Current Trends In Production Research Articles

Experimental Analysis on Turning of Super Duplex UNS 32750 Steel Using Minimum Quantity Lubrication Process

Current production trends necessitate extensive use of cutting fluids, resulting in adverse climatic changes and increasing industry expenses. Modern manufacturing businesses are looking for new ways to meet the demands for faster machining rates, less waste, and improved product quality while also lowering manufacturing costs. Material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) of the work piece machined with coated tools are all evaluated. Cutting speed (CS), pressure flow (PF), and depth of cut(DOC), are the input parameters. An aerosol mixture of air and oil was used to give the least amount of lubrication. To assess the relative performance tuning with the MQL setup, an investigation was conducted. When compared to dry turning, the MQL system for turning super duplex stainless steel UNS 32750 has shown to be more effective. The MQL technique significantly improves cutting performance in terms of increasing tool life and improving machined component quality.

Effect of climate change on the production of Cucurbitaceae species in North African countries

Climate change poses a significant threat to crop production and food security in North Africa and around the world. Intense heat, drought, and other climatic changes can significantly impact the yield of certain crops, such as cucurbits (e.g., melons, gourds, and pumpkins). Hence, the need to explore means to mitigate the adverse effect of change in climate on Cucurbits which are sensitive to heat stress and require a sufficient water supply to thrive. Cucurbits are plants mostly grown for their fruit or seeds, often eaten raw or pickled. Hence, providing economic incentives to farmers within North African countries such as Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. This review aims to discuss the historical and current production trends of Cucurbitaceae species and the effect of climate change on Cucurbits in the northern region of Africa while also highlighting the significant role of Cucurbits as a source of food and nutritional security in the region. A literature search was conducted on electronic databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google Books and Google Scholar. Results showed that due to climate change, the production of cucurbit crops may decrease by up to 10-15%, leading to reduced food availability and increased prices in some areas. Thus, impacting negatively on household food security. Similarly, the climate change implications for different types of cucurbit crops can vary substantially depending on the unique growing conditions of each country within the region.

Guest Editorial: What Exactly Is ‘Non-Production Data’ and Why Should It Matter to Operators?

_ More than likely, operators have acquired production data on their wells since their inception. Tremendous money has been spent on building out sophisticated production data systems to track and report current production trends, as well as future projections related to the reserves these companies have found and proven. While all these insights are beneficial, they do not paint the full picture as to the value of a well. To understand the real valuation, operators should be looking at their complete value chain of data. The lack of attention to non-production data is costing companies millions of real dollars in M&A valuation and return on investment from operating. Non-production data are produced by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and service companies. This data set provides a clearer understanding of the cost to drill, challenges associated with specific equipment, and lessons learned. Until recently, these data have been considered a responsibility of the service providers; however, this has led to inconsistent formats, or missing information altogether. As M&A deals are likely to accelerate in the foreseeable future, E&Ps looking to sell would be wise to pay attention to holistic data sets and use them as a bargaining chip at the valuation table. Non‑production data will prove significantly valuable when it is time to extract the value of a field, particularly if it is accounted for, standardized, and catalogued to prove out formations. Historical data for bottomhole assemblies (BHA) alone can help better inform drilling contractors on equipment wear and tear, performance in a given formation, and other valuable insights into a particular drilling program. The Complete Value Chain of Data According to Seeking Alpha, drilling can make up 40% of the total cost to bring a well online, with the average well cost in the Permian Basin ranging from approximately $5.0 million to $9.3 million as of 2017. This means drilling costs could be as high as $3.72 million per well—and these numbers are pre‑COVID pandemic and pre‑inflation. Many of the onshore wells brought online today are not produced by the original E&Ps that discovered the assets, but instead by the latest buyer. When the purchase was made, significant diligence was done to ensure the production data were correct. Unfortunately, many details and lessons learned during the drilling process were not kept as part of that acquisition, so the new owners were left to potentially solve the same problems again. Those reinvestments can be further compounded by the costly current state of the industry. The missing details and lessons learned referenced above include the terabytes of information from the multitude of service companies involved in originally bringing that well online. Data such as mud characteristics, BHA tool configurations, well plan deviations, casing and cementing solutions, as well as mud weight or size of the motor, may be recorded in a software such as WellView. But what about the specific configuration data such as power‑section fit, stabilizer shape, hard‑banding material, or bit-to-bend length, just to reference a few? These data points are often adjusted and dialed-in over time to find just the right recipe for a specific area. Unfortunately, this information never makes it into the official logs or databases of the operating company.

