Genetic Engineering News Gave Me $2

Today I received a letter from Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, which is based in New York. Actually, I'm a subscriber of their GEN magazine which is published every two weeks. They send me a hard copy magazine. Well, genetic engineering is not closely related to chemical engineering, but I subscribe the magazine to get some input from other engineering branches. At least I learn something about DNA, RNA, peptide, protein, drug, bioprocessing, biobusiness etc. It's enriching and sometimes confusing to know those tiny, minute, mysterious DNA-RNA stuff.

Back to the letter story. They send me a letter and I opened the envelop. I saw $2 and I'm surprised! I read the title of the letter and it said, "We need your help to measure the value of our publication. Your opinions will allow us to publish an even better resource for you!".

The P.S. was written in red: Please accept the enclosed $2 as a token of our appreciation for your help.

Enclosed in the letter is a 4 pages of "Confidential Survey of our Subscribers". I have not yet fill the survey but I'm going to do it tomorrow.

They provided me with a Business Reply Mail envelop (to be sent to Lewis and Clark Research, US), but I have to pay for the postage because I'm mailing from outside US. On the top right conner on the envelop it is printed: "No postage necessary if mailed in the United States".

Hmmm....I guess, It's OK. I don't mind paying for the postage. However, I think, they should make international reader like me to be excluded from paying for the postage next time. Or is the $2 cost for the postage?

You can check out and get free subscription of GEN magazine online (if you're interested) at www.genengnews.com.

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You Should Love Training and Seminars

I love attending training. I don't care what type of training because I can learn new things and skills. Since I work, I have attended various in-house and outside training as well as other free and paid seminars.

Among the things/new knowledges that I have learned so far are:

- Bleaching earth - chemical composition of the silica alumina solid bleacher...
- Cooling tower/boiler chemical treatment - technique, monitoring, dosing etc...
- Instrumentation/flow meter for plant - Various flow meter principles...
- Preventive maintenance - Need to organize this to avoid expansive downtime....
- Air compressor operation - They have a better improved compressor....
- Chiller operation - ooo..they use that type of freon as refrigerant...
- Shortening plant - Now I know how they make margerine...
- Load cell - Never knew about the technology behind weighing various objects....
- ISO and HACCP training - Now, I'm an internal auditor...
- Lean-Kanban - I learn to improve my working system...
- TQM - There's a lot of other quality system in TQM....
- GC - I learn how to operate a gas chromatograhy hands on
- Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET)- physically challenging training for going offshore...

Well those are just few of hundreds of formal and informal training I have been through. That's why training/seminar is important to develop employees skills and knowledge.

Another good thing that I like when attending training/seminar: "We get souvenirs". So far, I have collected a lot of gives and souvenirs such as pens, t-shirts, note books, key chains, cap, diaries, calenders, mugs, and much more. It's good to get free stuff....isn't it?

*************************************
Coming trainings...

Talking about training, I received an email from Expitris.com (a local training consultant). They will be organizing a training in a few months time. Check out the details below:

Title: "Value Stream Mapping" (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
Date: "2nd - 3rd July'07
Venue: Melia Hotel, Kuala Lumpur,
This program is conducted by an outstanding international trainer Mr. Michael Wader he has an astonishing experience in deploying VSM tools

"Excellent Delivery, Mike is an outstanding trainer, he is very direct when it comes to implementing all the VSM tools. Well Done.!"
Production Manager, Renesas Semiconductor (M) Sdn Bhd

This Program is HRDF Claimable
Note: 10 % discount is applicable if you mention you are a visitor of this Chemical Engineering World blog.

In case you want to contact them for further detail...:
Expitris Worldwide Sdn Bhd (641332-X)
Suites 14-02, Wisma Cosway, Jalan Raja Chulan,50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel : ++603 - 2072 2233 Fax : ++603 - 2072 2211 www.exww.com / www.expitris.com
Email: expitris@exww.com

*************************************

On top of the above training, I also received another free training invitation from National Instrument - LabVIEW.

LabVIEW Hands-On Seminar in June 2007 (Johor, Malaysia)

Synopsis
Discover the power of National Instruments LabVIEW™ the graphical development environment used by engineers and scientists in virtually every industry. Gain hands-on experience with LabVIEW and learn how LabVIEW graphical development helps you reduce development time and create flexible applications that easily integrate with a wide variety of I/O, getting you to your solution faster.

Don't miss this opportunity to find out more about this software that is revolutionizing test and measurement, data acquisition and control and process monitoring.

