British Columbia’s new regulations requiring 5% renewable content in gasoline and diesel fuel supplied in the province will come into effect this year.  The regulation is a significant step towards B.C.’s goal of reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent below 2007 levels by 2020.

Fransen Engineering has worked with three major fuel marketing companies to provide ethanol gasoline and biodiesel for distribution.  Tanker Truck Loading Racks (TTLR) were not capable of blending and shipping ethanol blended gasoline or biodiesel blended ultralow sulfur diesel, but Fransen staff designed major changes at TTLR to enable fuel blending as well as off loading to storage.

Biodiesel

Major changes to the TTLR for biodiesel included specific filtering, heating and blending requirements.  100% biodiesel must be maintained above its cloud point temperature.  Temperature control was achieved by heat tracing pipes and heating storage tanks.  There are options of blending in the tank or at the rack.  Fransen Engineering has provided engineering for either solution.  Maintaining product integrity is the number one requirement that required specific filtering and blending. Blend ratios covered a wide range from 2 to 20% to meet market demands.

Ethanol

Blending of large volumes of gasoline required unique blending facilities.  Rack blending of multiple streams taxed the existing metering preset equipment.  Entire new rack systems were implemented where justified.  As an alternate solution, Fransen Engineering designed a PLC system to function with the preset equipment.  This allowed for multiple stream options and blending options without costly upgrades.  Ethanol poses the requirement to upgrade fire protection systems.  Water deluge systems were changed to foam systems with improvements for increased coverage.

Our very own Jack Vanier was featured in the latest edition of Current, which is BC Hydro Power Smart’s online newsletter.

Jack Vanier is a huge proponent of energy management as a process and, specifically, of energy managers as a means of getting it right.  He sees BC Hydro Power Smart’s Industrial Energy Manager Initiative - which provides 100% funding of a position for those who apply by November 30, 2009 - as a unique opportunity.

The challenge is to convince senior management to support and commit to the initiative.

“It’s important to identify the person who’s in a key position, who can bring that support back,” says the energy management consultant.

Click here to read the full article on BC Hydro’s webpage: http://www.bchydro.com/news/articles/conservation/energy_manager_justified.html?WT.mc_id=current-11-19_energy_manager

Fransen provides high quality specialized development and management of water resources for Industrial and Municipal clients.

Clients from all sectors are facing increased challenges surrounding the management of water resources.  A water management program first starts with the identification of the raw water supply to system processes or in the case of municipalities, supply to various community demands.  Often the supply can be obtained from multiple sources.  The most ideal scenario is where the supply can be a waste stream from another area.  For example, utilizing captured storm water to augment a surface water source.

The management program then follows the water through its use to the resulting generation of wastewater, which is either reused or discharged safely to a receiving environment.  Again there may be several receiving environments that when combined, provides a sustainable approach. Fransen can include solutions that range from very simple to more innovative technologies.  Although innovative approaches often appear very attractive, some old basic approaches often provide the most effective strategy to closed loop management of water resources.

Fransen brings a great deal of experience in thermal recovery processes from our experience in the Pulp and Paper industry.  This expertise translates well into water resources systems such as digesters as found in the municipal field.

Another strength of Fransen is the extensive in-house facilities, equipment and resources to implement multi-discipline projects.  Fransen can build what we propose allowing our clients to use our services in the early scoping stage, right through to commissioning of the upgrades.  This provides our clients with reality checks for constructability as well as budget constraints.  We pride ourselves on providing solutions for a wide variety of project sizes, offering excellent customer service and most comprehensive solutions.

When explaining the concept behind Power Smart to our clients, they are typically surprised.  “You mean BC Hydro is paying to have their Customers buy less of their product?”  The rationale is a directive from the BC government, which in its 2007 Energy Plan mandated that 50% of all BC Hydro’s incremental resource needs are to be met through conservation by 2020.  This is in line with the most basic principle of Energy Management - the cheapest, greenest, and most sustainable kilowatt of power is the kilowatt you don’t use.

Power Smart offers a series of different incentives for their Customers to review their existing facilities and production systems, identify changes that make the biggest impact on their energy consumption, and even offers financing to make the changes that are recommended in the studies.  Fransen Engineering has worked with a variety of clients to review their systems and make recommendations on changes that reduce overall power consumption by 10% to 20%.  In addition, Fransen Engineering has served as Energy Manager to several of the largest industrial clients in British Columbia on a continuing basis, helping to maximize process and system efficiencies with a full suite of technical tools.

In light of governments setting lower allowable emission limits to combat climate change, there is yet another incentive towards greater energy efficiency.  Fransen Engineering has several individuals, who are trained as Certified Energy Managers, and many of our energy projects have received awards for innovation and the cost effectiveness of any solutions identified that make a significant reduction to overall plant power consumption.

