&clienttype=printable
Image #2 credited to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42761336/ns/us_news-life/t/refinery-warnings-way-life-texas-city/
Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Chemical Plant, Control System, Energy, Equipments, green, Learning Curve, Plant Shutdown, Problem, Process Parameters, Processing.
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 7:54 PM,
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My Ph.D study so far...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Suddenly I felt time is very limited. I'm beginning to feel the pressure. I have more or less one year to complete my studies. I need to start working on my experiments. My experimental rig is fine and I believe it will be ok as I already tested it several times. The only concern for me is the quartz reactor that is brittle in nature. I need to keep sufficient stock of it. In addition, I also need to ensure my other equipments and consumables have spare as well. When talking about the experimentation work, the Gas Chromatography (GC) should also be in perfect condition for me and my Iranian colleague (Maryam) to analyze our products. The GC is the basically the heart of the study besides the rig reactor and process. I'm going to start my experimental work tomorrow officially and I hope everything will be fine... (Need to pray a lot!!!) OK ...enough about the experimental work.
Journal Paper... This is another thing hunting my back and consuming a huge chunk of my time. I have a draft prepared and submitted to 2 reputed publishers only to see on both occasions it got rejected for funny reasons (the first one) and out of scope reason (the second one). I admit that I felt miserable being rejected just like that. Well... I need to bounce back and fight to improve my draft paper and then send it again to other journal.
Thermodynamic modeling... Yeah...not only experimental work, I also need to work on the thermodynamic modeling of my catalytic reaction. This is quite interesting but at the same time it is my weakest part. I'm slowly working on this section and I hope I can complete this study in the next 2 months... (also, I need to pray to God a lot on this). I'm receiving some help from Maryam on this. She has been helping me when I got confuse and lost.
There are certainly a lot more to share about my research journey as a Ph.D student. I think I should reserve the rest for future sharing. For the time being, I just need to focus on my study for a while. Wish me luck... :)
Before ending... I would like to thank my other half of her undivided support for me. It is good to have a partner who is also in the same chemical engineering field. She understood what I'm doing and at the same time provided me precious input and ideas.
Also, my other colleague in the lab... All of you are great...haha...especially Emm2020...who has been next door to me in the lab...Let's finish this together!!!
p/s: Sorry if this post is not of any benefit to you guys. I just need to vent off some tense in me.
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Have you downloaded my free "Choosing Alternative Fuel" Ebook? If not, then please download it here. It's Free and on top of getting the free ebook, you'll get eCourse on Alternative Fuel. It's a good and easy way to add more valuable information to yourself.
Labels: Biofuel, Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Energy, Environmental, Equipments, Experience, Learning Curve, pH.D, Processing., Study
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 10:14 PM,
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I want FREE sustainable ENERGY... Can you give me?
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
No matter where we are or we work, either in an office, refinery plant or any building, we need it. What is it that is so important to us and our work? The second most important utility after water is for me the electricity.
I still remember the chaos in my plant when suddenly my plant which was operating smoothly suddenly black out. Yeah…the power supply from the power station and also the power grid was disrupted. The supervisor, shift leader and operators rushed to switch of the pumps and close valves in our 8 storey refinery. It’s not easy to handle a sudden power failure such as that for a huge plant. Imagine the lost resulted from the power failure. It’s tremendously huge. Then the funny thing is after 5 minutes, the power resumed. It’s not a joke!!! Although the power failure took 5 minutes, but it took more than 8 hours to stabilize the plant and get the product 
within specification.
So, who is responsible for such lost? Who will bear the cost?
If I’m running a business, company or factory, I’ll have to swallow the lost which is not even my fault. But that is the reality. What can we do?
If we install a generator or uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system, it can’t cope with the huge power demand of the plant. There is need to outsource for an energy that can back up the present power supply.
For a smaller scale, let say a house, a short power failure would not be such a hassle. The worse you can experience is a total darkness if it happen at night and the hot atmosphere you will face because you cannot switch on your fan or aircond. Or you will be attack by mosquito because you cannot switch on the mosquito repellent.
