Podcast · Business

Chemical Processing Distilled

by chemicalprocessing · English · Business

The Chemical Processing Distilled podcast extracts essential elements to serve engineers designing and operating plants in the chemical industry.

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 11 min
Latest: 9 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

9 Oct 2026 · 7 min

The ‘Safe Pair of Hands’ Problem in Succession Planning

In a chemical facility, choosing the person who feels safest is understandable. These are high-risk environments where poor decisions can affect production, people and plant. Nobody wants to experiment with leadership when the consequences of getting it wrong can be dire. The problem is that competence is not the same as readiness, and familiarity is not the same as low risk. When succession decisions repeatedly favor the people who already look, sound and operate like current leaders, organizations may believe they are reducing risk. In reality, they may be reproducing it. Listen to this In…

Play episodeWhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E184 · 2 Oct 2026 · 11 min
Operational Flexibility Is an Energy Asset — If You Manage It Right
Schneider Electric's Thomas Kwan explains why chemical plants should map their loads before buying software, and why "the optimizer decides" isn't an operating philosophy. Jonathan Katz, executive editor of Chemical Processing, recently spoke with Thomas Kwan, an energy transition expert at the Schneider Electric Sustainability Research Institute, about his most recent Energy Saver column for Chemical Processing, titled "The Flexible Chemical Plant: Scheduling Energy Use Without Sacrificing Throughput." Kwan, whose official title at Schneider is global vice president of strategic innovation…
E183 · 25 Sep 2026 · 8 min
Courts, Settlements and Capacity Bets
In September's Distilled News, a federal appeals court strikes down the EPA's methylene chloride ban, three chemical makers agree to pay $455 million over PFAS, and BASF and Kemira look at new production.
E182 · 18 Sep 2026 · 24 min
Reverse Osmosis: When It's Time to Ditch the Softener
In this episode of the Chemical Processing Distilled Podcast, Brad Buecker of SAMCO Technologies joins editor-in-chief Traci Purdum to dig deeper into reverse osmosis for boiler makeup water. Buecker contrasts RO with sodium softening, explaining how RO removes up to 99% of dissolved ions, cutting corrosion, scaling and blowdown compared to softening alone. He stresses that raw water quality and pretreatment reliability — not snapshot testing — determine RO success and warns against microbiological fouling, chlorine damage and cutting corners on monitoring. Buecker also covers normalization…
E181 · 11 Sep 2026 · 23 min
A Chemical Engineer's Guide to Leading
An Eastman Chemical veteran-turned-leadership coach explains why technical excellence doesn't translate to leadership skill — and how organizations can close the "broken rung" that pushes women out of the pipeline right after their first promotion.
E180 · 4 Sep 2026 · 14 min
U.S. Chemical Makers Ride Iran War's Oil-Gas Price Gap
ICIS's Al Greenwood explains why ethane-fed commodity producers are cashing in while specialty chemical makers struggle to pass on higher costs. Read the full article.
E179 · 28 Aug 2026 · 6 min
Distilled News: CSB Ties Clairton Blast to Valve Procedure, Argonne Advances Lithium Extraction, DOE Funds Minerals Workforce
This month, we cover the U.S. Chemical Safety Board's final report on the fatal Aug. 11 explosion at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, Argonne National Laboratory's progress on extracting lithium and other critical minerals from oilfield wastewater, and a new $100 million DOE initiative to train the next generation of critical-minerals workers.
E178 · 21 Aug 2026 · 27 min
Condensate Recovery: Know What’s In the Water
From steam trap sprawl to a phenol plant that ignored 400x the recommended organic carbon limit, Brad Buecker walks through why condensate return demands real chemistry — and the tools (ion exchange, activated carbon, film-forming amines) that make it work.
E177 · 14 Aug 2026 · 25 min
Solution Spotlight: Get Your Coriolis Tube Design Right — or Pay for It Later
Selecting the right Coriolis flow meter tube design goes beyond pressure, temperature and flow rate specs — it can reduce how much a plant spends on pumps and energy for the life of a pipeline. In this Solution Spotlight episode of Chemical Processing Distilled, Al Dhanji, chemical industry manager for the Americas at KROHNE, breaks down straight tube versus bent tube designs and how each handles high-viscosity products, slurries and aggressive chemicals. Using honey and water as examples, Dhanji explains why forcing fluid to change direction creates pressure drop, driving up pump size and…
E176 · 7 Aug 2026 · 32 min
Solutions Spotlight: Closing Measurement Gaps Without Shutting Down the Plant
Emerson's Michael Machuca explains how non-intrusive flow, temperature, corrosion and acoustic monitoring help chemical manufacturers boost safety, reliability and sustainability without cutting into pipes or halting production. Sponsored by Emerson
