Activity

  • Solving Level Measurement Challenges for Chemical and Petrochemical Plants

    Jim Cahill
    According to OSHA, the chemical industry has one of the most stringent safety regulations. Regular inspections, servicing, and maintenance work are required due to the intense stress that is often placed on the equipment because of the exposure to very aggressive substances and extreme high temperatures and pressures. Depending on the size and type of plants and operations concerned, maintenance often involves a complete…

  • Avoid Taking a Successful Reliability Program for Granted by Improving Its Use

    Jim Cahill
    Success must be supported so it can be sustained. As Chris Jensen and H.P. Slater discuss in an article in the July issue of Process Heating , this line of thinking is no less true in predictive maintenance (PdM) than in anything else. Some companies are impressed with the initial savings that PdM programs generate through improved production and lower maintenance costs, but New PdM programs typically identify many…

  • Gaining Real-Time Insights to Improve Operational Performance

    Jim Cahill
    Since we’re nearing the end of vacation season, how many of you appreciate the digital transformation that has occurred over the years where you can quickly find the optimum transportation, lodging, meals, entertainment, etc. to make the most of your vacation. And how much faster can you do all these things than was possible even a few years ago? Manufacturers and producers are also pursuing digital transformation initiatives…

  • Analyzing Combustion – Looking for Leftover Oxygen

    Jim Cahill
    In an automation.com article, Emerson’s Jesse Sumstad and Neil Widmer explain how accurate measurement of excess oxygen in flue gas can be used to improve combustion control. These days, industrial facilities operating combustion processes face multiple concerns, including: Burner efficiency Fuel costs Emission restrictions Public perception of a company’s carbon footprint and overall environmental responsibility…

  • Monitoring for Corrosion in Refineries

    Jim Cahill
    Rosemount Wireless Corrosion & Erosion Monitoring Processing crude oil into fuels and other products requires addressing the corrosive contaminants that this crude can contain. Effective corrosion monitoring and management can help avoid potentially catastrophic safety and environmental incidents. In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, A Fine Balance , Emerson’s Jake Davies describes ways to address the corrosion and…

  • ISAConnect Members-Only Peer Communities

    Jim Cahill
    The International Society of Automation (ISA) is growing nice online communities in their members-only ISAConnect section of the website . One of the active groups, Chemical and Petroleum Industries Division (ChemPID) , is led by Emerson’s David Lee . David is an Operator Performance Senior Consultant. ChemPID’s mission is: …to contribute to the professional involved in the processing of chemicals, petrochemicals, petroleum…

  • Controlling Corrosion as Fossil Fuels Become Increasingly Sour

    Jim Cahill
    One question that various friends ask when they learn we work with many oil industry companies is, “Are we running out of oil?” The answer is no. There’s still plenty of oil and gas, but new sources are more difficult to extract, and the crude is often lower quality. Low-quality in this context generally means sour, based on sulfur content. The biggest problem with sour oil is its corrosiveness—it destroys equipment,…

  • Deliver better control, reliability, and safety in today’s demanding steam operations with Rosemount 8800 MultiVariable Vortex Flow Meter

    Jim Cahill
    Vortex flow measurement is uniquely adaptive when it comes to handling difficult applications. By virtue of its science, utilizing the von Kármán effect, these instruments are accurate across a wide operating range and effective at withstanding high process pressures and temperatures. In this post, we’re highlighting the latest in our 8800 Flow Meter product portfolio – the MultiVariable Vortex Flow Meter. Designed with…

  • How to Streamline Complex Natural Gas Analysis, Reduce Cost and Footprint Using New Gas Chromatographs

    Jim Cahill
    Reliable natural gas quality analysis is critical to minimizing safety, operability and financial problems across the value chain. Variability in gas quality can create a variety of challenges for large-scale users, particularly for use as a fuel for gas turbines or sophisticated fired heaters, where the BTU rating (calorific value) is critical. For gas turbines, the Wobbe index indicates additional characteristics affecting…

  • Empowering the Workforce in a Digitally Transformed Refinery

    Jim Cahill
    It’s no secret that the refining business has a people problem. Like manufacturers in other industries who rely heavily on technology to stay competitive, refiners understand the need to transform their operations by extending the Industrial Internet of Things and other digital innovations across a wider range of possibilities. What many managers struggle with is how to integrate these changes into their workforce while…

  • Understanding the Importance of Gas Detectors, Even When the Safety Standard Doesn’t Help

    Jim Cahill
    In an Industrial Compliance article, Emerson’s Nick Pinto stresses the importance of gas detection for a safety system. Anyone designing or working with safety systems for refineries and chemical plants must be fluent in the language of standards created by ISA, ANSI, IEC, UL, NFPA and other alphabet-soup regulatory organizations. When it comes to fire detection and suppression systems in the U.S., the National Fire…

  • Wireless Protocols Vie for Industrial Markets, but Which is Best for Your Application?

