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With mountains of coal ash available at all South African coal-fired power stations, there is no shortage of supply of the ‘grey gold’. With a little innovation and a sound business plan, South Africans stand to make a fortune out of the tons of ash produced by generators annually. Mark Hunter, general manager of the South African Coal Ash Association (SACAA) explains.
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MechChem Africa talks to Carien Spagnuolo, general manager of ZebraTube, a 100% South African company that can claim two decades of experience in retaining solids and percolating liquids through locally designed and manufactured woven geotextile bags.
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Specialty chemicals company, LANXESS, is investing in its ion exchange resin production facility at its Leverkusen site in Germany. The company is optimising its process technology and operating efficiency for a seven-figure EUR amount. The project is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2019. Rainier van Roessel, member of the board of management at LANXESS AG, explains.
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MechChem Africa talks to A-Gas sales manager, Mike Labacher, about current trends with respect to refrigerants and the need for more responsible lifecycle management of these gases.
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The successful performance of Weir Minerals’ Cavex hydrocyclones at a diamond mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province has proved the technology’s applicability in dense medium separation (DMS) plants that treat diamondiferous material.
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The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSH Act) requires companies to take steps in order to protect workers and the public from injury and death in the workplace. The Act has been under review since 2008 to align it with international standards. Risk management company, MMRisk, talks us through risk management, compliance and legislation.
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Johannesburg based consulting engineer, Tim J Carter, B.Tech, C.Eng, FIMMM, talks about wear failures and the importance of using the best possible lubricants and lubrication strategies.
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SAIChE’s 2018 Innovation Award was presented to Sasol Group Technology’s Research and Technology team, consisting of Enrico Caricato, Herman Hoffeldt, Ricky Kotze, Jared Lloyd, Nico Prinsloo and Carel Swanepoel for its work on the development of an automated bench-scale control system for evaluating reforming catalysts. Nico Prinsloo helps MechChem Africa to summarise the innovation.
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Preston Reddy, business driver for Service at Endress+Hauser South Africa, talks about his company’s verification and calibration offerings, the difference between them and the advantages of using the company’s local SANAS-accredited Flow Calibration Centre to get the best out of the monitoring instruments at the heart of plant control.
Read more: Endress+Hauser’s SANAS accredited verification and calibration laboratory
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Peter Middleton discusses SONA 2019 and argues for a shift to technical-style analysis and competence-based management with respect to financial, operational and technical decisions if we are to move forward as a nation.
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The 27 energy agreements signed with power producers by Energy Minster, Jeff Rhadebe, early last year – at a total cost of R56-billion – will play a significant part in alleviating the pressures on South Africa’s national grid, whilst combating atmospheric carbon pollution in the country.
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Juan Kemp says he is general manager of the world’s most celebrated diamond mine in the world. “This is a truth,” he begins, relating that on stating this at a recent Mining Indaba function, it was disputed by a gentleman who suggested removing the word diamond: “Cullinan is the most celebrated mine in the world!”
Read more: Integrated solutions extend Cullinan’s working life
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B&E International, now part of the Raubex Group of companies, was established in South Africa back in 1972 as a drilling and blasting specialist and soon diversified into the mobile crushing sector with its own mobile and static crushing division. In 1993, it entered the mining services sector and further diversified into bulk mining, processing and mineral beneficiation.
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Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) are intrinsic parts of product development. CAE simulation tools are extremely important because they allow for performance validation and optimisation of a product design before the product is physically created. Up to now, structural analysis of parts and assemblies was typically done at the latter stages of the product development process and such simulations required experts in the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software.
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“As an industrial engineer, I take abuse from the other self-proclaimed ‘real engineers’. But I ask them this: How many revolutions have you gone through in your discipline? Today, us industrial engineers are talking about our fourth revolution!” Teifel begins.
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To more closely align with its global parent and its international network, SMC Pneumatics South Africa has changed its name to SMC Corporation ZA.
Read more: SMC ZA: Your local connection into SMC’s global solutions
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Such is the quality and reliability of SEW’s geared motor and gearbox technology that local original equipment manufacturer, Wamechsi Group, has standardised on the German company’s products for demanding agitation, mixing, aerating and settled sludge conveying and compacting applications at its wastewater treatment plants.
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In 2003, Kapil Moothi matriculated from the secondary school in Ladysmith, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal where he was born and raised. “My interests were always in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and, as well as English and Afrikaans, I matriculated with higher grade passes in mathematics, physical science, biology and computer studies,” Moothi tells MechChem Africa.
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My first stint of living in London was at the time of the first of Thatcher’s sell-offs of state-owned assets, which started with British Telecom in 1982.
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“In terms of new technologies and services at SKF, several new things are happening. First, our engineering team is rapidly expanding. We now have 15 engineers supporting the different SKF departments, up from five just 18 months ago,” Lubbe begins.
Read more: Young engineers revitalise rotating equipment life services
Contact MechChem Africa
Title: Editor
Name: Peter Middleton
Email: mechchemafrica@crown.co.za or peterm@crown.co.za
Phone: +27 11 622 4770
Fax: +27 11 615 6108
Title: Editor
Name: Glynnis Koch
Email: mechchemafrica@crown.co.za
Phone: +27 11 622 4770
Fax: +27 11 615 6108
Title: Advertising Manager
Name: Brenda Karathanasis
Email: brendak@crown.co.za
Phone: +27 11 622-4770
Fax: +27 11 615-6108
