Electron Machine is Exhibiting at Chem Show 2019

Electron Machine is pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at the 2019 Chem Show in New York City between Oct 22 though October 24.

The Chem Show is where engineers, plant managers and other CPI personnel come together to see the latest equipment & technology, meet product experts, and discover new ways to optimize their plant operations. Bringing together thousands of industry professionals and more than 270 exhibiting companies, the Show is the largest North American event exclusively focused on the processing of fluids, powders and gases. Held every odd year since 1915, the Chem Show has a proven track record of helping the CPI meet the ongoing demand for faster, smarter, cleaner, and more efficient processing facilities. Electron Machine is very excited to be exhibiting our line of process refractometers this year.

The Chem Show is held at the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

To learn more about our products and exhibit, visit this link.

To see our booth location, follow this link.

If you plan on attending the Chem Show, please make a point of stopping by and saying hello.

A Look Back in Electron Machine History - "A Brixometer for Fresh Juice Testing"

Left to right: J.L. Moody, engineer; Ray E. Blackaby,
business manager; Edwin R. Moller, vice-president;
Francis Reed, president; Donald Stephens, technician;
Charlie Dixon, technician.

Electron Machine Corporation is very proud of our unique history and deep roots in the electronic instrumentation industry, and developed the first in-line process refractometer was developed to fulfill a need within the developing concentrated citrus industry.

Below we have posted a paper from 1961 presented to the ASME titled "A Brixometer for Fresh Juice Testing" authored by Electron Machine's former VP, Francis Reed.

On the right there is also a picture of the technical staff of Electron Machine Corp. at the time (1958) posing around the new "Brixometer". The author of the following paper is pictured fourth from the left.

We thought it would be interesting to show this deep history to our customers and associates. Enjoy.

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ASME 1961 Citrus Engineering Conference

CEC 1961

March 22, 1961

Lakeland, Florida, USA

A BRIXOMETER FOR FRESH JUICE TESTING

by

Francis S, Reed

Vice President

Electron Machine Corporation

Umatilla, Florida

Industry everywhere is undergoing a complete revolution which is not apparent to the average citizen. The artistic and craftsmanship abilities of the early industrial worker to create a perfect piece of goods has been supplanted by the emphasis on mass production, lower costs and machine precision of the more recent years. As a result of this development a tremendous pressure is being exerted upon industry to produce even more for even less costs which has created a situation where the machines are now capable of exceeding the abilities of the men who operate them.

From this dilemma has come a now concept of using the speed and precision of electronic devices to replace the human judgement end control ever these processes. This situation arose in the citrus industry several years ago when the increasing capacities of each plant made it increasingly difficult to perform the blending of the concentrate manually with the same equipment and manpower as in earlier methods.

The result has been the development of a method for continuously measuring the Brix of the juice and automatically blending the product uniformly on a continuous basis.

The creation of such a measuring device which has inherently more accuracy then the usual testing devices used in processing has lead naturally to the thinking of applying this principle to the laboratory tests. Such a method would speed up the operation and produce readings of a higher degree of accuracy than tho present methods.

Also, there is the elimination of possible human errors in reading transposing, and compiling the data onto the inspection sheets. It has boon pretty well proven that even with tho best of laboratory equipment available and adequate time to make up the proper tests that no two human beings will interpolate the Brix readings identically.
Couple this human frailty with tho inherent error in tho equipment, possible variables in the test procedure and you can have variations in readings which moans hundreds of thousands of dollars to tho citrus industry.

Let us assume that an average citrus plant is using a calibrated device to measure Brix which according to present standards has an allowable tolerance of C.I degree Brix from the standard. Let us further assume that this Instrument Is checked against a standardized instrument which is allowed a tolerance of .05 degrees from the absolute Brix, we could then expect a possible error of .15 degrees Brix in tho laboratory test. Therefore, if the readings were off by this amount an average plant could lose $35,000 to $50,000 a season depending upon the price being paid for the pounds of solids at the time. If you were to assess those figures accurately for each plant you would find in some instances a considerable larger figure involved in this possible source of error. This loss can further aggravated by tho addition of other possible sources of error introduced by improper deaeration of tho juice before testing, the manner in which tho operator handles the test equipment, environmental conditions in the test area, and tho difficulty of interpolating tho readings and transposing thorn onto the records without any errors. When you add all those to the possible losses you can envision a tremendous loss.

At This point the question arises "whose loss?". If the errors add up to the processors favor, the grower loses. The reverse situation can also happen with such a wide latitude in the test operation.

Hence, all concerned in tho testing of Brix are virtually interested in a reliable instrument which would make this Brix determination accurately and present the information in digital form on the inspection sheet without having to be interpolated.

