Update e-learning to grow rapidly
Rich Greene

01/01/2002
Chemical Engineering Progress
12
Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved. Copyright American Institute of Chemical Engineers Jan 2002

'he chemical industry's primary Internet focus has been to create value along the supply chain and in standalone models, according to Rick Eno, vice president in the chemical practice of consultants Arthur D. Little, Inc. (ADL; Cambridge, MA). But Eno says that, in the next few years, the Internet will have a significant impact on how employees in these firms learn. E-learning is emerging as a major value-driver from the e-business era.

For example, Dow Chemical, which initiated e-learning about three years ago, claimed a savings of up to $4 million in its first year of use, $14.5 million in its second year, and a projected savings of $29 million for the third year. Across industry overall, traditional classroom training typically costs about $300/h. However, by 2005, ADL projects that e-learning will cost only 30 for the same 60 minutes.

Eno told CEP, "Due to the recent difficult business environment for chemical firms, we are seeing e-learning being adopted at a slower rate in chemicals than in other industries (e.g., pharmaceuticals). However, we continue to see validation of the financial benefits, as well as an ongoing enhancement in the quality of the content being offered by vendors." Specifically in the chemicals industry, he sees e-learning applications in four areas:

* Product and service rollout - for example, as new grades of polymer resins are developed and marketed, e-- learning tools will be very useful in rapidly educating the sales force, distributors and customers as to attributes and performance capabilities. - Procedural - in the chemicals industry, new procedures and processes are constantly being rolled out. These include user requirements around new enterprise resource planning (ERP) installations, revised human resource policies and best practices in manufacturing/R&D. The e-- learning backbone can provide an effective internal learning network to enhance overall effectiveness.

- Compliance - these tools can be applied across a global manufacturing and logistics enterprise to instruct employees on the latest regulations and compliance requirements around environmental, health and safety practices.

- Organizational capability - skills required for a competitive advantage, such as finance, strategy, marketing and technical, are increasingly being taught through e-based channels. A broad range of external suppliers has evolved in this space with universities, such as The Wharton School at the Univ. of Pennsylvania and Duke Univ.

Eno notes, "Chemical companies must continue to seek options to reduce costs and improve organizational skills. Given the industry's global nature and dynamic requirements, e-learning is well suited to meet these challenges." According to ADL, key drivers for e-learning in the

chemical industry include the need for companies to spur productivity amid razor-thin margins; the industry's extensive investment in information, process and customer-relationship-management technology, and corporate globalization.

Process Drops Price of Fullerenes A demonstration plant is being built to produce fullerenes via a patented combustion synthesis that is said to cost as little as 20cents/g, compared with conventional electric arc production, which typically runs at $15-$20/g. This price cut is expected to move fullerenes out of R&D and into commercial production, according to Mark Hague, CEO of Nano-C LLC (Westwood, MA), the firm doing the scaling up.

Fullerenes are hollow spherical cages made up of a surface network of carbon atoms and have a variety of materials properties that hold the promise as raw materials for breakthroughs in pharmaceuticals, electronics, superconducting and other uses. According to Hague, there are currently about 2,000 patents using fullerenes for a wide range of applications, but the processes are uneconomical given today's $15-$20/g cost.

Nano-C is licensing the process to Mitsubishi, which hopes to be making 100 tons/month of fullerenes within three years. Current worldwide production is under 100 kg/yr, notes Jack Howard, an MIT. professor of chemical engineering, and the company's chairman and founder. The technology was invented at M.LT. in 1991. The process involves the combustion of hydrocarbon fuel under subatmospheric pressure in a chamber or combustor in which the flame is stabilized on a porous water-cooled metal plate (the burner). The fuel is premixed with oxygen and an inert gas, then fed through the burner. The flame is operated with an excess of fuel such that some unburned carbon-containing molecules and soot particles remain in the hot combustion products after all the oxygen has been depleted. Combustion conditions, such as pressure, temperature, fuel/oxygen ratio and inert gas/oxygen ratio, can be adjusted such that fullerenes C60 and Coo are formed in substantial quantities. Fullerenes have a number of unique properties that allow for such a range of potential applications. They are perfectly spherical of approximately 1 nm dia.; they contain a large, protected internal cavity that can be doped with other molecules; they have extremely high mechanical strength and very high electronegativity; they are soluble (the only form of carbon that is soluble); they can be transformed into other carbon forms (including diamond); they are chemically reactive; and they can form excellent diamond films and novel membranes.

