Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”
Dec 28, 2011
Aug 19, 2010
History of Steels
Ancient steel
Steel was known in antiquity, and may have been produced by managing bloomeries — iron-smelting facilities — so that the bloom contained carbon.[16]
The earliest known production of steel is a piece of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia (Kaman-Kalehoyuk ) and is about 4,000 years old.[17] Other ancient steel comes from East Africa, dating back to 1400 BC.[18] In the 4th century BC steel weapons like the Falcata were produced in the Iberian Peninsula, while Noric steel was used by the Roman military.[19] The Chinese of the Warring States (403–221 BC) had quench-hardened steel,[20] while Chinese of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) created steel by melting together wrought iron with cast iron, gaining an ultimate product of a carbon-intermediate steel by the 1st century AD.[21][22]
[edit] Wootz steel and Damascus steel
Main articles: Wootz steel and Damascus steel
Evidence of the earliest production of high carbon steel in the Indian Subcontinent was found in Samanalawewa area in Sri Lanka.[23] Wootz steel was produced in India by about 300 BC.[24] Along with their original methods of forging steel, the Chinese had also adopted the production methods of creating Wootz steel, an idea imported into China from India by the 5th century AD.[25] In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making method employed the unique use of a wind furnace, blown by the monsoon winds, that was capable of producing high-carbon steel.[26] Also known as Damascus steel, wootz is famous for its durability and ability to hold an edge. It was originally created from a number of different materials including various trace elements. It was essentially a complicated alloy with iron as its main component. Recent studies have suggested that carbon nanotubes were included in its structure, which might explain some of its legendary qualities, though given the technology available at that time, they were produced by chance rather than by design.[27] Natural wind was used where the soil containing iron was heated up with the use of wood. The ancient Sinhalese managed to extract a ton of steel for every 2 tons of soil[citation needed], a remarkable feat at the time. One such furnace was found in Samanalawewa and archaeologists were able to produce steel as the ancients did long ago.[26][28]
Crucible steel, formed by slowly heating and cooling pure iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible, was produced in Merv by the 9th to 10th century AD.[24] In the 11th century, there is evidence of the production of steel in Song China using two techniques: a "berganesque" method that produced inferior, inhomogeneous steel and a precursor to the modern Bessemer process that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a cold blast.[29]
[edit] Modern steelmaking
A Bessemer converter in Sheffield, England
Since the 17th century the first step in European steel production has been the smelting of iron ore into pig iron in a blast furnace.[30] Originally using charcoal, modern methods use coke, which has proven to be a great deal cheaper.[31][32][33]
[edit] Processes starting from bar iron
Main articles: Blister steel and Crucible steel
In these processes pig iron was "fined" in a finery forge to produce bar iron (wrought iron), which was then used in steel-making.[30]
The production of steel by the cementation process was described in a treatise published in Prague in 1574 and was in use in Nuremberg from 1601. A similar process for case hardening armour and files was described in a book published in Naples in 1589. The process was introduced to England in about 1614.[34] It was produced by Sir Basil Brooke at Coalbrookdale during the 1610s. The raw material for this were bars of wrought iron. During the 17th century it was realised that the best steel came from oregrounds iron from a region of Sweden, north of Stockholm. This was still the usual raw material in the 19th century, almost as long as the process was used.[35][36]
Crucible steel is steel that has been melted in a crucible rather than being forged, with the result that it is more homogeneous. Most previous furnaces could not reach high enough temperatures to melt the steel. The early modern crucible steel industry resulted from the invention of Benjamin Huntsman in the 1740s. Blister steel (made as above) was melted in a crucible or in a furnace, and cast (usually) into ingots.[36][37]
[edit] Processes starting from pig iron
A Siemens-Martin steel oven from the Brandenburg Museum of Industry
White-hot steel pouring out of an electric arc furnace
The modern era in steelmaking began with the introduction of Henry Bessemer's Bessemer process in 1858. His raw material was pig iron.[38] This enabled steel to be produced in large quantities cheaply, so that mild steel is now used for most purposes for which wrought iron was formerly used.[39] The Gilchrist-Thomas process (or basic Bessemer process) was an improvement to the Bessemer process, because it lined the converter with a basic material to remove phosphorus. Another improvement in steelmaking was the Siemens-Martin process, which complemented the Bessemer process.[36]
These were rendered obsolete by the Linz-Donawitz process of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), developed in the 1950s, and other oxygen steelmaking processes. Basic oxygen steelmaking is superior to previous steelmaking methods because the oxygen pumped into the furnace limits impurities.[40] Now, electric arc furnaces (EAF) are a common method of reprocessing scrap metal to create new steel. They can also be used for converting pig iron to steel, but they use a great deal of electricity (about 440 kWh per metric ton), and are thus generally only economical when there is a plentiful supply of cheap electricity.[41]
Steel was known in antiquity, and may have been produced by managing bloomeries — iron-smelting facilities — so that the bloom contained carbon.[16]
The earliest known production of steel is a piece of ironware excavated from an archaeological site in Anatolia (Kaman-Kalehoyuk ) and is about 4,000 years old.[17] Other ancient steel comes from East Africa, dating back to 1400 BC.[18] In the 4th century BC steel weapons like the Falcata were produced in the Iberian Peninsula, while Noric steel was used by the Roman military.[19] The Chinese of the Warring States (403–221 BC) had quench-hardened steel,[20] while Chinese of the Han Dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) created steel by melting together wrought iron with cast iron, gaining an ultimate product of a carbon-intermediate steel by the 1st century AD.[21][22]
[edit] Wootz steel and Damascus steel
Main articles: Wootz steel and Damascus steel
Evidence of the earliest production of high carbon steel in the Indian Subcontinent was found in Samanalawewa area in Sri Lanka.[23] Wootz steel was produced in India by about 300 BC.[24] Along with their original methods of forging steel, the Chinese had also adopted the production methods of creating Wootz steel, an idea imported into China from India by the 5th century AD.[25] In Sri Lanka, this early steel-making method employed the unique use of a wind furnace, blown by the monsoon winds, that was capable of producing high-carbon steel.[26] Also known as Damascus steel, wootz is famous for its durability and ability to hold an edge. It was originally created from a number of different materials including various trace elements. It was essentially a complicated alloy with iron as its main component. Recent studies have suggested that carbon nanotubes were included in its structure, which might explain some of its legendary qualities, though given the technology available at that time, they were produced by chance rather than by design.[27] Natural wind was used where the soil containing iron was heated up with the use of wood. The ancient Sinhalese managed to extract a ton of steel for every 2 tons of soil[citation needed], a remarkable feat at the time. One such furnace was found in Samanalawewa and archaeologists were able to produce steel as the ancients did long ago.[26][28]
Crucible steel, formed by slowly heating and cooling pure iron and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) in a crucible, was produced in Merv by the 9th to 10th century AD.[24] In the 11th century, there is evidence of the production of steel in Song China using two techniques: a "berganesque" method that produced inferior, inhomogeneous steel and a precursor to the modern Bessemer process that utilized partial decarbonization via repeated forging under a cold blast.[29]
[edit] Modern steelmaking
A Bessemer converter in Sheffield, England
Since the 17th century the first step in European steel production has been the smelting of iron ore into pig iron in a blast furnace.[30] Originally using charcoal, modern methods use coke, which has proven to be a great deal cheaper.[31][32][33]
[edit] Processes starting from bar iron
Main articles: Blister steel and Crucible steel
In these processes pig iron was "fined" in a finery forge to produce bar iron (wrought iron), which was then used in steel-making.[30]
The production of steel by the cementation process was described in a treatise published in Prague in 1574 and was in use in Nuremberg from 1601. A similar process for case hardening armour and files was described in a book published in Naples in 1589. The process was introduced to England in about 1614.[34] It was produced by Sir Basil Brooke at Coalbrookdale during the 1610s. The raw material for this were bars of wrought iron. During the 17th century it was realised that the best steel came from oregrounds iron from a region of Sweden, north of Stockholm. This was still the usual raw material in the 19th century, almost as long as the process was used.[35][36]
Crucible steel is steel that has been melted in a crucible rather than being forged, with the result that it is more homogeneous. Most previous furnaces could not reach high enough temperatures to melt the steel. The early modern crucible steel industry resulted from the invention of Benjamin Huntsman in the 1740s. Blister steel (made as above) was melted in a crucible or in a furnace, and cast (usually) into ingots.[36][37]
[edit] Processes starting from pig iron
A Siemens-Martin steel oven from the Brandenburg Museum of Industry
White-hot steel pouring out of an electric arc furnace
The modern era in steelmaking began with the introduction of Henry Bessemer's Bessemer process in 1858. His raw material was pig iron.[38] This enabled steel to be produced in large quantities cheaply, so that mild steel is now used for most purposes for which wrought iron was formerly used.[39] The Gilchrist-Thomas process (or basic Bessemer process) was an improvement to the Bessemer process, because it lined the converter with a basic material to remove phosphorus. Another improvement in steelmaking was the Siemens-Martin process, which complemented the Bessemer process.[36]
These were rendered obsolete by the Linz-Donawitz process of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS), developed in the 1950s, and other oxygen steelmaking processes. Basic oxygen steelmaking is superior to previous steelmaking methods because the oxygen pumped into the furnace limits impurities.[40] Now, electric arc furnaces (EAF) are a common method of reprocessing scrap metal to create new steel. They can also be used for converting pig iron to steel, but they use a great deal of electricity (about 440 kWh per metric ton), and are thus generally only economical when there is a plentiful supply of cheap electricity.[41]
Feb 27, 2010
History of Palm Oil
[edit] History
Oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensisPalm oil (from the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis) is long recognized in West African countries, and is widely use as a cooking oil. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use in Europe, but as the oil was bulky and cheap, palm oil remained rare outside West Africa. In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built large plantations of oil palm trees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey, King Ghezo passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms.
Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders, for use as an industrial lubricant for the machines of Britain's Industrial Revolution[citation needed]. Palm oil formed the basis of soap products, such as Lever Brothers' (now Unilever) "Sunlight Soap", and the American Palmolive brand.[11] By c. 1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s.[citation needed]
Oil palms were introduced to Java by the Dutch in 1848[12] and Malaysia (then the British colony of Malaya) in 1910 by Scotsman William Sime and English banker Henry Darby. The first few plantations were established and operated by British plantation owners, such as Sime Darby and Boustead. The large plantation companies remained listed in London until the Malaysian government engineered the "Malaysianisation" policy throughout the 1960s and 1970s.[13]
In December 2006, the Malaysian government initiated merger of Sime Darby Berhad, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad and Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad to create the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation player.[14] In a landmark deal valued at RM31 billion, the merger involved the businesses of eight listed companies controlled by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). A special purpose vehicle, Synergy Drive Sdn Bhd, offered to acquire all the businesses including assets and liabilities of the eight listed companies. With 543,000 hectares of plantation landbank, the merger resulted in the new oil palm plantation entity that could produce 2.5 million tonnes of palm oil or 5% of global production in 2006. A year later, the merger completed and the entity was renamed Sime Darby Berhad.[15]
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) was formed on 1 July 1956 when the Land Development Act came into force with the main aim of eradicating poverty. Settlers were each allocated 10 acres of land (about 4 hectares) planted either with oil palm or rubber, and given 20 years to pay off the debt for the land.[16] After Malaysia achieve independence in 1957, the government focused on value adding of rubber planting, boosting exports, and alleviating poverty through land schemes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the government encouraged planting of other crops, to cushion the economy when world prices of tin and rubber plunged. Rubber estates gave way to oil palm plantations. In 1961, Felda's first oil palm settlement opened, measuring only 375 hectares of land. As of 2000, 685,520 hectares of the land under Felda's programmes were devoted to oil palms.[16] By 2008, Felda's resettlement broadened to 112,635 families and they work on 853,313 hectares of agriculture land throughout Malaysia. Oil palm planting took up 84% of Felda's plantation landbank.[17]
[edit] Research
In the 1960s, research and development (R&D) in oil palm breeding began to expand after Malaysia's Department of Agriculture established an exchange program with West African economies and four private plantations formed the Oil Palm Genetics Laboratory.[18] The government also established Kolej Serdang, which became the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) in the 1970s to train agricultural and agro-industrial engineers and agro-business graduates to conduct research in the field.
In 1979, following strong lobbying from oil palm planters and support from the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and UPM, the government set up the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (Porim).[19] B.C. Sekhar was instrumental in Porim's recruitment and training of scientists to undertake R&D in oil palm tree breeding, palm oil nutrition and potential oleochemical use. Sekhar, as founder and chairman, strategised Porim to be a public-and-private-coordinated institution. As a result, Porim (renamed Malaysian Palm Oil Board in 2000) became Malaysia's top research entity with the highest technology commercialisation rate of 20% compared to 5% among local universities.[citation needed] While MPOB has gained international prominence, its relevance is dependent on it churning out breakthrough findings in the world's fast-changing oil crop genetics, dietary fat nutrition and process engineering landscape.
[edit] Nutrition
Many processed foods contain palm oil as an ingredient.[20]
Palm oil and palm kernel oil are composed of fatty acids, esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary fat. Both are high in saturated fatty acids, about 50% and 80%, respectively. The oil palm gives its name to the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid found in palm oil; monounsaturated oleic acid is also a constituent of palm oil while palm kernel oil contains mainly lauric acid. Palm oil is a large natural source of tocotrienol, part of the vitamin E family.[21]
Further information: palmitic acid
The approximate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in palm oil is as follows:[22]
Fatty acid content of palm oil
Type of fatty acid pct
Palmitic C16 44.3%
Stearic C18 4.6%
Myristic C14 1.0%
Oleic C18 38.7%
Linoleic C18 10.5%
Other/Unknown 0.9%
green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly unsaturated
Fatty acid content of palm kernel oil
Type of fatty acid pct
Lauric C12 48.2%
Myristic C14 16.2%
Palmitic C16 8.4%
Capric C10 3.4%
Caprylic C8 3.3%
Stearic C18 2.5%
Oleic C18 15.3%
Linoleic C18 2.3%
Other/Unknown 0.4%
green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly unsaturated
[edit] Red Palm Oil
Red palm oil not only supplies fatty acids essential for proper growth and development, but also it contains an assortment of vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients important for good health. Red palm oil gets its name from its characteristic dark red color. The color comes from carotenes such as beta-carotene and lycopene—the same nutrients that give tomatoes, carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colors.
Red palm oil is the richest dietary source of provitamin A carotenes (beta-carotene and alpha-carotene).[citation needed] It has 15 times more provitamin A carotenes than carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes. This has made it a valued resource in the treatment of vitamin A deficiency.[23] People who do not consume enough vitamin A in their diets suffer from blindness, weakened bones, lower immunity, and impaired learning ability and mental function. One teaspoon (about 20 ml) a day of red palm oil supplies children with the daily recommended amount of vitamin A.[24] Nursing mothers, by adding red palm oil into their diets, can double or triple the amount of vitamin A in breast milk.[25]
Red palm oil contains a greater number of nutrients than any other dietary oil.[citation needed] In addition to beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and lycopene, it contains at least 20 other carotenes, along with tocopherols and tocotrienols (members of the vitamin E family), vitamin K, CoQ10, squalene, phytosterols, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and glycolipids.[26] In a 2007 animal study, South African scientists found consumption of red palm oil significantly protected the heart from the adverse effects of a high-cholesterol diet.[27]
Since the mid-1990s, red palm oil is cold-pressed and bottled for use as cooking oil, and blended into mayonnaise and salad oil.[28] It also gives an attractive colour to french fries.[29] Red palm oil antioxidants like tocotrienols and carotenes are also fortified into foods for specific health use and anti-aging cosmetics.[30][31][32]
In a 2004 joint-study between Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and Malaysian Palm Oil Board, the scientists found cookies, being higher in fat content than bread, are better providers of red palm oil phytonutrients.[33]
In a 2009 study, scientists in Spain tested the acrolein emission rates from red palm and olive oils, which were much lower than that of polyunsaturated oils like sunflower. The total carotenoid content of red palm oil, 480 mg/L, makes it perfect for developing functional foods round the world, and gives the oil a high oxidative stability and long shelf life. Sensory tests have shown that red palm oil french fries were scored positively by regular consumers. The color was initially considered unusual and got low scores. However, when the flavor was evaluated red palm oil fries got higher scores than olive or sunflower fries. Red palm oil generated lower amounts of toxic volatiles, acrolein, than sunflower, and is an excellent source of carotenoids.[34]
[edit] Refined, Bleached, Deodorized Palm Oil
Palm oil products are made using milling and refining processes: first using fractionation, with crystallization and separation processes to obtain solid (stearin), and liquid (olein) fractions. Then by melting and degumming, impurities can be removed, and then the oil is filtered and bleached. Next, physical refining removes smells and coloration, to produce refined bleached deodorized palm oil, or RBDPO, and free sheer fatty acids, which are used as an important raw material in the manufacture of soaps, washing powder and other hygiene and personal care products. RBDPO is the basic oil product which can be sold on the world's commodity markets, although many companies fractionate it further into palm olein, for cooking oil or other products.[35]
Splitting of oils and fats by hydrolysis, or under basic conditions saponification, yields fatty acids, with glycerin (glycerol) as a byproduct. The split-off fatty acids are a mixture ranging from C4 to C18, depending on the type of oil/fat.[36][37]
[edit] Uses
Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed with myristic and lauric fatty acids and therefore suitable for the manufacture of soaps, washing powders and personal care products. Lauric acid is very important in soap making. A good soap must contain at least 15 per cent laurate for quick lathering while soap made for use in sea water is based on virtually 100 per cent laurate.[38]
Napalm derives its name from naphthenic acid and palmitic acid.
