June 2010
The June issue's cover from BMG filtration is allied to the Filtration/Separation technologies feature this month. In the Cover Story you can read about how BMG has extended its range of bearings, seals, power transmission components, electric and geared motors, to include filtration, separation and purification systems that optimize process efficiency and ensure product purity to meet stringent regulations in industry. The company's strategic focus has been on developing key market segments, including water, fuels, oils and chemicals, as well as industrial manufacturing.
Articles in this issue include the three listed below as well as an interesting one on DME from Volvo. Entitled "DME - the route to a sustainable city?" and written by Tobias Hammar, the article discusses the following concept and offers a solution: In 50 years time, the population of the world's large cities will be greater than the entire present-day population of the world. Keeping these growing mega-cities supplied in an ecologically sustainable way is one of the crucial problems facing urban and regional planners today. In the hunt for efficient alternatives to fossil fuels, Volvo Trucks' latest green solution, biofuel DME, plays an important role.
Enjoy the varied contents and please let us know what you would like to see covered in forthcoming issues and we shall try our best to oblige.
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Usage of inherent storage for minimization of wastewater in multipurpose batch plants by Jacques F Gouws, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, and Logistics and Quantitative Methods, CSIR Built Environment, Pretoria, South Africa and Thokozani. Majozi, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria, Sout Wastewater minimization in batch plants is gaining importance due to intensifying environmental legislation and the gradual reduction in the number of freshwater sources. Intrinsic in the minimization of wastewater in batch plants is the reuse of wastewater through intermediate storage vessels. However, the intermediate storage vessels take up unnecessary space which is undesirable in processes which are generally undertaken in limited spaces. Furthermore, in any batch process there are processing units that are not used extensively in the time horizon. The idle processing units can be used as storage vessels, since any processing unit is, in essence, a storage vessel. In doing this one can reduce the size of the central storage and increase the utilization of capital intensive processing units. Filtration and separation in the food and cosmetic industries by Dr Aubrey Parsons, Research Director: Nimue Skin Technology, Johannesburg, South Africa In the essential oil industry the important systems of separation and filtration are combined to achieve high quality final results for the fragrance, flavour and food industries. One of these classic examples is the preparation of terpeneless citrus oils, eg, lemon oil, which is derived from the peel of the fruit and is used in bakery products and widely applied in formulations of beverages, ice cream as well as perfumery.
The principal constituent of lemon oil is d-limonene, making upto 90% of the oil. The principal oxygenated constituent is citral, which represents about 2 to 6% of the lemon oil. The other chemical components of lemon oil are geranyl acetate, linalyl acetate, methyl anthranilate, capric, caprylic, and acetic acids.
Lemon oil can be adulterated by the use of d-limonenes and a cheaper grade of citral which is made from oil of lemon grass. The essential oils consist mainly of terpenes (C10 H16) and small amounts of sesquiterpenes (cC15h24)
These terpene fractions exhibit a major negative aspect, ie, they are prone to oxidation which, when allowed to proceed, produces an end result that is totally unacceptable to the mentioned industries; the odour and flavour are unacceptable for use in the manufacturing of final product for the marketplace.
Challenges facing the mining and mineral processing industry in South Africa by C T O’Connor, AngloPlatinum Professor of Minerals Processing in the Department of Chemical Engineering, UCT, Centre for Minerals Research, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cape Town, South Africa Over the past 25 years the mining/mineral processing industry world-wide has changed dramatically. Lower grade ore bodies, tighter environmental legislation, the need to plan for mine closure, global warming and its concomitant threat to water supplies, the quantum change in the supply-demand situation for commodities brought about by the China/India phenomenon, notwithstanding the recent global economic downturn, and the demise of some of the famous schools of mining have all contributed to the need for the world's mining community to review their operations so as to be able to operate profitably for shareholders but responsibly for society. This article highlights the major challenges facing the South African mining industry in the areas of energy consumption, CO2 emissions, water usage and processing and waste management. Special challenges created by the legislative environment, both nationally and internationally, as well as the major constraints resulting from the shortage of supply of adequate skills, are also addressed.
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