Packing a Bigger Punch to Sock SO. A once-through two-step process, patented by Hamon Research-Cottrell (HRC; Somerville, NJ), promises higher removal efficiencies then conventional semi-dry scrubbing, which relies on recycling large volumes of fluid to reach efficiencies of >90%. Dubbed DeSOx, the process can achieve a removal of >95% without recycling, according to Prakash Dhargalkar, executive vice-president and general manager, particulate systems - international for HRC (www.hamon.com). DeSOx requires neither a hygroscopic additive nor HCI for removal. The first step of the process uses a liquid quench (lime) to remove much of the SO^sub x^. In the second step, dry lime is injected to remove more sulfur oxides, providing a fresh dose of reagent. The dry lime forms a water-adsorbing site that creates a liquid microenvironment that catalyzes the adsorption of SOx and facilitates neutralization.

Growing Market for Congestive-Heart--Failure Therapies

The U.S. market for ventricular-assist devices and biventricular pacing/cardiac resynchronization therapy is expected to grow from $100 million annually to nearly $1 billion by 2005, according Medtech Insight, LLC (Tustin, CA), a firm that provides medical technology information and marketing insights. These therapies are used to treat congestive heart failure (CHF), a progressive condition in which the heart is unable to pump an adequate supply of blood to meet the body's demands. By 2005, Medtech estimates that over 5.5 million persons in the U.S. will be affected by CHF.

Medtech reports that while current pharmacological approaches can palliate symptoms and slow the disease's progression, half of CHF patients still die within five years of diagnosis. Many therapies are in various stages of clinical use and FDA approval. Other emerging technologies for CHF include artificial hearts, myocardial splints, and cell and gene therapies to restore the damaged myocardium, all of which may be used in concert to battle CHF. According to Medtech's president and CEO, Sharon O'Reilly, "The future of CHF treatment may well involve a multifaceted approach in which device-based therapy is used in conjunction with biotherapeutics and drugs."

CHF remains the most-expensive healthcare problem in the U.S. and other developed countries, reports Medtech. A large team of players is expected to continue in the battle against this killer, including Thoratec, Worldheart, Jarvik Heart, Guidant, Medtronic and St. Jude Medical.

Commercial, High-Pressure Hydrogen for Fuel Cells ...

High-pressure, ultra-pure hydrogen should be available in about two years, via an electrolytic process that is engineered for commercial-scale production. Developed by Proton Energy Systems, Inc. (Rocky Hill, CT), the Hogen 20 hydrogen generator yields 20 ft3/h of 2,000-psi HZ, which is pressurized internally without the use of an external compressor. In-house testing was recently completed on the first full-scale, commercial unit (see photo below).

The oxygen and hydrogen are generated via electrolysis of water on opposite sides of an ion-exchange membrane and manifolded to downstream equipment, which may include high-pressure storage in gas cylinders or tubes. The generated gas is produced at pressure (called by Proton as "solid-state compression") as these tanks are filled; the system is robust enough to handle over 2,000 psi. A 100-fold increase in hydrogen pressure requires only a 3% increase in power input, compared with the much-larger amounts of power need to develop such an increase with a mechanical compressor.

According to Trent Molten Proton's senior vice-president of technology and new business, the Hogen 20, and larger Hogen 40, are designed for commercial production of hydrogen. The overall cost of generating hydrogen can be less than that of delivered cylinder gas, says Molten He states that the alternative means of generating hydrogen is by reforming hydrocarbons, but the gas is not produced at high pressure (needed for storage) and its purity is not as high as with Proton's process. Purity from the electrolysis system is said to be 5-6 "nines," with water vapor being the chief impurity. The gas can be passed through a palladium filter to achieve even higher purities, if needed.

Molter says that, "Proton's technology opens up critical markets including automotive refueling, industrial cylinder filling, and telecommunications backup power that hinge upon the ability to generate and store high-- pressure hydrogen."

