Smart Crude Desalter Monitoring System Using Capacitance Based Technology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramsey James White ◽  
Abdullah Abdulrahman Al-Hamoud ◽  
Miguel Angel Lopez

Abstract Saudi Aramco operates several electrostatic coalescers for bulk emulsion separation and crude desalting. One of the major challenges in operating electrostatic coalescers is the potential buildup of tight emulsions and a rag layer at the interface layer, which causes short-circuiting of the electrostatic grids which increases the risk excessive carryover of water with the crude. Conventional liquid level instrumentation cannot measure the thickness of emulsion layers since the level taps are at the clean oil and water layers. Consequently, the buildup of emulsions is normally not detected by operators. A capacitance-based emulsion detection system was installed at one of the electrostatic coalescers of a Saudi Aramco facility. The system is comprised of multiple probes installed at various elevations in the vessel. Each probe measures the capacitance of the liquid in which it is immersed in. The data is then transmitted to the DCS, where an algorithm computes the oil/water content. Saudi Aramco developed an enhanced predictive alarm logic and advisory tool using the measured capacitance data so that operations may take preemptive measures to prevent upsets from occurring. The alarm system was tested over an extended period of time and it has shown that it can accurately detect the buildup of emulsions prior to an upset in the electrostatic coalescer. What is unique about the system is that it utilizes a combination of absolute capacitance measurements and capacitance variations in the algorithm. Emulsion buildups are detected by the alarm system hours before a potential upset, providing operators ample time to take preemptive measures such as increasing the demulsifier injection rate, desludging the vessel or lowering the interface level. The system significantly reduced the number of electrostatic coalescer upsets at the facility and crude quality was enhanced. Upon inspection of the probes during shutdowns, no buildup of deposits, which impacts capacitance readings, were found on the probes since a flushing system was installed. The alarm system has been utilized for four years with no major issues. Utilizing the capacitance probes to develop an algorithm for an alarm system is a novel technique to detect emulsion layer buildup hours prior to a potential electrostatic grid upset. Large-scale deployment is more economical as it is more cost-effective than radioactive profilers and is logistically easier to manage.

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 6435-6448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiawei Hou ◽  
Albert I. J. M. van Dijk ◽  
Luigi J. Renzullo ◽  
Robert A. Vertessy

Abstract. River discharge measurements have proven invaluable to monitor the global water cycle, assess flood risk, and guide water resource management. However, there is a delay, and ongoing decline, in the availability of gauging data and stations are highly unevenly distributed globally. While not a substitute for river discharge measurement, remote sensing is a cost-effective technology to acquire information on river dynamics in situations where ground-based measurements are unavailable. The general approach has been to relate satellite observation to discharge measured in situ, which prevents its use for ungauged rivers. Alternatively, hydrological models are now available that can be used to estimate river discharge globally. While subject to greater errors and biases than measurements, model estimates of river discharge do expand the options for applying satellite-based discharge monitoring in ungauged rivers. Our aim was to test whether satellite gauging reaches (SGRs), similar to virtual stations in satellite altimetry, can be constructed based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) optical or Global Flood Detection System (GFDS) passive microwave-derived surface water extent fraction and simulated discharge from the World-Wide Water (W3) model version 2. We designed and tested two methods to develop SGRs across the Amazon Basin and found that the optimal grid cell selection method performed best for relating MODIS and GFDS water extent to simulated discharge. The number of potential river reaches to develop SGRs increases from upstream to downstream reaches as rivers widen. MODIS SGRs are feasible for more river reaches than GFDS SGRs due to its higher spatial resolution. However, where they could be constructed, GFDS SGRs predicted discharge more accurately as observations were less affected by cloud and vegetation. We conclude that SGRs are suitable for automated large-scale application and offer a possibility to predict river discharge variations from satellite observations alone, for both gauged and ungauged rivers.


Author(s):  
Dr. Aziz Makandar

Abstract: The design of a fire alarm with Arduino-based system by means of GSM Module. The work purposely for house safety where the main point is to avoid the fire accidents occurred to the residents and the properties inside the house. In order to prevent losses accrued from fire accidents, various alarm systems have been developed such as smoke detectors, temperature sensor based systems etc. The design and implementation of a cost effective and reliable GSM based SMS Alert fire alarm system. The device will be able to monitor the temperature of the environment, the smoke level, send SMS alert to an inbuilt GSM number. When the system detects the temperature of 100C or more, it will immediately display an alert notification on LCD display and simultaneously sending an SMS alert to the users upon the high raise temperature in the house. This fire detection system consists of a smoke sensor, buzzer, LCD display and GSM module is interfaced with Arduino board. Keywords: Smoke sensor, GSM Module, Arduino, LED display, Buzzer


Author(s):  
Loay F. Hussein ◽  
Anis Ben Aissa ◽  
Islam Abdalla Mohamed ◽  
Saed Alruwaili ◽  
Abdalazi Alanzi

