Chemical Engineering World

My Ph.D Updates

2009-11-17T17:24:00.003+08:00

This is just to share with you my Ph.D updates. It has been already137 days since I registered as a Ph.D student.

1. Quartz reactor
I'm going to used quartz tube as a reactor for my experimental research. The funny thing is I'm having difficulties in getting them. I don't understand all these manufacturers/suppliers. I have contacted 4 quartz tube manufacturer around the world. They responded, but after I gave them my design, none of them return back to me. Are they genuinely quartz manufacturer? If you know any reliable quartz tube manufacturer, please help me. Thanks. That's it, I only need new quartz tube with my own design to begin my experiments.

2. Preparing my First Stage Proposal
I'm in the midst of preparing my Ph.D proposal . I wish I can complete them as soon as possible and present them in my second semester.

3. Learning Matlab
I've just started working on the thermodynamic studies of my reaction. It is not a simple task learning and doing all this. I need to study the reaction kinetics of the reactions. Calculate the heat enthalphy and Gibbs Free energy. Then use Matlab software to simulate the reactions. My supervisor insist me to use Matlab. Now, I need help in Matlab.

4. Paper presentation
I'll be presenting 2 papers this coming December, both in a national level conference. One is ESTEC'09 which is hosted by Universiti Malaysia Trengganu (UMT) and the other one will is RCSSST'09 hosted by Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP).

5. Journals ???
I'm also preparing my first paper to be submitted to a journal I haven't decide yet. Need to get them ready fast.

1st German-Singaporean Symposium on Catalysis

2009-11-17T01:06:00.012+08:00

I participated in the 1st German-Singaporean Symposium on Catalysis on the 2nd of November 2009. My supervisor brought me along after being invited to the symposium. It was my first visit and outing after registering as a Ph.D student last July.

1st Day - Catalysis Symposium

From this symposium, I was hoping to learn as much as possible from the experts, scientists and researchers from both German and Singapore. The event took place at Biopolis Matrix, Singapore. The hall was full with students (whom I presumed are all researchers in the field of catalysis engineering sciences).

There were several topics that caught my interest while some did not. Those were the one related to Oxidative Coupling of Methane (OCM) which I did for my masters research 8 years ago. Unfortunately, nothing was related to my current Ph.D topic, but that's fine. I'm glad that exposed to the research atmosphere in Singapore and I really think they are working very hard to establish themselves (in the field of research and development).

2nd Day - Technical Visit
The second day was really exciting and I was looking forward for it. It was the technical visit session. We gathered at Atrium Hotel and with the entire German professors, we were brought to Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (ICES), Jurong Island, Singapore.

One of the professor from German delivering his presentation (1st day)

Biopolis Matrix from the side (1st day)

Hanging some memories on the wall... :)

Check out the name of the meeting rooms in ICES - famous scientist names

Scenery from the meeting room in ICES. The meeting room view is spectacular.

Another view from the meeting room. Jurong Island is indeed a powerful force as heavy industry is concerned. Lots of ships, offshore rigs/platform, plants etc.

This was taken in the meeting room after we got lost during the lab facilities tour.

After the ICES visit, we went to Nanyang Technological University (NTU). We visited the Chemistry - Mathematics Department. After a short briefing from the head of department, we visited their state of the art laboratories.

Undergraduate students at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) very tentative at their work. It's very impressive that NTU has hundreds of fume cupboards for their students. This is the best lab I've seen so far. Very neat, clean, well organized and beautiful. Every students have their own dedicated fume cupboard to perform their experiments and they are exposed to research in their early undergraduate years. Very impressive.

The labs are huge and complete with advance equipments. What can a researcher like me as for more if I do research here? They also have 5 units of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and will add another 3 units. I cannot help myself counting the number of Gas Chromatography (GC) they have in their lab. Not to mention, other analytical equipments...

The digital mass balance are also ready to be used by the students...

The German delegates at the Biology Department foyer after meeting up/briefing.

Conclusion

The symposium was superb. I learned a lot from it. I get to know some key researchers. The technical visits were splendid and meaningful. I loved it. I get to see a very advance research center - that's ICES. On top of that I also managed to learned a lot from the visit to NTU's chemistry lab. The labs are excellent and is destined for quality research. Any researchers from any part of the world will want to work with either of this 2 wonderful and well equipped labs. This clearly shows the investment by the government of Singapore to establish their research and development to a world class standard. The commitment and seriousness are there and I won't be surprised if Singapore becomes a research center for this region.

I managed to do some networking and also learned about Singapore Catalysis Society. This, I hope will help me strengthened my research motivation.

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Engineering Ethics Videos Part 2

2009-11-09T00:38:00.018+08:00

Hi there... How are you?
Last month I published Engineering Ethics 101 Videos. The intention is mainly to educate ourselves on the important of engineering ethics. Now I'm continuing the series of engineering ethics video part 4-6.

Part 4: Can You Keep a Secret? Confidentiality & Engineering

Synopsis of part 4: Engineers often find themselves in roles that require keeping of a confidence. In this video, Michael Loui describes different types of secrets and an engineers ethical and legal obligations to keep them.

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Part 5: Ethical Engineering Decision Making

Synopsis of part 5: Making decisions ethically is an important part of being an engineer. In this video, Michael Loui addresses a variety of tests for considering whether a decision is ethical or not and applies them to everyday cases.

Part 6: Professional Ethics in Engineering, The Citicorp Center Case

Michael C. Loui presents the 6th video in the series Professional Ethics in Engineering with a classic example for us to have better comprehension on the real engineering ethics.

To view Part 1-3 of the engineering ethics video, please click here.

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Chemical Engineering World Legal Policy

2009-05-27T20:39:00.005+08:00

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Engineering Ethics 101 Videos

2009-10-19T23:39:00.009+08:00

When I did my chemical engineering degree, I was not exposed to the engineering ethics. Now that I know the importance of engineering ethics, plus my quest to be a professional engineer, I'm progressively learning about engineering ethics. Learning from my own mentor (from IEM) is one way. Another way is to learn it from the book. However, I found it easier to learn the basics by watching video. I was searching about engineering ethic videos and found a set of fantastic video by Prof. Michael C. Loui. Though he is from the electrical engineering background, but the engineering ethics content is generally the same. The video is simple, easy to comprehend and I believe it can provide us good understanding on what is Engineering ethics.