Many processed foods contain palm oil as an ingredient.[39]
[edit] Biodiesel, biomass and biogas
Palm oil, like other vegetable oils, can be used to create biodiesel for internal combustion engines. Biodiesel has been promoted as a renewable energy source to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore, biodiesel is seen as a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect and as a way of diversifying energy supplies to assist national energy security plans.
Palm is also used to make biodiesel, as either a simply-processed palm oil mixed with petrodiesel, or processed through transesterification to create a palm oil methyl ester blend, which meets the international EN 14214 specification, with glycerin as a byproduct. The actual process used varies between countries, and the requirements of different export markets. Next-generation biofuel production processes are also being tested in relatively small trial quantities.
The IEA predicts that biofuels usage in Asian countries will remain modest. But as a major producer of palm oil, the Malaysian government is encouraging the production of biofuel feedstock and the building of biodiesel plants that use palm oil. Domestically, Malaysia is preparing to change from diesel to bio-fuels by 2008, including drafting legislation that will make the switch mandatory. From 2007, all diesel sold in Malaysia must contain 5% palm oil. Malaysia is emerging as one of the leading biofuel producers, with 91 plants approved and a handful now in operation, all based on palm oil.[40]
On 16 December 2007, Malaysia opened its first biodiesel plant in the state of Pahang, which has an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes, and also produces by-products in the form of 4,000 tonnes of palm fatty acid distillate and 12,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical grade glycerine.[41] Neste Oil of Finland plans to produce 800,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year from Malaysian palm oil in a new Singapore refinery from 2010, which will make it the largest biofuel plant in the world,[42] and 170,000 tpa from its first second-generation plant in Finland from 2007-8, which can refine fuel from a variety of sources. Neste and the Finnish government are using this paraffinic fuel in some public buses in the Helsinki area as a small scale pilot.[43][44]
Some scientists and companies are going beyond using palm fruit oil, and are proposing to convert fronts, empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shells harvested from oil palm plantations into renewable electricity,[45] cellulosic ethanol,[46] biogas,[47] biohydrogen[48] and bioplastic.[49] Thus, by using both the biomass from the plantation as well as the processing residues from palm oil production (fibers, kernel shells, palm oil mill effluent), bioenergy from palm plantations can have an effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of these production techniques have been registered as projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.
By using palm biomass to generate renewable energy, fuels and biodegradable products, both the energy balance and the greenhouse gas emissions balance for palm biodiesel is improved. For every tonne of palm oil produced from fresh fruit bunches, a farmer harvests around 6 tonnes of waste palm fronds, 1 tonne of palm trunks, 5 tonnes of empty fruit bunches, 1 tonne of press fiber (from the mesocarp of the fruit), half a tonne of palm kernel endocarp, 250 kg of palm kernel press cake, and 100 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent. Oil palm plantations incinerate biomass to generate power for palm oil mills. Oil palm plantations yield large amount of biomass that can be recycled into medium density fibreboards and light furniture.[50] In efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientists treat palm oil mill effluent to extract biogas. After purification, biogas can substitute for natural gas for use at factories. Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent, practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia, results in domination of Methanosaeta concilii. It plays an important role in methane production from acetate and the optimum condition for its growth should be considered to harvest biogas as renewable fuel.[51]
However, regardless of these new innovations, first generation biodiesel production from palm oil is still in demand globally. Palm oil is also a primary substitute for rapeseed oil in Europe, which too is experiencing high levels of demand for biodiesel purposes. Palm oil producers are investing heavily in the refineries needed for biodiesel. In Malaysia companies have been merging, buying others out and forming alliances to obtain the economies of scale needed to handle the high costs caused by increased feedstock prices. New refineries are being built across Asia and Europe.[52]
As the food vs. fuel debate mounts, research direction is turning to biodiesel production from waste. In Malaysia, an estimated 50,000 tonnes of used frying oils, both vegetable oils and animal fats, are disposed of yearly without treatment as wastes. In a 2006 study[53] researchers found used frying oil (mainly palm olein), after pre-treatment with silica gel, is a suitable feedstock for conversion to methyl esters by catalytic reaction using sodium hydroxide. The methyl esters produced have fuel properties comparable to those of petroleum diesel, and can be used in unmodified diesel engines.
A 2009 study by scientists at Universiti Sains Malaysia concluded that palm oil, compared to other vegetable oils, is a healthy source of edible oil and at the same time, available in quantities that can satisfy global demand for biodiesel. Oil palm planting and palm oil consumption circumvents the food vs. fuel debate because it has the capacity to fulfill both demands simultaneously.[54] By 2050, a British scientist estimates global demand for edible oils will probably be around 240 million tonnes, nearly twice of 2008's consumption. Most of the additional oil may be palm oil, which has the lowest production cost of the major oils, but soybean oil production will probably also increase. An additional 12 million hectares of oil palms may be required, if average yields continue to rise as in the past. This need not be at the expense of forest; oil palm planted on anthropogenic grassland could supply all the oil required for edible purposes in 2050.[55]
[edit]
Oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensisPalm oil (from the African oil palm, Elaeis guineensis) is long recognized in West African countries, and is widely use as a cooking oil. European merchants trading with West Africa occasionally purchased palm oil for use in Europe, but as the oil was bulky and cheap, palm oil remained rare outside West Africa. In the Asante Confederacy, state-owned slaves built large plantations of oil palm trees, while in the neighbouring Kingdom of Dahomey, King Ghezo passed a law in 1856 forbidding his subjects from cutting down oil palms.
Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders, for use as an industrial lubricant for the machines of Britain's Industrial Revolution[citation needed]. Palm oil formed the basis of soap products, such as Lever Brothers' (now Unilever) "Sunlight Soap", and the American Palmolive brand.[11] By c. 1870, palm oil constituted the primary export of some West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, although this was overtaken by cocoa in the 1880s.[citation needed]
Oil palms were introduced to Java by the Dutch in 1848[12] and Malaysia (then the British colony of Malaya) in 1910 by Scotsman William Sime and English banker Henry Darby. The first few plantations were established and operated by British plantation owners, such as Sime Darby and Boustead. The large plantation companies remained listed in London until the Malaysian government engineered the "Malaysianisation" policy throughout the 1960s and 1970s.[13]
In December 2006, the Malaysian government initiated merger of Sime Darby Berhad, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad and Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad to create the world’s largest listed oil palm plantation player.[14] In a landmark deal valued at RM31 billion, the merger involved the businesses of eight listed companies controlled by Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). A special purpose vehicle, Synergy Drive Sdn Bhd, offered to acquire all the businesses including assets and liabilities of the eight listed companies. With 543,000 hectares of plantation landbank, the merger resulted in the new oil palm plantation entity that could produce 2.5 million tonnes of palm oil or 5% of global production in 2006. A year later, the merger completed and the entity was renamed Sime Darby Berhad.[15]
Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) was formed on 1 July 1956 when the Land Development Act came into force with the main aim of eradicating poverty. Settlers were each allocated 10 acres of land (about 4 hectares) planted either with oil palm or rubber, and given 20 years to pay off the debt for the land.[16] After Malaysia achieve independence in 1957, the government focused on value adding of rubber planting, boosting exports, and alleviating poverty through land schemes. In the 1960s and 1970s, the government encouraged planting of other crops, to cushion the economy when world prices of tin and rubber plunged. Rubber estates gave way to oil palm plantations. In 1961, Felda's first oil palm settlement opened, measuring only 375 hectares of land. As of 2000, 685,520 hectares of the land under Felda's programmes were devoted to oil palms.[16] By 2008, Felda's resettlement broadened to 112,635 families and they work on 853,313 hectares of agriculture land throughout Malaysia. Oil palm planting took up 84% of Felda's plantation landbank.[17]
[edit] Research
In the 1960s, research and development (R&D) in oil palm breeding began to expand after Malaysia's Department of Agriculture established an exchange program with West African economies and four private plantations formed the Oil Palm Genetics Laboratory.[18] The government also established Kolej Serdang, which became the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) in the 1970s to train agricultural and agro-industrial engineers and agro-business graduates to conduct research in the field.
