Chemical Engineering June 2019 - 17

remains true when they are executing
projects, " says Sipes. " Modular
construction lessens the amount of
work done at a customer's property
so their exposure goes down. Additionally,
when a system is built in
a controlled environment on a shop
floor, it's inherently safer than doing
this work on a job site where they are
climbing and weather and elements
are a factor. It creates a safer project
execution strategy " (Figure 4).
And, for
processors
for whom
consistency across locations is key,
modular builds often provide the solution.
" Some customers have facilities
throughout the U.S. or globally
and they want to deploy new technologies
within multiple plants, but
they require the same technology
and the same equipment not only
to provide consistent quality of the
finished product, but also so that inventory
and training, operations and
maintenance are the same at each
of those plants, " says Sipes. " This
can only happen when the same
equipment is built to the proper
codes, using consistent craftsmanship,
workmanship, techniques and
equipment and delivered to each of
those plants in a modular fashion. "
For these and other reasons, modular
technologies are being employed
in new applications.
New opportunities
One of the newest trends is using
modular skids for sustainable initiatives
that reduce waste or environmental
impact. " One of the hottest
markets for modular skids right now is
water recovery or water harvesting, "
says Tony Salemi, product manager
with Chicago Plastic Systems (Crystal
Lake, Ill.; www.cpsfab.com). " The
skids recover gray or runoff water and
treat and recycle it for use in flushing
toilets or for irrigating landscaping.
The skids include the filtration mechanisms,
ultraviolet (UV) or chlorinetreatment
equipment, pumps and
other necessary components. "
While the process is not new, modularizing
it onto a skid makes it convenient
to go green. " If a company
wants to do this, they just order the
equipment. It's delivered as a skid
and installed in about a day. Then
they simply collect the water and turn
it on. It makes it very easy and convenient
for a manufacturer to reduce
their
environmental impact by not
using potable water to flush toilets or
irrigate landscaping, " he says.
Solvent recovery is another process
employing modular skids with more
frequency. " Everyone who manufacturers
paint, adhesives or resins uses
solvents and most of them want to
recover these solvents at the end of
the process and recycle them back to
the front of the process, " says Rocky
Costello, president of R.C. Costello
& Associates, Inc. (Redondo Beach,
Calif.; www.rccostello.com). " This is
being accomplished with modular
batch or modular continuous distillation
equipment. "
Creating fertilizer from wastewater
treatment is another new application
for modular skids. Barnum worked
with a large municipality to help develop
a modular, low-temperature,
commercial-scale, skid-mounted
thermal hydrolysis processing unit.
The mobile process was developed
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Chemical Engineering June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2019