Part 1: Engineering Ethics 101 - Professionalism

We need to really understand that engineering is a profession, and one way that professions distinguish themselves is by having and enforcing a code of ethics. The code of ethics are very important. Without it, engineers would not earn the respect like it earned today. Students and junior engineers need to be exposed with this. Check out the first video on Engineering Ethics 101 - Professionalism.

Part 2: Ethics & the Responsible Engineer

Taking responsibility for one's actions is an important part of being an engineer. In this video, Michael Loui reviews different types of responsibility and gives case examples from notable engineering failures.

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Part 3: Conflicts of Interest for Engineers

Many engineering engagements are frought with conflicts of interest. This (3rd) video explains what they are, how they can be avoided, and how the can be dealt with when they cannot be avoided.

There are more videos, but lets digest the first 3 videos. I'll publish the other videos later.

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Renewable Energy Project Ideas

2009-10-11T03:00:00.005+08:00

Check out this short but informative video. The video shares some good renewable energy project ideas that can be further explored, improved and developed. The project is carried out by students at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering to develop renewable energy projects for a summer course. The course, directed by Dr. Mahendra Sunkara, is the first project for the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship. Students were asked to develop systems using a variety of different backgrounds, from chemical engineering to physics.

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GPS for Engineers?

2009-10-03T08:08:00.011+08:00

There's undeniably a wide range of fields and discipline under chemical engineering. There are physical refining, research and development, plant processing, academician, safety and health, environmental and plenty others. All this expert area surely requires specific equipments, tools and gadget in order to run or operate the process.

One imperative equipment that chemical engineers working in the environmental fields and/or sales engineer require due to massive traveling is GPS which stands for Global Positioning System. GPS is space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable positioning, navigation, and timing services to worldwide users on a continuous basis in all weather, day and night, anywhere on or near the Earth. It is with no doubt a very important equipment to locate or mark specific locations.

Personally, I also used a GPS to travel to certain unknown destination and also to marked important points of location. We (me and my wife) own 2 GPS presently, one is via her cell phone and the other one is a dedicated tough Garmin GPS for mountain hikers. For some, GPS might be an alien for you but you'll needed it very much, depending on your job scope. It will safe you a lot of hassle if you are traveling. To get a set of GPS, you can easily and efficiently browse at shopwiki. They provide massive range of GPS with various features and models. You can choose the GPS based on the types (hand held, car, cellphone, laptop, watch, nautical) or outdoor type (Garmin hand held personal navigator or Uniden 28 Mile GMRS Radio 2 Pack with Charging Cradle and Battery Packs) or special touch hand held GPS system.

In extreme conditions, when the basic seems simply inadequate, you can select for more advance GPS such as HP iPAQ rx5900 or Garmin Edge 350. Those two are example of very excellent, high end and advance GPS system. For example, GArmin Edge 350, not only can do what normal GPS can do but also amazingly can tracks heart rate, speed and other exercise features. This is a good choice for engineers to keep track of their health while working diligently.

In conclusion, I strongly think that GPS is a very excellent tool to ease our job but it also depends on our job nature. Those who do not frequently travel or have projects scattered in various location may not think this is a tool they need to own. It's up to you. For me, it has proven to be cost effective in the aspect of time saving and working efficiently.

Life Alert in a Plant and Industry

2009-10-03T09:03:00.008+08:00

I still recall when I was a process engineer working in a refinery plant, there are some operator(s) working alone in a small plant and he sits in a small control room. Similar scenario for a boilerman who normally operates alone in the boiler house on his shifts. This is a normal situation in a small plant(s) and I sometimes imagine what happen if suddenly something happen to this fellows? If suddenly they are sick and/or get a heart attack, what will happen to the guy and the plant/boiler or other units he is operating? Who will know what is happening at that instant? The fact that nowadays, we can see healthy people suddenly collapse, higher percentage would be due to high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack which is occasionally due to bad eating habit and unhealthy lifestyle.

I have thought of a device, tool or alarm to alert somebody, possibly an senior technician, supervisor, engineer or manager whenever anything bad happens to their operator or boilerman. I surfed and searched the net and I found a website called Brickhouse Alert that provide a device that can alert the other party whenever anything (that they define) happen. A message or signal will be instantaneously be sent to the other party to inform on what has happen. The product can be installed at home and and has a Fall Detection detector that alerts 24/7 emergency personnel that something or a person have fallen. The person experiencing the emergency can even push a button and an emergency signal is sent.

On top of that, there is also a monitored smoke detector and a help button that if someone falls on the ground, they can smack it and will get help, medication reminders, inactivity detector and so much more. Smoke detector can off course detect fire before it become worse. Interestingly, as I browsed further in the web, I found out that the device is really cleaver. It can be programmed to detect "no movement" or "movement".

I guess that if this kind of product which is provided by BrickHouse Alert can be modified or suited for process plant or manufacturing industry application, it will be great. If I'm still a process engineer, I'll recommend such product to my company. Before I left my ex-company, an integrated computer system a.k.a a centralized control system was in progressed that can allow the engineers and managers to monitor all the production and utility data online. Those are made in concern of business but having a life alert will be display any company concern to their manpower. I also believe this product should be installed in offshore platforms / oil rigs where safety is extremely crucial for the staffs there.

I'm not sure of you but, though the product is mainly to cater for any situation in a house, I believe applying it in a more diverse industry and operation can be a huge success especially when valuing safety and profitability factor.

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How Do I Go About Becoming A Chemical Engineer?

2009-09-14T22:57:00.011+08:00

I have just recently created a new website. It is called Chemical Engineering Question and Answer. I was actually inspired to create this website because I find it easier and fun learning through a series of question and answer format. It's more enjoyable.

For this post, I'm going to extract one set of question and answer about somebody asking how to become a chemical engineer. This is how it works... Somebody will ask a question and readers will try their best to answer the question as accurate as possible. This is basically adopted from Yahoo answer. I hope for those are considering to be a chemical engineer

Question: How Do I Go About Becoming A Chemical Engineer?

What do I have to do and what are the things I should be studying at the moment outside of highschool? I am still a junior.

Answers 1: Take all the science and math classes you can and even take dual classes at your local community college. Talk with your career adviser and look into what colleges offer this degree and what type of classes you’d be taking to get a grasp of what you can expect.

