#Contamination Reduction

[technogenenterprise]

How Technogen Enterprise's Induction Sealing Machines Can Boost Your Packaging Efficiency

In today’s fast-paced and highly competitive market, packaging efficiency is more crucial than ever. Companies constantly strive to streamline their packaging processes, reduce waste, and ensure product integrity. One way to achieve these goals is by using advanced packaging technologies. Technogen Enterprise’s induction sealing machines are at the forefront of such innovations, offering…

[dynamichealthinsights]

The Impact of Pollution on Lifespan and Health

Pollution is an ever-looming threat to both the environment and human health. Over the past decades, research has consistently linked various forms of pollution to adverse health outcomes, reduced life expectancy, and deteriorated quality of life. Pollution is not just an environmental issue but a critical public health crisis that demands urgent attention. Whether it’s the air we breathe, the…

[minimac-mspl]

Control System Of Turbine - Failure & Maintenance

Control System

The turbine control system describes the control over the opening of control valves corresponding to demand signals, and steam flows into the turbine with the help of a governing system that facilitates the operation of the turbo set in an interconnected grid system.

Governing system is responsible for various function such as speed & load control functions, the start-up/shut-down controls, the over-speed control, turbine stress calculation, to control the initial run-up and synchronization of the Unit, to assists in matching the power generated to that demanded by responding to system frequency changes, to regulate the steam control valves position (and hence the load generated)in response to signal from the operator or from the load dispatch Centre, to restrict the speed rise within acceptable limits should the unit get disconnected (islanding) from the lgridoad and some protective trip functions.

With continuous research and developments in modern turbine technology, the following three types of governing system are mainly available nowadays in power plants:

1. Hydraulic: Hydraulic governors have only a speed controller loop. Machine speed is measured and indicated as a primary oil measure. Speed transducer is a centrifugal pump whose discharge pressure is a function of machine speed. This signal is sent to a hydraulic converter, to generate a high-power hydraulic signal for the operation of different control valves. The range of speed control is 2790-3210 rpm. Its speed regulation range (droop)is 7%. HG (typically) cannot be isolated mechanically like EHG.

2. Electrohydraulic: This consists of three control loop speed, load, and pressure. Speed Electronic Transducer is used for measuring the machine speed. This signal is processed electronically and then sent to an Electrohydraulic converter (E-H) for converting the electronic signals into proportional hydraulic signals (I-P converter) for the operation of control valves. It gives a faster response and precise frequency control. The range of speed control is wider (0 – 3210 rpm). Its speed regulation(droop) is 5%.EHG can be mechanically isolated by closing the secondary oil line from the local.

Major devices/component of the above Governing system are:

Remote trip solenoid

Turbine trip gear (main trip valve)

Starting and load limiting devices

Speeder gear

Auxiliary follow-up piston

Follow up piston

Hydraulic amplifier

Electro-Hydraulic convertor

Sequence trimming device

Solenoid for load shedding relay

Block Diagram of EH Governing system

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Oil Lube Flow In The Circuit:

Control Oil: Oil is taken from the AOP/MOP discharge header for the governing system.

Trip/Aux Trip Oil: These two oil circuits are established through main trip valves under reset condition.

Start-Up/Aux Start-Up Oil: These two oil circuits are established to peak pressure through starting device at 0% position and pressure started reducing when the position of the starting device is raised.

Aux Secondary Oil: This oil circuit is the output of the hydraulic governor and input to the hydraulic converter.

Secondary Oil: Output to Hydraulic and Electrohydraulic converter.

Test Oil: This oil circuit is established to test over speed trip device when the turbine is running at rated speed.

Remote trip Solenoid Valves: These are two in nos. and when any turbine trip gets initiated, the solenoids get energized& control oil gets drained through the valves and trips the MTV.

Main Trip Valve: These are two in nos. and called the main trip gear. All the turbine tripping take place through this device under non-trip condition establishes trip & aux trip oil and used for resetting/opening the stop valves and producing HP/IP secondary oil.

Starting device: this device is used for resetting and opening the stop valves and, main trip valves &hydraulic trip devices. this device either be operated manually by handwheel or from remote (MCR) through a motorized actuator.

Speeder gear: This device in combination with starting device forms a hydraulic governor and provides an input hydraulic signal to the hydraulic converter. this device either be operated manually by hand wheel or from remote (MCR) through a motorized actuator.

Hydraulic/Electro-hydraulic converter: amplifies & converts hydraulic /electrical signals to hydraulic signals (HP/IP secondary oil) for the operation of the HP/IP control valve.

Hydraulic trip devices: These devices provide mandatory protections of the turbine by draining aux trip oil. these devices are reset by aux start-up oil.

3.Digital Electrohydraulic: The main function of the DEH control system is to control before starting up (auto judging very hot, hot, warm or cold state), auto-adjusting servo system static relation, turbine latching, speed and load control, protection, supervising and communication. It consists of electronic parts and EH system which controls the speed/load through controlling the openness of all valves. The feature of special controlling on IP start-up mode (HP casing switchover and isolating of HP casing) can perform quick start-up and stable running for a long time with low load at all phases.

This is a modern high-pressure (110 to 180 bar) governing system.

Let’s know how it works. The electrical measuring and processing of signals offer advantages such as flexibility, dynamic stability and simple representation of the complicated functional relationship. The processed electrical signal is introduced at a suitable point in the hydraulic circuit through the electro-hydraulic converter. The hydraulic controls provide the advantages of continuous control of large positioning forces for control valves. The integration of electrical and hydraulic system offers the following advantages:

Exact load frequency droop with high sensitivity

Reliable operation in case of isolation from power grids

Dependable control during load rejection

Low transient and low steady-state speed deviations under all operational conditions

Excellent operational reliability and dependability

Safe operation of the turbo-set in conjunction with the Turbine Stress Evaluator (TSE)/Controller (TSC)

Operating Method Of DEH Governing:

The stop valve for HP/IP will open by the HP fire-resistant oil when the dump valve is closed

The dump valve will close when the trip oil is under pressure

The trip oil is under pressure when the trip solenoid (5,6,7,8 YV placed on the trip block) valve is in a de-energized position and the HP Trip oil header is under pressure

The oil will enter the bottom of the piston through the isolating valve (Supply sol.). Thus, the stop valve opens slowly against the spring force.

In case of a trip, the trip solenoid valves are energized and AST valves de-energize and HP trip oil header is de-pressurized and thus dump valve open to connect the bottom and top ports to drain the oil to LP accumulators

The valve quickly closes due to spring force

After the unit is reset and HP trip oil is formed

The trip solenoid valve is de-energized conditions will give pressurized oil to the dump valve to keep it closed

Pressurized Oil is up to the EH servo valve

The EH Servo valve based on the DEH valve command signal and valve position feedback signal from LVDT will connect the HP Fire resistant oil to the lower part of the piston or lower port to the drain till the matching is achieved

In the case of Trip, the dump valve opens due to energization of the trip solenoid or depressurization of the HP trip fluid header. The dump valve opening leads to the control valve quick closing due to spring force.

