Maintenence management

The management of oil-contaminated water and wastewater in the oil industry remains a critical challenge due to its environmental and economic implications. This manuscript provides a comprehensive review of separation and removal techniques for oil from water and wastewater. It gives an overview of the origins and compositions of oil in wastewater, including natural and anthropogenic sources, as well as variations in physical states such as free, emulsified, and dissolved oil. The review delves into various separation methods, ranging from traditional gravity-based techniques to advanced technologies like membranes and recent developments in wastewater treatment systems. Furthermore, it discusses the application of new technologies specifically designed for the unique challenges faced in Middle East oil fields. The manuscript explores factors influencing oil-water separation efficiency, including operating conditions, chemical additives, equipment design, and environmental considerations. Additionally, it highlights current aspects and future directions in oily wastewater treatment, emphasizing the need for sustainable and effective solutions in the oil industry.

Problem of boiler component erosion is a very complex and present in practically all fossil fuel power plants burning low heating value coals irrespective of their particular design and operating characteristics. Major fly coal erosion accelerating factors are large amounts of abrasive components in the air-coal mixture and its high velocity. In general terms, there is a trend of implementation of appropriate erosion protection in critical place of pulverized boiler coal preparation equipment. In this paper are presented results of erosion tests provided on samples with different erosion protection materials. Erosion damage profiles of different protection materials were investigated and analyzed on tested samples.

Today, technical stone is a material that is used on a huge scale, and its annual consumption in the world is expressed in thousands of millions of tons. The demand for construction, such as houses, hospitals, hotels, schools and so on, has expanded, especially in developing countries. One of the key elements that increases the demand for such products is the numerous government infrastructure projects and maintenance programs. All levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina strive to implement good infrastructure, because in this way they enable trade, support industry, connect workers with jobs, and in this way bring hope for prosperity in these areas. The paper gives a brief overview of the production and processing of dolomite from the "Plješevac" quarry near Kiseljak as a positive example from the practice of "production and processing from raw material to final product".

Before being fed into the separators, a pump is often used to maintain adequate flowing pressure of oil/ water emulsion in a production conduit, especially in a depleted or matured reservoir. Droplet shearing and size reduction due to the pump highly affect the separation performance. This paper aims to present an experimental investigation on the shearing of oil droplets in an oil/water production fluid passing through a high rpm single-stage centrifugal pump (C-pump) and a lower rpm gear pump. A cross polarizer microscope has achieved sample analyses. The experiments have been carried out at various water/oil ratios, from 70/30 to 90/10, with two different temperatures of 50 o C and 80 o C. Further, the viscosities of the fluid sample from both pump outlets are correlated with the water cuts. The results are presented in a graphical format showing the droplet size distributions of different cases from the two tested pump types. There is a general trend of higher shear intensity and smaller mean oil droplets with the C-pump than the gear pump. Water cut and the temperature seem to have a small effect on the shearing of the droplets. Further, the viscosity correlation for the fluid collected from two pump outlets at different temperatures and water cuts shows a slight decrease in viscosity with the shear rate. However, it is highly affected by the water cut and temperature.

Before being fed into the separators, a pump is often used to maintain adequate flowing pressure of oil/ water emulsion in a production conduit, especially in a depleted or matured reservoir. Droplet shearing and size reduction due to the pump highly affect the separation performance. This paper aims to present an experimental investigation on the shearing of oil droplets in an oil/water production fluid passing through a high rpm single-stage centrifugal pump (C-pump) and a lower rpm gear pump. A cross polarizer microscope has achieved sample analyses. The experiments have been carried out at various water/oil ratios, from 70/30 to 90/10, with two different temperatures of 50 o C and 80 o C. Further, the viscosities of the fluid sample from both pump outlets are correlated with the water cuts. The results are presented in a graphical format showing the droplet size distributions of different cases from the two tested pump types. There is a general trend of higher shear intensity and smaller mean oil droplets with the C-pump than the gear pump. Water cut and the temperature seem to have a small effect on the shearing of the droplets. Further, the viscosity correlation for the fluid collected from two pump outlets at different temperatures and water cuts shows a slight decrease in viscosity with the shear rate. However, it is highly affected by the water cut and temperature.

