GDF Suez, one of the world's largest energy providers, is building a new power plant in Poland that will feature a 100% biomass-fired boiler. To manage the boiler, the company is investing in digital plant architecture software that will provide control over the combustion process and streamline predictive maintenance. Because the boiler will use a variety of combustible biomass products as fuel, ranging from straw pellets to fruit husks, the control system must continually adjust the combustion process to ensure that the boiler is operating as efficiently and safely as possible. (Article starts on page 16 of the digital magazine).


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Atmel's QTouch Solutions offer the highest performance touch solutions based on Atmel's proven AVR®', UC3, and ARM cores, enable unlimited design possibilities. The series also offers more choices with a complete suite of touch solutions including: buttons, sliders, and wheels available as either application specific devices or as IP integrated.

Tate Andale's duplex strainers are made with thick, heavy-bodied walls offering unparalleled corrosion allowance. Their straining ratios are some of the highest available, and moving parts are designed to minimize wear. All this adds up to duplex strainers that are among the longest lasting, highest performing strainers in the industry.

We offer a wide range of packaged HVAC systems to fit your specific needs. Everything is self-contained, prewired, installed on the skids, and pretested. Custom units are available to meet your specifications. Please contact The Alstrom Corporation to discuss your requirements.

Model MKA offers the quality features and design principals as all our other units. The #1 feature is the compactness, with the capability of effectively filtering large volumes of air and occupies little space when installed inside or outside a building. Read more…

Thanks to a two-piece draft shaft, this close-coupled positive displacement pump can be easily assembled and also partially disassembled for maintenance or access to the mechanical seal. The pump is compact, making it ideal for tight spaces, and can manage processing applications as diverse as shear sensitive chemicals to adhesives to viscous crude oil.

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Methane gas from a wastewater facility's treatment holding tanks is first purified and then fed into a fuel cell, producing both hydrogen and electricity, which is used to power another municipality's plant. The excess hydrogen not used by the industrial fuel cell is then further treated for use in automotive fuel cells. The company heading the project predicts that reusing the methane gas can generate 250 kw of electricity to fuel as many as 50 hybrid cars per day.

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Germany has nearly 41 billion metric tons of brown coal, or lignite, which provides 25% of the country's electricity and contributes to 86,000 jobs. However, lignite-fired power plants release twice as much carbon dioxide as gas-fired plants. A new pressurized fluidized-bed drying (PFBD) process shows environmental promise, reducing the moisture content of the fuel and improving the efficiency of lignite's combustion.

This innovative drying system uses radio waves at a frequency of 40.68 MHz to dry a variety of temperature-sensitive components, from filter cake to granular or pelletized materials. The conveyor-based radio frequency (RF) dryer reduces the moisture content to levels as low as 200 PPM, eliminating the long dwell times required by conventional surface heating methods. The RF dryer also features a much smaller footprint and claims to reduce energy costs by 60%.

Paratherm's User's Guide to Heat Transfer Fluids and Hot-Oil Systems is a Web site with links to over 30 documents containing valuable instructions, insights, and advisories. For users of heat transfer fluids, this essential reference includes detailed specifications for recommended system components, fluid analysis, and system troubleshooting. No registration required.

Super Quiet Nex Flow™ Silent X-Stream™ Air Blade™ Air Knife saves up to 90% compressed air cost! Three versions — regular anodized aluminum, hard anodized aluminum for mildly corrosive and abrasive environments, and stainless steel for high temperature, food grade, and corrosive applications. Sizes 2 in. to 54 in. May be joined for longer spans.

Perfect for use in tanks, large vats, and reservoirs, Flanged Immersion Heaters consist of a standard 150# or 300# flange for mounting. These heaters are virtually 100% efficient, easily controlled, and are one of the most widely used methods of heating liquids. PHCo offers many advantages over traditional style tubular elements.

MixerDirect is founded on the idea that you can size and select your own mixing equipment. Here you can sort through one of the largest lines of mixers, impellers, containers, and accessories in the industry — 250 different mixer designs and over 1,000 products — we can even rapidly customize a mixer for you.

A new powder mill can help composite manufacturers convert their waste material in to commercially-viable products for recycling or re-use. First, waste material is shredded into flakes and then fed into the centrifugal grinding mechanism of the mill, producing powders as fine as 100 µ. The mill is designed to be very efficient, using a vertical material flow path and special roller assembly to translate force into maximum particle grinding power.

A new simulation system can model all kinds of solids handling applications. It will show, for example, how droplets of asphalt coat particles of aggregate during mixing, or predict how compressible plastic materials deform during processing. The new system also calculates the mass flow rate of bulk material anywhere within the simulation.

Marketed as the ultimate tumbler screening machine, this separator features as many as six flat deck screens for the fractioning or de-dusting of dry powders and granular products. Material is continuously fed into the center of the top screen and spreads out evenly across the entire screening surface. Fine particles pass through the screen near the center while larger particles move in an accelerated spiral pattern toward the edges, similar to old-fashioned gold panning.

Your magnetic separator may not be all that it used to be: magnets can deteriorate due to excessive heat or exposure to shock or vibration. If you are replacing or refurbishing a magnetic separator, be sure you are using the right magnets for the right application. For example, you'll need stronger magnets for a high-volume process than for a low-volume one.

A patented, cost-effective, high-strength, and highly saturable material, Nomex® LT is designed for 180° C (Class H) and 155° C (Class F) insulation systems used in motors, generators, and transformers. It has excellent initial tear, tear propagation, and elongation performance and is readily impregnable by resins or varnishes.

The V-SInTech combines a pump and injector into a single miniature unit, while atomizing liquids into droplets as small as 10 μ. It can fire over 100x a second and produce peak pressures of 3000 psi. What can V-SInTech do for your organization?

Spare parts, training, repairs, upgrades, refurbishment, and energy audits are just some of the services on offer for both new and existing customers from Spooner Technical Services USA. Spooner's technical service engineers have the essential process skills and machine building knowledge to maximize the performance of your existing process equipment.

Compact and available in a wide variety of materials including polypropylene, PVDF, PVC, nylon, and buna, the L003 is a versatile, vertically mounted switch designed and priced for a full range of OEM and special purpose level control applications.

Ignorance is not bliss, especially when it comes to running equipment in your plant. Knowing the day-to-day costs of running equipment, including ancillary systems like lighting and HVAC systems, can help you make operational decisions that improve your company's bottom line. This white paper from Fluke Corporation considers both the cost of the equipment itself and the operational parameters to analyze, such as running machines when they are not in use.

Who would have guessed that one of the most popular attractions in Las Vegas was not the Bellagio's dancing fountain, or the Insanity thrill ride perched on top of a tower overlooking the strip, or even Celine Dion. It is Dig This: "America's first and only equipment playground, where you can relive your sandbox days." People pay up to $750 to play with full-size, functional hydraulic excavators and track-type bulldozers. Now that's some serious solids handling...

Safety Problems for Biomass?

Are biomass-based boiler systems tried and tested enough to ensure not only efficiency, but safety?

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