A chemical leak at a plant in La Porte, Texas, left two people dead and another 30 injured on July 27.

Thermal liquid heating is a specialized form of process heating that harnesses the forced circulation of a special heating medium, called thermal fluid, as a liquid. In many types of process heating, high temperature rather than high pressure is essential where heat — not vapor or steam — is required. 

A safety digest highlights the value of worker participation to prevent chemical incidents.

Morris L. Crafton, founder of Thermcraft Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., died in February at the age of 93. Crafton and his wife Clara founded the oven and furnace maker Thermacraft in 1971, initially focused on making replacement heating elements for industrial and laboratory furnace applications. 

Bühler appointed Mark Macus its CFO, effective September 1, to succeed Andreas Herzog, who is retiring. Herzog has served as CFO for the family-owned company for 17 years. Macus is returning to Bühler to take on the position.

The importance of cold storage for certain chemical products, particularly organic peroxides, hit the headlines in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. When a plant outside Houston was flooded and lost power, it also lost its cold storage for the organic peroxide products produced at the site. As they warmed up, the surrounding area was evacuated in anticipation of the resulting explosions and toxic releases.

Exclusively focused on the processing of fluids, powders and gases, the biennial Chem Show returns to the Javits Center in New York City on October 22-24, 2019.

As severe weather in the Gulf of Mexico increases in frequency and intensity, chemical facilities and others need to reconsider the worst-case scenario assumptions upon which current emergency plans are based.

When construction of Shell Chemical LP’s fourth linear alpha olefins (AO) unit at its chemicals manufacturing site in Geismar, La., is complete, the resulting 425,000-metric-ton-per-year capacity increase will make the site the largest AO producer in the world.

It is no secret the manufacturers can save money and reduce emissions if they can find ways to convert CO₂ into chemicals valuable in other process uses. A research project from Praxair and Novomer seeks to do that.