Chronic high vibration issue of a Condensate Pump

Case StudiesChronic high vibration issue was being observed on a critical condensate pump. Although this motor driven pump is a standby unit, however, in case the running pump has a breakdown and the motor pump is unavailable, the Ammonia Plant will trip. This is a horizontal overhung, centerline mounted, single stage pump. The pump was relocated to current site in 1992 and the problem of high vibration was observed after ~10 years of operation. The issue was observed around the timeframe when locally manufactured spares were used since OEM had discontinued offering its spares. The pump was overhauled 03 times in past 10 years, but the high vibration issue remained as such

Cooling Water Pump Gearbox Diagnostics, Failure and Remedial Actions

Case StudiesFailure of an industrial scale bevel gear assemble in 2.5 years of its commissioning. The gear box drives a pumps rated at 16240m3/h at 47.5 meter of head. The unit developed an abnormal noise with slightly higher impacting (vibration waveform) on the gearbox. However upon inspection, increased back-lash (still in recommended limit) was observed on the unit and the machine was kept in operation. During a startup in March 2014, high cyclic impacting was observed in vibration waveform which indicated gearbox wear/damage. Upon inspection leading edge teeth of the bevel gearbox was found broken. Further investigation revealed increased backlash and change in contact area of the gears. The case study covers the complete RCA of GB failure and the remedial action taken on similar units installed on site

Polysaccharide-Based Superporous, Superabsorbent, and Stimuli Responsive Hydrogel from Sweet Basil: A Novel Material for Sustained Drug Release

This study is carried out on polysaccharide-based hydrogel extracted from the seeds of Ocimum basilicum L. for its evaluation as a superabsorbent and stimuli responsive biomaterial for sustained release drug delivery system. O. basilicum (Syn: Basil) seed hydrogel (BSH) expressed high swelling capacity at pH 6.8 and 7.4 and deionized water. Highly reversible on-off switching (swelling-deswelling) behavior of BSH was ascertained in deionized water and ethanol, pH 7.4 and 1.2, and deionized water and normal saline. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of BSH has revealed macroporous structure of BSH having average pore size of 1.92 ± 3.83 μm noted after swelling and lyophilization. BSH containing tablet formulations showed a sustained release pattern of diclofenac sodium (DS) which is dependent on the concentration of BSH. When comparing with commercially available formulation of DS, even better sustained release behavior of DS was observed in BSH-based formulation. Super case-II transport mechanism is followed by the DS release from BSH matrix tablet. Haemocompatibility studies of BSH were also performed and found it nonhaemolytic and nonthrombogenic

Metal Complexation of Arabinoxylan Engenders a Smart Material Offering pH, Solvents, and Salt Responsive On–Off Swelling with the Potential for Sustained Drug Delivery

The present study aimed to develop a stable interconnected matrix as a sustained release drug delivery material. Arabinoxylan (AX) was extracted from ispaghula husk and then crosslinked with different concentrations, i.e., 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 g of CaCl2 per 0.25 g of AX. The crosslinking was confirmed through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The swelling capacity of crosslinked AX (CL-AX) was evaluated against buffer solutions of pH 1.2, 6.8, 7.4, and water. The swelling capacity increased from pH 1.2 to pH 7.4 and followed the second order swelling kinetics. The swelling study also revealed that CL-AX with 1.0 g CaCl2 showed maximum swelling capacity. The swelling–deswelling (on–off switching) behavior of CL-AX was evaluated in water–ethanol, water–0.9% NaCl solution, and buffer solutions of pH 7.4–1.2 and showed responsive swelling–deswelling behavior. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a highly porous nature of CL-AX with a mesh of thin fibrous networking. Hemocompatibility studies of CL-AX revealed its non-thrombogenic and nonhemolytic attributes. The CL-AX matrix tablet prolonged the release of enalapril maleate for 24 h, and the drug release followed the zero order kinetics and super case-II transport mechanism. Therefore, CL-AX can be recognized as a stimuli responsive and hemocompatible biomaterial with sustained drug release potential

Potential role of probiotic species in ameliorating oxidative stress, effect on liver profile and hormones in male albino rat model

Probiotics are living micro-organism preparations which can vigorously inhibit the probable pathogens colonization in the gut microbial ecology. Current experiment was designed to investigate the efficacy of imported probiotic species compared with the indigenous probiotics species on the oxidative stress, enzymes, and hormones in animal model. Thirty Albino rats were equally divided into three groups with 10 rats ( n  = 10) in each group as Control (C), supplemented with imported probiotic species (IP), and supplemented with indigenous probiotics species (InP) for 21 days under controlled environment. The evaluation of treatments was done by testing the serum oxidative stress markers, liver enzymes (Aspartate transaminase and Alanine aminotransferase), lipid profile, and hormonal dynamics including Lutinizing hormone (LH), follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), and growth hormone (GH) in albino male rats. Results revealed that use of indigenous probiotic species significantly ( p  < 0.05) reduces the oxidative stress and improves the antioxidant capacity; liver enzymes, total cholesterol, and LDL-Cholesterol were also reduced significantly ( p  < 0.05) in InP as compared to IP group. Moreover, results of hormones including LH, FSH, and GH explored that indigenous probiotics have significant ( p  < 0.05) potential to improve these hormones as compared to imported probiotics. Although, it could be concluded that InP have beneficial role in preventing the body from oxidative stress as well as in improving the blood parameters but comprehensive studies are required to investigate the detail gut ecology of the indigenous species which will definitely a strong support in preparing a more suitable local probiotic supplement