Answers 2: As the name of the profession suggests, be good in both mathematics and chemistry. If you intend to be a chemical engineer working in the food or biological industries, a solid background in biology will help too.

Answers 3: I have a dual degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. For any engineering you will need to be strong in mathematics and physics with an emphasis on the chemistry side for a chemical engineer. But mathematics is the most important by far, you’ll need to be good algebra and trigonometry to do well in calculus and good in calculus to get through differential equations.

Answers 4: Take all the high school maths and sciences. Generally try to enjoy high school and learn how to study. That will come in handy in university. If you can get do some extra calculus work in high school to make the transition to university math easier. You should be very interested in your high school chemistry classes if you plan to be a chemical engineer. Note that chemical engineering is usually focused on producing stuff, not inventing new products. Make sure you’re not actually interested in being a chemist or bio-engineering which are more focussed on designing new drugs or chemicals.

Answers 5: My daughter is a chemical engineer. You will need to study lots of Mathematics, especially Calculus. On top of that, you need to study physics and of course chemistry. Good luck, it’s a great major that can prepare you for anything….including medical school.

Answers 6: Chemical Engineering is the science of converting laboratory experiments into reality and application. It is a wonderful and interesting field. I know that I am talking about your choice to become a chemical engineer, and not really addressing your question of what to do prior. Before you decide to do that, I recommend you assure yourself that this is what you want, because it is not going to be a picnic my friend. It is really hard, but once you get a grip of it, things will automatically smoothen. I honestly recommend Petroleum Engineering as this science is blooming and they are considered as the highest paid engineers in the industry.
If you still want to be a chemical engineer, then I recommend you do lots of reading on chemistry, organic chemistry and read about how things are made and what are they made of.
Wish you the best.

My answer: As a high school student, focused and be good at Mathematics, physics, chemistry. Those are the fundamentals. At the same time, learn more about chemical engineering through associations such as IChemE, AIChemE, IEM etc. You'll get some direct knowledge on what chemical engineers do.
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Get "Choosing Alternative Fuel" Ebook FREE

2009-09-06T15:03:00.008+08:00

There's definitely no doubt that energy is a very crucial element in our lives. Early 2008, we have seen how high the petroleum price rises, more than $130 per barrel. Then towards the end of 2008 and early 2009, the petroleum price reduces to around $40-50 per barrel, which made everyone relieved. Now, we are witnessing an increase of petroleum price again. As up to this post was written, the price of crude petroleum is $67.79 per barrel. Personally, I don't want the price to increase again, and I believe none of you want that to happen as well. The current petroleum price increase has made the government in my country increase the price of petrol (gasoline) by 25 cents per liter (Malaysian currency).

Hence it is imperative for us to identify and choose alternative energy, and not depending solely on petroleum for our petrol (gasoline). In conjunction with that, I am giving away, FREE OF CHARGE, an e-book entitled "Choosing Alternative Fuel - How to save our environment and save your money". This book can easily be priced at $20 or $30 per copy, but I'm giving it away for you to read, learn, comprehend and if possible practice. It does not end there. On top of getting a free but extremely precious ebook, I'm going to give a free e-Course on Alternative Energy.

Here are the chapters covered in the e-book.

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 5
Chapter 1 - What Are Alternative Fuels …………………………………7
Chapter 2 - Gasoline and Oil ………………………………………………... 9
Chapter 3 - Why Are Gas Prices So High ………………………………16
Chapter 4 - Alternative Fuel Vehicles ……………………………………19
Chapter 5 - All About Alternative Fuels …………………………………25
Ethanol ……………………………………………………………………………… 25
Methanol ………………………………………………………………………… 28
Compressed Natural Gas ……………………………………………………29
Electricity …………………………………………………………………………32
Solar Power ……………………………………………………………………… 35
Hydrogen …………………………………………………………………………37
Liquefied Natural Gas ………………………………………………………40
Liquefied Petroleum Gas …………………………………………………. 41
Biodiesel ………………………………………………………………………… 43
Chapter 6 - Environmental Damage ……………………………………… 46
Chapter 7 - Global Warming …………………………………………………50
Chapter 8 - Alternative Fuel According to the Numbers …………54
Chapter 9 - What’s Uncle Sam Doing? ………………………………… 73
Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….79

What are you waiting for? Fill up your name and email in the form below and download your free "Choosing Alternative Fuel" Ebook 5 minutes from now.

p/s: You can also pass this e-book to your friends. I don't mind. Or if you want your friends to also receive the Alternative Fuel e-course, you can provide this link to your friends:

http://chem-eng.blogspot.com/2009/09/get-choosing-alternative-fuel-ebook.html

Gas Chromatography Calibration

2009-09-03T17:07:00.013+08:00

I'm sorry. I know I'm suppose to share and write a post about having my article printed in the Yellow Pages Energy Guide. But, I think my recent experience during the GC calibration was very worth sharing.

Brief Introduction of our Gas Chromatography

Our research Chemical Reaction Engineering Group (CREG) have 3 Gas Chromatography (GC) Thermal Conductive Detector (TCD). All of them are HP Agilent 6890 model. We have labeled them as GC 1, GC 2 and GC 3. I have personally used 1 of the older GC-TCD (GC 2) when doing my masters degree 9 years ago. GC 2 is the simplest of our GC-TCD. It can only analyze gasses compound and have only 2 columns inside it which are Molecular sieve and Porapak N column.
GC 1 and GC 3 are far advance then GC 2. Both of the GCs are equipped with Flame Ionization Detector (FID) to analyze liquid product, which in our case are hydrocarbons. That means, GC 1 and 3 can analyze both gasses and liquid compound.

GC 2 and GC 3 (Both Agilent 6890 model) are arranged side by side in one of our research rooms.

On top of the above mentioned GC-TCD, there is also a unit of Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to power up our analysis capability. This GC-MS is very useful to identify and analyze liquid compound. GC-MS actually combines the features of gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify different substances within a test sample. In our research group we use it to analyze our pyrolysis, biomass, biodiesel liquid fuel and others. I'm not that familiar with GC-MS, but I plan to learn more about it in future. Now, for my ph.D, I'm more focused on using the GC-TCD.

