Vegetable Oil - Food or Fuel - The Future
I have been reading few articles in the past few days relating to oil/fuel. While there's some hope and potential of the vegetable oil like soy bean, rape seed, palm oil, jatropa, and others to be converted as fuel, they are also well known establish food resources. And now, it depends on the world, or maybe to narrow it down, politician rather than scientist to decide on the priority between food or fuel. It will be a lengthy discussion and debate. And perhaps, it's going to be a difficult and tough issue. All of this, a direct result of the depletion of fossil fuel. The reserve which might last for maybe 20-30 or 40 years more, has created staggering urgency to seek renewable energy resources. And as thinking people, we keep thinking and wandering about it....because i believe that vegetable oil will have certain role in the fuel market demand.
In conjunction with that, I was wandering to get some piece of land and plant them with the likes of palm oil and sugar cane mainly because the huge potential of profit that i can gain later. I know, if i have some 10 - 20 acres of land planted with those crops, i can channel them into a variety of products. I can make massive fortune from it, and expand it further from there. Because of that too, i'm slowly learning the kitchen scale biodiesel process....ha ha....
While I was wandering and experimenting the theoretical part of converting used cooking palm oil to diesel, i was struck with the information that the fossil fuel reserve in America is substantially huge. The reserve is more than what the midde east are having now. If I recall correctly, the fossil reserve is about 3 trillion barrels or probably more, and can ensure continuous supply of petroleum (gasolline/diesel/etc) for another 500 years!!!
After reading that, I thought again, what the heck are we doing cracking our head and brain cells to think and develop the biodisel/biofuel industry/technology after knowing that there are a lot of black gold underneath Colarado, USA!!! Opss....ok...at least for the sake of knowledge and new tech.
With this piece of information....for me......there would be NO MORE ISSUE of vegetable oil debate: Food or Fuel....at least for the next 500 years!!!!
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Chemical Engineers World Improvements
Recently I got some information from google about google related link. It's a very interesting, useful, informative link that i cannot resist including it into this site. You can see them now on top of this post, which is the bright blue banner. In the above google related link, you can see "searches", "news" and "videos", all related to the subject chemical engineering. One very brilliant thing about this google related link ---> It's automatically updated. Therefore, the news, videos and searches are all fresh stuff. I hope they are beneficial to all of you.
Recently I got some information from google about google related link. It's a very interesting, useful, informative link that i cannot resist including it into this site. You can see them now on top of this post, which is the bright blue banner. In the above google related link, you can see "searches", "news" and "videos", all related to the subject chemical engineering. One very brilliant thing about this google related link ---> It's automatically updated. Therefore, the news, videos and searches are all fresh stuff. I hope they are beneficial to all of you.
Monday, October 2, 2006
Cooling Tower Water Treatment
Taking care of the cooling tower water is not as easy as it looks. When a cooling tower water looks crystal clear, that means whoever is taking care of the cooling tower is doing a very good job. It also means that the process plant people is also doing a great job as a customer of the cooling tower water receiver. It also means that the operational part of the cooling tower is excellent. The mechanical part of the cooling tower is also in a tip top condition shape. The heat exchanger should also be performing to expectation.
You can expect some slimmy film sticking on your infill when oil leaks
Well, basically what a cooling tower water needs for treatment is basically as follows:
1. biocide
2. corrosion / scale inhibitor
3. Oil dispersant
Well, the specialty chemical required for any cooling tower depends on the cooling tower situation. What i've put on top there is just basic stuff. I'll elaborate on the chemicals in later posts. We must dose the right chemical at the right time, if not, the consequences might be devastating.
Well, you can read more about one company, Nalco, that have a cooling tower water chemical treatment.....read here...
Anyway...i'll talked more about the chemicals later on...
Taking care of the cooling tower water is not as easy as it looks. When a cooling tower water looks crystal clear, that means whoever is taking care of the cooling tower is doing a very good job. It also means that the process plant people is also doing a great job as a customer of the cooling tower water receiver. It also means that the operational part of the cooling tower is excellent. The mechanical part of the cooling tower is also in a tip top condition shape. The heat exchanger should also be performing to expectation.
You can expect some slimmy film sticking on your infill when oil leaks
Well, basically what a cooling tower water needs for treatment is basically as follows:
1. biocide
2. corrosion / scale inhibitor
3. Oil dispersant
Well, the specialty chemical required for any cooling tower depends on the cooling tower situation. What i've put on top there is just basic stuff. I'll elaborate on the chemicals in later posts. We must dose the right chemical at the right time, if not, the consequences might be devastating.
