Most Recent

• Does Your Existing SIS Get the Job Done?

  By Angela E. Summers, SIS-TECH Solutions

  Grandfathering of safety instrumented systems (SISs) is no longer limited to the U.S. standard. ISA has accepted the 2nd edition of IEC 61511, “Functional Safety — Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector,” as the replacement for the current U.S. national standard, ANSI/ISA…

  Full Story

• Canadian Refinery Recycles All Its Wastewater

  By John Elliott, SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions

  Federated Co-operatives Limited’s Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) in Regina, Sask., is one of Canada’s largest and most productive refineries. The complex originally was established in the 1930s by a group of eight farmers as a more economical way to supply fuel to a small chain of Saskatchewan…

  Full Story

• Dirty CMMS Data Thwarts Efforts

  By Steve Cyr, Emerson

  Organizational data has become an essential tool for industrial manufacturers that want to remain productive and profitable. New applications coming to organizations offer the ability to leverage critical plant data interconnected with cloud-based technologies for process improvement, greater…

  Full Story

• Deter Difficulties with Instrument Air Dryers

  By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

  Instrument air dryers are a necessary part of the compressed air system in a typical chemical plant. These devices and their associated filters remove water and lubricant from the compressed air that goes to sensitive instrumentation and control actuators. Such dryers act to pull down the dew point…

  Full Story

• Consider Open-Rack Seawater Heat Exchangers

  By Amin Almasi, mechanical consultant

  Heat exchangers that use seawater are common worldwide because they provide a compelling benefit — seawater is a free heat-transfer medium that doesn’t produce emissions. The units exchange heat between a process fluid (cryogenic or hot) and seawater of ambient temperature. In warm sea…

  Full Story

• Powder Handling: Develop Drying Curves

  By Tom Blackwood, Contributing Editor

  When faced with a drying problem at a plant, the first thing I ask for is a drying curve. Often, people will look at me as if I have three heads —sometimes grumbling: “Why do we need that? We know that drying the material completely takes twenty minutes.” A drying curve can serve several…

  Full Story