Chemical Engineering World

13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy - A Must Read Chemical Engineering Fiction Novel

2012-02-14T22:24:00.016+08:00

It is one of my dream to write a chemical engineering related fiction novel. My wife knows that fact. It will be cool to integrate the experience which I had in the industry and my chemical engineering knowledge in a book which can be read by everybody (but special for chemical engineers and those who are in related industry). What if the novel is adopted to become one of those Hollywood movies. Would that be great? However, I don't think I can make it in the near future. It's quite tough especially with my hectic schedule and my main target to complete my Ph.D. Well, enough about that.

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.

Again, I must say that this is a superbly very well written book and could even be a reference of example OR a small case study for some chemical engineering subjects like Process Safety, Unit Operation, Mass Transfer etc. although it is a fictional story. I will definitely read Laura Starks writing again if she comes up with a new book. That's for sure.

Editorial Reviews

Reviews

"13 Days has an excellent plot....L.A. Starks has contributed a fine murder mystery to the genre." -- Alan Paul Curtis, Who-dunnit.com

"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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1st Scientific Research Publishing Workshop in Shanghai, China

2012-02-05T13:19:00.017+08:00

Last December, my wife participated in a Scientific Publishing Research Workshop in Shanghai China from 20-22 December 2011 to present her technical paper about Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC). The research is directly related to her own Ph.D and her present core research. I accompanied her to Shanghai and at the conference I joined as a participant.

The workshop is not specifically tailored to chemical engineering only. It combines chemistry, biochemistry, maths and several other disciplines. I can say it is a highly multi-disciplinary workshop. The participants came from all over the world including United States, German, Japan, India, China, Greece, Korea, Malaysia and others.

The President of Scientific Research Publisher (SciRP) giving his speech.

Some of you might have not heard about Scientific Research Publisher (SciRP) while some probably have heard about it. SciRP is an academic publisher of open access journals. It also publishes academic books and conference proceedings. SCIRP currently has more than 150 open access journals in the areas of science, technology, and medicine.

SciRP actually provides an alternative means of scientific research publication. The difference is only it is practices an open access system where anybody can read the journal free of charge. The other traditional journal from publishers like Elsevier require us to pay before we can read them. However, as students, most of us can have access to it because our university library have purchase the subscription from the publisher. Hence, we are open to write and submit to SciRP. The process is almost the same. The draft paper will be evaluated by editors and undergo strict requirement to ensure top notch quality of the article.

As for us Chemical Engineers, the most related journal is Advances of Chemical Engineering & Science. The journal is relatively new but is good enough for us to submit articles to them. Once thing to know about open access journal like this is that some fee will be charge to the publisher.

That's me (left) behind sitting next to my wife. The two gentlements on the right are professors from India. The woman in front is a researcher from Greece.

Among the participants of the 1st Scientific Research Publishing workshop.

My wife presenting her technical paper. However, before she proceed with the presentation, she explained briefly about Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and also Malaysia.

This is the panoramic scene outside the workshop room. The hotel where the workshop took place is situated in a resort style hotel. The view is actually part of a golf course. The temperature in Shanghai at this time is between 0-6 Celcius.

This is another view of the peaceful scenery outside the workshop room.

Lunch break. We were served with 10 course local Chinese dish. Frankly, the food is very different than what we usually have. Nevertheless we tried to eat some of the uniquely served dishes.

That's me in front of the hotel lobby where the workshop takes place. Check out the red banner on the top of the hotel lobby building. This is proof that this is the first SciRP workshop.

Overall, it was a very interesting experiences attending the 1st Scientific Research Publishing Workshop. I was really honoured to meet the founder and president of SciRP as well other professors, academicians and researchers from other parts of the globe. Besides expanding our knowledge we get the chance to meet new people and increase our networking (which is important in the real world).

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Importance of Boiler Chemicals Water Treatment

2012-01-24T19:07:00.012+08:00

Since I have written my experience visiting a boiler manufacturing company recently, I think it is good if I follow up with another article related to boiler. This time, it is about the importance of boiler water treatment chemicals. I remembered monitoring the boiler man blended and poured some chemicals (from Nalco) to be injected into the boilers.

[Flash back: Some of my boiler experience story (explosion) for you to read. Boiler Explosion Part 1 & Boiler Explosion Part 2.]

Do you know that like cooling tower, a boiler also requires chemical treatment for various reasons. When I was a process engineer, I got the opportunity to learn about the chemical water treatments for utility boiler and cooling tower. There are various chemicals with specific functions. The chemicals, which I will explain below will imperatively preserve the life of a utility boiler (in this case a low pressure boiler). A low pressure boiler in this case is one which is less then 200 psi. We shall look upon several chemical parameters, namelu the amines, alkalinity, sulfites and phosphates or polymers of the boiler water.

Amines are used to increase the condensate pH to a range of 7.8 to 8.7. When generating steam, carbonic acid forms and as a result your steam pH is low. Amines are volatile and when introduced into the steam header or boiler water, amines will increase the condensate pH. A low pH will lead to excessive condensate pipe corrosion.

Alkalinity is used to increase the boiler water pH to above 10.5. This serves three purposes. pH above 10.5 will decrease your overall corrosion rates, it will keep a 3:1 ratio of total alkalinity to silica, and it allows the polymer to react with calcium. A 3:1 ratio keeps silica from plating in the boiler. A low pH will result in an over general corrosion appearance on your boiler tubes.

Sulfites are used to remove any dissolved oxygen from the water. Dissolved oxygen enters the boiler in make up water or as air is sucked into the system. Dissolved oxygen is extremely corrosive to your tubes and localized pits will form, ultimately resulting in premature tube failure. Maintain a 20 to 40 ppm residual of sulfite in your boiler water.

Phosphates and polymers are used to react with any calcium in the water. The polymer attaches itself to the calcium. The polymer and calcium then is able to exit the boiler through the surface or bottom blowdown. Phosphate reacts with the calcium and sinks the calcium to the bottom of the boiler. When using phosphates you must perform boiler blowdown daily to release the phosphate and calcium. Failure to use a polymer or phosphate will result in calcium build up on the tubes or as some call it boiler scale. This will decrease the over boiler efficiency and will drastically increase your fuel cost.

It is vital to note that water expands 100,000 times when it change from a liquid to vapor phase. A typical home water boiler 30 gallon system has enough energy to throw a 2,000 pound car over 100 feet in the air if catastrophically failed.

First Image credited to: www.johnstonboiler.com. Second Image credited to http://www.indiamart.com (Example of Nalco Chemical for boiler water treatment).

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IEM Technical Visit to Mechmar Boiler

2012-01-20T18:48:00.009+08:00

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

Solid Fuel-Fired Boilers

Titan MCC
Titan MCH
Titan BD
Titan MTH

-Heat Recovery Boiler
-Various Custom Made Boilers
-Reconditioned boilers

For more comprehensive list of products, please click here.

The factory administrator of Mechmar Boiler gave us some explanation on the history and business of the company.

A nice pen as souvenir for the IEM delegates. Luckily they provided a free pen because I forgot to bring my own pen.

This is the view in the production facility of Mechmar Boiler
One of the oil/gas fired boiler nearly completed

That's me with some nice background in the Mechmar Boiler facility

Taking a group photo together in the boiler manufacturing plant

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Interview By Petroleum Africa Magazine: Trends in Plate Heat Exchangers

2012-01-19T18:02:00.009+08:00

I was approach by Mr Chikezie Nwaoha, a friend from Nigeria and also a Downstream Correspondent of Petroleum Africa Magazine. He is also a Contributing Editor for Control Engineering Asia Magazine and Contributing Editor for PetroMin. Somewhere last year, if I'm not mistaken in July 2011, he emailed me with intention to interview me about cooling tower. The reason for this is because previously I have co-written a book chapter with him about Cooling Towers which will published in a book titled 'Process Plant 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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Impressive Ph.D Stories

2012-01-18T21:01:00.012+08:00

Today, one of my colleague, Fawzi from Libya defended his Ph.D thesis. If my calculation is correct he submitted his draft thesis to our supervisor after 2 years and 7 months. In general that is very fast duration for a Ph.D student. I'm so proud of him and his success kind of boosted my motivation. Few months before that (last year) another Ph.D student in my research group, Jawaid Akhtar from Pakistan also successfully defended his thesis and earned the title "Dr". So, within a space of 6 months, 2 Ph.D students in Chemical Reaction Engineering Group (CREG) graduated and earned their doctorate degree. Once again I would like to humbly congratulate them.

Recently, I met a lecturer while servicing my MPV. We chatted about his experience doing his Ph.D knowing I'm still in the battle. I know him and he is not the boosting or snobbish type of person. He told me that, he managed to publish 8 journals while doing his Ph.D. Yep, you heard that right. 8 journals and not 8 conference papers. Wow! I was impressed. I asked him, "How long did you take to do your Ph.D?". He responded, "I took 2 and a half years". Once again...Wow!!! That is very impressive. His VIVA took a mere 15 minutes only. The examiners just asked him some very general questions. The reason for that is because there is nothing more to be asked as he has already published massively. Indeed so good. That reminded on another ex-CREG member, my colleague, Dr. Istadi whom if I'm not mistaken published 6 or 7 journals while doing his Ph.D. But he took 4 years to complete his study. This guy, sitting next to me in the workshop, published 8 journals (with impact factor) in 2.5 years!!!

I asked him, "How did you manage to do it?" His answer was simple. He met his supervisor each week and reported whatever work he has done. In another angle, he said that his supervisor is very strict and ordered him to meet him on a weekly basis. He added that his supervisor asked him to produce 1 journal every quarterly. That answered how he can produced 8 journals in 2.5 years.

2 days ago, I met another colleague who is currently doing Ph.D in Korea. He is also a staff in the UTM. He has basically completed his Ph.D. However, he has not defended his research yet because the university in Korea only allow students to have VIVA after he or she managed to publish 3 journal papers. So far he has managed to complete his thesis and published 2 journal papers within a period of 2 years and 9 months. Another impressive record. I asked him how he did it. How he managed to complete so fast? He said that he has to work from morning till night each and everyday. He walked to the university with his wife (who has completed her Ph.D) every morning and returned together at night. They have 3 daughters who are staying in Malaysia. Since the cost of living is extremely high in Korea, they have to school their daughters in Malaysia. That means they are separated from their kids. Both of them has the drive and goal to finish the Ph.D as fast as possible so that they can be united back with their 3 beautiful daughters. Well, that's another amazing Ph.D success story.

What about me? It has been already 2.5 years for me. I'm still working and struggling on my Ph.D. One of my journal is under review. Another one is on the way. There are another 3 journals that I have to publish but they are not ready yet. I have 3 conference papers published already and 1 scopus journal in hand. I have another 1 month of experimental work to do. I have some thermodynamic modelling to work on. Comparing myself with the stories above, I'm no where yet. Nevertheless, I'm not giving up. I'm fighting to end this battle by this year, if God will. Please pray for me.

For those of you who are is currently doing Ph.D, keep up the believe and spirit. Planning is very crucial. Remember the saying, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". For those who are in the 4th or 5th year or more (some of you are my colleagues), don't worry. Just do it. Be persistent and put in more effort. We know Ph.D is full of unexpected problems. The challenge is how we act to the test.

So, in conclusion, some aspects that are very crucial in ensuring success and speed in our Ph.D are as follows:

Always meet and report your work to your supervisor. At least once a week.
Set a goal and reason why you want to complete your Ph.D. That will drive and motivate you to finish your study.
Publish your work in reputable journals with impact factors. That's like an insurance policy during the VIVA.

I'm trying to fulfill all there imperative points above. Let's do it.

I strongly believe this story is motivating and inspiring although it is short. If you like it, I appreciate it very much if you can share it by LIKE it below (with Facebook).

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Master / Ph.D in Chemical Engineering Wanted

2011-11-16T17:37:00.003+08:00

A friend of mine (Dr. Mohanad El-Harbawi) from Universiti Teknologi Petronas has some research student vacancies. He is looking for 1 master and 1 PhD student with strong background in molecular chemistry, biology, quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) and MATLAB. Anyone interested in the project can send your CV to his email below. You can find out some details below:

Project’s title:
Development of Ecotoxicity Relationships to Enhance Ionic Liquids Commercialization using Green Chemistry Approach

Location:
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Chemical Engineering Department, Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia

Salary: 1650 RM (525 US$)/month for master (max. 1.5 years) and 2250 RM (715 US$)/month for PhD. (max. 2.5 years)

If you are interested or would like to ask further details, please contact the following:

Dr. Mohanad El-Harbawi,
Senior Lecturer,
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Chemical Engineering Department,
Bandar Seri Iskandar, 31750 Tronoh, Perak,
Malaysia
HP: 0122398415 | Office: 605-3687581 | Fax: 605-3656176
Email: mohanad_elharbawi@petronas.com.my | mohanad_75@yahoo.com

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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.

Superb State of the Art Laser Technology - One Stop Laser Solution

2011-10-31T22:28:00.010+08:00

I have came across a very amazing laser technology business last year which is called Northeast Laser & Electropolish. This is without doubt a really impressive company, the one which has one stop solution for all laser related technology. It can easily solve your laser welding, laser marking, laser cutting and laser engraving. I must admit that my favourite part when viewing the video below is how simple and cool the laser engraving process was carried on. Oh...I wish I can have own or be part of this fantastic company here in my country, perhaps opening a Northeast Laser & Electropolish branch here in Malaysia. Will that be super cool stuff?

Maybe this is not really directly related to Chemical Engineering, but if we want to be a rich chemical engineer, I strongly believe, we must have the desire and start our very own business (anything from small manufacturing product up to becoming a consultant or expert in some technical areas). A laser related business may require a high capital but I believe, our technical engineering knowledge can cope well with the laser industry. Despite of this is a laser tech business, we still can apply some of our chemical engineering skill and knowledge such as the environmental, safety and health, technical drawing an calculation etc.

