That China is becoming the fastest-growing market for all kinds of products stands to reason. But in the past several weeks, reports from two market research firms have made forecasts about China's consumption of process equipment. It may change some of the engineering balance of influence between China and the West, according to one source.

McIlvaine Co. in Northfield, Ill., says its research indicates that China may become "the center of process equipment development." Not only will demand rise in China for pumps, valves, filters, driers, fans, and grinding and conveying equipment in the near future, but the Chinese market will adopt new technology in those areas much more readily than will the developed world, McIlvaine predicts.

According to McIlvaine, that trend has already begun. One reason is the sheer growth of industry in China. The Chinese are in a hurry to upgrade.

McIlvaine predicts that the trend could affect how some European and U.S. process equipment companies conduct their businesses. Many of them will develop technology elsewhere and sell it to Chinese customers, at least at first. Then, as experience with new technology gains in China, many Western companies will come to rely more on engineers there.

Meanwhile, a separate report, by Freedonia Group Inc. in Cleveland, predicts that China will be the world's fastest-growing national market for commercial refrigeration equipment. Freedonia predicts that world demand for commercial refrigeration will rise 4.8 percent a year through 2010, when it will be almost $27 billion. Demand in developing Asia, at the same time, will increase at a pace of about 8.5 percent a year. Growth for the entire Asia/Pacific region is predicted at 6 percent a year through 2010.

Freedonia says that China's demand will be the result of above-average urban population growth, gains in fixed investment, and rising income. Sales to India, too, will grow because an increase in the number of homes with refrigerators will boost the demand for refrigerated foods.

The complete 352-page report, "World Commercial Refrigeration Equipment," is available from Fredonia at a price of $5,400.

The McIlvaine Co.'s research reports are available to subscribers online at www.mcilvainecompany.com.

The price of petroleum and the politics surrounding oil mar-kets are making shale oil look good again.

There is a lot of shale in the American West that holds a petroleum-like oil, and over the years a number of efforts have been made to bring the oil to market. Costs of mining the rock and extracting the oil have made the business prohibitively expensive.

E.G.L. Resources Inc. in Midland, Texas, has devised a method of extraction that will forgo the mining step, and the company is preparing to test the idea on a 160-acre plot in Colorado. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has given E.G.L. a 10-year lease to dem- onstrate its method for extracting shale oil.

The conventional method of getting oil from shale is to mine the rock and subject it to retorting—that is, heating it to high temperatures, perhaps around 900°F, to break down the hydrocarbons until they can be released.

Oil rig: A method of tapping shale oil without mining uses a system of steam pipes to heat the rock until it releases trapped oil and gas to be extracted by conventional wells.

According to Glenn Vawter, manager of E.G.L.'s oil shale division, the company plans to drill and place a closed system of heating loops in the shale layer. Superheated steam passing through the loops is expected to carry out the retorting process in the ground and will release hydrocarbons so they can to be extracted by the same kinds of pumps used in conventional oil and gas fields. No fluids are injected directly into the shale.

The company expects that after the heated hydrocarbons condense, they will be a mix of about two-thirds oil and one-third gas. Vawter said the first oil can be extracted six months to a year after the heat is introduced to the shale, and production will pick up as heat spreads through the layer.

Exploratory work at the site is expected to begin this year. Among the concerns is that the shale layer, which is approximately 1,000 feet below the surface, is mixed with aquifers, which must be protected. A field test of the system could begin as early as 2009, Vawter said.

If the company establishes the practicality of its system on the 160 acres, it will seek to expand operations until it taps as many as 5,120 acres. The company has developed a schedule of development that allows for about 20 years to reach full-scale commercial production.

E.G.L.'s published estimate is that there are about two million barrels of shale oil resource for each acre of ground and about 60 per cent of that may be recoverable with the company's extraction process.

A $19 million renovation and expansion is on the docket for Emerson Process Manage-ment's Fisher control valves research and development facilities in Marshalltown, Iowa.

The project will create the Fisher Technology Development Center, which the company claims will be the industry's largest and most advanced flow control research facility. It will be staffed by employees from Emerson's current research and development facility, with plans to add 15 R&D engineers. Construction is expected to begin in April.

According to Ted Grabau, director of global technology for Fisher products, the new facility will accomplish a variety of things.

For one, it will quadruple current air and water flow rate capabilities to permit testing of valves for larger and higher-pressure applications. It will also increase pressure and flow subsystems to support noise abatement research and product development.

In addition, the new facility will provide new flow sciences research labs to support study of multiphase, cavitation, and real-world fluid control problems. The facility will expand dynamic performance test loops to accommodate larger valves.

"Construction of this facility will allow us to continue to develop the innovative control valve technologies that help our customers maximize the performance of their plants," said Terry Buzbee, president of the Fisher division of Emerson.

Fisher control valves play a key role in managing the flow of materials through process systems in such industries as power, refining, chemical, and oil and gas production.

Emerson said the renovation and expansion are continuing growth that dates back to 1880, when the Fisher Governor Co. began its manufacturing operations in Marshalltown, which is located between Ames and Cedar Rapids. Today, St. Louis-based Emerson is one of the largest manufacturers of control valves, with sales, manufacturing, and service facilities located worldwide.

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