CDI Engineering Adds Process Technology Services
The new center will focus on reactor technology consulting, including design and construction of customized loop reactors to enhance gas and liquid reactions. CDI Engineering currently provides process simulation, 3D modeling, detail engineering, procurement, plant construction, and start-up.
It also licenses (in North and South America) proprietary oxoalcohol, low-density polyethylene, and chloralkali technology developed by its UK-based partner, Simon-Carves. "Our proprietary technology for process output for oxoalcohol is unique because it is flexible enough to meet different production needs," says CDI Engineering Group technology GM Urs Geser.
CDI Engineering Group is part of CDI Corp., a large, publicly traded staffing and outsourcing agency that emphasizes technical, information technology, professional, and administrative personnel.
The engineering group has expanded rapidly in recent years. It recently launched a specialized pharmaceutical division headquartered in Philadelphia.
In November 1998, it acquired Herzog-Hart Corp. (Boston), an EPC firm specializing in the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical industries. Herzog-Hart's strengths included process design, object-oriented engineering, 3D project visualization, and the reuse of engineering data.
It recently received a contract for an 80 million lb/yr butanediol-to-tetrahydrofuran (THF) expansion from Penn Specialty Chemicals Inc., for the company's plant in Memphis, TN (see Penn Specialty Awards Construction Contract to CDI). In February, it completed a $35 million pharmaceutical intermediates expansion in Conshohocken, PA, for specialty chemical maker Lonza Inc.
Recent project wins have included a 190,000 sq ft biotech research, manufacturing, and distribution facility for Qiagen Sciences, and an expansion of a sterile surgical gauze plant for the Noramco subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
For more information: CDI Engineering Group Inc., 1717 Arch St., 36th Fl., Philadelphia, PA 19103. Tel: 215-569-2200. Fax: 215-751-1789.
By Alan S. Brown