Recent Developments and Current Status of Commercial Production of Fuel Ethanol

Ethanol produced from various biobased sources (bioethanol) has been gaining high attention lately due to its potential to cut down net emissions of carbon dioxide while reducing burgeoning world dependence on fossil fuels. Global ethanol production has increased more than six-fold from 18 billion liters at the turn of the century to 110 billion liters in 2019, only to fall to 98.6 billion liters in 2020 due to the pandemic. Sugar cane and corn have been used as the major feedstocks for ethanol production. Lignocellulosic biomass has recently been considered as another potential feedstock due to its non-food competing status and its availability in very large quantities. This paper reviews recent developments and current status of commercial production of ethanol across the world with a focus on the technological aspects. The review includes the ethanol production processes used for each type of feedstock, both currently practiced at commercial scale and still under developments, and current production trends in various regions and countries in the world.

Current trends in cast iron production

The history of cast iron dates back long before the dawn of human civilization, which would not have been possible without metallurgy in general and cast iron in particular. Today, however, cast iron is going through difficult times. At the one side, in the last hundred years there has been a steep jump in the consumption properties and especially the mechanical properties of cast iron - the tensile strength has increased from ~100 MPa for lamellar graphite iron to ~1800 MPa for nanostructured ausferritic ductile cast iron due to the discovery and implementation of methods for modifying the graphite and matrix structure of cast iron in both liquid and solid states. However, at the other side, scientific interest in development of new properties and production technologies of cast iron castings has lately decreased against the background of growing competition from other industrial materials, especially aluminum alloys. In addition, defects of iron castings have increased, the main reasons for which are growing demands for lower weight and enhanced mechanical properties of castings, widespread use of cheap low quality materials in the production process and the knowledge lagging behind the cast iron modification practices. In the present paper, based on an analytical review of domestic and foreign information, we tried to specify current trends in the production of iron castings, and identify ways to improve the quality and develop the production of domestic iron castings. The main conclusions were that the prospects and necessity of further development of properties and application of cast iron as a unique material with not fully disclosed possibilities of forming unique structures and properties in it, transfer of cast iron from the category of the “widely consumed” material to the category of the “elite” material were evident. Ways of realization of the seambitious tasks are offered.

Assessment of current trends in production of molybdenum, its alloys and molybdenum-containing products

The unique combination of physical and chemical properties of molybdenum, required by modern material science, predetermines the variety of applications of molybdenum-containing alloys and molybdenumcontaining metal products: metallurgy, various-profile mechanical engineering, electro-thermal equipment, as well as the need to systematize and update the scientific and technological information accumulated in molybdenum metallurgy. The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the current state of molybdenum production and application, including such issues as production of molybdenum trioxide, molybdenum and its alloys, industrial range of molybdenum and its alloys products, molybdenum consumption structure, identification of dominant trends and their forecasting in the medium term.Technical and economical information on production and consumption of molybdenum trioxide, molybdenum and its alloys was evaluated and systematized. The existing range of products from molybdenum and its alloys, the structure of world molybdenum consumption were evaluated, dominant trends and forecasts for the nearest period were determined. It was stated, that the main technology of molybdenum production is hydrogen reduction from high purity trioxide (up to 99.9%) in the form of powder followed by its compaction. The main producers of molybdenum are the United States, Chile, China, Peru, Canada and Mexico, which account for more than 90% of world production. In 2018, global consumption of molybdenum was about 262,000 tons, about 20% less than in 2011–2012. Ferromolybdenum is produced in Russia and abroad of various brands with molybdenum content of 50– 70%. Currently, the producers of ferromolybdenum in Russia are Sorsky, Zhireken ferromolybdenum and Nizhnevolzhsky ferroalloy plants. The total production capacity of Russian enterprises is estimated at 8.5 thousand tons of ferromolybdenum per year. Metallurgical enterprises of Russia declare production of 33 different types of intermediate products and final products from molybdenum and its alloys.

Non-destructive injectability measurements for fibre preforms and semi-finished textiles

Current production trends and demands for Fibre Reinforced Plastics are exceeding the capabilities of classical, recognised inspection and test methods, especially their capabilities to monitor the mass production of carbon fibre reinforced plastic parts. Novel non-destructive measurement methods to efficiently perform quality assurance within industrial mass production are required. This research is focused on a novel method to assess the properties of textile reinforcements employed in liquid composite moulding processes. This method non-destructively measures the resistance provided by semi-finished textiles to compressive deformation and fluid flow. Rather than calculating permeability using traditional methods, simple measures of injectability of textile reinforcements are determined using an air pulse applied within the stack or preform. On this basis, a simple, mobile prototype device has been developed to support production and quality control to evaluate the injectability and compressibility properties of stacks and preforms and gather information about processes and systems.