Common, check out the video below. Tell me if this is cool or not... :)

If you are interested to explore further about the technical and business stuffs that Northeast Laser & Electropolish offering, check out their official site at:www.northeastlaser.com.

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Regarding the recent survey...

Ops...If you have not answered the short survey that I published few days ago, here is the link. I hope you can kindly assist me answer just 10 simple very basic question in my quest to prepare a good Professional Engineer guide. I can't say how thankful I am for your sincere help. Thanks...

I've attained the Profesional Engineer Status + Short Survey

2011-10-27T16:41:00.010+08:00

I have not able to post about this story last week. Well, last Friday, I received a letter from the Board Of Engineers, Malaysia (BEM) stating that I have been appointed as a Professional Engineer, a status I believe is equal to Chartered Engineer from United Kingdom (that I received several weeks ago).

After 4 years of effort, finally I managed to be a Professional Engineer which allows me the title "Ir." in front of my name and also "PEng" after my name. This is an achievement that I'm very glad to received. It's not just the privilege of having the title but it also impies that I have to carry more responsibilities. As a professional engineer in the discipline of Chemical Engineering, I need to show good professional engineer example, promote ethical engineering practice, help and guide those who want to be professional engineer and many other roles. The society and community will be looking and referring to us on certain matters. A professional engineer also need to contribute as much as humanly possible to the engineering society.

As a first step towards helping others to attain professional engineer or chartered engineer status, I have thought of preparing a short report of my experience on my journey to be both professional and chartered engineer. I am wondering whether there will be a demand for this report? What do you think? Should I prepare such experience sharing report?

In order to have better comprehension of the situation, I have prepared a short 10 question simple survey for you to answer. The answers will help me understand and hopefully prepare a good comprehensive guide on how to assist you in getting Professional Engineer or Chartered Engineer status. Please help me answer the survey >>> HERE <<<.

My Ph.D Progress so far... Oct 2011 Updates

2011-10-18T20:08:00.007+08:00

I'm now in my 5th semester and I must admit that I'm very worried with my own performance as a Ph.D student. I have basically 8 months more to complete my studies (I was given 3 years for a my full time Ph.D). Otherwise I will have to extend my study to another semester.

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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How a “technologically retarded” guy stumbled on a way to generate free energy with homemade solar panels
A simple, 5-step process for building your own low-cost solar panels
And how to say “goodbye” to the electric company… and “hello” to clean, FREE electricity!

I'm now a Chartered Engineer (IChemE)

2011-09-30T18:41:00.005+08:00

In the early morning of yesterday, I noticed one email from Karen Brown of IChemE which I read from my Samsung Galaxy Ace Mobile phone (not iPhone). I was very anxious to read her email because the title of the email stated "IChemE Application to transfer to Chartered Membership". I scanned the email swiftly and later read it word by word. Yes! The result from the interview in August is out and I'm now accepted as a member of IChemE and Chartered Engineer. This is the beginning of my professional career as a professional engineer under IChemE.

Among the interesting massage obtained from the email was that I am now eligible to use designatory letters MIChemE after my name. In addition, I am also eligible to use the CEng designatory letters after my name too. CEng stands for Chartered Engineer. This status is given by the Engineering Council of UK.

Based on the email from Karen, I logined into my IChemE website wanting to updated my personal status. I saw that my membership status has already changed to Member Status. Everything has been automatically updated. This is so cool.

I'm now in the process of preparing the IChemE personal stamp and also waiting for the certificate.

I must say that I'm so proud to be an IChemE member. I remembered becoming an IChemE student member in 1998. Then in 2000 I upgraded the membership to Associate Member allowing me to use the designatory AMIChemE. Now in 2011, thanked God I successfully managed to be an IChemE member. Being an IChemE member, I am allowed to do some professional networking, collaborations, knowledge sharing, participate in subject groups and the one that I always use is Knovel database to read online books that is subscribe. This is mainly for my Ph.D research references.

Are you an IChemE member? If not, register now... :)

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Unboxing and Fixing of Renewable Gas Purifier for GC

2011-09-28T20:40:00.005+08:00

I am currently using one piece of very delicate instrument. That instrument is call Gas Chromatography (GC). The one that I'm using now is a Agilent 6890N GC TCD-FID. The GC requires helium, hydrogen and compressed air gas to run. However, this gasses need to be filtered to avoid tiny particulate and impurities from entering the column and trigger many unwanted consequences.

Recently we purchased 3 units of gas purifiers and I've installed them. I would like to share the experience in unboxing an Agilent Renewable Gas Purifier for GC (part number G3440-60004). My colleague, Mahadhir helped me video shoot the unboxing of this gas purifier.

My English may not be good and clear. I hope you can bear with it. Check it out...

I look forward for any comments and feedbacks from you guys. Cheers.

My IChemE Chartered Engineer Interview

2011-08-04T18:29:00.014+08:00

After the previous Professional Interview (PI) and writing examination conducted by Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) last April, I sat for another interview which is the Chartered Engineering interview by IChemE. The interview was carried out by 2 Fellow IChemE members yesterday morning in Dayabumi, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. I was accompanied by my beloved wife to drive to Kuala Lumpur as early as 4.30 am.

The purpose of this interview is to assess my training and experience whether I am fit to be a member of IChemE and chartered engineer. Before this, under IChemE, I am an Associate Member (which I can use the AMIChemE designation after my name). If my interview yesterday is successful, I will be upgraded to Member and Chartered engineer. With that after my name, I can use the designation of MIChemE and CEng.

This is the meeting room where my chartered engineer interview was held (at level 5 Dayabumi building)

The interview was scheduled at 9.30 am but it actually started at 9.50am. The interview was relatively tougher compared to my IEM previous interview (which took about 50 minutes). Among the points that the interviewers were seeking for are some proof of chemical engineering application that I practiced in my previous jobs. They also look for some elements on creativity, innovation, leadership and contribution to society. The interview hoovers around discussing the information that I had provided earlier in Form C - Competence and Commitment Report.

Myself before the interview. Luckily we arrived early in KL and the building. I can relaxed and stabilized myself before the interview. Do I look nervous? haha....

The interview ended after about 2 hours. It was really a mental challenge to answer all the questions threw by the lead interview who is a very experienced lady chemical engineer. Nevertheless I'm glad that the interview went smooth and I believed I managed to answer all the questions. For now, I just hope to receive a favourable result. From the information that I have, the result is very fast which is about roughly 10 days.

After the interview, we immediately travel south back to Johor Bahru. Yes, we purposely drove to KL for my interview. It was very tiring but at the same time, I'm glad that I managed to complete both IEM and IChemE interviews this year.

What about you? If you are not yet a member of IChemE, you can begin now. Seek for more information on how and why to get chartered from IChemE website.

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Some of my experimental problems

2011-07-29T17:14:00.008+08:00

As some of you know, I am currently a Ph.D student in my final year and at this moment I can say I am working very hard running my experiments. Why do I say so? Well, part of the reason is because I'm the earliest person to reach the lab and the last person to leave the lab for any single day (accept if I have something urgent going on). I run 1 to 3 experiments per day depending on the situation that day. Why I say this, you'll know when I list down some of the problems I face when I run my experiments.

The experiments that I or other Ph.D students run are no ordinary experiments. The experiments are not at all similar to those that the undergraduates carry out in the lab. We are running our own individual experiments for research and discovery purpose. We are seeking for new information, new knowledge, new theory, new discovery. We want to find out about something. We want to see whether this and this works or not. We want to see what will happen when we do this and this and so on. Of course, this will be based on our literature review and hypothesis. Our experimental set-up is in most case unique and not similar to others. If it is similar though, there will be perhaps 2, 3 or 4 almost similar experimental set-up. I'm referring to the experimental set-up that we create ourselves.

OK, the main thing I want to share here is the list of problems, challenges, hurdles that interrupt the process of me running my experiment. Some of the problems are as stated below.

process tubing leaks
fitting leaks
o-ring burst
gas suddenly finish
furnace suddenly cannot operate
heating tape spoil
heating tape controller spoil
reactor easily broken (quartz)
support for catalyst broken
Not enough or no liquid to collect for analysis
Gas that is collected in a container could not be analyzed
Dirty GC column
Column not suitable for our products
GC need to be calibrated
No gaseous available, need to order gaseous from company
Rota flow meter not reliable, cannot control flow of carrier gas
No mass flow controller
Vacuum fitting cannot be tightened
Data logger for temperature monitoring software has problem
thermocouple seal leak and fluid penetrate through wire and flooded the data logger
Quartz tube after experiment are very dirty and difficult to clean
No water bath, so I have to used my own condenser.
Sabotage (this happen to my colleague. Her gas tank tubings were cut).

Please be informed that I'm not listing all these problems to discourage or demotivate some of you who may consider to pursue your Ph.D with experimental work. What I'm trying to highlight here is that if you are running experiments for your research work, you will face with tonnes of challenges. You need to stay strong and motivated. You need to focus at the end result. Of course there will be some obstacles, problems, delays and many other things that will result to you feeling down. I will be lying if I say I'm always motivated. I faced numerous expected and unexpected challenges. It's really up to me to react on the problem and overcome those challenges.

In addition, during this critical time, we need to always be positive and pray to God for assistance. On top of that, when ever we have experimental problems or delays, we need to have plan A, B, C and so on which means we can do other things such as drafting technical papers, search for latest literature review, learn related softwares etc.

If any of you have some good experience to share, feel free to contact me. I would love to hear from you as well. Cheers...

OK, that's enough for now. I'll share later updates with you soon. For my fellow Muslim chemical engineers (student or practicing), I wish you Happy Ramadhan and hope all of us can be fasting with peace.

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Benefits of becoming a Professional Engineer

2011-07-20T13:06:00.013+08:00

After writing the previous post, somebody asked me at Facebook this question: What are the benefits of becoming a PE (professional engineer)?

Well, there are many benefits if we look at it. I will provide my version of the benefits.

A PE will be respected for its ethics, skills and professionalism. Many will look up to them for solutions etc. Some will prefer those having PE status to assist them or work together. They are trusted engineers to handle/manage projects/contracts because a PE is well known for his/her credibility. A PE have the respect from its peers and community.

In my country, if we are a PE, we have some level of advantage compared to the others who are not a PE. A PE can have the authority to certify/approve drawings etc. While this is true for mechanical, civil and electrical engineers, it is scarcely heard that a chemical engineer PE have such similar authority. This is because for example, a vessel's drawing will be designed/certified normally by a mechanical engineer PE. An electrical circuit drawing or wiring in a plant or building will be designed/certified by an electrical engineer PE. A road/bridge construction drawing will be designed/certified by a civil engineer PE. A chemical engineer PE will design/draw/approve certain chemical process. This is very much related to the rules and regulation in a country.

Being a PE, we can also associate with other PE and engineers, thus increasing our networking and connections. On top of that, most engineering organizations have their own publication and this is an area which we can contribute it either as editor or contributor. Well, of course this apply if you love to write. We can also get involved in the activities, courses, trainings, talks etc that are organized for our own continues learning process. This will enable us to get properly informed of any new technologies, knowledge or policy updates. There are also subject group that we can involve in such as available in IChemE. You can choose to participate in any subject group(s) related to your expertise/field.

The benefit and importance of being a PE can be seen from the statement of Craig Durham, CEng MIMMM. He is a Senior Completion Engineer working in the UK upstream oil industry. What he had highlighted (UK context) is interesting...

Unlike most doctors, solicitors, civil and mining engineers, petroleum engineers are not required to be Chartered, in the UK at least. Historically, competence has been checked by reliance on a CV, interview and annual appraisal, although it is increasingly common to have company-specific competency assessment schemes in place. While these are welcome developments, only CEng status indicates that your competence has been assessed by other engineering professionals and is comparable with internationally recognised standards.

So why bother, particularly as, like me, I am sure that you work with many good engineers who are not Chartered, and being Chartered is not a guarantee of competence or ability? Perhaps the best reason is that it demonstrates a desire to take responsibility for your professional development, of taking pride in your professional achievements, of going the extra mile. Faced with a choice between similar candidates, one Chartered, one not, which one would you choose? (source)

What Craig Durham attempted to highlight in the last sentence is very clear. If you are a PE, chances of you getting hired are more compared to those without PE status. The market value for a PE is also higher and very much in demand.

Well, those are some points that can be highlighted. For academician, with PE status, it is a huge plus point to his/her career development. An academician with a PE status can normally cruise the career ladder faster than those who aren't. This is a scenario that I observed in universities in my country. On top of that, an engineering faculty requires a fix number of PE in order to be accredited by engineering accreditation council.

Well, those are some advantages that I can think of for now. If you have anything to add, feel free to mentioned it in the comment section. I'll add up some more when something struck my mind.

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I'm now a Corporate Member of Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM)

2011-07-18T22:16:00.008+08:00

I have wanted to write and publish about this since few weeks ago. Unfortunately I was hooked up with my Ph.D study. I'm presently running my experiments in the lab.

Well here how the story goes on my quest to be a professional engineer under the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM).

2007

I registered with IEM as a graduate member. After officially becoming a graduate member, I searched for a mentor to help and guide me to be a professional engineer. Unfortunately, I could not find any professional chemical engineer that is available to be my mentor in Johor (the state that I live and work in). So, I decided to search for any mentor in Klang Valley area. Take note that I got the list of chemical engineering mentor from IEM. To cut the story short I found a mentor which I'm attracted to and contacted him. He is Hj. Ir. Tunai Shamsidi Ahmad, a very experienced chemical engineering consultant. He agreed to mentor me and I started recording my training and experience report. My training reports were all about my activities in the plant plus several projects that I was involved in. That time I was a process engineer working in a physical refinery plant. According to my mentor, my working experiences keep repeating month after month. That, according to him is not good enough for me. I need to get involved with more projects and tasks.

