The Monitor

A wastewater treatment plant treats sewage or industrial wastewater before discharging it. Typically, the plant will remove solid materials in the primary treatment. The remaining liquids then are treated for dissolved and suspended organic material in secondary treatment, and finally, disinfection treatment kills disease-causing microorganisms.

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Topics: Steam & Water

In the petrochemical industry, representative samples of liquid petroleum gas and other high vapor pressure gases and liquids are needed for process monitoring, quality control and regulatory compliance. However, in this industry, process fluids and gases are volatile or could be harmful to the operator and the environment, or they could be dangerously altered through a chemical reaction when exposed to the atmosphere – so exposure must be avoided. Because each sample collected may pose a physical or health hazard, and operators may take hundreds of samples per year, samples must be taken safely and correctly using the appropriate equipment and containers.

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Topics: Downstream, Upstream & Midstream, Gas

Sampling can be used to identify process variations and for process control, environmental monitoring, product quality assurance and custody transfer. Following proper steps reduces sample to sample variation. Characteristics of one representative sample are the same of that of the entire lot or batch – and the sampling methods and results should be consistent, accurate and repeatable.

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Topics: Downstream, Mining, Solids & Powder

Metal corrosion is inevitable, and has the potential to cause catastrophic pipeline and assets failure, damaging the environment and communities, injuring field operators, and causing costly downtime and waste in productivity.

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Topics: Downstream, Upstream & Midstream, Gas

In 1985, Sentry Equipment Corp owners Dick and Mary Henszey had the vision and foresight to ensure the company and employees would continue to thrive. They did this by beginning the process of shifting ownership of the company to employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

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Topics: Company News

A North American coal-fired electrical power station was implementing a strict maintenance and calibration procedure for their new steam and water sample panels. This procedure included weekly removal, cleaning, calibration and reinstalling of 22 conductivity probes – which are used to find the concentration of total dissolved solids, or TDS, in a sample of water.

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Topics: Power, Steam & Water

Imagine this scenario: A power plant’s primary coolant pump loses power and is no longer providing coolant to the primary coolers. A steam sample in excess of 250°F continues to flow. In the chemistry lab, an operator works at a computer. A pipe hisses as the room begins to fill with dangerous steam. At the end of the sample tubes are costly analyzers about to be destroyed. The operator realizes what's happening and hurries to shut down the sample lines. The analyzers suffer minor damage but the operator is able to repair them. But, what about next time?

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Topics: Power, Steam & Water

There are four main ingredients needed to make cement: calcium, alumina, iron and silica. The percentages of each ingredient are 90, 3, 2, and 5, respectively.

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Topics: Cement, Solids & Powder

Sludges containing oil and water gradually build up on any relatively large ship as a byproduct of its operation of electrical generation machinery and the main propulsion engine. This oil sludge presents operators with issues of safe disposal in compliance with maritime environmental regulations.

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Topics: Upstream & Midstream, Liquid & Slurry

The cost of cleaning up the oil spill that fouled beaches last month on the California coast has reached $62 million so far, the pipeline company, Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline, said this month. Costs are running at $3 million a day, and there is no firm timetable for cleanup completion, according to the company. The company is responsible for paying all cleanup costs after a pipeline break near Santa Barbara forced the closure of two state beaches and prompted a fishing ban in the area.

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Topics: Upstream & Midstream, Gas