Energy Model for Motion Planning of 2D-Belt Press Line Tending Robots

A current trend in production is to reduce energy consumption where possible not only to lower the cost but also to be a more energy efficient entity. This paper presents an energy model to estimate the electrical energy consumption of 2D-belt robots used for material handling in multi-stage sheet metal press lines. An estimation of the energy consumption is computed by the proposed energy model based on the robot components' specifications, the robot path and trajectory. The proposed model can predict the energy consumption offline by simulation, and thus, before installation, avoiding the need for physical experiments. It is demonstrated that it can be used for predicting potential energy reductions achieved by optimising the motion planning. Additionally, it is also shown how to investigate the energy saving achieved by using mechanical brakes when the robot is idle. This effectively illustrates the usefulness of the proposed energy model. [Submitted 01 March 2018; Accepted 18 March 2019]

Arsenic, copper, and chromium from treated wood products in the U.S. disposal sector

Construction and demolition (C&D) wood can be recycled as mulch for landscaping or cogeneration. Limitations to such recycling are dependent on metals concentrations in mulch (As, Cu, and Cr) from the inclusion of waterborne-preservative treated wood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the amount of waterborne-preservative treated wood (by wood volume and by mass of metal) that enters the C&D wood waste stream in the U.S. by utilizing a mass balance approach. A model was developed using wood treatment industry production statistics, estimated leaching rates of metal-based preservatives, and typical service lives of wood products. Outputs of the model indicate that the volumes of waterborne preservative treated wood disposed of may exceed 16 million m3 per year by 2030. The peak yearly metal mass disposed of corresponded to 18,400 metric tons for arsenic and 24,500 tons of chromium in 2013. Given the current trends in production, the mass of copper disposed of will increase to 20,900 tons by 2030. In order to meet regulatory guidelines regarding metals in recycled C&D wood, waterborne-preservative treated wood must be separated and removed. This separation mitigates environmental contamination from wood preservatives such as chromated copper arsenate (CCA).

Invited review: Current production trends, farm structures, and economics of the dairy sheep and goat sectors

Dairy small ruminants account for approximately 21% of all sheep and goats in the world, produce around 3.5% of the world's milk, and are mainly located in subtropical-temperate areas of Asia, Europe, and Africa. Dairy sheep are concentrated around the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, where their dairy products are typical ingredients of the human diet. Dairy goats are concentrated in low-income, food-deficit countries of the Indian subcontinent, where their products are a key food source, but are also present in high-income, technologically developed countries. This review evaluates the status of the dairy sheep and goat sectors in the world, with special focus on the commercially and technically developed industries in France, Greece, Italy, and Spain (FGIS). Dairy small ruminants account for a minor part of the total agricultural output in France, Italy, and Spain (0.9 to 1.8%) and a larger part in Greece (8.8%). In FGIS, the dairy sheep industry is based on local breeds and crossbreeds raised under semi-intensive and intensive systems and is concentrated in a few regions in these countries. Average flock size varies from small to medium (140 to 333 ewes/farm), and milk yield from low to medium (85 to 216 L/ewe), showing substantial room for improvement. Most sheep milk is sold to industries and processed into traditional cheese types, many of which are Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) cheeses for gourmet and export markets (e.g., Pecorino, Manchego, and Roquefort). By comparing break-even milk price among FGIS countries, we observed the following: (1) most Greek and French dairy sheep farms were unprofitable, with the exception of the intensive Chios farms of Greece; (2) milk price was aligned with cost of production in Italy; and (3) profitable farms coexisted with unprofitable farms in Spain. In FGIS, dairy goat production is based on local breeds raised under more extensive systems than sheep. Compared with sheep, average dairy goat herds are smaller (36 to 190 does/farm) but milk yield is greater (153 to 589 L/doe), showing room for improvement. Goat milk is mainly processed on-farm into dairy products for national markets, but some PDO goat milk cheeses (e.g., Murcia al Vino) are exported. Processed goat milk is sold for local human consumption or dehydrated for export. Mixed sheep-goat (e.g., Feta) and cow-sheep-goat milk cheeses are common in many countries. Strategies to improve the dairy sheep and goat sectors in these 4 countries are proposed and discussed.