Such an instrument has been developed and is being designed to fulfill the operating conditions of the test stations and laboratories. This instrument will employ the principles of the present electronic Brixometer used in the processing operation and will allow for tho rapid and precise determination of the Brix without the attendant errors possible in the manual system. This device will accept a sample of the juice from the inspection sample and without requiring deaeration immediately present the Brix indication to the operator. The operator will zero the instrument, insert tho data sheet into a printer slot and receive the printed out Brix indication similar to the weight information printed by the scales.

The next logical step from the automatic printing of weight and Brix is to be the incorporation of an automatic determination of the acid content of the juice and from this information it wiI I be a simple matter to devise an electronic computer system which will arrive at the ratio, pounds of solids and yield figures.

The combination of these instruments into a complete inspection tool would provide an accurate, indisputable record of all testing done without the costly introduction of the multiple errors possible in the manual testing methods.

The method of electronically collecting all of tho data will lead to another field of interest to the processors in that of data compilation. This intelligence can be fed fo the modern computers to analyze many of tho conditions surrounding the procurement and utilization of tho fruit. Such systems are now in use in many of the large industries in the country and more smaller industries are finding out the advantages of data compilations and statistical analysis of their product end its utilization. In fact, we predict that within a very few years there will be thru the utilization of the tremendous advantages in electronic instrumentation, completely automatic processing available to all types of industry.

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You can download a copy of the original paper from this ASME archive.

Happy Independence Day from Electron Corporation Machine!

US Power Grids, Oil and Gas Industries, and Risk of Hacking

A report released in June, from the security firm Dragos, describes a worrisome development by a hacker group named, “Xenotime” and at least two dangerous oil and gas intrusions and ongoing reconnaissance on United States power grids.

Multiple ICS (Industrial Control Sectors) sectors now face the XENOTIME threat; this means individual verticals – such as oil and gas, manufacturing, or electric – cannot ignore threats to other ICS entities because they are not specifically targeted.

The Dragos researchers have termed this threat proliferation as the world’s most dangerous cyberthreat since an event in 2017 where Xenotime had caused a serious operational outage at a crucial site in the Middle East. 

The fact that concerns cybersecurity experts the most is that this hacking attack was a malware that chose to target the facility safety processes (SIS – safety instrumentation system).

For example, when temperatures in a reactor increase to an unsafe level, an SIS will automatically start a cooling process or immediately close a valve to prevent a safety accident. The SIS safety stems are both hardware and software that combine to protect facilities from life threatening accidents.

At this point, no one is sure who is behind Xenotime. Russia has been connected to one of the critical infrastructure attacks in the Ukraine.  That attack was viewed to be the first hacker related power grid outage.

This is a “Cause for Concern” post that was published by Dragos on June 14, 2019. 

“While none of the electric utility targeting events has resulted in a known, successful intrusion into victim organizations to date, the persistent attempts, and expansion in scope is cause for definite concern. XENOTIME has successfully compromised several oil and gas environments which demonstrates its ability to do so in other verticals. Specifically, XENOTIME remains one of only four threats (along with ELECTRUM, Sandworm, and the entities responsible for Stuxnet) to execute a deliberate disruptive or destructive attack.

XENOTIME is the only known entity to specifically target safety instrumented systems (SIS) for disruptive or destructive purposes. Electric utility environments are significantly different from oil and gas operations in several aspects, but electric operations still have safety and protection equipment that could be targeted with similar tradecraft. XENOTIME expressing consistent, direct interest in electric utility operations is a cause for deep concern given this adversary’s willingness to compromise process safety – and thus integrity – to fulfill its mission.

XENOTIME’s expansion to another industry vertical is emblematic of an increasingly hostile industrial threat landscape. Most observed XENOTIME activity focuses on initial information gathering and access operations necessary for follow-on ICS intrusion operations. As seen in long-running state-sponsored intrusions into US, UK, and other electric infrastructure, entities are increasingly interested in the fundamentals of ICS operations and displaying all the hallmarks associated with information and access acquisition necessary to conduct future attacks. While Dragos sees no evidence at this time indicating that XENOTIME (or any other activity group, such as ELECTRUM or ALLANITE) is capable of executing a prolonged disruptive or destructive event on electric utility operations, observed activity strongly signals adversary interest in meeting the prerequisites for doing so.”

Common Industrial Refractometer Applications and Processes

Refractometers measure a dissolved material's concentration in a liquid. There are numerous prospective applications in various industrial sectors. Even if the production, environmental and processing processes differ from sector to sector, despite the end product, all fundamental unit operations and control strategies are approximately the same. Outlined below are several of the more common applications and processes where inline industrial refractometers are used.

Crystallizers

In industry, crystallizers are used for liquid solid separation. They are an important component of chemical processing equipment as they can generate high-purity products from a relatively low energy input. To determine the right seeding point (evaporative crystallizer) or to detect when crystals start to form (cooling crystallizer), the refractometer controls the liquor concentration.

