The Catalyst

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

Pittsburgh, PA (USA) Section

 

Newsletter for

May 2000

Vol. 14 - Issue 9


May Meeting Notice

 

Officer's Meeting: 5:00 P.M.

 

Event: Awards Banquet

 

Where: Grand Concourse

Station Square

 

When: Wednesday, May 17th, 2000

 

Time: 6:00 P.M. Social

6:45 P.M. Dinner

7:30 P.M. Program

 

Menu: Grilled fresh breast of Chicken, marinated in fresh herbs and brushed with apricot glaze

or

Boston Baked Cod

Both entrees will include salad, potato, vegetable, dessert, coffee, and tea.

 

Cost: $30.00

 

 

RSVP No Later Than, Wednesday May 10th, 2000 to

Mr. Ed Moretti, Vice Chair

emoretti@mbakercorp.com

Baker Environmental

TEL 412-269-6055

FAX 412-269-6097

Name

Menu Selection

Email

Telephone

 

Awards Banquet

 

The AIChE Pittsburgh Chapter is proud to honor our members who have completed fifty years of membership in the National AIChE. They have in this time aided in the advancement of chemical engineering in theory and practice and maintained a high professional standard. These honorees are hereby tendered the gratitude and esteem of their fellow chemical engineers.

 

Congratulations to:

Thomas Barnhart

Wayne Chase

Alfred Galli

Steven Muzik

William Stenger

 

For details on our featured presenter please visit our web site at www.lm.com/~aiche/.


Note from the Editor

Dear Members:

We are always looking for new and interesting topics for our monthly meetings. Please submit any topics that you would like covered. My contact information is listed below.

Please take a minute and review our "Volunteers Needed" column. We are always in need of energetic people who are interested in growing our Pittsburgh Chapter. This is an excellent way to receive the maximum benefits from your membership. Your help is greatly appreciated!

We had another great year! All our meetings were a huge success thanks to all of our active members and hard-working officers.

I hope you all have a wonderful, safe summer. I look forward to seeing you in September.

 

Peggy Panagopoulos

AIChE Newsletter Editor
ChemTech Consultants, Inc.
1370 Washington Pike, 4th Floor
Bridgeville, PA 15017
TEL: 412-220-4612
FAX: 412-221-5685
EMAIL: pegpana@chemtech88.com


Announcement

Undergraduate Scholarship Award Winner

The Undergraduate Scholarship Award Selection Committee of the Pittsburgh Section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers has just announced the winner of the $500 Award for the 2000/2001 academic year. Four applications were received and considered. All had outstanding records. The Awardee is Ms. Stacey Carothers, a sophomore enrolled at Carnegie Melon University. The decision was difficult and all candidates are to be commended for their fine records. The Committee extends congratulations to Ms. Carothers.


State Legislative Lobbying

 

Dear Members:

I thought that you and other AIChE members might want to know about the new comprehensive "How-to Win In the Legislature" book Guide to State Legislative Lobbying. Also, the seminar How to Successfully Lobby Your State Legislature will be held on May 16th at the Atlanta Airport South Holiday Inn Select. Information on both can be found at http://www.learn-to-lobby.com.

Bob Guyer

BSCE, EI


AIChE Email Initiative

We have begun an initiative to use broadcast email for special section announcements.

If you have received duplicates of initial transmittals or have been burdened by excessively long cc: lists as we progress through the learning curve, please accept our apology.

If you have not received Email invitations to the December meeting or for the PE Exam Refresher course, your Email address is either invalid or missing in the regional membership database we received from AIChE HQ.

Corrections, additions, and deletions to our database are being handled manually for now. Please send short and simple messages to TSAndersen@AOL.com such as ; Subscribe, Remove, or Change: ____@___.___.


Interested in hosting an AIChE Meeting at your Company?

We are in search of hosts for our future AIChE monthly meetings. The Chapter is looking for companies that can provide AIChE members with an interesting, informative, and beneficial agenda. If your company is interested in hosting a meeting next spring or fall, please contact the Pittsburgh Chapter Program Chair:

Mr. Ed Moretti, Vice Chair
Baker Environmental
TEL: 412-269-6055
FAX: 412-269-6097
EMAIL: emoretti@mbakercorp.com


Newsletter Deadline

August 16th, 2000

 

Please contact:

Peggy Panagopoulos
ChemTech Consultants, Inc.
1370 Washington Pike, 4th Floor
Bridgeville, PA 15017
TEL: 412-220-4612
FAX: 412-221-5685
Email: pepana@chemtech88.com


Placing an Advertisement

Interested in placing an ad in future newsletters?

