Sofis is part of the 'Process Safety' division of Halma Plc, an FTSE 100 company, which is an organization with 50 companies and 5,000 employees worldwide. Sofis is based in Alphen aan den Rijn and has the two market-leading brands of Netherlocks interlocks and Smith interlocks, which contain a range... read more →
May
07
Mar
06
To meet increasingly strict customer requirements, terminals are upgrading their operations. However, most terminals rely on slow, error-prone manual valve operations. These days, manual operations can be significantly accelerated and secured, without complete automation of all valve operations. Many terminals have low automation grades About a third of the almost... read more →
Mar
06
A tank terminal’s revenue partially depends on its speed of transferring product from and to its storage tanks. The more efficient this transfer process, the more throughput the terminal realises, thus producing more revenue. But how do manually operated terminals speed up this process without heavy investments in automation? Connected... read more →
Oct
18
NordStream is reliant on its control room in Switzerland to monitor and control pig launching operations across their German and Russian pigging stations. To guarantee safe pigging procedures, the Swiss Control Room oversees and authorises local manual operations. Process data and MOV feedback are used as conditions to determine manual... read more →
May
16
In exactly one month’s, we time take to floor at ILTA trade show (International Liquid Terminals Association). At stand 973, we will be showing how it is possible to bridge the gap between manual valve operations to full valve automation, using simple and cost effective and solutions. We recognise that... read more →
Apr
04
One of the biggest challenges our tank terminal operators face, is the risks associated with their valve line-ups. It is not unusual to hear of terminals contending with 1 or 2 incidents annually. What are the costs? Direct costs to include product loss and cleaning up: Incorrect valve line-ups can... read more →
Jan
16
British Salt, the UK's leading manufacturer of pure dried vacuum salt products, approached Sofis partner Avenium to help solve a problem with their manual valve operations. The problem British Salt has 2 steam turbines that each have 2 valves on the exhaust discharge. On each turbine there is a fixed... read more →
Nov
13
In the tank storage industry, product contamination resulting from product transfer is an obvious risk. Costs related to clean-up, product loss, waste disposal and reputational damage easily mount up to hundreds of thousands of euros. A cause of contamination is the incorrect line-up of valves between the storage tanks and the jetty, resulting in the loading... read more →
Nov
06
For efficient operation of boilers, frequent ‘bottom blow-down’ procedures are required to help remove sludge deposits from within the vessel. Sludge may form from dirt in the water supply or from the water treatment chemicals. Where blow-down occurs on manual valves, a safety interlock system must be implemented to ensure... read more →
Nov
06
Ethylene production is an inherently complex and dangerous process, particularly when considering the operation of valves and/or line blinds around a cracking furnace. The incorrect operation of the controls to gas, feed stock and decoke air to the furnace can have catastrophic results. Under normal conditions, the operation of controls... read more →