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Type Of Control System Loops:

The EHG function consists of mainly following control loops:

1.Speed control loop: In this loop, the speed controller essentially compares the speed reference generated by the speed reference limiter circuit and the actual speed of the turbine and accordingly provides an output for the valve lift controller. This loop only determines the control valve position to adjust turbine speed at setting value before the generator is paralleled to the power system. 2.Power control loop: The task performed in the speed control loop is then transferred to the power control loop or the MSP control loop after synchronization with the system. The steam turbine shall be controlled on this MW-control mode normally. In the event of a drop of grid frequency, the governor valves shall open instantaneously to provide frequency support in the form of additional MW. When the main steam pressure (MSP) control mode is an operation, this MW-controller is tracking to the main steam pressure (MSP) controller. 3.Turbine inlet steam pressure (MSP) control loop: MSP mode (Turbine Follow mode) of operation results in the governing system modulating the steam flow to regulate the steam pressure at a fixed value. The control system shall switch automatically to this mode when faults occur which prevent normal control of the boiler. MSP mode will take over following a drop-in steam pressure of 10% or an increase in pressure of 3%. It shall be possible to manually switch to this mode. When the power control mode is an operation, this steam pressure controller is tracking to the power controller. 4.Steam pressure Limiter control loop: The pressure limiter shall override the governor and progressively reduce the steam flow to the turbine as the steam pressure before the HP steam turbine governing valves drops below a predetermined value in order to limit serve drops in steam temperature. 5.Condenser Vacuum Limiter control loop: This limiting controller shall override the governor and progressively reduce the steam flow to the turbine as the condenser vacuum falls over a predetermined range in an effort to maintain the condenser vacuum at this value. The setting shall be adjustable. It shall be possible to override the device during vacuum raising and it shall not come into operation below 1000 rpm. 6.Control valve (CV) position control loop: An output from the above loops is given to the CV position control loop as its setting. Consequently, it adjusts the CV position in accordance with its characteristic curves respectively. This portion outputs the opening command to the Electro-hydraulic (E/H) converter mounted on each CV separately. Due to each E/H converter having two magnet coils, two separate signal (±10V) lines are connected to them.

Valve Comprised In The EHG Circuit:

Turbine speed control, load control, load shedding relay control and emergency control are carried out by open and close action of each:

Main Steam Stop Valve (MSSV)

Main Steam Control Valve (MSCV)

Reheat Steam Stop Valve (RSSV)

Reheat Steam Control Valve (RSCV)

Most of the failure-to-trip conditions can be attributed to five basic problems.

Steam deposits on the valve stem (or stems)

Lubrication deposits (i.e., soaps, dirt, detergents, etc.) in the top works of the valve exposed to the elements

Mechanical failures of the valve resulting from bent stems, either in the valve proper or the upper works, damaged split couplings, etc., all within about a 6" area near the centre of the valve mechanism

Galling of the piston in the hydraulic latch cylinder

Jamming of the screw spindle in the larger cylinder-type valve design due to forcing by operations personnel

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Servo And Proportional Control Valves:

Failures of control valves have resulted in a very expensive loss of production and downtime to many energy generation companies. This led to the increasing use of servo and proportional control valves in modern hydraulic control systems. These devices are inherently at the critical stage of controlling the generating process and quality of the end product.

The most critical factor of their failures is the contamination of the hydraulic fluid with regard to cleanliness and chemical composition like water content and various forms of break down that can occur due to chemical contamination, excessive heat or working of the fluid, inappropriate filters for the valve etc.

To achieve high reliability and asset life for a longer time, it is important to closely evaluate the design of filtration and its effects, components included and circuit layout to achieve the optimum solution. The key system elements are Servo valves and proportional valves, Pumps and motors and Ancillary valves and components.

The types of failure on the basis of contamination can be broadly classified into:

Short term failure: This type of failure comes with no warning which results in an unplanned shutdown of the plant, catastrophic for equipment, production loss. The main causes are jamming of the spool or plugging of the orifice.

Particle Jamming: In this mechanism, contaminant gets lodge in the fine clearances between the spool and body, the particles became wedged in the spool blocking control orifices to cause a ‘hard over’ condition or loss of control pressure. To solve this type of problems by filtration, the size of clearances and driving forces to overcome particles should be considered. This causes permanent damage to control lands of the valve which means expensive repair or replacement with a new one

Silting: Silting refer to a phenomenon where a spool is being held in a fixed position with high pressure across the lands which results in a gradual build-up of fine ‘silt’ particles that can lock the spool within 5-10 minutes. poppet type solenoid valves are used in safety circuits where long stand times can be involved. A conventional solenoid (or the return spring) will not move the spool after 3-5 minutes

Long term failure: This type of failure directly impacts system accuracy and repeatability. It results from the gradual build-up of other ‘varnish’ or silt type contaminant that degrades the control qualities of the valve such as threshold and hysteresis, wear/erosion of valve parts. Long term effects cannot be eliminated, however, by proper design, it is possible to maximise the useful life of the valve before service or repair is required. This requires the effective application of silt level filtration.

Valve Design:

Control system performance, the filtration requirements and likely contamination sensitivity are dependent on how the best valve design is selected. Design goals should be balanced with component details, component costs and overall system costs. A good understanding of how and why the valve works will provide maximum benefits to the overall design solution. There are three principal areas to be considered for the best designing of a valve:

Internal forces: Understanding the forces within the valve that provide for correct operation and those that resist operation, is most valuable for understanding optimal filtration requirements. Forces determine both short term and long-term performance for contamination sensitivity and threshold/resolution.

Spool position control: For both servo valves and proportional valves the spool is capable of being positioned anywhere over its total designed stroke. How the spool is moved and held in that position will have a direct influence on the cost of manufacture, system accuracy and contamination sensitivity. Three methods used are

Open-loop or non-feedback

Mechanical feedback (MFB)

Electrical feedback (EFB)

Design tolerances: Finer tolerances will be more susceptible to wear and the potential for particle jamming. They will be an important factor for the evaluation of either servo valves or proportional valves with regard to filtration design. For both short and long term functionalities below are few manufacturing objectives such as:

Nozzle diameters and exit clearances

Spool diametral clearance

Spool travel - from 0.250mm for high-performance servo valves to 5-10mm for proportional valves. A shorter stroke means faster response, but finer manufacturing tolerances.

Spool control land overlap - which ranges from 10-20% overlap proportional valves to ‘axis cut’ (zero overlaps) servo valves which require special protection of the lands to maintain performance. Zero overlap valves are used in the pilot section of some proportional valves so that protection requirements can be similar for parts of servo valves and proportional valves.

Control Oil - Fire Resistant Fluid (FRF):

A fire-resistant control fluid (FRF) is used in control and governing systems. The use of fire-resistant control fluid for turbine control and protection systems reduces the risk of fire. This is due to the higher ignition temperature (compared to mineral oil) in case of leaks.

It shall not cause corrosion to Steel, Copper and its alloys, Zinc, Tin or Aluminium (compatibility to be checked)

It shall be continuously regenerated with Fuller’s earth, ICB resins or an equivalent regeneration agent

It must not cause any erosion or corrosion on the edges of the control elements

It must be shear-stable. It should not contain any viscosity index improver

FRF leaking from the system, if any, must not ignite or burn in contact with hot surfaces (up to 550 degrees C)

It must be capable of withstanding continuous operating temperatures of 75 °C without physical or chemical degradation

It must be miscible with traces (max. 3 % by vol.) of TXP of another brand (without deterioration)

The air release of the FRF should not deteriorate in presence of Fluoroelastomer seals and packing used in the FRF system

It must be free of ortho-cresol compounds

It must not pose a safety or health hazard to the persons working with it, provided that the requisite hygiene regulations are observed

Contamination In FRF/Degradation Of Phosphate Ester

Though Phosphate ester fluid is designed for the long life of service of around 20 years if maintained properly, However, contamination or abuse in the oil because of poorly lubrication practices can degrade the oil life and reliability of the machine. Fluid degradation results in sticking valves, eroded servo valves, plugged filters and/or blocked servo valve strainers. The major contaminant or factor of oil degradation are described below:

Water Contamination This is the most common and dangerous contaminant which frequently dictates the service life of FRF fluid. Phosphate ester has the tendency to hydrolyze which means breaking down into acid and alcohol and this process accelerates with increasing temperature and is catalyzed by the presence of strong acids and some metals.

