Emerson Exchange 365

Activity

Jim Cahill
- 22 Jan 2021
Wireless Protocols Vie for Industrial Markets, but Which is Best for Your Application?

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...
Jim Cahill
- 21 Jan 2021
Storage Terminal Capacity Podcast Series

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...
Jim Cahill
- 19 Jan 2021
Capital Project Success: Your Roadmap

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 And that means it is time to rethink capital projects and transform these outdated strategies with digital technologies, high-end expertise, and the power of automation...
Jim Cahill
- 15 Jan 2021
How to Select the Right Sensors for Wastewater Monitoring

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...
Jim Cahill
- 4 Jan 2021
Applying the Full Reach of Digital Transformation

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...
Jim Cahill
- 16 Dec 2020
IIoT for Reliability and Safety Improvements

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...
Jim Cahill
- 14 Dec 2020
Teaming IT and OT on Cybersecurity

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...
Jim Cahill
- 10 Dec 2020
Mitigating Loss of Containment Risks

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...
Jim Cahill
- 8 Dec 2020
Innovations in Personnel and Process Safety

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...
Jim Cahill
- 3 Dec 2020
Balancing the CAPEX and OPEX Sides of Corrosion Monitoring and Control

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...
Jim Cahill
- 3 Dec 2020
Improving Turnarounds and Flare Gas Recovery with Wireless Flare Monitoring

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...
Jim Cahill
- 2 Dec 2020
Coriolis Mass Flow Measurement in Ethylene Pipelines

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...
Jim Cahill
- 1 Dec 2020
Refining Industry Perspectives at Emerson Exchange

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...
Jim Cahill
- 5 Nov 2020
Should 5G Be Your Protocol to Handle Backhaul for WirelessHART Networks?

In a Control Engineering article, Emerson’s Andrew Cureton looks at several wireless protocols vying for greater adoption with industrial users. There is immense hype around 5G these days. It will change our lives, we hear – but will it be an improved solution for industrial applications? It’s just one of the various wireless protocols trying to gain a foothold with process manufacturers, so how do they all relate...
Jim Cahill
- 4 Nov 2020
Reducing Manual Valve Lineup Mistakes Podcast

For safer and more reliable terminal operations, it is important to know location of all products and their needed movements. Without clear visibility into the real-time health and operational status of the assets required for movements through the facility, problems can occur. One operational risk is in the lineup of the manual and automatic valves. Improper positions can result in unsafe conditions, unintended movements...
Jim Cahill
- 29 Oct 2020
Improving Tank Farm Flexible Operations

Refineries typically either use third-party storage terminals or have their own tank farms as part of their operations. A Refiner’s Guide to Digital Transformation and Top Quartile Performance article, Better business results through flexible logistics operations , shares how these refineries can improve the flexibility as well as safety, efficiency, and reliability of their tank farm operations. For some of these...
Jim Cahill
- 27 Oct 2020
Successful Refinery Digital Transformation Journey

A Hydrocarbon Processing article, Ergon Refining: A digital transformation story , provides a great illustration of a step-wise, scalable digital transformation journey that continues to drive business improvements. The authors, Ergon Refining’s Steve Elwart and Emerson’s Marcelo Carugo , share this journey and the results achieved. They open describing the importance of Ergon Refining’s culture in this initiative...
Jim Cahill
- 13 Oct 2020
Digital Transformation Planning and Execution

What often holds manufacturers and producers back on their digital transformation journeys is where to begin and how best to proceed. For those in the chemical process industries, Emerson’s Tim Olsen has written a Chemical Engineering Progress (CEP) article, Understanding the Digital Transformation . Tim opens with a great definition of digital transformation: Digital transformation refers to the leveraging of industrial...
Jim Cahill
- 12 Oct 2020
Digital Innovations in Refining

The World Refining Association : …exists to facilitate knowledge sharing and nurturing of business partnerships within the downstream oil and gas sector. We help the industry share knowledge, with a focus on new technology and in particular technology that improves efficiency and increases plant productivity. This November 17-18, they’ll be conducting ERTC Virtual: Europe’s Virtual Meeting Place for Downstream Leaders...
Jim Cahill
- 10 Oct 2020
Better Ways to Design and Organize Product Selection Efforts for Future Reference

Emerson’s Seth Natala and Dan Cychosz show how to apply new engineering design tools when selecting a DP flow meter and other instrumentation. Anyone who has tried to troubleshoot an equipment problem might have wondered how a specific piece was selected in the first place. This happens because few companies have a useful mechanism for gathering and organizing such information. The selection process information might...
Jim Cahill
- 2 Oct 2020
Continuous Condition Monitoring Cuts Costs

In an article in the AFPM Summit Conference News, Emerson’s Jacob Swafford makes the case for continuous versus intermittent condition monitoring. I don’t think I have ever met a maintenance manager who said that condition monitoring is a waste of time. They agree it’s important but most shrug and say, “I wish we could do more, but we don’t have the resources.” Refineries and chemical plants that don’t monitor the...
Jim Cahill
- 24 Sep 2020
Fuel Blending Unlocks Refinery Cash Register

For refiners, effectively and efficiently blending the refined fuels enables margin improvements. Yet, many refineries fail to give their blending area the attention it deserves. It’s worth reconsidering since fuel blending is essentially the “cash register” of the business. Because this area is where profits can be made or lost, it should receive the investments necessary to be efficient and flexible, and able to...
Jim Cahill
- 22 Sep 2020
Driving Safety Improvements through Flow Measurement Advancements

In the oil & gas upstream, midstream and downstream industries, flow measurement is critical for accurate fiscal and custody transfer accounting. But what about their use to make these processes safer? In a Hydrocarbon Processing article, Leveraging modern flow technologies to improve safety in refineries , Emerson’s Meha Jha and Julie Valentine describe how advancements in these flow measurements, “…enhance safety...
Jim Cahill
- 14 Sep 2020
Extending Existing WirelessHART Networks to Improve Worker and Plant Safety

In a Hydrocarbon Engineering article, Emerson’s Amanda Alexander describes two ways to extend existing wireless networks for worker location and toxic gas monitoring. Emerson colleagues who were around back at the dawn of Wireless HART tell me the earliest deployments were usually limited to monitoring applications. At that time there wasn’t a long enough track record of reliability for us to suggest this still-new...
Jim Cahill
- 14 Sep 2020
Automating Procedures in Ethylene Furnaces can bring Huge Benefits

There are many examples in plants where operators need to follow a particular procedure to safely transition the plant to a new condition. In an ethylene plant, furnace startup, decoke and shutdown operations are classic examples where following strict operating procedures is critical to prevent unsafe conditions as well as promote efficient operations. Since furnaces are decoked every 30-60 days depending on feedstock...