Revolutionary Pump Technology

Posted on 29 January, 2010 | Tags: Case Study

Prior to fitting Retroflo's new pump control system, Northumbrian Water's Skinningrove Sewage Pumping Station was not economical or very efficient, despite relatively new pumps and VSDs. Frequent pump blockages meant numerous reactive maintenance call-outs to unblock the pumps. Retroflo's new approach has virtually eliminated blockages at the station and vastly reduced operational expenditure (OPEX).

  Skinningrove Sewage Pumping Station is located on the North East coast and situated in an area of natural beauty frequented by dog-walkers and ramblers. As such it has been of concern to Northumbrian Water due to the risk of discharges as a result of pump blockages. The introduction of the Retroflo pump control system has not just maintained consents through reduction of blockages but also dramatically reduced energy costs for the station. Retroflo's pump control system was specifically designed to control pumping stations holistically, rather than just the components within. Through continuous dynamic monitoring of the pump characteristics over a range of wet well levels and pump speeds, the system was able to utilise the full range of pumping data available at Skinningrove to optimise the performance of the station. It is also the first product on the market to offer Pre-Blockage Detection, Consent Security, Intelligent Flushing Cycles, Periodic Efficiency Testing, and Asset Data Storage, within a single system.Blockages occur in the pumping of sewage due to the gradual build-up of debris on pump impellers. During this gradual build up the pumps operate inefficiently and this eventually leads to a blockage, resulting in time consuming and costly call-outs.

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'Energy Management has Always Made Business Sense'

Posted on 29 January, 2010 | Tags:

More and more chemical industries are going in for energy audits as the industry is getting aware of the fact that they any reduction in energy bill directly benefits the bottom line. Energy management has always made business sense. Dr. Naushad Forbes, Director, Forbes Marshall shares his views in an exclusive interview with CEW

-Dr. Naushad Forbes  Energy conservation has become vital for the industries than what it started as a something good to do. How do the energy losses affect the company's profit margins?Indeed! Ten years ago, it was something good to do. The better companies had focused programmes on energy conservation and achieved a lot. However the great bulk of industry did very little. The imperative for energy conservation has changed radically since, primarily due to three things that have changed. First, our industrial landscape has changed dramatically. Today, one has to be internationally competitive to even be in business. So the pressure for cost cutting has never been greater!Second, fuel prices have been very volatile over the last three years, with oil prices today being 100 percent higher and coal prices over 50 % higher. So, what took one year to payback three years ago, today takes just 6 - 8 months! And third, our better energy conservation suppliers have re-thought how they do business and today approach the market very differently. In our own organization, Forbes Marshall, we have always sold on the basis of paybacks.Markets today are pretty stabilized, where the selling price of the products and raw

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"Wacker Sees Great Potential in India Due to Constant Growth in Demand"

Posted on 28 January, 2010 | Tags:

What are the facilities that will be offered by the WACKER's Technical Center for the Indian market?Wacker's technical center which is located at Goregaon, a suburb of Mumbai will act as a regional competence center for developments and applications in the construction, coatings, plastics and textile coatings industry, the main focus being on construction polymers, silicone emulsions, sealants, silanes and silicone resins. This center will offer its customers support in developing new products and product applications for local requirements. It will help local customers and business partners develop innovative products and applications for the Indian market. To provide the Indian building trade with the necessary expertise in high-quality construction chemicals, the technical center also features a dedicated training facility. It will provide an opportunity to learn about all the relevant aspects of modern polymer and silicone chemistry along with related applications. What is the bandwidth of the products offered by your company in India?The main focus of wacker's investments in India is on silicone and polymer products. Key markets in India are the textile, personal care, construction, coatings, adhesives and packaging sectors. Especially the construction sector in India is booming and offers a lot of opportunities for Wacker's sophisticated construction

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'ADAPT Helped TCL Focus on Cost and Conservation Measures'

Posted on 28 January, 2010 | Tags:

Dr Aroop Basu, COO, Tata Chemicals Ltd shares his opinion on few of the key issues for the chemical industry in an e-mail interview with Chemical Engineering World

How much time may it take for raw material prices to stabilize, as signs of economic revival become visible?Raw material prices have undergone some correction and appear to head towards some stability.  However, ocean freight rates continue to be volatile and hence the landed prices (CFR) continue to be erratic.  The volatility is further impacted by routes and category of vessel (eg handymax, supramax).  If the vessel has to cross the red sea, a premium is charged and this induces further complications. Finally, growing demand from the Indian utility sector and stabilizing steel production in China and India make it difficult to forecast when real stability will be experienced. How do you see the growth of soda ash during the current scenario in the Indian and global markets? In FY10, we expect a growth of about 8-10 percent over FY09.  However, the growth in global markets is likely to remain flat to perhaps about 2 percent with demand picking up in the last quarter of FY10. May we have your comment on the safeguard duty extension of 20 percent safeguard duty on soda ash till April 2010 against China?Most Indian soda ash users operate only in the Indian market

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Bayer Consolidates Polycarbonate Business in Indian Subcontinent

Posted on 28 January, 2010 | Tags:

Global sheet market is expected to grow at around 5 percent over the next years with major growth in Asia and Latin America. However Indian polycarbonate sheet market is expected to grow at around 15 percent over the next few years.

Bayer MaterialSciences has recently entered a Joint Venture (JV) with Ahmedabad based Malibu Plastica Private Ltd. Bayer, one of the largest polymer companies of the world is growing its Asia Pacific business to meet the demands of the emerging economy. "A key to element of this strategy is to focus more attention on important markets like India," observes Thomas-Karl Kastner, Global Head of Bayer Material Science´s polycarbonate sheet business. Polycarbonate sheets are widely used in mass transportation, construction projects, for safety and security in industrial applications such as safeguard in machinery industry and bulletproof glazing as well as signage and communication applications.  Bayer MaterialScience and SABIC IP are the global market leaders in this field. Strong demand of these sheets is driven by local investments in infrastructure. Global sheet market is expected to grow at around 5 percent over the next years with major growth in Asia and Latin America. In India polycarbonate sheet market is expected to grow at around 15 percent over the next few years. India has shown significant growth and is one of the most important emerging economies of the world, international players are focusing on as apart of their growth strategy. The JV Company,

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