2008

I resigned as a process engineer in early 3rd quarter this year and began my career as a lecturer. As a lecturer, I strongly believe I have better control of my career direction. I'm not only involved in lecturing but also research, consultancy, writing, publication and many more. It's quite an interesting experience.

My mentor was very delighted after he knew that I become a lecturer. He said by becoming a lecturer, I will have more diversified projects that I can be involved in. As a result, my training reports became more interesting. Earlier on, my training reports dwell on activities in the plant/factory. But now, I have totally new experiences that I can record in my training report.

2010

After 3 years recording my engineering training report and completed attending all mandatory trainings required by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), finally I'm qualified for the professional interview (PI) which is to be conducted by IEM. I then filled up the required forms, paid the fees and standby for the PI. While waiting for the PI, I have to prepare 2 more detail reports which are (1) Project Technical Report and (2) Training and Experience Report.

Earlier on, I had a headache thinking of what project I should write for my Project Technical Report. However, after a while I considered the Plate Heat Exchanger Installation in my plant. The project really fits all requirement and elements for the report such as design, engineering, economic, planning, project management etc.

2011

I was informed by IEM secretarial in January that my interview will take place in IEM head quarters in Petaling Jaya. Later in April, I received a call and email informing about my Professional Interview. I prepared for the interview like mad. The interview will consists of (1) oral session and (2) Essay questions which is related to our own technical project and engineering ethics.

Finally, in late June, I received a notification email from IEM confirming that I have passed my Professional Interview. Hence, my membership is upgraded to corporate member which will then be awarded the title IR (Ingeniur) by BEM (after I completed necessary paper works). Thank God I passed this Professional Interview. All the hard work has finally paid off. It was very tough to prepare the project technical report. It was like doing the final year design project alone (not in a group). But now, the project must be a real project that I have handled before. I must also thank many people for assisting me on creating my project technical report.

What about IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineer) membership?

At the same time of preparing my project technical report, I also prepared myself to be a chartered engineer under IChemE. At this moment, IChemE representative has already emailed me and ask me to standby for the interview which will take place anytime from now. Deep inside I hope I can also make it for the interview. Wish me luck... :)

My 2 cents:- If you are not yet a professional engineer, don't wait!!! Register yourself with the engineering professional body in your country, follow the training program and record your engineering training experiences. I'm saying this because I wish somebody have advise me earlier to be a professional engineer while I'm still younger (I mean just after graduating). So, if you are in Malaysia, register with IEM. If you are in UK, register with IChemE. If you are in USA, register with AIChE. The same goes to the other countries... Good luck :)

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My Turbular Furnace Is Not Working?

2011-06-02T09:05:00.007+08:00

Last Friday, I was supposed to run my experiment. I had made the tedious preparation a day earlier so that the only think I need to do on Friday is to just start the experiment.

So, what happen on Friday?

I connected my online data logger to my laptop. I heat up the heating tape gradually. I switched on the online graph monitoring in the data logger software to monitor the temperature profile of each thermocouples fixed in several locations in my experimental rig. I saw the temperature increase for the heating tape thermocouple. However, the thermocouple temperature in the reactor did not raise (after I switched on my turbular furnace heating). This was strange. All this while, everything it's OK. So, it's trouble shooting time. I looked at the tubular furnace temperature display. To my surprise the temperature which I set to be 500oC is still maintained at 29oC. Oh my God... Is the tubular furnace spoil? I have just used it yesterday and it was just fine.

Troubleshooting the tubular furnace.

I turn off the helium gas from entering my reactor. I conditioned the GC. I then checked what's wrong with my tubular furnace. I attempted switching it on and off as well as changed the power supply socket. With the help of Mahadhir (my Ph.D colleague), we tried to play around with the temperature control display and investigated the setting and/or timer. Who knows this might be the reason the tubular furnace cannot heat up. Mahadhir also searched for the manual of this Carbolite tubular furnace and gave it to me. I spent quite some time digesting the information in the manual and try to relate it to the problem. By this time I already know that my Friday allocation for experiment is over. Worse case scenario is I have to spend another whole day to transfer my furnace (if it is spoil) with a spare furnace. That will definitely take one days work to do. We tried many things which also include the possibility of heater or filament spoil. However, deep in my heart, I believe that there must be a simple problem and a simple solution. But then, I cannot yet figure it out.

Accidental trouble shooting discovery

I almost get fed up and nearly decided to call for Carbolite engineer to come to see what is the problem. I sat on my tiny work station in the lab room. I look at my experimental rig from a distance (actually it is not that far - only about 1 meter). I wanted to see the overview of the problem and see if there is some possible solution. Then I noticed something!!!

I found that my tubular furnace was not closed and double clipped on. Oh my God... Maybe this was the culprit. I did not even close the furnace and decided to heat it up. Immediately I close the tubular furnace and clip them. I turned on the furnace heating and off it goes. The temperature increased. So, that was the thing. It was a silly mistake and a very simple solution. I just did not close the tubular reactor.

Morale of the story

I learn my lesson that day. I need to be more careful when running the experiment. It was my first silly mistake after many times running similar experiment. I also don't know why that happen. It must slipped my mind. In addition, I can also know another that the furnace heating would not turn on if it is not properly close. It took me 1 whole day to experience this... Haha..what a day...

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Funny Ph.D Cartoon

2011-05-28T12:34:00.009+08:00

This is funny. I got it from my wife who found it in a social network site. She giggled alone. I asked why? She said, this Ph.D cartoon is funny. I checked it out and I also laughed. This illustrates how tense and tough a Ph.D student life is.

Seriously I'm feeling it now. Whenever I do anything, I will think and remember my unsettle Ph.D work. When I walk, drive, rest and even sleep... I still think about my research work. I hope this will be over soon... :)

This cartoon can also provide some ideas on a post graduate students life to the undergraduates. Enjoy the cartoon...

If the cartoon is too small, click on the image to enlarge.

I just share this cartoon for fun and it is nothing at all related to me or anybody.

To enjoy the rest of the Ph.D comic, go to this link.

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Power Failure in Our Industry!

2011-05-26T19:54:00.015+08:00

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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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/

My Ph.D study so far...

2011-05-24T22:14:00.009+08:00

I'm now in my 4th semester of my Ph.D studies. I will be lying if I say that doing Ph.D is easy. It's not as easy as that. I told my wife few months ago that preparing the project report for my Institution Engineers Malaysia (IEM) interview (to be a professional engineer) was tougher than doing my Ph.D. I'm wrong!!! Maybe that time, I was not really focus on my Ph.D. But now, as I'm more focus with my studies, I am well aware that completing this study is not as easy as it seems to be. It is so tough. Ask anybody who successfully completed their Ph.D... Nobody says it is easy.

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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Questions and Answers for Engineers

2011-05-21T19:05:00.015+08:00

Usually engineers meet very specific questions, which need exact answers from an expert in the area. Actually, with the advancement of internet, we have many solutions for people to find an expert and a get an answer but those are broad in scope and costly. Many solutions need your credit card, while some free options are wider in scope. It's hard to get attention on your question by an engineer as most of users of such website are young internet surfers seeks and support tech questions.

Engineers are professionals, who usually surf internet to explore new knowledge and developments on their existing knowledge. With my experience on internet for more than 4 years, I distinguish most of them even willing for contribution to expand the existing knowledge base around their expertise. I decided to take these trends as advantages to build a questions and answers community around engineers. (www.engineers.name). With leading web technologies available on SAAS (Software As a Service) it was possible to build a comprehensive question and answer platform with many attractive features for answer seekers and experts contributing to the community.

Answer seekers are able to browse for existing questions and answers base to avoid repeating already asked questions which will help them to save time, even when they typing their question the similarities will just list down under the input box. They can even browse for experts on many categories who already being ranked. They can just ask questions from community or select an expert to ask questions personally from them.

Engineers who willing to contributing as experts by answering questions will able to be ranked in their specific area and stand out the community as an expert.

Actually, this is totally free expert questions and answers solution, which is totally powered by sponsored advertisements. According to success stories of Wikipedia and many other free solutions, the platform stand with a hope to contribute to engineering world with a vision to give proper answers for engineering questions.

This article was contributed by my good chemical engineering online friend from Sri Lanka, Dilantha Thushara Subasinghe who is the Editor for Engineering Questions and Answers.

My comment: This is a good effort made by Thushara. He took the initiative to create a platform (www.engineers.name) where questions and answers related to engineering can be viewed. Anybody can participate by asking or providing answers. It's like a forum but it is not. It is more simple. Looks like a wiki-type of site. For us who are from chemical engineering field, we can read several questions related to basic questions by choosing "Chemical Engineering tab" on the side bar.

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International Conference of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology in Conjunction with 25th SOMChe 2011 (ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011)

2011-04-15T23:28:00.015+08:00

I have asked many people and searched vigorously in the internet about this year's Symposium of Chemical Engineers Malaysia (SOCHE 2011). Unfortunately no information is available until a colleague forwarded an email in our staff mailing list just now. Finally, the information was revealed, question was answered. SOMCHE 2011 will be organized by University Malaysia Pahang (UMP). This time they will be organizing and combining SOMCHE alongside with the International Conference of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology (ICCEIB). Hence, the two will combine and become ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011.

Important information regarding ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011:

Abstract

Abstract format can be obtained from the official webpage: http://www.icceib.ump.edu.my/.

Important Deadline
Abstract submission due : 30 Apr 2011
Acceptance notification : 30 Jun 2011
Full Paper submission due : 31 Jul 2011
Registration deadline : 15 Oct 2011

Language
All Papers, Oral and Poster Presentation must be in English.

Venue
The Zenith Hotel & Sultan Ahmad Shah International Convention
Centre, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia

For more information, please download brochure Page 1 and Page 2.

Objectives & Topics

The objectives of this conference are:

1. To provide professional development relevant to the needs of chemical engineers, academics as well as researchers in the field of chemical engineering. This will be achieved by providing opportunities for the sharing of opinions, ideas, industry best practices as well as the latest research and development.

2. To provide an opportunity for face-to-face contact between chemical engineers from around Malaysia and the rest of the world and hence to facilitate networking both nationally and internationally.

Call for Papers

The ICCEIB-SOMChE 2011 Organizing Committee welcomes the
submission of original contributions for oral and poster presentations
on the following topics:

1. Food/Pharmaceutical engineering and manufacturing
2. Biotechnology/Bioprocess
3. Fluid flow and Thermodynamic
4. Bioenergy/ Green technology and Renewable energy
5. Waste to wealth
6. Advanced material / composites / nanotechnology
7. Enzyme technology/Industrial biochemistry
8. Petrochemical Processing
9. Natural products / Commodity Crops
10. Process Control, Instrumentation and Optimization
11. Combustion / Reaction engineering
12. Environmental Engineering
13. Membrane Separation
14. Safety and Health Management
15. Related chemical and biochemical engineering issues

Fees & Payment

The conference fee is structured as follow:
1. International : USD 400.00
2. Local : RM 1000.00
3. Student : RM 750.00

ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011, Kuantan, Pahang Darul Makmur, Malaysia 28 Nov 2011 - 1 Dec 2011

The International Conference of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology in Conjunction with 25th Symposium of Malaysian Chemical Engineers 2011 (ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011)

CALLING FOR PAPERS

The Symposium of Malaysian Chemical Engineers (SOMChe) is the name given to the annual symposium, now under the auspices of IChemE in Malaysia. SOMChe has been held annually since the late 1980s and the event has been rotated annually amongst Chemical Engineering Department in Malaysian Universities. This year, Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) is given the honor to host the SOMChe.

In conjunction of SOMChe, Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources, Universiti Malaysia Pahang jointly organizes the International Conference of Chemical Engineering and Industrial Biotechnology (ICCEIB 2011). This conference is expected to provide good and meaningful platform for presentations from all over the world, academia and industry to exchange their valuable ideas amongst the professional chemical engineering community. (refer to the attached brochure for the details of the conference)

Interested participants should submit the papers/posters titles now or as soon as possible. The contributions of attendees such you might enrich the program through enhancing the diversity of perspectives and content represented. In addition to this, it is highly appreciated if you could forward this matter to the interested professors, researchers, especially students, and junior faculty members, who need visibilities to present/share their research outcomes either in the form of oral or posters presentation.

If you have any questions or concerns, or if I may be of assistance in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Tel: +609-549 2864
Fax: +609-549 2889
Email: icceib@ump.edu.my, info@ump.edu.my

Publicity & Protocol
ICCEIB-SOMChe 2011,
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Natural Resources,
Universiti Malaysia Pahang

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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.

Chemical Engineering Is the Future of Technology

2011-04-03T18:46:00.003+08:00

In today's world, it is becoming increasingly necessary for man to be able to manipulate the world around him in order to thrive, and as we continue to thrive we have to learn how to undo the damage we have done in past years. Chemical engineers are the only tool we have for new research and development in almost every field, including the medical field, environmental science, research science, and a large portion of the research done in the technological fields.

Microelectronics involves itself in the development of technology that will aid those in the medical professions. They study plasma processes, which are used in a number of treatments, and laser technology, which enables doctors to perform surgeries faster, more safely, and more affordably that ever before. They also study super-molecular self-assembly and organization and colloidal systems, all for use in the continued study of the human body and how it grows and develops. These technologies are enabling doctors to treat patients quicker and cheaper, which is more than necessary when one considers the dramatic shortage of doctors and nurses and the ever-growing list of people needing medical treatment. These technologies help an entire host of issues; the decrease in cost leads to health insurance becoming more affordable and therefore more accessible to the everyday citizen. Easier recovery times and safer surgeries lead to a higher survival rate and a better standard of living.