For several years I have thought of learning about alternative energy to replace the costly electricity and also the fuel to run my cars. Recently I have purchased several information product about solar installation – DIY at home. I have also thought of using the waste cooking oil from my kitchen to prepare biodiesel. However, I’ve not done both yet. I am compressed with tones of work around me from all angle… haha….
The funny thing is, 3 or 4 days after I purchase the ebook on making my own solar at home, I stumbled upon the idea of retrieving free energy from the air. The energy is actually obtained from the invisible wavelength that is abundantly available around us.
I make a swift research to investigate the potential of this free energy. I found out that the free energy systems can provide electricity from energy sources around us. Once we install the free energy devices, interestingly, we won’t have to pay monthly electricity bills ever again! This has triggered me to explore this energy a little bit further.
Free energy products work on different principles, developed by free energy specialists all over the world. Out of a wide variety of techniques, some free energy methods have been found to be more effective and dependable. One of these techniques involve the generation of electricity from TV and radio waves around us. Another involves the production of electricity from electrostatic charges in the atmosphere. Yet another method focuses on the conversion of radiant energy ever present in the atmosphere to electrical energy.
Whatever the technique used, free energy systems are reliable and easy to set up. The installation process is so simple that you can easily do it yourself, without the help of any professional electrician. To set up a free energy system for your home, you would need a few auxiliary devices such as a charge controller, a battery, and an inverter. You could also use a system meter between the battery and the inverter, to determine how much electric charge is left in the battery.
The free energy device is connected to a charge controller for regulation of electric charge from
the device. The charge controller is then connected to a battery for storage of energy produced by the free energy system. Batteries tend to work better in warm temperatures, so it might be a good idea to encase the battery in a battery box. The battery box also helps you keep things clean and organised.
The battery, with or without the battery box, is then connected to an inverter. Once done, the output of the inverter can be connected to the mains of your house. That is all the set up required for a free energy device. Once done, you can say good bye, and happily too, to your electricity bills!
If you are interested to learn more about this free energy and the person who develop it 100 years ago, you can download a 25 page FREE ENERGY report. You need to fill up your name and email address and the report will be delivered to you straight away. This report will provide an overview of the energy or preliminary information on understanding the concept.
Labels: Biofuel, Biotechnology, Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Environmental, Equipments, Experience, green, infrastructure, Learning Curve, Problem, Solar, Technology
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 7:50 PM,
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10 Essential Components For a Safer Working Environment
Monday, December 13, 2010
No matter where you are or work, safety is crucially an important issue that cannot be ignored. I have experienced a number of accidents throughout my years as an engineer and that's why I must emphasize this seriously. Luckily the accidents I was involved in were not fatal. On top of my personal accidents, I also witness some fatal accidents and also near death incidents.
That is why every time before commencing a job/project or event a shift, it is important to conduct safety briefing. It doesn't matter if it is a short meeting or a casual one (normally in between shift in a plant). For huge project, a more intense
meeting / documentation such as Job Safety Analysis (JSA), Method of Statement (MOS) plus filling up permit to work (PTW) and hot work /cold work permit is imperative. As an engineer, it is our duty to ensure the safety of the entire project or area under our responsibility. Safety involves our manpower, equipment and so on.So, what and how do we create a safety working environment? To answer that question, I consulted with Mr. Mitchell, an experienced guy who specializes in workplace behavioral change through performance management.
According to him, a safe working environment is a condition or state, it is not necessarily an event like an incident of an accident. This means that the low number of incidents or accidents doesn't mean that the workplace is particularly safe. What really counts is the process of safety because it is an integral part of every day activities in the workplace. There are a number of activities which are clear indicators of a safe working environment and this article lists 10 of them.
- Daily safety briefings. Every morning at the beginning of the work day or the shift, the leader holds an interactive safety briefing with his or her team. It lasts less than 10 minutes and has contributions from the team members.
- Weekly inspections to identify unsafe conditions. Every staff member participates in turn and conducts a regular safety inspection where they look for hazards and unsafe conditions. This can occur weekly or twice a week.
- Weekly inspections to identify unsafe behavior. Each week two staff members carry out a regular inspection where they are identifying unsafe behavior. The objective is to identify the unsafe behavior and mention it at the next daily safety briefing. Of course no names are mentioned.
