Utility plants

The probabilistic nature of a confidence interval provides an opportunity to ask and answer questions comparing a sample s mean or variance to either the accepted values for its population or similar values obtained for other samples. For example, confidence intervals can be used to answer questions such as Does a newly developed method for the analysis of cholesterol in blood give results that are significantly different from those obtained when using a standard method or Is there a significant variation in the chemical composition of rainwater collected at different sites downwind from a coalburning utility plant In this section we introduce a general approach to the statistical analysis of data. Specific statistical methods of analysis are covered in Section 4F. 

Numerous theories exist as to how the Chilean deposits formed and survived. It has been postulated that the unique nitrate-rich caUche deposits of northern Chile owe their existence to an environment favorable to accumulation and preservation of the deposits, rather than to any unusual source of the saline materials (2). The essential conditions are an extremely arid climate similar to that of the Atacama desert in the 1990s, slow accumulation during the late Tertiary and Quaternary periods, and a paucity of nitrate-utilizing plants and soil microorganisms. 

Cogeneration is an energy conversion process wherein heat from a fuel is simultaneously converted to useful thermal energy (e.g., process steam) and electric energy. The need for either form can be the primary incentive for cogeneration, but there must be opportunity for economic captive use or sale of the other. In a chemical plant the need for process and other heating steam is hkely to be the primaiy in a pubhc utility plant, electricity is the usual primary produc t. 

The new purchasing mantra for the new utility plants is life cycle cost and to properly ensure that this is achieved a total performance condition monitoring strategy is unsurpassed. 

It is therefore elear why the new purehasing mantra for a utility plant, or for that matter of fact, for any major plant operating large machinery is life cycle cost. ... 

Table 19-8 Load Sharing Program Description of Utility Plant Units ...

To develop the skills of in-house personnel, as mueh repair work as possible should utilize plant personnel. Eneouraging the partieipation of the maehinist in the solution of diffieult problems often results in the maehinist seeking information on his own. Referenees to API and ASME speeifieations should not be uneommon on the shop floor. Today s maehinist and meehanie must be eomputer literate. Internet training must be provided with some basie training on word proeessing and spreadsheet programs. 

If utilities are supplied to the new project from some other source, the cost and amount must be determined. If purchased from a second party, the cost will be determined by contract and can be estimated by discussions with the vendor. If utilities are transferred from an affiliated source, the cost must include a profit to the supplying entity. Some estimators use a lower return on utility plants than on a new hydrocarbon processing unit, since the utility can be used for some alternate plant if the new one shuts down for any reason. However, the preferred analysis allows a high enough utility transfer price to provide the same return on the utilities as the new unit being studied. This can require a trial and error approach, especially if the utilities are a significant part of the selling price of the product. 

Use of excess air levels of 5 percent or less has been shown to reduce fuel ash corrosion in furnaces, most likely by stabilizing the vanadium as a refractory suboxide, VO2 or V2O3. Utility plants have had some success using this method to control vanadium ash corrosion. However, practical application of excess air control in refinery and chemical plant operations is difficult, and has not been particularly successful. Problems with particulates, smoke, pollution, and flame control are encountered unless the necessary expensive control systems and operator attention are constantly available. 

Industry restructuring advocates believe that a competitive market will create incentives to operate more efficiently and make better economic investments in utility plant and equipment. In contrast to a competitive market, cost-based ratemakmg does not generally reward utilities with a higher return for making an especially good investment in plant and equipment, or penalize them for making an especially bad investment. The return that a utility... 

Utility plants primarily employ reheat condensing turbines, whereas cogeneration plants and larger process industries that produce their own electrical power tend to employ extraction turbines. Both types of turbine rely on a surface condenser to receive exhaust steam from the LP turbine stage and condense it to liquid for reuse. 

Utility plants operate at the highest level of condensing possible. 

Closed FW heaters are used widely in large WT boiler plant systems a schematic drawing is shown in Figure 3.3. It is a horizontal, three-zone, HP, closed FW heater, of a design that is often employed in utility plants. 

Utilities plant contract labor Today these chemical water treatment-based full-service programs may be further enhanced by the supply of various boiler plant mechanical and electrical maintenance and repair work, plus energy management services, all from a single supplier source. In fact, many customers are now replacing their entire utilities staff with contract labor under a utilities service contract. The utilities plant contractor usually subcontracts the water treatment full-service component to a specialist water treatment and environmental services company. 

The latest outsourcing development is for giant services companies to bundle their services together to provide a one-stop shop. A services contractor may provide some form of permanently installed utilities plant under a build, own, operate, maintain program (BOOM), so that the customer merely pays a contract fee to receive water, steam, electricity, and other services. Thus, the entire responsibility for the provision of utilities can be passed to a contractor, and not merely at one facility, but globally ... 

The degree of inspection and monitoring work employed must be tailored to the types of boiler units under consideration. For the smallest boilers, this tends to be minimal, but it is extremely comprehensive for the largest industrial power, cogeneration, and utility plants. The only commonality is the need to ensure continuous operational safety. 

In the past, research activities in the field of hemicellulose were aimed mainly at utilizing plant biomass by conversion into sugars, chemicals, fuel and as sources of heat energy. However, hemicelluloses, due to their structural varieties and diversity are also attractive as biopolymers, which can be utilized in their native or modified forms in various areas, including food and non-food applications. 

Utility investment Capital investment in utility plant could include equipment for ... 

Harris, J.F. "Acid Hydrolysis and Dehydration Reactions for Utilizing Plant Carbohydrates," Applied Polymer Symposium. 1975, 28, 131-144. 

Kelp bass, Paralabraxclathratus-, California Los Angeles site near effluent discharge of steam utility plant vs. Catalina Island (reference site)... 

Classes 1 and 2 are closely related The reactants available for implantable power, such as blood-borne glucose, lactate, or oxygen, are ambient in that environment. These two classes are distinct, however, in that an ambient-fueled cell need not be implanted and utilizes plant- or waste-derived fuels, whereas the implantable cell utilizes animal-derived fuels. Class 3 is unique because it competes with well-established conventional fuel cell technology. 

Uses Solvent for nitrocellulose, ethyl cellulose, polyvinyl butyral, rosin, shellac, manila resin, dyes fuel for utility plants home heating oil extender preparation of methyl esters, formaldehyde, methacrylates, methylamines, dimethyl terephthalate, polyformaldehydes methyl halides, ethylene glycol in gasoline and diesel oil antifreezes octane booster in gasoline source of hydrocarbon for fuel cells extractant for animal and vegetable oils denaturant for ethanol in formaldehyde solutions to inhibit polymerization softening agent for certain plastics dehydrator for natural gas intermediate in production of methyl terLbutyl ether. 

On November 14, 1993, a 600-foot concrete stack collapsed onto a coal-fired electric power plant killing one person and injuring four others. The incident occurred at a Texas Utilities plant near Mt. Pleasant, Texas while the facility was shut down for maintenance. Extensive damage occurred within the plant resulting in an extended outage. Destroyed in the incident were a 750 MW generator, a steam boiler, compressor, two... 

The DustMASTER system is designed to limit dust from fly ash and other dust generating waste streams such as fly and bottom ash from waste-to-energy and utility plants, cement kiln dust, baghouse residue, iron-oxide, and other powder-type materials. 

Explores the development of clinical trials utilizing plant-derived biopharmaceutical proteins... 

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