In 1979, following strong lobbying from oil palm planters and support from the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and UPM, the government set up the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (Porim).[19] B.C. Sekhar was instrumental in Porim's recruitment and training of scientists to undertake R&D in oil palm tree breeding, palm oil nutrition and potential oleochemical use. Sekhar, as founder and chairman, strategised Porim to be a public-and-private-coordinated institution. As a result, Porim (renamed Malaysian Palm Oil Board in 2000) became Malaysia's top research entity with the highest technology commercialisation rate of 20% compared to 5% among local universities.[citation needed] While MPOB has gained international prominence, its relevance is dependent on it churning out breakthrough findings in the world's fast-changing oil crop genetics, dietary fat nutrition and process engineering landscape.
[edit] Nutrition
Many processed foods contain palm oil as an ingredient.[20]
Palm oil and palm kernel oil are composed of fatty acids, esterified with glycerol just like any ordinary fat. Both are high in saturated fatty acids, about 50% and 80%, respectively. The oil palm gives its name to the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid palmitic acid found in palm oil; monounsaturated oleic acid is also a constituent of palm oil while palm kernel oil contains mainly lauric acid. Palm oil is a large natural source of tocotrienol, part of the vitamin E family.[21]
Further information: palmitic acid
The approximate concentration of fatty acids (FAs) in palm oil is as follows:[22]
Fatty acid content of palm oil
Type of fatty acid pct
Palmitic C16 44.3%
Stearic C18 4.6%
Myristic C14 1.0%
Oleic C18 38.7%
Linoleic C18 10.5%
Other/Unknown 0.9%
green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly unsaturated
Fatty acid content of palm kernel oil
Type of fatty acid pct
Lauric C12 48.2%
Myristic C14 16.2%
Palmitic C16 8.4%
Capric C10 3.4%
Caprylic C8 3.3%
Stearic C18 2.5%
Oleic C18 15.3%
Linoleic C18 2.3%
Other/Unknown 0.4%
green: Saturated; blue: Mono unsaturated; orange: Poly unsaturated
[edit] Red Palm Oil
Red palm oil not only supplies fatty acids essential for proper growth and development, but also it contains an assortment of vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients important for good health. Red palm oil gets its name from its characteristic dark red color. The color comes from carotenes such as beta-carotene and lycopene—the same nutrients that give tomatoes, carrots and other fruits and vegetables their rich red and orange colors.
Red palm oil is the richest dietary source of provitamin A carotenes (beta-carotene and alpha-carotene).[citation needed] It has 15 times more provitamin A carotenes than carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes. This has made it a valued resource in the treatment of vitamin A deficiency.[23] People who do not consume enough vitamin A in their diets suffer from blindness, weakened bones, lower immunity, and impaired learning ability and mental function. One teaspoon (about 20 ml) a day of red palm oil supplies children with the daily recommended amount of vitamin A.[24] Nursing mothers, by adding red palm oil into their diets, can double or triple the amount of vitamin A in breast milk.[25]
Red palm oil contains a greater number of nutrients than any other dietary oil.[citation needed] In addition to beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and lycopene, it contains at least 20 other carotenes, along with tocopherols and tocotrienols (members of the vitamin E family), vitamin K, CoQ10, squalene, phytosterols, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and glycolipids.[26] In a 2007 animal study, South African scientists found consumption of red palm oil significantly protected the heart from the adverse effects of a high-cholesterol diet.[27]
Since the mid-1990s, red palm oil is cold-pressed and bottled for use as cooking oil, and blended into mayonnaise and salad oil.[28] It also gives an attractive colour to french fries.[29] Red palm oil antioxidants like tocotrienols and carotenes are also fortified into foods for specific health use and anti-aging cosmetics.[30][31][32]
In a 2004 joint-study between Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research and Malaysian Palm Oil Board, the scientists found cookies, being higher in fat content than bread, are better providers of red palm oil phytonutrients.[33]
In a 2009 study, scientists in Spain tested the acrolein emission rates from red palm and olive oils, which were much lower than that of polyunsaturated oils like sunflower. The total carotenoid content of red palm oil, 480 mg/L, makes it perfect for developing functional foods round the world, and gives the oil a high oxidative stability and long shelf life. Sensory tests have shown that red palm oil french fries were scored positively by regular consumers. The color was initially considered unusual and got low scores. However, when the flavor was evaluated red palm oil fries got higher scores than olive or sunflower fries. Red palm oil generated lower amounts of toxic volatiles, acrolein, than sunflower, and is an excellent source of carotenoids.[34]
[edit] Refined, Bleached, Deodorized Palm Oil
Palm oil products are made using milling and refining processes: first using fractionation, with crystallization and separation processes to obtain solid (stearin), and liquid (olein) fractions. Then by melting and degumming, impurities can be removed, and then the oil is filtered and bleached. Next, physical refining removes smells and coloration, to produce refined bleached deodorized palm oil, or RBDPO, and free sheer fatty acids, which are used as an important raw material in the manufacture of soaps, washing powder and other hygiene and personal care products. RBDPO is the basic oil product which can be sold on the world's commodity markets, although many companies fractionate it further into palm olein, for cooking oil or other products.[35]
Splitting of oils and fats by hydrolysis, or under basic conditions saponification, yields fatty acids, with glycerin (glycerol) as a byproduct. The split-off fatty acids are a mixture ranging from C4 to C18, depending on the type of oil/fat.[36][37]
[edit] Uses
Resembling coconut oil, palm kernel oil is packed with myristic and lauric fatty acids and therefore suitable for the manufacture of soaps, washing powders and personal care products. Lauric acid is very important in soap making. A good soap must contain at least 15 per cent laurate for quick lathering while soap made for use in sea water is based on virtually 100 per cent laurate.[38]
Napalm derives its name from naphthenic acid and palmitic acid.
Many processed foods contain palm oil as an ingredient.[39]
[edit] Biodiesel, biomass and biogas
Palm oil, like other vegetable oils, can be used to create biodiesel for internal combustion engines. Biodiesel has been promoted as a renewable energy source to reduce net emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Therefore, biodiesel is seen as a way to decrease the impact of the greenhouse effect and as a way of diversifying energy supplies to assist national energy security plans.
Palm is also used to make biodiesel, as either a simply-processed palm oil mixed with petrodiesel, or processed through transesterification to create a palm oil methyl ester blend, which meets the international EN 14214 specification, with glycerin as a byproduct. The actual process used varies between countries, and the requirements of different export markets. Next-generation biofuel production processes are also being tested in relatively small trial quantities.
The IEA predicts that biofuels usage in Asian countries will remain modest. But as a major producer of palm oil, the Malaysian government is encouraging the production of biofuel feedstock and the building of biodiesel plants that use palm oil. Domestically, Malaysia is preparing to change from diesel to bio-fuels by 2008, including drafting legislation that will make the switch mandatory. From 2007, all diesel sold in Malaysia must contain 5% palm oil. Malaysia is emerging as one of the leading biofuel producers, with 91 plants approved and a handful now in operation, all based on palm oil.[40]
On 16 December 2007, Malaysia opened its first biodiesel plant in the state of Pahang, which has an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes, and also produces by-products in the form of 4,000 tonnes of palm fatty acid distillate and 12,000 tonnes of pharmaceutical grade glycerine.[41] Neste Oil of Finland plans to produce 800,000 tonnes of biodiesel per year from Malaysian palm oil in a new Singapore refinery from 2010, which will make it the largest biofuel plant in the world,[42] and 170,000 tpa from its first second-generation plant in Finland from 2007-8, which can refine fuel from a variety of sources. Neste and the Finnish government are using this paraffinic fuel in some public buses in the Helsinki area as a small scale pilot.[43][44]
Some scientists and companies are going beyond using palm fruit oil, and are proposing to convert fronts, empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shells harvested from oil palm plantations into renewable electricity,[45] cellulosic ethanol,[46] biogas,[47] biohydrogen[48] and bioplastic.[49] Thus, by using both the biomass from the plantation as well as the processing residues from palm oil production (fibers, kernel shells, palm oil mill effluent), bioenergy from palm plantations can have an effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of these production techniques have been registered as projects under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.
