Articles

Mothballing requires more than mothballs

02 May 2023

When economic or other circumstances require a production site to be shut down for an extended period of time, appropriate measures are necessary to ensure that the work can be reliably restarted . Otherwise, expensive problems may appear later. A strategic, tactical and documented approach is essential.  Specialist Bernie Price shares his experience of how to adequately deal with this issue.

Energy efficiency and cost control in companies

19 April 2023

The experiences and insights of Wim Dedeurwaerder (Head of Infrastructure and Technical Installations at the Belgian Ministry of Defence), Peter Vos (Energy Manager at Agristo) and Steven Vandenbulcke (Plant Manager at A&S Energie and A&U Energie) can inspire and help other companies and organisations to improve their energy efficiency, thus contributing to achieving the EU’s sustainable objectives.

Reduce “dirty hours” and create value

03 April 2023

Many companies are struggling with the current energy price crisis. Some energy intensive companies were even forced to stop production because of the high prices. Others look for energy-saving measures that substantially reduce costs. Did you ever critically examined the so-called “dirty hours” in your organisation?

TotalEnergies’ approach to shutdowns and turnarounds in an ever-changing market

07 March 2023

In the current energy market, TotalEnergies, like all the other major energy companies, books good operating results. Previously, the coronavirus pandemic weighed heavily on the operating results but didn’t disrupt day-to-day operations or planned turnarounds and shutdowns. We spoke with Jos Vermylen, plant manager of the refinery, and José-Manuel Araujo, director turnaround.

Maintenance of offshore wind turbines in pictures and films

24 February 2023

The engineers and technicians of offshore wind turbines live on a boat for days. Nicolas Job regularly travels to various wind farms around the world to follow in the footsteps of the maintenance technicians. Here, he describes in detail life aboard a boat for maintenance technicians at sea and explains how work is carried out, high up in the wind turbines.

Innovative Energy Storage Solutions – Key to accelerate the green transition

03 February 2023

As we are trying to limit our dependency on fossil fuels and solar panels and wind turbines are increasingly saturating our landscape, we find ourselves in front of yet another, potentially bigger, challenge: not the production of green, low-carbon energy, but its storage over both short and long periods of time. These are some of the most promising energy storage solutions to date.

The Dark Side of Variable Frequency Drives

23 January 2023

Variable Frequency Drives… We are unable to envision a world without them. Despite the fact that induction motors are among the most reliable electric motors currently in use, they once had a significant drawback.

Use robotics to take a firm grip on production flexibility

13 January 2023

Once the preserve of high-volume operations at automotive plants, we’re today finding that robots are infiltrating all sectors of the commercial world. Even beyond traditional manufacturing, inspection and packaging operations, we see robots fulfilling tasks that extend from mining and space exploration, through to surgery and laboratory research, and even fruit picking.

What is Pinch Analysis and how can it make a difference?

13 January 2023

Daniel Declercq, specialized in energy efficiency and CO2 reduction, explains the process of pinch analysis and how it can make a difference in industrial energy consumption.

EU grant for CO2 Export Hub at port of Antwerp, Belgium

15 December 2022

The EU Commission announced it will grant Air Liquide, Fluxys…