- Accident and incident investigation. Every accident or near accident is investigated with the sole objective of prevention in the future. The process of investigation is not a witch hunt to apportion blame
- Constant improvement. During the daily safety briefings, the group members have an opportunity to recommend and discuss improvements to the workplace and the processes that are carried out within it
- Reporting near hits. Every single near hit (this is an incident where no damage or injury occurs) is investigated and prevention measures are put in place so it will not happen again.
- Positive reinforcement. Each day the leader goes into the workplace and gives positive reinforcement to those members of staff for working safely. This encouragement and enthusiasm for safety is a great motivator for safe working practices.
- Blame. It is noticeable that all safe working environments do not use blame or punishment as tools for creating safe behavior. Instead, they use positive reinforcement, encouragement and recognition.
- Practical on-the-job training. Group members are continually receiving on-the-job training from experts within the company and outside.
- Effective leadership. Is no coincidence that all safe workplace environments have good leadership. This means that the leader is prepared to listen and has the skills to create followers. These leaders engender cooperation and most of all discretionary effort. They are the main reason why people are working safely. They are not invisible and spend between 30 and 50% of their time with their team members.
For much more information on this and related subjects, you are welcome to visit the http://plmitchell.com/.
Bottom line, in what ever you do no matter during work or out of work, think about safety. Think about those love ones who are waiting for you at home... :)
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Find out how automating workforce management policies help to improve workplace safety and allows you to meet documentation requirements for OSHA compliance. With workforce management solutions, energy companies can create a safer work environment and maintain compliance. Download this brief to learn more about how you can put safety first while complying with OSHA.
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Labels: Accident, Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Environmental, Equipments, Safety
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 6:17 PM,
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Plate Heat Exchanger Software
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
When I was working as a process engineer, my favourite equipment was the heat exchanger. To be specific, it was the plate heat exchanger (PHE) that I am fond off. Until now, I still appreciate and liked the plate heat exchanger. The only thing is the plate heat exchanger in our unit operation lab is a little bit tiny.
All this while I thought I know a lot about plate heat exchanger. But I am wrong. I still don't know much about it. I faced some difficulty designing a plate heat exchanger for one of my project. That's when I started asking friends, heat exchanger suppliers, participated in forums and searched the net. I found and learned many softwares that are used to design plate heat exchanger. In fact, I've got myself one of the software which is called PHex. That's fine as long as I can try designing a plate heat exchanger the modern way. It was really interesting to use the software.
PHex is an easy to use tool which domonstrates the thermal calculations of Gasketed Plate Heat Exchangers, The plate dimensions and materials can be entered, this includes the size of plate heat exchanger and chevron angle (25 to 65 degrees).
List of main features:
1- User friendly and easy to use with ability to save/load data.
2- Estimate the Physical properties of more than 1450 components; the database has the ability to estimate Thermal Conductivity, Density, Heat Capacity and Viscosity. The database also included critical properties, boiling and melting points.
3- Estimate mixture properties.
4- Create you own database of Plates and Components. You can add your fluid physical properties and load the data to your project with a click of a button and more…
5- Chose between S.I. or English U.S. units of measurements.
6- Temperature and Flow rate estimation in the event of insufficient data.
7- Heat load required (clean or fouled) calculations.
8- Duty clean / dirty calculations.
9- Total effective area calculation.
10- Surface area calculation.
11- Number of plates calculations.
12- Overall Coefficient (clean / dirty) calculations.
13- Pressure drop Channel/Port/Total for Hot side and Cold side Calculations.
14- Plate heat exchanger dimension calculations.
15- Velocity through ports, Mass velocity through channel/ports calculations.
16- Reynolds and Nusselt numbers calculations.
17- Heat transfer coefficient calculations.
18- Summary of results with image to help in understanding.
This is without doubt a must have software for heat exchanger designers. This superb software cost only $69.99 per computer (1 license). You can also add on additional license with some extra cost if you are interested. For more information, click the following link:
>>> Get PHex Gasketed Plate Heat Exchanger Design Software
Have you downloaded my free "Choosing Alternative Fuel" Ebook? If not, then please download it here. It's Free and on top of getting the free ebook, you'll get eCourse on Alternative Fuel. It's a good and easy way to add more valuable information to yourself.
Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Environmental, Equipments, Heat Exchanger
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 11:22 PM,
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Experiment #1 Was Interesting
Friday, June 11, 2010
At this very moment, I'm at the lab. I've just tested my experimental rig baby. I have looked forward to conduct the first test run since I received the quartz tube reactor from United Kingdom 2 weeks ago. After adjusting the fittings, data logger, syringe pump and other related issues concerning the experiment, I decided to run experiment #1 on a beautiful Friday afternoon. This is 3 days earlier than what I planned. I initially planned to run the experiment on Monday.
The main objective of the test run today is to identify any problems. Yes, there will definitely be some problems when we run an experiment.
Today's effort can be considered a fruitful one. I identified few problems that I need to take care off. Here are some of the outcomes:
1. The thermocouple and data logger works fine.
2. The vacuum fitting for thermocouple connection also looks good.
3. The data logger software is marvelous.
4. The heating tape has done its job. It showed me high reading at 320oC.
5. The fitting from the syringe pump to the steel tubing definitely needs highest attention. I need to search a way to improve the connection.
6. The furnace temperature reading is OK but not consistent with my thermocouple reading. That's fine. I'm expecting that.
7. The syringe pump needs some attention too. It's quite confusing to adjust and run it.
8. I have not tested the experiment with nitrogen as carrier gas. Without carrier gas, I can observe bubbles from the beaker containing water.
9. I burnt my finger while accidentally touching the heating tape. One finger only.
10. I need to becareful with the thermocouple wire because it create spark when it touches the angle iron end.
11. I need to apply some quartz wool at the inlet and outlet of the reactor to avoid waste of heat energy from the furnace. Without quartz wool the thermocouple reading is lower by about 100oC plus.
Those are some of the findings I discovered today and I'm pleased with it. I'm now waiting for the reactor to cool down and I will check the quartz tube end, o-ring, fittings etc.
Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Equipments, pH.D
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 6:39 PM,
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My Career Progress...
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The new year 2010 just arrived but then suddenly January is almost going to end. I'm now in my early second semester for my Ph.D studies and things are heating up. I've just prepared my Ph.D proposal and submitted it to my supervisor. It's now with her for checking.
Ph.D Proposal + Journal Review Paper
At the time, I'm also working on a review paper for my first journal paper. It's very tough. It's not easy reading a lot of technical papers relating to my own research. But, I need to do it. This review paper will be my first international indexed journal paper and I hope it will further boost my spirit and motivation to complete my Ph.D as soon as humanly possible.
Experimental Rig Set-Up
At the same time, I'm also preparing my experimental rig. According to a colleague, it's better for me if I can set up a centralize control system to control all electrical and instrumentation in my experimental rig. Yeah...why not...that's cool... And for that reason, we are going to KL tomorrow to attend a seminar from National Instrument to learn more detail on the control equipment hardware and software. I hope something beneficial and conclusive will be obtained tomorrow. I need to set up my experimental rig as fast as possible.
Quartz Tube Issue
I ordered a set of quartz tube from a local supplier who is importing the quartz tube from London. Unfortunately the quartz tube have not yet arrived. This is not good... At the same time, a company I dealth with from Singapore is offering me quartz tube according to my specification. The bad thing is they quote me such an expansive price. I'm in huge dillema whether to buy or not the quartz tube. My budget is really tiny and I need to spend well, other wise I will run out of money to carry out my research.
Matlab training for Post Graduate Society
Thanks to my fellow friend Nabeel from Iraq who is currently doing his masters in his 3rd semester. He volunteered to conduct a matlab training for us. I'll be confirming few details on the training possibly tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If God wills, we'll be having the training next week. Only 15 students will be accepted to participate in this 3 days matlab training. I'm definitely attending this training. It is imperative for my thermodynamic analysis study for my reaction, which is going to be projected to fulfil my second journal paper.
Consultation
My headache is not yet over when it comes to the consultancy project i'm currently handling now. I thought everything was almost completed but then suddenly some issue arises, and some modification needs to be done. Yep, it's delayed again. Nevermine, we'll settle it once and for all.
