Rotork Schischek ExMax explosionproof actuators have been selected to assist the production of biogas for district heating systems in the German city of Munich.  Biogas is produced during the effluent treatment process at the city’s largest waste water plant Klaerwerk Gut Grosslappen, situated close to the world famous Munich Allianz Arena, home to Bayern Munich football club.

The ExMax actuators have been installed in the digester and fermentation tanks, where all electrical equipment must be approved for use in hazardous areas. Built inside four large towers, the fermentation tanks mix the waste at a defined temperature to produce the biogas. For optimum performance the inner tank temperature must be maintained at 38ºC. Six ExMax actuators are installed in an area known as the lamp at the top of each tower for the operation of air dampers to balance the inside temperature with fluctuating ambient temperatures on the outside.

Factors favouring the Rotork Schischek products for this application include their compact size, ease of installation, standardised connections and Zone 1 hazardous area explosionproof certification. In addition Rotork Schischek has developed established relationships with the damper OEM, local engineering companies and the end user.

All Rotork Schischek products are manufactured with colour coding to indicate at a glance the appropriate hazardous or non-hazardous area of application. Yellow denotes hazardous Zones 1, 2, 21 and 22, red denotes hazardous Zones 2 and 22 and green denotes non-hazardous areas only

What is a clamp meter and what can it do? What measurements can be made with a clamp meter? How do you get the most out of a clamp meter? Which clamp meter is best suited to the environment the meter will be used in? The answers to these questions can be found in this application note.

With technological advances in electrical equipment and circuits come more challenges for electricians and technicians. These advances not only require more capability in today’s test equipment, but more skills on the part of the people who use them. An electrician who has a good grounding in the fundamentals of test equipment use will be better prepared for today’s testing and troubleshooting challenges. The clamp meter is a important and common tool found in the tool boxes of electricians and technicians alike.

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Case Study: The three projects – Queensland Curtis LNG, Santos GLNG and Australia Pacific LNG - are developing coal seam gas in Queensland’s Surat and Bowen Basins. Hundreds of kilometres of pipelines will link the natural gas production wells on the Queensland mainland with a world-class LNG production plant under construction on Curtis Island, which will initially produce more than twenty seven million tonnes of LNG for export each year. These coal seam gas projects are centred on a clean and efficient energy source with half the carbon dioxide emissions of coal.

For the upstream mainland wellheads, HART-enabled Rotork CVA modulating electric actuators have been ordered for process valve control at an eventual total of 2000 widely distributed sites. In addition to the natural gas, CVA actuators will also control the flow on the extraction process for coal seam water. This resource will be treated for use by agricultural and industrial customers as well as supplementing domestic water supplies.

CVA actuators deliver continuous, repeatable modulating control with a programmable fail to position option. Resolution, repeatability and hysteresis performance is quoted at less than 0.1% of full scale, offering suitability for the most demanding control valve applications. Among other advantages, innovative CVA electric actuation removes the expense of installing and maintaining instrument air supplies at these remote sites, where the pressure of the gas itself is too low to provide a viable source for actuator operation. CVAs are also preferred because electric actuation eliminates the release of any environmentally harmful gas into the atmosphere during valve operations.

Nearly 1000 Rotork Skilmatic SI and EH range electro-hydraulic actuators have been ordered for control valves, shutdown valves, wellhead skids and metering skids. These self-contained actuators combine the simplicity and convenience of electrical operation with the modulating precision of hydraulic actuation and the reliability of mechanical failsafe motion. Designed to SIL3 standards for use in safety critical applications, Skilmatic actuators are also programmable for partial stroke testing, enabling valves to be tested without interrupting routine processes.

The orders for Rotork electric actuators are completed with IQ actuators for various isolating valve automation duties. All the Rotork electric actuator ranges feature advanced and user-friendly non-intrusive programming and commissioning technologies, combined with integral data logging, diagnostics and asset management capabilities.

The balance of Rotork orders on this giant project involves fluid power actuators for the pipeline and the LNG plants on Curtis Island. The majority of these are CP and GP range pneumatic actuators operating butterfly valves on LNG production lines. The actuators are customised with control packages to meet specific operating duties, including SIL2 and SIL3 applications.

Tight blending specifications are required to make gasoline at the most reasonable cost. On-line analysis provides crucial information to prevent product giveaway and reprocessing. Susan Harris with PAC, and Randy Ridge with Marathon Petroleum, co-presented the “Comparative On-Line Atmospheric Distillation and Total Sulfur Analysis Methods in the Gasoline Blender” paper at this year’s ISA A&D 2013 symposium. This paper presents a technology discussion for total sulfur analysis and determining distillation boiling points in the gasoline blender, including:

• How lab and process data correlations are interpreted and best practices, including a discussion of ASTM methods

• How tight monitoring can help the process and improve profitability

• What issues occur when transitioning to process control

• How to optimize sampling and specific installations

Click to download Paper from PAC