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"A move to automated measurements, via wireless technology, has offered greater process visibility for one gas storage operator which has allowed it to work much closer to capacity. RWE Gas Storage is an underground gas storage operator in the Czech Republic, operating six facilities with a total capacity of almost three billion cubic metres. Gas is stored in porous underground facilities during low-off take periods and supplied to users when demand peaks. The facility has active operating reserves of 900 million cubic meters with a current maximum daily output of 15 million cubic meters and is supplied by 47 production wells via an underground pipeline. Incoming gas is filtered and metered, then compressor units generate the necessary injection pressure. After the gas cooling process, the gas is pumped through high-pressure pipes into wells connecting to the storage caverns. The company is continually looking to improve the overall effectiveness of its underground gas storage facilities as measured by the maximum daily input and output. To improve the total amounts required better control, which required higher visibility into the process. However, manually reading over 100 pressure and temperature measurements took around two hours every shift. Having so many manually read gauges was a particular problem when the gas injection rate was higher. This required manual supervision along the entire pipeline, which utilised most of the operations resources. Automating these measurements would give operators greater visibility into the process and increase their efficiency, which would enable them to perform other, more important activities. As well as gaining access to diagnostic data from existing control valves new online pressure, temperature and level measurements were required. Improved visibility to the process would enable operators to run the facility closer to capacity minimising downtime by detecting problems that would, otherwise, lead to unplanned maint

"The heavily forested city of Ketchikan, Alaska, is built on rock and surrounded by water. Every commodity that comes into Ketchikan must arrive by sea or air. The use of fuel oil is problematic for both economic and environmental reasons because the oil must be obtained and refined elsewhere and transported (using additional fuel). What's more, fuel oil is subject to price instability. Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan, which provides information to more than a million visitors each year, is the site of a pilot biomass boiler system now coming to life. Two oil-fired boilers serving the 250,000-sq-ft center were replaced with a highly efficient system fueled by local wood. Manufactured by Hurst Boiler & Welding Company Inc., the hot-water boiler was custom-designed to fit within very limited indoor space. Under the direction of E. Dane Ash, project manager for Tyonek-Alcan Pacific LLC, the biomass boiler system was developed with Hurst representative Gregory W. Smith of Global Energy Solutions Inc. to address environmental concerns, as well as issues related to building space, fuel costs, comfort, reliability, and simplicity of operation. The new boiler is located on the lower level of the Discovery Center, which requires heating for a minimum of nine months a year. Local wood densified into fuel pucks is delivered to an elevated walking-floor storage bin in a vestibule area built to protect against excessive moisture. (The biomass-fired boiler can burn any wood product with up to 50-percent moisture content.) An auger moves pucks from the storage area to a metering bin and into the boiler. Freezing is not an issue because the walking floor easily breaks up any frozen contents. The boiler system was designed to highlight how biomass can reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Visitors can see the boiler operate through specially designed windows. In the hall just outside of the boiler room, the noise level and ambient temperature is consistent w

"The heavily forested city of Ketchikan, Alaska, is built on rock and surrounded by water. Every commodity that comes into Ketchikan must arrive by sea or air. The use of fuel oil is problematic for both economic and environmental reasons because the oil must be obtained and refined elsewhere and transported (using additional fuel). What's more, fuel oil is subject to price instability. Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan, which provides information to more than a million visitors each year, is the site of a pilot biomass boiler system now coming to life. Two oil-fired boilers serving the 250,000-sq-ft center were replaced with a highly efficient system fueled by local wood. Manufactured by Hurst Boiler & Welding Company Inc., the hot-water boiler was custom-designed to fit within very limited indoor space. Under the direction of E. Dane Ash, project manager for Tyonek-Alcan Pacific LLC, the biomass boiler system was developed with Hurst representative Gregory W. Smith of Global Energy Solutions Inc. to address environmental concerns, as well as issues related to building space, fuel costs, comfort, reliability, and simplicity of operation. The new boiler is located on the lower level of the Discovery Center, which requires heating for a minimum of nine months a year. Local wood densified into fuel pucks is delivered to an elevated walking-floor storage bin in a vestibule area built to protect against excessive moisture. (The biomass-fired boiler can burn any wood product with up to 50-percent moisture content.) An auger moves pucks from the storage area to a metering bin and into the boiler. Freezing is not an issue because the walking floor easily breaks up any frozen contents. The boiler system was designed to highlight how biomass can reduce or eliminate the use of fossil fuels. Visitors can see the boiler operate through specially designed windows. In the hall just outside of the boiler room, the noise level and ambient temperature is consistent w

"Chevron case may hurt investments: Official Jakarta Post The ongoing investigation over alleged fraudulent practices within energy giant Chevron's environmental remediation project in Riau province may harm the investment climate in the Indonesia's oil and gas sector, a top official has said. Upstream oil … "