This work highlights Cleaner Production (CP) opportunities available in Downstream Petroleum Lubricants Industry with view to reduce negative environmental impacts of lubricants throughout the value chain. Effort was made to investigate existing cleaner production practices by manufacturers and users. Options were generated to improve on the current practices. Base oil substitution, minimizing oil losses during and after manufacturing, raw material and energy consumption reduction, and environmentally friendly used oil disposal were considered for effectiveness. Keywords-blending, lubricants, cleaner production, environment, waste. * Construct slopping floor for easy oil drainage *Use solar or energy efficient tubes or bulbs for lighting *Install automated meters and valves for batch mixing accuracy * Provide oil resistant gloves and insist on use of goggles by operators *Install temperature gauges to avoid over heating during agitation 3. Filling *Provide hearing protection devices to operators *Introduce operator-based maintenance to reduce jamming *Provide mobile solid waste mesh bins for damaged packaging *Improve product guttering to reduce oil waste *Train operators on water, energy and oil waste minimization 4. Warehousing/bulk storage` *Install flame proof electrical fittings to avoid fires *Erect shed over drum storage platform *Use FIFO for drum stocking and dispatch *Operator-based maintenance for bulk storage (pumps) *Provide spill clean-up kits at bulk loading bay 5. Distribution(LOBP to site) *Install hydraulic tailgate lifter on packaged *Mount dedicated off-loading pump & couplings *Provide drivers with spill clean-up kits *Modify bulk delivery trucks to carry used oil on return trips 6. Storage / Dispensing(site) *Erect asbestos shed over stores drum platform *Fit suction pumps on drums in bunded trays to avoid splashes *Make lube supplier MSDS readily available in case of emergency *Avail spill clean-ff kits in the workshop *Institute operator-based maintenance for dispensing equipment 7. Application / drainage *Consider use of synthetic lubricants to reduce waste oil generation *Use biodegradable lubricants for drills and hydraulic oil *Introduce condition based or extended drainage backed by tribology tests *Use mobile bowser for used oil collection at remote workshop sites *Acquire new efficient mobile plant with catalytic converters and scrubbers for reduced greenhouse gas emissions *Avoid hose bursts through use of nylon sleeving, plastic spring guards and metal spring guards *Use oil resistant gloves and use of goggles for the operators *Acquire proper used oil collection pans and diaphragm pump *Implement oil audits on key mobile plant *Use water sprays to reduce dust ingestion by the equipment 8.Used oil handling and disposal *Install closed-loop used oil collection of pan, pump and storage tank *Use certified used oil vendors or lube suppliers with bulk truck to collect used oil form storage to reduce spills and frequency

This paper addresses the problem of designing a depannage service network for freight transportation fleets in order to fill up an evident gap in Operations Management literature. As a matter of fact, breakdowns have a significant impact on service level and an efficient and effective assistance service is needed in order to guarantee competitive advantage. Aiming at laying the foundations for further research on modelling and solving the considered problem, a literature review is performed for identifying analogies with other ...

This study will address the opportunity of using a big data driven approach to providing a more specific description of track quality, mainly selecting segments of the track exhibiting higher settlement with the use of data analytics and machine learning. The focus will be on a high-speed line in the UK with data covering over 15 years of track geometry. Data sets describing track geometry quality have an enormous volume, which means that it is impractical to apply conventional methods to process it fully. The overall aim of this work was to apply an AI technique to analyse the big data. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was developed on features from the available data set and used to identify segments of the track where the condition has either improved or deteriorated in the period between two inspection runs. The model achieved an accuracy of ~98% during training and was able to reliably identify segments of the track which underwent significant changes in measurements. The ANN was used to perform an initial analysis of the geometry data, which revealed that maintenance works (mainly large-scale tamping) may include healthy portions of the track and potentially reduce its life span. Approximately 50% of the tamped track was not found to improve significantly, based on several different geometric features. On the other hand, local works with a sprinter tamper were much more efficient at eliminating defects.

Mauro Dell'Orco*, Michele Ottomanelli*, Pietro Pace**, Giovanni Pascoschi** *Dept. of Highways and Transportation – Polytechnic University of Bari - Italy ** MER MEC SpA - Via Oberdan, 70 - 70043 Monopoli (BA - Italy) E-mail: dellorco@poliba.it - m.ottomanelli@poliba.it - ...

The demand for high performance “green” or “sustainable” buildings is rapidly becoming the most significant trend in the building industry. As the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry develops the strategies and technologies for these projects, an increased emphasis must be placed on the processes and competencies required to deliver high performance buildings. This paper defines an emerging research and education program at Penn State called the Lean and Green Initiative. Focused on understanding all aspects of the delivery of high performance projects, this program is underpinned by established process-based theories and structured around a systematic methodology designed to minimize waste, maximize value, and reduce cost. Current research and educational activities are described in the paper including nine primary research thrusts and their respective goals. Initial results of each research thrust are also provided, providing an early look at the benefits of...

The fact that used lubricating oil is toxic and harmful, and its deposition and reuse in an environmentally unsustainable manner has serious environmental footprints. The desire of building a sustainable environment for posterity birth this study to assess the impacts and existing management of vehicular used lubricating oil. This was achieved by assessing the generator's level of awareness and existing management practices. Accidental/Snowball sampling techniques were used to select samples with data collected through questionnaires and observations and presented in tables, charts, and plates. The study reveals that 57% of the respondents were unaware of the negative impacts of environmentally unsustainable disposal of used lubricating oil, and 79% were unaware of environmental standards geared towards building a sustainable environment. Sustainable management to restore, maintain and enhance the ecosystem and ecological processes was emphasized by 89%, and 81% revealed raising awareness and promoting understanding is essential to building a sustainable environment. Over 80% cited reused as a major management technique despite not being environmentally sustainable, 90% said it is reused as power starry oil and hydraulic oil, 60% cited reused as gear oil, furnace fuel, and rust prevention, about 30% said it is reused as a dust suppressant, weed killer, ball joint oil, and used to light a fire for cooking, while <20% cited that it is reused as boiler fuel, hair cream and wound treatment oil and burning to reduce the organic compound and heavy metals content as reducing technique of used lubricating oil management. The study concluded that unstainable disposal of vehicular used lubricating oil leaves a footprint in the environment and it recommended mandatory education of generators and dealers of used lubricating oil, establishing plants for recycling used lubricating oil, agglomerated mechanics workshop to ease the collection of used lubricating oil by recycling plants and adoption of global best practices of vehicle used lubricating oil management.

