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?
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 Plant, Equipments, Experience, Plant Shutdown, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 10:24 PM,
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Interview By Petroleum Africa Magazine: Trends in Plate Heat Exchangers
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Equipment Operation, Reliability and Control'. The book which is published by John Wiley will be ready this coming May 2012. I'm so excited and cannot wait to get my hands on this new book. My contribution is in Chapter 5.Instead of the topic cooling tower, I said why not you interview me about Plate Heat Exchanger because it is my favourite equipment. Well, he said yes. He can interview me about Plate Heat Exchanger. Well, the interview when well and it was published soon in November 2011 in the Downstream Focus section in Petroleum Africa Magazine page 30-33 (4 pages).
- Please click the photo to enlarge -
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to place the interview article here. If I have the permission, I'll make it available for download.
Here is a partial shot from the 3rd page.
- Please click the photo to enlarge -
I hope I can contribute more like this in future. If you want to read Petroleum Africa Magazine, you can try it out and subscribe it here.
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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: Chemical Engineering, Experience, Heat Exchanger, Learning Curve
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 6:02 PM,
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My Ph.D Progress so far... Oct 2011 Updates
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I am now midway in my experiments. I am also preparing several technical papers to be published in index journals. It's really not easy. The mood and motivation are always against me. Let's see today's example...
I tried to work on my technical paper draft in my office room. After several minutes I felt sleepy (I did not sleep late at night). Then, I experienced some headache. Both of this elements (sleepy + headache) makes a perfect combination to demotivate me from pursuing my work. I tried to fight the negativity. I relaxed for 2-3 minutes. Then, I thought myself...maybe I should do other work that still can contribute towards my study. I then decided to learn a new optimization method from youtube since I am going to include them in my study. So, I decided to stop working on the technical paper draft for a while and studied this new optimization method. It works... I felt energized to learn a new stuff. This is indeed a good technique which I personally discovered (maybe this is not new to you guys). I have the option of perhaps give up, rest, sleep, relax, chit-chat with my friends, drink some coffee, watch some movie in my laptop but instead I decided to work on something else which still contributes towards accomplishing and perfecting my thesis. I'm really glad to do that.At the same time, to keep up my spirit and assure continuous momentum, I changed my desktop wall paper. It has a message that I should complete my study in the allocated time. This constantly reminds me that I have an unsettle business to complete (the Ph.D off course!!!). This is the final major hurdle that I need to conquer after the other 2 big projects which is to be a professional engineer and chartered engineer, all within a space of 3 years. Fuhhh.... it's really tough but I'm glad I managed to complete the other two.
Enough rambling for now. I'm going to continue with my work. Need to work on something... If you have any motivational quote for me, I really welcome and appreciate them very much. Thanks in advance.
p/s- The photo above shows the Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) equipment with its PC. The PC is very old. It still uses the 3.5" floppy disc. Although it is old, it is still very useful and important for me because it provide one part of my catalyst analysis. The TGA is still in good shape as it is regularly maintained.
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Labels: Energy, Experience, IEM, IEM. IChemE, pH.D, phd, Problem, Study
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 8:08 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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Four Basic Engineering Related Trainings in October
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Followings are the trainings that I have recently attended in the month of October.
1. Engineering Code of Ethics (12 CPD hours) 4 & 5 October, IEM Building, PJ.
2. Engineering Management Practice (12 CPD hours) 19 & 20 October, , IEM Building, PJ.
3. Safety and Health at Work (12 CPD hours) 25 & 26 October, IEM Building, PJ.
4. Engineering Failure Analysis (7 CPD hours) 23 October, Faculty of Mechanical, UTM.
All of the trainings mentioned above have certain fees to be paid and that is part of the commitment to be and maintain ourselves as a professional engineer.
During the Engineering Failure Analysis training, on the tea break, I have a chat with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ir. Shuhaimi (who also is a committee member for the IEM Southern Branch) from Mechanical Engineering Faculty, UTM. He told me that an engineer chatted with him about him spending more than RM4000 already that year just to attend trainings to maintain his CPD hours and maintain his title as a professional engineer. The cost includes training fees, fees, food, accommodation etc.
