Volume 6 Issue 5 Justin C. Abnee; Co-Editor March 2000
NEWSLETTER OF THE EAST TENNESSEE SECTION OF AIChE
On-line at: http://www.geocities.com/aiche_etenn/aiche.html
MARCH MEETING – "The Civil War as the First Modern War"
Our next AIChE Meeting will be held on March 13, 2000, starting at 7:00 PM at the Eastman Lodge (located near the entrance to Bays Mountain Park). Our speaker will be Dr. James I. "Bud" Robertson, Alumni Distinguished Professor of History and Director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech. Dr. Robertson is an outstanding lecturer, has written numerous books about the Civil War (including the Pulitzer-nominated "Soldiers Blue and Gray" and his latest book, "Stonewall Jackson: The Man, The Soldier, The Legend", which has won eight national awards), appears regularly on the Arts & Entertainment Network, the History Channel, and on public radio and television, and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to serve as Executive Director of the U. S. Civil War Centennial Commission. Dr. Robertson has been recognized as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the Civil War and has received every major award given in the field of Civil War history. Mark your calendars now and plan to attend; you will not want to miss it. Feel free to invite family members or other guests to attend. To help with seating arrangements, please inform David Denton (229-6559 or mailto:dldenton@mounet.com ) prior to March 10 if you plan to attend. [However, you can still attend if unable to notify David by March 10.]
The topic and abstract of Dr. Robertson's presentation are as follows:
"The Civil War as the First Modern War"
How the Civil War was being fought in 1865 was 500 years in advance of how the conflict was waged at its onset in 1861. The Industrial Revolution in America at that time wrought many breakthrough advances in technology, manufacturing, science, and engineering. Because of new weapons and greater killing power, soldiers of blue and gray were killed or maimed to a degree never before seen in warfare. It forever changed the way wars would be fought. At the same time, this new technology ultimately led to numerous advances to benefit mankind. The Civil War brought this nation into modern times - but at a terrible cost.
Date: March 13, 2000
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: Eastman Lodge
David Denton
Local Section to Tour Lab Glass Plant
Have you ever wondered how some of the complex, custom glassware used at Eastman is created? REAL laboratory and pilot plant distillation columns made out of glass -- with REAL (glass) trays!!! If so, please join us on a tour of Lab Glass, Inc. While they may not be creating a distillation column at the time, they can show us how custom glassware is blown, silvered and evacuated (for vacuum insulation). Lab Glass has kindly agreed to show us their facilities on Tuesday, April 4, 2000 over lunch. Even more graciously, Lab Glass has offered to provide a light lunch. If you are interested in attending this tour, please contact Richard Colberg (mailto:rcolberg@intermediatn.net or phone 229-3184) by Friday, March 24. We must provide a headcount to Lab Glass to help them prepare for the tour. Space may be limited.
What: Lab Glass Tour
When: 12:00-1:30 PM, Tuesday, April 4, 2000
How: Contact Richard Colberg by Friday, March 24.
Richard Colberg
April AIChE Meeting – Windows 2000
On April 11, Mr. P. J. Grinsell (CEO of Bailey Computing Technologies, Inc.) will present a program on the new Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Windows 2000 will be the operating system used for all Eastman desktop computers at the next upgrade. With Microsoft in turmoil with the government, the company released Windows 2000 with a bit less publicity than the Windows 95 release. However, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are betting their company's future on this new product. Mr. Grinsell will demonstrate some of the new features Windows 2000 presents. He will also talk about key factors that will determine the success of Windows 2000 and ultimately that of Microsoft. The meeting will be held in the new Multimedia Room (Rm 201C) in Eastman’s Research Laboratories from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM on April 11.
David Denton
AIChE February Meeting Recap
Root Cause Failure Analysis of Eastman Steam Rupture/Power Outage
At approximately 1:07 PM on November 3, 1998, a 12" branch 600 lb. steam line on a pipe bridge near the center of the Tennessee Eastman Division (TED) plant ruptured catastrophically. A 36" long section of the line upstream of a decommissioned venturi flow meter failed, resulting in a major steam leak. The leak led to the loss of 600-lb. header pressure throughout the plant, resulting in the shutdown of all steam generation equipment, and the loss of production throughout most of the TED facility for a period of 5-7 days. Because this incident occurred in a section of steam piping over 30 years old, immediate concerns focused around the vulnerability of the entire network to similar failures.