Help sponsor the AIChE by placing an ad.

Full page $300.00

1/2 page $175.00

1/4 page $95.00

1/8 page $45.00

1/12 page $30.00

Place multiple ads and receive a discount!

Three (3) consecutive ads - 10% off

Eight (8) consecutive ads or more - 30% off

To place an ad, please contact

Peggy Panagopoulos

ChemTech Consultants, Inc.

1370 Washington Pike, 4th Floor

Bridgeville, PA 15017

Tel: 412-220-4612

Fax: 412-221-5685

Email: pegpana@chemtech88.com


Engineering Humor

 

Q: What is the definition of an engineer?

A: Someone who solves a problem you didn't know you had in a way you don't understand.

 

Q: When does a person decide to become an engineer?

A: When he realizes he doesn't have the charisma to be an undertaker.

 

Q: How can you tell an extroverted engineer?

A: When he talks to you, he looks at your shoes instead of his own.

 

Q: Why did the engineers cross the road?

A: Because they looked in the file and that's what did last year.

 

Q: How do you drive an engineer completely insane?

A: Tie him to a chair, stand in front of him, and fold up a road map the wrong way.


Volunteers Needed

The Pittsburgh Chapter is encouraging members to take an active role in our chapter in order for us to further develop and grow. Below is a list of items that requires volunteer assistance.

 

Membership

Database Development ~ Integrate Meeting Reservations/Attendance with Total Membership to develop contact lists of active members

Engineers Week Coordinator

Chemistry Week Coordinator

Science Fair Coordinator ~ Ed Moretti

 

Newsletter

Column Writer ~ What’s New in the Section

Column Writer ~ Technical Articles

Column Writer ~ Government Regulations and Legislation

Column Writer ~ Internet Resources/Sites of the month

 

Secretary

Assistant ~ Take minutes and fill in on Absence of Secretary

Treasurer Assistant ~ Collect Payments and fill in on Absence of Treasurer

 

Programs

Promotion ~ ESWP Technicalendar and ACS Newsletter Interface

Speaker Recognition Mementos

Award Banquet Chair and Support

Student Night ~ Paper Competition

Student Night ~ Table Sponsors

Student Night ~ Support

 

Development

Promotion ~ ESWP Technicalendar and ACS Newsletter Interface

Executive Program Concept Proposal

Sponsor Relations for Awards, Banquet, and special projects

University/Student Chapter Relations

West Virginia Chapter Development

 

Awards & Scholarship

Awards Committee Members ~ Solicitation of Nominations

Awards Committee Members ~ Evaluation/Selection of Awardees

Awards Committee Members ~ Solicitation of Nominations

 

Programs

Promotion ~ ESWP Technicalendar and ACS Newsletter Interface Award Banquet Chair and Support

 

If there is an interest in helping with any of the above tasks, please contact the Chair of our Chapter Dr. Ted Andersen. Thank you in advance for your time!

 

Dr. Ted Andersen
ChemTech Consultants
TEL: 412-220-4555
FAX: 412-221-5685
EMAIL: TSAndersen@AOL.com


Membership

 

MEMBERSHIP CORNER

Membership Update, Nancy Hirko

 

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the value that the local section provides and to encourage you to pay your dues on time. All membership updates should be sent to National with a copy to me, Nancy Hirko. If you are not currently a local section member, please consider joining using the coupon below. A portion of your dues is deposited into our scholarship fund. Please help our local section and scholarship fund continue to grow!


LOCAL SECTION MEMBERSHIP COUPON

 

Please sign me up for the local Pittsburgh Section of AIChE

Name

Company

Address

City State Zip

TEL: Business TEL Residence

Email

 

Annual Dues are $14.00. Make check payable to "AIChE Pittsburgh Section" and send to our treasurer, John Hauser:

 

PROSAF, Inc.
103 Yorktown Road
McMurray, PA 15317


AIChE Pittsburgh Section

1999-2000 Section Officers

 

Executive Committee

 

Chair

Ted Andersen
ChemTech Consultants
TSAndersen@AOL.com
412-220-4555

 

Vice-Chair & Program

Ed Moretti
Baker Environmental
emoretti@mbakercorp.com
412-269-6055

 

Secretary

Bill Hargest
PPG Industries, Inc.
hargest@ppg.com
TEL: 724-274-3364
FAX: 724-274-3420

 

Treasurer

John Hauser
PROSAF, Inc.
prosaf@sgi.net
724-942-3717

 

Counselors

Mike Friedrich
Kvaerner Metals
Mike.Friedrich@Kvaerner.com
412-918-3109

 