Basically, this message shows that to maintain professional engineer status it requires certain amount of cash. It is very good that engineers attend training to strengthen and enhance their knowledge. It is also good that as engineers, we can learn other disciplines, information, field of engineering. On top of that, we can mingle around and do networking with other engineers.
I personally agree with the fact that all professional engineers need to attend trainings and courses, technical visits and tours. I can say this because I have personally experience it and felt the benefit. I am exposed to more engineering and industrial information besides learning some of it from Discovery channel!!!
I also managed to be friends with several dozens of engineers from various disciplines, background and industries when I attended those trainings. I have more contacts and I strongly believe that is beneficial for me. It is good for me to have new civil, electrical, mechanical and chemical engineer friends. Off course, we exchanged our name cards and other contact details.
Interestingly, with reference to the mandatory courses that I attended, I discovered that there were those of the age of 36 to 48 attending the course. These people, despite of their age, still have the desire to get an engineering degree (which obviously they earned it) and pursue their own quest to be professional engineer. I have full respect of them... These people still have the will power and desire to get themselves chartered and recognizable.
So, regardless of your age, get yourself chartered or have the professional engineer status if you still don't have it. If you are still young (just recently graduated), go for it. Get the right information, get yourself registered and follow all the necessary training program. Don't delay and hesitate. Time will not wait.
If you want to learn more about IEM, click here.
If you want to learn more on the trainings and courses organized by IEM, click here.
If you want to learn more about IEM Southern Branch, click here.
If you want to learn more about BEM, click here.
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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: Chemical, Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Experience, Health, pH.D, Seminar, TQM, Training
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:03 AM,
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Write to Market Your Expertise
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
For your information, I’m the type of person who loves to write and share. I have been doing that since I was in primary school. That trait has been continuously carried on until I became an engineer where I no longer have a platform to write and share. However, everything changes in 2006 where I found a new platform for me to write and share. That year I started this blog and it has been actively updated until today. I’m very happy with the responses and feedback that I received from the readers of Chemical Engineering World blog.
What I would like to highlight here is the fact that as an engineer, there’s an importance for us to share information, updates and experiences. There are several places where we can share our thoughts and knowledge, for instance, we can share it in a blog, forum, engineering magazine, newsletter, book, book chapter, report, article and so on. There are also professional engineering societies such as Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), American Institution of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Chemical Engineering Division and others that you can share with. This is very important as this can expose you to the world. You have certain capability that other engineers might not possess and that shows how unique you are. You need to market yourself and your expertise. When you successfully market yourself, people will know who you are and there will be somebody who may need your help and professional service.
I’m lucky because I’m blessed with a little spare time to write my thoughts and experiences, especially in blog. I don’t consider myself an expert in any chemical engineering discipline, but the funny thing is many people acknowledge my existence and these people come from all over the world. This was done unintentionally. I never planned for this. My thought in the first place when I started this blog was too only share experiences and knowledge. That’s all. But, my sharing has rewarded me with pure satisfaction. I’ve made more friends, more contacts and more credibility. That’s the truth. That’s what I’ve been telling a friend of mine who is an expert in waste management. “You got to share and market yourself”. “Write good articles, reports and essays about your expertise in waste management”. People will know and identify you as the expert in that field and may demand for your service.
But then, the popular limitation or excuse such as no time takes place. That’s when I think we need to act intelligently to overcome the weaknesses. If you can’t afford to spare some time to write, you need to leverage or ask other people to do it for you. This is why and the main reason people become successful. They can’t do everything by themselves. They are not superman. Hence, they ask for some help. They seek for other people’s services or help them do part of their work. Maybe they have their own downline manpower, junior engineer, senior clerk and so on.