Power System Studies

One of the core services that our Electrical department offers is Power System Analysis in the form of comprehensive power system studies.  Our Clients might require a power system study if they are building a new facility, making major changes to an existing facility, or to improve overall system reliability and safety.

Under the broad heading of Power System Studies there are various specific types of studies including:

• Fault (short-circuit) - Determination of fault levels throughout a system and ensuring installed equipment is adequately rated for the expected fault duty

• Coordination - Optimization of protective device selectivity to ensure maximum system uptime and proper equipment protection if faults do occur

• Arc Flash - In conjunction with the short circuit study, the arcing fault incident energy is determined at all major system connecting points, such as MCCs, so that workers exposed to energized equipment ensure that the PPE they are using will adequately protect them from arcing faults, and when possible, methods are presented to reduce the arcing energy to lower levels

• Load Flow - Ensuring that adequate power is available when it is needed is essential, such as during heavy loading and motor starting. Reliability and safety is critical, and hardware must be chosen and utilized within its load ratings and these are all verified and checked under various operating conditions.

• Motor Starting - During motor starts, there are extra loads placed on the power system under many circumstances, and these demands must not have a negative impact on the rest of the power system. Corrective measures can be evaluated such as utilizing soft starts, reconfiguration of transformer taps, and new starting schemes.

• Harmonics - Modern power systems incorporate equipment such as VFDs that can result in higher harmonics in the system, which can in turn place extra stresses on the power system resulting in higher than normal heating and also affect protective device accuracy and performance. Identifying areas of high harmonic distortion is important to mitigate these effects.

Fransen has been completing Power System studies since we first opened our doors in 1980.  Our team has a depth of both theoretical expertise and practical experience, having completed these studies in a variety of industrial settings using the latest advanced software tools.

Fransen Engineering offers full 3D Scanning (also referred to as High Definition Surveying) solutions using the latest time of flight laser technology for mechanical, piping, structural, civil, electrical, and instrumentation applications.

Based on cutting-edge technology, high-definition survey uses a narrow laser beam to “sweep across” a target object, so that hundreds of thousands of closely spaced measurements can be taken in a matter of minutes. When these scanned measurements are displayed on a computer, a dense representation of points (a point cloud) blankets the target. The results can be viewed and navigated much like a 3D model.

Once the point cloud has been created, specialized software can then be used to draw solid 3D objects over the points. The result is a useable model that can be modified or added to using our standard 3D design tools.

When should our clients use this service?

• Lack of accurate record drawings
• Difficult and/or unsafe access for taking measurements
• Tight project schedule limiting time available for design

What is the Process for conducting a 3D scan?

• Client meeting to confirm extent of the existing plant to be processed and the end use of the information
• Site visit to perform scan
• Download and process ‘point cloud’ data
• Create a full or partial 3D model
• Utilize the model as per project requirements
• Store for future use and update

What are the Long Term Impacts of 3D Scanning?

• Safer acquisition of data
• Enhanced accuracy of design resulting in better prefabrication
• Enhanced interdisciplinary coordination
• Reduced construction costs and safety risks
• Reduce design costs
• Improved accuracy
• 3D visualization aid for constructability and safety reviews
• Georeferencing for easy integration into GIS systems

The priorities of many of our clients have changed due to the current financial climate. After years of focusing on expanding production, many of our clients now have more time to review the performance of their processes. In many cases, it is no longer operating under the conditions for which it was designed and is not tuned for best response. (more…)

DID YOU KNOW?
Most of British Columbia, especially Vancouver Island and the south-western portion, is in within an active seismic zone, therefore many structural projects that we do involve seismic design. Our Structural Group is able to tackle these seismic concerns under the leadership of our Structural Manager, Raymond Tong, who himself has a Master’s degree in Seismic Engineering.  (more…)

Did you know that Fransen is an industry leader at completing industrial Arc Flash studies? Our team, led by Dusan Dapcevic, has completed 12 studies and there are several more on the horizon. Arc Flash studies are used to determine the arcing potential from power distribution equipment.

The end result of the studies we complete is a report with Arc Flash energy levels at various points in the system and recommendations as to how to reduce the energy. We also provide a physical sticker that is placed on the electrical equipment that indicates to technicians the level of personal protective equipment (PPE) they are required to wear in order to protect themselves against potential arcing when they are working on the unit.

Since most of the Arc Flash mitigation measures rely on the protective device settings and selection, the Fransen Power System Group draws upon its power systems expertise to design Arc Flash solutions that are optimal for each piece of equipment. Why is this important? Well, there are studies that show that excessive PPE ratings actually result in higher Health & Safety risk than the arc flash threat itself! Fransen’s comprehensive approach helps to avoid crudely conservative PPE ratings, thereby reducing the overall Health & Safety risk.