Technological development is not the sole focus of chemical engineering, however. Biochemical engineering involves the study of mammalian tissues, virus removal from blood, protein manipulation, and a wide array of genetic engineering technologies. These research scientists are leading the way to a number of cures and treatments that will improve the health of America Imagine a day when HIV/AIDS, cancers, and a wide array of terminal and debilitating conditions have been eradicated or are easily treated.

The focus of chemical engineering spans more than just the medical field, however. Almost all students majoring in chemical engineering study the use of resources like oil and natural gas and can delve into research for more efficient methods of obtaining these fuels and exercising them to their full potential. In today's world, with gas prices fluctuating and the populous dissatisfied, no profession could be in higher demand.

The U.S. Military, as well, is interested in chemical engineers that specialize in polymer engineering, which is the study of the synthesis of different chemicals, and process engineering, the study of catalyst development and fault detection and control, as they can work with the military to develop weapons.

Chemical Engineers are closer than ever to finding cures for deadly diseases, defending our nation from hostile countries, and improving the standard of living for citizens. Those that invest their time and money in a chemical engineering program will not be disappointed, as there is an endless spectrum of meaningful, important careers, opportunities, and chances to shine.

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This article is contributed by Sally.Sally is a dedicated writer for StudentScholarships.org. She is an expert in Scholarships, Financial Aid, Career Advice, and most other things college related.

Image credited to cecon.com/uniqueness/chemical-engineering.html

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Masters and Ph.D Students Wanted

2011-03-23T21:17:00.012+08:00

Do you have intention to further study in Chemical Engineering? If you have a chemical engineering degree and would like to pursue your masters or Ph.D degree, now is your chance. My wife, Dr. Mazura Jusoh from Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, is searching for a few post graduate students and this is an opportunity for those who are interested.

The field is obviously Chemical Engineering which will focus on Separation Technology. To be more specific, you will explore the fundamental and science of Progressive Freeze Concentration, a field which is still not explored in Malaysia.

Financial assistance will be provided for the first few students only. So, to grab hold of this offer, you need to act fast.

Masters duration - Full time research - 2 years.
Ph.D duration - 3 years.

Interested candidate can write and send your CV to the following email address:

mazura[alias]cheme.utm.my.

Here is an example of a related study of this field...

Abstract : DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL DESIGN FOR PROGRESSIVE FREEZE CONCENTRATION PROCESS

Industrial wastewater may well be treated by freeze concentration, a process which freezes or crystallises out water content as pure ice crystals and leaves behind a highly concentrated solution in a smaller volume. In conventional suspension freeze concentration (SFC) whereice crystals formed as a suspension in the mother liquor, separation of the solid-liquid mixture is difficult and costly. The size of ice crystals is still very limited and the seeding process requires usage of scraped surface heat exchangers (SSFE), which is significantly expensive and accounted for approximately 30% of the capital cost. Progressive freeze concentration (PFC) invented later is believed to provide cost saving and simplify the subsequent ice-liquid separation as ice crystals are formed as a layer or a block on the cooling surface. Quest for a design providing convenience and good efficiencies continues, and in this study a helical structured copper crystalliser was developed and fabricated named Multi-wind Crystalliser (MWC). Effects of several operating conditions on the performance of MWC in context of wastewater treatment were then investigated including circulation flowrate, initial solution concentration, coolant temperature and circulation time. The performance of the design was evaluated by three dependent variables including the effective partition constant, K, calculated from the volume and concentration of the solid and liquid phase. Two other parameters were ice purity and solution volume reduction. A process optimisation was also performed thereafter employing STATISTICA to produce optimum conditions in favour of the stated independent variables. As the crystalliser designed involves heat transfer, the overall heat transfer coefficient was also calculated through temperature profiling subsequently generating a prediction model for ice crystal mass. At the end of the research, a new crystalliser design for PFC is established and an observation of how the operating conditions affect the performance of the system was obtained. Optimum operating conditions was determined by process optimisation and an overallheat transfer coefficients were also generated. Adequacy and reliability of the ice crystal mass prediction model produced was proven by error analyses revealing relatively small errors.

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Renewable Energy - Yes There Are Advantages

2011-03-16T20:09:00.007+08:00

While many of the fossil fuels continue to be in short demand in every corner of the world, people including governments and individuals concerned with the environment are starting to make the rest of us more aware, that these supplies will simply be gone at some point.

Many concerned people and numerous governments are looking for ways to utilize renewable energy and how this source of energy really will work most effectively.

Fossil fuels are also responsible for many of the biggest problems with the environment.

There have been many studies that link the state of the environment with the use of fossil fuels. Global warming is one of the biggest problems we are facing and both human and animals are impacted by changing weather patterns. The earth is getting hotter and this is being experienced in many places. Wild weather like hurricanes and severe droughts are among the serious consequences of global warming.

You can find a great deal of education in the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth' on the damage that global warming is causing. Normally you can find this video at any video /DVD rental location or movie download. This movie is a great surprise and you may find that this can change the way you live, because hopefully you will appreciate that a green power source must be something that we all will eventually need to incorporate into your own homes.

Right now there are many small changes you can make that can really add up.

A big advantage of most renewable energy sources is that they help to reduce the carbon footprint that each of us is leaving. Solar power, geothermal energy and wind power are some examples of how we can use clean energy sources, and this can help us to be on the leading edge of this growing movement.

Jobs in the United States are created when more people use alternative power sources and these are jobs that are unlikely to leave the US. Many of the positions available for these jobs will have a great pay base as well as benefits.

There are tax credits that are being provided and this is a major benefit provided to help people begin using green energy. This and other incentive programs are starting to make it easier for many more people to afford renewable energy programs. Some of the tax cuts give the consumer up to 30 percent of their solar installation and this is valuable for both commercial and residential consumers.

When alternative energy is affordable for all, more consumers will make this change in their home and begin using green energy technology, to help lessen the impact of global warming. Those who use renewable energy are likely to spread the word about living a greener life and this can help entire communities.

An environmentally sound community can help and guide others on how to be the most efficient in daily life. Getting guides and policies in place can help other people find and stick to a green power system that will cut down on pollution and serious environmental damage to our planet.

You can start with National Geographic. They provide a great guide called the "Green Guide". It contains solid information that someone can use to live their best green life. If your city is not already listed in this guide -- get your city listed.

People could write for quite some time about the advantages of renewable energy. However, you may also want to know about some disadvantages of renewable energy. The major disadvantage is of course the cost of any alternative power source. It is still too much of an expense for many consumers. So many are waiting for the costs to lower, because the $20,000 needed for a PV solar system means it's probably not available for many consumers.

This article is contributed by Alice Shaw. He is an ardent promoter of green living and environmental protection. If you are itching to learn more about alternative energy, you are welcome to visit his site: http://ardentgreenliving.com. You will get more green energy info.

To guess post in this blog, please contact me. You are welcome to do so to share ideas, information, experience and others related to chemical engineering industry. I look forward to receive your article... :)

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Hydrocarbon Solvents

2011-03-13T00:43:00.004+08:00

When I was a project/chemical engineer working in the oil and gas industry 6 years ago, one of my critical tasks is to manage the specialty chemical matters. This is an area which requires a person with chemistry or chemical engineering background. I was fortunate because the company I worked with is attached with a well known and established international specialty chemical manufacturer. Hence, I learned a lot of chemicals and its formulation from the principal company. There are various specialty chemicals available for numerous industrial applications such as corrosion inhibitors, degreaser, scale inhibitors, descaler, deoiler and others. Among the chemicals that I frequently handled is the corrosion inhibitor. The corrosion inhibitor is used in the internal pipeline chemical cleaning project awarded to us to lengthen the lifespan of the gas and condensate pipelines from corrosion threat. The corrosion inhibitor concentrate, which comes in drums of 200 liters will be then blended with either water or hydrocarbon solvents to the desired concentration. The chemical blending was made on-site by the staffs. After the blending is completed, I will check the final corrosion inhibitor blending via bottle and emulsion test. Blending the chemical using water is not as complicated as using hydrocarbon solvents.

When blending using hydrocarbon solvent, I need to identify which solvent best suits the chemical. I also need to consider the economic as well as the safety aspect. Hence, for me, there is an importance to know about hydrocarbon solvents. One way to learn about it is from the material safety data sheet (MSDS). Besides that, I also always refer to the notes and my principal for further explanation or analysis.

Basically, there is a wide range of hydrocarbon solvents which include aliphatics, paraffins, aromatics, blends, mineral spirits and others. There are also daily used items that relies on hydrocarbon solvents such as adhesives & sealants, paints & coatings, dry cleaning fluids, insecticides, edible oils and tyres. A simple and common example is when we mix kerosene into the paint concentrate when we paint the walls of our house. Kerosene is one type of popular hydrocarbons, which is also the fuel for aeroplanes.

On top of that, other application of hydrocarbon solvent includes cleaning or dissolving water-insoluble substances such as greases and oils. Due to their high toxicity and persistence in nature, their use in industrial processes is restricted. The solvent must also be stored safely in a dry cool shady place and well ventilated area, far from heat and sunlight. This is to avoid them reaching their flash points which may lead to possible explosion.

It was really nice experience learning and being exposed to the specialty chemicals and various hydrocarbon solvents. It is indeed a huge market and a profitable area to be in. Don't you think so?

One Important Benefit of Joining ICHEME - Knovel.com advantage!!!

2011-03-11T16:07:00.008+08:00

Are you an IChemE member yet? Do you know what is IChemE? IChemE is Institution of Chemical Engineers. It is based in UK and now have hundreds if not thousands of members throughout the world. I have been an IChemE member myself since 1999. I'm currently an associate member but hopefully I'll get my chartered-ship soon. OK, enough about that.

I just want to share something very beneficial about being an IChemE member, based on my experience. Presently, IChemE has its own superb portal that we can sign in as a member. The portal enable us to view many news, updates, information, check and pay our subscription and much more. However, one of the most attractive features that is available is IChemE subscribing to Knovel.com. Knovel is a web-based application integrating technical information with analytical and search tools to drive innovation and deliver answers engineers can trust. The following list shows the engineering discipline that is covered in Knovel.com.

Adhesives, Coatings, Sealants & Inks

Adhesives & Sealants

Coatings

Inks

Aerospace & Radar Technology

General References

Materials & Their Applications

Propulsion, Stability & Control

Radar & Navigation Systems

Biochemistry, Biology & Biotechnology

Biochemistry

Biology & Microbiology

Biotechnology

Ceramics & Ceramic Engineering

Ceramic Based Composites

Films & Coatings

General References

Manufacture & Processing

Other Applications

Properties & Testing

Refractories

Chemistry & Chemical Engineering

Analytical Chemistry

Catalysis

Dispersion & Aggregation

Electrochemistry

Environmental Chemistry

General References

Industrial Chemistry & Chemicals

Industrial Safety

Physical Chemistry

Plant Design, Operation & Energy Efficiency

Polymer Chemistry

Separation

Transport Processes

Civil Engineering & Construction Materials

Asphalt & Bituminous Materials

Buildings & Energy Efficiency

Civil Engineering

Concrete & Related Materials

General References

Structural Engineering

Earth Sciences

Geophysics, Geodesy & Seismology

Geotechnical Engineering

Hydrology, Oceanography & Glaciology

Paleontology & Stratigraphy

Electrical & Power Engineering

Electrical Design & Energy Efficiency

Electrical Devices & Equipment

Electrical Safety

Power Generation and Transmission

Electronics & Semiconductors

Electronic Devices

Manufacture & Processing

Materials & Applications

Packaging

Properties & Testing

Sensors Technology

Superconductivity & Superconductors

Environment & Environmental Engineering

General References

Pollution Control & Prevention

Recycling

Remediation & Waste Treatment

Water Treatment & Quality

Food Science

Food Ingredients

Food Safety & Quality

General References

Manufacture & Processing

Nutrition

Storage & Preservation

General Engineering & Engineering Management

Documentation, Procedures & QA

Energy Efficiency

Engineering Principles

General References

Manufacture & Processing

Materials

Industrial Engineering & Operations Management

Human Engineering & Ergonomics

Industrial Engineering & Systems Engineering

Project Management

Six Sigma, Lean & Quality Management

Supply Chain Management & Logistics

Mechanics & Mechanical Engineering

Energy Efficiency & Reliability

Fluid Mechanics & Rheology

Gas & Fluid Transport Systems

General References

Heating, Ventilating, Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration

Machine Design

Strength of Materials

Metals & Metallurgy

Finishing & Metalworking

General References

Heat Treatment

Joining

Metal Based Composites

Powder Metallurgy

Properties & Testing

Surface Engineering

Nanotechnology

Environmental Nanotechnology & Environmental Safety

Micro/Nanofabrication & Manufacturing

Nanobiotechnology

Nanocomposites

Nanostructures & Micro/Nanodevices

Oil & Gas Engineering

Extraction & Other Production

Facilities, Equipment & Machinery

General References

Geology, Exploration & Drilling

Petrochemistry & Petrochemicals

Pipelines, Transport & Storage

Refining & Other Processing

Safety & Maintenance

Optics & Photonics

Biomedical Optics

Communications

Geometric & Physical Optics

Information Processing

Microfabrication & Photolithography

Signal and Image Processing & Sensors

Vision Science

Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics & Toiletries

Cosmetics & Toiletries

Plastics & Rubber

Manufacture & Processing

Materials & Their Applications

Polymer Based Composites

Properties & Testing

Recycling

Process Design, Control & Automation

Automation

Control Systems

Control Theory & Optimization

Process Data Management & Security

Process Modeling & Simulation

Sensors and Instrumentation for Control & Measurement

Safety & Industrial Hygiene

Fire Safety & Firefighting

Sustainable Energy & Development

Alternative & Renewable Energy Sources & Technologies

Energy Efficiency

General References

Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable Industrial Development

Sustainable Urban Development

Water Resources & Conservation

Textiles

Apparel

Carpets

Coated, Technical & Non-Woven Textiles

Fabrics

Fibers & Yarns

General References

Properties, Testing & Applications

Wet Processing & Finishing

Transportation Engineering

Those above are the huge categories of book/online content available in Knovel.com.

