Rotork modulating electric valve actuators have been installed in an efficiency upgrade project at a large water treatment works serving the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam.

The modern and highly automated plant at Vogelenzang, owned by Waternet, has a daily water treatment capacity of 180,000 cubic metres. The treatment regime comprises pre-screening, carbon filtration, ozone injection and sand filtration. Waternet is the only water company in the Netherlands to cover the entire water cycle, from the treatment of waste water and provision of drinking water to cleaning and maintaining levels of surface water. These services are performed on behalf of the Regional Public Water Authority – Amstel, Gooi and Vecht – and the City of Amsterdam.

Reliability problems had arisen with the electric actuators on the carbon filtration plant, which were failing to cope with the modulating valve duties required for efficient filtering and backwashing operations. Rotork’s solution has been to remove the old actuators, install IQTMPro quarter-turn modulating actuators directly onto the affected butterfly valves and connect to the existing power and control cabling. This work has been performed by Rotork Site Services, Rotork’s specialist division for retrofitting, site maintenance and repair activities...(+)

Cameron reported net income of $99.9 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, compared with net income in the prior year’s fourth quarter of $164.6 million, or $0.66 per diluted share.
Cameron fourth quarter earnings $0.77 per share, excluding charges

- Quarter’s earnings per share total $0.40, including charges
- Quarter’s orders total $1.9 billion, year-end backlog nearly $6 billion
- 2011 orders total $7.8 billion, $2.0 billion more than 2010

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The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited is using the largest Dantorque™ actuator ever produced by Emerson to help expand its gas distribution network on the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The actuator, which is 2.4 meters tall and 1.64 meters in diameter, will be used to isolate the gas being supplied from Trinidad’s northern offshore gas fields in the event of an emergency situation.
The multi-million dollar project covers a range of valve automation products from Emerson, including a Dantorque subsea gear operator and one smaller spring return actuator, three Shafer™ subsea actuators and 11 Shafer gas-over-oil actuators installed on the offshore-platform and land portions of the pipeline.

The development of new gas fields off the northeast shores of Trinidad required new pipelines to be connected to the existing pipeline infrastructure, which is all in the south. The tie-in to the large 91 cm diameter existing pipeline required a spring return actuator with ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) override capability. To meet this requirement, Emerson supplied a DTUS 171/1350 Dantorque actuator which has a spring ending torque of 102,500 Nm (907,800 in-lbs) and weighs nine metric tons (9.92 short tons)...(+)

The Borwin Alpha platform is the first offshore installation designed to convert AC power into high voltage direct current (HVDC) for onward transmission. Built and designed by the Heerema Fabrication Group on behalf of ABB, the facility can transfer a power of 400MW at a bipolar voltage of 150kV. The converted current is carried by a 200 kilometre cable for onshore connection to the European power grid.

The BARD Offshore 1 wind farm that is served by the Borwin Alpha platform is situated 100 kilometres northwest of the German island of Borkum. Eighty wind turbines will be installed when the farm is completed in 2012. The 200 kilometre cable connection to the mainland is the longest in the world for an offshore wind farm, as well as the first to utilise HVDC transmission... (+)

The Weir Group PLC ("Weir") has agreed to acquire Novatech LLC, a US manufacturer of well service pump valves and valve seats for upstream oil and gas applications, for US$176m (£113m1) in cash.

The consideration will be funded from existing bank facilities. The acquisition is in line with Weir's acquisition criteria and is expected to be immediately earnings accretive with post tax returns expected to exceed Weir's cost of capital within the first full year of ownership. Subject to US regulatory approvals, completion of the acquisition is expected in February 2012