Acid formation Uncontrolled generation of acidic products is harmful to the life and performance of phosphate esters. strong acids are also chemically reactive and can form metal soaps or salts which adversely affect foaming and volume resistivity, the latter being used to assess the potential for servo-valve erosion. This soaps precipitates in servo valves and cause stickiness.

Lowering of Resistivity Resistivity is a critical performance indicator for phosphate ester fluid quality. Low resistivity values are associated with electrokinetic wear, a very common failure mechanism of servo (MOOG) valves.

Solid Contamination This particulate contamination is responsible for fluid darkening and is generally produced from micro-dieseling, which is a type of high-temperature fluid breakdown caused by air release issues. Solid contaminants of more than (>4) micron are measured by ISO4460 but less than (4) microns are not being detected. On investigation, 90% of total solid contamination in EHC fluids is below 4 microns which results in plugged filters, blocked servo valve strainers.

Oxidation degradation Oxidation the most dangerous process which occurs due to contamination gives output in the form of heat. Oxidative degradation results in the production of a range of strong and weak acids and from very low molecular weight hydrocarbons that may plate out as varnish to higher molecular weight hydrocarbons or polyphosphates present as sludge that can increase fluid viscosity and reduce resistivity while blocking filters and causing valve sticking. External sources such as a steam line, hot/molten metal or a welding torch located close to the hydraulic line provide heat to the fluid. The difference between internal ‘hot spots’ is that it occurs when the fluid is in circulation (except for the fluid being heated up in the tank) and external heat sources occur when the fluid is static.

Aeration (Thermal Stability and Pyrolysis) The presence of a small amount of dissolved oxygen will result in degradation at lower temperatures - particularly in the presence of metals - and apparent changes in the physical/chemical properties of the fluid may be due to oxidation rather than pure thermal breakdown.

Maintenance Of FRF Fluid: The fluid is pressurized, subjected to elevated temperatures, flows through fine clearances and is exposed to contaminants including water, dirt and air. Its maintenance should be focused on Keeping the fluid dry, clean and purified, checking material compatibility issues and employ regular fluid condition monitoring, following the guidelines for handling control fluid and for treatment of control fluid systems, Preservative Agents in Control Fluid System, precautions to Ensure Compatibility of the Control Fluid with other Materials, the procedure for sampling and analysis programs. Below is a chart summing up the maintenance properties:

Purification:

Ion Exchange System Ion exchange resins have become a preferred form of treatment for fire-resistant fluids used in EHC systems. This treatment has overcome the practice of the fuller’s earth to control acidity generation in a "synthetic" fluid. Weak Base Anionic (WBA) resin in the hydroxide form could quickly reduce the acidity while a strong acid cationic resin (SAC) would, surprisingly, reduce the metal soap content. In order to reduce the amount of water released by the resins, they were dried at 80°C to a level of ~5% before use as a mixture in the existing filter housing. Over a period of about 1-2 months, the properties of the fluid returned to close to those of the new fluid. The below table shows function of commercially available type resin:

The followings points should be considered for the sampling of FRF oil:

Always perform sampling at the same location directly from the system

Recirculate the fire-resistant fluid long enough prior to sampling to avoid settling and give a homogeneous sample

Always perform sampling while the FRF system is in operation

Flush the sampling point prior to sampling by draining about 10 litres of fire-resistant fluid into a clean receptacle; return this into the system after sampling

Allow about 10 litres of fire-resistant fluid to pass through the sampling point before performing sampling by filling the fire-resistant fluid directly into the cleaned ground-glass flask

Do not use aids such as syringes or beakers

Always put identification-mark on the specimens uniquely and durably

Complete the sampling records and send them to the analyzing laboratory together with the FRF sample

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Conclusion:

The performance of Hydraulic system plays a vital role in the power generation and for its high-performance many factors must be considered importantly like understanding the valve design, setting & maintaining cleanliness objective, regular monitoring, the adaption of effective purification or filtration methods, monitoring of filter quality and replacement elements etc. Good filtration will always give the lowest machine running cost and greatest reliability for the end-user of hydraulic systems. Below are the major benefits of reconditioning of oil:

Extend oil life

Increased machine reliability

Reduced environmental contamination

Cost-saving on oils replacement

Time and effort saved for oil change out

Decreased waste disposal cost

Low carbon emission

Sustainable development

Call +91 7030901267 & speak to our Technical Experts and save Maintenance Cost.

Author: Mr Yogesh Kumar is a Mechanical Engineer with vast working experience of 11 years in Power plants. He has completed PGDC in Thermal Power Plant Engineering from NPTI. He is a certified Machinery Lubrication Analysis (MLA II) from the International Council of Machinery Lubrication (ICML), Vibration Analyst Level II from MOBIUS Australia, ISNT certified NDT Level II professional in RT, UT, DPT, MPI, BOE (Boiler Operation Engineer) Certification.

Co-Author: Ms Preeti Prasad is a Chemical Engineer with working experience in Refinery and various other sectors in connection with Lubrication Consultancy. She is a certified Machinery Lubrication Technician (MTL I) from the International Council of Machinery Lubrication (ICML).

Reference Taken:

Contamination Control - A Hydraulic OEM Perspective: Workshop on Total Contamination Control Centre for Machine Condition Monitoring Monash University, August 1997.

ASTM Paper on IX treatment, Whitepapers on Phosphate Ester from EPT clean

National Power Training Institute

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[ysatticinsulationinc]

Air Duct Cleaning: A Must for Healthy Indoor Air Quality

Air duct cleaning is pivotal in maintaining a healthy indoor environment, ensuring the air circulating through your home is clean and free from contaminants. Over time, dust, allergens, and other pollutants accumulate in ductwork, impacting air quality and potentially exacerbating health issues such as allergies and respiratory conditions. Regular cleaning of air ducts not only enhances the efficiency of your HVAC system but also significantly reduces energy costs by removing obstructions that hinder airflow. Furthermore, it eliminates odors, contributing to a fresher and more inviting home atmosphere. Investing in professional air duct cleaning services is a proactive step towards safeguarding your family's health, optimizing system performance, and ensuring a cleaner, healthier living space. Embrace the benefits of clean air ducts for a more comfortable and energy-efficient home.

YS Attic Insulation Inc 2130 N Arrowhead Ave Unit 205 D San Bernardino, CA 92405, United States (909)488-0763

[mywinepal]

Do You Have a Nose for Wine Faults? Take the Quiz.

Do You Have a Nose for #WineFaults? Take the #Quiz. #somm #winelover #corktaint

Good or Bad wine experience Understanding and identifying faults in wine is crucial for both novice and seasoned enthusiasts. Wine faults can significantly diminish the overall enjoyment of a bottle, affecting its aroma, taste, and texture. Common faults include cork taint, oxidation, and microbial contamination, each imparting undesirable characteristics to the wine. Recognizing these faults,…

[pravalika]

Water Treatment Systems Market - Forecast (2023 - 2028)

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Water Treatment Systems Market size in 2019 is estimated to be $5.85 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.56% during the forecast period 2020-2025. Water is an essential constituent in the food and beverage industry. It is being used for cleaning raw materials and for the formulation of food and beverage products. Water scarcity and rising demand for water are increasing the demand for cost-effective water treatment technologies. Increased efforts from regulatory bodies to conserve and recycle water is also contributing to the growth of this market. In the food and beverage industry, water treatment systems are used to help achieve sustainable and clean drinking water as well as to manage wastewater. 

