Relief Valves

RELIEF VALVES & MAINTAINING OSHA REGULATIONS We’ve recently seen an uptick in the number of clients asking for support to complete the PSM (process safety management) documentation and calculations for relief valves. Although the reasons for the recent compliance efforts vary, we thought it would be worthwhile to review the regulations and requirements OHSA has established

FOREIGN-MADE THERMAL OXIDIZERS: LESSONS LEARNED Purchasing and installing a thermal oxidizer is a common solution for manufacturing facilities that need to neutralize toxic air emissions. We recently installed a foreign-made thermal-oxidizer for a client and encountered several issues that we thought would be worthwhile to share with others considering a similar solution. Consider these as lessons

STEVE FREITAS ON A LONG TERM CLIENT “We just want you to provide a P&ID for our new process.  Please provide accompanying line sizing and pipe specifications.  Also, please provide instrumentation specifications and purchasing for all automated instruments, as well as updated programming and control system modifications.  We will take care of equipment purchasing, as well as the

DCS SELECTION, DISTRIBUTED CONTROL SYSTEMS Why would you choose one brand/model of DCS over another. At SPEC we have used, (for various reasons) Emerson DeltaV, with and without S88 Batch ABB 800XA, batch Siemens PCS7, non-batch (All the flagship products of leading companies) They each have their advantages and disadvantages: Price – Due to the

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SUPPORTS NEW ELECTRIC & HYBRID CAR TECHNOLOGIES The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), recently awarded 2.4 billion dollars in stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to, “accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of the next generation of U.S. batteries and electric vehicles”. The goal of the stimulus money was

SOLAR POWERED ENERGY: EVOLVING TECHNOLOGY IN PHOTOVOLTAICS First Generation, or Crystalline Silicon- Crystalline silicon has historically been the favorite material for solar cells, even though it’s not a great light absorber, and it needs to be several hundred microns thick to work properly (which creates high materials costs). Crystalline silicon is not only expensive but also