By using palm biomass to generate renewable energy, fuels and biodegradable products, both the energy balance and the greenhouse gas emissions balance for palm biodiesel is improved. For every tonne of palm oil produced from fresh fruit bunches, a farmer harvests around 6 tonnes of waste palm fronds, 1 tonne of palm trunks, 5 tonnes of empty fruit bunches, 1 tonne of press fiber (from the mesocarp of the fruit), half a tonne of palm kernel endocarp, 250 kg of palm kernel press cake, and 100 tonnes of palm oil mill effluent. Oil palm plantations incinerate biomass to generate power for palm oil mills. Oil palm plantations yield large amount of biomass that can be recycled into medium density fibreboards and light furniture.[50] In efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientists treat palm oil mill effluent to extract biogas. After purification, biogas can substitute for natural gas for use at factories. Anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent, practiced in Malaysia and Indonesia, results in domination of Methanosaeta concilii. It plays an important role in methane production from acetate and the optimum condition for its growth should be considered to harvest biogas as renewable fuel.[51]
However, regardless of these new innovations, first generation biodiesel production from palm oil is still in demand globally. Palm oil is also a primary substitute for rapeseed oil in Europe, which too is experiencing high levels of demand for biodiesel purposes. Palm oil producers are investing heavily in the refineries needed for biodiesel. In Malaysia companies have been merging, buying others out and forming alliances to obtain the economies of scale needed to handle the high costs caused by increased feedstock prices. New refineries are being built across Asia and Europe.[52]
As the food vs. fuel debate mounts, research direction is turning to biodiesel production from waste. In Malaysia, an estimated 50,000 tonnes of used frying oils, both vegetable oils and animal fats, are disposed of yearly without treatment as wastes. In a 2006 study[53] researchers found used frying oil (mainly palm olein), after pre-treatment with silica gel, is a suitable feedstock for conversion to methyl esters by catalytic reaction using sodium hydroxide. The methyl esters produced have fuel properties comparable to those of petroleum diesel, and can be used in unmodified diesel engines.
A 2009 study by scientists at Universiti Sains Malaysia concluded that palm oil, compared to other vegetable oils, is a healthy source of edible oil and at the same time, available in quantities that can satisfy global demand for biodiesel. Oil palm planting and palm oil consumption circumvents the food vs. fuel debate because it has the capacity to fulfill both demands simultaneously.[54] By 2050, a British scientist estimates global demand for edible oils will probably be around 240 million tonnes, nearly twice of 2008's consumption. Most of the additional oil may be palm oil, which has the lowest production cost of the major oils, but soybean oil production will probably also increase. An additional 12 million hectares of oil palms may be required, if average yields continue to rise as in the past. This need not be at the expense of forest; oil palm planted on anthropogenic grassland could supply all the oil required for edible purposes in 2050.[55]
[edit]
Aug 26, 2009
Pump History
Year Event
2000 BC Egyptions invent the Shadoof
200 BC Ctesibus invents the reciprocating pump
Archimedean screw pump described by Archimedes
1580 Sliding vane pump invented by Ramelli
1593 Service invents the gear pump
1650 Otto van Guericke invents his piston vacuum pump
1674 Sir Samuel Morland patents the packed pluger pump
1790 Plenty Ltd established - Thomas Simpson establishes his pump business in London
1815 Hayward Tyler established
1830 Screw pump invented by Revillion
1834 Sulzer Brothers founded
1840 Henry R Worthington invents the first direct-acting stream pump
1848 Goulds Pumps founded
1851 John Gwynne patents his centrifugal pump improvements
1853 Boremann Pumpen founded
1857 Roper Pump Company founded
1859 Jacob Edson invents the first reciprocating stream pump
1860 Allweiler founded - A.S. Cameron invents the first reciprocating stream pump
1862 Lawrence Pumps established - Philipp Hilge founded
1866 Lederle founded
1868 Sigma Lutin founded
1871 KSB established, Southern Cros established in Australia - George and James Weir set up the partnership that will become the Weir Group
1875 Hodgkin and Neuhaus, forerunner of SPP founded
1877 Ritz Pumpenfabrik established
1881 Halberg MA schienbau founded
1883 Holden & Brooke founded
1884 A W Chesterton founded
1888 Kirloskar Brothers Ltd founded
1890 Salmson starts making pumps in Paris
1893 Uraca Pumpenfabric founded
1894 Sero Pumpenfabric founded
1896 KSB opens UK subsidiary
1897 Worthington Pump Company and Thomos Simpson amalgamate to from Worthington Simpson Ltd.
1901 Flygts forerunner Stenberg founded
1905 Leistriz Company established
1906 Stuart Turner Ltd founded
1907 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries produced its first pump
1909 Fristam Pumpen and Ernst Vogel founded - Ingersoll Rand enters the pump business by acquiring the Cameron Steam Pump Works
1910 Dickow Pumpen and Hitachi founded
1911 Jeans Nielsen builds the first Viking internal gear pump, founded the Viking Pump Company
1912 Ebara Corporation founded
1916 Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation acquire Worthington Simpson Ltd
1917 John Crane founded - Louis Berqeron invented the concrete volute pump and founded Bergeron S.A.
1918 Scanpump and CCM Sulzer founded
1919 Torishima Pump Mfg Co and Kawamoto Pump Mfg Co established
1920 Bombas Itur Werner Pumpen and SIHI established
1921 Labour founded
1923 Peerless founded
1924 Leistritz starts making screw pumps - Rheinhuette starts pump production
1927 Edur Pumpenfabrik founded
1928 Girdlestone Pumps founded
1929 Pleuger pioneers the submersible turbine pump motor - Stenberg and Flygt commence their cooperation
1930 Rene Moineau receives a dectorate for his thesis which will lead to the invention of the progressing cavity pump Ensival starts selling centrifugal pumps
1932 Sarlin Pumps founded - Bran + Luebbe founded
1933 Bush pump invented Gormann-Rupp established
1936 Robbins & Myers acquires North American license for the Moineau progressing cavity pump
Mono Pump Ltd formed to manufacture and distribute Moinequ's pump design in the UK
1937 Sigmund Pump Warman International founded
1940 Grindex founded
1941 Britsh Pump Manufacturers Association founded
1945 Grundfos Pumps, Caprari and Flexibox founded
1946 Cornell Pump, Klaus Union, Totton Pumps founded
1947 HMD Seal/Less Pumps established Hyundai founded
1948 Stenberg Flygt AB design the first submersible drainage pump, Varisco commences pump production
1949 HMD supplies its first production magnet-drive pump
1951 Tsurumi and Netzsch Mohnopumpen founded
1952 Lewa and Rovatti founded
1953 Nikkiso established
1955 Wilden and DMW Corporation established Borg-Warner acquires Byron Jackson
1956 Flygt introduces the submersible sewage pump
1957 Richter Chemie-Technik founded
1959 ABS and Calped FOUNDED
1960 David Brown Pump division formed
1961 Ingersoll-Rand acquires the Aldrich Pump Company
1962 Acromet commences operations
1965 Warren Rupp founded Sulzer acquires majority interest in Weise & Monski
1966 ITT acquires Jabsco
1967 Scienco founded
1968 Johnson Pump International founded Weir acquires Harland Engineering and ITT Corporation acquires Flygt
1970 Weir buys Drysdate ; Ingersoll-Rand buys Sigmund Pump Ltd (GB) in Gateshead, UK
1971 Sihi takes over Halberg Turbonsan founded
1972 Seepex Seeberger founded
1973 Crest Pumps Ltd founded
1976 Worthington acquires Sier-Bath Pump Division from Gilbarco
1977 Ingersoll-Rand buys Western Land Roller Irrigation Pumps
Sterling Fluid System (TBG) buys Peerless Pump
1979 SPP acquires Godiva Fire pumps
1981 Red Jacket and Hydromatic merge to form Marley Pump.
Sterling Fluid Systems takes a half share in SIHI
1982 Pump Pompes Pumpen is relaunched as World Pumps Magazine
Biwater acquires W Allwin Pump
1984 Sihi buys the canned motor programme of Bran & Lubbe
1985 Dresser Industries acquires Worthington Simpson Ltd.
1986 KSB acquires Pompes Guinard
Pentair acquires FE Myers
Goulds Pumps acquires Lowara
1987 Weir buys Mather and Platt Machinery
Sihi France buys Schabaver
1988 Idex Corporation founded Braithwaite acquires SPP and sells off Godiva Fire Pumps
1989 Scanpump acquires ABS TBG acquires SPP Ltd part of Sterling Fluid Systems
1990 Dresser Industries acquires Mono Pumps Ltd Ingersoll=Rand acquires Scienco Ltd, Watson-Marlow bought by Spirax-Sarco
1991 Index acquires Corken;Baker Hughes acquires Geho
1992 Ingersoll-Rand and Dresser Industries merge their pump business to form Ingersoll Dresser Pumps
Warman acquires Girdlestone Pumps ; Idex acquires Pulsafeeder and Johnson Pump (UK) Ltd ; Weir buys Floway ; BW/IP buys ACEC
1993 United Dominion acquires Marley Pump ; Vogel acquires Ochsner, Sterling Fluid Systems acquires Labour
1994 Weir acquires Enviro Tech Pumpsystem, Warman acquires Barrett Haentjens ; Idex acquires HAle Products ; Goulds acquires Vogel ; ITT buys Richter Chemie-Technik ; Sundstrand acquires HMD Seal/less Pumps
1995 BW/IP acquires the Wilson-Snyder centrifugal pump business from National Oilwell Durametallic acquires Pacseal and then is bought by Duriron
1996 Hayward Tyler sold by Sterling Fluid System, which buys the remaining half share in SIHI Grundfos acquires Interdab Pump Industry Analyst launched
1997 BW/IP acquires Stork Pump's engineered pumps business ; Johnson Pumps Durco and BW/IP merge to form Flowserve ITT Industries acquires Goulds ; Index acquires Blagdon Pumps ; Textron acquires Magg Pump System ; Spirax-Sarco acquires Bredel Pentair acquires General Signal's Pump Group ; Constellation Capital acquires Imo;
1998 Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon buys Wallwin Pumps from Biwater ; Textron buys David Brown Union Pumps ; Constellation Capital buys Allweiler, Glynwed acquires Friatec ; Sundstrand acquires Ansimag and Masco Weir buys Schabaver.