If in any case, this is not available, you can just key in write my essay in google search box and seek for freelance services that can do the job for you. Imperatively, you need to provide the points and guideline to those people so that they know what type of content you want in order to complete your custom essay or article. Having a professional doing an essay or article on your behalf and publishing them in related magazine, blog, website or newsletter will create positive impact in terms of marketing yourself. You won’t believe it but by doing such a simple thing such as publishing article, essays or report displaying your expertise, you’ll be surprise when out of a sudden, people contact you, consulting you on issues related to your expertise. Just try it out…Start publishing your expertise.
Labels: Chemical Engineer, Experience, green, pH.D, Review, Study, Training
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 4:09 PM,
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Renewable Energy Project Videos
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Ever thought of a renewable energy projects? My research is involving a renewable energy reaction, but I'm not revealing it right now until I complete my Ph.D. haha.... But, here are some videos of some student projects that are quite interesting...maybe it can give you some ideas and inspiration...Check it out...
Student Project
Students at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering develop renewable energy projects for a summer course. The course, directed by Dr. Mahendra Sunkara, is the first project for the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship. Students were asked to develop systems using a variety of different backgrounds, from chemical engineering to physics.
Solar Tower - renewable energy green global warming
EnviroMission Limited (www.enviromission.com.au) produced this 5 minute video on the pilot plant in Spain. It is an older video (2000) but gives a decent understanding of the solar tower concept.
EnviroMission, Ltd. (US Market: EVOMY, Australian Exchange: EVM) is a renewable energy developer of sustainable "green" energy solutions for the energy market. EnviroMission aims to be one of Australia's leading producers of clean renewable energy. EnviroMission holds the proprietary rights to Solar Tower technology, a large-scale renewable energy technology based on simple fundamentals of physics -- hot air rises. Solar Tower technology has the potential to offer competitive renewable energy with equal reliability to fossil fuel generators.
A single 200MW Solar Tower power station will provide enough electricity to power around 400,000 households. The energy output will represent an annual saving of more than 1,960,000 tonnes of greenhouse CO2 gases from entering the environment when compared to brown coal emissions in Victoria. The greenhouse savings equate to the removal of approximately 500,000 cars from the road. The Australian Solar Tower project consists of six distinct phases, the first two of which (project optimization and pre-feasibility commercialization) have already been completed. The third phase (final feasibility), paving the way for the implementation of the next three phases (final design, construction, and commercial operation).
Mauritius Heading towards Renewable Energy
Labels: Biotechnology, Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Chemical Plant, Experience, Learning Curve, Research, Technology, Video
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 2:07 AM,
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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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Gas Chromatography Calibration
Thursday, September 03, 2009
I'm sorry. I know I'm suppose to share and write a post about having my article printed in the Yellow Pages Energy Guide. But, I think my recent experience during the GC calibration was very worth sharing.
Brief Introduction of our Gas Chromatography
Our research Chemical Reaction Engineering Group (CREG) have 3 Gas Chromatography (GC) Thermal Conductive Detector (TCD). All of them are HP Agilent 6890 model. We have labeled them as GC 1, GC 2 and GC 3. I have personally used 1 of the older GC-TCD (GC 2) when doing my masters degree 9 years ago. GC 2 is the simplest of our GC-TCD. It can only analyze gasses compound and have only 2 columns inside it which are Molecular sieve and Porapak N column.
GC 1 and GC 3 are far advance then GC 2. Both of the GCs are equipped with Flame Ionization Detector (FID) to analyze liquid product, which in our case are hydrocarbons. That means, GC 1 and 3 can analyze both gasses and liquid compound.
GC 2 and GC 3 (Both Agilent 6890 model) are arranged side by side in one of our research rooms.On top of the above mentioned GC-TCD, there is also a unit of Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to power up our analysis capability. This GC-MS is very useful to identify and analyze liquid compound. GC-MS actually combines the features of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample. In our research group we use it to analyze our pyrolysis, biomass, biodiesel liquid fuel and others. I'm not that familiar with GC-MS, but I plan to learn more about it in future. Now, for my ph.D, I'm more focused on using the GC-TCD.
The molecular sieve packed column and Porapak N column in GC 1Oh yes, we also have one dedicated Perkin Elmer Gas Chromatograph Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). This GC-FID is very old, I think it has been around for more than 13 years. It has been used previously to analyze our gas to liquid products. Presently, a master student is using it to analyze her biodiesel from waste vegetable oil research.
