Analytic Expert

Cogeneration facilities are considered to be among the most modern, energy-efficient producing facilities because of their superior environmental performance. Their purpose is to generate and distribute steam which can be used for heating, domestic hot water heating, humidification, sterilization of water and distilling water. During the cogeneration process, steam passes through a double automatic controlled extraction pressure and condensing steam turbine generator, and as a result, the electricity it produces becomes a beneficial byproduct. The combination of these results in a thermal efficiency greater than that of any plant built strictly for power generation.

Cogeneration greatly reduces the environmental impact; in addition, these facilities rely heavily on advanced technologies and continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) to ensure strict regulatory compliance with State and Federal environmental agencies such as the EPA.

Cogeneration facilities can utilize multiple and varied fuel sources. These fuels can include natural gas, oil, coal, wood, various forms of bio-solids, and even tires. Combined cycle cogeneration facilities are becoming popular in meeting increasing energy demands. A typical facility will include a gas turbine, heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and a steam turbine. The size of cogeneration facilities can vary greatly from small hospitals to large petrochemical complexes.

Since cogeneration facilities vary so significantly in size, fuel burned, pollution abatement equipment installed, and geographic location, the continuous emissions monitoring (CEM) requirements placed upon a given facility will also vary from plant to plant. The primary federal regulations defining CEM requirements are found in 40 CFR 60 and 40 CFR 75. The latter is also known as the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. However, state and local agencies do have the ability to impose additional and/or stricter requirements for the monitoring and control of pollutants. The federal regulations, based upon the fuel(s) utilized and the generating capacity of the facility, may require the monitoring of sulfur dioxide (SO₂), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), opacity, a diluents [carbon dioxide (CO₂) or oxygen (O₂) and stack flow. In addition to the above requirements, state and local agencies may also call for the monitoring of carbon monoxide (CO) and, in those plants where SCR or SNCR is utilized for NOx reduction, may require monitoring of ammonia (NH₃) as well.

Flameproof gas analyzers provide single and multicomponent gas analysis. Coupled with a remote-mounted sample conditioning system and flow distribution/system controller, these CEMS become truly modular emissions monitoring systems. This configuration allows sample extraction and conditioning anywhere along the sampling train, reducing costs for heated sample lines, equipment racks and instrument shelters. To check out a wide range of other possible configurations click HERE.

The growing significance of cogeneration combined with the unique requirements of each plant make CEMS an ideal solution since they can be designed specifically for each cogeneration plant while providing a field-proven analysis technology that is both highly accurate and cost-effective.

Lubrication oil is commonly circulated through natural gas compressors in order to facilitate cooling and to prevent engine wear. These systems are highly pressurized and thus create a high risk potential for leakage. When leaks occur the lube oil often sprays into the atmosphere producing an oil mist or atomized cloud. And often leaks will stream continuously undetected for hours or even days without the proper detection technology in place. The mist not only creates an expensive, time-consuming clean-up project, but more importantly, can produce highly toxic smoke or burst into explosive flame upon contact with hot surfaces or engine spark ignitions.

It is not uncommon that gas transportation companies can report dozens of oil leaks per year and some of these leaks have ignited into flame events causing significant damage and production loss. Numerous industry studies have verified that both smoke and oil mist will almost always precede flame prior to an explosive event and have been proven to obscure or blind some optical flame detectors preventing fire warning and potentially leading to disaster.

The solution in this application is an explosion-proof oil mist detector. An effective detector should be equipped with a powerful infrared optical sensor that monitors ambient air for the presence of particulate matter such as dust and oil mist, and for products of combustion like smoke and carbon. The Net Safety Millennium Oil Mist Detector (Airborne Particle Monitor – APM) is the only Class1 Div1 detector of this kind available on the market today.

The principle of operation is based on the reflection of infrared radiation by airborne particles. Field-adjustable zero level of obscuration as well as multiple sensitivity settings allows for fine tuning within specific application conditions to optimize performance and eliminate false alarms. Sensor performance is also not effected by high volume air velocity which makes it ideal for various duct monitoring applications as well. Responses from the APM include actuation of relays, LED indicators, LED alphanumeric display and 4-20mA DC output for transmitting information to other devices.

Oil mist detectors are critical in the previously described natural gas compressor station system where lube oil is used to cool and lubricate compressors in pipeline or processing applications. Advanced detection systems provide compressor buildings with fast, accurate detection of lube oil leaks manifested by smoke or oil mist, providing a proven source of protection for plant and personnel. Natural gas transportation companies worldwide and several offshore platform operators have successfully implemented the Millennium Oil Mist Detector to supplement protection provided by optical flame detectors and fixed gas sensors in these specialized applications.

Learn more about the Net Safety Oil Mist Detector.

Hello everyone. This is Doug Simmers, product manager for combustion analyzers, and today I’m talking about analytical methods for protecting electrostatic precipitators. While I’m using an example from paper mills, many boilers and industrial furnaces utilize electrostatic precipitators for removing fly ash and other particulate from flue gases.