The molecular sieve packed column and Porapak N column in GC 1

Oh yes, we also have one dedicated Perkin Elmer Gas Chromatograph Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). This GC-FID is very old, I think it has been around for more than 13 years. It has been used previously to analyze our gas to liquid products. Presently, a master student is using it to analyze her biodiesel from waste vegetable oil research.

Of all the GC brands, we have model from HP and Perkin Elmer but not Shimadzu.

Gas Chromatography Thermal Conductive Detector (GC-TCD) Calibration

All our 3 GC-TCD are in great demand now. The research group population has suddenly increased and all of us need to use this imperative analytical equipment. Unfortunately, the GC-TCDs are not in really good condition. Hence, we've called Agilent engineer to come and help us check on the GCs and calibrate it for us.

I wasn't around on the first part of GC-TCD calibration because I was in Kota Kinabalu with my wife and family for the International Conference on Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering in conjunction with the 23rd Symposium of Malaysian Chemical Engineers (SOMCHE 2009). However, my research colleagues were around for the GC-TCD calibration sessions. Unfortunately, the GC-TCDs could not yet be calibrated due to some problem. It was found that the molecular sieve packed column for GC 1 is not working anymore. So, CREG have to order a new mol sieve column.

Agilent engineer is replacing the mol sieve packed column in GC 1

Luckily we managed to order new mol sieve columns and the second GC-TCD calibration session were carried out last week. This time I was around and we work closely with the Agilent engineer. GC 1 has 5 columns inside it and it took some time to work on the valve switching between the valves. The valve switching is an important feature when there are many columns in a GC. This is because a column can only be suitable for certain chemical compound separation, while the others are suitable for other compounds. We calibrated GC 1 with Agilent natural gas standard and successfully managed to get all peaks in the chromatogram at the end of the day.

The engineer is thinking how to solve the mess in GC 3

The next day, the engineer continue worked with GC 2 and GC 3. However, he only managed to touch GC 3 after lunch. GC 3 has more chronic problem, it has one of its capillary column torn. He discovered this problem together with a ph.D student doing Plasma Reaction Research. However, the engineer has successfully connect the capillary column again.

HP capillary column is torn.

Conclusion of GC-TCD Calibration Session

To conclude the GC-TCD calibration session:

GC 1 - Successfully calibrated with Agilent natural gas standard.
GC 2 - Successfully calibrated with Agilent refinery gas standard.
GC 3 - Need to be further calibrated. Probably need 2 days to complete the job. I have contacted Agilent to come and rectify GC 3. We are still waiting the answer from them. I'll follow up with them again tomorrow.

I look forward to conduct my research as soon as possible... :) wish me luck.

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My Post graduate degree - M.Eng (Chemical Engineering ) from UTM, Malaysia

2006-07-22T01:03:00.001+08:00

I studied and conducted research in Reaction Engineering specializing in Catalysts technology. Here, i learned to synthesized catalyst for a one step process of natural gas conversion to gasoline. I enjoyed doing the research. It was fun writing the technical papers. It was interesting characterizing the catalysts after creating it from various chemicals. Our research group did won some recognition in and outside the country. My bos, now Prof. Dr. Nor Aishah Saidina Amin is a very dedicated and hard working lecturer/researcher/supervisor. Well, i learned from her. Together with Pak Didi (now already Pak Dr. Ir. Didi Dwing Anggoro), we explore our research further.

Finally, My First Research Grant..

2009-08-10T14:22:00.015+08:00

It has been a very long time since I published my last post. This has been mainly due to the tight schedule I'm experiencing now. Although I am officially a Ph.D student and granted a 3 years study leave, I still have some pending jobs that need to be settled. So, I can't really focus on my studies yet, but I am trying my very best to fully optimize the time that I have.

Doing Ph.D research without any research fund can be considered a nightmare. It has been bugging me since day 1. I have no money to do research. My supervisor also has very limited money and the money need to be well distributed among 10 post graduate students. So, just imagine how tough it is to do and establish our research. We have to try our best to fully optimize our research spending. Doing research is not cheap and requires money to purchase equipment.

Thank God, I received a very good news 3 weeks ago. My name was in the list of lecturer who received Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) from Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). To be honest, I have tried so hard and submitted 5 research grants before getting this one. All 5 research proposals submitted earlier were rejected and I must say that I felt a little bit disappointed. However, all of those bitter feeling was covered straight away after seeing my name on the list of successful researcher awarded grant from FRGS. My first reaction... I was very speechless and I just could not believe it... I just joined the faculty and within a year I have my own research grant. Hey...that's not bad at all. My career is kicking off quite well... Thank God again :) .

As a student (already 42 days as a Ph.D student), I have to hand over the responsibility as a research project leader to somebody else. This is mainly because, students are not allowed to be a project leader. Remember, I applied for this grant when I was still active as a lecturer. It was quite a headache wandering who to transfer the responsibility. I was hoping my supervisor to take charge of my research grant. However, she could not because she has numerous project under her charge. So, after a while, thanks to my colleague, nicknamed "EEM" (you know who you are) , he suggested another lecturer to replace me as the project leader. So, I approached the candidate and he agreed to be the project leader. I have just settled all arrangement and documentation to hand over the project to a new project leader.

Next upcoming post:

1. My article was just published in Yellow Pages Energy Guide, Malaysia.
2. Experience Sharing with first year chemical engineering students in UTM.
3. Elected as the FKKKSA - Post Graduate Society President!!!
4. What should I write for my first journal as a Ph.D student?
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An opportunity I have to let go

2009-07-03T20:37:00.020+08:00

Yesterday, while I was in my office earlier today, I received a phone call from a number I don't recognized. I answered the phone and a guy asked for me. He introduced himself and mentioned that he is from an oleochemical factory. In short, he was proposing me the production manager position in his factory. Unfortunately, I'm already an educator in a university and currently under a study leave. If only this opportunity came 1-2 years ago, I will certainly grab it. I don't know where he got my number or who recommended me to him. I never asked. This is the third time I received such offer. I'm sure he did not get my contact via my blog. I don't share my hand phone number in my blog. I only share my email and facebook account here.

Head Hunter?!!

This is what we call head hunter. Some of my colleagues (engineers) also received interesting offers once in a while. This normally happens after you have been working as an engineer for a few years. If you are good, people will talk about you. People will recommend and say good things about you. The words spread and out of a sudden, you receive a phone call offering you better position and better pay. This is where you can build your career and later on establish your empire.