Let's get back to the benefit of being an IChemE member... Just log in to your IChemE website and find "Knovel Library" on the left sidebar.

Click "Knovel Library"...

Then, click at IChemE Members...as can be seen below.

After you click IChemE Members link, the following resources are available for you, courtesy of IChemE. Enjoy learning... :)

2004 Emergency Response Guidebook
2009 ASHRAE Handbook - Fundamentals (SI Edition)
2010 ASHRAE Handbook - Refrigeration (I-P Edition)
A Guide to the Safe Handling of Hazardous Materials Accidents (2nd Edition): (MNL10)
ANTEC 1996 Plastics: Plastics - Racing into the Future, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 1996 Plastics: Plastics - Racing into the Future, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 1997 Plastics: Plastics Saving Planet Earth, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 1997 Plastics: Plastics Saving Planet Earth, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 1998 Plastics: Plastics on My Mind, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 1998 Plastics: Plastics on My Mind, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 1999 Plastics: Bridging the Millennia, Volume 1: Processing
ANTEC 1999 Plastics: Bridging the Millennia, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2000 Plastics: The Magical Solution, Volume 1: Processing
ANTEC 2000 Plastics: The Magical Solution, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2000 Plastics: The Magical Solution, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 2001 Plastics: The Lone Star, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2001 Plastics: The Lone Star, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 2002 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 1: Processing
ANTEC 2002 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2002 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 2003 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 1: Processing
ANTEC 2003 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2003 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 2004 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 1: Processing
ANTEC 2004 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2004 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 3: Special Areas
ANTEC 2005 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 1: Processing
ANTEC 2005 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 2: Materials
ANTEC 2005 Plastics: Annual Technical Conference, Volume 3: Special Areas
Activation and Catalytic Reactions of Saturated Hydrocarbons in the Presence of Metal Complexes
Advanced Thermodynamics for Engineers
Aerosol Measurement - Principles, Techniques, and Applications (2nd Edition) Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Air Monitoring in the Rubber and Plastics Industries
Air Quality Management
Analytical Methods for Food Additives
Application of HAZOP and What-If Safety Reviews to the Petroleum, Petrochemical and Chemical Industries
Applications of Hydrogen Peroxide and Derivatives
Applied Mathematics and Modeling for Chemical Engineers
Aqueous Organometallic Catalysis
Automation, Systems, and Instrumentation Dictionary (4th Edition)
Avoiding Static Ignition Hazards in Chemical Operations (Revised Edition) Premium Content: Access to Premium Content is sold separately from access to other content in this subject area.
Basic Math for Process Control
Battery Operated Devices and Systems - From Portable Electronics to Industrial Products
Biopharmaceuticals, an Industrial Perspective
Biotechnological Innovations in Chemical Synthesis
Biotechnology for Waste and Wastewater Treatment
Chemical Process Equipment - Selection and Design Interactive Tables Excel Spreadsheets
Chemical Process Safety - Learning from Case Histories (3rd Edition)
Chemical Resistance of Plastics and Elastomers (3rd Electronic Edition) Interactive Tables
Chemical Tradename Dictionary
Chemistry of the Elements (2nd Edition) Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Civil Engineer's Reference Book (4th Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Classifying Explosion-Prone Areas for the Petroleum, Chemical and Related Industries
Clean Synthesis using Porous Inorganic Solid Catalysts and Supported Reagents
Collaborative Research and Development Projects - A Practical Guide
Colloid Science - Principles, Methods and Applications
Combustion Engineering Issues for Solid Fuel Systems
Commercial Polymer Blends
Concise Encyclopedia of Plastics
Continuous Thermal Processing of Foods - Pasteurization and UHT Sterilization
Cooling Water Treatment - Principles and Practice
Corrosion (3rd Edition) Volumes 1-2
Corrosion Resistant Materials Handbook (4th Edition)
Corrosion Survey Database (COR•SUR) Interactive Tables
Corrosion in the Nuclear Industry: (EFC 1)
Cosmetic and Toiletry Formulations, Volume 1 (2nd Edition)
Cosmetic and Toiletry Formulations, Volume 2 (2nd Edition)
Cosmetics Additives - An Industrial Guide
Coulson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering Volume 1 - Fluid Flow, Heat Transfer and Mass Transfer (6th Edition) Content and/or functionality was recently updated.New Title: title added within past 60 days Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Coulson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering Volume 2 - Particle Technology and Separation Processes (5th Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Coulson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering Volume 3 - Chemical and Biochemical Reactors and Process Control (3rd Edition) Content and/or functionality was recently updated.Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Coulson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering Volume 4 - Solutions to the Problems in Chemical Engineering from Volume 1
Coulson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering Volume 5 - Solutions to the Problems in Chemical Engineering from Volume 2 (5th Edition) and Volume 3 (3rd Edition)
Coulson and Richardson's Chemical Engineering Volume 6 - Chemical Engineering Design (4th Edition) Content and/or functionality was recently updated.New Title: title added within past 60 days Interactive Tables Tables with Equation Plotter Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
DIPPR Project 801 - Full Version Premium Content: Access to Premium Content is sold separately from access to other content in this subject area. Interactive Tables Tables with Equation Plotter
Dairy Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dairy Processing - Improving Quality
Design of Distillation Column Control Systems
Dictionary of Substances and Their Effects (DOSE, 3rd Electronic Edition) Interactive Tables
Drilling Fluids Processing Handbook
Dust Explosions in the Process Industries (2nd Edition)
Dust Explosions in the Process Industries (3rd Edition)
Electrical Installations in Hazardous Areas
Electrical Safety in Flammable Gas/Vapor Laden Atmospheres
Electrochemical Activation of Catalysis - Promotion, Electrochemical Promotion, and Metal-Support Interactions
Emergency Relief System Design Using DIERS Technology - The Design Institute for Emergency Relief Systems (DIERS) Project Manual
Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and Measures
Encyclopedia of Bioprocess Technology - Fermentation, Biocatalysis, and Bioseparation, Volumes 1-5
Encyclopedia of Chemical Physics and Physical Chemistry, Volumes 1 - 3
Encyclopedia of Materials Characterization - Surfaces, Interfaces, Thin Films
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
Energy Efficiency Manual Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Engineering Measurements - Methods and Intrinsic Errors
Engineering Procedures Handbook
Engineers' Guide to Pressure Equipment - The Pocket Reference
Engineers' Guide to Rotating Equipment - The Pocket Reference
Environmental Engineering (5th Edition)
Environmental and Health & Safety Management - A Guide to Compliance
Environmental and Health Impact of Solid Waste Management Activities
Explosion Hazards in the Process Industries
Extruding Plastics - A Practical Processing Handbook
Facilities Engineering and Management Handbook - Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Buildings Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Fats and Oils Handbook
Fermentation and Biochemical Engineering Handbook - Principles, Process Design, and Equipment (2nd Edition)
Finite Element Method (5th Edition) Volume 1 - The Basis
Finite Element Method (5th Edition) Volume 3 - Fluid Dynamics
Fire Fighting Pumping Systems at Industrial Facilities
Fire and Explosion Hazards Handbook of Industrial Chemicals
Fluid Dynamics - Theory, Computation, and Numerical Simulation
Fluid Flow for Chemical Engineers (2nd Edition)
Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Turbomachinery (4th Edition)
Fluid Power Dynamics
Fluidization, Solids Handling, and Processing - Industrial Applications Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Fluoroelastomers Handbook - The Definitive User's Guide and Databook
Fluoropolymers Applications in Chemical Processing Industries - The Definitive User's Guide and Databook
Food Industries Manual (24th Edition)
Food Process Modelling
Food Processing Technology - Principles and Practice (2nd Edition)
Food Safety Handbook
Fuel Cell Systems Explained (2nd Edition) Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Fundamentals of Cheese Science
Fundamentals of Dairy Chemistry (3rd Edition)
Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering
Fundamentals of Semiconductors - Physics and Materials Properties (3rd Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Gas Purification (5th Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Gasification Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Air Pollution and Control
Handbook of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry, Volumes 1-2
Handbook of Chemical Industry Labeling
Handbook of Chemical Processing Equipment Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Calculations
Handbook of Composites (2nd Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Electrical Engineering - For Practitioners in the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Industry
Handbook of Environmental Degradation of Materials
Handbook of Evaporation Technology
Handbook of Fire and Explosion Protection Engineering Principles for Oil, Gas, Chemical, and Related Facilities
Handbook of Hazardous Chemical Properties
Handbook of Heterogeneous Catalytic Hydrogenation for Organic Synthesis
Handbook of Hydrocolloids
Handbook of Hydrothermal Technology - A Technology for Crystal Growth and Materials Processing
Handbook of Hydroxybenzophenones
Handbook of Industrial Membrane Technology
Handbook of Industrial Mixing - Science and Practice
Handbook of Materials Selection Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Offshore Engineering, Volumes 1-2
Handbook of Organic Solvent Properties Interactive Tables
Handbook of Petroleum Analysis
Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Plasticizers Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Semiconductor Silicon Technology Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Separation Process Technology Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Handbook of Simulation - Principles, Methodology, Advances, Applications, and Practice
Handbook of Solvents
Handbook of Thermoset Plastics (2nd Edition)
Handbook of Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies
Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary (15th Edition) New Title: title added within past 60 days Interactive Tables
Hazardous Chemicals Handbook
Hazardous Chemicals Handbook (2nd Edition)
Health and Safety in Brief
Heat Transfer Handbook Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Hygiene in Food Processing
ISA Handbook of Measurement Equations and Tables (2nd Edition)
Illustrated Case Histories of Marine Corrosion: (EFC 5)
Incidents That Define Process Safety Premium Content: Access to Premium Content is sold separately from access to other content in this subject area.
Industrial Fire Safety Guidebook
Industrial Minerals and Their Uses - A Handbook and Formulary
Industrial Solvents Handbook (5th Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Industrial Synthetic Resins Handbook (2nd Edition)
Inherently Safer Chemical Processes, A Life Cycle Approach Premium Content: Access to Premium Content is sold separately from access to other content in this subject area.
Instrumentation Reference Book (3rd Edition)
Instrumentation Reference Book (4th Edition)
Instrumentation for Fluid-Particle Flow
Introduction to Fats and Oils Technology (2nd Edition)
Introduction to Fluid Mechanics Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Kent and Riegel's Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology, Volumes 1 & 2 (11th Edition)
Knovel Solvents - A Properties Database Interactive Tables Tables with Equation Plotter
Knovel Steam Tables Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer Calculators
Life Cycle Costing of Corrosion in the Oil and Gas Industry - A Guideline: (EFC 32)
Liquid Filtration (2nd Edition)
Loss Prevention in the Process Industries (2nd Edition) Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Ludwig's Applied Process Design for Chemical Petrochemical Plants, Volume 1 (4th Edition) Tables with Equation Plotter Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Machinery's Handbook (27th Edition) & Guide to Machinery's Handbook Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Maintenance of Instruments and Systems (2nd Edition)
Manufacturing Engineer's Reference Book
Materials Selection Deskbook
Mechanical Engineer's Reference Book (12th Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Membrane Separation Systems - Recent Developments and Future Directions
Microbiological Safety and Quality of Food, Volumes 1-2
Military Handbook - MIL-HDBK-5H: Metallic Materials and Elements for Aerospace Vehicle Structures (Knovel Interactive Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Modern Food Microbiology (6th Edition)
Modern Instrumentation for Scientists and Engineers
Molecular Modeling and Prediction of Bioactivity
NACE Corrosion Engineer's Reference Book (3rd Edition)
Nanostructured Materials - Processing, Properties and Potential Applications
Natural Gas - A Basic Handbook
Natural Gas Engineering Handbook Excel Spreadsheets
Nuclear Energy - Principles, Practices, and Prospects (2nd Edition)
Offshore Blowouts - Causes and Control
Offshore Pipelines
Oil - An Overview of the Petroleum Industry (6th Edition)
Oil Field Chemicals
Oil Well Testing Handbook
Organic Synthesis Engineering
PVT and Phase Behaviour of Petroleum Reservoir Fluids
Paint and Surface Coatings - Theory and Practice (2nd Edition)
Particle Deposition and Aggregation - Measurement, Modelling and Simulation
Petroleum Engineering Handbook - Sustainable Operations
Petroleum Products Handbook
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Encyclopedia, Volumes 1-2 (2nd Edition)
Pharmaceutical Production - An Engineering Guide
Pipeline Risk Management Manual - Ideas, Techniques, and Resources (3rd Edition)
Pipeline Rules of Thumb Handbook - A Manual of Quick, Accurate Solutions to Everyday Pipeline Engineering Problems (6th Edition)
Piping Materials Guide - Selection and Applications
Plant Engineer's Reference Book (2nd Edition) Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Plastic Wastes - Management, Control, Recycling and Disposal
Plastics Additives - An A-Z Reference
Plastics Materials (7th Edition)
Plastics Processing Data Handbook (2nd Edition)
Plastics Technician's Toolbox, Volumes 1-6
Pollution - Causes, Effects and Control (4th Edition)
Polymer Blends Handbook, Volumes 1-2
Polymer Reference Book
Polypropylene - The Definitive User's Guide and Databook
Poucher's Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps (10th Edition)
Practical Guide to Chemical Safety Testing - Regulatory Consequences - Chemicals, Food Packaging and Medical Devices
Practical Process Control
Practice of Reservoir Engineering (Revised Edition)
Pressure Safety Design Practices for Refinery and Chemical Operations
Pressure Vessel Design Manual (3rd Edition) New Title: title added within past 60 days Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Principles of Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design - New Tools for Industrial Chemical Reactor Operations (2nd Edition)
Principles of Engineering Mechanics (2nd Edition)
Principles of Food Chemistry (3rd Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Process Automation Handbook - A Guide to Theory and Practice
Process Intensification - Engineering for Efficiency, Sustainability and Flexibility
Process Piping Design Handbook - Advanced Piping Design, Volume 2
Process Piping Design Handbook - The Fundamentals of Piping Design, Volume 1
Prudent Practices in the Laboratory - Handling and Disposal of Chemicals
Pumping Station Design (3rd Edition)
Purification of Laboratory Chemicals (5th Edition)
RF/Microwave Circuit Design for Wireless Applications
Refining Processes Handbook Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Reliability, Maintainability and Risk - Practical Methods for Engineers (5th Edition)
Reservoir Engineering Handbook (2nd Edition)
Rheology - Concepts, Methods, & Applications
Rheology Fundamentals
Rheology Modifiers Handbook - Practical Use and Application
Rheology of Fluid and Semisolid Foods - Principles and Applications
Root Cause Failure Analysis
Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers - A Manual of Quick, Accurate Solutions to Everyday Process Engineering Problems (4th Edition)
SVC - 41st Annual Technical Conference Proceedings
SVC - 46th Annual Technical Conference Proceedings
Safety Instrumented Systems - Design, Analysis, and Justification (2nd Edition)
Safety, Reliability and Risk Management - An Integrated Approach (2nd Edition)
Science and Engineering of Droplets - Fundamentals and Applications
Seawater Corrosion Handbook
Semiconductor Safety Handbook - Safety and Health in the Semiconductor Industry
Separation Processes in the Food and Biotechnology Industries - Principles and Applications
Separation and Purification Techniques in Biotechnology
Silk, Mohair, Cashmere and other Luxury Fibres
Springer Handbook of Nanotechnology Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Standard Handbook of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (2nd Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Strength of Materials and Structures (4th Edition) Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Sulfur Problem - Cleaning up Industrial Feedstocks
Surface Production Operations (2nd Edition) Volume 2 - Design of Gas-Handling Systems and Facilities
Surface Production Operations (2nd Edition) Volume 1 - Design of Oil-Handling Systems and Facilities
Survey of Industrial Chemistry (3rd Edition)
Sustainability and Environmental Impact of Renewable Energy Sources
System Safety Engineering and Management (2nd Edition)
Technology of Biscuits, Crackers and Cookies (3rd Edition)
Textile Finishing Chemicals - An Industrial Guide
Thermal Technologies in Food Processing
Thermodynamic Properties of Cryogenic Fluids
Understanding Our Environment - An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry and Pollution (3rd Edition)
Unit Operations in Environmental Engineering
Valve Selection Handbook - Engineering Fundamentals for Selecting the Right Valve Design for Every Industrial Flow Application (5th Edition) Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Volatile Organic Compounds in the Atmosphere
Waste Incineration and the Environment
Waste Treatment and Disposal
Water Quality and Systems - A Guide for Facility Managers (2nd Edition)
Water Treatment - Principles and Design (2nd Edition)
Well Logging and Formation Evaluation
What Went Wrong? (4th Edition)
Wiley Critical Content - Petroleum Technology, Volume 1-2 Interactive Tables Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Wiley Guide to Chemical Incompatibilities (2nd Edition)
Wiley Guide to Managing Projects
Wind Energy Handbook Graphs/Tables with Graph Digitizer
Workplace Safety - Safety at Work Series, Volume 4
Yaws' Handbook of Antoine Coefficients for Vapor Pressure (2nd Electronic Edition) Tables with Equation Plotter
Yaws' Handbook of Physical Properties for Hydrocarbons and Chemicals Interactive Tables
Yaws' Handbook of Thermodynamic and Physical Properties of Chemical Compounds Interactive Tables Tables with Equation Plotter
Yaws' Transport Properties of Chemicals and Hydrocarbons (Electronic Edition) Tables with Equation Plotter
Yoghurt Science and Technology (2nd Edition)