The number of vehicles stolen is increasing annually. The alarm system for vehicles is commonly used to expose the burglars publicly to make a scene. If the vehicle owner is far away, it will be hard to distinguish the threat to the vehicle from the intruder. To deter such crime, there should be a safer protection mechanism for vehicles around the globe. Moreover, overcrowd parking lot problems have always been an issue. Nevertheless, it became even worse with the progressing urbanization and population expansion. Anyone may have experienced that moment of panic when you realize you have no idea where you parked your vehicle. Note that, the keyless remote control of vehicles has a short-range radio transmitter. It usually can reach up 5–20 meters. Therefore, this paper develops a proposed system that is used for detecting vehicle location using Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). It is basically capable to switch ON and OFF vehicle alarm system to detect the location of the vehicle in a crowded area. PIC microcontroller that has been embedded in the system programmed using C language. The intelligent proposed system also designs to enhance the security feature for the transportation era. The proposed system offers better service and cost-effective for the vehicle owners.


Author(s):  
Yan Pan ◽  
Shining Li ◽  
Qianwu Chen ◽  
Nan Zhang ◽  
Tao Cheng ◽  
...  

Stimulated by the dramatical service demand in the logistics industry, logistics trucks employed in last-mile parcel delivery bring critical public concerns, such as heavy cost burden, traffic congestion and air pollution. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are a promising alternative tool in last-mile delivery, which is however limited by insufficient flight range and load capacity. This paper presents an innovative energy-limited logistics UAV schedule approach using crowdsourced buses. Specifically, when one UAV delivers a parcel, it first lands on a crowdsourced social bus to parcel destination, gets recharged by the wireless recharger deployed on the bus, and then flies from the bus to the parcel destination. This novel approach not only increases the delivery range and load capacity of battery-limited UAVs, but is also much more cost-effective and environment-friendly than traditional methods. New challenges therefore emerge as the buses with spatiotemporal mobility become the bottleneck during delivery. By landing on buses, an Energy-Neutral Flight Principle and a delivery scheduling algorithm are proposed for the UAVs. Using the Energy-Neutral Flight Principle, each UAV can plan a flying path without depleting energy given buses with uncertain velocities. Besides, the delivery scheduling algorithm optimizes the delivery time and number of delivered parcels given warehouse location, logistics UAVs, parcel locations and buses. Comprehensive evaluations using a large-scale bus dataset demonstrate the superiority of the innovative logistics UAV schedule approach.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 899
Author(s):  
Djordje Mitrovic ◽  
Miguel Crespo Chacón ◽  
Aida Mérida García ◽  
Jorge García Morillo ◽  
Juan Antonio Rodríguez Diaz ◽  
...  

Studies have shown micro-hydropower (MHP) opportunities for energy recovery and CO2 reductions in the water sector. This paper conducts a large-scale assessment of this potential using a dataset amassed across six EU countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain, and Portugal) for the drinking water, irrigation, and wastewater sectors. Extrapolating the collected data, the total annual MHP potential was estimated between 482.3 and 821.6 GWh, depending on the assumptions, divided among Ireland (15.5–32.2 GWh), Scotland (17.8–139.7 GWh), Northern Ireland (5.9–8.2 GWh), Wales (10.2–8.1 GWh), Spain (375.3–539.9 GWh), and Portugal (57.6–93.5 GWh) and distributed across the drinking water (43–67%), irrigation (51–30%), and wastewater (6–3%) sectors. The findings demonstrated reductions in energy consumption in water networks between 1.7 and 13.0%. Forty-five percent of the energy estimated from the analysed sites was associated with just 3% of their number, having a power output capacity >15 kW. This demonstrated that a significant proportion of energy could be exploited at a small number of sites, with a valuable contribution to net energy efficiency gains and CO2 emission reductions. This also demonstrates cost-effective, value-added, multi-country benefits to policy makers, establishing the case to incentivise MHP in water networks to help achieve the desired CO2 emissions reductions targets.


Author(s):  
Paul Oehlmann ◽  
Paul Osswald ◽  
Juan Camilo Blanco ◽  
Martin Friedrich ◽  
Dominik Rietzel ◽  
...  