... And Fuel Cells Present Material Opportunities

By 2005, the market for fuel cells will hit nearly $3 billion yearly, and continue a soaring climb through at least 2010, so says Principia Partners (Exton, PA), a market-- research/business consulting firm. This market will spur the market for materials to make fuel cells, including thermosets, thermoplastics, elastomers, nanofibers, carbon black, graphite/carbon fibers, nickel, lithium and platinum. This broad range of materials offers a wealth of needed physical and mechanical properties, such as thermal and dimensional stability, high conductivity, corrosion resistance, flame retardancy, and low creep.

Principia's Jim Morton notes, "Fuel cells present a major opportunity for engineering thermoplastics and high-temperature polymers, leveraging design versatility, parts consolidation, and system cost-reduction that have enabled plastics to replace metals over the years."

Portable System Detects Chemical Weapons

Researchers at the Univ. of Delaware (Newark) have developed a portable detection platform that could provide real-time recognition of chemical weapons. The patent-pending Planar Array IR (PA-IR) is an infrared spectroscope, about the size of a large shoebox, that can detect even small amounts of chemical weapons as a solid, liquid or vapor, from ppm down to ppb ranges. The PA-IR is the work of chairperson John Rabolt and research professor Mei-Wei Tsao of the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering (see photo above).

It seems likely that the device can sense chemical agents at a distance, and Rabolt said that further research on this is being conducted. "We are planning to test the detectivity of our PA-IR using a telescopic collection system that should be able to detect certain chemical agents at large distances away from the detector," he said. "Adding a series of such sensors near at-risk sites could report back real-time findings via wireless transmitters." Analysis of monolayers (e.g., oil on water) takes only 30 s, compared with Fourier-transform (FT) IR spectroscopes, which can take hours to produce the data. Unlike the FT-IR instruments, the PA-IR relies on an infrared light bulb and a focal-plane array similar to the charge-coupled device found in digital cameras. Using current equipment, the PA-IR can take readings every 17 ms; the time could be in thousandths of a second using a faster camera and different interfaces.

Although the device would be useful in combatting terrorism, it is intended for process use, to make real-time measurements of the thickness and chemical composition of various films, coatings and liquids. The PA-IR will enable companies that run production lines at fast speeds to cut down on waste by better keeping track of imperfections or quality variations. Another use is in environmental monitoring. The current system features high sensitivity, fast data acquisition and no moving parts - the latter making it rugged, portable and reliable, says Rabolt. Rabolt and Tsao are working to further miniaturize the instrument to the size of a lunchbox and to expand its capabilities.

"Tea--.Bag Device Delivers Chlorine-Dioxide

Waiting for patent approval is a new delivery method for packaging chlorine dioxide, which, when added to water, safely produces specific amounts of the disinfectant. The "tea-bag" was pioneered by Raytec Development Corp. (Vancouver, BC, Canada), which targets the device for bacteria prevention in food processing, including seafood processing plants and facilities handling fresh produce.

Reactants on either side of membrane (sodium chloride and an organic or inorganic acid) produce consistent amounts of ClO^sub 2^ when the device is placed in water. One possible use for the product is disinfecting fresh food arriving onshore from overseas as a means of controlling possible bioterrorism due to food being tainted with anthrax or other pathogens.

Ecosystems Slowed sg90s Greenhouse Gas Buildup

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR; Boulder, CO) reports that the earth's land-based ecosystems absorbed all of the carbon released by deforestation plus another 1.4 billion tons emitted by fossil-fuel burning during the past decade.

However, NCAR says that we cannot rely on this convenient uptake to head off global warming in the coming years. "We could easily see this robust transfer of carbon out of the atmosphere and into land-based ecosystems that occurred in the 1990s slow down in the future," notes David Schimel of NCAR. During that decade, fossil-fuel burning, cement manufacture and deforestation gave off about 8 billion tons annually.

Land-use changes in the northern hemisphere have been partly responsible for carbon uptake during the 1990s. In the U.S., trees and other growth expanded on abandoned agricultural land, while a reduction in fires allowed forests to spread. But Schimel states the forest can only replace farms for so long, and eventually new trees and grasses mature and soak up less carbon dioxide. Other factors, such as the climate's natural variability and enhanced plant growth in Europe and Asia, also play a major role. Schimel's findings appeared in the Nov. 8 issue of Nature.

- Rich Greene