Pete Lodal, Group Leader of Eastman’s Technical Services Section within the Plant Protection Department, discussed the accident investigation team’s response to the emergency and root caused failure analysis (RCFA). After inspecting the scene of the accident and examining the ruptured pipe sections, some team members initially thought the leak was caused by condensate erosion thinning the pipe. However, after locating an instrument spec for the venturi flow meter and a more careful examination of the pipe the team realized the rupture pipe section had been bored to provide a smooth, uniform diameter upstream of the flow meter. Likewise, the surface thinning was uniform with the thickest portion at the bottom with gradual thinning occurring around the perimeter to the thinnest point at the top. Inspection of the pipe section by a master machinist and detailed layout drawings confirmed the pipe section had been bored with the axis of the pipe tilted slightly causing the top section to be gouged thinner. A nondestructive test device has been located to allow inspection of insulated piping to check pipe wall thicknesses other similar venturi flow meters in the plant.
John Aycock
AIChE National Membership Committee
Why did you join AIChE? What keeps you in AIChE?
Ever questioned what benefits you're getting for the dues you pay?
Thinking about resigning? If so, why?
Two of your Local Section members, Richard Colberg and David Denton, have agreed to serve on National AIChE's Membership Committee. The Membership Committee is concerned with recruitment and retention of chemical engineers to the Institute. You can help us provide feedback to National AIChE by thinking about the following:
What are you looking for as a member of AIChE?
Which national or local AIChE programs and benefits are most important to you? Least important to you?
What would you like to see AIChE do, at the national or local level, that it does not do now?
If you have any thoughts regarding these questions or other feedback you'd like to provide to National AIChE, please contact Richard Colberg (mailto:rcolberg@intermediatn.net or phone 229-3184) or David Denton (mailto:dldenton@mounet.com or phone 229-6559). Feedback is welcome at any time, but responses received by Monday, March 6, can be discussed at the next Membership Committee meeting.
Richard Colberg
Eastman & Northeast State Visit John Sevier Middle School
During the entire month of February engineers all over the country visit area middle schools and high schools. Northeast State Technical Community College (NSTCC) combined forces with Eastman Chemical Company (ECC) to form a unique Discover "E" team to visit John Sevier Middle School (JSMS). The engineering team consisted of Eastman’s engineers Rick Virost, Juan Moya, and Thomas Yount and Northeast State’s professor Dr. Mark Pollock and engineering student Boyd Brownfield.
Friday morning (2-4-2000) from 8:00am to noon, our engineering team visited the entire eight grade class (3 laboratory classrooms, involving 10 classes averaging 30 students/class, reaching about 300 students). The visit was carefully planned and coordinated with JSMS science teachers Jim Metcalf, Libby Harbin, and Audrey Hughes. Boyd Brownfield and I made a pre-visit on Wednesday (2-2-2000) afternoon to meet everyone, see the 3 rooms, and make final arrangements. This year we tried something different. Rather than having engineers stay in a single classroom all morning, we devised a rotating scheme. Each of us spent about 10 to 15 minutes in each room, moving to all rooms before each class ended. In this way, all students got to meet all of us and to see all of our demonstrations. The time flew by because everyone was having so much fun!
We know that our visit created a lot excitement and enthusiasm for mathematics, science, and engineering. We like to imagine that our visit catalyzed and energized the JSMS MathCounts2000 Team, which did very well in the COUNTDOWN Round and won the 1st Place Team Round. Dr. Pollock and another NSTCC engineering student, Lucas Harrison, were among the many volunteers helping at the MathCounts2000 competition held at Sullivan South High School, Saturday (2-5-2000). We celebrate our nation’s youth as we celebrate National Engineers’ Week!
M. A. Pollock
Officers, Directors, and Support Staff for East Tennessee Section of AIChE
Chair: David Denton 229-6559
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Program Committee Chair: David Hitch 229-5398
Secretary: Brian Joyner 229-6193
Treasurer: Richard Colberg 229-3184
Directors: Joe Bays 229-5854
Joe Parker 229-3850
Mark Harrison 229-4861
Local Section Webmaster: Tim Nolen 229-8287
AIChE Pipeline Newsletter Editors: Justin Abnee 229-5513
Jennifer Mize 224-7018
ETEAC Representatives: Beth Alderson 229-8163
Vera Williams McGill 224-0959
Roy Conn 229-2642
Please feel free to contact any of the above as needed and as appropriate. Let your officers and/or directors know if you have any ideas to help our section better serve its members or if you have program ideas for next year.