Chemical Processing - June 2008 - (Page 30)

Portable laser diffraction unit potential customers who have used the consultancy service have now switched to online analysis. The burgeoning interest in online particle analysis also is spurring increased demand for training. “Fully trained customers get the most out of their instruments, which is what we want. However, we are seeing a high turnover in jobs and so today you often only get one specialist in charge of an instrument. Ideally we would like to see more than this,” notes Pugh. New drivers Figure 1. Plant trials using this easy-to-install unit have convinced companies to switch to online analysis. Source: Malvern Instruments. Meanwhile, Quantachrome Instruments, Boyton Beach, Fla., points to changing markets for much of its growth. “Essentially we are in the business of surface-area and pore-size measurement. It’s still a traditional business, so we are selling a lot to the petroleum and petrochemical industries — for use right from exploration through to catalysts and feedstocks. However, there has been a big resurgence in the last few years, driven by China and increasing demand generally,” says Martin A Thomas, Quantachrome Instruments’ director of business development. A substantial part of this demand is now “greendriven,” he adds, for example from companies involved in carbon dioxide sequestration. Sometimes the gas is used as a feedstock to grow algae or else stored in old coal mines and oil fields. “The technological challenge for us is to measure very specific gas/solid interactions,” he explains. It’s a similar story with the synthetic porous materials currently being designed for both carbon dioxide sequestration and hydrogen storage. up with evolving regulatory and other demands. The Thomas credits Quantachrome’s success to its Insitec X sensor can be used in hazardous locations ability to nimbly adapt its existing technologies to (e.g., ATEX Zone 20). Described by Malvern as changing demands. This means not just dealing with the world’s first intrinsically safe online particle size analyzer, this real-time device can handle particle sizes different feedstocks but also with different temperature ranges and more downstream applications — ranging from 0.1–1,000 μm. However, a new consulting service that provides a “hybridizing, or hyphenating techniques,” he says. One important role is in analyzing catalysts. five-day plant trial of the Insitec Voyager model (FigThe active surface of many catalysts is often found ure 1) is generating even more interest. This mobile analyzer connects to the process when and where real- deep within pores of individual particles. This has a tremendous impact on catalyst performance because, time measurements are needed. It suits dry processes even for a single solid, not all surfaces are created with particles in the 1–1,000 μm range. Installation usually takes only a few hours. So, the bulk of the trial equal. Real surfaces are heterogeneous and their time is spent generating particle size data, allowing the properties vary from exterior to interior as well as plant to thoroughly explore the potential for improved from one surface site to another. Thomas maintains that textural (surface area, pore size and pore volume) control and to properly quantify the benefits. properties and surface reactivity/heterogeneity can “The consultancy is a low cost way of ‘seeing is most fully be quantified and qualified via a complete believing,’” says Pugh. “In general, customers report gas sorption analyzer such as the Autosorb-1-C with payback times of around six months, but this apits optional thermal conductivity detector (TCD). proach delivers process-specific information. A trial That unit integrates catalyst characterization with also gives the user confidence that the technology will deliver the projected benefits.” More than 85% of flow and vacuum volumetric techniques to provide 30 JUNE 2008 chEmicalprocEssiNg.com http://chemicalprocessing.com

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Chemical Processing - June 2008 Contents From the Editor ChemicalProcessing.com Field Notes In Process Energy Saver Compliance Advisor Achieve Model Operations Bolster Your Condition Monitoring Toolbox Particle Analysis Makes Solid Progress Improve Batch Reactor Temperature Control Improve Your Job Security Plant InSites Process Puzzler Equipment & Services Product Spotlight/Classifieds Ad Index End Point

Chemical Processing - June 2008

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