Testing Plant Tests

Trichloroethanoic acid, CCI3COOH. A crystalline solid which rapidly absorbs water vapour m.p. 58°C, b.p. 196-5" C. Manufactured by the action of chlorine on ethanoic acid at 160°C in the presence of red phosphorus, sulphur or iodine. It is decomposed into chloroform and carbon dioxide by boiling water. It is a much stronger acid than either the mono- or the dichloro-acids and has been used to extract alkaloids and ascorbic acid from plant and animal tissues. It is a precipitant for proteins and may be used to test for the presence of albumin in urine. The sodium salt is used as a selective weedkiller. 

Beside all these safety reasons, we are able to test 2 or 3 drums at the same time and by some improvements of the application we are able to reduce the test-period down to 4 hours, which results in an also for the production sufficient number of tested drums during the short shut down periods. These increase the availability and the production output of a plant and result therefore in a gain of safety an economical competitiveness of the European industry. 

After preliminary shop tests on different mockups (e.g. superheater and reheater headers and steamline pipe sections), since 1996 AEBIL systems have been installed and are at work on several power plant components. In particular, three different components have been monitored throughout 1997 (monitoring still under way at the time being) ... 

The financial support of the EU Commission to the in-plant testing and validation work packages, in the frame ofthe BRITE-EURAM Project 6056 "SIMON" is gratefully acknowledged. 

Finally, preliminary diagnostic evaluation criteria, based on preventive identification of critical areas of interest on the monitored item, spatial concentration of localized AE events as compared with average AE event density and evolution of local event concentration vs time and/or plant parameters, have been worked out and submitted to extensive testing under real operation conditions. Work on this very critical issue is still to be consohdated. 

F. Cattaneo, C. De Michelis, S. Ghia, G.M.Piana "AEBIL a new acoustic emission system for on-line structural integrity monitoring of critical power plant components" to be presented at the 7th European Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, Copenhagen, 26-29 May 1998. 

Welded structures often have to be tested nondestructively, particularly for critical application where weld failure can he catastrophic, such as in pressure vessels, load-bearing structural members, and power plants. 

MAPPscan is a manual ultrasonic testing system connected to an acoustic positioning system.. The system is developed as a consequence of the increased radiation doses in nuclear plants The system has the same flexibility as manual scanning with the same accuracy and the possibilties to collect, store and evaluate the UT data as with mechanised Ultrasonic systems The positioning system is based on spatial acoustic triangulation and have an accuracy of better than 1.0 mm within its recommended range. 

Besides large-diameter pipes, ultrasonic testing is used for checking the welded joints of drill bits, components of wind-driven electric plants, welded joints of light alloys and non-metallic materials, for an integrated inspection of various objects. A range of training aids developed at the Institute allows the operators to be trained effectively. 

It has developed a real time method to compare successive non-destructive inspections of the steam generator tubes in nuclear power plants. Each tube provides a safety barrier between the primary and secondary coolant circuits. Each steam generator contains several thousands of tubes whose structural integrity must be ensured through the lifetime of the plant, Therefore, Laborelec performs extensive nondestructive tests after each plant outage. 

The control chart is set up to answer the question of whether the data are in statistical control, that is, whether the data may be retarded as random samples from a single population of data. Because of this feature of testing for randomness, the control chart may be useful in searching out systematic sources of error in laboratory research data as well as in evaluating plant-production or control-analysis data. ... 

Phytoremediation is also being developed for dealing with soils contaminated with high levels of selenium in California again B.juncea seems to be particularly effective in accumulating the contaminant from soil, and all plants tested were more effective at removing selenate than selenite (92). This is an interesting contrast to bacterial systems, where selenite reduction is more commonly found than selenate reduction. 