Of all the GC brands, we have model from HP and Perkin Elmer but not Shimadzu.
Gas Chromatography Thermal Conductive Detector (GC-TCD) Calibration
All our 3 GC-TCD are in great demand now. The research group population has suddenly increased and all of us need to use this imperative analytical equipment. Unfortunately, the GC-TCDs are not in really good condition. Hence, we've called Agilent engineer to come and help us check on the GCs and calibrate it for us.
I wasn't around on the first part of GC-TCD calibration because I was in Kota Kinabalu with my wife and family for the International Conference on Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering in conjunction with the 23rd Symposium of Malaysian Chemical Engineers (SOMCHE 2009). However, my research colleagues were around for the GC-TCD calibration sessions. Unfortunately, the GC-TCDs could not yet be calibrated due to some problem. It was found that the molecular sieve packed column for GC 1 is not working anymore. So, CREG have to order a new mol sieve column.
Agilent engineer is replacing the mol sieve packed column in GC 1Luckily we managed to order new mol sieve columns and the second GC-TCD calibration session were carried out last week. This time I was around and we work closely with the Agilent engineer. GC 1 has 5 columns inside it and it took some time to work on the valve switching between the valves. The valve switching is an important feature when there are many columns in a GC. This is because a column can only be suitable for certain chemical compound separation, while the others are suitable for other compounds. We calibrated GC 1 with Agilent natural gas standard and successfully managed to get all peaks in the chromatogram at the end of the day.
The engineer is thinking how to solve the mess in GC 3The next day, the engineer continue worked with GC 2 and GC 3. However, he only managed to touch GC 3 after lunch. GC 3 has more chronic problem, it has one of its capillary column torn. He discovered this problem together with a ph.D student doing Plasma Reaction Research. However, the engineer has successfully connect the capillary column again.
HP capillary column is torn.To conclude the GC-TCD calibration session:
GC 1 - Successfully calibrated with Agilent natural gas standard.
GC 2 - Successfully calibrated with Agilent refinery gas standard.
GC 3 - Need to be further calibrated. Probably need 2 days to complete the job. I have contacted Agilent to come and rectify GC 3. We are still waiting the answer from them. I'll follow up with them again tomorrow.
I look forward to conduct my research as soon as possible... :) wish me luck.
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Labels: Experience, Learning Curve, Problem, Research, Technology, Training, Valve
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 5:07 PM,
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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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Recession Proof Industry
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I read about this cartoon from the email that I subscribed from Engineering News Daily. The cartoon was taken adopted from engineeringnews.co.za/page/cartoon.
Basically it stated that, if there was such a thing as a sectoral recession, then South Africa’s manufacturing industry is deep in one. Output declined by 15% year-on-year in February, following on the 12,9% year-on-year fall in January. The sector has been contracting since October, and the aftershocks are being felt across the economy. This creates a strong likelihood that South Africa will now officially enter a recession for the first time in over a decade.
What's the global impact towards our industry in Malaysia or globally? The electrical and electronic industries are certainly struggling and I see many people around me were forced to leave their jobs. However, there are no worries in the food-manufacturing industries. All I asked them this time is how great is your bonus?
Got my point? Food - manufacturing industry is recession proof!!!
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Labels: Experience, Jobs
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 10:42 PM,
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Resign Peacefully
Monday, November 17, 2008
As some of you have noticed, I have resigned from my job as a process engineer last June. Since then, I have set few targets to be achieved in my professional career as an engineer (in the academic line). Among the target is for me to be a professional engineer. I have registered with Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) and Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM). However, after meeting my mentor last week, I was informed by him that my log book record is missing something. I did not get my previous job record verified by my superior. I need to the signature and stamp of my ex-boss. I totally missed that. All this while I thought that I only need my mentors signature and stamp.
