Chemical Processing Distilled

Solution Spotlight: Service Takes Pressure Off Level Indicators

Level indicators and pressure applications are crucial in ensuring efficient operations and safety. From basic visual indicators to advanced electronic transmitters, the range of technologies available is vast and constantly evolving. 
Chemical Processing chatted with Jason Kuzmiak, Chemical Industry Manager at VEGA Americas, to delve into the world of level measurement and pressure instrumentation, exploring the various solutions, the challenges faced in implementation and the factors that drive customer choices. 

Operator Safety: Winter Is Coming Be Prepared

As winter approaches, you should assess how well your plant is protected from problems that frigid conditions can pose. In this episode, Managing Editor Amanda Joshi reads a column from Dirk Willard. If you don't have a mother or spouse nagging you to wear a coat, give this a listen. And don't forget to take out the trash!

Original column: Safety: Winterization Goes Beyond Equipment

Articles referenced in this podcast:

Get Ready for the Next Big Freeze

Time to Prepare for Winter

Prevent Accidents During Subfreezing Weather

Winter Weather Dangers: Why Winterizing is Crucial for Chemical Plants.

Winter-proof Your Workplace to Prevent Slips and Falls

Next Generation of Chemical Operators Need Different Training

Operator roles have expanded beyond valve-turning. Future operators will need broader understanding of chemistry, equipment and instrumentation to effectively troubleshoot and communicate issues.

In this podcast we discuss the changing landscape of operator training. Three key factors are driving change: a new generation of workers comfortable with mobile technology, emerging technologies like virtual reality and evolving job expectations.

Trending News: Ignoring safety recommendations, Hurricane Beryl fallout and ditching the Chevron Deference

Here is a look at the three top trending stories as reported on ChemicalProcessing.com.

• Explosion at Honeywell Plant Occurred Two Years After Replacement Recommendation, CSB Reports --Management approved the project but did not purchase or install a replacement shell before the Jan. 23, 2023, explosion.
• Dow Reports Power Outage at Freeport Operations Due to Hurricane Beryl -- Company says it's working to restore power to the plant.
• What Ditching The Chevron Deference Means for the Chemical Industry --TSCA advocates and adversaries must be relentlessly compelling, fact-based and thorough in advocating for their positions in a Chevron-free world.

 

 

Combat Fine Particle Challenges

In Case You Missed It brings the written word to life. In today’s episode, Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum will be reading an article from Tom Blackwood, Chemical Processing’s Solids Advice columnist. This article “Combat Fine Particle Challenges -- What makes them good is also why they’re bad” was published to ChemicalProcessing.com July 22, 2024.

Here is the full column

Tips To Get Your Motor Running

Readers ask questions about their motors and our expert responds.

Proper troubleshooting is important. Here are a few questions that were posed to our motors expert, Tom Bishop, over the years. 

Bishop is a senior technical support specialist with the Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA). He joined the EASA staff in 2002 with over 30 years of hands-on engineering experience at electrical machinery manufacturing and apparatus service firms. He has a BS in Electrical Engineering and is a licensed professional engineer.

Read by Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum.

Fixing Fixation Problems in the Chemical Industry

This cognitive bias has operators clinging to beliefs despite contrary evidence.

In this episode, we discuss fixation, also known as confirmation bias or tunnel vision. It’s a cognitive bias in which people cling to beliefs despite contrary evidence. Dave Strobhar and Traci Purdum discuss how fixation can be problematic in industrial settings, citing examples like the Yom Kippur War and the Three Mile Island incident. Dave offers strategies to combat fixation, including the two-strike rule, testing hypotheses, shift changes, maintaining situational awareness, and fostering open team communication.

ChemicalProcessing.com

How to Write Engineering Reports Right

Focus on clarity in an engineering report. While such reports fall into several types — cost estimates, engineering calculations, proposals and studies (e.g., related to laboratory work or calibration, failures and inspections, or optimization)  — all benefit from a clear discussion and conclusion. Sometimes this requires flexibility to stray from a company’s set format.

This ICYMI episode revisits a column from contributing editor Dirk Willard. You can read the column here: https://www.chemicalprocessing.com/asset-management/economics/article/11297512/write-engineering-reports-right-chemical-processing

Read by Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum.

June Roundup: Great Molasses Flood, Barbie Impacts Chemical Industry, EPA’s Tight Grip On Toxic Chemicals

Distilled News examines the top three stories trending on chemicalprocessing.com. Hosted by Jonathan Katz, executive editor of Chemical Processing.

• Safety Lessons from the Great Molasses Flood of 1919
• Regulatory Burdens, Barbie and Taylor Swift Impact the Chemical Industry
• EPA Tightens Grip on Toxic Chemicals, Industry Feels the Heat

 

Hackers Target Manufacturing For Intellectual Property, Money -- Guest Episode

Hackers are targeting manufacturing to leverage intellectual property for big money. In a recent episode of Automation Chat, from Chemical Processing's sister publication The Journal from Rockwell Automation, Theresa Houck, executive editor and host of Automation Chat, digs deep into a study regarding advancing digital transformation in a time of unprecedented cybersecurity risk.

If you’re not already a subscriber to Automation Chat, you can subscribe to it here:

https://rokthejournal.podbean.com/