Movement Towards Service-orientation and App-orientation in Manufacturing IT

Current trends in production e.g. the shift to mass personalization lead to significant changes in manufacturing IT. The traditional automation pyramid is dissolving and manufacturing IT is moving towards service-orientation and app-orientation. To support especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in mastering this challenge, an appropriate IT infrastructure and secure cloud platform have been developed. Based on this cloud platform, apps have been developed which provide the interface between humans and manufacturing IT as well as the integrated cyber-physical systems. Challenges concerning app development for manufacturing environments are illustrated using the example of an app collecting sensor data and sending this data to a cloud service for further processing.

An overview of current and potential hill country livestock systems

This paper reviews current production trends for sheep and beef cattle production in New Zealand and gives some insight into the opportunities for improvement. The New Zealand climate favours pasture growth and this is the key to sheep and beef cattle production with over 95% of the diet being grazed pasture or crop. Exports are the focus of the industry with 92% of sheep meat and 82% of beef exported. There has been a 72% increase in sheep meat production since 1990, but there still remains opportunity for further increases through breeding sheep at an earlier age, increasing the weight of lambs weaned per ewe per year, increased efficiency of breeding cows and utilisation of calves from the dairy industry for beef production. Keywords: Sheep meat, beef cattle, pasture, intensification, environment

Intensive sheep and beef production from pasture — A New Zealand perspective of concerns, opportunities and challenges

This paper details current production trends for sheep and beef cattle production in New Zealand and gives some insight into the opportunities for improvement based on New Zealand research at Massey University. Further it outlines some of the challenges the industries face in the near future. The New Zealand climate favours pasture growth and this is the key to sheep and beef cattle production with over 95% of the diet being grazed pasture or crop. Exports are the focus of the industry with 95% of sheep meat and wool, and 80% of beef exported. There have been considerable gains in production over the last 20years but there still remains a huge opportunity for further intensification through breeding sheep at an earlier age, increasing the weight of lambs weaned per ewe per year and improving beef production systems. These improvements need to occur within a framework of minimal environmental footprint and produce products that are in demand in the high end international markets.

Mechanically actuated variable flux IPMSM for EV and HEV applications

The current trend in production EVs/HEVs is to use interior permanent magnet synchronous motors (IPMSM) as the means of providing power to the vehicle drive train. The efficiency of these machines can be extremely high (>95%) although this typically occurs in a relatively narrow range in the middle of the machine speed-torque curve. This is a concern for automotive applications as vehicles operate across the full range of speeds and torques; typical urban drive cycles operate in the low speed/torque region where efficiencies can drop to below 80%. Clearly there is a mismatch between the region of high efficiency of the machine and the region of highest operation duty of EVs/HEVs. This paper presents a method of expanding the peak efficiency region of the machine by introducing a method for adjusting the permanent magnet flux linkage utilising a mechanism that short circuits the flux at the end caps of the rotor using solid steel plates. These plates are operated such that they can switch between open and closed positions depending on the demand on the machine allowing the flux linkage to be varied. Analysis shows that by applying the plates to short the flux in the rotor the flux linkage in low torque/high speed applications is lowered whilst reducing the need for high flux weakening currents in the d-axis. This reduces current consumption, improving the power factor and therefore increases the overall efficiency of the machine. The performance of the system is verified using a proof of concept IPMSM.

Bio-Fuel Market Scenario in India

Petroleum resources are finite and therefore search for alternative is continuing all over the world. Development of bio-fuels as an alternative and renewable source of energy for transportation has become critical in the national effort towards maximum self-reliance—the corner stone of our energy security strategy. Bio-fuels like ethanol and bio-diesel being environment friendly, will help us to conform to the stricter emission norms. International experience has demonstrated the advantages of using ethanol and bio-fuel as automotive fuel. There is a lot happening in the field of bio-fuels in India but, the demand and supply scenario is uneven and hinders the bio-fuel blending program. Hence, assessment of potential demand and supply situation assumes greater importance. In this paper, we examine the current production trends and government policies and future requirements of the bio-fuel in the country. The study has highlighted the importance of the bio-fuel production and bio-fuel market prospects in the country.