Pro and Cons

However, this can be tricky as well (if you are not clear with your career path). Once you become a manager, you tend to be involved in more administration duties. As a manager, you will have a number of engineers working under you, which means almost all the technical responsibilities are being well taken care of. This may perhaps result to the fact that your previous technical knowledge and skills gradually maintains or slightly decreases. The technical knowledge and skills may develop but in a very general manner as your down line engineers will update you from time to time on certain job or issues. In addition, you have to make more important and expensive decisions. It's a risk you have to take and you must make inteligent decisions based on your knowledge and years of experience. The pressure is there,
off course.

Among the beauty of being a manager is the fantastic remuneration package. Besides bringing home higher salary, the annual increment is normally irresistible and the annual bonus are very generous. Some companies provide executive vehicles and subsidies the petrol/fuel. Some even have various types of allowances and the endless benefits.

Remain technical...

I have a friend/classmate who worked as a process engineer few years ago serving for a major oil company refinery. He loves his job very much and is very good in what he does. After a few years, he was offered a position as a manager, however, he rejected it. He informed me that he do not want to be involved with any major administrative matters. He want to be the expert in his field. He then moved to another oil company, become somebody important in his technical field (I'm not aware of his latest position) and receives amazing remuneration package. It's a major decision he has to make because he have to migrate overseas.

Managerial career

I have another friend/classmate, also a chemical engineer from the same university as me. He became an engineer after graduating and after a few years only he stepped up and become a manager. Then, after a few years, he was offered to become factory administrator from a different company. He told me that he has forgotten and lost all his technical chemical engineering knowledge. He has totally transformed and became a factory administrator. All managers in his factory reports to him. It is interesting and amazing because he arrived to that level at 30 years old. In most cases, he get promoted and get better pay via head hunting process.

Conclusion

After few years of servicing as an engineer (i mean performing as a good engineer), an opportunity will come where somebody will call you and say, I want to hire you and give you better salary. Well, you have to really think and decide either to grab the opportunity or not. You would not stay as an engineer throughout your working life. You'll grow, your career grow. You'll become better and better. You'll get more exposed and gained more experiences. As for me, I have decided to be in the academia arena. I have my targets and after several years as an engineer, it's time for me to establish myself in education, research and consultancies.

What about you?

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I'm Now A Chemical Engineering Ph.D Student

2009-07-01T16:30:00.002+08:00

Exactly one year ago, I joined Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) as a lecturer in the Faculty of Chemical and Natural Resources Engineering after almost 6 years working as an engineer. Today, one year as a lecturer, I'm officially a chemical engineering Ph.D student. I'm now on my study leave for three years to do my post graduate study - full time research.

I'm thankful to God for providing me the chance to further my studies and I'm planning to complete my research as soon as possible. When I say as soon as possible, that simply means I plan to complete it under 3 years, if God will. I hope everything will be smooth.

I'm going to update the progress of my research from time to time in this blog as well in my personal facebook status. So, if you are interested to get updated with my progress, you can keep on following me in this blog and also via my facebook account.

If God will, I'll be doing an attachment for my Ph.D studies with Helsinki University in Finland. I'm allowed to do my research there for a maximum of 9 months within the space of 3 years. My co-supervisor will be from there, besides my main supervisor, Prof. Dr. Nor Aishah Saidina Amin in UTM.

You might be wandering what is my Ph.D topic? It's something to do with catalysis engineering and developing a process. I will reveal the topic if there are 17 people asking for it... :) ...

Anybody doing their post graduate studies now? or planning to continue their studies? Maybe you want to share something...

Plastic Types, Characteristics and ... Dangers!!!

2009-06-30T20:28:00.018+08:00

Individuals have a way to identify the type of plastic in many products, especially food storage containers and packaging [Check out the video below... interesting]. Many, but not all, such plastic products have a number – the resin identification code – molded, formed or imprinted in or on the container, often on the bottom. This system of coding was developed in 1988 by the U.S. - based Society of the Plastics Industry to facilitate the recycling of post-consumer plastics. It is voluntary for plastic manufacturers, but has become relatively standard on certain plastic products sold globally. Knowing the code for a particular product, consumers can then inform themselves of the characteristics of the plastic and the risks of using that product.

The seven plastic resin codes are each briefly described below to provide a quick snapshot detailing the name of the resin (i.e., the base material of the plastic), typical products it is found in, dangerous chemicals it leaches, and why they are dangerous.

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) – Used in soft drink, juice, water, beer, mouthwash, peanut butter, salad dressing, detergent and cleaner containers. Leaches antimony trioxide and di(2ethylhexyl) pthalate (DEHP). Workers exposed to antimony trioxide for long periods of time have exhibited respiratory and skin irritation; among female workers, increased incidence of menstrual problems and miscarriage; their children exhibited slower development in the first twelve months of life. The longer a liquid is left in such a container the greater the concentration of antimony released into the liquid. DEHP is an endocrine disruptor that mimics the female hormone estrogen. It has been strongly linked to asthma and allergies in children. It may cause certain types of cancer, and it has been linked to negative effects on the liver, kidney, spleen, bone formation and body weight. In Europe, DEHP has been banned since 1999 from use in plastic toys for children under the age of three.

Check out the video below to learn how plastic bottles are made from Polyethylene terephthalate - interesting stuff!!!

High density polyethylene (HDPE) – Used in opaque milk, water, and juice containers, bleach, detergent and shampoo bottles, garbage bags, yogurt and margarine tubs, cereal box liners. Considered a 'safer' plastic. Our research on risks associated with this type of plastic is ongoing.

Polyvinyl chloride (V or Vinyl or PVC) – Used in toys, clear food and non-food packaging (e.g., cling wrap), some squeeze bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil and peanut butter jars, detergent and window cleaner bottles, shower curtains, medical tubing, and numerous construction products (e.g., pipes, siding). PVC has been described as one of the most hazardous consumer products ever created. Leaches di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) or butyl benzyl phthalate (BBzP), depending on which is used as the plasticizer or softener (usually DEHP). DEHP and BBzP are endocrine disruptors mimicking the female hormone estrogen; have been strongly linked to asthma and allergic symptoms in children; may cause certain types of cancer; linked to negative effects on the liver, kidney, spleen, bone formation and body weight. In Europe, DEHP and BBzP and other dangerous pthalates have been banned from use in plastic toys for children under three since 1999. Not so elsewhere, including Canada and the United States.

