Whow, what a thing of beauty that must have been back in 1906. Follows my point exactly. The refinery business is in the dark ages, has been kept in the dark ages, and EPA and others will not embrace anything "new and approved" because getting anything "approved" means running a gauntlet through government agencies and government regulations and lawyers.
All at your expense, of course. Multiply that single item to test octane rating by 1000 for each step in the refinery process, add constant certification charges, fines, fees, documentation, union labor problems, and it's enough to make you want to go buy a congressman..... Grant... AZ... On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 3:37 PM, Dan Penoff <lwb...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Here's an interesting story relative to refineries and the technology they > use: > > In 1998 I was RIFF'ed out of a position. I was searching for something > new and got a call from a fellow I knew at Waukesha Engine, in where else, > but Waukesha, WI. > > Seems that Waukesha has a obscure little division of the company that has > been a cash cow for decades. This division builds the "gold" standard of > octane test devices called the "CFR". > > The CFR is a single cylinder engine that has variable compression by means > of a cylinder arrangement that literally "screws" up or down to change the > compression ratio. When refineries crack a batch of oil and want to test > the octane of the fuel coming out of the towers, they pull a sample and put > it into the CFR, which is run while increasing the compression until the > engine knocks. There are mechanical (now digital) knock sensors in the > cylinder head that trigger the instrumentation and give a corresponding > reference to the octane of the test sample. > > If you saw one of these things you would think you had arrived at an old > agricultural engine expo. Here is a picture of a current production unit - > looks like modern technology, doesn't it? > > > http://www.dresserwaukesha.com/images/CFR_Downloads/f1f2_octane_unit_hires.tif > > Anyway, for some bizarre reason, the CFR has been the standard used by > nearly every refinery in the world to measure and test the octane of the > fuels they produce. You would think by now that there would be some sort of > means of doing this in a lab or something.... > > At the time they said a basic unit (still built by hand in Waukesha's > factory) was in the range of $250,000. Every one of them had to have an > annual support contract, which kept three technicians busy throughout the > world year 'round. > > I was intrigued, but had recently come off of eight years of heavy travel > and had no interest in sitting in a plane for a living, so I passed. > > Looks like GE has purchased Waukesha, or at least this division, as a > quick Google search ends up on a GE sponsored page with the CFR. > > Dan > > On Feb 29, 2012, at 5:16 PM, G Mann wrote: > > > I agree with you, new refineries need to be built up north. Problem is, > no > > new refinery has been built in past 25 years because the EPA and the Eco > > terrorist greenies simply have not allowed it. > > > > Now refineries are getting old, are using old tech systems, and are not > > capable of taking on new supplies with major rework, which is ALSO denied > > by EPA, CARB, Air Quality, and every other 3 letter government agency > known > > to man. > > > > If you want cheap gas at the pumps, fire all these folks and arrest the > > Eco-terrorist, then build new refineries like Ford built model T cars. > > > > Until then, we all "suck it up" and pay,,, dearly. > > > > Grant... > > AZ > > > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