Those are indeed such a huge, very huge list of online resources... Use it wisely...You'll enrich yourself as a Chemical Engineer. Good luck.

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Being a chemical engineer in the industry versus academia

2011-02-28T23:01:00.006+08:00

I have been a chemical engineer in academia for 2 and a half years already, helping students get their own engineering degrees. This coming July, I will reach the three (3) years mark being a chemical engineer academia.

In the other hand, I have been a chemical engineer in the industry for 5 years plus (2.5 years as a project/chemical engineer in an oil and gas based company while the remaining 3 years plus as a process engineer in an oil and fats related company).

Prior to that, I have been in the research arena for about 3.5 years plus (including the time I did my masters degree).

I have experienced working in various chemical engineering fields and I must say all of them are different. Chemical engineering field are very broad. There are basically too many things to explore and learned.

If a person ask me which one of the field I worked presently and before is the best... I would answer... Well, it is a paradoxical feeling. I love working in all areas I had worked before. I experienced and learned uniquely different knowledge and skills. I cannot say I only love my present career. I missed being a process engineer too. I missed walking up and down the plant, visiting the control room, checking the daily log and report book of my plants, siting in the meeting and receiving instruction from my superiors as well as giving instruction to my downline manpower. Oh... I missed all those moments.

I also missed my shift supervisor calling me each and every morning at 6.30 am (regardless of working day or holiday) to give me report on my plants status. I missed writing the daily and monthly report. I missed trouble shooting the plant whenever there are any problems...I missed being scolded by some of the managers...haha....

Last week, my senior production executive colleague (who is working with the company I served before) called me and asked about a situation which had just happened to the plants. According to him, a disaster happen when suddenly all the heat exchanger choked due the oil or something else solidify in it. After analyzing the sample taken from the heat exchangers, it was found that 90% of the compound contained glycerin. Glycerin should not be inside the CPO (crude palm oil)!!! We immediately know that someone irresponsible has blended the CPO with glycerin because CPO is far more expansive compared to the crude glycerin.

I presume, the moisture/water detector supplied by a very established instrumentation company could not detect the differences between CPO and the glycerin (Well, both compound have H an C elements). The instrument can only detect water... a very cheap compound with chemical formula H2O that was also blended with CPO few years back.

As a result, glycerin which when heated without water will solidify and turned blackish colour. The problem now is how to dissolve the solids. I discussed and gave some ideas to my senior exec friend on how to dissolve the blackish solid. However, I have not followed up or check back on the outcome.

Maybe I should call him tomorrow and asked whether the problem has been solved or not. But for sure, a serious production downtime occurred and an ethical issue of some irresponsible selfish person is to be blamed for all of this mess.

Well, that's just a slice of what I can feel happening in the place where I worked previously. Honestly, I don't feel the same challenge now, here. The situation, environment, atmospheres are totally different. I won't elaborate on this now... Maybe some other time.

I just wish to complete my Ph.D as soon as possible and start building up my career, get some post graduate students, research grants, involved in consultation works and collaborate on some projects with the industry. I cannot just stay inside the university. It won't be enriching enough... Please don't misunderstand me....

Oh...I want to visit the plants and factories... I miss them all...

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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.

Chemicals information at ThomasNet

2011-01-31T09:59:00.003+08:00

As a chemical engineer professional or students, we might come across a situation where we need more information on certain chemical or products, the suppliers etc. Sometimes, it is tough to obtain those information. However, recently, I found a site that is capable of providing us with quite a number of useful information on certain chemicals or compounds.

Thomasnet is an industrial search engine that provides one source for finding the exact product, service, or supplier –quickly and efficiently. ThomasNet provides direct access to the detailed information needed to make a purchasing or specifying decision, including line-item product details, CAD drawings, and more.Chemicals are produced through a combination of reactive elements, and can be found in solid, liquid, or gaseous states. The term “chemical” refers to a vast number of substances and processes that cannot be fully addressed in a single comprehensive manner, but by focusing on those in the pharmaceutical and industrial fields it is possible to derive some general information. In natural or artificial forms, these specific chemicals play a crucial role in the production of industrial components and medicines. Although chemicals are common in day-to-day life, proper care must also be taken when handling them, particularly those with the potential for harmful or volatile reactions.

Chemicals are integral to modern society, whether in medicine, industrial manufacturing, or the production of foods, glues, and plastic. Chemical substances can be broadly categorized as metal, non-metal, compound, element, and covalent types. Manufacturers have used the chemicals in these categories to not only create products, but also a wide range of specialized professions, such as engineers, scientist, and chemists.

Thomasnet.com one place to find out about everything related to chemicals and chemical related information. At thomasnet one can find for Chemical related articles, Chemicals suppliers, chemicals specifications and chemical product catalogs for any kind of Chemicals at Standard and Custom blended Chemicals. Thomasnet has recently posted new Need-to-Know guides for Chemicals related topics at http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/. There are more than 3500 suppliers listed on Thomasnet. Thomasnet also has a navigation bar where you can search for specific chemical related info, chemical related companies, chemical related news and white papers.

Photo credited to: http://www.greenplanet.com/we-are-what-we-eat-and-processed-food/

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I want FREE sustainable ENERGY... Can you give me?

2010-12-22T19:50:00.011+08:00

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.

10 Essential Components For a Safer Working Environment

2010-12-13T18:17:00.012+08:00

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... :)

For further reading on this Safety Working Environment topic, I highly recommend you to get this article: Support OSHA Compliance and Create a Safer Work Environment.

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.

Get the FREE article HERE.

Chemical Engineering Chat Via Facebook

2010-11-09T20:13:00.012+08:00

Today, while working in my lab, a reader of my blog (Chemical Engineering World) or maybe Facebook Chemical Engineer Rocks Group, approached and chatted with me. Let's identify him as OKN. He is currently a final year chemical engineering student and is planning his future. I have not able to ask him further but I think he is from the African continent.

OKN, you know who you are. I hope you are all right that I share our informative chat here for the sake of other chemical engineering students. I have edited/improved some of the sentences to make it clearer for you to read. Check it out...

OKN - 5:26pm: Good morning. How are you?

Zaki - 5:26pm: Hi, fine thanks

OKN - 5:26pm: Cool

Zaki - 5:27pm: :)

OKN - 5:27pm: What are you working on right now

Zaki - 5:27pm: I'm testing my new temperature controller. Looks like it works fine... ;)

OKN - 5:28pm: Nice work. On what field do u specifically base on?

Zaki - 5:28pm: Catalysis and reaction engineering. Trying to convert glycerol to some useful product.

OKN - 5:30pm: I am a chemical engineer but still in school my final year.

Zaki - 5:31pm: Oh! That's cool. Good luck to you.

OKN - 5:31pm: What advise do u have for me on my futher studies?

Zaki - 5:37pm: Choose which field you are interested in. Get a good supervisor whom have lots of research grant/money. Explore the area of renewable energy.

OKN - 5:38pm: But u can serve as my supervisor...since we study related course

Zaki - 5:39pm: Hmmm... I'm still doing my Ph.D. Maybe later, after I complete my Ph.D I can be your supervisor. Hahaha...

OKN - 5:40pm: U really inspire me a lot....u start now cos i really appreciate the little u have

Zaki - 5:40pm: Oh... Thanks... But what do mean by start now?

OKN - 5:41pm: While still doing ur phd. I am seriously confuse of my field.

Zaki - 5:42pm: O ok. So, what is your interest?

OKN - 5:42pm: I am seeing it as if i have waisted my time studying chemical eng.

Zaki - 5:42pm: Oh no. You are doing great. You just need somebody to help and guide you show the way...

OKN - 5:43pm: I am tinking of going into oil sector but i think i nid advise from someone to put me back in my field cos i rily want to be self dependent.

Zaki - 5:44pm: Oil and gas is lucrative sector. If you can be an expert in certain areas in the oil and gas, that's fantastic. Work with somebody, and then after few years, build your own company.

OKN - 5:46pm: But i have no much knowledge about dat sector,if u can help me i will appreciate

Zaki - 5:46pm: Oh... maybe you can be an expert in specialty chemical for offshore oil and gas application. Since you are a chemical engineer, that suits quite well. Try and google what is specialty chemical.

OKN - 5:47pm: It's ok. I will do dat.

Zaki - 5:48pm: You can also try to cover some other areas such as safety and health, as well as maintenance, or process engineering for oil and gas application or corrosion aspect or NDT.

OKN - 5:54pm: What suggestion of field of chemical eng. Do have for me to study for my masters degree.

Zaki - 5:54pm: OK ... another interesting and lucrative area is safety, health and environmental
If you focus on some specific areas under environmental...that will be good as well. People expert in environmentals make lots of money.

OKN - 5:58pm: So u mean i shud study environmental as a course.

Zaki: 5:58pm: Yep... Maybe you can also study some specific areas under environmental...such as Water, Air, Safety etc. Once you be an expert, example: Water expert, those who are concern with water impact, environmental will seek for your advise etc. Maybe they want to analyze water river etc.

OKN: 6:01pm: In drilling, guess i will be of more relevance.....how?

7:48pm: Yes. Drilling is relevant to you too. However, you need to learn more about it
that will be pretty much covered in Petroleum Engineering.

The chat ended because suddenly I have something coming up. I hope OKN got something from the short chat. Cheers...
..

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Ethanol Production Industry

2010-11-03T23:26:00.007+08:00

Do you know who is the largest ethanol producer in the world? America? Some country in Europe? South Africa? It actually depends on the geographical area that you are speaking about. Let's check out who they are...

Largest ethanol producer in the world

Brazil is currently the world's leader in ethanol production. Because of government subsidies, large sugarcane crops, and high sales taxes on gasoline, Brazil has built a profitable national ethanol industry. Sugarcane is grown in the country as the climate presents perfect conditions for its cultivation and production. It converts very easily to ethanol, and provides Brazil with huge supplies of ethanol.

Largest producer of ethanol in the U.S.