Year Event
2000 BC Egyptions invent the Shadoof
200 BC Ctesibus invents the reciprocating pump
Archimedean screw pump described by Archimedes
1580 Sliding vane pump invented by Ramelli
1593 Service invents the gear pump
1650 Otto van Guericke invents his piston vacuum pump
1674 Sir Samuel Morland patents the packed pluger pump
1790 Plenty Ltd established - Thomas Simpson establishes his pump business in London
1815 Hayward Tyler established
1830 Screw pump invented by Revillion
1834 Sulzer Brothers founded
1840 Henry R Worthington invents the first direct-acting stream pump
1848 Goulds Pumps founded
1851 John Gwynne patents his centrifugal pump improvements
1853 Boremann Pumpen founded
1857 Roper Pump Company founded
1859 Jacob Edson invents the first reciprocating stream pump
1860 Allweiler founded - A.S. Cameron invents the first reciprocating stream pump
1862 Lawrence Pumps established - Philipp Hilge founded
1866 Lederle founded
1868 Sigma Lutin founded
1871 KSB established, Southern Cros established in Australia - George and James Weir set up the partnership that will become the Weir Group
1875 Hodgkin and Neuhaus, forerunner of SPP founded
1877 Ritz Pumpenfabrik established
1881 Halberg MA schienbau founded
1883 Holden & Brooke founded
1884 A W Chesterton founded
1888 Kirloskar Brothers Ltd founded
1890 Salmson starts making pumps in Paris
1893 Uraca Pumpenfabric founded
1894 Sero Pumpenfabric founded
1896 KSB opens UK subsidiary
1897 Worthington Pump Company and Thomos Simpson amalgamate to from Worthington Simpson Ltd.
1901 Flygts forerunner Stenberg founded
1905 Leistriz Company established
1906 Stuart Turner Ltd founded
1907 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries produced its first pump
1909 Fristam Pumpen and Ernst Vogel founded - Ingersoll Rand enters the pump business by acquiring the Cameron Steam Pump Works
1910 Dickow Pumpen and Hitachi founded
1911 Jeans Nielsen builds the first Viking internal gear pump, founded the Viking Pump Company
1912 Ebara Corporation founded
1916 Worthington Pump & Machinery Corporation acquire Worthington Simpson Ltd
1917 John Crane founded - Louis Berqeron invented the concrete volute pump and founded Bergeron S.A.
1918 Scanpump and CCM Sulzer founded
1919 Torishima Pump Mfg Co and Kawamoto Pump Mfg Co established
1920 Bombas Itur Werner Pumpen and SIHI established
1921 Labour founded
1923 Peerless founded
1924 Leistritz starts making screw pumps - Rheinhuette starts pump production
1927 Edur Pumpenfabrik founded
1928 Girdlestone Pumps founded
1929 Pleuger pioneers the submersible turbine pump motor - Stenberg and Flygt commence their cooperation
1930 Rene Moineau receives a dectorate for his thesis which will lead to the invention of the progressing cavity pump Ensival starts selling centrifugal pumps
1932 Sarlin Pumps founded - Bran + Luebbe founded
1933 Bush pump invented Gormann-Rupp established
1936 Robbins & Myers acquires North American license for the Moineau progressing cavity pump
Mono Pump Ltd formed to manufacture and distribute Moinequ's pump design in the UK
1937 Sigmund Pump Warman International founded
1940 Grindex founded
1941 Britsh Pump Manufacturers Association founded
1945 Grundfos Pumps, Caprari and Flexibox founded
1946 Cornell Pump, Klaus Union, Totton Pumps founded
1947 HMD Seal/Less Pumps established Hyundai founded
1948 Stenberg Flygt AB design the first submersible drainage pump, Varisco commences pump production
1949 HMD supplies its first production magnet-drive pump
1951 Tsurumi and Netzsch Mohnopumpen founded
1952 Lewa and Rovatti founded
1953 Nikkiso established
1955 Wilden and DMW Corporation established Borg-Warner acquires Byron Jackson
1956 Flygt introduces the submersible sewage pump
1957 Richter Chemie-Technik founded
1959 ABS and Calped FOUNDED
1960 David Brown Pump division formed
1961 Ingersoll-Rand acquires the Aldrich Pump Company
1962 Acromet commences operations
1965 Warren Rupp founded Sulzer acquires majority interest in Weise & Monski
1966 ITT acquires Jabsco
1967 Scienco founded
1968 Johnson Pump International founded Weir acquires Harland Engineering and ITT Corporation acquires Flygt
1970 Weir buys Drysdate ; Ingersoll-Rand buys Sigmund Pump Ltd (GB) in Gateshead, UK
1971 Sihi takes over Halberg Turbonsan founded
1972 Seepex Seeberger founded
1973 Crest Pumps Ltd founded
1976 Worthington acquires Sier-Bath Pump Division from Gilbarco
1977 Ingersoll-Rand buys Western Land Roller Irrigation Pumps
Sterling Fluid System (TBG) buys Peerless Pump
1979 SPP acquires Godiva Fire pumps
1981 Red Jacket and Hydromatic merge to form Marley Pump.
Sterling Fluid Systems takes a half share in SIHI
1982 Pump Pompes Pumpen is relaunched as World Pumps Magazine
Biwater acquires W Allwin Pump
1984 Sihi buys the canned motor programme of Bran & Lubbe
1985 Dresser Industries acquires Worthington Simpson Ltd.
1986 KSB acquires Pompes Guinard
Pentair acquires FE Myers
Goulds Pumps acquires Lowara
1987 Weir buys Mather and Platt Machinery
Sihi France buys Schabaver
1988 Idex Corporation founded Braithwaite acquires SPP and sells off Godiva Fire Pumps
1989 Scanpump acquires ABS TBG acquires SPP Ltd part of Sterling Fluid Systems
1990 Dresser Industries acquires Mono Pumps Ltd Ingersoll=Rand acquires Scienco Ltd, Watson-Marlow bought by Spirax-Sarco
1991 Index acquires Corken;Baker Hughes acquires Geho
1992 Ingersoll-Rand and Dresser Industries merge their pump business to form Ingersoll Dresser Pumps
Warman acquires Girdlestone Pumps ; Idex acquires Pulsafeeder and Johnson Pump (UK) Ltd ; Weir buys Floway ; BW/IP buys ACEC
1993 United Dominion acquires Marley Pump ; Vogel acquires Ochsner, Sterling Fluid Systems acquires Labour
1994 Weir acquires Enviro Tech Pumpsystem, Warman acquires Barrett Haentjens ; Idex acquires HAle Products ; Goulds acquires Vogel ; ITT buys Richter Chemie-Technik ; Sundstrand acquires HMD Seal/less Pumps
1995 BW/IP acquires the Wilson-Snyder centrifugal pump business from National Oilwell Durametallic acquires Pacseal and then is bought by Duriron
1996 Hayward Tyler sold by Sterling Fluid System, which buys the remaining half share in SIHI Grundfos acquires Interdab Pump Industry Analyst launched
1997 BW/IP acquires Stork Pump's engineered pumps business ; Johnson Pumps Durco and BW/IP merge to form Flowserve ITT Industries acquires Goulds ; Index acquires Blagdon Pumps ; Textron acquires Magg Pump System ; Spirax-Sarco acquires Bredel Pentair acquires General Signal's Pump Group ; Constellation Capital acquires Imo;
1998 Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon buys Wallwin Pumps from Biwater ; Textron buys David Brown Union Pumps ; Constellation Capital buys Allweiler, Glynwed acquires Friatec ; Sundstrand acquires Ansimag and Masco Weir buys Schabaver.
Mar 11, 2009
History and materials
Modern wire rope was invented by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal, Lower Saxony, Germany. It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before.
Wilhelm Albert's first ropes consisted of wires twisted about a hemp rope core, six such strands then being twisted around another hemp rope core in alternating directions for extra stability. Earlier forms of wire rope had been made by covering a bundle of wires with hemp.