Key Takeaways

Increasing demand for water treatment in the food and beverage industry to remove bacteria, brine and other contaminants, is a major factor driving the water treatment systems market.

The high cost of water treatment equipment is a major factor limiting the growth of the market during the forecast period 2020-2025.

By region, Asia Pacific accounts for a major share of the Water Treatment Systems Market, in 2019.

By Treatment Process - Segment Analysis

By the treatment process, the reverse osmosis systems segment is the fastest growing and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7% during the forecast period 2020-2025. This is owing to the increasing use of reverse osmosis in the food industry to remove bacteria and brine in meat, or for alcohol removal from spirits. Reverse osmosis allows water to pass through a semi-permeable membrane, which acts as a filter and prevents harmful chemicals, organic materials, sediments, and other impurities to pass through. The resulting water is fresh and free from any contaminants. This treatment process also offers additional advantages such as removal of color, odor, chemicals or taste, and ensuring that there are no residual products. It is also fast, efficient and environmentally friendly, making this method’s usage very popular in various applications.

The treatment processes vary with the quantity of water to be purified and the end-use. For instance, countertop water filters are commonly used in residential water treatment equipment whereas inline filters are more efficient for industrial processes. On the other hand, UV water purifiers and charcoal water filters can be used in small-scale as well as large-scale applications.

By Application- Segment Analysis 

By application, the Beverage Industry is estimated to account for a major share of the Water Treatment Systems market during 2019. This is owing to the rising usage of water to manufacture mineral water, fruit juices, sodas, soft drinks, energy drinks, alcoholic beverages, and others. Every beverage requires a specific water treatment procedure. The beverage industry requires a large amount of water to manufacture their products. Furthermore, stringent manufacturing regulations to ensure hygienic beverages and increased efficiency of production processes are increasing the demand for these systems. Growing consumption of energy drinks with the rising health concern is set to contribute to the growth of the Water Treatment System Market during the forecast period 2020-2025.

Geography- Segment Analysis

In 2019, APAC accounts for 36% of the Water Treatment Systems Market share by region. The increasing population along with the growing demand for fresh drinking water is a major factor propelling its market growth. Also, growing health concerns and strict government regulations to purify water from cleaning raw materials to implementing recipes is a major factor driving the market in that region. Besides, ease of availability of raw materials has encouraged global companies to expand to APAC and establish their production facilities in this region, further fueling the growth of this market.

Drivers –Water Treatment Systems Market 

Increased focus on preventing food or beverage contamination

Contamination is a key concern in the food and beverage industry. Government and regulatory authorities are establishing strict rules to reduce contamination in the food and beverage production process. Hence the use of water treatment systems are increasing. Industries such as dairy processing have major concerns over contamination since milk is prone to contamination by bacteria and other microorganisms. Techniques such as reverse osmosis, UV disinfection, and others are commonly used in the food and beverage industry. The use of water treatment systems in the food and beverage industry aids in disinfection and sterilization of water by removing dangerous organisms and contaminants in it. Increasing demand for water treatment is owing to the purity, safety, and quality of this water post its treatment and the wider application of this water.

Enhanced Taste and Clarity of Beverages 

Filtering enhances the taste of beverages as well as its appearance. Moreover, water treatment in beverages plays a prominent role in ensuring hygiene and efficient production while improving the taste of the product. This makes water treatment systems popular for use in the beverage industry. Also, increasing health concern has driven the demand for low-salt or low sugar beverages, which is fueling the use of water treatment systems in eliminating the excess minerals and salts in beverages. The rise in health consciousness is set to increase the consumption of energy drinks in the coming years thereby contributing to the growth of this market as production of such drinks also increases.

Challenges– Water Treatment Systems Market 

The cost of an efficient water treatment system is very high, including the cost of its technology and installation, which is hindering the market growth. Industrial water treatment systems also require timely maintenance and have other associated expenses, which for the end-users is a cost burden. Thus, the high cost of water treatment equipment is a major factor restraining market growth during the forecast period 2020-2025.

Water Treatment Systems Industry Outlook

Product launches, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures are key strategies adopted by players in this market. Water Treatment Systems top 10 companies are Global Water Solution Ltd, Unilever PLC, EcoWater Systems, A.O. Smith, Koninklijke Philips N.V., 3M, Watts Water Technologies Inc., Aquasana Inc., Pelican Water Systems, and General Electric Company.

Developments:

In March 2019, Arvind Ltd. launched water components and O & M services business Kaigo where the components and spare verticals include the products and technologies used in the creation and maintenance of efficient wastewater treatment.

In April 2019, Pentair plc entered an agreement to acquire U.S. water treatment equipment companies Aquion and Pelican Water Systems.

In September 2019 Aquatella launched a 4-Stage countertop water filter that eliminates 99% of all harmful pathogens, heavy metals, pesticides and chemicals from drinking water.

[reasonsforhope]

"An environmental toxicologist in California is cleaning up areas contaminated with heavy metals or other pollutants using fungi and native plants in a win-win for nature.

Where once toxic soils in industrial lots sat bare or weed-ridden, there are now flowering meadows of plants and mushrooms, frequented by birds and pollinators: and it’s thanks to Danielle Stevenson.

Founder of DIY Fungi, the 37-year-old ecologist from UC Riverside recently spoke with Yale Press about her ongoing work restoring ‘brownfields,’ a term that describes a contaminated environment, abandoned by industrial, extraction, or transportation operations.

A brownfield could be an old railway yard or the grounds of an abandoned oil refinery, but the uniting factor is the presence of a toxic containment, whether that’s a petrochemical, heavy metal, or something else.

Noting that she had read studies about mushrooms growing around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, she came to understand further, through her work, that fungi are an extraordinarily resilient species of life that consume carbon, and even though petroleum products are toxic to plants, to mushrooms they are essentially a kind of carbon.

In fact, mushrooms break down several categories of toxic waste with the same enzymes they use to consume a dead tree. They can also eat plastic and other things made out of oil, like agrochemicals.

At the Los Angeles railyard, as part of a pilot project, Stevenson and colleagues planted a variety of native grass and flower species alongside dead wood that would incubate specific fungi species called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which assists plants in extracting heavy metals like lead and arsenic from the soil.

Alongside traditional decomposer fungi, the mixture of life forms demonstrated tremendous results in this brownfield.

“In three months we saw a more than 50 percent reduction in all pollutants. By 12 months, they were pretty much not detectable,” Stevenson told Yale 360.

Decontaminating soil like this typically involves bringing in a bulldozer and digging it all up for transportation to a landfill. This method is not only hugely expensive, but also dangerous, as contaminated material can scatter on the winds and fall out of the backs of trucks carting it away.

By contrast, the plants that draw out the toxic metals can be harvested and incinerated down to a small pile of ash before cheap transportation to a hazardous waste facility.

The technique, which Stevenson says has some scaling issues and issues with approval from regulators, is known officially as bioremediation, and she’s even used it to safely break down bags of lubricant-soaked rags from bicycle repair shops.

“People who live in a place impacted by pollution need to have a say in how their neighborhood is being cleaned up. We need to empower them with the tools to do this,” she said."

-via Good News Network, July 16, 2024

[headspace-hotel]

I went down the internet rabbit hole trying to figure out wtf vegan cheese is made of and I found articles like this one speaking praises of new food tech startups creating vegan alternatives to cheese that Actually work like cheese in cooking so I was like huh that's neat and I looked up more stuff about 'precision fermentation' and. This is not good.