The delivery of green building projects is often more difficult than non-green building projects thereby resulting in low project performance. In order to overcome the difficulties and improve the delivery performance of green building projects, there is need to explore the perceived relationship between motivation and owner commitment (OC) based on the self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation. However no previous research has empirically tested this relationship in the context of green building delivery performance. Therefore this study evaluated this relationship using survey data from 150 project owners of green building projects in the Australian building sector. Data obtained was analyzed using both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis of eight hypotheses (H1-H8). The SEM results reveal that OC has direct positive relationship with traditional delivery performance (TDP). Additionally, only the internal motivation (INT) of project owners has direct positive relationship with sustainability delivery performance (SDP), and this relationship is partially mediated by OC. The external motivation (EXT) has no direct positive relationship with OC, and neither TDP nor SDP. The study concludes that OC helps to improve the TDP of green building projects, while the INT of project owners is required to increase their commitment (OC) towards improving the SDP of green building projects. In addition, the EXT of project owners is not effective to increase their commitment (OC), as well as not contributing to improve TDP and SDP of green building projects. Theoretically, the application of SDT of motivation helps to contribute to the knowledge of how to improve the delivery performance of green building projects in the field of construction management and engineering. Practically, this study will help project owners to contribute to improve the delivery performance of green building projects. This study also provides the direction in which policies for encouraging the development of green building projects and associated practices should take in both Australia and the US henceforth.

This paper reviews the handling, disposal, treatment of waste lubricating grease as well as its environmental impact. Lubricants require careful disposal as they contain pollutants. In response to economic considerations and environmental protection, there is a growing trend of regeneration and reuse of waste lubricants. Accordingly, this work provides an overview on various ways of handling, disposal, treatment of waste grease and its associated environmental impacts. In addition to the fact that petroleum and crude oil are not inexhaustible resources, waste products from these resources present a hazard to human health and the environment. As such, proper management of waste lubricants is necessary to prevent the adverse environmental impacts. Efficient recycling of waste lubricants could help reduce environmental pollution. Keywords -Environmental impact, handling and disposal, pollution, waste lubricating grease, waste management I. INTRODUCTION UBRICATING grease is usually made from petroleum oils thickened with metal soaps, lithium soap is the most widely used thickening agent. In addition, lubricating greases usually contain some performance additives. Thus, the use of polymers is a common practice to modify the rheological properties of greases by reinforcing the role of the thickening agent . The thickener is added to prevent loss of lubricant under operation conditions. Generally, lubrication is achieved by oil. Oil viscosity decreases with increasing temperature hence the requirement for additives to support its duties at higher temperatures . Lubricating grease is used in many applications to reduce the wear and friction between movable parts, usually metal joints. Due to its semisolid character, it can stay in place and act as a seal, thus preventing both solid and liquid contaminants from entering the system, without the need for a sump . Due to the exhaustion of chemical additives and the

Maintenance of buildings is a crucial process that has a great impact on both buildings' performance and the efficiency of their embedded systems. However, the building maintenance industry in Egypt has long been an area of neglect, as most of buildings stakeholders restrict its role to the operation phase of the building. This attitude disregards the precautionary maintenance processes that could be achieved through the preliminary phases of the buildings. The main concern of this paper is suggesting specific guidelines that enable the integration of maintenance considerations into the whole life cycle of the buildings. The ultimate purpose is to achieve better performing buildings regarding maintenance aspects. The study sheds light on the major barriers of applying efficient maintenance, through the analysis of results extracted from focused interviews that targeted a number of general and maintenance managers in a number of selected buildings. Emphasis is made on the role and impact of maintenance considerations in guiding the decisionmaking process, as well as the lack of integrating maintenance into the whole building design process. This paper ends up with suggesting a framework that demonstrates the impact of integrating considerations of maintenance throughout the whole life cycle of the building.

Oil pollution is coming to the open waters and wastewater treatment plants mainly with runoff from the streets, filling-stations and other dispersed sources. With the aim to avoid negative impact on the environment, sufficient wastewater treatment technologies and methods have to be used. The main objective of this research - to enable prediction of oil/water separator&#39;s efficiency, while changing it’s technological factors (hydraulic load, separator’s nominal size, coalescing modules configuration and number, etc.). The oil/water separator’s efficiency was tested using the test apparatus, in accordance with the standard EN 858-1. Statistical methods for data evaluation and oil/water separator&#39;s efficiency prediction were used; as the result, the efficiency was improved 1.5 - 10 times. The main outcome of this research – instrument, enabling to design the efficient oil/water separator for specific conditions, bypassing experimental testing.

