Deep-Well Injection in the Peninsula of Florida

Well injection is defined as the “subsurface emplacement of fluids through a bored, drilled or driven well; or through a dug well where the depth is greater than the largest surface dimension and a principal function of the well is the subsurface emplacement of fluids” (EPA, 1979). Deep-well injection of wastewater effluents is an engineering tool that can be either most valuable for the freshwater resources of an area or very detrimental to the quality of the waters of that area. Which of these two alternatives takes place depends entirely on how we handle this tool in the particular area with which we are concerned. Paper published with permission.

Coal-Oil Mixtures for Industrial Boilers

As petroleum resources become more costly and less plentiful, alternative forms of energy are being considered. Composite fuels, of which coal-oil mixtures is the most common, have received relatively minor attention until now even though it is the one alternative utilizing existing technology. Industrial boiler demonstrations of COM fuel are being performed by the Department of Energy and a number of private firms. Ideally, COM can be handled by the same equipment currently used by No. 6 oil systems. Environmental and operating problems occur, due to the coal portion of the mixture, but these are being quickly resolved. Paper published with permission.

Conservation Begins in the Boiler Room

Industry, regardless of its role in the American economy is suffering from the dramatic leap in energy costs. Unfortunately many of us do not realize how much of our profits are being devoured by these ever increasing costs. The misguided philosophy is that energy costs are absorbed in the maintenance budget. The maintenance budget generally is not broken down therefore the true operating costs of the energy used can not be determined. Some companies are still operating on the concept of cheap energy. If energy costs were broken down into a separate budget it will soon become apparent that the energy costs are becoming more and more a factor in evaluating the true cost of producing a product. The companies that have recognized this condition are finding it extremely difficult to absorb these costs and are adjusting their product pricing accordingly. Energy costs are spiraling upward and companies must analyze the equipment consuming this precious commodity. The boiler room is the greatest consumer of energy. If a company is going to pursue the path of energy conservation, the boiler room will be the focal point because “Energy Conservation Begins In The Boiler Room”. Paper published with permission.

What Directions Next for the Citrus Industry

When my very old friend and erstwhile executive assistant, Hugh Schwarz, came to me over a year ago and invited me to make this talk, I was at first flattered and, after I had committed, I was subsequently more than a little uneasy and subdued. Paper published with permission.

What’s in a Citrus Fruit?

Part I: Fractionated Citrus Fruit Components of Twelve Major Florida Citrus Cultivars At the 1978 Citrus Engineering Conference, Kesterson et al. (5, 6) presented data on the fractionated fruit components of Valencia orange and Marsh grapefruit. Also, the potential recoveries for a selected few by-products and specialty products were given for these two varities. For the past 18 years, the University of Florida has provided research facilities at the Lake Alfred Agricultural Research and Education Center’s (LA-AREC) processing and feed mill pilot plants to gather accurate information on the fractionated fruit components of the various citrus cultivars in order to establish residue tolerances (7). To accomplish this mission, weighted material balances have been made on 285 different lots of fruit. At the request of the citrus processors, these data are now being made available to the Florida Citrus Industry. Paper published with permission.

The Economics of Using Mechanical Vapor Recompression Evaporators to Concentrate Orange Juice

Evaporators using Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) have been operating successfully in various food industries for several years. Growing concern over fuel availability and rising energy costs has created an interest in the feasibility of applying this technology to citrus processing. There are several problems, however, inherent to concentrating orange juice, which make the economical application of MVR evaporation difficult. These include the short processing season, appreciable boiling point rise of the concentrated juice, and the quality problems associated with long residence times and high temperatures. One possible approach is to operate the compressor under vaccum, use the MVR unit as a preconcentrator, and finish the concentration in a standard multiple-effect evaporator. Two versions of this system, each with a different pre-concentration level, were compared to TASTE evaporators. An analysis showed that if the economy ratio, pounds of water evaporated per pound of steam, for the TASTE evaporator was greater than 3. 5, then the payback period for an MVR system would be greater than 6 years. As the economy ratio for the TASTE evaporator decreases, the payback for the MVR system improves. Paper published with permission.