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Date Published:
06 February 2015

Volume 3, Issue 1


Prepared for fluid handling

Feature
Power station steam turbines have a tough job. They are exposed for prolonged periods to steam at temperatures of up to 700°C and pressures up to 300 bar. At those temperatures and pressures, the advanced alloys used to make the thousands of turbine blades are highly susceptible to erosion, corrosion and deposition of materials. This is not a problem where pure H2O is concerned – it is... [read more]

Underwater clean up

Feature
For several years Aberdeen-based HPR UK has provided a one-stop shop for remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and ancillary equipment, experienced pilots and survey engineers to carry out inspection projects where the use of divers could be time and safety prohibitive. Amongst its range of specialist services are ‘hi-flo/hi-pressure’ systems for cleaning marine growth from structures to... [read more]

Keeping up with the flow

Feature
Fluid handling technologies have to keep up with ever more sophisticated and efficient processes in the chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical, waste/wastewater, and food and beverage industries. Flotronic Pumps is the only Britishowned manufacturer of AODD pumps in the UK. Fluid Handling asked the company’s sales director, Leighton Jones, to name five ‘mandatory’ developments for... [read more]

Valve testing in practice and why

Feature
Fugitive emissions (FE) are emissions of gases or vapours from pressurised equipment due to leaks and various other unintended or irregular releases of gases, mostly from industrial activities. As well as the economic cost of lost commodities, fugitive emissions contribute to air pollution and climate change, and present a risk to employees. For example, hydrogen fluoride, which is extremely... [read more]

Valve maintenance

Feature
As production and utility plant areas prepare for upcoming maintenance turnarounds (TAR), outages, and shut-downs, effective planning can save time and curtail expenses associated with the testing, repair, and replacement of control valves within the plant’s total valve population. Effective planning is also a key component to smoothly managing both internal maintenance employees and... [read more]

Valve control

Feature
Adopted for valve control across a range of industrial installations, electric actuators are often located behind the scenes and, as such, are frequently the unsung heroes of automation processes. Actuators, which convert signals into mechanical motion, provide essential control for fluid handling processes. Despite their low profile, the functionality offered plays a key role operating large... [read more]

In favour of actuators

Feature
The electric and pneumatic actuators of today deliver safe, reliable, hardworking and truly efficient solutions for modern process automation. They have become an integral part of process control, offering functionality that would be difficult to achieve using more traditional, manual valve systems. Offering the user a cost-effective, single source of on/off and analogue control, actuated valves... [read more]

Release the time and cost pressure: gauging the benefits of rupture discs over valves

Feature
Saving downtime and associated costs is a major part of managing costs, known to significantly increase efficiency and profitability across many industry sectors. Most modern process plants now implement pressure control equipment to monitor developments within their increasingly complex systems. To ensure the plant remains safe, it is now essential to also proactively manage variations in this... [read more]

What does not fit is made to fit

Feature
Transmitters are used in plant construction in numerous applications. For example, they detect the pressure or differential pressure in oil and gas pipelines and other process lines. However, in contrast to a pure measuring device, they not only show the pressure but process the measured values further – the measured input signal is converted into an output signal in the transmitter via... [read more]

Radar benefits are out in the open

Feature
The inland waterways of the East Riding of Yorkshire are important for many reasons, including navigation, recreation and trade, as well as being a key part of the ‘ecological infrastructure’, providing crucial corridors of green space and a refuge for important wildlife. Inland waterways additionally provide a crucial flood risk management function as part of the land drainage... [read more]

Levelling up

Feature
Level measurement equipment is arguably the most important instrumentation for large storage tanks. Storage is at a premium, and making the best use of it at a terminal is what the business is all about. And, while some terminals still rely on manual processes for level measurements, the argument for automatic tank gauging has largely been won. The benefits for terminal operators integrating... [read more]

The pressure to conform

Feature
The early 1960s was a period of significant engineering advancement. In the UK, the Forth Road Bridge was opened to link Fife and Edinburgh, the British Motor Corporation launched the Austin 1800, which went on to become European Car of the Year, and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin became the first and only British woman to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry for her work using X-rays to determine structure... [read more]

Seals and safety

Feature
The UK petrochemical and chemical industry has been implementing higher safety standards at new and existing plants since 2009, following recommendations agreed with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the wake of major refinery accidents in the UK and US. Due to the nature of fluids stored at refineries, petrochemical and chemical sites, pipe seals must be able to withstand substantial... [read more]

Bearing isolator seals - an ideal way to reduce TLC and MTTR costs

Feature
As the name suggests, bearing isolator seals are primarily used to protect often the most expensive components in any rotating plant and equipment – the bearings. They utilise labyrinth technology with other methods to protect bearings from contamination ingress and lubrication egress. There are many other dynamic seal types available which, at first glance, can provide the same function as... [read more]

Hot or cold - don't forget to top up

Feature
Every 12 months, the heat transfer fluid in a system can lose between 3-5% of its volume due to system venting. This represents the ‘breathing out’ of light ends in the form of a gas that is produced as the result of thermal cracking. This loss can have a serious impact on operational costs. While the decrease of thermal fluid volume cannot be avoided, it is easily treated. The... [read more]