Well, you can read more about one company, Nalco, that have a cooling tower water chemical treatment.....read here...
Anyway...i'll talked more about the chemicals later on...
Friday, September 29, 2006
E&P Daily News SPE Edition Day 2
(E&P : Exploration & Production)
Dear Colleague:
We hope you enjoyed yesterday's preview issue of the E&P show daily, as part of
the 2006 SPE Conference.
In case you are unable to attend the show, and as an advance look for those in
attendance, we have made today's issue available for your reading enjoyment.
Just click on this link to retreive it:
http://www.eandpnet.com/pdf/SPE%20Tuesday.pdf
Please accept it with our compliments.
Sincerely,
Russell Laas
Publisher
E&P Magazine
(E&P : Exploration & Production)
Dear Colleague:
We hope you enjoyed yesterday's preview issue of the E&P show daily, as part of
the 2006 SPE Conference.
In case you are unable to attend the show, and as an advance look for those in
attendance, we have made today's issue available for your reading enjoyment.
Just click on this link to retreive it:
http://www.eandpnet.com/pdf/SPE%20Tuesday.pdf
Please accept it with our compliments.
Sincerely,
Russell Laas
Publisher
E&P Magazine
Global LNG Outlook 2006
For you guys who are interested and perhaps live nearby or have some budget...
Don't miss out on this year's Global LNG Outlook 2006. Online registration closes at midnight on Monday, October 3rd and seats are going fast. This year's Global LNG Outlook 2006 will be held October 4-5, 2006, at the JW Marriott in New Orleans, LA.
Click here to see the current agenda and register.
If you don't have the opportunity to visit us online, onsite registration will open at 8:00 AM at the JW Marriott in New Orleans on Wednesday morning.
I look forward to seeing you at the conference.
Sincerely,
Bill Anderson
Director of Conferences and Events
Hart Energy Publishing
www.hartenergyconferences.com
For you guys who are interested and perhaps live nearby or have some budget...
Don't miss out on this year's Global LNG Outlook 2006. Online registration closes at midnight on Monday, October 3rd and seats are going fast. This year's Global LNG Outlook 2006 will be held October 4-5, 2006, at the JW Marriott in New Orleans, LA.
Click here to see the current agenda and register.
If you don't have the opportunity to visit us online, onsite registration will open at 8:00 AM at the JW Marriott in New Orleans on Wednesday morning.
I look forward to seeing you at the conference.
Sincerely,
Bill Anderson
Director of Conferences and Events
Hart Energy Publishing
www.hartenergyconferences.com
Thursday, September 28, 2006
COST CUTTING JUSTIFICATION!
In any chemical industry and other industries, we cannot avoid from purchasing equipment or service which we need in order to perform our work in order to achieve our company objective/target. Whether we are working in a research institution or service company or chemical plant or etc...We need to purchase something as asset(s) or consumable(s) or service(s).
As engineers/executive/managers, we need to make wise and technical decision based on wise justification before deciding to purchase something. We need to consider the economical aspect and the Return on Investment (ROI) as well.
However, from my humble experience, we usually know what we want and how the product/service works. We are also capable to evaluate and justify the product/service which best suite our demand and requirement.
However, the problem arises when our superior/procurement department will question us and try to get the cheapest product/service without having better comprehension of what is exactly our requirement. Often, they'll overwrite our demand and honour us with cheaper product/service that they manage to get. Their concept and philosophy is most of the time COST CUTTING!!! They do not want to compromise on the quality and safety aspects!!!
The following is an excellent article that i read from Engineer Live regarding the COST of COST CUTTING by Steve Hayward from Delta International. I really recommend you reading it...
Buy cheap, pay dear. Driving down costs can be expensive
Steve Hayward this discusses the potential risks and detrimental effects involved in cutting costs.
There is a well known saying which states: “Buy cheap, pay dear”. An equally common expression is: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. The French say: “On a rien sans rien.” (You cannot get something for nothing) while the Spanish equivalent is “quien algo quiere, algo le cuesta”.
You start to realise that we all pretty much agree the world over that if you cut corners on price there is a very good chance you will pay for it later. So why have we become obsessed with driving costs down irrespective of whether this actually has a detrimental effect upon us and our objectives?
