Industrial process control is normally achieved by manipulating operating temperatures, pressures, levels and flow rates, with the aim being to produce an end product of proven quality while optimising the operation so as to minimise the production cost. Quality control is generally achieved by using analysis of samples that have been drawn from the plant and transported to a laboratory.
In many industries the use of a relatively remote laboratory to test the samples takes too long for the plant to be optimised when there are possible changes in feedstock or other external factors. Automated process stream analysers may be used to inform operators of quality changes, and ideally to provide an advanced control layer and improve efficiency.
From l: John Owen Ellis; Hennie Prinsloo.
The talk presented by Hennie Prinsloo and John Owen-Ellis to the SAIMC Durban Branch on the 6th March 2019 provided an introduction to what is required to design a complete analytical system. It started with an overview of the large quantity of information that is needed, and then took the audience through sample extraction from the process, sample conditioning to suit the analyser, and finally sample return to the process or other safe disposal point. Emphasis was placed on the need for compiling comprehensive and up-to-date information about the process fluid and potential contaminants so that a complete analytical system can be designed and implemented.
Lucky Ntuli, MUT, winner of the Student Award Scheme for the 2nd Semester seen accepting his award from chairman Hennie Prinsloo. For more information about Lucky’s project please go to: https://instrumentation.co.za/papers/J4343.pdf
The talk concluded by demonstrating the information and design aspects of an on-line analyser that measures the amount of sulphur in diesel fuel, and which has been operating successfully for several years. The meeting concluded with networking over a meal to the usual high standard of the Durban Country Club.
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The Durban branch of the SAIMC was pleased to welcome Vusi Sithole, managing member of Hybrid Control Corporation in Richards Bay, who presented\on the very pertinent topic of ‘Infrastructure monitoring and control for water loss management’.
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We say it every year, and we’ll say it again: May in Durban is hard to beat; but 9 May, when the Durban Golf Day teed off at Kloof Country Club, was something else. With sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 20s, it was a fantastic day, full of fun and great energy.
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Horst Weinert, head of Didactic at Festo Southern/Eastern Africa, will be sharing some of Festo’s Didactic experiences of working across industry and education. He will cover training for productivity and employability in the public and private sectors, discussing especially the potential for inter-company training centres.
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The local Johannesburg Branch of the SAIMC recently hosted a Technology Evening at Bryanston Sports Club on 9 April 2025.
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The April technology meeting for the Durban branch of the SAIMC was kindly sponsored by ProRisk, a subsidiary company of the Proconics Group of Companies. Process safety engineer, Guillaume de Swardt gave a fascinating presentation on the power of operational risk control by utilising CFD software.
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In proud partnership with Innomotics, SAIMC will be hosting the first Knowledge Sharing 4 Industry event for 2025.
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As users recognise the benefits of a digital transformation strategy for their industrial plants and systems and start to adopt it, they soon face the challenge of getting operational technology data securely and reliably to a cloud service provider of their choice.
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