Date: 6 June 2007, Wednesday
Time: 2.00pm - 5.00pm
Venue: Sofitel Palm Resort

Allamanda 1 (Club House)
Off Jalan Jumbo
Senai, Johor 81250

Seminar Highlights
- Create a complete LabVIEW application from start to finish
- Develop flexible data acquisition solutions and learn about motion control and machine vision applications
- Control traditional IEEE 488 (GPIB) or serial instruments with LabVIEW instrument drivers
- Connect your application to the network to share information throughout your enterprise and across the Internet
- Use LabVIEW built-in analysis functions including signal processing, filtering, and curve-fitting
- Control a LabVIEW application across the Web - without any additional programming
- Explore various LabVIEW modules and toolsets that boost your productivity, including a test management environment, database connectivity, data logging, and real-time software
- Use the latest technologies, including ActiveX, XML, and multithreading, in your applications

3 Easy Ways to Register
1. Online Registration >> Click here

2. Contact us at Toll Free 1800-887710 or (603) 2070 7710

3. Email to asean.events@ni.com and with the following:

Name
Company
Tel/ Mobile
Email (if not on cc list)

For further info/inquiry, just contact them:

Toll-Free: 1800-887710
Fax: (603) 2078 7710
Email: asean.events@ni.com
Website: ni.com/asean

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Bleaching Earth Bag Support

Everyday is a different day at work in terms of the knowledge I acquired. Learning new things on a daily basis gets me excited. It's not necessary to learn high tech theoretical knowledge like heat transfer between plate heat exchanger or the reaction inside the distillation column. Sometimes, i learn simple stuffs too and that makes me say...."Ooooo, I never thought it was like that....." or ..."That's interesting, why I haven't pay attention on that....".

The past week, I have several assignments to do. One of them is to sketch/draw/design a rack to support a 850kg bleaching earth bag in order to convey them into the hopper on the top of the plant. We don't use bleaching earth bag all the time. We just keep them for back up. However, after a period of time (month++), we need to consume them before the bleaching earth activity and quality deteriorate. Currently, we use a forklift to lift the bag and pour the bleaching earth from the bottom of the bag into a small hopper. The process take 2-3 hours. Within those few hours, the forklift is only occupied for one job i.e. to support the bleaching earth bag and it could not be used for other jobs. To avoid this from repeating, a rack can act as a support for the bleaching earth bag. I made a drawing of the rack. However, in our maintenance meeting, my colleague suggested to use a metal pallet (for packing small drums) as a rack by positioning it upside down. Well, that's not a bad idea at all. I never thought or realized we have metal pellets even though I walk pass through the packing plant everyday.

What we have to do is just put the metal pallet upside down, and cut a circular hole on the center. Then we can place the bleaching earth bag on top of it with the small hopper underneath the upside down metal plate. The small hopper will then convey the bleaching earth to the plant to mix with oil.

Example of the bags that we'll place on top of the upside down metal pallet. There's an opening at the bottom of the bag to pour the bleaching earth. The opening and bleaching earth flow can be throttled by using a rope which comes together with the bag's bottom opening.

Maybe some of you are wondering what is bleaching earth?

Bleaching earth is a highly effective adsorbent essential in the refining process for the purification and decolourisation of edible and non-edible oils, fats, tallow, petroleum jelly, paraffin oil and waxes.

Bleaching Earths are special clays activated by physical or chemical processes. Natural clays are found in special strata and are subjected to various processes such as desegregation in water, treatment by sulphuric acid solutions, filtration, baking, grinding, etc. Efficiency of bleaching earth depends on selecting the right grade and proper blends of the basic raw material, Bentonite obtained from various mines.



Other things that I learned last week:
- PLC, cards, IO points, analog input, analog output, digital input, digital output.
- Blade for the gate valve for my bleaching earth silo have not been change since it was installed.
- Paint remover can be easily applied on a stainless steal pipe to remove paint. Hence the shiny colour of the pipe can be preserved and maintained.
- Rebellious staff in action after noticing he's leave application is rejected!
- Much more....I can recall it now....I'll share other simple and interesting stuff on this daily learning curve....

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Association Memberships

I'm a member of few associations. To name them:

-IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK) - Associate Member
-MOSTA (Malaysian Oil Scientist and Technologist Associations) - Member
-UKAN (United Kingdom Alumni Network) - Member
-Bradford University Alumni - Member
-Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Alumni - Member
-BOE (Board of Engineer, Malaysia) - I'm working my way to be a professional engineer

To tell you the truth, I'm not an active member of those associations mainly because I'm too fully occupied with my chemical/process engineering job. It's not easy for me to take leave and attend annual grand meeting or conferences etc. I'm not as flexible as my wife, who is a chemical engineering lecturer/researcher/consultant. However, I keep track on the activities and progress of those associations. It's good to attached ourself with professional associations because we are constantly updated with current news and events. This is very useful to establish our career and networking.

IChemE, MOSTA and BOE membership require some annual fee. For IChemE, luckily last year, they manage to form a local branch in Malaysia and the fees are charged in Ringgit Malaysia currency instead of Pound Sterling (which is more expansive for us....). I have not renewed my membership for IChemE and MOSTA this year. I need to do so as soon as possible.