AbstractWith industries pushing towards digitalized production, adaption to expectations and increasing requirements for modern applications, has brought additive manufacturing (AM) to the forefront of Industry 4.0. In fact, AM is a main accelerator for digital production with its possibilities in structural design, such as topology optimization, production flexibility, customization, product development, to name a few. Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is a widespread and practical tool for rapid prototyping that also demonstrates the importance of AM technologies through its accessibility to the general public by creating cost effective desktop solutions. An increasing integration of systems in an intelligent production environment also enables the generation of large-scale data to be used for process monitoring and process control. Deep learning as a form of artificial intelligence (AI) and more specifically, a method of machine learning (ML) is ideal for handling big data. This study uses a trained artificial neural network (ANN) model as a digital shadow to predict the force within the nozzle of an FFF printer using filament speed and nozzle temperatures as input data. After the ANN model was tested using data from a theoretical model it was implemented to predict the behavior using real-time printer data. For this purpose, an FFF printer was equipped with sensors that collect real time printer data during the printing process. The ANN model reflected the kinematics of melting and flow predicted by models currently available for various speeds of printing. The model allows for a deeper understanding of the influencing process parameters which ultimately results in the determination of the optimum combination of process speed and print quality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
D Panatto ◽  
P Landa ◽  
D Amicizia ◽  
P L Lai ◽  
E Lecini ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Invasive disease due to Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) is a serious public health problem even in developed countries, owing to its high lethality rate (8-15%) and the invalidating sequelae suffered by many (up to 60%) survivors. As the microorganism is transmitted via the airborne route, the only available weapon in the fight against Nm invasive disease is vaccination. Our aim was to carry out an HTA to evaluate the costs and benefits of anti-meningococcal B (MenB) vaccination with Trumenba® in adolescents in Italy, while also considering the impact of this new vaccination strategy on organizational and ethics aspects. Methods A lifetime Markov model was developed. MenB vaccination with the two-dose schedule of Trumenba® in adolescents was compared with 'non-vaccination'. Two perspectives were considered: the National Health Service (NHS) and society. Three disease phases were defined: acute, post-acute and long-term. Epidemiological, economic and health utilities data were taken from Italian and international literature. The analysis was conducted by means of Microsoft Excel 2010®. Results Our study indicated that vaccinating adolescents (11th year of life) with Trumenba® was cost-effective with an ICER = € 7,912/QALY from the NHS perspective and € 7,758/QALY from the perspective of society. Vaccinating adolescents reduces the number of cases of disease due to meningococcus B in one of the periods of highest incidence of the disease, resulting in significant economic and health savings. Conclusions This is the first study to evaluate the overall impact of free MenB vaccination in adolescents both in Italy and in the international setting. Although cases of invasive disease due to meningococcus B are few, if the overall impact of the disease is adequately considered, it becomes clear that including anti-meningococcal B vaccination into the immunization program for adolescents is strongly recommended from the health and economic standpoints. Key messages Free, large-scale MenB vaccination is key to strengthening the global fight against invasive meningococcal disease. Anti-meningococcal B vaccination in adolescents is a cost-effective health opportunity.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 661
Author(s):  
Luigi Piazzi ◽  
Stefano Acunto ◽  
Francesca Frau ◽  
Fabrizio Atzori ◽  
Maria Francesca Cinti ◽  
...  

Seagrass planting techniques have shown to be an effective tool for restoring degraded meadows and ecosystem function. In the Mediterranean Sea, most restoration efforts have been addressed to the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica, but cost-benefit analyses have shown unpromising results. This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of environmental engineering techniques generally employed in terrestrial systems to restore the P. oceanica meadows: two different restoration efforts were considered, either exploring non-degradable mats or, for the first time, degradable mats. Both of them provided encouraging results, as the loss of transplanting plots was null or very low and the survival of cuttings stabilized to about 50%. Data collected are to be considered positive as the survived cuttings are enough to allow the future spread of the patches. The utilized techniques provided a cost-effective restoration tool likely affordable for large-scale projects, as the methods allowed to set up a wide bottom surface to restore in a relatively short time without any particular expensive device. Moreover, the mats, comparing with other anchoring methods, enhanced the colonization of other organisms such as macroalgae and sessile invertebrates, contributing to generate a natural habitat.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1646
Author(s):  
Jingya Xie ◽  
Wangcheng Ye ◽  
Linjie Zhou ◽  
Xuguang Guo ◽  
Xiaofei Zang ◽  
...  

In the last couple of decades, terahertz (THz) technologies, which lie in the frequency gap between the infrared and microwaves, have been greatly enhanced and investigated due to possible opportunities in a plethora of THz applications, such as imaging, security, and wireless communications. Photonics has led the way to the generation, modulation, and detection of THz waves such as the photomixing technique. In tandem with these investigations, researchers have been exploring ways to use silicon photonics technologies for THz applications to leverage the cost-effective large-scale fabrication and integration opportunities that it would enable. Although silicon photonics has enabled the implementation of a large number of optical components for practical use, for THz integrated systems, we still face several challenges associated with high-quality hybrid silicon lasers, conversion efficiency, device integration, and fabrication. This paper provides an overview of recent progress in THz technologies based on silicon photonics or hybrid silicon photonics, including THz generation, detection, phase modulation, intensity modulation, and passive components. As silicon-based electronic and photonic circuits are further approaching THz frequencies, one single chip with electronics, photonics, and THz functions seems inevitable, resulting in the ultimate dream of a THz electronic–photonic integrated circuit.


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