Fruit Handling Trucks to Juice Room

Your initial reaction to the title of this paper is probably similar to the one I had. How in the world can I spread the bull out for 30 minutes? Paper published with permission.

Insulation Thickness Guidelines for Energy Control, Process Control, Personnel Protection and Condensation Control

There are two questions that practically every engineer or designer asks of insulation manufacturers serving the commercial/industrial markets: 1. What insulation material can be used for this application? 2. How thick should the insulation be? The first question is beyond the scope of this presentation. The answer depends on many factors. Suffice it to say that no insulation material commercially available is ideally suited for every kind of application or service. For our purposes today, we have assumed that fiber glass has been selected as the insulation type of choice, and we now concentrate on the second question, “How thick should the insulation be?” Paper published with permission.

Coal Rediscovered

Despite recent experience in petroleum markets, future oil prices and availability are still major uncertainties that can have significant impact on energy users. Natural gas prices have also seen continual escalation. In COMCO’s coal-based alternative fuel development work, we have taken a long-term outlook, namely that the only sensible fuel strategy for utility and industrial users continues to be the increased utilization of coal. Coal slurry fuels, such as coal-oil mixtures and coal-water mixtures, represent a way for energy users with existing conventional fuel-fired equipment to increase coal utilization without replacing those facilities with costly new coal-fired systems. Paper published with permission.

Florida Citrus Freeze Losses and Recovery in the Field

Freezes have had and will continue to have a significant impact on the conduct of the Florida citrus industry. A viable industry and all its associated suppliers and services depend very heavily on the consistent and continued production of fruit in the field. The main reason that fruit production has been inconsistent is the fruit and tree losses associated with damaging freezes. This paper will discuss a brief history of the freezes, the economics of several options of rehabilitating freeze-damaged trees, and cultural practices, etc. in the field which can minimize freeze losses. Paper published with permission.

Cogeneration Systems and the Utility Interface

Cogeneration is defined as the simultaneous production of electricity and useful thermal energy. This production of electricity and thermal energy from the common source is more efficient than separate production of thermal energy and electrical energy. Because of the need for both thermal and electrical energy, cogeneration systems have been a part of industrial energy systems since early in this century. In fact, until the early 1950s, over half of industrial electrical energy use was produced from cogeneration systems. A favorable balance between thermal energy needs and electrical needs exists in many industries, and this balance serves as the driving force for the use of cogeneration systems. Several things led to the change of balance between the thermal and electrical requirements of industry which led to a general decline in the use of cogeneration over the next thirty years. The increase in the amount of electrical energy in the energy equation and the development of industry without associated thermal requirements were major factors in the development of a market for electricity from central generating plants. These large special-purpose generating plants could approach the efficiency and cost of cogeneration plants because of economies of scale and the variety of fuels acceptable in these plants. The availability of electricity from utilities at a reasonable price, combined with low fuel prices, allowed efficient plant operation independent of a balance between thermal and electrical energy. This reduction in the use of cogeneration systems in industrial plants continued into the early 1970s when the Arab oil embargo caused a precipitous rise in the cost of fuel and reduced growth of electrical use, new environmental restrictions and inflation began to eat into the economies of scale that had been realized with the construction of larger and more efficient electrical plants. Paper published with permission.

Orange Juice Demand: An Industry in Transition

Florida’s orange industry is facing an increasingly challenging production/marketing situation. Factors largely responsible for the current situation include demand growth and shifts in product demand, Florida freezes, and increased competition from Brazil. These factors will largely determine the position of the Florida industry in the orange juice market in the years ahead. Paper published with permission.