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Chemical Engineers Commit to Green Ideals

Source: by James Murray, businessGreen

LONDON, May 21, 2007 -- The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) has released a major new report [PDF] detailing how its members can play a key role in developing more environmentally sustainable technologies and committing the international body to supporting the transition towards a low carbon economy.

As a statement of intent it is similar to that made by many other such groups in recent months, but what is significant about this report is that chemical and biochemical engineers not only have a central role to play in developing low carbon technologies, many of them also work for some of the world's most polluting companies.(MORE)

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Some Jobs For Chemical Engineers

I stumbled upon three engineering job vacancies and it might be a good offer for some of you. The first one is located in India, the second one in Malaysia and the third is in Saudi Arabia.
So far, I'm OK with my present job. I'm learning a lot in a daily basis. I'm only going to switch job after I think I've learned enough and need more challenge. What about you....?

If you're interested, you can check it out.

*****************
Title: Senior Flow Assurance/Process Engineer REQUIRED AT INDIA

Post Graduate or Graduate Degree in Chemical Engineering.
Minimum 15-20 years of relevant experience in multi-phase flow assurance/process engineering aspects; out of which 7 - 10 years should have been spent in subsea deepwater oil and gas development projects.

Posted date: 22 May 07
Closing date: 22July 07

Job location: Mumbai, India
Industry: Oil and gas
Nationality: Any
(See Details)

*****************
Title: Production/Process Executives MEGASTEEL SDN BHD, Malaysia

Manage and supervise a shift team in the daily operations of the plant and carry out process simulation, system improvement and plant modification

Requirements:
1. Degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Electronic/Industrial/Chemical Engineering and Pure Science
2. Strong process and equipment troubleshooting skills with knowledge of continuous running plant using DCS

Applicants are required to submit their detailed resume by 8th June 2007 to :

HR & Admin Department
MEGASTEEL SDN BHD
Lot 2319 Kawasan Perindustrian Olak Lempit
Mukim Tanjung Dua Belas
42700 Banting, Selangor

E-mail : hrp@megasteel.com.my (See Details)

*****************

Title: Training Consultant – Chemical Engineering and Refinery Process

Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery (SAMREF)

Provide training, coaching and consultation support to Samref employees in the area of Chemical and the Refinery Process.
Assist in the preparation and administration of the development programs in the area of specialty for engineers and non-engineers, as well as, university/college students. (MORE)

Requirements:
B.S. Chemical Engineering and Formal Training qualification. Master or PhD. Holder in preferred.

Specialized Knowledge:
Refinery process, maintenance and operations. Communication abilities, both written and verbal. Computer skills and good knowledge in engineering software. Course design, develop and conduct.

Previous Experience Required:
10 years refinery/petrochemical overseas experience (preferably Middle-East), seven (7) years of which as an instructor.

Working Knowledge to be Acquired on the job:
To be able to do refinery related T & CD work assignments. To provide Saudi engineers and other Refinery professional employees with technical training tailored for various job targets. (MORE)

About the company

SAMREF is an equally owned joint venture between Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) and Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation).

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) is the worlds largest oil producing and exporting company and was established by Royal Decree in 1988 to assume the responsibilities of its predecessor, Aramco that has a history dating back more than 70 years.

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) is the worlds largest oil producing and exporting company and was established by Royal Decree in 1988 to assume the responsibilities of its predecessor, Aramco that has a history dating back more than 70 years.(MORE)

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Big Cash Awaits Chemical Engineering Graduates

Few days ago, I stumbled across a very interesting article (from Oklahama City Community College site) for chemical engineers. The article was written by David Miller and reveal how good chemical engineers a being paid in comparison with other engineering fields. Read the following article:

Students with plans to complete a bachelor’s degree after leaving OCCC will find that some fields are more lucrative than others.

Salaries in fields such as accounting, computer science, engineering and marketing are steadily rising for those holding a bachelor’s degree. OCCC offers associate degrees in each of those areas.

According to CNNMoney.com, engineering majors are paid the most, followed by marketing, accounting and computer science majors.

In the engineering field, chemical engineers are the most sought after in respect to salary offers. Offers being made to chemical engineers have increased 5.6 percent over the last year to an annual salary of $59,707, according to a study conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

In addition, offers being made to civil and mechanical engineers rose by approximately 5 percent.

OCCC offers a pre-engineering degree, which enables an engineering major to branch out into any engineering field offered by four-year colleges such as the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.

“In [OCCC’s] pre-engineering program, there are basic engineering science-type courses … Thermodynamics, Rigid Body Mechanics, Strengths and Properties of Materials, and Engineering Practice I,” said Max Simmons, science and mathematics dean.

“All of those can be the fundamental things you need to go on and take the higher-level courses and become an engineer.”

According to NACE, electrical engineering follows chemical engineering with an annual salary of $54,915, up 1.6 percent from 2006. Mechanical engineering is a close third with an annual salary of $54,695, up 5.7 percent from 2006. Although last, civil engineers still make a decent salary at $47,750 per year, up 4.8 percent from last year (MORE).

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