Read the rest from the link…
http://www.engineerlive.com/power-engineer/opinion/16349/buy-cheap-pay-dear-driving-down-costs-can-be-expensive.thtml
In any chemical industry and other industries, we cannot avoid from purchasing equipment or service which we need in order to perform our work in order to achieve our company objective/target. Whether we are working in a research institution or service company or chemical plant or etc...We need to purchase something as asset(s) or consumable(s) or service(s).
As engineers/executive/managers, we need to make wise and technical decision based on wise justification before deciding to purchase something. We need to consider the economical aspect and the Return on Investment (ROI) as well.
However, from my humble experience, we usually know what we want and how the product/service works. We are also capable to evaluate and justify the product/service which best suite our demand and requirement.
However, the problem arises when our superior/procurement department will question us and try to get the cheapest product/service without having better comprehension of what is exactly our requirement. Often, they'll overwrite our demand and honour us with cheaper product/service that they manage to get. Their concept and philosophy is most of the time COST CUTTING!!! They do not want to compromise on the quality and safety aspects!!!
The following is an excellent article that i read from Engineer Live regarding the COST of COST CUTTING by Steve Hayward from Delta International. I really recommend you reading it...
Buy cheap, pay dear. Driving down costs can be expensive
Steve Hayward this discusses the potential risks and detrimental effects involved in cutting costs.
There is a well known saying which states: “Buy cheap, pay dear”. An equally common expression is: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. The French say: “On a rien sans rien.” (You cannot get something for nothing) while the Spanish equivalent is “quien algo quiere, algo le cuesta”.
You start to realise that we all pretty much agree the world over that if you cut corners on price there is a very good chance you will pay for it later. So why have we become obsessed with driving costs down irrespective of whether this actually has a detrimental effect upon us and our objectives?
Read the rest from the link…
http://www.engineerlive.com/power-engineer/opinion/16349/buy-cheap-pay-dear-driving-down-costs-can-be-expensive.thtml
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
SCADA and Communications
People new to the industry often use the terms SCADA (Supervisory control and data acquisition) and DCS (Distributed Control System) interchangeably. Although there's no sharp line separating these two categories of control systems, and specific implementations often have characteristics of each, it is useful to distinguish between them because of their unique strength and weaknesess.
The most significant factor differentiating SCADA system and DCS today is the "human in the loop". Well, enough about those explanation. It can be more technical and quite difficult to absorb for some people who are not really familiar with both control system.
To makes thing simpler and easier to understand what are SCADA and DCS, lets see their characteristics:
SCADA System
1. Geographic span: Large
2. Point count : Large
3. Data acquisition rates : Moderate - seconds to minute
4. Data acquisition network : Slow with moderate error rate
5. Graphic User Interfase (GUI) : Full featured
6. Alarming subsystem : Full featured
7. Control actions : Human initiated
DCS System
1. Geographic span : Small
2. Point count : Small
3. Data acquisition rates : Very fast - miliseconds to seconds
4. Data acquisition network : Fast with low error rate
5. Graphic User Interfase (GUI) : Basic
6. Alarming subsystem : Basic
7. Control actions : Programmatically initiated
Perhaps, later I'll slowly explain about these type of control systems...We must know and appreciate these system as it smoothen our process control and operation. These control system are applied in the oil & gas as well as in refineries too serving the oils and fats industries.
People new to the industry often use the terms SCADA (Supervisory control and data acquisition) and DCS (Distributed Control System) interchangeably. Although there's no sharp line separating these two categories of control systems, and specific implementations often have characteristics of each, it is useful to distinguish between them because of their unique strength and weaknesess.
The most significant factor differentiating SCADA system and DCS today is the "human in the loop". Well, enough about those explanation. It can be more technical and quite difficult to absorb for some people who are not really familiar with both control system.
To makes thing simpler and easier to understand what are SCADA and DCS, lets see their characteristics:
SCADA System
1. Geographic span: Large
2. Point count : Large
3. Data acquisition rates : Moderate - seconds to minute
4. Data acquisition network : Slow with moderate error rate
5. Graphic User Interfase (GUI) : Full featured
6. Alarming subsystem : Full featured
7. Control actions : Human initiated
DCS System
1. Geographic span : Small
2. Point count : Small
3. Data acquisition rates : Very fast - miliseconds to seconds
4. Data acquisition network : Fast with low error rate
5. Graphic User Interfase (GUI) : Basic
6. Alarming subsystem : Basic
7. Control actions : Programmatically initiated
Perhaps, later I'll slowly explain about these type of control systems...We must know and appreciate these system as it smoothen our process control and operation. These control system are applied in the oil & gas as well as in refineries too serving the oils and fats industries.
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