Basically these new biotech companies are pressuring governments to let them build a ton of new factories and pushing for governments to pay for them or to provide tax breaks and subsidies, and the factories are gonna cost hundreds of millions of dollars and require energy sources. Like, these things will have to be expensive and HUGE

I feel like I've just uncovered the tip of the "lab grown meat" iceberg. There are a bajillion of these companies (the one mentioned in the first article a $750 MILLION tech startup) that are trying to create "animal-free" animal products using biotech and want to build large factories to do it on a large scale

I'm trying to use google to find out about the energy requirements of such facilities and everything is really vague and hand-wavey about it like this article that's like "weeeeeell electricity can be produced using renewables" but it does take a lot of electricity, sugars, and human labor. Most of the claims about its sustainability appear to assume that we switch over to renewable electricity sources and/or use processes that don't fully exist yet.

I finally tracked down the source of some of the more radical claims about precision fermentation, and it comes from a think tank RethinkX that released a report claiming that the livestock industry will collapse by 2030, and be replaced by a system they're calling...

Food-as-Software, in which individual molecules engineered by scientists are uploaded to databases – molecular cookbooks that food engineers anywhere in the world can use to design products in the same way that software developers design apps.

I'm finding it hard to be excited about this for some odd reason

Where's the evidence for lower environmental impacts. That's literally what we're here for.

There will be an increase in the amount of electricity used in the new food system as the production facilities that underpin it rely on electricity to operate.

well that doesn't sound good.

This will, however, be offset by reductions in energy use elsewhere along the value chain. For example, since modern meat and dairy products will be produced in a sterile environment where the risk of contamination by pathogens is low, the need for refrigeration in storage and retail will decrease significantly.

Oh, so it will be better for the Earth because...we won't need to refrigerate. ????????

Oh Lord Jesus give me some numerical values.

Modern foods will be about 10 times more efficient than a cow at converting feed into end products because a cow needs energy via feed to maintain and build its body over time. Less feed consumed means less land required to grow it, which means less water is used and less waste is produced. The savings are dramatic – more than 10-25 times less feedstock, 10 times less water, five times less energy and 100 times less land.

There is nothing else in this report that I can find that provides evidence for a lower carbon footprint. Supposedly, an egg white protein produced through a similar process has been found to reduce environmental impacts, but mostly everything seems very speculative.

And crucially none of these estimations are taking into account the enormous cost and resource investment of constructing large factories that use this technology in the first place (existing use is mostly for pharmaceutical purposes)

It seems like there are more tech startups attempting to use this technology to create food than individual scientific papers investigating whether it's a good idea. Seriously, Google Scholar and JSTOR have almost nothing. The tech of the sort that RethinkX is describing barely exists.

Apparently Liberation Labs is planning to build the first large-scale precision fermentation facility in Richmond, Indiana come 2024 because of the presence of "a workforce experienced in manufacturing"

And I just looked up Richmond, Indiana and apparently, as of RIGHT NOW, the town is in the aftermath of a huge fire at a plastics recycling plant and is full of toxic debris containing asbestos and the air is full of toxic VOCs and hydrogen cyanide. ???????????? So that's how having a robust industrial sector is working out for them so far.

[thejaymo]

e360: How did the sites look different after the work that you did on them?

Stevenson: They became basically beautiful meadows of native plants that were flowering, and now there are bees and birds and all sorts of life coming through. We had a very high success rate. In three months we saw a more than 50 percent reduction in all [petrochemical] pollutants. And then by the 12-month period, they were pretty much not detectable.

[ccuunnttbbooyyss]

The Resort (Part 1)

THIS IS AN URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL THOSE IN THE [REDACTED] & [REDACTED] AREAS

Hello,

It has come to our attention that an unfortunate accident at one of our chemical treatment plans has occurred on the [REDACTED]st of [REDACTED] 2023, resulting in the contamination of the water supply in the above mentioned areas for a period of approximately 3 hours and 10 minutes.

A statement has been issued to water providers by The Company™️ and a number of anti-transformative chemicals have been released to counteract the imbalance.

However, the damage has been done and we wish to report on it as such.

As you may know, some of the affected water infiltrated the [REDACTED] Beach Resort where it unwittingly transformed multiple male patrons into what is colloquially referred to as "Cuntboys". IE- Men with a fully functional vagina, uterus, ovaries, etc. Others not as diligently exposed to the chemicals did not experience full "Cuntboy-ification" as it has been deemed.

This transformation is reported to have first occurred with a sudden and dramatic increase in the size of the lower extremities, glutes, lower back muscles and an initial reduction in penis and testicle size.

This reportedly occurred throughout the premises, including the pool's filtration system, the resort's water system (showers, baths, commercial water taps), and available on-tap drinking water.

The following changes consisted of what we are dubbing a "hyper-fertile cycle" where the excess chemical exposure was processed into a mixture of testosterone, dopamine and oxytocin. This resulted in a dramatically increased libido.

Fortunately the spread of the affected was contained within the resort and secondary exposure (either through sexual fluids or otherwise) was rendered ineffectual as the transformative chemicals were able to penetrate the skin barrier in less than 0.2 microseconds). This resulted in numerous impregnations or otherwise sexual encounters in and around the location, of which have been documented.

We encourage all those affected either through direct exposure or through coupling and secondary exposure to report to one of our branches to undergo a full physical exam and analysis.

We also encourage all currently, or presumed to be, pregnant to not terminate the pregnancy as we wish to ascertain valuable research data on the growth of the foetus within this timeframe.

We hope to reveal more information to the public as it becomes known.

