Chemical Industry Digest – October 2020

The Role of Catalysts in Single Pot Synthesis of Chemicals
– Dr. N. Lingaiah- Senior Principal Scientist, Co-chair of Dept. of Catalysis and Fine Chemicals, CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad
Single pot reactions are becoming more and more established, but for the success of the reactions, catalysts play a major role particularly the use of highly selective multifunctional heterogeneous catalysts, says the author. Several industrially relevant examples are described.

Modern-Day Approach to Monitor Utilities Performance Achieving Operational Excellence 
– Rohit Shukla- Manager-Technical Services at Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited Utilities guzzle lot of energy- and energy costs are going up. With latest instrumentation the performance of all utilities can be continuously monitored, trend analyses made and their operations optimized for efficient energy use. This article details the steps for tracking utilities performance.

Indian Specialty Chemical Industry is Poised for Global Prominence 
– Dr. Richard Lobo- Head-Innovation & CQH (Business Excellence), Tata Chemicals
Highlights the advantages India has in the manufacturing of specialty chemicals and therefore according to the author this industry is poised to double to around 65bn $ in the next five years.

Also Read |   Chemical Industry Digest - April Issue 2020

Cascade Reactions and their Utility in Green Organic Synthesis
– Gayatri M. Walvekar, Prof. Dr. Shreerang Joshi
Cascade reactions or single pot reactions have significant advantages over conventional multi-step processes because they are both economically and environmentally efficient. The article illustrates these advantages with several examples.

Are You Adequately Testing Automated Valves? 
– Stan Hale, Loyd Hilliard, Vince Mezzano
This article explains in detail the update on technical report pub-lished by the ISA working group in late 2017 over that of 2008 on the testing of automated valves. This update details various measurements, analyses and criteria used for testing as well as 48 different categories of common causes of failure of automated valves- all of which would help operating companies while testing.

Solids-Handling Valves 
– S. L. Abhyankar
Solids-handling valves maybe a minor percentage of the overall turnover of all valves but they are crucially important in transportation of solids. They are equally challenging to design, manufacture and operate due to the diverse characteristics of solids needed to be handled. An exploratory study by the author

Also Read |   Chemical Industry Digest – February 2020

Out of the Box- Solutions to Industrial Problems 
– Raghava Chari
The author has provided various solutions related to real-life industry problems he found in his 45 years of operational experience in process plants. In this feature, problems related to heat exchangers, transformers, TEFC motors, etc are covered.

Chemingineering – Something Special 
– K Sahasranaman, Independent Consultant
This column succinctly defines, describes and analyses the specialty chemical business, particularly the role it plays in multifarious end-used consumer areas.