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Troubleshooting Process Plant Control, by Norman P. LiebermanCopyright 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

213

About My Seminars

Ive been working as a process engineer for 44 years. Fortunately for me,

technology, as it affects the process industry, has not changed in the interim.The technology that affects our work is:

AC motor1890

Centrifugal compressor1930

Centrifugal pumps1900

Thermodynamics1880

Vaporliquid equilibrium1910

Continuous distillation1840

Internal combustion engine1880

All the catalytic technologies we use (alkylation, hydrotreating, reforming,isomerization, fluid catalytic cracking) were old and well established when Icame to work for Amoco Oil in Whiting, Indiana in 1965. Thus my seminarrepresents todays technology even though Ive learned almost nothing newin 44 years, except for one idea.

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214 ABOUT MY SEMINARS

WHATS NEW

Four billion years ago, before I was born, the content of the atmosphere

was:

79% N2

21% CO2

Plant life converted the CO2 to O2 and hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbonswere buried as:

Methane hydrates (buried off-shore on continental shelves)

Coal Shale oil

Tar sands

Oil

Gas

Peat

The above list is in descending order of abundance. Currently we areextracting these deposits at a rate of 210,000 FOE B/D (fuel oil equivalentbarrels per day). At this rate, we will have reconverted all of the available O2back to CO2 in 35,000 years. Of course, thats nonsense. CO2becomes fatalwhen its concentration exceeds 3%, not 21%. For life like us, normal respira-tion would be impeded at CO2levels above 1%. So, we have one-twentieth of35,000 years, or 50 human generations, to correct the problem.

SYNERGISM

Of course, this too is nonsense. The largest amount of hydrocarbons are tiedup not in fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal), but in hydrates. These hydrates (a combi-nation of light hydrocarbons and water) that freeze at temperatures between40 F and 60 F can be released because of global warming. Unfortunately, 1mole of methane equals 23 moles of CO2as a greenhouse gas. Without excep-tion, all of the extinctions in history have been accompanied by a surge ingreenhouse gases, usually triggered by meteor impacts and volcanic activity.

WHO CAUSED THE PROBLEM?

People like you and me. To be specific:

Newcomb, WattSteam engine and barometric condenser

TeslaAlternating current 3-phase motor

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TeslaRadio, Remote Control, Florescent lighting

Otto, DieselInternal combustion engine

WhittleJet engine, gas turbine

Tesla, EdisonElectric lighting

Like us, these guys were technical nerds. I used to teach in my seminars thatmy primary interests were:

Food

Sex

Money

This was a lie. My only interest has always been, right from childhood,technologyjust like you. Technology for its own sake, regardless of its con-sequences. Its an expression of our instinctive desire to dominate nature,regardless of its consequences.

CONSERVATION IDEAS IN THE SEMINAR

Im trying to atone for my sin. The source of sin is acting without regard forthe consequences of our actions. That is why Ive written this book. I believethat if the control techniques Ive described in this text and the process designand operating concepts I explore in my seminar are used, hydrocarbon wastewill be reduced. The central concept of my troubleshooting seminar is a searchfor ideas once well known, but long since forgotten. This book is an expressionof what I have discovered in that search.

Norm LiebermanNew Orleans, LouisianaMay 28th, 2008.1-504-887-7714 (phone)

norm@lieberman-eng.com (E-mail)

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