Del Button
Button Engineering
dbutton@compuserve.com
412-366-8324

 

Past Chair & Nominations

Louisa Nara
Bayer Corporation
louisa.nara.b@bayer.com
412-777-7603

 

Additional Officers and Chairs

 

Membership & Engineer Week

Nancy Hirko
U.S. Steel
nmhirko@uss.com
412-433-5914

 

Newsletter Editor

Peggy Panagopoulos
ChemTech Consultants
pegpana@hotmail.com
412-220-4612

 

Meeting Arrangements

Mike Flaherty
Calgon Corporation
mflaherty@ecc.com
412-494-8374

 

Development

Gerald LaRosa
Kvaerner Metals
Gerald.LaRose@Kvaerner.com
412-918-3654

 

Committee Chairs

Safety & Environmental

Shiaw Tseng

Scholarship

Sam Vance

Student Night

Michael Flaherty

 

Web Master

Richard R. Dupree
Symphoni Interactive
rrd@telerama.com
724-775-5122


Technical News

 

A Look at Common Industrial Chemicals

 

The following is a list of common chemicals and what they are used for.

 

Sulfuric Acid ~ Probably the most common industrial acid. Used widely in mineral leaching and gas scrubbing (removing dangerous substances). Also used to neutralize alkaline substances.

 

Nitrogen ~ Most common inert substance used in industry. Used for everything from tank blanketing (so vapors don’t combine with oxygen to form explosive mixtures) to controlling reaction temperatures in exothermic reactions. Also widely used as a solid conveying gas carrier when air cannot be used due to explosion threats (ex/ fertilizers).

 

Oxygen ~ The ultimate oxidizer. Used in any application where the introduction of oxygen to the reaction mixture is necessary.

 

Ethylene ~ Probably the most popular industrial precursor to polymer manufacturing (ex/ polyethylene).

 

Ammonia ~ Very popular scrubbing solvent to remove pollutants from fossil fuel combustion streams before they can be released to the atmosphere. Also a popular refrigerant.

 

Phosphoric Acid ~ Main use is in fertilizer production, other uses include soft drinks and other food products.

 

Sodium Hydroxide ~ The most popular alkaline substance in industry. Widely used in dyes and soap manufacturing. Also a good cleaning agent and can be used to neutralize acids. Also known as lye.

 

Propylene ~ Another industrial polymer precursor (polypropylene).

 

Chlorine ~ Used in the manufacture of bleaching agents and titanium dioxide. Many of the bleaching agents based on chlorine are being replaced by hydrogen peroxide due to environmental restrictions placed on chlorine.

 

Sodium Carbonate ~ Most commonly known as soda ash, sodium carbonate is used in many cleaning agents and in glass making. Manufactured by reacting salt and sulfuric acid.

 

Sodium Silicate ~ Perhaps the most widely used industrial insulation.

 

Cyclohexane ~ While cyclohexane is a common organic solvent, it’s crowning achievement is it’s use as a reactant in the production of a nylon precursor (later).

 

Adipic Acid ~ This is the chemical that is made from cyclohexane and in turn is polymerized to nylon.

 

Nitrobenzene ~ Primary use is in the manufacture of aniline, which is in turn used as a rubber additive to prevent oxidation (antioxidant).

 

Butyraldehyde ~ Used to manufacture 2-ethylhexanol which is then used to manufacture hydraulic oils or synthetic lubricants.

 

Aluminum Sulfate ~ Widely used in the paper and wastewater treatment industries as a pH buffer.

 

Methyl tert-butyl ether ~ Also known as MTBE, it is most famous for its role as a gasoline additive (oxygenate). Due to its toxic affect on mammals, the EPA has been ordering a decrease in it’s use and an increase in the use of ethanol as a replacement.

 

Ethylene Dichloride ~ Nearly all ethylene dichloride produced is used to produce vinyl chloride which is then polymerized to polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

 

Nitric Acid ~ Most common application is it’s reaction with ammonia to form the solid fertilizer ammonium nitrate.

 

Ammonium Nitrate ~ Probably the most widely used solid fertilizer

 

Benzene ~ The two largest uses for benzene are as reactants to produce ethylbenzene (used to produce styrene) and cumene (used to produce phenols). Also a very common organic solvent as well as a precursor to cyclohexane.

 

Urea ~ The majority of urea is used in fertilizer production. Some is also used in the manufacture of livestock feed.

 

Vinyl Chloride ~ As previously mentioned, this is the monomer form of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which finds uses as a building material and other durable plastics.

 

Source: http://www.cheresources.com/indchems.shtml


End of The Catalyst Newsletter - May 2000


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