E175 · 31 Jul 2026 · 11 min
Distilled News: CSB Faults Woodland Pulp and Bio-Lab as Brazil Tariffs Raise Reshoring Concerns
This month: fatal H2S release investigation findings, the final Conyers warehouse fire report, ACC's pushback on Brazil tariffs and a call for unified EPA-OSHA chemical safety rules and a reality check on AI in advanced process control.
E174 · 24 Jul 2026 · 6 min
EPA, HHS Move Microplastics from Fringe Concern to Federal Priority
In this episode Traci Purdum discusses Lynn Bergeson’s latest article "EPA, HHS Move Microplastics from Fringe Concern to Federal Priority" July 15, 2026 For a long time, microplastics were treated as a recycling problem or a marine litter problem. That changed this spring. On April 6, 2026, two federal agencies moved on the same day in ways that push microplastics squarely into the compliance conversation. Compliance Advisor columns.
E173 · 17 Jul 2026 · 48 min
Why Sodium Softeners Make or Break Boiler Water Chemistry
In this episode of Chemical Processing's Distilled podcast, host Traci Purdum talks with Brad Buecker, senior technical consultant at Samco Technologies, about sodium softening — the workhorse treatment for industrial boiler makeup water. Buecker explains how hardness ions cause scale, why residual bicarbonate drives corrosive condensate return lines, and how to spot early warning signs of a poorly monitored softener. He shares real-world cases where bypassing softeners or delaying maintenance led to rapid boiler tube failures and six-figure losses, walks through the regeneration cycle and…
E172 · 10 Jul 2026 · 10 min
Double Check Your Physical Properties Data
Inconsistencies found across major references for common substances raise a harder question about what we assume we know and whether that's enough for design, operation and troubleshooting. This podcast is an In Case You Missed It of the column that appeared on our site July 1. You can read it here.
E171 · 2 Jul 2026 · 14 min
Powder, Progress, and 250 Years: The Chemistry Behind American Independence
Two hundred and fifty years ago this week, a group of delegates in Philadelphia signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. Today, we are going to talk about how chemistry made it all possible.
E170 · 26 Jun 2026 · 5 min
Mergers, Layoffs and Geopolitical Risk Reshape the Chemical Industry
Olin and Huntsman announce a $12.5 billion tie-up, Evonik cuts 3,200 jobs and BASF's CEO warns of an oil shock — while Covestro bets on biology to clean up aniline production.
E169 · 12 Jun 2026 · 15 min
Pumps, Flow and the Fight Against Wasted Energy
This episode digs into three plant-floor challenges that look simple until physics intervenes—bulk solids handling, heat pump-driven distillation savings and a water pump's mysterious cycling problem traced back to Bernoulli's principle. Sources: "Bulk Solids and Powders: Flow, Storage and Conveyor Design in Chemical Plants" by Amin Almasi (Equipment Insights, June 8, 2026) | "Heat Pumps Slash Waste in Distillation Operations" by Thomas Kwan (Energy Saver, Feb. 16, 2026) | "Why This Water Pump Kept Cycling Off" by Andrew Sloley (Plant InSites, Jan. 26, 2026). All published on…
E168 · 5 Jun 2026 · 5 min
Trevor Kletz Warned Us
Decades before the Strait of Hormuz closed and refineries started burning, process safety's great philosopher mapped exactly how pressure corrupts risk decisions.
E167 · 29 May 2026 · 7 min
Distilled News: Dow-X-energy Nuclear Milestone, Fatal West Virginia Chemical Release and More
This month's top stories cover an NRC environmental clearance for an advanced reactor in Texas, a deadly hydrogen sulfide incident under CSB investigation, SOCMA's regulatory priorities and new industry developments.
E166 · 22 May 2026 · 7 min
You've Told Your Team to Speak Up. But Are You Actually Listening?
In every organization, informal hierarchies determine who gets heard, who gets interrupted and whose concerns get taken seriously. In process safety, the cost of getting it wrong is high. In this In Case You Missed It episode, Editor Traci Purdum reads a column from Lauren Neal, Chemical Processing's Workforce Matters expert. You can read the column here.
E165 · 15 May 2026 · 22 min
Perceptual Invariants: The Hidden Key to Operator Expertise
Experienced operators don't just know what to do — they know what to watch, regardless of how conditions change. That ability hinges on perceptual invariants: the critical relationships and variables that remain meaningful even as everything else shifts. Human factors engineer Dave Strobhar explains how identifying and reinforcing these invariants is the key to effective operator training. Rather than relying on years of trial and error, structured training programs — including targeted simulator use — can accelerate expertise dramatically. The goal is moving operators from simple…
E164 · 8 May 2026 · 9 min
What Do Chemical Engineers Do, Anyway?