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) – Used in grocery store, dry cleaning, bread and frozen food bags, most plastic wraps, squeezable bottles (honey, mustard). Considered a 'safer' plastic. Our research on risks associated with this type of plastic is ongoing.

Polypropylene (PP) – Used in ketchup bottles, yogurt and margarine tubs, medecine and syrup bottles, straws, Rubbermaid and other opaque plastic containers, including baby bottles. Considered a 'safer' plastic. Our research on risks associated with this type of plastic is ongoing.

Polystyrene (PS) – Used in Styrofoam containers, egg cartons, disposable cups and bowls, take-out food containers, plastic cutlery, compact disc cases. Leaches styrene, which is an endocrine disruptor mimicking the female hormone estrogen, and thus has the potential to cause reproductive and developmental problems; long-term exposure by workers has shown brain and nervous system effects; adverse effects on red blood cells, liver, kidneys and stomach in animal studies. Also present in secondhand cigarette smoke, off-gassing of building materials, car exhaust and possibly drinking water. Styrene migrates significantly from polystyrene containers into the container's contents when oily foods are heated in such containers.

Other – This is a catch-all category that includes anything that does not come within the other six categories. As such, one must be careful in interpreting this category because it includes polycarbonate - a dangerous plastic - but it also includes the new, safer, biodegradable bio-based plastics made from renewable resources such as corn and potato starch, and sugar cane. Polycarbonate is used in many plastic baby bottles, clear plastic “sippy” cups, sports water bottles, three and five gallon large water storage containers, metal food can liners, some juice and ketchup containers, compact discs, cell phones, computers. Polycarbonate leaches Bisphenol A (some effects described above), and numerous studies have indicated a wide array of possible adverse effects from low-level exposure to Bisphenol A: chromosome damage in female ovaries, decreased sperm production in males, early onset of puberty, various behavioural changes, altered immune function, and sex reversal in frogs.

Important Note : Two other types of plastic that fall under code 7 are acrylonitrile styrene (AS) or styrene acrylonitrile (SAN), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Both AS/SAN and ABS are higher quality plastics with increased strength, rigidity, toughness and temperature and chemical resistance. AS/SAN is used in mixing bowls, thermos casing, dishes, cutlery, coffee filters, toothbrushes, outer covers (printers, calculators, lamps), battery housing. The incorporation of butadiene during the manufacture of AS/SAN, produces ABS, which is an even tougher plastic. ABS is used in LEGO toys, pipes, golf club heads, automotive parts, protective head gear. Our research on risks associated with AS/SAN and ABS is ongoing.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR EVERYDAY PLASTIC USE : You may wish to seriously consider your – and especially your children's – use of plastics numbered 1, 3, 6 and 7 (polycarbonate), all of which have been shown to leach dangerous chemicals. This does not necessarily mean the others are completely safe, just that they have been studied less to date.

So if you have to use plastic, it is safest to stick to numbers 2, 4, 5 and 7 (other than polycarbonate) whenever possible.

If an item does not have a plastic code on it, or if the type of plastic is unclear from the code (e.g., with #7, it likely will not say it is polycarbonate), your best bet is to contact the manufacturer and ask them directly what type of plastic was used to make the product.

Plastic Tips

Here are some simple tips to help you in working toward a life without plastic, or a life of safer, more informed plastic use.

o Avoid polycarbonate (#7) baby bottles and sippy cups. For baby bottles, try and use glass, polyethylene or polypropylene instead. Sippy cups made of stainless steel (e.g., Kleen Kanteen, Purica), or of polypropylene or polyethylene are safer. Be sure to check the bottle or cup to be sure of the type of plastic it contains. As for baby bottle nipples, try and use silicone which does not leach the carcinogenic nitrosamines that can be found in latex.

o If you must use polycarbonate (#7) bottles, avoid heating food and drink in the bottle. Heat it in a separate container and transfer it to the bottle once it is warm enough for the child to eat or drink. If the plastic is showing signs of wear – scratched, cloudy – discard the container.

o For drinking water, try and avoid plastic bottles. If you do use plastic bottles made from #1 or #2 plastic try not to reuse them as they are intended only for single use. One alternative is a stainless steel water bottle. For storing large quantities of water, glass and stainless steel containers are also available. If you use a #1 water bottle, try to consume the contents as soon as possible because leaching of antimony increases with time.

o Try to avoid heating foods in plastic containers, especially in the microwave oven, which can cause the plastic to degrade and leach chemicals faster. As well, leaching increases when plastic comes into contact with oily or fatty foods, or when the plastic is scratched, worn, cracked, or sticky.

o Use plastic wraps with caution, especially in the microwave, and try to keep the plastic from touching the food. Alternatives include wax paper or paper towels.

o Try and use alternatives to plastic packaging and storage containers. Cloth, paper or cardboard are possibilities for transporting groceries. Stainless steel and glass food storage containers are available.

o Avoid plastic dishes and utensils for meals. Alternatives include glass, ceramic, wood, stainless steel, and lacquer ware. Offer your child or grandchild a non-plastic dish set made of either stainless steel or wood (safely coated with a non-toxic lacquer).

These days, plastic is so omnipresent it can be difficult to imagine life without plastic. Yet, our ancestors managed just fine without it. All it takes is a little imagination, determination and discipline.

p/s: This article is adopted from a colleague who shared this information in my work mailing list. I'm not sure where the information originates. However, I felt that the article is very informative and should be spread. I searched for some related photos to provide better comprehension and visualization to the reader. Hope you like it. I hope it is beneficial to everybody.
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NEW MAGAZINE: Renewable Energy Focus

2009-06-24T21:13:00.005+08:00

Hunger for information on renewable energy? Interested in in utility and energy? This new magazine, "Renewable Energy Focus", published by Elsevier Limited reports on various major topical developments in renewable energy from around the world.

I've subscribed to the magazine and found brilliant massive and up to date information about renewable energy. The magazine includes coverage of solar energy (PV, thermal and thermal electric), solar architecture and sustainable buildings, wind energy (offshore and on shore), wave and tidal energy, biomass energy, renewable hydrogen and fuel cells, on the generation and consumption of sustainable energy. I would highly recommend you to grab hold of this informative magazine. Even if you are not in the utility or energy industry, you'll still get breezing information on the latest technology. Would that be good?

To get a free subscription of "Renewable Energy Focus", click here.

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Walking in the Plant

2009-06-24T20:32:00.006+08:00

For those of you who have not yet been in a chemical plant, I would like to share this very impressive animation videos that I found today in youtube. Credit to Cadmatic3D, the creator and submitter of the videos. For your information, the video shows (I mean simulate) a walk around in the plant.

In the first video, among the things that you'll notice are lots of piping, unconnected pipe flanges (not sure why it is not connected with bolts and nuts), many centrifugal pumps, air lines for valves and instrumentation, butterfly valves, staircases, small drain on the floor, small size plate heat exchanger, level sensor on tank, tanks and others. It's really a good experience simulating a walk around in the plant.

In the second video, it was almost like the first one. It displays I beam, more storage tanks, steam line, more centrifugal pumps (seems like floating) and others.

The videos were just uploaded yesterday and I found myself to be the second person to watch the first video and the 3rd person to watch the second video. Off course, the experience of really walking inside a plant is different but at least this should enable chemical engineering students to visualize what the feel to be walking in the plant.

Note: When you really walk in the plant, you'll listen to the noise, feel the heat from the heat exchanger, distillation column or boiler, see droplets of oil on the floor indicating there's a leakage above you and others. The floor might be slippery and you must be very careful. It's really a different experience. Imagine walking in a an offshore refinery... It was really awesome. I still remember the experiences when I work and visited several Petronas offshore platforms few years ago. Cool stuff...

Are you interested in designing such animation or plant? Alongside with the above video, I found another one which actually shows how to easily design, plan the plant layout and finally create a simulated version of the plant. All you have to do is to use the CADMATIC 3D Plant Design Software. It's fast, easy and simple. Created by engineers for engineers, it's proven to be fast solution for engineers to create and design plant in the shortest time possible. Also, imagine final year students using this powerful software to design their plants. Would that be super interesting? Check out the following video to learn the power of using Cadmatic 3D software...

For further reference or to learn more about this software, please visit www.cadmatic.com.
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Energy, Cooling Tower and Heat Exchanger Videos

2009-06-02T23:45:00.003+08:00

I would like to share few websites that contain interesting technical videos. I've created those websites almost 2 years ago, but did not really reveal them. So, if you are interested in viewing videos related to energy and future/renewable energy, you can visit:

Energy Production Videos

Future Energy Videos

If you fancy watching heat exchanger videos, check out: Heat Exchanger Videos.

And if you are passionate about cooling towers, feel free to view: Cooling Tower Videos.

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5 Tips for Fresh Process Engineers

2009-05-16T12:38:00.004+08:00

I received an email from a fresh engineer 7 days ago. After reading his email, I thought of answering his question inside my blog (off course for the benefit of other young engineers and those who'll be graduating soon).

The email message was something like the this:
"I'm Fahmi. I know you from your chem-eng blog. I want to ask for your advice. I just started working as a production engineer in an oleochemical plant in Klang. As a fresh graduate, I am a bit lost on what should I learn as an engineer. If possible, I want to know how you learn when you are a process engineer."

Well, the email stops there and after reading his email, I thought of responding immediately. However, due to certain constraint, I delayed responding to his email. Now, I'm going to share some of my experiences when I started working as a process engineer. Some of them might be OK for you to follow, while some others might not. Judge and justify them yourself.

1. Get to know everybody as soon as possible. When I first be a process engineer, I make sure I know all engineers, executives, supervisors, technicians, fitters, plant operators and event store clerk as soon as possible. Why? Simply because I'll be dealing with them all the time throughout my daily job. At least you know their name and create a common interest with them. This will ease and create good relationship with them. However, do not be too close with your down line manpower. There's a reason for this which I'll cover some other day (please remind me if I forgot).

2. Get to know the process of your plant. This is very important because you are a process engineer and you need to know the detail of the processes in your plant. First of all, you need to get the PID diagram of your plant. Identify and learn the lines, pumps, valves, heat exchangers, tanks and other important units in the PID diagram. Then, go to the plant and trace the lines and compare it with the PID diagram. If it is difficult for you to trace the lines (pipelines), ask a supervisor or plant operator to help and guide you. This is also the reason why I provide tips #1. The job will be easier if you know the right people to help you. As for me, I was assiged to traced each and every valve in my plants. In order to do that, I need not only to trace the lines but also identify all types of valves in the plant. There are basically hundreds of valves installed in the plant. It was tough but after the exercise, I was able to trace the lines, process and know all type of valves.

3. Learn everything as fast as possible. This is very important and is too much to elaborate. You need to be able to pick up everything you learn from your manager, other engineers and executives. Don't be shy to ask from your supervisors, plant operators, technicians and fitters. They have the skill and knowledge that you don't have when you first enter the plant. Learn from all of them. Integrate what they know with what you've learn during your degree. Create and maintain a log book to record everything that is important. Avoid remembering because you might forget. Another way of learning is by asking to the suppliers or vendors. They are the expert of the product or service that they are selling. Hence, don't be shy to asked from them. They'll provide technical information that is important for you. I've done this a lot of time and I appreciate their explanation and teachings. Some times, suppliers / vendors will offer in house training for you and your colleagues. At the end of the day, if you are able to perform your duty as a process engineer smoothly, effectively and efficiently, you'll get good reward from your boss...

Being a process engineer, you need to be able to prepare and produce reports to be presented to your superiors. Understanding the report and preparing them is crucial. Normally, you have various types of reports to prepare such as daily report, monthly report, costing report, meeting minutes reports and others. So, make sure you prepare good report.

4. Understand the politics in your workplace. This is very important. You need to know how things are going on in your plant/factory. This is very subjective and not thought in any chemical engineering text book. You need to get the information and knowledge from various people in your organization. That's why point #1 (above) is vital. Some companies have a culture which will blame somebody else for any errors occuring and this is not healthy. Some other cultures are professional and will accept responsibility of any problem.