Reactors

Process reactors are used for commercial production applications in adhesives processing, agriculture, chemical processing, cosmetics, food and beverage production, paints and coating production, paper and pulp processing, pharmaceutical and medical production, plastics and thermoplastics processing. The real-time progress of a reaction can be followed using inline refractometers, either through the leveling out of key process variables, or the reaching of a single component's targeted refractive index value.

Evaporation

An evaporator is a tool used in a method to transform the liquid form of a chemical substance such as water into its gaseous / vapor form. During that phase, the liquid is evaporated or vaporized into a gas form of the intended substance. Inline refractometers provide real-time data of concentration changes in the process media.

Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification method that removes ions, unwanted molecules and bigger particles from drinking water using a partially permeable membrane. Inline refractometers provide real-time data of concentration changes in the process media.

Spray Dryers

Spray drying is a way to produce a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by drying quickly with a warm gas. This is the preferred drying technique for many thermally sensitive products like foods and pharmaceuticals. A consistent distribution of particle size is a reason why certain industrial products such as catalysts are sprayed. Process refractometers monitor the concentration of the feed line to the spray dryer, ensuring correct particle size after drying, improving quality, and increasing product shelf life.

Dissolving Tanks

Dissolving tanks are used to dissolve solids into a liquid, thereby changing the concentration of the solution. Refractometers provide continuous measurement of the concentration components in solution as the solute dissolves into water or solvent. Information for dissolving rate and dissolved solids is provided instantly through the refractometer and corresponding electronics.

Solid / Liquid Extraction

Solid / Liquid extraction method is a very popular method in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries to acquire natural ingredients such as natural raw material flavors and fragrances. Inline refractometers are used to detect the amount of extracted substance (dissolved solids) in the liquid after the extraction process. The measurement by the refractometer is not affected by undissolved solids, only by the dissolved matter, making it ideal to follow extraction efficiency.

Cooking Processes

The art, technology, science and craftsmanship of preparing food for consumption is cooking. The large scale production of juices, jams, jellies, dairy, and fruits in modern production facilities require automation and control instrumentation for quality and efficiency. Sugar is a key component in many foods that needs to be monitored. The inline refractometer is used to monitor refractive index of the product, and when when cooking is complete. Inline refractometers determine the end of the cooking process based on qualitative measurements of dissolved solids.

For more information about using applying the refractive index to industrial applications, contact Electron Machine Corporation by calling 352-669-3101 or by visiting https://electronmachine.com.

Honoring the Fallen Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces

Process Refractometers for Black Liquor and Green Liquor Processes in Pulp and Paper

The only thing that a pulp and paper plant doesn't reuse is the "shade the building casts". When you consider reuse of energy and byproducts, the processes used in the production of pulp and paper are very efficient. Efficiency is costly however, because of the very hostile environments and demanding operating conditions endured by the plant's process equipment.

As an example, the "Kraft Process" (also known as the sulfate process) is the method of converting wood chips into pulp and cellulose fibers. The wood chips are mixed with sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfate, then soaked, cooked and processed.

A very fundamental explanation of the Kraft Process:

Wood chips are soaked and processed as "white liquor" in a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulphates. After impregnating the wood chips with white liquor, they are then cooked in digesters to break wood into cellulose. The solid pulp is then separated and the rest of the fluid is called the "black liquor". Black liquor is also processed for the removal of solids and chemicals to be reused during pulping. One of the final by-products is "green liquor" which contains both sodium carbonate and sodium sulfide and is then reacted into more white liquor with the addition of lime. All of these processes expose instruments, processing equipment, piping and valves to very harsh environments and chemicals. 

Electron Machine Corporation, a manufacturer of extremely robust process refractometers, has for over 40 years, been actively perfecting the use of refractometers for the measurement of green and black liquor density. 

Scaling of the sensor head: A key issue for keeping the system operational.

 MPR E-Scan and heated high-pressure cleaning system.

The problem of scaling in black liquor and green liquor applications is a major concern. It results in an optical coating on the sensor head of the refractometer the deteriorates performance. This scaling needs to be kept in-check in order to permit an acceptable duration of online measurement. With a means of effective removal at the time the the coating happens, the refractometer accuracy can maintained with minimum maintenance and downtime.

Electron Machine's decades of effort and experience in the pulp and paper industry led to the development of their MPR E-Scan refractometer in tandem with their heated high-pressure cleaning system. The resulting combination ensures efficient optical coating removal  and maintenance minimization so as to ensure a reliable measurement source for automatic online control.

For more information about the use of process refractometers in pulp and paper production contact Electron Machine Corporation by calling 352-669-3101 or visit their website at https://electronmachine.com.