Plant installations

As of this writing (1996), 354 MWe of privately funded, paraboHc-trough electric generating capacity was operating in California. These trough systems operate in a hybrid mode, using natural gas. Collectively they accounted for more than 90% of worldwide solar electric capacity. The cost of these systems fell steadily from 0.24/kWh for the first 14-MW system to an estimated 0.08/kWh for the 80-MW plant installed in 1989 (5). 

Design considerations and costs of the catalyst, hardware, and a fume control system are direcdy proportional to the oven exhaust volume. The size of the catalyst bed often ranges from 1.0 m at 0°C and 101 kPa per 1000 m /min of exhaust, to 2 m for 1000 m /min of exhaust. Catalyst performance at a number of can plant installations has been enhanced by proper maintenance. Annual analytical measurements show reduction of solvent hydrocarbons to be in excess of 90% for 3—6 years, the equivalent of 12,000 to 30,000 operating hours. When propane was the only available fuel, the catalyst cost was recovered by fuel savings (vs thermal incineration prior to the catalyst retrofit) in two to three months. In numerous cases the fuel savings paid for the catalyst in 6 to 12 months. 

Pricing as a factor of total plant installed cost... 

The method uses a breakdown of costs for a typical chemical plant installed in the United States, as shown in Fig. 9-44. Costs of equipment, appurtenances, construction, and engineering with material and labor separate are given as a percentage of total installed United States costs. The four components of cost are defined as follows ... 

It is interesting to note that some pump users literally know that their pumps will fail after a specific time period. They understand that the running time of the pump should be maximized to have an acceptable yield in the process. This type of strategy is expensive since it raises a doubt of the continuity of the pump performance. To compensate, some plants install back up or redundant pumps. 

Adiabatic. When the net heat lost or gained by the unit to or from the surroundings is zero. Most plant installations approach this operation, and the adiabatic equations are widely used. 

The application of the above criteria for routing PR valve discharges in a number of typical plant installations is described below ... 

It is emphasized that the system shown in Figure 5-13 represents only a simplification of actual plant installations, which may he more complex. If it is not obvious at which point ignition is likely to occur, a flame arrester installed in an actual plant may have to he selected to face a comhination of the conditions shown in Figure 5-13. Therefore, for manifolded vent systems, the arrester should he a hidirectional, detonation type, and hoth sides of the arrester element should he provided with thermocouples to detect a stable flame. 

Insights into the human causes of accidents for a specific category of process plant installations are provided by the Oil Insurance Association report on boiler safety (Oil Insurance Association, 1971). This report provides a large number of case studies of human errors that have given rise to boiler explosions. 

Sprinkler and water spray installations-Many process and storage area buildings should be protected by automatic sprinkler systems. The size and arrangement for water supply are dependent upon the nature of the hazard and the degree of protection desired. Water spray installations are particularly adapted for cooling uninsulated steel structures, elevated pipe lines, vessels, spheres, and similar plant installations. 

Portable extinguishers-These are used in small fires since they can easily be transported and operated. Ideal placement would be in laboratories and pilot plant installations where fires of limited size can be anticipated. 

This chapter introduces the basic items of design and specification for the principal systems and components of an electrical industrial installation. Electrical supply systems are discussed with regard to interface with the supply authorities and the characteristics. Salient features of switchgear, transformers, protection systems, power factor correction, motor control equipment and standby supplies are identified and discussed together with reference to the relevant codes of practice and standards. The equipment and systems described are appropriate to industrial plant installations operating at typically 11 kV with supply capacities of around 20MVA. 

Future expansion should always be taken into account when installing new plant. Increasing compressor capacity presents no problem if the rest of the plant installation has been planned accordingly. 

Approval is given by the local authority (in writing) to plants installed under this Section. It is an offence to use plant which does not have approved grit and dust arresters. If a local authority refuses approval, an appeal is to be made within 28 days of refusal of consent. 

There are a few disadvantages plant installation cost is high only one coat can be applied by this process substrate imperfections are mirrored. 

Regenerative types, used in large boiler plant installations... 

Following years of glacial slow development, freeze concentration processing is suddenly heating up" says J. Chowdhury in 1988 (1). He underlines that point by finding more than ten new freeze concentration plants installed in the USA in that year. About the same number of companies offer new or improved processes in the field of directed crystallization as a separation technology. 

Fig, 4, Process flow diagram of 4.5 MW fuel cell power demonstration plant installed at the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Goi, Japan... 

In the open literature (Ref 17) is briefly described a continuous, remotely controlled, method of mixing ingredients for composite proplnts, which was recently developed at the US Naval Propellant Plant, Indian Head, Maryland. The pilot plant installation at Indian Head, represented schematically in Fig, consists of a mixer B (which is a long cylindrical vessel in which a porous pipe C is inserted) a tube A for introducing into the mixer the solid and liq ingredients and a series of manifolds, M, serving for injection of air thru the pores in C... 

Figure 4.11 Power plant installation where multiple tower arrangement is utilized (towers ate operated in parallel). Cooling towers are placed in a row at right angles to the prevailing winds (courtesy of The Marley Company, Mission, KS).

Finally, one of the first continuous ion-exchange plants installed used a weak-acid resin to recover copper from rayon-fibre spinning solutions. In the Bemberg or copper(II) ammonium process,357 the spinning takes place in an addic copper sulfate solution, and the fibre is then washed in ammonia solution. The wash water contains as much as 30% of the copper required for the spinning operation and its recovery is important in economic and environmental terms. The copper is extracted as the cationic amine complex by the weak-acid resin, and is then stripped from the resin with the acidic spinning solution. Zinc is recovered in a similar manner from vicrose rayon-spinning operations. 

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