5. Communicate properly. This is very important as a process engineer because you'll receive instruction and also provide instruction to your supervisors and plant operators. You need to possess good communication skills to ensure all mesagges and directions are conveyed correctly. Delegate your jobs to your downline with clear cut informations. What we practice in our plant is to have an instruction recording book. Every shifts should refer and sign the book to ackhowledge that they read the instruction. This is different from the quality and recording books. If they have problem comprehending the instruction, they should call us for further clarification. Failure to receive and provide correct instruction will lead to massive errors which will make your life misserable in later stage. So, please, ensure you communicate properly.

Conclusion

Those are just 5 tips for me to share for the time being. I never asked anybody for the tips. I figured them myself and I compile it (in this post) for the benefit of new process engineers. I'm glad that I managed to know everybody and learn lots of thing quickly. Being a successful engineer is critical for your career development. In later stage, you'll get promoted as a senior engineer before becoming a manager. If you are lucky, somebody (head/job hunter) will search you because they know you are an engineer with such a great caliber and offer you better remuneration.

Some of you might want to share your experiences as a new process engineers. If you have something, please share it with us in the comment area or by shooting me an email.

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Losing and Recovering Crucial Data

2009-05-16T12:19:00.005+08:00

In any production plant there must be control system to control the process of a production unit such as Citect, Siemens, SCADA, Distributed Control System (DCS). Via those control system, we can observe, control, record data and analyze trends in the plant. This is imperative to optimize the process, cut cost wherever necessary and for other important reasons. But what happen if the control system suddenly breakdowns. Have you experience it before? How do you ensure proper data recovery? I have experienced losing data from my SCADA for the tank auto gauging system. As a result we were not able to track down 50 types of oil movements to create the monthly stock reconciliation and that was a nightmare to me. Those are really precious valuable data which we need justify oil lost in the plants.

One way to overcome any problematic data lost situation which can’t be sort out by ourselves is by getting help from the expert, such as Data Recovery Group. Data Recovery Group, a US based company that specialized in complete data recovery services. They are more than capable to recover data from Desktop Drives, Laptop Drives, External Drives, Servers, RAID Systems, Network Attached Storage Devices (NAS), Storage Area Network Devices (SAN), Camera Media and Flash Drives. On top of the services mentioned mac data recovery and server data recovery also falls under their scope of expert job.

To be more specific, Data Recovery Group routinely recovers data from failed hard drives caused by events such as mechanical failure, file system damage, bumped or dropped drives, viruses, user sabotage, user errors (such as accidentally deleted files/formatting), static electricity, power surges and outages, and even natural disasters (such as lightning strikes, fires, and floods).

However, despite their spectacular track record servicing major corporation such as Apple Computer, BHP Minerals, Pacific Gas & Electric and others, this company is only based in USA. It’s good if they can expand their services to Europe, Asia and other regions. With such reputation, Data Recovery Group can assist big companies in other regions to regain their data when problem arises and hence help to avoid substantial lost of profits.

The most important thing is that I know when we encounter any data recovery problem, there will be solution to it. Instead of just accepting the faith of totally losing the data (and lost in money), we can actually hire the expert in the field to help us solve the problem.

Chemical Engineering Magazine is now FREE plus $100 Gift Certificate

2009-05-09T23:57:00.005+08:00

Chemical Engineering (it's the name of the magazine shown below) serves chemical engineering professionals in the chemical process industry including manufacturing, engineering, government, academia, financial institutions and others allied to the field serving the global chemical process industry.

I'm proudly a loyal digital subscriber of the "Chemical Engineering" and just received my May copy 2 days ago in my email. I've subscribed to this magazine for 2 years already if I'm not mistaken. This magazine is rich with high quality and up to date chemical engineering content. I can say that I benefited massively from this magazine. If you are not yet a subscriber for "Chemical Engineering", I highly recommend you to subscribe it. This magazine which is published by Access Intelligence, is completely free. Get Chemical Engineering Now!

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Please note that if you successfully subscribed to Chemical Engineering magazine (FREE of charge), you will received message from the publisher requesting you to participate in a survey. The survey is for the publisher to have better comprehension of reader experience in digital editions. The survey which can be completed less than 5 minutes contain only few simple questions. After completion this survey, you may choose to be entered in a drawing for one of five $100 American Express Gift certificates.

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Chemical Engineering Net 2.0

2009-05-04T22:51:00.004+08:00

Finally, I 've came out with my own chemical engineering dot com, which is called Chemical Engineering Net 2.0. It's a new blog which is hosted in my own paid hosting and my own paid domain. I've hesitated to migrate my blog from blogspot.com platform to wordpress platform since the last 2 years. But, finally I firmly decided to launched that blog. From now on I'll blog in both Chemical Engineering Net 2.0 and this Chemical Engineering World blog. I also welcome any contributors who wants to share their chemical engineering related stories, experiences, photos, videos etc. The contribution can go to either Chemical Engineering World or Chemical Engineering Net 2.0.

What's A Gas Chromatography?

2009-05-03T12:35:00.005+08:00

I believe some chemical engineers know about gas chromatography and some may heard but don't know about it. Some others may don't have any idea on what a GC is.

I have personally used a gas chromatography during my masters between 2000-2002. I used a Gas Chromatography Thermal Conductive Detector (GC-TCD). A GC-TCD is used to analyzed gaseous products. Since I'm going to pursue my pH.D this coming July, I need to refresh my memories and skills on how to use the GC and also the software. In my case, the software is Chemstation while the GC that we use in our lab is Hewlett Packard Agilent model 6890.

What's a GC?

Gas-liquid chromatography (GLC), or simply gas chromatography (GC), is a common type of chromatography used in organic chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporised without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture (the relative amounts of such components can also be determined). In some situations, GC may help in identifying a compound. In microscale chemistry, GC can be used to prepare pure compounds from a mixture (definition taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas-liquid_chromatography).

It's not going to be easy to explain about GC in a short post like this. A GC short course will take 3 days at least and will cost a lot. Hence, I may introduce a little back ground on GC and later explain more in stages. For an introduction, I share this video which will provide some background idea on what GC is all about.

Note: This is an education video from the Royal Society of Chemistry on gas chromatography using a flame ionisation detector (FID) with a brief mention of gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS). From the "Modern Instrumental Techniques for schools and colleges" DVD. For more information on the Chemistry for our Future programme please visit http://www.rsc.org/CFOF (C) Royal Society of Chemistry.

Check out my story on my GC adventure...

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2009-05-03T19:23:00.006+08:00

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