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Date Published:
27 January 2017

Volume 5, Issue 1


Dropping the hammer

Feature
Cheshire, UK-based T-T Flow has an innovative approach to preventing the damaging effects of water hammer, which has seen the company win contracts from water authorities across the globe. The non-slam design of the recoil swing check valve can prevent the problems associated with sudden changes in flow rate. Water hammer is a pressure surge or wave caused by either a sudden closure of a valve in... [read more]

An early bird saves in costs

Feature
Weir Flow Control is a global solutions provider for the power, industrial, oil and gas, and mineral sectors. Consisting of eight businesses around the world, Weir produces 14 brands of valves, actuators, and pumps while also providing asset management services. In the UK, Weir's facility in Alloa, Scotland, is one of the UK's largest engineering facilities at 124,000ft2 and is dedicated... [read more]

A year of light and shadows

Feature
Building business associations is a widespread practice in Spain. The associations’ paramount objective is the defence and strengthening of their represented sector. There are many associations in the country,as the industrial base is wide enough to organise different sectors around associations or clusters (fluid handling equipment, machine tools, telecommunications, and software, among... [read more]

Protect your pumps

Feature
Regardless of the pulping methods, paper mill pumps are put under immense strain due to the transfer of viscous material throughout the pulping process. Together, the sludge and slurries combine a high solids content, copious amounts of entrained air, and often processing chemicals used to extract the cellulose from the wood fibre. This resulting combination can cause issues associated with... [read more]

An attractive solution

Feature
The use of magnets, both weak and strong, is a proven technology in several professional and industrial sectors. One of them happens to be fluid handling, where magnets are used in break-away couplings, magnetic bearings, valves, and other pieces of equipment. Now magnets are also being brought to scaffolding construction. Scaffolding is employed to get workers up to hard-to-reach areas... [read more]

For the better of all

Feature
There is currently a trend in the fluid handling industry, as in so many others worldwide, to become more environmentally and socially conscious in the face of global climate change and international agreements, such as the Paris climate agreement of 2015. Equipment manufacturers throughout oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, general industrial, and many others are constantly looking for... [read more]

Never alone

Feature
In all areas of industry where measurement of the flow of fluids is important, flowmeters effectively act as cash registers – they directly measure the revenue being accrued by the operating company from the export and sale of produced fluids. Therefore, to reduce levels of financial exposure, it is important that the metering systems are very accurate. This is especially true with the... [read more]

Crude oil measurement systems for custody transfer

Feature
Of the many products that are bought and sold based on flow rate measurements, liquid hydrocarbons provide us with unique challenges because of the wide range of physical and chemical properties that exist in the various products. Variations in chemical compositions lead to risks such as wax build-up, metal corrosion, or the degradation of elastomer seals. For measurement transfer systems, the... [read more]

Many players, one goal

Feature
In liquefied natural gas (LNG) transfer, diversity is the norm. From traditional import and export terminals to floating storage regasification units (FSRUs), LNG barges and LNG carriers (LNGCs), LNG connections and transfers vary substantially. The LNG market is changing rapidly, and new opportunities are bringing new entrants into the game. For each of these applications and stakeholders, there... [read more]

Driving toward actuation success

Feature
Looking back with nostalgia on early driving days as a teenager and young adult in the 1970s and 1980s, the first cars were generally used cars and relatively inexpensive. As such, they required a lot of maintenance. It was not uncommon in those days to see drivers and their broken-down cars on the side of the road in need of rescue. Engine overheating, carburettor problems, broken V-belts, and... [read more]

Engineering control valves to handle black powder duty

Feature
Black powder is a common iron sulphide contaminant of sales gas pipelines in the Middle East. It clogs and erodes valves, leading to flow losses and reduced process control. One Middle East oil and gas operator was facing significant challenges associated with this contaminant. Some of the operator's pressure control valves (PCVs) were failing after just 44 days in service due to rapid erosion of... [read more]

The next generation

Feature
Fugitive emissions is a concern across all facets of the fluid handling industry. The effects it poses to the environment, employees' health, and the manufacturers' bottom line is troubling, and it is no secret that governing agencies around the world are tightening up on policies and regulations surrounding allowable emissions levels. These challenges, combined with greater production demands,... [read more]

Ball or small?

Feature
In oil and gas, petrochemicals, and other demanding industries, flowmeters need to be calibrated (i.e., "proved") to ensure accurate readout and measurement. Flowmeter accuracy is right at the heart of critical applications like custody transfer and legal metrology – making selection of the right calibration and verification system vital. While ball provers (also known as pipe provers) are... [read more]

Caught in the flow

Feature
A Colorado energy producer is taking advantage of new Coriolis mass flowmeter technology that ensures both stable and uninterrupted measurements of oil with high gas content. Denver-based Bonanza Creek Energy is an exploration and production company focused on extracting oil and associated liquids-rich natural gas in the US. The company has operations in Colorado's Denver-Julesburg Basin, a major... [read more]

A fluid situation: sustainability in compressors

Feature
The COP21 meeting in Paris was a seismic event that will have a huge effect on sustainability. Future legislation and guidelines are likely to be shaped by what was decided at the conference. Rob Jenkinson, director of corporate sustainability at engineering company SKF, says the agreement reached in Paris must now lead to a raft of sensible and challenging legislation – introducing the... [read more]