Study on the Performance of Hybrid Jute/Betel Nut Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Composites

The newest research and development results dealing with natural short fiber composites show new possibilities for environmentally-friendly materials. Current production trends clearly indicate the increased use of structural, nonstructural and molded natural fiber based composite panels for many applications. In our present work, two types of short natural fibers, namely jute and betel nut fibers, are employed as fillers for the formation of short fiber reinforced polypropylene composites in difference ratios (fiber content: 3, 5, 10 and 20 wt%) by hot-press moulding technique. Different jute-betel nut reinforced polypropylene hybrid composites were prepared in the ratio of 10:5, 10:10 and 10:15 wt% fiber contents with 85% PP, 80% PP and 75% PP, respectively. Mechanical properties of the composites, i.e., tensile, bending and impact strengths, were investigated. For better compatibility, jute and betel nut fibers were subjected to alkalization and the hybrid composites of alkalized jute/betel nut and PP showed much improved performance with respect to other composites. Water absorption capacity and degradation behavior of the different composites were also studied.

The steel industry, abiotic resource depletion and life cycle assessment: a real or perceived issue?

Time and again, there has been a hue and a cry that the world is running out of natural resources and the most prominent among those is the famous study entitled ‘ The Limits to Growth’ by the ‘Club of Rome’. Since then the fear of scarcity of abiotic resources has been challenging human societies around the globe, particularly the research community. In this paper we will examine the case of the steel industry to argue how and why mineral resources depletion is an issue that needs to be addressed through life cycle assessment in more detail. This paper shows that a more comprehensive understanding about the current production trends of iron ore and steel, which also requires several vital metals such as copper, manganese, nickel and so on, can provide useful insights in assessing the potential future threat of shortages due to depletion of abiotic mineral resources.

Nitrogen Mass Balance of a Tile‐drained Agricultural Watershed in East‐Central Illinois

Simple nitrogen (N) input/output balance calculations in agricultural systems are used to evaluate performance of nutrient management; however, they generally rely on extensive assumptions that do not consider leaching, denitrification, or annual depletion of soil N. We constructed a relatively complete N mass balance for the Big Ditch watershed, an extensively tile-drained agricultural watershed in east-central Illinois. We conducted direct measurements of a wide range of N pools and fluxes for a 2-yr period, including soil N mineralization, soybean N(2) fixation, tile and river N loads, and ground water and in-stream denitrification. Fertilizer N inputs were from a survey of the watershed and yield data from county estimates that were combined with estimated protein contents to obtain grain N. By using maize fertilizer recovery and soybean N(2) fixation to estimate total grain N derived from soil, we calculated the explicit change in soil N storage each year. Overall, fertilizer N and soybean N(2) fixation dominated inputs, and total grain export dominated outputs. Precipitation during 2001 was below average (78 cm), whereas precipitation in 2002 exceeded the 30-yr average of 97 cm; monthly rainfall was above average in April, May, and June of 2002, which flooded fields and produced large tile and riverine N loads. In 2001, watershed inputs were greater than outputs, suggesting that carryover of N to the subsequent year may occur. In 2002, total inputs were less than outputs due to large leaching losses and likely substantial field denitrification. The explicit change in soil storage (67 kg N ha(-1)) offsets this balance shortfall. Although 2002 was climatically unusual, with current production trends of greater maize grain yields with less fertilizer N, soil N depletion is likely to occur in maize/soybean rotations, especially in years with above-average precipitation or extremely wet spring periods.

Candidate plasma-facing materials for extreme ultraviolet lithography source components

Material selection and lifetime issues for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography are of critical importance to the success of this technology for commercial applications. This work reviews current trends in production and use of plasma-facing electrodes, insulators, and wall materials for EUV-type sources. Ideal candidate materials should be able to: withstand high thermal shock from the short pulsed plasma; withstand high thermal loads without structural failure; reduce debris generation during discharge; and be machined accurately. We reviewed the literature on current and proposed fusion plasma-facing materials as well as current experience with plasma gun and other simulation devices. Both fusion and EUV source materials involve issues of surface erosion by particle sputtering and heat-induced evaporation/melting. These materials are either bare structural materials or surface coatings. EUV materials can be divided into four categories: wall, electrode, optical, and insulator materials. For electric discharge sources, all four types are required, whereas laser-produced plasma EUV sources do not require electrode and insulator materials. Several types of candidate alloy and other materials and methods of manufacture are recommended for each component of EUV lithography light sources.

Current Trends in Production of Glass Containers

Contemporary development of glass container production is analyzed. The advisability of an integrated approach to equipping the process with imported and domestic machinery is demonstrated. The directions for improving the quality of glass-melting furnace designs and refractory materials used in these furnaces are identified.