Blogs

ITT has launched the Fabri-Valve S16, an urethane lined knife gate valve. The valves aim to provide an economical solution for abrasive and corrosive applications requiring large diameter valves. In addition, ITT has added flat face flange models to its line of Fabri-Valve® XS150-ULV Valves.

The S16 includes ITT's perimeter sealing technology, a sealing design which is aimed to provide zero discharge, bi-directional and drip tight shutoff performance. Although the S16 was specifically designed for gypsum and limestone slurries found in Flue Gas Desulfurization(FGD), ITT hope that its features will also be desirable in numerous abrasive and corrosive process slurry applications.

Atlas Copco has announced that it will run a worldwide 'roadshow' to showcase its new GA 90-160 kW range of energy-efficient oil-injected compressors. The company claims the range's Specific Energy Requirement (SER) is the best performer on the market, using up to 11% less electricity than the previous GA models.

The roadshow will start in Antwerp, Belgium on 4 June and will be followed by events in North America, South America and Asia , and will offer visitors the possibility to view, in 3D, the GA range.

A new generation of flowmeters for water and wastewater treatment applications has been launched by ABB. According to the company, the WaterMaster flowmeter range brings a host of advanced features and functionality, including superior measurement capabilities, designed to operate more efficiently, reduce costs and increase profitability.

One of these features is the WaterMaster's octagonal sensor design. The design brings the sensor closer to the ideal square sensor geometry without the inherent problems of stresses caused at the four corners.

By improving the flow profile, the octagonal design minimises the upstream and downstream pipe lengths required from the point of installation, greatly reducing the cost of fitting the meters into new or existing pipelines.

Donaldson Company has improved its TriboguardT line of industrial hydraulics filter elements to provide 73% higher dirt-holding capacity and 47% lower initial pressure drop than many filters currently on the market.

Donaldson says the improved Triboguard line of filter elements has been redesigned adding wire mesh to the media pack construction to improve the filter's structural strength and increase media area. Using Donaldson's proprietary Synteq® filter media, the company says these filters allow higher initial cleanliness and provide superior system protection.

Mono® NOV launched the Discam, a grinder and screen package, which the company says offers a more effective and low maintenance alternative for handling screenings.

With a capacity of up to 16,000 m3/h, the new Discam has the ability to capture up to 95% of solids at 5 mm or 9 mm aperture sizes. Mono NOV says this solution, which combines the self-cleaning Discreen® with a high torque Muncher, needs no manual attendance or cleaning and eliminates the disposal costs of handling debris extracted by many screening processes. Typical applications for the Discam system include pump station screening and inlet works screening.

ANSYS Inc has released version 4.0 of its FLUENT® for CATIA® V5 rapid flow modeling software. The company says this new product will provide computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology to engineers working with Dassault Systèmes CATIA V5 software.

This release of FLUENT for CATIA V5 adds important new physics models to its analysis capabilities that ANSYS says will extend the types of products for which performance optimisation is possible. The technology can be used with a range of computer-aided design (CAD) or product lifecycle management (PLM) packages.

Hayward Tyler has appointed Vic Erdilek as power Market development manager in its Power Generation Division.
Erdilek has more than 30 years experience in mechanical engineering and technical sales and has overseas market knowledge, particularly in the Middle East, Central & SE Asia/Pacific rim and South America.

Mark Wood, sales and marketing director at Hayward Tyler Group, commented: "As major players in our chosen markets of pump and motor technology, Vic's expertise and knowledge will benefit the increased activity currently being seen in the power generation market and support our growing worldwide customer base."
visit www.haywardtyler.com

The world market for large-scale reverse osmosis systems will increase nearly 50% over next 4 years, according to McIlvaine Company forecasts.

The McIlvaine Company has completed an online report which projects that, worldwide, there will be a 45-50% increase in sales of large-scale reverse osmosis (RO) systems over the next 4 years. In its online report RO, UF, and MF World Markets, McIlvaine forecasts that world RO equipment and membrane sales will reach USD$5.6 billion in 2012, compared to USD$3.8 billion in 2008.

KSB has booked a multi-million Euro deal to supply more than 100 pump sets to a steel mill in Cairo, Egypt. The pumps will be used water cooling and descaling in steel production. The new steel mill includes a 165-t electric arc and a 165-t ladle furnace as well as a 6-strand billet caster. Delivery will be complete by February 2009.

This order goes some way to improving the KSB Group's earnings by more than 40%. The company plans a €70 million-investment in the construction of three new production facilities in Germany - Frankenthal, Halle ( Saale ) and Pegnitz. In India, KSB aims to increase capacity during the next three years.
visit www.ksb.com

H2O Innovation (2000) Inc has announced the signing of three new contracts in California, USA and Alberta and northern Quebec, Canada. The contracts total CAN$2,675,000, bringing the firm's backlog to CAN$17 million.

The first contract was awarded to H2O's American subsidiary, Membrane Systems Inc. The low pressure membrane filtration system to be installed in the city of Oxnard, northwest of Los Angeles, California, will recycle 6 million gallons of wastewater per day using extremely effective membrane technologies.

H2O's Alberta division, Sigma Environmental, has been awarded a contract for the design and manufacture of a water purification system to be installed in an oil industry construction camp near Calgary, Alberta.

In mid-2006, a Google search of the term “Smart Grid” generated around 2,000 responses.The same search this past month yielded more than 500,000 hits from a wide variety of sources.The explosiveness of the concept is especially interesting because there is no universal agreement on what constitutes a smart grid—much less agreement on what value a smart grid will provide to the industry and its customers. The challenges we face in defining and constructing a smart grid are deciding if we are designing a comprehensive smart grid and determining what about our design makes it smart.

The idea of harnessing the vast power of Earth’s oceans has tantalized humans for more than a century. Today, the prospect of generating as much as 4,000 TW of clean energy from marine sources is fueling a resurgence of interest in a variety of technologies.

The next-generation power grid—enhanced by digital technologies throughout the network to give generators, distributors, and customers greater control— promises to improve efficiency and lower operating costs. This year, in the most full-scale effort yet, Xcel Energy begins introducing intelligent grid technologies that it hopes will make Boulder, Colo., the first Smart Grid City.

Modern predictive maintenance systems can monitor the health of most plant equipment. By sorting through the wealth of information those systems deliver, operators can discern important trends, including the early signs of a system or component failure.

Lately, emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from large ships and other marine vessels are getting worldwide attention. Oceangoing vessels are reportedly responsible for 36% of NOx emissions at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles in the United States, thus of great concern to those living in the San Pedro Bay port area. At 37%, ships are reported as the largest source of NOx emissions in Norway. The European Commission estimates that without appropriate policy measures, maritime NOx emissions are projected to grow higher than all landbased sources combined by 2020.