Compliance with the Process Safety Management rule, OSHA 1910.119, is a requirement for plants processing certain highly hazardous materials exceeding threshold quantities. The rule requires the owner to demonstrate all equipment has been purchased and installed in accordance with recognized industry standards. Maintenance practices must also be according to Recognized and Generally Accepted Good Engineering […]
Currently there are nearly 100 commercial nuclear power plants operating in the US with most of the plants commissioned between the mid 1960’s and the mid 1980’s. All plants are designed to be capable of safely withstanding a postulated earthquake, known as the safe shutdown earthquake. Similar requirements are imposed on US Department of Energy […]
Traditional rotating equipment mounted at grade use the mass of a foundation and grout to reduce vibration and provide support and stiffness. However, cooling tower fans must be elevated many feet above a basin of water which sometimes puts them “out of sight and out of mind”. Cost and practicality prohibits concrete and grout, thus […]
The process team at Becht Engineering brings decades of experience from serving in the R&D of major corporations and also from representing a wide variety of Becht Engineering clients. We have observed and evaluated new technology from both sides of the fence…as employees or for large corporations who do R&D internally to outpace their competition, […]
In addition to the many clarifications, updated references to codes and standards, updates to basic allowable stresses, and added listed materials, there are several substantive changes to the 2016 Edition of ASME B31.3, Process Piping, which is scheduled to be issued on January 4, 2017. These changes are: Severe Cyclic Conditions The definition for severe […]
Machinery and reliability people have for a long time observed that when it comes to long life and high reliability, operating at higher speeds compares poorly to operation at lower speeds. One of the primary reasons for having high-speed devices is economics. With high speed you can have smaller equipment sizes with fewer stages. While […]
Risk Based Work Selection (RBWS) is one of the Best Practices used by refiners in managing safety and reliability of operations for a facility. RBWS enables refiners to optimize the scope, cost and duration of major turnarounds (TA). Optimization of the work scope is accomplished by screening individual TA Work List items, using a risk-based […]
Equipment Operators face hundreds of work list items while planning for scheduled maintenance events. For each item the owner must make a decision on whether to repair or replace the equipment to resolve the deficiency. In some circumstances, owners are unable to come up with a cost effective repair solution so they default to the […]
Reliable operations is a key business objective for nearly every manufacturing plant due to global economic pressures and increasing Process Safety Management (PSM) requirements. Pacesetter sites that have been successful in achieving long-term reliability are characterized by Business Units empowered and accountable to meet their reliability targets. Structured work processes, with specialist support, provide the […]
Refrigerated Liquefied Storage Tanks have been used for over 60 years in the industry. A significant number of these tanks store liquefied Propane and Butane, Ethylene and LNG and Ammonia. The stored fluids are at atmospheric pressures with temperatures which range from -45 F to -270 Failures of refrigerated tanks have been quite infrequent over […]