That's fine. I need to contact my ex-boss. I have mixed feeling before contacting him. What if he decline to approve my previous job activities? I called him and he asked me to email the job record. 36 hours after that he replied my email and after a series of email, he asked me to come and meet him the following day. To cut the long story, and to make it short, I finally got my ex-boss verification and I'm very delighted. I really appreciate my ex-boss time and effort to assist and support me. Now, I need to compile and get my job record for this year and submit them to IEM.
What's the morale of the story here? Of course there are few but for me, there is one significant morale that I want to share...
If you want to resign, then resign in a good manner.
Resign peacefully. Off course I felt uncomfortable informing my ex-boss that I want to resign. However, after explaining my reasons and my ambition, he understood and respect my decision. All my friends in my previous work place were very supportive. They know that I'm going to have a better career. After leaving the company, I still continue good relationship with all levels of staff from my ex-company. I established some kind of informal collaboration with my former company and I hope it can benefit both parties.
We never know when we need a favour from them. Like me, I turned to my ex-boss and ask a favour from him. What if I resigned in bad manner? What if I resigned and my ex-boss hated me? Definitely the job record verification process will be a "mission impossible" process... Then, to solve the problem, I might do something that may not be ethical. In other words, chances for me doing a "don't" in the engineering ethics is high! Then everything will not be right. Everything will be totally wrong. We need to do it the right way everytime. We need to maintain our good reputation. Engineer need to be a reliable and trusted person, not a man with illusion. Just be honest and be good.
Leaving good reputation with your ex-company will make you special. You'll be welcomed any time you return. Isn't that great. I easily entered the company premises and various level of staffs called and waved at me. I chatted with them, asking how they are doing and other catching up talks. My fellow friends, supervisor, security guards, supervisors, technician, fitters, canteen lady etc greeted me with cheer and asked how I was doing in my new career. That's really a good feeling... What about you...? Any experience you would like to share?
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Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Experience
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 10:07 PM,
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A Message From A Future Chemical Engineer
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Since I started this blog in July 2006, I have received a lot of interesting comments and emails. Some asked general chemical engineering questions while a few others asked a more detail technical questions. I'm so busy but I try to answer all of the questions if I know the answer. I'm very sorry if I miss out answering some of emails or comments.
I thought of sharing some of the questions with all of you for the benefit of all of us. A few days ago, I received a comment from one of my recent post entitled I Resigned From My Engineering Job. The commenter name is Archana Khode and he is from India. Archana, I hope you don't mind me sharing you comment here... :) . The following is purely the comment without me editing it.
"hi I m an indian and i'll be starting my B.E> che engg, in about a few days time (22nd aug). im really excited and frankly i hav no idea what will be required of me during that time. i really look forward to it.
I wanted to be a chemical engg. since a very long time and getting it makes it sort of dream come true. actually my father kept telling me to do ENTC(electronics and tele comm. engg) but i m really glad i didn't get that.
I was really inspired by your persona the way u told everything about your job and everything. i really wish even i can be as successful as you were with your life. for what u had said i could make out u had done your master's also. (Is it really necessary to do masters to be an established engineer?.) well i love studing and i don't even mind doing even PhD. My mom says try to study as much as you can.
I saw the syllabus ( che engg. Of course) and what i can make out is that its a bit difficult. pls help me . though i m really excited i m also very tense, i have no idea, no idea at all what i really have to do. so pls help me in any way u can.
In India there's a lot of competition, because every one wants to excel in life really badly and the result of that is- really high cut-offs for the top institutions. and not to forget tuffest paper for the entrances. so it really is a headache. now if i have to think of doing my masters( PG), u wont believe i have to start thinking and planning from today itself as we will be required to attend entrance tests (which is called GATE) to get admission in top post graduate colleges which are of course the IITs. This time i could not make it to the IITs ( even at graduate level they are the best , actually they are best in everything , they are like Harvard or Stanford for Indians and at graduate level the entrance tests for IITs are exclusive and are called IIT-JEE and unfortunately forget about making it into their extended merit list ,I just couldn’t even qualify for it . sad. Well I made it through AIEEE though not at national level but at least at state level my rank was 8452. Hey that ranks good O.K. not good enough but at least O.K. imagine 2 lakh students sat for that exam from my state itself and in all about 8 lakh my ranking at all India i.e. national level was 1 lakh something) but i have promised my mom that i will give everything that i have to get to the IITs.