In America wire rope was later manufactured by John A. Roebling, forming the basis for his success in suspension bridge building. Roebling introduced a number of innovations in the design, materials and manufacture of wire rope.
Manufacturing a wire rope is similar to making one from natural fibres. The individual wires are first twisted into a strand, then six or so such strands again twisted around a core. This core may consist of steel, but also of natural fibres such as sisal, manila, henequen, jute, or hemp. This is used to cushion off stress forces when bending the rope.
This flexibility is particularly vital in ropes used in machinery such as cranes or elevators as well as ropes used in transportation modes such as cable cars, cable railways, funiculars and aerial lifts. It is not quite so essential in suspension bridges and similar uses.
Wire rope is often sold with vinyl and nylon coatings. This increases weather resistance and overall durability, however it can lead to weak joints if the coating is not removed correctly underneath joints and connections.
Lay of wire rope
Left-hand ordinary lay (LHOL) wire rope (close-up). Right-hand lay strands are laid into a left-hand lay rope.
Right-hand Lang's lay (RHLL) wire rope (close-up). Right-hand lay strands are laid into a right-hand lay rope.The lay of a wire rope describes the manner in which either the wires in a strand, or the strands in the rope, are laid in a helix.
Left and right hand lay
Left hand lay or right hand lay describe the manner in which the strands are laid to form the rope. To determine the lay of strands in the rope, a viewer looks at the rope as it points away from them. If the strands appear to turn in a clockwise direction, or like a right-hand thread, as the strands progress away from the viewer, the rope has a right hand lay. The picture of steel wire rope on this page shows a rope with right hand lay. If the strands appear to turn in an anti-clockwise direction, or like a left-hand thread, as the strands progress away from the viewer, the rope has a left hand lay. (The rope in the left hand lay photo shows one left hand lay rope from left to right and top to bottom, with 5 right hand lay strands, and part of a sixth in the upper left. It is not 5 right hand lay ropes adjacent to each other.)
Ordinary, Lang's and alternate lay
Ordinary and Lang's lay describe the manner in which the wires are laid to form a strand of the wire rope. To determine which has been used first identify if left or right hand lay has been used to make the rope. Then identify if a right or left hand lay has been used to twist the wires in each strand.
Ordinary lay The lay of wires in each strand is in the opposite direction to the lay of the strands that form the wire.
Lang's lay The lay of wires in each strand is in the same direction as the lay of the strands that form the wire.
Alternate lay The lay of wires in the strands alternate around the rope between being in the opposite and same direction to the lay of the strands that form the wire rope.
Regular lay Alternate term for ordinary lay.
Albert's lay Archaic term for Lang's lay.
Reverse lay Alternate term for alternate lay.
Spring lay This is not a term used to classify a lay as defined in this section.
It refers to a specific construction type of wire rope.
Construction and specification
Wire rope construction
This image of a fraying wire rope shows some individual wires.The specification of a wire rope type – including the number of wires per strand, the number of strands, and the lay of the rope – is documented using a commonly accepted coding system, consisting of a number of abbreviations.
This is easily demonstrated with a simple example. The rope shown in the figure "Wire rope construction" is designated thus: 6x19 FC RH OL FSWR
6 Number of strands that make up the rope
19 Number of wires that make up each strand
FC Fibre core
RH Right hand lay
OL Ordinary lay
FSWR Flexible steel wire rope
Each of the sections of the wire rope designation described above is variable. There are therefore a large number of combinations of wire rope that can be specified in this manner. The following abbreviations are commonly used to specify a wire rope.
Abbr. Description
FC Fibre core
FSWR Flexible steel wire rope
FW Filler wire
IWR Independent wire rope
IWRC Independent wire rope core
J Jute (fibre)
LH Left hand lay
LL Lang's lay
NR Non-rotating
OL Ordinary lay
RH Right hand lay
S Seale
SF Seale filler wire
SW Seale Warrington
SWL Safe working load
TS Triangular strand
W Warrington
WF Warriflex
WLL Working load limit
WS Warrington Seale
Terminations
Right-hand ordinary lay (RHOL) wire rope terminated in a loop with a thimble and Talurit brand swaged sleeve.The end of a wire rope tends to fray readily, and cannot be easily connected to plant and equipment. There are different ways of securing the ends of wire ropes to prevent fraying. The most common and useful type of end fitting for a wire rope is to turn the end back to form a loop. The loose end is then fixed back on the wire rope.
Thimbles
When the wire rope is terminated with a loop, there is a risk that it will bend too tightly, especially when the loop is connected to a device that spreads the load over a relatively small area. A thimble can be installed inside the loop to preserve the natural shape of the loop, and protect the cable from pinching and abrading on the inside of the loop. The use of thimbles in loops is industry best practice. The thimble prevents the load from coming into direct contact with the wires.
Wire rope clamps/clips (aka "Crosby Clips" or "Dog Clamps")
A wire rope clamp, also called a clip, is used to fix the loose end of the loop back to the wire rope. It usually consists of a u-shaped bolt, a forged saddle and two nuts. The two layers of wire rope are placed in the u-bolt. The saddle is then fitted over the ropes on to the bolt (the saddle includes two holes to fit to the u-bolt). The nuts secure the arrangement in place. Three or more clamps are usually used to terminate a wire rope. There is an old adage which has over time become the rule; when installing the three clamps to secure the loop at the end of your wire rope make sure you do not "Saddle a Dead Horse!" The saddle portion of the clamp assembly is placed and tightened on the opposite side of the terminal end of the cable.
Swaged terminations
Swaging is a method of wire rope termination that refers to the installation technique. The purpose of swaging wire rope fittings is to connect two wire rope ends together, or to otherwise terminate one end of wire rope to something else. A mechanical or hydraulic swager is used to compress and deform the fitting, creating a permanent connection. There are many types of swaged fittings. Threaded Studs, Ferrules, Sockets, and Sleeves a few examples.
Wedge Sockets
A wedge socket termination is useful when the fitting needs to be replaced frequently. For example, if the end of a wire rope is in a high-wear region, the rope may be periodically trimmed, requiring the termination hardware to be removed and reapplied. An example of this is on the ends of the drag ropes on a dragline. The end loop of the wire rope enters a tapered opening in the socket, wrapped around a separate component called the wedge. The arrangement is knocked in place, and load gradually eased onto the rope. As the load increases on the wire rope, the wedge become more secure, gripping the rope tighter.
Poured sockets
Used to make a high strength, permanent termination, poured sockets feature a conical cavity in line with the intended direction of strain. The end of the wire rope is inserted from the small end with the individual wires being splayed out inside the cone. The cone is then filled with molten zinc, or now more commonly, an epoxy resin compound.[1]
Eye splice
The ends of individual strands of this eye splice used aboard a cargo ship are served with natural fiber cord after the splicing is complete. This helps protect seaman's hands when handling.An eye splice may be used to terminate the loose end of a wire rope when forming a loop. The strands of the end of a wire rope are unwound a certain distance, and plaited back into the wire rope, forming the loop, or an eye, called an eye splice.
Modern wire rope was invented by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal, Lower Saxony, Germany. It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before.
Wilhelm Albert's first ropes consisted of wires twisted about a hemp rope core, six such strands then being twisted around another hemp rope core in alternating directions for extra stability. Earlier forms of wire rope had been made by covering a bundle of wires with hemp.
In America wire rope was later manufactured by John A. Roebling, forming the basis for his success in suspension bridge building. Roebling introduced a number of innovations in the design, materials and manufacture of wire rope.
Manufacturing a wire rope is similar to making one from natural fibres. The individual wires are first twisted into a strand, then six or so such strands again twisted around a core. This core may consist of steel, but also of natural fibres such as sisal, manila, henequen, jute, or hemp. This is used to cushion off stress forces when bending the rope.
This flexibility is particularly vital in ropes used in machinery such as cranes or elevators as well as ropes used in transportation modes such as cable cars, cable railways, funiculars and aerial lifts. It is not quite so essential in suspension bridges and similar uses.
Wire rope is often sold with vinyl and nylon coatings. This increases weather resistance and overall durability, however it can lead to weak joints if the coating is not removed correctly underneath joints and connections.
Lay of wire rope
Left-hand ordinary lay (LHOL) wire rope (close-up). Right-hand lay strands are laid into a left-hand lay rope.
Right-hand Lang's lay (RHLL) wire rope (close-up). Right-hand lay strands are laid into a right-hand lay rope.The lay of a wire rope describes the manner in which either the wires in a strand, or the strands in the rope, are laid in a helix.
