Blog - Post List

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Tank Venting Basics

    Jim Cahill
    At the 4C HSE conference , Emerson’s Derek Kelly presented Tank Venting Basics – What’s Going On Up There?​ Derek opened by highlighting priorities shared by tank owners, including regulatory/Environmental (e.g., emissions), safety (e.g., undetected failures), cost (e.g., maintenance, blanket gas), product quality, and product loss. The top of the tank requires careful consideration. Operating tanks safely, efficiently…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Driving Down Emissions with Pressure Relief Valve Leak Detection

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Adam Attig & Ricardo Garcia presented Eliminating Unseen Threats: Innovation in Bellows Leak Detection for PRVs at the 2024 4C Health, Safety & Environmental Conference. They opened their presentation by defining the concept of back pressure. Back pressure is pressure present at the outlet of the pressure relief valve (PRV). There are two main categories of back pressure: built-up and superimposed. Back pressure…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: High-Performance Butterfly Valve Designs

    Jim Cahill
    High-performance butterfly valves play a key role in equipment operation, isolation, and maintenance throughout the chemical and petrochemical industries. Crucial design features dramatically impact the performance and reliability of these valves, as discussed in my article from the February 2024 issue of Hydrocarbon Engineering , titled “ High-Performance Butterfly Valve Selection .” Butterfly valve advantages Butterfly…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Control Valve Repairing, Why?

    Jim Cahill
    Welcome to our latest blog post. This time, we focus on common control valve repairing reasons businesses have and why successful ones have chosen to invest in proactive maintenance programs for control valves. As we dive deeper into the topic, we explore professional advice on the signs of a failing control valve, providing a helpful guide for those invested in and newbies curious about the mechanics and maintenance…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Establishing Valve Standardization

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Hesham Sewaify presented Valve Standardization—Saving money without spending it at the 2024 Emerson Exchange Conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. Here is the presentation abstract: Owners of chemical and petrochemical plants throughout the world are continuously seeking effective approaches to achieve measurable improvements in their TCO. To address this important customer need, Emerson is working collaboratively…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Optimizing Additive Manufacturing in the Chemical Industry

    Jim Cahill
    In the chemical processing industries, additive manufacturing (AM) technologies have made parts production faster and less expensive, and they can be used to produce parts with more complex designs than possible with traditional manufacturing techniques. This prototype valve body was printed with hollow breakaway supports for development testing. Metal additive manufacturing allows for shorter lead times and quicker…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Oil Refineries and Beyond

    Jim Cahill
    Across the globe, many pathways are being pursued to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Oil refineries emit a relatively small proportion of GHG emissions directly, but the fuels they produce create substantial emissions when combusted for power generation and transportation. Our article in the February 2024 edition of Hydrocarbon Engineering , titled “ Refinery Greenhouse Gas Reduction Pathways ,” discusses strategies…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Using Control Valve Diagnostics to Optimize Turnaround Planning, Testing and Execution

    Jim Cahill
    During the Emerson Exchange EMEA 2024 , Chand Basha Chittoor, staff engineer E&A at the SABIC Centre of Excellence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, informed delegates how the company optimized turnaround planning and execution using control valve diagnostics. Turnarounds at SABIC petrochemical plants are performed approximately every five years, with 15 days typically maintenance window available to undertake the required…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Transforming Production with Fluid Power and Robotics

    Jim Cahill
    In today competitive landscape, manufacturers are facing lots of pressure to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and keep workers safe. One common solution they rely on, to address these challenges is usually found in Robotics. For example, in the automotive industry alone, more than one million robots are currently utilized. They play a critical role in the transformation of the factory floor, and one element is particularly…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mitigating Costly Industrial Noisy Environments

    Jim Cahill
    ECI is one of the independent businesses in the Emerson Impact Partner Network . They are the industrial automation and process control partner for manufacturers and producers in the United States’ western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, western Maryland, and Ohio regions. ECI’s Brian Weaver wrote The Cost of Hazardous Occupational Noise & Benefits of New Noise Reduction Technologies . Brian opens the piece with the challenges…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Hydrogen Blending to Decarbonize the Natural Gas Grid

    Jim Cahill
    The long-term strategy in Italy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through decarbonization focuses on increasing energy efficiency, electrification of end uses and switching to alternative fuels. Within the residential sector, to meet 2050 emissions targets, around 30% of final consumption will be of alternative, renewable fuels. The use of hydrogen aims to reach 2% by 2030 and 20% by 2050. In Italy, gas transportation…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Butterfly Valve Innovation Solves NAMUR NE 167 Requirements

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Karin Pharr presented Valve Innovation Solves Requirements of NAMUR NE 167 To Yield Sealing, Safety, Emissions Performance at the 2024 Emerson Exchange Conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. Here is her presentation abstract: Chemical producers rely on valves to ensure a safe work environment for personnel, reduce fugitive emissions and maximize plant productivity. In an effort to harmonize design and function…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Overcoming Fugitive Emissions in Isolation Valves

