Chemical Processing Distilled

If you spend enough time dealing with particulate solids, you’ll encounter very sticky solids and end up spending countless hours cleaning out a plugged distributor, opening a discharge chute or banging on the vessel to get the solids to flow. There are many reasons solids clump or stick to surfaces. Let’s face it: sticky solids need special attention. But first, we must identify the source of the stickiness. 

In this episode, Trac...

This episode discusses the complex challenge of managing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals amid evolving regulations. Phil Molé from Velocity EHS explains that companies struggle to identify PFAS in their inventories due to vague product names and changing chemical compositions.

PFAS are persistent, bioaccumulative toxins that resist biodegradation and contaminate the environment, driving regulatory action across...

In a recent episode of Amplified from Control magazine, host Keith Larson interviews Brian Reynolds (Honeywell CTO), Alicia Kempf (Honeywell Director Offering Management), and David Patin (ExxonMobil TDC Modernization Program Lead Engineer). The discussion took place at the 2025 Honeywell User Group meeting, celebrating 50 years since the first Honeywell TDC 2000 installation in 1975.

The conversation traces the evolution of distri...

This week's episode includes exclusive, unpublished content related to Trump administration's R&D cuts within the EPA and their potential effects on environmental research priorities.

Recent chemical industry developments highlight regulatory tensions and operational changes. EPA workers are protesting new leadership under Zeldin, with 139 employees placed on administrative leave amid accusations of science politicization and e...

Are you leaving $7.7 million on the table? A single chemical plant identified annual energy savings worth that much through an analysis that took just months to complete. The payback period? Less than two years. The solution? None other than your chemical engineering 101 heat integration through pinch analysis and heat exchanger network optimization.

Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum reads the latest Energy Saver column written by Thoma...

The Trump administration has proposed to eliminate the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board by October 2026, citing fiscal responsibility and redundancy. Industry experts oppose this move, warning it would remove crucial disaster prevention oversight despite the agency's modest $14 million budget. Meanwhile, recycling advances continue: Eastman expanded molecular recycling operations to 110,000 metric tons annually i...

Did you know that today — June 23 — is International Women in Engineering Day (INWED)? Launched by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) in the UK in 2014, the event has since grown into an internationally recognized awareness campaign celebrated by various organizations, institutions, and individuals around the world. Each year, INWED adopts a specific theme to focus on women’s contributions to engineering and STEM. This year’s th...

In this episode, Traci and Dave focus on training evaluation as the final component of instructional system design. Dave explains that evaluation has two aspects: specific (assessing whether students learned what was taught in a particular course) and global (determining if training improves actual job performance).

The key insight is that evaluation methods should align directly with learning objectives. If objectives are correctl...

In Case You Missed It brings the written word to life. In today’s episode, Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum will read an article from Lauren Neal, Chemical Processing’s Workforce Matters columnist. This column “Small Acts, Big Impact: How Micro-Behaviors Shape Teams” was published to our website June 4, 2025

You know that feeling. You’re in a team meeting, presenting a solid idea, and someone smirks. Another person rolls their eyes. Th...

In Chemical Processing's Distilled Podcast, we discuss flaws in operator training, focusing on "time to train." Companies can waste millions of dollars by not optimizing training duration, often using fixed-length programs regardless of trainees' prior experience. Feedback loops to adjust training time based on individual competency and learning objectives are imperative. Indeed, proper assessment could identify struggling trainees...

This episode from Chemical Processing's Distilled podcast shares industry best practices for chemical plant reliability and maintenance. Key recommendations include understanding equipment failure modes through predictive maintenance techniques like vibration analysis and thermography, developing balanced preventive maintenance programs that avoid over-maintaining equipment, and conducting thorough root cause analysis using methods...

With Easter just behind us and chocolate consumption hitting its second-quarter 2025 peak, it’s a good time to reflect on the theological and processing developments that have got us where we are today.

In this In Case You Missed It Episode, Chemical Processing's Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum brings the written word to life, and Seán Ottewell, editor-at-large, provides the story.

The original column was posted to the site on May 5, ...

Olivia followed all the right steps. As a chemical engineer at a major manufacturing plant, she had a mentor – a senior colleague who gave her great advice on career growth, technical skills and workplace challenges. She networked, took on projects and worked hard.

Yet, after years of effort, she was still in the same role, watching others get ahead.

Then she met Rahul, a senior executive who didn’t just advise – he advocated.

This...

This Earth Day, the chemical industry finds itself at a crossroads in an era of deregulation.

Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, you learn early on all the things that put the city on the map. Two local cartoonists, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, gave the world Superman. The city pioneered traffic safety with the world's first electric signal in 1914, forever changing how streets operate. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls Cleveland h...