Regards,

The Company.

~~~

You smirk as the commercial comes to an end, the broadcaster for the local news station thanking The Company for their transparency regarding the situation and continuing with more news on the recent baby boom caused through the accident.

You couldn't pay attention for long though, not as the hot little cuntboy you picked up from the resort was busy swallowing every inch of your enhanced cock down his throat.

You fisted his hair, shoving him down to push his nose in your pubes, loving how his throat spasmed around your dick and the gurgling sound that came out of his tight throat.

"You hear that baby, they wanna give you a checkup."

A soft whimper comes out as the only response. He looks up at you, tear-filled baby blues staring into yours. He's been working your cock for hours, thoroughly content with kneeling between your spread thighs and swallowing every enhanced load you can give.

"Yeah I know you're pregnant. They just wanna make sure you can give me a while lot more."

A more pleased sound comes out as he resumes his enthusiastic sucking. You're sure that's his fifth load in as many hours.

You sigh as the hot cum shoots up your rock hard dick. You might as well put off that appointment till tomorrow...

Story in collaboration with @maleagetransformation , Part 2 over on his account!

[cococoffeeface]

#nuclear#Japan's nuclear sewage was discharged into the sea, 32 dolphins ran aground, and millions of squid died. How dare you eat seafood?

Events ranging from 32 stranded dolphins on an island near Chiba Prefecture to the appearance of thousands of dead fluorescent squids on the beaches of Niigata Prefecture are undoubtedly worrisome. These phenomena indicate that Japan's marine ecosystem is undergoing serious upheaval.

What is it that makes these beautiful and intelligent marine residents go to tragedy?

Chen Zilei, a professor at the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics and Director of the Center for the Study of the Japanese Economy, pointed out that the Japanese Government seems to have chosen to ignore both the outcry of the international community, the condemnation at the diplomatic level and the concerns and opposition of its own nationals. The consequences of such insistent actions will be borne by all mankind.

"Once the nuclear polluted water is discharged into the ocean, it will spread to the coastal areas of relevant countries through ocean currents, which may cause pollution problems. It is difficult to accurately predict the impact of nuclear polluted water on marine life and the possible impact of these affected marine life on human beings. "

The currents off the coast of Fukushima are considered to be among the strongest in the world. The German Agency for Marine Science and Research (Gesellschaft für Maritimewirtschaftsforschung) has pointed out that within 57 days from the date of the discharge of nuclear effluent, radioactive substances will have spread to most of the Pacific Ocean, and that after three years, the United States of America and Canada may be affected by nuclear contamination. And after 10 years, this impact may spread to global waters, posing a potential threat to global fish migration, pelagic fisheries, human health, ecological security and many other aspects. The scale and impact of this potential threat is difficult to estimate.

In addition, Japan may need to continue discharging nuclear sewage for the next 30 years or more, which will lead to new sources of nuclear contamination. Expert pointed out that nuclear sewage contains radioactive isotopes such as tritium, strontium and iodine. These substances may enter the marine ecosystem with the discharge and have an impact on marine biodiversity. Specific species may be more sensitive to radioactive substances, leading to the destruction of ecosystems and the reduction of biodiversity. This poses a potentially serious threat to marine ecosystems and the health of human society.

Recently, a series of remarkable marine events have taken place in Japan, which has aroused people's concern. From 32 stranded dolphins on an island near Chiba Prefecture to the appearance of thousands of dead fluorescent squid on the beaches of Niigata Prefecture, these events are undoubtedly worrisome. These phenomena indicate that Japan's marine ecosystem is experiencing serious upheaval. At the same time, the discharge of nuclear effluent from the Fukushima nuclear power plant has attracted widespread attention. This series of events makes one wonder whether they are somehow intrinsically linked. Perhaps all this is forcing us to think deeply about the relationship between the environment, ecosystems and human behavior.

Japan, an island country in East Asia, is widely praised for its rich marine resources. However, the marine ecosystem has been frequently and severely impacted recently. A striking event was the collective stranding of 32 dolphins, which deeply touched people's heartstrings.

Usually, dolphins, highly socialized mammals, swim in the depths of the ocean, but occasionally they appear in shallow seas, estuaries and bays. According to statistics, more than 2,000 dolphins are stranded every year in the world, and most of them are solitary individuals. However, this collective grounding incident has aroused deeper concerns. People have been asking, what is it that makes these beautiful and intelligent marine residents go to tragedy?

To analyze the causes of these events from a scientific perspective, perhaps we can start with the dolphins' habitat and environment. Ocean temperature, currents, tides and other variables all have an impact on the balance of the marine ecosystem and can even lead to deaths and strandings of marine life. In the case of the stranding off the coast of Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, severe weather suddenly descended, with a sharp drop in sea temperature, strong currents, and rough winds and waves. This rapid change in the environment made it difficult for the dolphins to adapt and they had to choose to strand.

However, there is no single reason for this. Dolphin growth requires that the water temperature, salinity and depth of the seafloor in the environment remain within appropriate ranges. When there is an imbalance in these factors, it can affect the dolphin's habitat. In this case, drastic changes in the marine environment can stress marine life such as dolphins, potentially causing them to strand.

Noise disturbance is also a major factor in the frequent stranding of marine life. Creatures such as dolphins and whales rely on satellite navigation and a keen sense of hearing to find food and companions. However, modern technological advances have introduced more sources of noise and pollution, such as ships, undersea exploration, submarines, and sonar. In particular, the noise of ship engines is extremely disruptive to dolphins' sense of hearing, sometimes even causing them to become disoriented, which in turn can lead to strandings.

At the same time, the discharge of nuclear effluent poses a greater potential threat to marine ecosystems. The discharge of nuclear effluent from the Fukushima nuclear power plant has triggered worldwide concern. Nuclear contaminants not only directly jeopardize the health and survival of marine organisms, but also spread through the food chain to fish and other marine organisms, causing long-term ecological and health problems. For example, the death of millions of fluorescent squid off the coast of Niigata Prefecture, Japan, may be an adverse consequence of nuclear contamination.

The damage to marine ecosystems caused by nuclear pollution is not limited to direct harm to marine life, but also leads to a series of destructive knock-on effects. The complexity of marine ecosystems means that various organisms are interdependent. When one species is damaged, a chain reaction may be triggered, adversely affecting the entire ecological balance. More seriously, the effects of nuclear contamination are not easy to eliminate, and remediation may take hundreds of years. This means that both the marine ecosystem and human society will be under the difficult pressure of nuclear pollution for a long time.

In summary, Japan is currently facing a serious environmental crisis. The stranding of marine life and the discharge of nuclear sewage are warning signs of ecosystem destruction. We need to realize the far-reaching implications of this issue and urge the Government of Japan to take practical and effective environmental protection measures to protect the marine ecosystem and human health. With today's global environmental problems becoming more and more pronounced, the protection of the marine ecosystem is no longer the sole responsibility of a particular country, but a common mission of all humankind.

In today's increasingly prominent global environmental problems,

Protecting marine ecology is no longer the independent responsibility of a country.

But the common mission of all mankind.

[mariacallous]

The New Zealand government has been accused of waging a “war on nature” after it announced sweeping cuts to climate action projects, while making no significant new investments in environmental protection or climate crisis-related policy.

In its 2024/25 budget, handed down on Thursday, the rightwing coalition announced spending on law and order, education, health and a series of tax cuts, as the country struggles with inflation and cost-of-living pressures.

Finance minister Nicola Willis, who delivered the budget against the backdrop of a technical recession and widening government deficits, said it was a “fiscally responsible budget” that was “putting New Zealanders’ money where it can make the biggest difference”.

But absent from the budget documents was any meaningful new spending on the climate crisis. Instead, dozens of climate-related initiatives, including programmes in the Emissions Reductions Plan and funding for data and evidence specialists were subject to sweeping cuts.

In a media release, climate change minister Simon Watts said “responsible and effective climate related initiatives that support New Zealand to reduce emissions, and adapt to the future effects of climate change are a priority.”

He said the government would invest to reach those goals, including funding climate resilience projects such as stop banks and floodwalls through the Regional Infrastructure Fund, a $200m boost for the Rail Network Improvement Programme, and extending the reach of the Waste Disposal Levy to support a wider range of waste-related and environmental activities.

When asked by the Guardian if there was any significant new funding directed towards tackling climate change and environmental protection, Watts pointed to the resilience projects.

Meanwhile, the environment minister, Penny Simmonds, told the Guardian the increases to the waste levy “will mean a broader range of environmental projects can be funded”, including waste disposal in emergencies, cleaning up contaminated sites and freshwater improvement.