    Jim Cahill
    Emerson’s Horst Balau presented Solving the Fugitive Emission Challenge for Isolation Valves at the 2024 Emerson Exchange Conference in Düsseldorf, Germany. Here is his presentation abstract: Fugitive emission reduction has become a business imperative for plant operators as governments sharpen their focus on environmental protection, and sustainability credentials become a barrier to entry. With valves as the largest…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Digital Valve Controller Employs Edge Computing

    Jim Cahill
    Valve controllers play a vital role in industrial processes, ensuring that control valves are positioned accurately under changing process conditions. Building upon fifty years of valve controller improvements, the new Fisher FIELDVUE DVC7K digital valve controller offers unparalleled performance and data analytics, as discussed in my article in the January 2024 edition of Industrial Automation Asia , titled Next Generation…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: New Noise Reduction Technology for Gas Pipelines

    Jim Cahill
    Natural gas pipelines tend to produce loud noise as gas flows through pressure regulating valves. This is usually not a problem in isolated locations, but when neighborhoods develop or expand nearby, it becomes a pressing issue. Our article in the January 2024 issue of Pipeline & Gas Journal , titled “ New Alternatives for Noise Reduction in Gas Pipelines ,” describes the difficulties of pipeline pressure reduction…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Power Industry Valve Application Video Series

    Jim Cahill
    Valves are critical in many power industry applications such as boiler feedwater & recirculation, superheat attemperation, turbine bypass, and more. In this YouTube Fisher Valves & Instruments Power Industry Application Series , you can learn about the role that Fisher control valves play in the power industry. These videos detail the purpose, operation, challenges, and solutions for control valves in these applications…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Control Valve Challenges in Carbon Dioxide Transport and Sequestration

    Jim Cahill
    As climate change progresses, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly carbon dioxide (CO­ 2 ), is critical. Spurred by government subsidies and mandates, CO 2 sequestration projects are underway across the globe. My December 2023 Automation.com article, titled Control Valve Selection for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Pipelines and Injection Systems , discusses the unique considerations involved in selecting…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Finding the Value in Control Valve Data

    Jim Cahill
    In a world awash with digital data, many tend to assume that more data equals more value, but the reality is that data only becomes valuable when it is analyzed and acted upon. In my article titled “ Transforming Valve Data into Dollars ,” published to Automation.com in November 2023, I discuss a new software application that converts raw control valve data into actionable information. The evolution of analytics …

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Gain Asset Health Insights with Emerson’s Digital Valve Controller

    Jim Cahill
    In many applications, control and on-off valves are subjected to regular position changes and constant contact with process media, causing wear and tear that must be monitored to prevent operational issues. Control valves are typically operated with a 4-20mA signal sent from a remote automation system, but without valve position feedback, drift from the intended setpoint can occur. On-off valves are simpler to control…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mitigating Shutdown, Turnaround, and Outage Issues

    Jim Cahill
    Plant shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages (STOs) have never been simple, but in recent years they have become even more challenging due to labor shortages and difficulties procuring parts. My article in Processing , titled “ Rethinking shutdown, turnaround, and outage planning ,” discusses the impacts of these challenges on STO planning and execution, and it offers strategies to minimize their effects. Increasingly…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Mitigating Shutdown, Turnaround, and Outage Issues

    Jim Cahill
    Plant shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages (STOs) have never been simple, but in recent years they have become even more challenging due to labor shortages and difficulties procuring parts. My article in Processing , titled “ Rethinking shutdown, turnaround, and outage planning ,” discusses the impacts of these challenges on STO planning and execution, and it offers strategies to minimize their effects. Increasingly…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Detecting Bellows Damage in Pressure Relief Valves

    Jim Cahill
    Pressure relief valves (PRVs) provide critical overpressure protection in many industries by venting excess process media when necessary. PRVs often include bellows in applications with relief valve headers subject to backpressure, but bellows may be damaged by cycling or corrosive chemical applications, causing significant performance impacts and environmental leakage that may go unnoticed for years. My article in…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Pneumatic Controllers Revived by Flexible, Configurable, Digital Process Controller

    Jim Cahill
    It’s said that nothing succeeds like success, but after years and decades pile up, initially successful innovations can result in huge installed bases that can be challenging to service and maintain. In this article on Emerson’s New Digital Process Controller Brings Simplicity and Flexibility to Single Loops | Emerson US,  learn how digital process controllers reliably upgrade performance, safety and compliance by making…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Advanced Diagnostics for Electric Actuators

    Jim Cahill
    Due to stringent greenhouse gas emissions regulations, as well as ongoing technical advances, electric valve actuators are proliferating across process industries, but until recently, these actuators have lacked comprehensive diagnostic and monitoring features. This situation is changing for the better, as we explain in Hydrocarbon Processing November 2023 article, titled “ Maximizing the Advantages of Electric Actuator…

  • Valves, Actuators & Regulators Blog: Easy and Effective Oil Separator Retrofit Improves Operation

    Jim Cahill
    Due to more stringent methane emission regulations, natural gas-powered level control systems in oilfield separators are no longer practical. Thankfully, many of these separators can be retrofitted easily with new electric level control technologies, as discussed in my article, titled “ Improved oil separator control strategies ,” in the October 2023 edition of Process Instrumentation . Please find a summary of the article…

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