{ IITs- Indian institute of technology AIEEE- All India Engineering Entrance Examination IIT-JEE - Indian institute of technology - Joint entrance Examination (we have 7 IITs) }
I’m doing my BE from university of PUNE (bet u haven’t heard of it, but its very much reputed in India) but below IITs ofcourse.
It was nice talking to you just like pouring my heart out. I really hope u reply to me.
Al l the best for your future endurances. Bye.."
Now I'm going to answer the questions in the long comment.
Question: Is it really necessary to do masters to be an established engineer?
My answer: No. It is not necessary to a masters degree. An undergraduate degree is sufficient for you to be an excellent chemical engineer. However, I would recommend you to associate yourself with professional institution such as Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), or American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChemE) and follow their continuous development program. You will learn a lot of essential knowledge and skills which will equip you to become a professional or corporate engineer. For the sake of my readers located in Malaysia, you can join Institute Engineer Malaysia (IEM) Chemical Engineering Division and follow the training program to be a professional engineer.
However, there's no harm pursuing your masters or pH.D degree. It all depends on your ambition. You or anyone else are welcome to discuss the career options ahead of you in case you need my opinion. I'll try to provide an honest advise based on my experience. The final decision will still be yours... :)
Question: I saw the syllabus (che engg. Of course) and what i can make out is that its a bit difficult. pls help me . though i m really excited i m also very tense, i have no idea, no idea at all what i really have to do. so pls help me in any way u can.
My answer: chemical engineering is one of the most difficult engineering course (and I'm glad I have passed through it!!!). Well, it is not as difficult as you thought. All you have to do is listen to what your lecturers tentatively and make sure you understand what you are being taught. Some of the subjects are inter related and you need to have good basic comprehension on the fundamental subjects. Later, if you have specific questions, feel free to shout (email) and I'll try my best to help you out. At the same time, I'm going to rectify my forum and it will be better to post the questions there. More people can view and perhaps help to answer as well.
Archana, thanks for sharing your stories and what you feel. I really appreciate it very much. I wish you all the best in your studies and future.
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Labels: Chemical Engineer, Chemical Engineering, Experience, Study, Training
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 9:54 PM,
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Things That I Learned From A Simple Bolt and Nut
Saturday, May 17, 2008
During the previous shut down, I got myself to become more hands on. Why? You can read this entry to know why in case you haven't read them.
There are lot to learn from a simple bolt and nut. There are various problems and difficulties that we can possibly encounter from a pair of bolt and nut. Followings are few things that I have learned from that small item (which are inclined to maintenance)...
1. If you over tightened those bolt and nuts, you might have some difficulties to open it later in
future. If things get worse, the bolt and nuts can break. If it breaks, it will be difficult to open/dismantle the flange. In certain cases, you need to cut those bolt or nuts using oxy-cutting. However, we can only use oxy-cutting for bolt and but made from mild steel or GI. Stainless steel bolt and nut normally don't have any problem to be loosen because they do not corrode/rust.
Morale: Do not over tighten the bolt and nut. Just tighten it according to your normal human power.
2. Over paint... Sometimes you paint the bolt and nut for certain reason. One popular reason will be to avoid rust. One problem that our team faced during the previous shut down is to unscrew the nut. Oh my God, it was very tough because the paint covering the bolt and nut was so thick. We applied paint remover but still the stubborn paint would not completely removed. As a result, we took about 3 hours just to remove an 8" flange with 8 bolt and nuts. This affected our time and productivity.
Morale: do not over apply the paint.
3. Unsuitable length or size of bolt and nut. There were cases where we lost some bolt and nuts due to some slight work inefficiencies. When we want to replace them, we need to get suitable bolt and nuts. A shorter bolt will be required for a simple flange. However, a longer bolt will be required to sandwich a check valve between flanges.
Morale: Use the correct size and material of bolt and nut.