The largest producer of ethanol in the U.S. is a company that many of us have probably never heard of. The company is Archer Daniels Midland. ADM is a company that is an agricultural giant in the United States, and has decades of experience. They have a vast network of railcars, trucks, storage facilities, and barges that are capable of delivering high-grade ethanol.

Hmmm... there are actually more to discuss and more to share about the Ethanol Producers. It's tough to share all those technical, economical and other related information about ethanol producers in a short blog post like this. To have a clearer and precise information sharing on ethanol business, I would like to recommend Ethanol Producer magazine.

The magazine is known throughout the ethanol industry for its authoritative plant construction lists, compelling profiles and engaging features on production, research, science, technology, equipment, environmental and safety compliance, marketing, policy and industry events. Most importantly it is free... Yep..no cost at all. However, I'm sorry to say only those in US, Canada and Mexico is eligible to request for it.

To get the Ethanol Producer magazine, click here.

Four Basic Engineering Related Trainings in October

2010-10-30T09:03:00.005+08:00

October was a really hectic month for me. Not only that I'm hooked up with my research studies but also I attended four (4) Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) trainings. 3 of the trainings were categorized as mandatory training which I have to attend as demanded by Boards of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). It is definitely not an easy route or task to be a professional engineer in Malaysia, but that is a challenge all engineers in this country should dare to take. For the first 3 training mentioned below, I have to travel to Petaling Jaya in Klang Valley and stay a night there on each occasion. The 4th training was just in my vicinity, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai.

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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Bioenergy - Renewable Energy

2010-09-15T21:59:00.003+08:00

Energy obtained from Biological Organisms Bioenergy springs from biological sources like wood, waste, and alcohol fuels. In a narrow way it's a synonym to biofuel; the fuel obtained from biological sources. In its wider sense it includes biomass which is the biological material used as a biofuel. This is a typical myth among masses, as bioenergy is the energy removed from the biomass, as the biomass is the fuel and the bioenergy is the energy contained in the fuel. Burning wood for heat is an excellent example of Bioenergy.

In more involved terms, bioenergy can be created by utilizing genetically changed bacteria to create cellulose ethanol. Though oil and coal are made of organic matter, they aren't thought to be bioenergy as they weren't living lately. Bioenergy utilized in real-world circumstances Liquid Bioenergy; Bioethanol and Biodiesel, may be used to replace existing petrol and diesel, with small changes to the engine.

Some major car producers already support this technology and it's getting more widespread. Sugar cane, beet and maize are generally utilized to supply fuel. Biodiesel comes from eatable plant oils. Waste cooking oil can create biodiesel. Biogas is produced from methane and CO2, and is produced from biomass, for example fertilizer, sludge, sewage, feedstock, and other biodegradable waste.Bioenergy is been thought of as a potential appropriate alternative for fossil fuels in some applications, although the technology available is not actually acceptable yet.

Bioenergy is good for using in locations where there aren't much access to fuel import.

Plants can be grown in particular be utilised an as fuel, and can be grown exactly where they're required, which seriously decreases the monetary and environmental costs and the safety risks linked with transporting and storing fuel. Advantages and downsides of bioenergy though by burning or conversion of biomass the pollution of atmosphere aren't totally reduce.

Nonetheless it have some major benefits.In many regions, biomass is more unvarying than solar or wind power. This is as, the wind and solar energy are done by made technology, while the energy in plants is caught and stored. An additional advantage is that bioenergy is produced by organic waste material which helps to save the environmental and commercial costs of their disposal.

Maybe the most significant benefit of bioenergy is it is a doubtless replenish-able natural resource that would help supply energy wants indefinitely. But there are some disadvantages to using bioenergy. Biomass has tiny energy content for bulk use than carbon-based fuels. Therefore the expenses of labor, transport, and storage are relatively higher. Maybe the major difficulty with bioenergy is with recycling. Folk won't demand bioenergy till there's a big cost saving in doing hence but there may not be much savings till there's a much bigger requirement for bioenergy, or the non-renewable sources become seriously costlier.

For more information please visite: http://www.dpfnd.org/

Image credited to livingenergy.co.nz/technical/2/what-is-bioenergy.aspx

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How to Make Biodiesel From Algae

2010-08-15T20:23:00.003+08:00

While awareness of biodiesel and running diesel engines on vegetable oil is growing, you still have to get the oil from somewhere. The conventional choice is to buy vegetable oil, or take used vegetable oil from a restaurant. However, there is another possibility: Produce your own oil, with algae.

Algae

Algae are a form of "simple," photosynthetic, and aquatic organisms. The most complex forms of algae are commonly called "seaweed," though algae range in size and complexity from unicellular forms to this more advanced form. They are called "simple" because they lack many complex features found in land plants. The most useful feature of algae for our purposes is that algae produce significant quantities of natural oils. In fact, there are estimates that the yield from algae can be 200 times greater than that from a comparable area of other sources of conventional vegetable oils.

Algal Oils

Oil from algae is quite similar to oils produced by conventional oil crops and oilseeds. Chemists generally do not speak of oil, which is a common word for a vaguely defined group of chemicals. Biological "oils," or lipids, are chemicals called triglycerides, composed of a central glycerol unit with three fatty acids attached. Chemically, biological lipids are similar to petroleum to the extent that both groups of chemicals are based on carbon and hydrogen.

The main problem with using biological lipids as fuels is the fact that lipids are much more viscous (or resistant to "flowing," in layman's terms) than the refined petrochemicals which make up gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene, and other petroleum-based fuels. As a result, unrefined lipids will not be completely burned off in an engine, and leftover product which did not burn can accumulate in the engine.

Biodiesel from Algae Oil

The process of making biodiesel from oil is all about lowering the viscosity of oil by removing the glycerol; the process of converting algal oils is the same as that with any conventional vegetable oils. Chemists refer to this process as "transesterification," which in the case of biodiesel means splitting the triglycerides, separating the glycerol, which will settle, and converting the fatty acids into a solution of methyl esters, called biodiesel. This is done by mixing the biological oil with sodium methoxide.

Cultivating Algae

Algae can be cultivated at home using a device known as a "photobioreactor," or a bioreactor which includes a source of light. A basic reactor can be made from clear plastic tubes or plastic bottles or a plastic container of some sort. Algae need water, carbon dioxide, and light to grow; the reactor will contain water into which has been placed a culture of algae. Depending on the type of reactor chosen, algae can be cultivated continuously or in batches. The light source can be an LED, a phosphorescent bulb, or natural sunlight.

Getting Oil from the Algae

The making of biodiesel involves a number of separation processes, even more so in the case of biodiesel from algae: separating the algae from the solution, separating the oil from the algae, and separating the glycerol from the biodiesel after the reaction is complete. All of these separation processes can be done simply with a centrifuge.

Conclusions

While even biodiesel isn't quite a free lunch, getting biodiesel from algae can bring you one step closer. The product you get from algae-produced biodiesel is equivalent to that you get from other oils and the conversion of algal oil is the same as the conversion of any other oil; the algae are simply a renewable source of oil. Algae are quite safe, being commonly used in commercial products including food.

This article was written by Pamella Neely from bestlogcabinkits.com.

Image credited to: http://www.cincitdi.com/node?page=5

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Reduce Cholesterol By Lowering Your Trans Fat Intake

2010-08-12T19:56:00.004+08:00

Before you read, I just want to let you know that there is no chemical engineering stuffs inside this article. I just posted this article as a reminder for me, my family and all of you. Let's live healthily.

Recently we can observe occasionally people died from heart attack. One of the main reason for this is due to the cholesterol inside the blood. I'm very much concern about this nowadays and have been taking some steps in further understanding what food to consume and which to avoid.

Believe it or not, much of the processed food that we eat today will have some form of trans fat in them. Trans fats give more taste to a food and act as a preservative to certain foodstuffs ensuring that they have a longer shelf life. Thus they appeal to the consumer and the retailer of foodstuffs and have been phenomenally successful in the food industry. It is only in the last 20 years that research has concluded that Trans fats have detrimental affects on our health and can lead to high cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease. In many countries there are moves to limit or ban the use of trans fats in food. This article will discuss what trans fats are and how reducing them will lead to lowering cholesterol levels.

Trans fat was developed in the early 20th century by hydrogenating plant oil. Hydrogenation is formed by injecting hydrogen into oil to partially solidify it. This changes the characteristics of the oil, meaning that it has a higher melting point and does not oxidize as rapidly. Trans fat is easier and cheaper to produce than an equivalent fat that comes from an animals.

In terms of cholesterol, trans fat is thought to lower the amount of high density lipoproteins (HDL), sometimes referred to as 'good cholesterol'. Lipoproteins are responsible for transporting cholesterol through the blood stream. The 'good cholesterol' or HDL are thought to transport cholesterol to the liver where it is excreted as bile. If your HDL is lower, it cannot perform this vital function. Trans fat also raises your low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels or 'bad cholesterol'. This LDL is responsible for excess plaque buildup in your arteries which can cause decreased blood flow to the major organs and high blood pressure. Excess plague on the walls of the arteries can break free and cause blockages. A block in blood reaching vital organs like the brain or heart can lead to strokes or heart attacks.

You should avoid food that have trans fats in. Read the labels of all the foodstuffs that you buy. I do this whenever I do grocery shopping with my wife. Check out if they have trans fat in them. If they do not list the trans fat look for partially hydrogenated oil, that is another name for trans fat on food labels

Get to know the types of foods that contain or use trans fats. Popular food that use trans fats in cooking are cakes, biscuits and cookies. Other things include dough nuts, microwave popcorn and many deep fried foods from take aways.

If you have high cholesterol you will be advised to try to eat fresh food in your diet. The less processed food the better. It's tough because we are very much used to eating processed food but we need to try. I know this because I'm struggling to eat fresh food - fruits and vegetables. However, this should be applied to everyone not just people trying to reduce cholesterol levels. Eat more lean meats, fish, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Following a non-trans fat diet will help to lower your cholesterol. A positive by-product of following such a diet will be that you eat healthier and fresher food.

Let's live a better and healthy live... ;)

Image credited to: http://www.salmonellablog.com/2005/11/articles/salmonella-watch/vegetables-fruits-cause-more-food-illnesses/

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Manufacturing Engineering Jobs

2010-08-10T20:12:00.005+08:00

The role played by manufacturing engineering is crucial for the functioning of any company or organization. They play a key part in production, planning and scheduling of the tasks and manufacturing of the key components. This stream of engineering is certainly a good stream to select for, as it enables one to get the coveted engineering degree in a slightly different specialization and there are several job openings in this field too. The entire production process is controlled by the manufacturing engineering department.

Qualifications:

The basic degree that one needs to get is a B.Tech or B.E in manufacturing engineering or mechanical engineering. The person often starts their career in the form of a GET (Graduate Engineer Trainee) and gains experience in the complete engineering cycle. This includes materials, inventory, analysis and production control. Then they become the Superintendent Engineer at the highest rung of the ladder. Several engineers enhance their career opportunities by doing higher studies in the stream of management subjects and moving on to a more strategic role in the Manufacturing cycle.

Demand:

The career prospects for manufacturing engineering is really bright. There is not much competition in this sector and the manufacturing industry is always is need of new engineers. Most of the companies, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Public Sector Units have a requirement for them. The industries in which the manufacturing engineers can find jobs in are food processing, pharmaceuticals, automobile manufacturing, aerospace, electronic and defense sectors. There is also a huge demand in the chemical engineering, heavy engineering, textiles and printing industry.

Future Prospects:
The job prospects are extremely bright for manufacturing engineers. Those who learn the subjects well can then move on to the consultation sector. Manufacturing jobs gives a career which is insightful and gives the opportunity to excel.

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Progressive Freeze Concentration Research

2010-07-23T18:30:00.008+08:00

First of all, I would like to share this good news with all of you. My wife had passed her Ph.D VIVA just now. After the tense preparation few days before, she finally made it. She is now Dr. Mazura Jusoh, researcher in Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC), a subject under crystallization which is the subset of separation engineering. It was not easy but it went smooth. I felt the tense and waited outside the room.

Before the VIVA starts

The VIVA started at 9.30 am. We arrived at the examination room at 8.30 am to prepare and set up all that are necessary. The VIVA session ended at about 12.15 noon and she passed her Ph.D with minor correction.

In case you are wandering what is this research all about, here is the abstract of the study. Maybe some of you who are interested can collaborate with Dr. Mazura or become her student to further develop the PFC technology which is the first in Malaysia.

Abstract : DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL DESIGN FOR PROGRESSIVE FREEZE CONCENTRATION PROCESS

Industrial wastewater may well be treated by freeze concentration, a process which freezes or crystallises out water content as pure ice crystals and leaves behind a highly concentrated solution in a smaller volume. In conventional suspension freeze concentration (SFC) where ice crystals formed as a suspension in the mother liquor, separation of the solid-liquid mixture is difficult and costly. The size of ice crystals is still very limited and the seeding process requires usage of scraped surface heat exchangers (SSFE), which is significantly expensive and accounted for approximately 30% of the capital cost. Progressive freeze concentration (PFC) invented later is believed to provide cost saving and simplify the subsequent ice-liquid separation as ice crystals are formed as a layer or a block on the cooling surface. Quest for a design providing convenience and good efficiencies continues, and in this study a helical structured copper crystalliser was developed and fabricated named Multi-wind Crystalliser (MWC). Effects of several operating conditions on the performance of MWC in context of wastewater treatment were then investigated including circulation flowrate, initial solution concentration, coolant temperature and circulation time. The performance of the design was evaluated by three dependent variables including the effective partition constant, K, calculated from the volume and concentration of the solid and liquid phase. Two other parameters were ice purity and solution volume reduction. A process optimisation was also performed thereafter employing STATISTICA to produce optimum conditions in favour of the stated independent variables. As the crystalliser designed involves heat transfer, the overall heat transfer coefficient was also calculated through temperature profiling subsequently generating a prediction model for ice crystal mass. At the end of the research, a new crystalliser design for PFC is established and an observation of how the operating conditions affect the performance of the system was obtained. Optimum operating conditions was determined by process optimisation and an overall heat transfer coefficients were also generated. Adequacy and reliability of the ice crystal mass prediction model produced was proven by error analyses revealing relatively small errors.