Left and right hand lay
Left hand lay or right hand lay describe the manner in which the strands are laid to form the rope. To determine the lay of strands in the rope, a viewer looks at the rope as it points away from them. If the strands appear to turn in a clockwise direction, or like a right-hand thread, as the strands progress away from the viewer, the rope has a right hand lay. The picture of steel wire rope on this page shows a rope with right hand lay. If the strands appear to turn in an anti-clockwise direction, or like a left-hand thread, as the strands progress away from the viewer, the rope has a left hand lay. (The rope in the left hand lay photo shows one left hand lay rope from left to right and top to bottom, with 5 right hand lay strands, and part of a sixth in the upper left. It is not 5 right hand lay ropes adjacent to each other.)
Ordinary, Lang's and alternate lay
Ordinary and Lang's lay describe the manner in which the wires are laid to form a strand of the wire rope. To determine which has been used first identify if left or right hand lay has been used to make the rope. Then identify if a right or left hand lay has been used to twist the wires in each strand.
Ordinary lay The lay of wires in each strand is in the opposite direction to the lay of the strands that form the wire.
Lang's lay The lay of wires in each strand is in the same direction as the lay of the strands that form the wire.
Alternate lay The lay of wires in the strands alternate around the rope between being in the opposite and same direction to the lay of the strands that form the wire rope.
Regular lay Alternate term for ordinary lay.
Albert's lay Archaic term for Lang's lay.
Reverse lay Alternate term for alternate lay.
Spring lay This is not a term used to classify a lay as defined in this section.
It refers to a specific construction type of wire rope.
Construction and specification
Wire rope construction
This image of a fraying wire rope shows some individual wires.The specification of a wire rope type – including the number of wires per strand, the number of strands, and the lay of the rope – is documented using a commonly accepted coding system, consisting of a number of abbreviations.
This is easily demonstrated with a simple example. The rope shown in the figure "Wire rope construction" is designated thus: 6x19 FC RH OL FSWR
6 Number of strands that make up the rope
19 Number of wires that make up each strand
FC Fibre core
RH Right hand lay
OL Ordinary lay
FSWR Flexible steel wire rope
Each of the sections of the wire rope designation described above is variable. There are therefore a large number of combinations of wire rope that can be specified in this manner. The following abbreviations are commonly used to specify a wire rope.
Abbr. Description
FC Fibre core
FSWR Flexible steel wire rope
FW Filler wire
IWR Independent wire rope
IWRC Independent wire rope core
J Jute (fibre)
LH Left hand lay
LL Lang's lay
NR Non-rotating
OL Ordinary lay
RH Right hand lay
S Seale
SF Seale filler wire
SW Seale Warrington
SWL Safe working load
TS Triangular strand
W Warrington
WF Warriflex
WLL Working load limit
WS Warrington Seale
Terminations
Right-hand ordinary lay (RHOL) wire rope terminated in a loop with a thimble and Talurit brand swaged sleeve.The end of a wire rope tends to fray readily, and cannot be easily connected to plant and equipment. There are different ways of securing the ends of wire ropes to prevent fraying. The most common and useful type of end fitting for a wire rope is to turn the end back to form a loop. The loose end is then fixed back on the wire rope.
Thimbles
When the wire rope is terminated with a loop, there is a risk that it will bend too tightly, especially when the loop is connected to a device that spreads the load over a relatively small area. A thimble can be installed inside the loop to preserve the natural shape of the loop, and protect the cable from pinching and abrading on the inside of the loop. The use of thimbles in loops is industry best practice. The thimble prevents the load from coming into direct contact with the wires.
Wire rope clamps/clips (aka "Crosby Clips" or "Dog Clamps")
A wire rope clamp, also called a clip, is used to fix the loose end of the loop back to the wire rope. It usually consists of a u-shaped bolt, a forged saddle and two nuts. The two layers of wire rope are placed in the u-bolt. The saddle is then fitted over the ropes on to the bolt (the saddle includes two holes to fit to the u-bolt). The nuts secure the arrangement in place. Three or more clamps are usually used to terminate a wire rope. There is an old adage which has over time become the rule; when installing the three clamps to secure the loop at the end of your wire rope make sure you do not "Saddle a Dead Horse!" The saddle portion of the clamp assembly is placed and tightened on the opposite side of the terminal end of the cable.
Swaged terminations
Swaging is a method of wire rope termination that refers to the installation technique. The purpose of swaging wire rope fittings is to connect two wire rope ends together, or to otherwise terminate one end of wire rope to something else. A mechanical or hydraulic swager is used to compress and deform the fitting, creating a permanent connection. There are many types of swaged fittings. Threaded Studs, Ferrules, Sockets, and Sleeves a few examples.
Wedge Sockets
A wedge socket termination is useful when the fitting needs to be replaced frequently. For example, if the end of a wire rope is in a high-wear region, the rope may be periodically trimmed, requiring the termination hardware to be removed and reapplied. An example of this is on the ends of the drag ropes on a dragline. The end loop of the wire rope enters a tapered opening in the socket, wrapped around a separate component called the wedge. The arrangement is knocked in place, and load gradually eased onto the rope. As the load increases on the wire rope, the wedge become more secure, gripping the rope tighter.
Poured sockets
Used to make a high strength, permanent termination, poured sockets feature a conical cavity in line with the intended direction of strain. The end of the wire rope is inserted from the small end with the individual wires being splayed out inside the cone. The cone is then filled with molten zinc, or now more commonly, an epoxy resin compound.[1]
Eye splice
The ends of individual strands of this eye splice used aboard a cargo ship are served with natural fiber cord after the splicing is complete. This helps protect seaman's hands when handling.An eye splice may be used to terminate the loose end of a wire rope when forming a loop. The strands of the end of a wire rope are unwound a certain distance, and plaited back into the wire rope, forming the loop, or an eye, called an eye splice.
Feb 20, 2009
Valve Defination
Valve
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Valve (disambiguation). For the electronic component, see Thermionic valve. For the game development company see Valve Corporation.
These water valves are operated by handles.A valve is a device that regulates the flow of a fluid (gases, fluidized solids, slurries, or liquids) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category.
Valves are also found in the human body. For example, there are several which control the flow of blood in the chambers of the heart and maintain the correct pumping action (see heart valve article).
Valves are used in a variety of contexts, including industrial, military, commercial, residential, and transportation.
Oil and gas, power generation, mining, water reticulation, sewerage and chemical manufacturing are the industries in which the majority of valves are used.
Plumbing valves, such as taps for hot and cold water are the most noticeable types of valves. Other valves encountered on a daily basis include gas control valves on cookers and barbecues, small valves fitted to washing machines and dishwashers, and safety devices fitted to hot water systems.
Valves may be operated manually, either by a hand wheel, lever or pedal. Valves may also be automatic, driven by changes in pressure, temperature or flow. These changes may act upon a diaphram or a piston which in turn activates the valve, examples of this type of valve found commonly are safety valves fitted to hot water systems or steam boilers.
More complex control systems using valves requiring automatic control based on an external input (i.e., regulating flow through a pipe to a changing set point) require an actuator. An actuator will stroke the valve depending on its input and set-up, allowing the valve to be positioned accurately, and allowing control over a variety of requirements.
Valves are also found in the Otto cycle (internal combustion) engines driven by a camshaft, lifters and or push rods where they play a major role in engine cycle control.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Valve (disambiguation). For the electronic component, see Thermionic valve. For the game development company see Valve Corporation.
These water valves are operated by handles.A valve is a device that regulates the flow of a fluid (gases, fluidized solids, slurries, or liquids) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically pipe fittings, but are usually discussed as a separate category.
Valves are also found in the human body. For example, there are several which control the flow of blood in the chambers of the heart and maintain the correct pumping action (see heart valve article).
Valves are used in a variety of contexts, including industrial, military, commercial, residential, and transportation.
Oil and gas, power generation, mining, water reticulation, sewerage and chemical manufacturing are the industries in which the majority of valves are used.
Plumbing valves, such as taps for hot and cold water are the most noticeable types of valves. Other valves encountered on a daily basis include gas control valves on cookers and barbecues, small valves fitted to washing machines and dishwashers, and safety devices fitted to hot water systems.
Valves may be operated manually, either by a hand wheel, lever or pedal. Valves may also be automatic, driven by changes in pressure, temperature or flow. These changes may act upon a diaphram or a piston which in turn activates the valve, examples of this type of valve found commonly are safety valves fitted to hot water systems or steam boilers.
More complex control systems using valves requiring automatic control based on an external input (i.e., regulating flow through a pipe to a changing set point) require an actuator. An actuator will stroke the valve depending on its input and set-up, allowing the valve to be positioned accurately, and allowing control over a variety of requirements.
Valves are also found in the Otto cycle (internal combustion) engines driven by a camshaft, lifters and or push rods where they play a major role in engine cycle control.
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