If you're a regular listener, you already know the deal — you work in this industry. You've spent your career in control rooms, on plant floors, in engineering offices, running calculations and managing processes that most of the world never thinks about. You know what a distillation column is. But this episode is meant to be shared with a spouse, a parent, a kid, a friend — someone who's asked you "so what exactly do you do all day?" and you've struggled to explain it.
E163 · 1 May 2026 · 6 min
Concentrate On Critical Thinking
The complexity of the human body makes critical thinking an essential skill for doctors. It’s also important in our work. However, engineers often learn the value of critical thinking the hard way. Dirk Willard, by way of Editor Traci Purdum's spoken word, tells us not to over-concentrate on the zebras... and let the horses run free.
E162 · 24 Apr 2026 · 7 min
Microplastics, Leadership Shifts and Industry Honors: April's Top Stories
From a $144 million federal push to address microplastics in drinking water to a CEO transition at Dow and Edison Award wins for chemical giants, here's what moved the needle in April 2026.
E161 · 17 Apr 2026 · 21 min
Operator Training: When the Subtask Is the Whole Task
Throwing operators into full simulator scenarios sounds thorough, but it can mask the one critical subtask they actually need to master. Human factors engineer Dave Strobhar argues that effective operator training starts by identifying which subtasks carry the highest consequences — loss of containment, asset destruction, major downtime — and drilling those specifically before integrating them into broader scenarios. Using real examples of failed steam-system isolations and a misallocated $500,000 simulator budget, Strobhar makes the case for focused, measurable training objectives over…
E160 · 10 Apr 2026 · 39 min
Water Is Water — And Other Costly Myths
In this episode of Chemical Processing's Distilled podcast, editor-in-chief Traci Purdum speaks with water treatment expert Brad Buecker about the dangers of the "water is water" mindset in industrial settings. Buecker shares real-world examples of costly boiler failures caused by ignoring water chemistry, explains how water's near-universal solvent properties create scaling and corrosion risks and highlights how geography and climate shape treatment needs. He stresses that single water analyses are insufficient — comprehensive, historically collected data is essential for proper system…
E159 · 3 Apr 2026 · 6 min
The Alchemist Signs Off
After nearly two decades, Seán Ottewell retires from Chemical Processing, leaving behind a legacy that spans battlefield bones, Neanderthal adhesives and one particularly memorable hedge. In this episode, Editor-in-Chief Traci Purdum highlights some of his best work...including taking a tinkle on his neighbor's landscaping.
E158 · 27 Mar 2026 · 7 min
Strait of Hormuz Chaos, TSCA Reform and More — March 2026 in Chemical Processing
Supply chain shocks from the Iran conflict, a contested overhaul of chemical safety law, an ethylene oxide rollback and a green chemistry advance — the month's biggest stories summarized by Executive Editor Jonathan Katz.
E157 · 20 Mar 2026 · 25 min
The Hidden Costs and Risks of Cross-Training Operators
Cross-training process plant operators sounds simple, but execution is often flawed. Human factors engineer Dave Strobhar explains that effective cross-training must be based on job complexity and demonstrated competency — not arbitrary time requirements. Common pitfalls include inconsistent crew procedures that cause negative transfer of training, inadequate alarm management for operators returning to console roles and subjective assessments that fail to verify true proficiency. Decision-making exercises offer a low-cost way to prepare crews for high-stakes, low-frequency events. Looking…
E156 · 16 Mar 2026 · 7 min
CP Notebook: ACD's Eric Byer on Iran, Tariffs, and the Fight Over Rail
In this bonus episode, Executive Editor Jonathan Katz highlights main points from his recent interview for his Chemical Processing Notebook series. Eric Byer lives and works in Washington, D.C., where he fights for more than 400 companies that make up the Alliance for Chemical Distribution. As CEO and president of ACD, he backs the interests of chemical distributors by lobbying on issues such as fair trade policy, rail reform, and chemical safety. He has testified before Congress on several of these issues and keeps his members informed on the trends and legislation that affect their bottom…

About Chemical Processing Distilled

The Chemical Processing Distilled podcast extracts essential elements to serve engineers designing and operating plants in the chemical industry.

Chemical Processing Distilled is a English business podcast from chemicalprocessing. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: chemicalprocessing
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 11 min
Latest episode: 9 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1478766766

RSS feed Apple Podcasts

More English business

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.