IEM Training Log Book
Last week I received my log book which was checked by IEM representative from Chemical Engineering Division. Luckily the report was ok. Why? I said this because the envelop where the report was in has already torn and was really in bad shape. I can't imagine if something bad happen to my report, then 2 years of my recent engineering experiences are thrown away. Morale: Prepare a back-up of the report incase the report when missing somewhere somehow.
However, the one thing that is nice to see in my report is the comment made by the checker engineer... He recommended me to submit the report for my 3rd year in mid 2010. Why...this is because i've been sending back dated report for my log book. In other words, last year (2009) I submitted my report for 2008. In 2008, I submitted report for 2007. How come this happen...? Basically, the information conveyed was not clear when I enrolled as an IEM member. They say that after registering, I can back date my training experiences. Yes, I can, but the checker engineer at the end of the year will only check for 1 year training experiences only. That's when everything mess up. I did not know about this. Maybe I did not check properly. Haha....It's ok...
IEM project paper
Anyhow anyway, my mentor advised me to use my phd project as the main component to be reported in my final project paper for my professional interview assessment later. I must say that I totallt agree with him. That means, I need to work very hard and efficient for my phd studies. You know what is this...? It's simply killing 2 birds with one stone...Fuhhh....
How about you? Anything interesting you wanna share...? I would love to read you experiences as well...
Before that, check out this video from national instrument Labview...
Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Equipments, Experience, Learning Curve, Process Parameters, Research, Seminar
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:06 PM,
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Life Alert in a Plant and Industry
Saturday, October 03, 2009
I still recall when I was a process engineer working in a refinery plant, there are some operator(s) working alone in a small plant and he sits in a small control room. Similar scenario for a boilerman who normally operates alone in the boiler house on his shifts. This is a normal situation in a small plant(s) and I sometimes imagine what happen if suddenly something happen to this fellows? If suddenly they are sick and/or get a heart attack, what will happen to the guy and the plant/boiler or other units he is operating? Who will know what is happening at that instant? The fact that nowadays, we can see healthy people suddenly collapse, higher percentage would be due to high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack which is occasionally due to bad eating habit and unhealthy lifestyle.
I have thought of a device, tool or alarm to alert somebody, possibly an senior technician, supervisor, engineer or manager whenever anything bad happens to their operator or boilerman. I surfed and searched the net and I found a website called Brickhouse Alert that provide a device that can alert the other party whenever anything (that they define) happen. A message or signal will be instantaneously be sent to the other party to inform on what has happen. The product can be installed at home and and has a Fall Detection detector that alerts 24/7 emergency personnel that something or a person have fallen. The person experiencing the emergency can even push a button and an emergency signal is sent.
On top of that, there is also a monitored smoke detector and a help button that if someone falls on the ground, they can smack it and will get help, medication reminders, inactivity detector and so much more. Smoke detector can off course detect fire before it become worse. Interestingly, as I browsed further in the web, I found out that the device is really cleaver. It can be programmed to detect "no movement" or "movement".
I guess that if this kind of product which is provided by BrickHouse Alert can be modified or suited for process plant or manufacturing industry application, it will be great. If I'm still a process engineer, I'll recommend such product to my company. Before I left my ex-company, an integrated computer system a.k.a a centralized control system was in progressed that can allow the engineers and managers to monitor all the production and utility data online. Those are made in concern of business but having a life alert will be display any company concern to their manpower. I also believe this product should be installed in offshore platforms / oil rigs where safety is extremely crucial for the staffs there.
I'm not sure of you but, though the product is mainly to cater for any situation in a house, I believe applying it in a more diverse industry and operation can be a huge success especially when valuing safety and profitability factor.
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Labels: Chemical Plant, Equipments, Fire, Technology
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:03 AM,
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GPS for Engineers?
There's undeniably a wide range of fields and discipline under chemical engineering. There are physical refining, research and development, plant processing, academician, safety and health, environmental and plenty others. All this expert area surely requires specific equipments, tools and gadget in order to run or operate the process.
One imperative equipment that chemical engineers working in the environmental fields and/or sales engineer require due to massive traveling is GPS which stands for Global Positioning System. GPS is space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth. It is with no doubt a very important equipment to locate or mark specific locations.