4. Grease the bolt and nut. After removing the bolt and nut from a flange, it's better to clean them if there are any debris or rust. Then apply grease to avoid rust and to ease screw and unscrew of it.
Morale: Get a cup of grease and ask your operator/fitter/worker to apply the grease.
5. Ensure there are sufficient stock of bolt and nuts. During a shut down or turn around, we normally dismantle flanges and manhole to clean vessel, pipeline, distillation column, deodorizers or others. Sometimes, a small number of those bolt and nuts broke and they need to be replaced. We must have ample stock of the correct bolt and nuts so that we can smoothly connect the flanges or close manholes.
Morale: Ensure your store has sufficient stock of the required bolts and nuts.
6. Tightening the bolt and nut. When tightening the bolts and nuts, we need to criss cross the arrangement. Normally a flange will have 8 holes for the bolts. Commence with 12 o'clock, followed by 6 o'clock. Then tighten 3 o'clock followed 9 o'clock and so on. This will ensure even compression towards the gaskets when we tightened the nuts.
Morale: Do it patiently and correctly. If not, the system may leak and we'll get in trouble (that is if we don't do
a steam or air test before starting the plant).
7. Prepare the correct size of spanar. It's a waste of time if we don't use the correct size of spanar to unscrew a nut from a bolt. Ensure you have the correct spanar size. If you are want to unscrew a nut of size 24, use spanar size 24. If you want to use an adjustable spanar, use the one that is closer to the size range. Do not use an adjustable spanar which is too big. If you use an over size adjustable spanar, you will get tired pretty fast or you might trigger an accident.
Morale: Ensure you have the correct size of spanar when dealing with bolt and nut.
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Labels: Chemical Plant, Corrosion, Equipments, Experience, Learning Curve, Plant Shutdown, Problem
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 12:39 AM,
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Chemical Engineering Related Photo Sharing
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I'm going to share some interesting photos with you. I'll first let you see, observe and analyzed what those photos are. Just imagine and think what are the equipments or situations... It's better if you figure out what the photos shows before I provide you with some answers and brief informations at the end of the photos. If you are a student, you will find this a good learning curve, I hope so. If you already work in a processing or production plant, you may already know about these photos.
(a) What is happening?
(b) Another view on what is happening in photo a.
(c) Another clue on what is happening in photo a. If you're tired guessing, check out the answer at the end of the post.
(d) What is this?
(e) Another close up on photo d.
(f) What is this?
(g) Another clue on what is photo fAnswers & brief explanations.
Photo a: A plate heat exchanger is leaking.
Photo b: You can see traces of fluid leaking/pouring out from the bottom of the plate heat exchanger.
Photo c: An example of plate heat exchangers' plate where fluid may come out when the incoming hot and cold fluid are not balance. Or, if the gaskets are no longer functioning due to damage, torn, not perfectly attached or various other reasons.
Photo d: This is the ball which originated from a 4" 3 piece body ball valve. It is made of stainless steel SS316.
Photo e: This ball was taken out from a damaged 4" 3 piece body ball valve. This type of ball valve is imperative in processing plant. It is more reliable than a gate valve and butterfly valve but is more expansive. To learn more about ball valve, check the following links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_valve
flow-control.globalspec.com/learnmore/flow_control_flow_transfer/valves/ball_valves
wisegeek.com/what-is-a-ball-valve.htm
Photo f: These are sight glasses. It is use to view and observe physically the flowing fluid in a pipeline or stream.
Photo g: This photo is an example on where the sight glass will be installed. By having a sight glass, it is easier to monitor and observe the condition and physical appearance of a fluid.
To learn more about sight glass and the types available in the market, check the following links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sight_glass
visilume.co.uk/products.shtml?gclid=CNShy_rX8pACFQIsewodazLhqw
us.schott.com/special_applications/english/products/maxos.html
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Labels: Chemical Engineering, Chemical Plant, Equipments, Experience, Heat Exchanger, Leak, Learning Curve, Processing., Study
posted by Kipas Repair JB @ 2:53 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!