The use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel claimed to provide several benefits to engine components and effectively reduce maintenance requirements. It does not mix with or dilute the lubricating oil faster and will not cause deposits in combustion chambers as well as on spark plugs to the extent that the use of gasoline does, thereby generally extending the engine oil, piston ring and spark plug. This work compared the effect of both physical and chemical properties of motorcycle lubricating oil used by KRISS MODENAS 110cc motorcycle after running 5000 km using natural gas and gasoline respectively. The lubricating oil properties were tested according to standard ASTM methods. The results have shown that the lubricating oil where natural gas is used as the fuel suffers less property degradation as compared to the lubricating oil when gasoline was used as the fuel.

The aim of the article is to present a pre-treatment of industrial waste water with hydrocarbon separators. Three hydrocarbon separators with a coalescing filter were tested in three different situations (car wash, fuel station and parking lot). The quality of treated water that is leaving the separator must comply with the conditions of NTPA 001/2005 for wastewater discharge into natural receivers. The maximum amount of light liquid hydrocarbons in the effluent separator is 5 mg•l-1. Petroleum products at concentrations of 0.1 to 10 mg•l-1 present in the surface area and wastewater are determined spectrophotometrically according to SR 7877-2/1995, petroleum products together with some substances present in water are extracted at pH < 5 in CCl4 (Carbon tetrachloride). Pre-treatment of polluted water discharged into the environment or into the sewage system is a necessity in order to protect the environment. Sizing the three light liquid separators is based on the nature and flow rate of the liquids to be treated and considering the following: the maximum flow of rainwater, the maximum flow of wastewater (e.g. industrial effluent), the density of the light liquid, presence of the substances that may impede separation (e.g. detergents). Oil separators nominal size is determined by the flow rate of 45 l•h•m-² for areas not covered. A coefficient of 0.5 is applied to the surfaces provided with the cover. The novelty of the proposed separation system is that in a steal tank all components are introduced: the hydrocarbon separator with a coalescing filter, retention tank and the pumping station. Thus, by integrating all components into a single container divided into several independent compartments, savings in space and mounting time are achieved.

The aim of the article is to present a pre-treatment of industrial waste water with hydrocarbon separators. Three hydrocarbon separators with a coalescing filter were tested in three different situations (car wash, fuel station and parking lot). The quality of treated water that is leaving the separator must comply with the conditions of NTPA 001/2005 for wastewater discharge into natural receivers. The maximum amount of light liquid hydrocarbons in the effluent separator is 5 mg•l-1. Petroleum products at concentrations of 0.1 to 10 mg•l-1 present in the surface area and wastewater are determined spectrophotometrically according to SR 7877-2/1995, petroleum products together with some substances present in water are extracted at pH < 5 in CCl4 (Carbon tetrachloride). Pre-treatment of polluted water discharged into the environment or into the sewage system is a necessity in order to protect the environment. Sizing the three light liquid separators is based on the nature and flow rate of the liquids to be treated and considering the following: the maximum flow of rainwater, the maximum flow of wastewater (e.g. industrial effluent), the density of the light liquid, presence of the substances that may impede separation (e.g. detergents). Oil separators nominal size is determined by the flow rate of 45 l•h•m-² for areas not covered. A coefficient of 0.5 is applied to the surfaces provided with the cover. The novelty of the proposed separation system is that in a steal tank all components are introduced: the hydrocarbon separator with a coalescing filter, retention tank and the pumping station. Thus, by integrating all components into a single container divided into several independent compartments, savings in space and mounting time are achieved.

As the digital-aged learners of today prepare for their post-classroom lives, educational experiences within classrooms and outside of schools should reflect advances both in interactive media and in the learning sciences. Two recent research projects that explore the strengths and limitations of wireless handheld computing devices (WHDs) as primary tools for educational innovations are Harvard University's Handheld Devices for Ubiquitous Learning (HDUL) and Schrier's Reliving the Revolution (RtR). These projects provide rich data for analysis using our conceptual framework, which articulates (a) the global proliferation of WHDs; (b) society's movement toward "ubiquitous computing;" (c) the potential of WHDs to enable sophisticated types of instructional designs; and (d) WHD's fostering of new, media-based learning styles. In this chapter, our primary focus is the last of these four themes.