Personally, I also used a GPS to travel to certain unknown destination and also to marked important points of location. We (me and my wife) own 2 GPS presently, one is via her cell phone and the other one is a dedicated tough Garmin GPS for mountain hikers. For some, GPS might be an alien for you but you'll needed it very much, depending on your job scope. It will safe you a lot of hassle if you are traveling. To get a set of GPS, you can easily and efficiently browse at shopwiki. They provide massive range of GPS with various features and models. You can choose the GPS based on the types (hand held, car, cellphone, laptop, watch, nautical) or outdoor type (Garmin hand held personal navigator or Uniden 28 Mile GMRS Radio 2 Pack with Charging Cradle and Battery Packs) or special touch hand held GPS system.
In extreme conditions, when the basic seems simply inadequate, you can select for more advance GPS such as HP iPAQ rx5900 or Garmin Edge 350. Those two are example of very excellent, high end and advance GPS system. For example, GArmin Edge 350, not only can do what normal GPS can do but also amazingly can tracks heart rate, speed and other exercise features. This is a good choice for engineers to keep track of their health while working diligently.
In conclusion, I strongly think that GPS is a very excellent tool to ease our job but it also depends on our job nature. Those who do not frequently travel or have projects scattered in various location may not think this is a tool they need to own. It's up to you. For me, it has proven to be cost effective in the aspect of time saving and working efficiently.
Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Environmental, Equipments, Learning Curve, Technology
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 8:08 AM,
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Walking in the Plant
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
For those of you who have not yet been in a chemical plant, I would like to share this very impressive animation videos that I found today in youtube. Credit to Cadmatic3D, the creator and submitter of the videos. For your information, the video shows (I mean simulate) a walk around in the plant.
In the first video, among the things that you'll notice are lots of piping, unconnected pipe flanges (not sure why it is not connected with bolts and nuts), many centrifugal pumps, air lines for valves and instrumentation, butterfly valves, staircases, small drain on the floor, small size plate heat exchanger, level sensor on tank, tanks and others. It's really a good experience simulating a walk around in the plant.
In the second video, it was almost like the first one. It displays I beam, more storage tanks, steam line, more centrifugal pumps (seems like floating) and others.
The videos were just uploaded yesterday and I found myself to be the second person to watch the first video and the 3rd person to watch the second video. Off course, the experience of really walking inside a plant is different but at least this should enable chemical engineering students to visualize what the feel to be walking in the plant.
Note: When you really walk in the plant, you'll listen to the noise, feel the heat from the heat exchanger, distillation column or boiler, see droplets of oil on the floor indicating there's a leakage above you and others. The floor might be slippery and you must be very careful. It's really a different experience. Imagine walking in a an offshore refinery... It was really awesome. I still remember the experiences when I work and visited several Petronas offshore platforms few years ago. Cool stuff...
Are you interested in designing such animation or plant? Alongside with the above video, I found another one which actually shows how to easily design, plan the plant layout and finally create a simulated version of the plant. All you have to do is to use the CADMATIC 3D Plant Design Software. It's fast, easy and simple. Created by engineers for engineers, it's proven to be fast solution for engineers to create and design plant in the shortest time possible. Also, imagine final year students using this powerful software to design their plants. Would that be super interesting? Check out the following video to learn the power of using Cadmatic 3D software...
For further reference or to learn more about this software, please visit www.cadmatic.com.
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Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Chemical Plant, Equipments, Experience, Learning Curve, Pump
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 8:32 PM,
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What's A Gas Chromatography?
Sunday, May 03, 2009
I believe some chemical engineers know about gas chromatography and some may heard but don't know about it. Some others may don't have any idea on what a GC is.
I have personally used a gas chromatography during my masters between 2000-2002. I used a Gas Chromatography Thermal Conductive Detector (GC-TCD). A GC-TCD is used to analyzed gaseous products. Since I'm going to pursue my pH.D this coming July, I need to refresh my memories and skills on how to use the GC and also the software. In my case, the software is Chemstation while the GC that we use in our lab is Hewlett Packard Agilent model 6890.
What's a GC?
Gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), or simply gas chromatography (GC), is a common type of chromatography used in organic chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporised without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture (the relative amounts of such components can also be determined). In some situations, GC may help in identifying a compound. In microscale chemistry, GC can be used to prepare pure compounds from a mixture (definition taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas-liquid_chromatography).
It's not going to be easy to explain about GC in a short post like this. A GC short course will take 3 days at least and will cost a lot. Hence, I may introduce a little back ground on GC and later explain more in stages. For an introduction, I share this video which will provide some background idea on what GC is all about.
Note: This is an education video from the Royal Society of Chemistry on gas chromatography using a flame ionisation detector (FID) with a brief mention of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS). From the "Modern Instrumental Techniques for schools and colleges" DVD. For more information on the Chemistry for our Future programme please visit http://www.rsc.org/CFOF (C) Royal Society of Chemistry.
Check out my story on my GC adventure...
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Labels: Chemical, Chemical Engineer, Equipments, Learning Curve
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 12:35 PM,
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Problem: Flash Fire Problem
Friday, November 07, 2008
2 weeks ago, Professor Silveston from Waterloo University Canada came to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for an assignment. While he was around, he gave a workshop on problem solving. It was really a very interesting workshop and we learnt how to think critically on how to solve problems (it can be any problem including chemical engineering operation problems).
I would like to share one problem that he gave us and I want to see some ideas. Please feel free to gave your opinion on the answer for the problem.
Flash Fire Problem
Heavy naphtas are converted into high octane gasoline in platformer. By products of the reaction include LPG and hydrogen rich gas containing 6-80% by volume hydrogen. The products from the platformer reactor (at 700 psig and 500 oC) are heat-exchanged with the naptha feed to the reactor. This preheats the feed. The platforming catalyst is rapidly fouled and must be generated by blowing with steam or waste gas. Thus the process is cyclic. A battery of reactors maintains a steady flow.
In three weeks since the startup, there have been four flash fires along the flanges of the heat exchanger. The plant manager claims that because of the differential expansion within the heat exchanger, because of the diameter of the exchanger and the stream hydrogen is rich these flash fires are bound to occur. The maintainance mean have broken 6 bolts trying to get the flange tighter, but they just cannot get it tight enough. The excahanger costs $200,000 and the whole plant costs #39 million. The technical manager says that the plant must be safe in 3 days.
What will you do?
What are the actions?
Can you think and share with us your action plan...
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Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Equipments, Learning Curve, Problem, Technology, Training
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 2:20 PM,
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Pump Guy Seminar - Chicago Area
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
There will be a seminar related to pump. If you happen to be in Chichago, USA, drop by to this seminar. I bet it might be very useful if you want to learn more technical stuff about pump. Below is the message from an email that I received today. I just want to spread the words around so that more and more engineers know about it... Check it out...
LAST CHANCE: Pump Guy Seminar - Chicago Area
Act now if you want to reserve one of the few remaining seats at this valuable training event.
Registration Deadline: Aug. 11
Complimentary companion text. Discounted hotel rooms. Free shuttle service to and
from the airport. Free parking. Breakfast, hot lunch, and beverage service included.
Larry Bachus (a.k.a. "Pump Guy"), a regular contributor to Flow Control magazine and a widely recognized expert on pumping technology, is offering his highly regarded three-day pump seminar in just a few weeks at the Countryside, IL Holiday Inn just outside of Chicago. This three-day training event will cover all aspects of pump operation and maintenance strategy, providing valuable information to all involved with the design and upkeep of pumping systems.
FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO REGISTER FOR THE PUMP GUY SEMINAR,
CLICK HERE.
KEY SEMINAR TOPICS INCLUDE:
• Basic Pump Principles
• NPSH
• Cavitation
• The Affinity Laws
• Work & Efficiency
• Pump Classification
• Pump Curves
• System Curves
• Shaft Deflection
• Pump-Motor Alignment
• Bearings
• Pump Packing
• Mechanical Seals
• Pump Piping
For a sampling of Larry's latest "PUMP GUY" columns from magazine, see:
* "Cheat Sheets: Unwritten Pump Rules"
* "Cheat Sheets: The System Governs the Pump"
* "Cheat Sheets: The Affinity Laws"
Register Now for the PUMP GUY SEMINAR.
