Process Heating's Top 10 most popular feature stories of 2022.

Maintenance — regular and ongoing — is critically important in keeping that oven or dryer safe and in good operational order.

Unplanned downtime is one of the biggest challenges and greatest expenses for processors. Principal reasons for unplanned downtime include unexpected equipment maintenance and failure. 

With rising operational costs and fewer domain experts due to the retiring workforce, manufacturers with thermal processing units need to increase productivity, eliminate safety risks and reduce operating expenses. 

An adage attributed to marketing pioneer John Wanamaker goes like this: “Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.” Maintenance managers in many process manufacturing facilities may feel something similar.

Process heating with fuel-fired burners is the most effective and cost-efficient method of heating. Personnel safety, production equipment protection and maintaining production schedules are all best served by understanding safety requirements. 

Galvanized coatings for cooling tower systems — cooling towers, evaporator tube bundles and others — have been used since the 1950s due to their relatively low cost and long service life. 

No matter where you look, you will see that industries worldwide rely on iron and steel as an integral component within projects such as shipbuilding, bridge construction and railway infrastructure. The global appetite for these materials is huge, and for most manufacturers of iron and steel, production is an around-the-clock process.

When a facility’s boiler is seemingly operating without issues, it is easy to put off cleaning for a few weeks, months or even years. But, what seems like a time-saving trick or a way to stretch a budget allocation can lead to inefficiency, safety concerns and a shorter equipment lifespan.

Boilers and heat exchangers are integral parts of many industrial plants. Often, when people think of protecting these components from corrosion, their minds fast-forward to corrosion issues that occur after the equipment is installed.