The primary objective of this research was to improve the efficiency of mechanical oil spill response equipment by optimizing the geometry of the oleophilic skimmer recovery surface. Another objective of this work was to study the relation between the operational variables and the oil spill recovery efficiency in a full-scale oil spill recovery test, comparing novel and conventional oleophilic drum skimmer configurations. The study showed that using the new surface pattern in the recovery unit can increase the skimmer oil recovery efficiency up to three times. The improved surface pattern was found to be efficient on oils with a wide range of viscosities, including diesel oil, which is a challenging liquid to recover due to its low viscosity. The effect of the surface pattern dimensions on the recovery efficiency was explored. Guidelines for the design of a more efficient surface geometry tailored to the properties of the recovered oil were developed.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded a project with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy (NJDEPE) to assist in conducting waste minimization assessments at 30 small-to medium-sized businesses in the state of New Jersey. One of the sites selected was a facility that processes scrap metal to recover refined metals for reuse. The facility concentrates on recovery of tungsten, rnolybdenum, and tantalum. The processes used by the facility involve washing, degreasing, mechanical cleaning, and acid treatment. A site visit was made in 1990 during which several opportunities for waste minimization were identified. Options identified include improved process pH control, changes in solid precipitation technology, and acid reuse. Implementation of the identified waste minimization opportunities was not part of the program. Percent waste reduction, net annual savings, implementation costs and payback periods were estimated.

When designing children playgrounds, one should take into consideration numerous factors dictating safety of the children spending time on the playground. Accessibility of individual parts of the playground, and quality of the equipment, types of used materials in terms of durability, non-toxicity, are only some of the factors which can have impact on the safety. Also important are separation of children age-groups as well as of the conflicting activities, visible labels and supervision. Also, the spacing between the individual parts of equipment and types of used surfaces should be considered. This paper analysis materials of the playground as an element in designing, aimed at children safety. The research includes areas for children play in the city of Nis, The analysis of children playgrounds was performed on the most frequented parks in Nis - in Cair park, Sveti Sava park and Fortress park. Also, there is an analysis of the children playground in the retail park Stop Shop in Nis...

A cloud based, vehicular data acquisition and analytics system for real-time driver behavior monitoring, trip analysis, and vehicle diagnostics is presented. The system consists of an On Board Diagnostics (OBD) port to Bluetooth dongle, an app running on a smartphone, and a cloud-based backend. Based on OBD data, Complex Event Processors (CEPs) at both the smartphone and backend detects and notifies unsafe and anomalous events in real time. For example, CEP at the smartphone alerts drivers about rising coolant temperature and rapid fuel drops. It also provides a trip log and filter out messages to be sent to the backend, saving both the bandwidth and power. Backend CEP detects reckless driving in real time. Backend also uses historical data to detect driving anomalies and predict impending sensor failures. The system is tested on actual vehicles and tests demonstrate that the computing, bandwidth, and power consumption of the smartphone are reasonable.

Water has traditionally been over utilised within the process industry due to its low cost. However, increasing environmental regulations, concerns around human and ecological health, and consumer expectations of high environmental performance have placed water conservation onto the agenda of the process industry. Many conceptual and mathematical techniques are available for determining appropriate water management practices to achieve this, but these are often not easily applied in complex, multi-contaminant systems such as petroleum refineries. This study investigated the use of water auditing techniques to examine water flows within a petroleum refinery, concurrently identifying practical ways for achieving water conservation. The work demonstrated that, even in a refinery with processes considered highly efficient within the industry, many opportunities existed to improve water conservation through technical, cultural and behavioural adaptations. These included the use of alternate water sources such as rainwater runoff, reuse of water within process units, and the introduction of an overarching company policy to minimise water use and effluent discharge. Water auditing was shown to be a simple yet effective method for exposing water management procedures which could be adopted for continual improvement, contributing to the emerging ideal practice of zero liquid discharge.

iMaintenance stands for integrated, intelligent and immediate maintenance; which can be made possible by integrating various maintenance functions, and connecting these to handheld devices, such as an iPhone, using mobile communication technologies. The main innovation required for developing iMaintenance systems is to integrate the disparate systems and capabilities developed under the current eMaintenance models, and to make these immediately accessible by ubiquitous and intelligent computing technologies-such as Digital Ecosystems and Cloud Computing-connected via wireless networks and handheld devices such as the iPhone. A Digital Ecosystem is a computer-based system that can evolve with the system that it monitors and controls, and can be embedded in the system's components, thereby providing the ability to integrate new functionality without any downtime. Cloud Computing can provide access to additional software services that are not available in the local Digital Ecosystem. This chapter will show how these computing paradigms can provide mobile computing and communication facilities required to create novel iMaintenance systems.

In the recent past, trace levels of many contaminants were reported in drinking water. Substances that are resistant to bacterial degradation will flow along with treated effluent and will end up in inland surface waters from which raw water is extracted for public water supply systems. In certain extreme situations, presence of excessive concentrations of these contaminants can inhibit bacterial degradation of biological wastewater treatment processes. Therefore, there is a natural tendency for build-up of these contaminants in water sources. The emerging contaminants found in drinking water are heavy metals and hazardous substances that flow along with industrial effluent, hospital effluent and agricultural runoff. In order to remove these substances that are resistant to biological wastewater treatment, it is recommended to separate them in concentrated form by a separate collection system without allowing to mix with other wastewater streams. For wastewater other than domestic n...