If you have any questions about the PUMP GUY SEMINAR or need help registering, please contact Matt Migliore at 610.828.1711 or Matt@GrandViewMedia.com.
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Labels: Equipments, Pump, Training
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 10:25 PM,
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Water Shortage? Hot Water Circulating Systems Save Lots Of Water!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
If you live in an area affected by severe water shortages you should look into obtaining a hot water circulating system. Hot water circulating systems can save tremendous amounts of water, and at the same time provide the user with fast hot water. Fast hot water is a convenience that once experienced, is difficult to do without. Not only that, but when you do have to run water down the drain for long periods of time to obtain your hot water, you feel exceedingly guilty about doing so...or at least I do.
There is a variety of hot water circulating systems on the market, so we shall examine several systems to get a feel for what the differences are. There are pros and cons to every system, and by knowing what they are you can make an intelligent decision as to whether or not you would benefit from such a system, and which kind of system to purchase.
We can begin with the traditional hot water circulating system. The traditional system, the hot water pipe connects from the outlet of the water heater to the first fixture, and then loops from fixture to fixture, and finally it connects back to the inlet of the water heater. There is circulating pump in the hot water line that keeps hot water circulating in the piping. The pump can be placed on a time to reduce the heat loss from the system and the pumping energy during periods of little or no use.
The traditional system is very wasteful of energy, since it keeps all the hot water piping full of hot water, which continuously looses heat to the environment. The water heater must work a lot harder than with a non circulating system, and could end up needing replacement much sooner than normal. The system is so wasteful of energy that it can't be used in California for new residential construction. Grundfos and Taco are manufactures of traditional pumps.
A better approach is to use what is being called a "hot water demand system". It's similar to a traditional system, but it uses the cold water line as the return line. A small pump is placed under the sink furthest from the water heater. When the pump is turned on, it pumps water out of the hot water line and into the cold water line. In effect, it's pumping the water in a big loop out of the water heater and back into the heater. No water goes in or out of the water main and no water gets run down the drain.
When hot water reaches the pump it shuts off. Now you have instant hot water without running water down the drain. According to Grundfos, a large international manufacturer of circulating pumps, a typical family can save up to 16,000 gallons of water per year with a circulating system. Demand systems do not use any more energy than a non circulating system, since they don't really circulate the water; they just pump it to the sink where it was going to go anyway. The pumps run for such a brief time that the energy usage is very small...typically less than $2.00 per year. With a demand system you save time, water, energy, and money. Metlund and Chilipepper Sales are two manufactures of demand systems.
Another type of system is kind of halfway between a traditional system and a demand system. This system uses a pump that connects between the hot and cold water lines like the demand systems, but run continuously or on a timer like the traditional system. The pumps turn on at one temperature and off at a second higher temperature, keeping the water in the piping at warm temperature range. Since the run pump often, the cold water line ends up with a lot of luke-warm water, and when you turn on the hot faucet you get warm water not hot. Like the traditional system it uses a lot of energy since it keeps the piping warmer than normal for long periods of time. Laing's AutoCirc and RedyTemp are two such systems.
True hot water demand systems are by far the most energy efficient and save the same amount of water as the traditional types of systems. Traditional systems are not usually installed in existing homes due to the extensive plumbing usually required along with the expense of operation due to the heat loss. Demand systems range in price from under $200.00 to over $500.00. In many cases the systems are eligible for rebates from the local water company. In some cases the rebate can cover the entire cost of the system.
Saving water and energy also reduces the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere as a result of the pumping, treating, and distribution of drinking water. So be green and install a circulating system in your home now.
William Lund has been an inventor for over 35 years, and has been working with circulating systems for many years. He has been issued several patents for hot water systems. For more information about hot water circulating systems visit his website: Faster Hot Water
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Labels: Equipments, Learning Curve, Problem, Steam
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 11:19 PM,
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The Author
I’m Zaki. I used to be a project, process and chemical engineer. Few years ago I successfully became a Chartered Engineer (IChemE) and Professional Engineer (BEM). I'm now employed as a chemical engineering educator/researcher/consultant. Hope you like reading my blog. I welcome any feedback from you. My email: zaki.yz[alias]gmail.com. TQ!
