1. Panamerican Consulting International, Ltd.

Located in the United States, it is in charge of sales engineering, contract negotiations and overall direction of all projects.

2. CONPANCOL Ingenieros Constructores S.A.S.

Located in Cali, Colombia, it has carried out the engineering and design of Panamerican plants in many countries of the world. It is also engaged in the procurement and construction of Panamerican plants in that country. In addition, it has a steel plate work shop which has supplied equipment for projects in Colombia and other countries.

With a staff of managers, engineers, designers, procurement and construction personnel located in many countries of the world, Panamerican offers a full complement of services including:

The main objective of the Panamerican Group is to provide the Customer with the most plant for the money at a guaranteed low cost by means of the following steps:

DESIGN – with simplicity, keeping in mind that our Customers are in remote areas of the under developed countries.

ENGINEERING – purchasing proven equipment on the basis of our long experience and with no frills added.

MANPOWER – maximum utilization of local engineering and construction with experienced supervisors from our permanent staff.

OPERATION – extra special emphasis is placed on preparation for and, actual start-up operations by skilled technicians and engineers from our permanent staff.

The Panamerican Group has a long history of providing engineering services overseas. Through its engineering office it has provided technical services for projects both at home and in sister countries.

It has always been the policy of the Panamerican Group to purchase as much local equipment as possible. Our office in Colombia among others have provided these services for many projects over the years. This history and the experience gained from it makes our organization exceptionally qualified to perform under present world conditions. Presently, more and more under developed nations are manufacturing and assembling major equipment items for the chemical industry.

Our long experience in working overseas has prompted us to set up our own steel plate work fabricating facilities in many countries. By this means we have been able to assure ourselves of the best deliveries and quality of fabricated steel equipment. These shops located in countries such as Colombia among others, have provided equipment for plants in their respective countries and adjacent countries. One shop, located in the free zone of Barranquilla, Colombia, fabricated all of the equipment for a sulfuric acid plant located on the Amazon River.

Panamerican was licensed by other major technology vendors for several years but now uses its own proprietary design that is based on time tested and proven technologies (Panamerican has over 50 years of experience building and operating acid plants) but also incorporates state of the art advancements where justified.

Panamerican’s technology is kept current with their continuing involvement in operating plants – in several of which they have part ownership. Panamerican’s design is characterized by:

1. Maximum practical simplicity as compared to other plants which are usually more complex and more difficult to operate or relies too heavily on stainless steel materials of construction resulting in a higher capital requirement.

2. Attention to details of construction such as firebrick and anti-acid brick linings. Panamerican places a great deal of importance on the quality and integrity of brick work.

3. Use of the best available equipment and materials based on Panamerican’s experience.

4. Avoidance of experiments at the customer’s expense.

5. Use of the best available catalyst based on Panamerican’s and the clients experience. Panamerican’s experience lately in operating plants has led us to the realization that there are catalysts on the market today of equal or better quality than Monsanto catalyst and more competitively priced.

6. Heat recovery system. The following is a brief summary of the design features that can be offered in order to maximize the export of steam:

• a. High SO2 gas strength. A gas strength up to 12%, an SO2 conversion equal to 99.7%, a 3 + 2 converter, and high activity catalyst result in a more energy efficient plant. The capital cost reductions due to the higher gas strength can offset the cost of the fifth catalyst pass.
• b. Economizers. Process heat from the gasses leaving the converter and entering the absorption towers can be recovered before it is lost to the circulating acid. The value of the additional energy recovered could justify the additional capital cost.
• c. Suction drying tower. The heat of compression from the blower is recovered rather than lost to the circulating acid.
• d. Low pressure drop. Compared to plants built in the 70’s, there are now several areas where pressure drop has been significantly reduced. Some of these areas are:
  * i) Low pressure drop catalyst. Ring type catalyst have largely supplanted the pellet type catalyst resulting in pressure drops 40-50% lower.
  * ii) Efficient gas heat exchangers. Computer programs facilitate the optimum sizing of exchangers – reducing pressure drop.
  * iii) Low pressure drop mist eliminators. Newer mist eliminator designs operate at the same efficiency but with a 20% reduction in pressure drop.
  * The latter improvements have resulted in reduced energy consumption without any increase in capital costs, and are normally included in all plants built recently. In other areas, the technology and the computer programs are available to design a plant with lower pressure drop and balance the operating and capital costs.

7. Acid heat recovery system. The design features discussed above have resulted in an increase in recovered heat from 55% to about 70%. An additional 20-25% can be recovered from the circulating acid system. This involves the introduction of a heat recovery tower in the gas stream between the economizer and the absorbing tower. The hot concentrated circulating acid is cooled by generating steam in a boiler.