Tamping needs to guarantee safety in limiting geometric failures in isolated points, reduce dynamic forces by a smooth through-going longitudinal level, and provide a certain riding comfort for passengers. Although different methods are applied to describe geometry deterioration, the amount of tamping needed is seldomly addressed. In this work, we evaluated and compared different tamping regimes and their long-term consequences by extrapolating the longitudinal level of track. Forecasting beyond one tamping action needs a precise positioning of measurement data and a solid methodology. We found that tracks can be operated by repairing isolated defects for more than ten years without running into technical and operational trouble, and even reducing budgets in this period. However, the long-term perspective financially shows the contrary: continuous through-going maintenance keeps track quality at a high level and provides the basis for a long service life.

The remediation of oily waste streams such as wash waters and sludge from the washing of oil tankers and slop oil streams from the processing of production crude are traditionally accomplished by heating and gravitational settling. Owing to the relatively similar densities of the oily and aqueous phases in these waste streams, and the nature of the emulsions, gravity-based settling methods require long retention times and bulky equipment to separate the two phases. Recent technological advances at CANMET Energy Technology Centre-Devon (CETC-Devon), Natural Resources Canada have resulted in the emergence of liquid-liquid hydrocyclones as an effective and economical alternative for the treatment of these and other oily fluids. Advanced Separation Technologies (AST) at CETC-Devon has developed and patented the CANMET hydrocyclone, which was designed specifically to process difficult-to-separate oily fluids such as those generated in western Canada heavy oil operations. Because of its unique design, the CANMET hydrocyclone can effectively separate these oily waste streams, recovering concentrated oil and producing water that is nearly oil free and suitable for reuse as process water. This water stream can be cleaned further by additional CANMET hydrocyclone treatment to make it suitable for disposal. AST recently conducted field trials using a CANMET hydrocyclone system to treat oily wastes at a waste treatment plant and slop oil streams at a heavy oil production site in western Canada. The objective of the trials was to evaluate the performance of CANMET hydrocyclone in these applications. The field trials demonstrated the capability of the CANMET hydrocyclone to treat wash water streams and produce a concentrated oil stream and clean water that would be suitable for reuse or disposal. After conditioning of the slop oil stream at the heavy oil facility, a two-stage CANMET hydrocyclone system produced an oil-rich stream in the first stage and a water stream containing low ppm levels of oil in the second stage.

Due to depletion of fossil fuel reserves and increasing cost of the petroleum products are the big troubles of today's world .from past to present, tendency of oil price have increased consecutively. Especially, India has deficient amount of fossil fuel .for this reason, India has to import fossil fuel, such as petroleum for domestic demand. In this review our main focus is on finding alternative fuel resources and utilizing them to eliminate their negative effects, become of the limitation of petroleum products.In this context, waste oils are currently receiving renewed interest. The properties of the oils derived from waste plastic pyrolysis oil, used engine oil and waste tire oil were analysed and compared with the petroleum products and found that it has properties similar to that of diesel. This paper gives a brief review about using waste oils of these three types of oils as a fuel for diesel engines. The production processes of each type of waste oils are presented. The results obtained in the comparison of waste purifying oil properties with fresh diesel are discussed.

All activities related to the rail tracks maintenance are handled in order to respect a balance between safety and economic aspects. The ideal solution is the intervention on railway network at the right moment (“on condition”), to reduce the costs in comparison with the periodical maintenance criteria made at fixed periods and then to optimise the Life Cycle Costs (LCC) of infrastructure components. This ambitious and complex target implies the adoption of special techniques to carry out the continuous monitoring of all railway infrastructures. Nowadays, automatic diagnostic vehicles are available to record all the main parameters of railway infrastructure. For example, ROGER systems produced by MERMEC allow carrying out the monitoring of track infrastructure every 50 cm of the surveyed track, creating a very large amount of data. Because of this quantity, data are not easily analysed by operators and need a very complex processing before applying some knowledge rules over them. Be...

The growth of technological capabilities of mobile devices, the evolution of wireless communication technologies, and the maturity of embedded systems contributed to expand the Machine to machine (M2M) concept. M2M refers to data communication between machines without human intervention. The objective of this paper is to present the grand schemes of a model to be used in an agricultural Decision support System. The authors start by explaining and justifying the need for a hybrid system that uses both Multi-Agent System (MAS) and Constraint Programming (CP) paradigms. Then, the authors propose an approach for Constraint Programming and Multi-Agent System mixing based on controller agent concept. The authors present concrete constraints and agents to be used in a distributed architecture based on the proposed approach for M2M services and agricultural decision support. The platform is built in Java using general interfaces of both MAS and Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) platform...