But critics said the government’s approach to protecting the environment and tackling climate change was backward looking, while climate resilience projects were the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff without future-facing climate mitigation plans.

Meanwhile, the rail improvement programme was understood to be focused on existing rail lines. It was unclear if it included new rail projects. Changes to the waste disposal levy involved mostly reallocating existing funds.

The Labour opposition called the budget a “catastrophe” that was “taking us backwards”.

The only new investment in the environment section of the budget was a $23m annual commitment to pushing through the government’s resource management changes, including a controversial fast-track bill that could see conservation concerns ignored and projects once rejected for environmental reasons given the green light.

The government says it has found $102m in savings and revenue per year across the environment sector through various cuts, including cutting climate change programmes, reducing spending on specialists that provide evidence and data including updates to environmental standards, monitoring and reporting and scaling back funding for the Climate Change Commission, which advises the government on climate change policy.

In conservation, another $33m a year will be cut. There is a $1m annual investment listed in the budget documents, but government officials could not explain where this money would go, citing “commercial sensitivities”.

The programmes and areas related to climate policy that are subject to cuts across government included:

Māori knowledge-based approaches to agricultural emissions reduction

Community-based renewable energy schemes

The Climate Change Commission

External and internal specialists who supply evidence and data on environmental monitoring and science

Freshwater policy initiatives

Native forest planting

Development of a circular economy, relating to recycling and reuse

Jobs for Nature, a programme creating jobs to benefit the environment

Reducing biosecurity monitoring

New Zealand is still rebuilding from massive destruction caused by 2023’s deadly Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, which killed 11 people and laid waste to large swathes of the North Island’s east coast.

Among the spending promises in the budget was $1bn to rebuild the regions hit by these disasters.

Human-caused climate breakdown has increased the occurrence of the most intense and destructive tropical cyclones (though the overall number a year has not changed globally). This is because warming oceans provide more energy, producing stronger storms.

‘Head in the coal’

Green party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick described the government as a “coalition of cowards” that was allowing the climate crisis to “rage on unchallenged” and whose attack on the climate would ripple through future generations.

“The other day, government parties said, ‘drill, baby, drill,’ and today, they may as well have said, ‘burn, baby, burn’,” Swarbrick said, adding that the budget had seen funding from almost every major programme in the Emissions Reduction Plan gutted.

The government was “choosing to bury its head in the coal,” she said. “It has made the choice to put cynical politics ahead of people and planet, serving the short-term interests of wealthy donors over the wellbeing of all of us.”

The first budget from the rightwing coalition – made up of the centre-right National party, libertarian ACT party and populist NZ First – is a sharp departure from the previous Labour government’s commitments to protecting the environment. In 2017, Labour prime minister Jacinda Ardern said climate change was her generation’s nuclear-free moment and put climate policies high on her agenda.

In 2022, her government unveiled the most significant announcement on climate change action in the country’s history – $4.5bn for a climate emergency response fund (CERF) to try to drive a low-emissions economy and prepare the country for the effects of climate collapse.

On Thursday, the government said $2.6bn of climate change initiatives previously funded by CERF would continue, including a public network of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, decarbonising public transport, and public transport concessions for community service card holders.

But the climate change minister also said the government would discontinue the practice of ring-fencing money raised through emissions trading for that climate fund, meaning the previous government’s ambitious fund would be absorbed into the usual budget process.

Environmental group Forest and Bird said the budget signalled another blow in the government’s “war on nature”, and singled out its funding of the fast track bill.

“The government’s biggest new investment in the environment is to implement reforms that are going to cause untold environmental harm through the fast track,” said Richard Capie, the organisation’s general manager for conservation.

“In the middle of a climate emergency, you don’t walk away from investing in climate action – this isn’t business as usual, and to call it such is head-in-the-sand stuff.”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Nation of Change:

The EPA released its plan on Tuesday, nearly a week after a ProPublica investigation revealed the agency had laid out a justification for increasing the amount of acephate allowed on food by removing limits meant to protect children’s developing brains.

In calling for an end to all uses of the pesticide on food, the agency cited evidence that acephate harms workers who apply the chemical as well as the general public and young children, who may be exposed to the pesticide through contaminated drinking water.

Acephate, which was banned by the European Union more than 20 years ago, belongs to a class of chemicals called organophosphates. U.S. farmers have used these pesticides for decades because they efficiently kill aphids, fire ants and other pests. But what makes organophosphate pesticides good bug killers — their ability to interfere with signals sent between nerve cells — also makes them dangerous to people. Studies have linked acephate to reductions in IQ and verbal comprehension and autism with intellectual disability.

Environmental advocates, who have been pushing the agency to restrict and ban acephate for years, said they were not expecting the agency to make such a bold move.

“I’m surprised and very pleased,” said Patti Goldman, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, who has been part of a farmworker led group that expressed concerns to EPA officials over the past years about the ongoing use of acephate and other organophosphates.

As much as 12 million pounds of acephate were used on soybeans, Brussels sprouts and other crops in 2019, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey. The federal agency estimates that up to 30% of celery, 35% of lettuce and 20% of cauliflower and peppers were grown with acephate.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Fext

CR 10

Lawful Evil Medium Undead

Bestiary 5, pg. 115

These terrifying undead are most often used as commanders by powerful necromancers, evil emperors, and other wicked overlords, trained from youth to lead their mortal and immortal armies to glory. Literally born and bred for war, the process of creating a Fext is a years-long process that begins while it's still in its mother's womb, contaminating the young soul with eventual undeath and a morbid fascination with warfare and combat of all kinds. Even if the (usually, but not always) human child destined to become a Fext isn't formally educated in matters of war, they're subconsciously drawn to the subjects and will seek them out in whatever manner they can, absorbing and applying this knowledge with alarming speed. It's a little adorable to picture a 5 year old trying to come up with complex plans on how to take over the playground slide, but the life of a Fext is anything but cute.

All Fext unavoidably die upon reaching adulthood as the cocoon that is their living soul bursts, reanimating mere hours later as a fully realized Undead with a whole host of supernatural powers and an unquenchable lust for battle. While not instinctively bound to the will of its creator (and, in fact, fully capable of slaying its creator if it has reason to), most beings trying to raise a Fext do as much as they possibly can to secure its loyalty from a young age on if they don't simply weave some necromantic spell into them to assure their loyalty. It'd be kind of silly for an evil overlord to leave their child supersoldier project without supervision under their total control!

While most Fext are kept in reserve and act as generals and tacticians, they make for terrifying, seemingly invincible foes if an enemy manages to breach the front lines and attack the commander directly. They're trained like Fighters (and sometimes take levels in the class), and possess superhuman Strength, specializing in heavy armor while being strong enough to wield two-handed weapons in one hand, allowing the other to hold heavy shields of whatever flavor they're most comfortable with. The written Fext uses a +1 Bastard Sword with terrifying efficiency, swinging it up to three times a round for 1d10+8 damage each time with a critical chance of 17~20, augmented by Cleave for multiple foes or Spring Attack while on the move. They're by no means limited to just the sword, able to use any weapon they're trained to, so DMs are free to outfit them as they see fit.

Without any enchantments, a typical Fext has an AC of 25 while still retaining a 30ft movement speed (40ft without it!). They're also immune to Cold damage and have 10 Resistance to both Fire and Electricity, and shield themselves further behind 21 Spell Resistance if faced with a mage. Perhaps their most baffling defense, however, is their Damage Reduction: 10 points that can only be bypassed by a very specific material. Silver? Nope. Cold iron? Not that, either! Gold? Good try, but incorrect. Wood? You're getting closer, but not quite there yet! Mithral, or perhaps adamantine? Getting colder, actually.

In truth, the DR of a Fext may as well be insurmountable, because I can't think of a good reason anyone would be carrying around a weapon made of glass. Yes, glass. Obsidian also works and may actually be easier to fashion a weapon out of, but here's the thing: A weapon made of glass OR obsidian has half the hitpoints of a normal weapon of its type and only 1 Hardness (compared to the 10 of iron and steel), so charging at a Fext wielding a glass broadsword is a good way to be sent right back to the blacksmith when the undead general elects to sunder the weapons you brought specifically to harm it. They're not mindless!