    Jim Cahill
    In a Flow Control article, Emerson’s Tom Bass looks at new wireless protocols, including 5G, and opines on the validity of each. Any company that has developed a new product for a specific market and purpose will eventually ask, “Where else can we sell this thing? What other industries have a similar use case where it could fit?” It’s a natural question since finding new markets means greater sales potential. Here…

  • Storage Terminal Capacity Podcast Series

    Jim Cahill
    In March 2020 we were reminded that the Oil and Gas industry can be booming one moment and crashing the next. Companies’ operations staffs took a huge hit last year, where over 100,000 oil, gas and petrochemical workers were laid off. This created additional challenges for operators in maintaining process visibility and performing necessary operations and maintenance activities. The world’s oil storage capacity is improving…

  • Capital Project Success: Your Roadmap

    Jim Cahill
    The complexity of today’s capital projects is causing a widespread loss of value and confidence due to project overruns. Projects are larger, more technical, and running at a faster pace than ever before. Yet decades-old project methodologies can’t keep pace. And that means it is time to rethink capital projects and transform these outdated strategies with digital technologies, high-end expertise, and the power of automation…

  • How to Select the Right Sensors for Wastewater Monitoring

    Jim Cahill
    In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Emerson’s Andrew Smith looks at the sensors used to measure effluents in refinery wastewater. For those people responsible for compliance with EPA and other environmental regulations, it can seem like there are many hoops to jump through, but the right instrumentation makes compliance easier. Monitoring water quality is the primary concern of my article in the November issue of…

  • Applying the Full Reach of Digital Transformation

    Jim Cahill
    One of the things companies often struggle with when exploring digital transformation initially is where to begin efforts. Digital transformation is a forest, in the sense that it covers many, if not all areas in a manufacturing organization. But the forest is made up of individual trees, meaning it is composed of many applications, and choosing which ones to prioritize is where companies can get stuck. I discuss this…

  • Welcome to Emerson Automation Experts Podcasts

    Jim Cahill
    Visit our podcast subscription page to subscribe with your favorite podcast player. The post Welcome to Emerson Automation Experts Podcasts appeared first on the Emerson Automation Experts blog.

  • IIoT for Reliability and Safety Improvements

    Jim Cahill
    While instrumentation has been monitoring and providing data for process control for decades, the advancement of technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) have enabled these sensing devices to help improve safety, reliability and more. In an Intech article, Using IIoT technology to improve reliability and safety , Emerson’s Marcelo Carugo shares ways IIoT helps manufacturers and producers improve…

  • Teaming IT and OT on Cybersecurity

    Jim Cahill
    In today’s digital age, cybersecurity threats are pushing refineries to re-examine their cybersecurity strategies. Gone are the days when information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) could function separately in protected silos. Now, the need to share resources and information is critical, especially when both are working with automation suppliers to better respond to today’s complex and costly cybersecurity…

  • Mitigating Loss of Containment Risks

    Jim Cahill
    At the Emerson Exchange America Virtual Series, Emerson’s Ed Schodowski , David Macedonia , Christiane Lederer and Brian Ledeboer were on a panel to discuss innovations in process safety around loss of containment for refiners, chemical and petrochemical producers. Here is their panel abstract: Loss of containment is the largest cause of Tier 1 and Tier 2 safety incidents. Digital technologies can greatly reduce the…

  • Innovations in Personnel and Process Safety

    Jim Cahill
    Safety—both personnel and process safety—are always top concerns for manufacturers and producers. At the Emerson Exchange Americas Virtual Series, Emerson’s Ed Schodowski , Meha Jha , Mike Hoyme and Marcelo Dultra shared a panel to discuss innovations in personnel and process safety for refiners and chemical producers. Here is their session’s abstract: Process Safety systems are complex combinations of measurement,…

  • Balancing the CAPEX and OPEX Sides of Corrosion Monitoring and Control

    Jim Cahill
    In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Emerson’s Jake Davies looks at corrosion monitoring from a cost/benefit standpoint. Imagine this situation, which probably won’t require too much effort to visualize. You have an eight-year-old car, and looking at your personal budget, you ask, “Shall I keep this car and continue doing the increasing amount of service work, or buy a new one and spend less time at the garage?” The…

  • Improving Turnarounds and Flare Gas Recovery with Wireless Flare Monitoring

    Jim Cahill
    At the Emerson Exchange Americas Virtual Series, a North American refiner’s Transformation Manager teamed up with Emerson’s Scott Baruch to present a case study on how wireless flare monitoring assisted their plant turnaround efforts and improved ongoing flare gas recovery unit (FGRU) operations. Here is the case study’s abstract: This case study focuses on the use of 60 Rosemount 708 Wireless Acoustic Transmitters…

  • Coriolis Mass Flow Measurement in Ethylene Pipelines

    Jim Cahill
    A supercritical fluid (SCF) exists: …at a temperature and pressure above its critical point , where distinct liquid and gas phases do not exist, but below the pressure required to compress it into a solid . [2] It can effuse through porous solids like a gas, overcoming the mass transfer limitations that slow liquid transport through such materials. SCF are much superior to gases in their ability to dissolve materials…

  • Refining Industry Perspectives at Emerson Exchange

    Jim Cahill
    The December editions of the Emerson Exchange Americas virtual series are taking place Tuesday and Thursday this week and next week. I joined the Refining Industry Forum to get an update on the technologies and solutions driving improved performance for refiners. Ed Schodowski led the session featuring leaders from BP, Chevron and Ergon Refining. The first question Ed teed up was to ask about each company’s digital…

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