RF fingerprinting is proposed as a means of providing an additional layer of security for wireless devices. A masquerading or impersonation attacks can be prevented by establishing the identity of wireless transmitter using unique transmitter RF fingerprint. Unique RF fingerprints are attributable to the analog components (digital-to-analog converters, band-pass filters, frequency mixers and power amplifiers) present in the RF front ends of transmitters. Most of the previous researches have reported promising results with an accuracy of up to 99% using high-end receivers (e.g. Giga-sampling rate oscilloscopes, spectrum and vector signal analysers) to validate the proposed techniques. However, practical implementation of RF fingerprinting would require validation with low-end (low-cost) devices that also suffers from impairments due to the presence of analog components in the front end of its receiver. This articles provides the analysis and implementation of RF fingerprinting using ...

This research aimed to simply classify pre-sorted mix plastics of 2.2% Cl into two groups—Cl-poor plastics (≤0.5%) for waste-to-energy application and Cl-rich plastics for selective landfilling. Using three processes (sink-float tank, centrifugation and hydrocyclone) and a number of operating conditions (liquid density and input pressure), 10 different tests were carried out to achieve the above-mentioned purpose.The hydrocyclone separation had a

This paper reviews the handling, disposal, treatment of waste lubricating grease as well as its environmental impact. Lubricants require careful disposal as they contain pollutants. In response to economic considerations and environmental protection, there is a growing trend of regeneration and reuse of waste lubricants. Accordingly, this work provides an overview on various ways of handling, disposal, treatment of waste grease and its associated environmental impacts. In addition to the fact that petroleum and crude oil are not inexhaustible resources, waste products from these resources present a hazard to human health and the environment. As such, proper management of waste lubricants is necessary to prevent the adverse environmental impacts. Efficient recycling of waste lubricants could help reduce environmental pollution. Keywords-Environmental impact, handling and disposal, pollution, waste lubricating grease, waste management I. INTRODUCTION UBRICATING grease is usually made from petroleum oils thickened with metal soaps, lithium soap is the most widely used thickening agent. In addition, lubricating greases usually contain some performance additives. Thus, the use of polymers is a common practice to modify the rheological properties of greases by reinforcing the role of the thickening agent [1]. The thickener is added to prevent loss of lubricant under operation conditions. Generally, lubrication is achieved by oil. Oil viscosity decreases with increasing temperature hence the requirement for additives to support its duties at higher temperatures [2]. Lubricating grease is used in many applications to reduce the wear and friction between movable parts, usually metal joints. Due to its semisolid character, it can stay in place and act as a seal, thus preventing both solid and liquid contaminants from entering the system, without the need for a sump [3]. Due to the exhaustion of chemical additives and the

The wide deployment of wireless networks and mobile technologies and the significant increase in the number of mobile device users has created a very strong demand for emerging mobile commerce applications and services. Barcode-based identification and validation solutions are considered an important part of electronic commerce systems, particularly in electronic supply chain systems. This paper reports a mobile-based 2D barcode validation system as part of mobile commerce systems. This barcode-based validation solution is developed based on the Data Matrix 2D-Barcode standard to support barcode-based validation in mobile commerce systems on mobile devices. The paper demonstrates its application by building a mobile movie ticketing system.

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation, into the effect of water in diesel and kerosene emulsions, on the evaporation time of a single droplet, on hot surfaces (stainless-steel and aluminum). Experiments are performed at atmospheric pressure, and ...

The service lift of thick-walled power plant components exposed to creep, as is the case with pipelines of fresh- and reheated steam, depend on the exhaustion rate of the material Plant operation at elevated temperatures and at temperatures below designed temperatures all relates to the material exhaustion rate, thus complicating remaining life assessment, whereas the operating temperature variation is a most common cause in the mismatching of real service and design life. Apart from temperature, the tube wall stress is a significant variable for remaining life assessment, whose calculation depends on the selected procedure, due to the complex pipeline configuration. In this paper, a remaining life assessment is performed according to the Larson-Miller parametric relation for a phi 324 x 36 pipe bend element of afresh steam-pipeline, made of steel class ICr0.3Mo0.25V, after 160.000 hours of operation. The temperature history of the pipeline, altogether with the pipe bend, is determi...

This chapter deals with the main development challenges of 5G network. The 5G terminals can be made as reconfigurable multimode and cognitive radio enabled. Such networks will have software defined radio modulation schemes. The 5G mobile networks will focus on the development of the user terminals where the terminals will have access to different wireless technologies at the same time and will combine different flows from different technologies. It is beneficial to deploy cloud-computing platforms running on general-purpose hardware, leading to a cloud-RAN system. This chapter is focused on the challenges and benefits of implementing reconfigurable signal processing algorithms on a cloud-computing platform and address various security issues with cognitive radio networks.

The objective of this work was to study the treatment of oily-wastewater by the combination of induced air flotation and coagulation or the modified induced air flotation (MIAF). Effects of bubble hydrodynamics and mixing were analyzed along with the treatment performance for separation different stable oily wastewaters, including cutting oil, lubricant oil, palm oil. The results suggested the necessity of coagulation for the efficient separation of these emulsions. Different alum concentrations were required for good separation due to the variation of oil concentration. The maximum efficiencies of higher than 85% can be attained under the optimal air flow rate of 0.3 L/min for 10 minutes with appropriate alum dosage. Moreover, the result from factor analysis indicated the importance of coagulant dosage, mean droplet size, and hydrodynamic condition in term of a/G ratio on the treatment performance. Finally, a good correspondence was obtained from the experimental data and the mathematical modeling at which identified the correlation between the treatment efficiency and these key factors with the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of at 14%.

