End-user Industries

Food and Beverage: Some Up, Some Down

Though food and beverage products in general are necessities, the industry’s trajectory through the pandemic has had ups and downs, according to Dave Fusaro, editor in chief at Food Processing magazine. Fusaro was one of the featured presenters at the VMA/Hydraulics Institute Market Outlook Workshop August 5 and 6.

“Big Food” companies (the big-name organizations in the industry) have lost sales in recent years, some of it going to upstart, entrepreneurial companies serving up selections such as natural and plant-based foods. At the same time, these bigger companies have been quietly buying up some of their small competitors.

The Outlook for LNG and Water/Wastewater Markets

Every valve end-user market is feeling the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the shock and uncertainty, each will find its way forward.

LOOKING AHEAD AT LNG

Though consumption of all fuels has taken a dive with the COVID-19 pandemic, the natural gas industry should recover and continue its healthy growth, said David Sword of dps360 Energy in a VMA webinar held May 14, 2020.

In less than a decade, North America has gone from a natural gas importer to an exporter. The natural gas that comes out of the ground is chilled to -265F (-160C), at which point it becomes a liquid (LNG—liquid natural gas) that is 600 times more dense than in its gaseous state.

COVID-19 Pandemic Shakes the Oil Industry

As the coronavirus pandemic brings society and business to a near standstill in much of the world, the demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel has crashed and so have oil prices. According to the BBC, over half the world’s 7.8 billion population was under some kind of containment intended to slow the spread of COVID-19.

How Valve Selection Can Impact SIS in Refining Applications

Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) provide a critical layer of protection for process facilities, which can be dangerous places because of the chemicals and processes involved. There are two main standards that exist to define the design and implementation of safety systems: IEC 61508 and IEC 61511. IEC 61508 addresses the manufacturers and suppliers of devices for safety systems while IEC 61511 is intended for the safety instrument systems designers, integrators and users.

Wireless Technology Optimizes Production in Mining Operation

Natural Soda operates seven production well pairs in Colorado to produce saturated nahcolite brine for manufacturing sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).

Mining nahcolite requires very careful monitoring of temperature, pressure and flow to not only optimize production performance—but also to mine the product sustainably and protect the freshwater aquifer. Wireless transmitters make it possible to monitor remote injection wells to protect the environment, increase efficiency and improve productivity. Our operating permits require us to continuously monitor and record fluid temperature, pressure and flow rate in both the recovery and injection wells. We must also keep these parameters within specified ranges as detailed in our BLM-approved mine plan.

The facility is located in mountainous, rugged terrain making it difficult and very expensive to employ wired devices. To improve overall efficiencies, we installed wireless temperature, pressure and flow sensors to monitor all the parameters specified in the plan.