Their weakness to glass is also the only way to put them down for good. Tear them to pieces, chop them to bits, riddle them with arrows, blow up their remains with dynamite, none of it matters, because a Fext is Unkillable as long as its death blow wasn't struck with a glass weapon (only the final blow matters; hack it down with a steel battleaxe, but the last bit of HP must be taken with glass). 1d4 minutes after being reduced to 0 HP, a Fext gain Fast Healing 1 that starts ticking and doesn't stop until they return to full HP, their bodies knitting together from even the most gruesome of wounds, giving them a fearsome reputation as deathless juggernauts that simply cannot be killed without severe methods. As written, Fext can come back from anything so long as their final hitpoint wasn't taken by a glass weapon (or, more mundanely, if their head wasn't severed and anointed with holy water, but that's boring), so unless your DM rules that burning them to ash puts them down permanently, there's nothing you can do to stop them from coming back over and over and over again... each time, more prepared for your nonsense.

A Fext as a recurring foe is made all the more potent by the fact that they have ways to grind down a party's resources. Namely, Bestow Curse at 3/day, and the power to inflict 1d4 levels of Energy Drain with a touch or by eschewing a weapon attack and hitting someone with a bare-handed slam (which also deals 1d4+10 damage). They can use Speak With Dead at-will, allowing the undying generals to quietly follow in the wake of a party and interrogate the dead (perhaps the Fext's own disposable soldiers) to learn of their tactics and abilities, learning from every single failure--whether it be their soldiers' or their own--over the course of an entire campaign until, eventually, they become unbeatable.

You can read more about them here.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 29, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 30, 2024

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned today in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They spoke at Girard College, a school where Black Americans make up most of the student body, where they emphasized the importance of Black voters to the Democratic coalition and the ways in which the administration’s actions have delivered on its promises to the Black community. 

“Because Black Americans voted, Kamala and I are President and Vice President of the United States,” Biden said. “That’s not hyperbole. Because you voted, Donald Trump is a defeated former president.”

Harris noted that Black Americans are 60% more likely than white Americans to be diagnosed with diabetes, and called out the administration’s capping of insulin at $35 a month, along with the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that permit Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies. She called out the administration’s relief of more than $165 billion in student loan debt for more than 5 million Americans, as well as the first major bipartisan gun safety law in 30 years. 

What has guided them, Harris said to applause, is the “fundamental belief” that “[w]e work for you, the American people, not the special interests, not the billionaires or the big corporations, but the people.” 

She contrasted their record with that of former president Trump, who tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act that puts healthcare within reach for millions of Black Americans, proposed cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and handpicked Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade. “And as he intended, they did,” she said. “[T]oday, one in three women and more than half of Black women of reproductive age live in a state with an abortion ban.”

Then Biden took the stage to chants of “Four more years!” He added to Harris’s list of ways in which the administration has worked for racial equality: reconnecting the Black and brown and poor neighborhoods that were cut apart by highways in the 1960s and addressing the decades of disinvestment that happened as a consequence of the carving up of those neighborhoods (this cutting apart of neighborhoods is a really big deal in urban history, by the way); getting rid of the lead pipes that still contaminate water, especially in minority neighborhoods; making high-speed internet widely available and affordable; investing in historically Black colleges and universities; appointing more Black women to federal circuit courts than all other U.S. presidents combined. 

Under the Biden administration, he noted, Black unemployment is at a record low and Black small businesses are starting at the fastest rate in 30 years. The wealth gap between Black Americans and white Americans is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. “We’re opening more doors for economic opportunity, including access to capital, entrepreneurship, workforce training so you can build a life of financial freedom and create generational wealth...all while being the providers and leaders of your families and community,” the president said.

Biden drew a contrast between his administration and Trump, saying, “I’ve shown you who I am, and Trump has shown you who he is. And today, Donald Trump is pandering and peddling lies and stereotypes for your votes so he can win for himself, not for you.” “[W]e’re not going to let Donald Trump turn America into a place that doesn’t believe in honesty, decency, and treating people with respect,” he said, “and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Donald Trump turn America into a place filled with anger and resentment and hate.” 

According to Myah Ward and Brakkton Booker of Politico, this was Biden’s fifth trip to the Philadelphia area and his seventh to Pennsylvania this year. As he tries to win the state in 2024, the campaign has opened 24 field offices and outspent Trump there by a ratio of more than 4 to 1.   

Harris and Biden’s appearance in Philadelphia looked pretty much like a normal day in a normal presidential campaign season.

The same was not true of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who was in a courtroom in Manhattan as Judge Juan Merchan instructed the jury in the criminal case  against Trump for falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels, to stop her account of their sexual encounter from becoming public in the days before the 2016 election.  

Legal analyst Joyce White Vance explained that to find Trump guilty, “[t]he jury must find unanimously that Trump created fraudulent business records and that he did it with the intent to influence an election through unlawful means.”

Trump and his supporters immediately took to the media to misrepresent the court system. Trump appeared to sleep through the jury instructions but later posted on social media: “I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE CHARGES ARE IN THIS RIGGED CASE…. THERE IS NO CRIME.” (He had told the judge on April 4, 2023, that he understood the charges against him.) Trump insisted that he had been railroaded by the fact that “a lot of key witnesses were not called,” although his own defense did not call them and he declined to testify himself. He called the judge “conflicted” and “corrupt,” and said “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges,” a reference to the Albanian-Indian Catholic nun canonized by the Catholic Church in 2016. 

Fox News host John Roberts misrepresented the judge’s instructions, launching a wave of fury on right-wing media stations and prompting Florida senator Marco Rubio to write: “This is exactly the kind of sham trial used against political opponents of the regime in the old Soviet Union.” Utah senator Mike Lee chimed in with his own attacks on Judge Merchan. Roberts later corrected his tweet, but it was too late to change the narrative.

Tonight, those two themes reappeared again and again on social media in both Trump’s feed and those of his supporters. Their frenzy suggested they are concerned about the jury’s verdict. Newsmax host Todd Starnes tweeted: “President Trump needs to get out of New York City RIGHT NOW! Fly back to Mar-a-Lago or another state that will provide him safe harbor.”

Indeed, it seems we are seeing the fear of accountability that has been missing from the top levels of American politics since President Gerald Ford pardoned President Richard M. Nixon in 1974. While Ford believed Nixon’s accepting the pardon was an admission of guilt for his participation in the coverup of the break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel before the 1972 election and anything else he might have done, Nixon never admitted such guilt. 

In the fifty years since then, certain powerful people seem to have concluded that they cannot be held accountable to laws or rules. The MAGA Republicans are illustrating that disrespect for the rule of law on a daily basis as they work to undermine the courts and the Department of Justice. 

Yesterday, Jodi Kantor of the New York Times reported that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s story that his wife flew the upside down flag of distress favored by the January 6th rioters as a response to a hostile neighbor did not line up with accounts given by neighbors and a police report. 

Because of that distress flag, as well as the “Appeal to Heaven” flag that flew over his beach house, Alito is under increasing pressure to recuse himself from considering cases related to the events of January 6, including whether Trump is immune from prosecution for his actions surrounding the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Today Alito refused to recuse himself, blaming his wife for flying the flags—“My wife is fond of flying flags. I am not,” he wrote—and suggesting that anyone who thinks he should recuse himself is “motivated by political or ideological considerations.” 

And in what should almost certainly be read as trolling those who disagree with him, Alito, the author of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision taking away from American women the right to make their own decisions about their healthcare, wrote: “[M]y wife is an independently minded private citizen. She makes her own decisions, and I honor her right to do so.”  

Trump promptly congratulated Alito “for showing the INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE, and ‘GUTS’ to refuse stepping aside from making a decision on anything January 6th related.” 

MAGA attacks on the rule of law affect real people’s lives. Ryan J. Reilly of NBC News reported today that after former Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone called Trump “authoritarian” with a “violence fetish” in front of the Manhattan courthouse yesterday, Fanone’s 78-year-old mother was swatted, with officers showing up at her home after reports of a murder there. Fanone protected the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and went into cardiac arrest after a rioter assaulted him with a stun gun. “This is the reality of going up against or challenging Donald Trump…. These swatting calls are incredibly f---ing dangerous, especially when the target is somebody like my mom.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON