Chemical Engineering September 2020 - 7

Chementator
A new approach makes flexible screw pumps
Leistritz
eistritz Pumpen GmbH (Nuremberg,
Germany; www. leistritz.com)
has recently introduced Flexcore,
the first screw pump capable of
adapting to a wide range of installation situations.
" With Flexcore, Leistritz has now
created a globally groundbreaking innovation
- a pump class that, for the first time,
unites qualitative, functional and economic
aspects in an extremely flexible, quickly
available series product, " explains product
manager
Philipp
Rossow.
" The cartridge
unit of
the Flexcore
[cutaway
diagram] is
L
Leistritz
the heart of this pump, " says Rossow. Since
the bearing is positioned on the outside, it
is independent of the pumped medium.
Therefore, the Flexcore is especially suitable
for low-viscosity media. The seal installation
space is designed for all common DIN-K
mechanical seals.
The split Flexcore casing consists of a
suction and pressure part and can be rotated
four times by 90 deg (photo). The
alignment of the optimum flange position
makes the Flexcore extremely adaptable
for installation - even in existing piping
layouts. Depending on the application,
different flange designs are possible: DIN,
ASME or SAE. The easy-to-change cartridge
technology allows the pump core
to be replaced in just a few minutes,
which simplifies maintenance and reduces
downtime.
The pump features a fully hardened spindle
package and a patented thrust-balancing
system. The thrust-compensation system
ensures the delivery of low viscosities, even
at high pressures. For example, pressure differences
of up to 10 bars can be achieved
for viscosities of 1.1 centiStoke (cSt).
Initially,
Leistritz
is launching pump
sizes for flowrates of 7-564 L/min. The
series will successively be expanded by
eight additional sizes with flowrates up to
1,600 L/min.
A steam-stable MOF for
high-capacity carbon capture
A
recently discovered family of highly
porous metal-organic framework
(MOF) materials is showing promise
in carbon-capture applications.
Researchers from University of California,
Berkeley (www.berkeley.edu), Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL; www.
lbl.gov) and ExxonMobil Corp. (Irving, Tex.;
www.exxonmobil.com) demonstrated the
efficacy of the new tetra-amine-functionalized
magnesium-based MOFs in removing
CO2 emissions - reporting a six-fold
increase in effectiveness over conventional
amine-based carbon-capture methods.
" This family of MOF materials has a
very high density of metals in the threedimensional
porous framework, and these
metals have open coordination sites. This
high density means we can incorporate
a large number of amine groups bound
to these open metal sites in an ordered
fashion, which in turn leads to the potential
for a high capture capacity for CO2, "
explains Simon Weston, senior research
associate and the project lead at ExxonMobil
Research and Engineering Co. He
adds that while earlier research looked
at incorporating diamine groups into the
MOF, which only provided one attachment
point for CO2, switching to tetra-amines
provided additional attachment points
and also served to improve the material's
thermal stability during steam cycling. This
stability enables regeneration (and therefore,
repeated re-use) of the material using
steam at relatively low temperatures (110-
120°C), which decreases overall energy
consumption when compared to other
carbon-capture methods.
The team's work has demonstrated that
the MOFs are highly selective for CO2 and
could capture over 90% of the CO2 emitted
from industrial sources. The combination of
this high CO2-capture capacity alongside
thermal stability and ease of regeneration
using low-temperature steam make this
material an attractive prospect for industrial
carbon capture. However, notes Weston,
the technology has thus far only been demonstrated
at laboratory scale, and additional
work will be required to progress the
technology to a larger-scale pilot.
ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com September 2020
Smart Stir bar
Scientists at the University of
Warwick (Coventry, U.K.; www.
warwick.ac.uk) have developed
a magnetic stir bar with
an integrated process monitoring
system. Described in a recent
issue of ACS Sensors, the
Smart Stirrer has an integrated
microprocessor and a number
of sensors encapsulated with a
magnet in the shape of a conventional
laboratory stir bar. In
addition to mixing the solution,
the Smart Stirrer wirelessly transmits,
via Bluetooth, a number of
properties to a computer. The
concept is said to be valuable to
R&D laboratories in the chemical
process industries (CPI) because
it allows wireless monitoring of
several parameters of a chemical
reaction simultaneously. Properties
that can be monitored are
color, transparency, conductivity,
viscosity and temperature. The
next version of the device will be
smaller and incorporate more sophisticated
sensors, says Dmitry
Isakov, assistant professor at the
Warwick Manufacturing Group,
and leader of the study.
New FCC CatalySt
BASF SE (Ludwigshafen, Germany;
www.basf.com) introduced
Altrium, a new fluid-catalytic
cracking (FCC) catalyst
for mild to heavy residual (resid)
feedstock. Altrium incorporates
BASF's newest Advanced Innovative
Matrix (AIM) and the
proven
technology
IZY
(Improved
Zeolite-Y). It has been
optimized to increase the yield
of transportation fuels (gasoline
and distillate), while having a
deeper coke-selective bottoms
conversion of resid feeds. Commercial
trials have confirmed Altrium's
benefits.
BASF's AIM technology consolidates
several novel matrix
technologies that are selectively
incorporated into the catalyst
design for a broad selection of
performance targets and applications.
AIM technology
enhances the performance of
the FCC catalysts through the
creation of a unique meso-pore
(Continues on p. 8)
7
Edited by:
Gerald Ondrey
http://www.leistritz.com http://warwick.ac.uk http://www.basf.com http://www.berkeley.edu http://www.lbl.gov http://www.exxonmobil.com http://www.Chemengonline.Com
Chemical Engineering September 2020

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