Forensic Engineers and Consultants

Archive: Industrial

What Does a Recovery Boiler Recover? – Quite a bit, actually!

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The Kraft paper process was invented in 1879 and produces a stronger finished product that other paper manufacturing methods. One of the waste streams is known as black liquor and is a mixture of solids and water.  It contains lignin, hemicelluloses and chemicals used in the pulping process. The original process had no use for this harmful waste stream and it was dumped into nearby waterways, to their detriment!!!  Mr. G.H. Tomlinson invented the recovery boiler in the early 1930’s.  This development made the Kraft process the manufacturing method of choice, as explained below. Read More

WARREN WEBINAR: Property Claims Issues at Manufacturing Facilities

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LIVE WEBINAR: “Property Claims Issues at Manufacturing Facilities” | Presented by WARREN’s President and Senior Consulting Engineer, Jennifer Morningstar, P.E., CFEI.

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The learning objectives of this course are to provide the attendees with information on the four major facets of property claims that are commonplace in manufacturing facilities.

They are:

  1. Subrogation against third parties;
  2. Boiler & machinery vs property claims;
  3. Scope of loss, and
  4. Business interruption

Each facet will be explored and exemplified by at least one case study.

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In a Flash – The Transfer of Energies in Our Global Electrical System

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According to published weather data for the year 2019, 2.35 billion lightning strikes were recorded across the world, with 223 million of these in the United States.  The movement of atmosphere causes electrical charges to build up between clouds.  A tipping point is reached where the insulating properties of the air cannot withstand the level of energy and a discharge occurs.

Image Credit: Charleston Post and Courier. A lightning strike over Charleston, SC on July 3, 2019.

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Congratulations Tom Kelly on CESCP Certification!

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Congratulations to Tom Kelly for completing his Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professional designation. The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) program, CESCP, is designed to meet the needs of electrical and safety professionals who oversee electrical safety programs or who manage electricians and other personnel exposed to electrical hazards.

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Heat Exchanger Failures Will Shut Your Process Down

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Heat exchangers, as the name implies, are used to bring a process stream to a desired temperature.  They can heat or cool either gases or liquids. They are fairly intricate in their construction, therefore not the cheapest piece of equipment to purchase.  For that reason, facilities don’t keep “spare” exchangers lying around, so when they fail catastrophically, the entire manufacturing process goes down with them… and stays down until they are fixed or replaced. Ow!

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Stress Corrosion Cracking of Stainless Steel in Marine Environments

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Stress corrosion cracking involves the slow growth of small, often microscopic, cracks through a metal part in a corrosive environment.  The cracking can continue to the point that the part fails suddenly and unexpectedly even though it still appears new and in good condition.

My first experience with stress corrosion cracking happened in the Charleston harbor when the stainless steel rudder suddenly separated from a sailboat during moderate winds. What had been a pleasant evening sail turned instantly into being in a difficult to control boat in the middle of the busy shipping channel. The rudder remained attached only Read More

P&ID’s, If You Please – Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams Explained

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When investigating an industrial incident, one piece of information I always ask for is the relevant P&ID’s for the process.  P&ID stands for Piping and Instrumentation Diagram and is defined as “A schematic diagram of the relationship between instruments, controllers, piping, and system equipment.” A set of P&ID’s for an entire facility allows you to trace the entire manufacturing process from raw material unloading to finished product loadout, including utilities like steam, water, fuel, and air. That’s great information to have, but isn’t especially useful Read More

The Role of Interlocking Guards in Injury Prevention

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In the three-part series on the CE mark, we scratched the surface of some of the requirements an equipment manufacturer must meet in order to earn this designation. Part three of the series dealt with some of the requirements for the design of a guard.  One of the items for consideration with the design of a guard is the frequency that someone will need to access the area protected by the guard.  If access is needed on a routine basis, often defined as more than once per shift, the guard needs to be designed to be movable instead of fixed.  Movable is defined as able to be opened without the use of tools.  Otherwise the frustration and time requirements of obtaining tools and removing a fixed guard will often lead to the guard being discarded. Read More

The Paths of Chemical Exposure

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The Safety Hierarchy states that hazards should be mitigated first by engineering controls, secondly by guarding, and lastly by warning/training.  When the first two, engineering controls and guards, fail in a manufacturing setting, a chemical release could occur. A forensic chemical engineer can help determine the root cause of that failure. Read More

The Demise of Insulation on Electrical Wiring

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Unlike fine wines and some types of cheeses, not everything ages well.  Such is the case with the materials used as insulation of electrical wiring.  While the copper metal used as the conductor in many wire types will last virtually forever, the cladding used to protect and insulate the wire allowing electrons to flow to their final destination does not. Read More

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