Despite the considerable attention that services and service engineering have received in recent years, one has not yet arrived at a universal understanding of what a service is and what service composition and context adaptation entails. By "universal" understanding we mean a commonly agreed understanding that is not tied to particu-aBstraCt This chapter addresses concepts and methods to support dynamic composition of situated services. We focus mainly on service modelling and service design for execution environments that can support dynamic composition of situated services. In our approach, services are modelled using UML 2.x collaborations that are mapped to parts of a UML 2.x design model. Services are also associated with situations, that is, sets of properties that characterise the executing environment of the service. A policy-driven mechanism is proposed to enhance the service composition process. The policy model takes into account context situations and user preferences that can impact the performance and functionalities of the composed services. Within a given situation, executable services are identified and service composition policies used to determine their execution order. We demonstrate the approach using a multi-media over IP service that takes into account security requirements, monitored threat levels, user locations and preferences.

Major innovations are based on novel input devices, for example, the mouse and its role in revolutionizing the PC world. Some innovations are even over-looked, such as the touch screen, until it made quite a trendy return in the shape of the Apple iPhone. All such specialized devices will dwarf into remote handling applications in the cloud by a generalized device, that is, the camera phone. This paper shows that camera movement can be extracted from capture images by a limited block-matching based search. The CPU load is less than 20% and does not increase with image size.

Handling Internet Control Message Protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) vulnerabilities is among the challenges in securing the IPv6 deployment. Since ICMPv6 messages are crucial in IPv6 communications, this paper discusses the discovery of ICMPv6 vulnerabilities by producing a threat model of ICMPv6 vulnerabilities and proposing the use of Selective Filtering ICMPv6 Messages (SF-ICMP6) to handle some of the vulnerabilities. An experiment was conducted to verify the threat model by observing and discussing the usage of ICMPv6 threat model together with SF-ICMP6. The findings showed that the attack derived in the threat model is possible and the countermeasure associated with it is appropriate. As for SF-ICMP6, selectively filtering messages should be enforced because different messages require filtering of different type and code. It is expected that with the use of threat model and SF-ICMP6, maintaining and securing ICMPv6 messages in IPv6 deployment is attainable.

The mobile phone has become a popular tool for providing information and capturing responses from different groups of people because of its technological features and portability. EMA (Ecological Momentary Assessment) is commonly used by health researchers to contemporaneously capture information regarding human experience. The authors proposed the use of a mobile EMA system as a supportive intervention to collect real-time patient data and to give back real-time advice. In this study, a mobile EMA system has been utilized by patients with a variety of conditions, including mood disorders, behavior disorders, and physical disorders. The real-time data collection included one or more pieces of information at each moment to improve understanding the causal mechanisms of disease. The effectiveness of real-time advice has been examined by comparing a mobile EMA system with and without this function. Patient compliance was high on average, at approximately 89%, and was higher, at approximately 93%, when advice was given. In several cases, the supportive intervention was shown to help patients improve their health conditions. However, the results were dependent on the patients' motivation, environment, and relationship with their doctor. The EMA data regarding advice given showed that symptoms tended to improve in most cases.

The technological revolution that has created a vast health problem due to a drastic change in lifestyle also holds great potential for individuals to take better care of their own health. This is the focus of the presented overview of current applications, and prospects for future research and innovations. The presented overview and the main goals of the systems included are to utilize information and communication technologies (ICT) as aids in self-management of individual health challenges, for the disease Diabetes, both for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes are generally as mobile as the rest of the population, and should have access to mobile technologies for managing their disease. Forty-seven relevant studies and prototypes of mobile, diabetes-specific self-management tools meeting our inclusion criteria have been identified; 27 publicly available products and services, nine relevant patent applications, and 31 examples of other disease-related mobile self-mana...

Water has traditionally been over utilised within the process industry due to its low cost. However, increasing environmental regulations, concerns around human and ecological health, and consumer expectations of high environmental performance have placed water conservation onto the agenda of the process industry. Many conceptual and mathematical techniques are available for determining appropriate water management practices to achieve this, but these are often not easily applied in complex, multi-contaminant systems such as petroleum refineries. This study investigated the use of water auditing techniques to examine water flows within a petroleum refinery, concurrently identifying practical ways for achieving water conservation. The work demonstrated that, even in a refinery with processes considered highly efficient within the industry, many opportunities existed to improve water conservation through technical, cultural and behavioural adaptations. These included the use of alternate water sources such as rainwater runoff, reuse of water within process units, and the introduction of an overarching company policy to minimise water use and effluent discharge. Water auditing was shown to be a simple yet effective method for exposing water management procedures which could be adopted for continual improvement, contributing to the emerging ideal practice of zero liquid discharge.