A large aluminum reduction facility, which produces a variety of intermediate aluminum ingots and round billets, is located in the southeastern United States and has three main operating areas – Carbon Electrode Preparation, Pot Line and Aluminum Casting.

The responsiveness of an air operated actuator was tested on a Cracking Furnace ID damper. The pneumatic actuator responded inconsistently. The actuator has a full stroke speed rating of 10 seconds over 90 degree travel with 50 psi. The actual air supply pressure was 85 psi, but it took 20 seconds to open the damper, and 120 seconds to close!

One of the largest independent refiners in the U.S. experienced several costly failures on the plant’s main natural gas supply valve. This valve was modulated by a pneumatic actuator that had an internal linkage failure, causing the valve to slam closed, consequently stopping natural gas flow to the refinery.

A Maryland Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant had been using pneumatic actuators on all of its fans for several years. There were ongoing problems associated with the control and reliability of the actuators. Since ID fans are a critical part of the combustion process, it was recommended to upgrade the ID fan actuators to Beck actuators.

The ethanol blending process is a critical part of gasoline terminal operation and has a significant impact on product quality, meeting environmental regulations and profitability. Optimizing the process is very important, but does present some control challenges.