Now...It's my turn to complete my Ph.D... :)

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Good Luck for your Chemical Engineering Ph.D VIVA

2010-07-22T17:26:00.009+08:00

The day has finally come...

After few years of tense research, agony to write and compile the papers/thesis draft and pain of waiting for the VIVA (Ph.D examination) date, finally the moment has come. My wife is currently making her final preparation before the battle begins tomorrow morning. She will be defending her Ph.D research/thesis in front of few renowned Professors in the field of separation technology. From what we know, nobody in this country is doing progressive freeze concentration research, a subject that falls under crystallization technology. She's the only one in this country doing it right now. She can be the crystallization expert.

I have accompanied her to the examination room just now and tested the computer and checked the presentation slide. This is just to ensure everything is smooth tomorrow. The room is just nice to fit the chairperson, 3 examiners and 2 of her supervisors.

I hope and pray that she will present her Ph.D research smoothly and awarded the prestigious doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering. Good luck to you... Mazura...

As for me, I'm still in my 3rd semester (just entered my 2nd year) of my Ph.D study. I hope everything will be smooth for me as well.

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Dubai Jobs - Tips and Strategies to Secure it

2010-07-20T18:51:00.004+08:00

Dubai has turned into a career haven, attracting talented individuals from across the globe., including chemical engineers. The United Arab Emirates, has put in a Zero Income Tax policy for individuals and professionals along with 100% remuneration of income. Due to this fact, companies based in Middle East and North African region especially Dubai, have been able to attract high caliber people to join their workforce, despite of the harsh climatic conditions.

Now the question is...

if so many people are looking for an engineering job in Dubai, how do you ensure that you secure your "Dream" Job in Dubai? The answer is quite logical. You need to have a multi-pronged strategy and work really hard if you wish to secure your Dream Engineering Dubai Jobs. A callous or laid-back attitude will not generate the results you desire. Similarly, just 1 or 2 approaches will not work. I will show you a systematic and guided approach. If you follow this method, then I guarantee you phenomenal results. Now, I'm not going to teach you magic. Like I said earlier, it's a logical method.

Some of the popular and in-demand Engineering jobs in Dubai are:

* Mechanical Engineering which includes: Aerospace, Automotive, Biomedical, Mechanical, Naval.

* Electrical Engineering which includes: Communications, Computer, Electrical, Electromechanical Systems, Electronic Systems, Software.

* Civil Engineering which includes: Building, Civil, Construction.

* Production Engineering which includes: Industrial Engineering, Integrated / Unified Engineering, Production Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering, Systems Engineering

* Chemical Engineering which includes: Agricultural, Biological and Biosystems, Chemical, Environmental, Food, Forestry, Materials, Plastics, Water Resource.

* Oil Engineering which includes: Gas, Geological, Geomatics, Metallurgical, Mineral, Mining, Oil, Petroleum.

Remember, that the whole process that I have described below takes some time. Securing good Engineering jobs in Dubai that fit your criteria perfectly is a time consuming and lengthy procedure, but I have compiled a few resources here for you to make it easier.

So, follow this procedure in the order given below and...

...all the best to you in your new engineer jobs in Dubai:

Engineer a good Resume:

A resume that impresses, one that gets the interview call. It's said that the first impression is the last impression. Couldn't be more true for a resume.

Some Resume Tips, specifically for Engineering Jobs in Dubai:

* Put the most important information first
* Highlight your positive points and strengths
* Highlight your accomplishments/achievements/accolades
* Point out that you will dress modestly
* Put a line that you are very tolerant with other people's religion and beliefs
* Make sure to use the right keywords, (for online searches) power keywords that will bring your resume in front of others
* Use bullet points
* One or two pages long, maximum
* No hobbies please

Online Job Portals: are Very widely used by job seekers and recruiters.
You can submit your completed resume to these online job portals. They are extremely popular in Dubai, and are used by the HR executives of the biggest and best Engineering companies to search for good resumes.

Offline Recruitment Agencies: are also very useful. Some are General while there are some that Specialise in Engineering Jobs in Dubai. The Big general recruitment agencies have dedicated recruiters and teams for various career fields. It's a good idea to approach a mix of both types. These recruitment agencies have contracts with companies, and are very prolific in finding the right candidate for the right job. They get paid for every successful placement, by the hiring company.

Engineering Companies: You can directly approach the biggest and the best companies in the engineering sector. The creme de la creme of engineering comapnies always have job positions open due to the size and leadership in the market. You can send them your Resume and Cover Letter to the Human Resources Department'S Email ID.

Classified Ads: Circulate your ad on the Internet.
You can place your "job wanted" classified in one of the Online Dubai Classified Advertisement Websites "Engineering Jobs in Dubai" section. These are reputed sites, however, since your email address is listed here, please be ready to find spam in your inbox too. A safe bet is to use a different email ID. These classified sites rank very high (in the first or second search results page) and so your chances of getting found directly by hiring companies is very high too.

Classifieds Search: Search the Wanted Ads.
There is a "jobs available" section in some online classifieds sites. You can browse these to locate engineering jobs in Dubai that fit in with what you are hunting for. However, many of the ads could be of scam recruiters, asking you to deposit money upfront. Simply ignore these.

Social Media Networking:
Network with the HR's.The HR's of Companies as well as Recruitment Agencies use Social Networking to post current jobs online and informally connect with potential candidates. This is an absolute must-do.

Preparing for an Interview:

* Go prepared.
* When you receive an interview call, remember to take along all your original certificates, experience letters and other important documents in original and photocopies.
* Brush up on the technical aspects related to the work you do.
* Show them that you are an authority on your subject and the right candidate for that post.

Tips, Do's and Dont's:

* Keep in mind the things that made you search for engineering jobs in Dubai, in the first place.
* If the job description and it's package and perks offered, fit in with what you've got in mind, then and only then apply for the job.
* Negotiating salary is not recommended in Dubai.
* You may find yourself working overtime without overtime pay.
* South Asians, need to work a minimum of 1 year, before they can change jobs, whereas this rule does not apply to Europeans, Australians and US Nationals.

Visa to visit Dubai:

You can come to Dubai on a visit visa and then go job hunting for quality engineering jobs in Dubai, as many people do, which increases your chance of landing good construction jobs in Dubai.

Physical presence in Dubai does make a difference. You can go for the interview as soon as you get a call. Read the important tips about Dubai Visas and remember that a visit visa is for a duration of 2 months, and you can extend it by a month.

This post is contributed by Shabbir Kagalwala from www.dubai-forever.com. He provides valuable step-by-step guide to apply, search and secure Jobs in Dubai. Information loved by visitors, searching for their dream job in UAE. It will be useful for chemical engineers seeking for new job, new experience, new adventure.

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Green Jobs That Pay Well

2010-07-18T14:07:00.003+08:00

Are you looking for a good job that pays well? How about about a green job? There are a lot of green jobs available with high paying salaries. Here is is list of 10 green jobs that I recommend:

1. Environmental Consultant

You ensure that your clients are compliant with certain environmental regulations so that they do not face legal action, misguided transactions or fines. There are many areas of work but the two main areas are Industrial and Environmental. Environmental Consultants usually have a B.A. in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Management or Environmental Science.

2. Ecological surveyor

This person performs Environmental Impact Studies for property developers. Ecological surveyors analyze the potential impacts that developing a certain area may have on the flora and fauna of that specific place. They also assist developers in planning to avoid unnecessary cost, delays and disruption of projects.

3. Civil/Structural Engineer

Oversees the construction on buildings and other structures and ensures that they are structurally-sound; able to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, and other disasters.

4. Marine Surveyor

A Marine Surveyor is responsible for the sustainable development of coastal areas. They carry out studies and try to minimize impact on the marine life of the area that has been chosen for development.

5. Eco Homes Adviser

Provides advice on energy efficiency, water conservation, design and building materials for homes. They also diet and fitness tips for their client to complement their Eco home with a green lifestyle.

6. Energy Assessor

Energy efficiency is very important for a sustainable lifestyle and a well-paid job as an energy assessor can help in the conservation of our planet. Energy assessors ensure the efficient use of energy in domestic properties, government buildings, privately owned properties or businesses, etc.

7. Bio-Mass Development Officer

They are responsible for the development of project involving the use of biomass. These mainly projects involves the generation of energy from organic waste. A Biomass Development Officer usually performs task such as:

o Identify new sites for Biomass Projects
o Manage biomass plants
o Work with public authorities overseeing proper planning the issuing of licenses.
o Evaluate biomass projects
o Carry out related scientific research with other scientists.
o Ensure a constant supply of raw materials from suppliers

8. Air Quality Specialist

The Air Quality Specialist is responsible for assuring air quality and control; studies, emission inventories, permit applications, dispersion modeling and regulation compliance. may also work in projects relating to petroleum, mining, utility, chemicals, etc. A B.S. degree in Engineering or other Science degree in a similar field is ideal for this job.

9. Project Engineer

Projects Engineers make sure projects as completed in the time specified in the contract and they assure high quality of the finished worked. In order to carry out the tasks of a Project Manager a certain level of training and expertise is needed. They are able to make accurate financial forecasts, manage efficiently project teams and resources and they are responsible for the completion of the project according to initial plans.

10. Heritage Officers

Heritage Officers work in a wide variety of places that are usually tourist attractions: museums, historic buildings, archaeological sites, national parks or with an environmental Conservation Organization. Heritage officer may also do work as interpreters. Tasks performed usually include:

o Nature and city trails
o First person Interpretation
o Audio-visual programs
o Publications
o Organize Exhibitions, public presentations and concerts.

Excellent communication skills, knowledge in ecology and historical knowledge is required for this job.

This article was contributed by ecolifetrendy.com.

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Plate Heat Exchanger Software

2010-07-13T23:22:00.004+08:00

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

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Open Source Chemical Engineering Related Softwares

2010-07-05T22:44:00.006+08:00

As a chemical engineer, after knowing the basic and fundamentals of a subject, we may use certain softwares to speed up calculation, analysis and even decision making. Without doubt chemical engineering related software are gaining importance and hence it is imperative to share them here so that all of us can use and apply them. I found a forum that shares a magnitude of great chemical engineering software (I got to know about this great collection from vinithbejugamchemicalengineering.blogspot.com who runs an informative chemical engineering blog).

The forum shares open source chemical engineering softwares such as:

Cantera - Cantera is an open-source, object-oriented software package for problems involving chemically-reacting flows.

InnoSim - InnoSim is a free suite for physical properties estimation and process equipment design and rating. It is intended for use by students, scientists and engineers interested in chemical engineering and the related industries.

Calflur - Caflur is a tool for analyzing chemical reactors. It can generate a HTML file with tables and graphics of Residence Time Distributions. It can calculate conversions for both linear and non-linear systems, with and without flow model; and the parameters for some non-ideal flow models (tanks in series, axial dispersion and combined models).

MesoRD - MesoRD is a tool for stochastic simulation of reactions and diffusion. In particular, it is an implementation of the Next Subvolume Method, which is an exact method to simulate the Markov process corresponding to the reaction-diffusion master equation.

Well those are just 4 of them. There are lots more of open source chemical engineering software. Visit the forum and learn more:

http://opensource.cheme.info/index.php?topic=4.0

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Chemical Engineering Economics should use ChemEng Economics Calculator

2010-07-02T23:54:00.021+08:00

Whether you are a chemical engineer working on a project to set up a new plant/facility for your company or a final year chemical engineering student who are working on your final year design project, it will be handy and cool to have a software to help you calculate all those important economics and costing details. Check out the this outstanding software - ChemEng Economics Calculator.

ChemEng Economics Calculator was mainly made to do the basic method of estimating the Net Present Value of a process plant. This easy to use software also include few small calculators, below is a list of the main features:

Net Present Value - the software goes through a series of calculations to do the estimate. Starting from

1. Fixed Capital Investment: the ability to chose from "Purchased Cost" of plant items, hence the estimation of FIXED & TOTAL CAPITAL INVESTMENT (Direct and Indirect Costs), OR "Installed Costs" of plant items where the software will use a FIXED CAPITAL INVESTMENT multiplyer to take into accout the additional cost associated with building the plant.

2. Operating Labour: through a basic series of "Auxiliary Facilities" and "Process Equipment" lists the software will estimate the TOTAL NUMBER OF OPERATOR NEEDED & ANNUAL COST OF OPERATING LABOUR. You simply enter the "Expected Annual Salary of Operators in The Plant" and "The Number of Units", the software will then calculate the "THE NUMBER OF OPERATORS NEEDED PER SHIFT".

3. Utilities: To calculate the "TOTAL UTILITY COSTS/YEAR".

4. Raw Materials & Profits: Calculates the ANNUAL cost of Raw Materials and ANNUAL Products Profits.

5. Production Costs: Calculate the ANNUAL Production Costs (customised calculations).

6. Assumptions: The software uses assumptions to estimate the NET PRESENT VALUE.You can customise the assumptions to suit your needs, "Plant Construction Period up to 5 Years", "Depreciation Period from 3 to 20 Years", "Plant Operation Period up to 20 Years", you can also set the "Tax Rate %", "Discounted Cash Flow Rate %" and "Salvage Value %", You can also SET INFLATION RATE.

This is without doubt a must have software for chemical engineers working on the economic aspects and who maybe responsible in advising his or her company on making certain decision making. Amazingly, this software cost only $29.99 per computer (1 license).

To learn more about this fantastic software, please refer:

>>> ChemEng Economic Calculator Detail

>>> Download the presentation slide explaining more about ChemEng Economic Calculator + software demo.

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