Every continent, except Antarctica, grows com 40% of the present world crop is produced in the United States. In the 1987—1988 crop year, 12 states (Iowa, HI., Nebr., Minn., Ind., Ohio, Wis., Mo., S. Dak., Mich., Kans., and Tex. in order of production) produced 157.5 million metric tons (6.2 biUion bushels) that was 88% of the United States and 36% of the world s crop (66). Yield is influenced by many factors, including climate, pest control, planting density, and fertilization. Yield in the United States has increased from about 1.5 metric tons /hectare in the 1930s to about 7.5 metric tons /hectare. In 1985, a test plot produced 23.2 metric tons /hectare and yields approaching 40 metric tons /hectare are considered possible com is the most productive of the principal food crops. 

Specification tests are performed on plant streams once or twice per worker shift, or even more often if necessary, to assure the continuing quahty of the product. The tests are also performed on a sample from an outgoing shipment, and a sample of the shipment is usually retained for checking on possible subsequent contamination. Tests on specialty types of acetone may require sophisticated instmments, eg, mass spectrometry for isotopicaHy labeled acetone. 

Aromatic and Nonaromatic Hydrocarbon Separation. Aromatics are partially removed from kerosines and jet fuels to improve smoke point and burning characteristics. This removal is commonly accompHshed by hydroprocessing, but can also be achieved by Hquid-Hquid extraction with solvents, such as furfural, or by adsorptive separation. Table 7 shows the results of a simulated moving-bed pilot-plant test using siHca gel adsorbent and feedstock components mainly in the C q—range. The extent of extraction does not vary gready for each of the various species of aromatics present. SiHca gel tends to extract all aromatics from nonaromatics (89). 

The alkalized zinc oxide—chromia process developed by SEHT was tested on a commercial scale between 1982 and 1987 in a renovated high pressure methanol synthesis plant in Italy. This plant produced 15,000 t/yr of methanol containing approximately 30% higher alcohols. A demonstration plant for the lEP copper—cobalt oxide process was built in China with a capacity of 670 t/yr, but other higher alcohol synthesis processes have been tested only at bench or pilot-plant scale (23). 

The KDF filter was first tested in prototype on a coal mine in northern Germany. It was installed in parallel with existing vacuum filters and it produced filter cakes consistendy lower in moisture content by 5 to 7% than the vacuum filters. Two production models have been installed and operated on a coal mine in Belgium. The filter is controlled by a specially developed computer system this consists of two computers, one monitoring the function of the filter and all of the detection devices installed, and the other controlling the filtration process. The system allows optimization of the performance, automatic start-up or shut-down, and can be integrated into the control system of the whole coal washing plant. 

Another quaHty control problem of multipurpose plants is the clean out for a product change. A test for residual cleaning solvents in the ppm level is a necessity. The best vaHdation of the cleaning process is to develop an analytical method that is able to find the previous product in the new product at a level of not more than 1 ppm. Tests should be mn on at least the first three batches. 

Experimentation with test animals and laboratory and plant experience indicate that the fluorophosphoric acids are less toxic and dangerous than hydrogen fluoride (58). However, they contain, or can hydrolyze to, hydrofluoric acid and must be treated with the same care as hydrofluoric acid. Rubber gloves and face shields are essential for all work with these acids, and full mbber dress is necessary for handling larger quantities. The fumes from these acids contain HF. 

History. Methods for the fractionation of plasma were developed as a contribution to the U.S. war effort in the 1940s (2). Following pubHcation of a seminal treatise on the physical chemistry of proteins (3), a research group was estabUshed which was subsequendy commissioned to develop a blood volume expander for the treatment of military casualties. Process methods were developed for the preparation of a stable, physiologically acceptable solution of alburnin [103218-45-7] the principal osmotic protein in blood. Eady preparations, derived from equine and bovine plasma, caused allergic reactions when tested in humans and were replaced by products obtained from human plasma (4). Process studies were stiU being carried out in the pilot-plant laboratory at Harvard in December 1941 when the small supply of experimental product was mshed to Hawaii to treat casualties at the U.S. naval base at Pead Harbor. On January 5, 1942 the decision was made to embark on large-scale manufacture at a number of U.S. pharmaceutical plants (4,5). 

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