Bark is burned in a bark boiler along with other waste wood products to produce steam that is used in the pulping process, to drive the paper machine, and for many other uses. After combustion, the flue gases from the boilers are often passed through an electrostatic precipitator that uses static electricity to gather the fly ash. An electrostatic charge is induced in the flowing particles and then the particles are collected onto the energized plates with a negative voltage through electrostatic attraction. The negative voltage on the collector plates can be several thousand volts and there is some potential for electrical arcing inside the precipitator. If a combustible gas mixture is allowed to flow through the unit, the result can be an explosion. Combustion analyzers can tell boiler operators when explosive gases begin rising in the boiler flue gases, so they can take action to modify the fuel/air ratios, bypass the flue gases around the precipitator, or power down the precipitator. Good flue gas analysis of O₂ and CO also helps the operator to optimize efficiency, and balance the combustion inside of large furnaces.

If an operator sees the O₂ going down and the CO going up, that indicates there is a problem developing. Most engineers prefer that the analyzers be placed just ahead of the electrostatic precipitator in order to ensure that flue gases flowing through the precipitator have a low level of combustibles (CO) and a sufficiently high level of O₂. In some cases, extremely high particulate levels can negatively affect the optical measurement of the CO. If the IR source energy is blocked by the fly ash, the performance is degraded. In these cases, the CO instrument can be mounted downstream of the precipitator after the fly ash is removed. While the location prior to the precipitator provides the fastest speed of response, high levels of CO in the flue gases typically take many minutes to develop, and the downstream measurement can still provide timely indication of increasing CO.

The initial response to a situation of falling O₂ and increasing CO is to correct the fuel/air ratio (more air, less fuel), since bypassing or unpowering the precipitator may result in opacity exceedences. A reliable set of O₂ and CO analyzers is the key to assist the operator to make the proper decisions surrounding the operation of an electrostatic precipitator.

You can check out more details on this application in my article in Pulp and Paper International which can be accessed HERE.

Hi there. Michael Kamphus here. I’m an application engineer for process gas analyzers here at Emerson and in this blog post I’d like to discuss how the measurement of gas purity plays an important role across multiple gas processing industries and applications, mainly for the purpose of detecting gas impurities across a particular process. For example, in chemical reactions, one has to ensure the gases are free of carbon monoxide (CO) because of the risk of poisoning precious catalysts, oxygen (O₂) might oxidize catalysts, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) might form carbamates or carbonates which may clog process gas lines and lead to costly repairs.

One of the most important gas purity processes is the production of syngas, which is a mixture of CO and hydrogen (H₂) and used as a starting point for H₂ or CO generation. Syngas is mostly produced by steam reforming of natural gas. After the initial reformer, different reaction steps are necessary to convert and clean the process gas to achieve syngas in the desired H₂/CO ratio. Besides steam reforming of natural gas, other technologies generate syngas from coal gasification or wood/biomass gasification. The fertilizer industry uses syngas to produce ammonia and urea. Additionally, methanol and other hydrocarbons can be synthesized by the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, an access to liquid hydrocarbons independent from crude oil.

In air separation units, the inlet air has to be free of hydrocarbons (HC) and CO₂. After separation of nitrogen (N₂), O₂ and argon (Ar) has occurred, the product gas streams have to be monitored for impurities such as moisture, CO₂, HC and O₂, to ensure product quality. These gases and gases from other industrial processes are then used for gas bottling. Bottled gasses are needed in the food and beverage industry with the carbonization of beverages, welding and shielding to improve weld characteristics, and even in medical gases.

Emerson Process Management, Rosemount Analytical offers solutions for even the most challenging gas purity applications in refineries, fertilizer plants, steel plants and gas processing facilities around the world. For example:

• The impurity measurements of CO and CO₂ are done with non-dispersive infrared photometer (NDIR) measurements and detect from 0-10 ppm or 0-5 ppm, respectively.
• NDIR is also used for purity measurements of CO₂ and nitrous oxide (N₂O) with a max suppressed range of 98-100%. Hydrogen measurements are done with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) making it possible to measure the H₂ purity up to 98-100% or impurities of H₂ in CO down to 0-1000 ppm.
• NOx, meaning the sum of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) measurements, are performed with a chemiluminescence detector (CLD) as a standard. These ranges can get down as low as 0-5 ppm.
• Hydrocarbon impurities are detected with a flame ionization detector (FID) with the lowest range being 0-1 ppm.
• Oxygen, as low down a range as 0-1%, but also suppressed ranges of 20-22% and 98-100%, can be measured with a paramagnetic sensor (pO₂). For O₂ ranges down to 0-10 ppm, a trace oxygen sensor (galvanic fuel cell) is used.
• For H₂O an aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) based trace moisture sensor is integrated into the analyzer enabling us to deliver measurements on the dew point range from -100°C to -10°C or 0-100 to 3000 ppm.

The integration of different technologies can be combined into one analyzer housing; for example, a suppressed 98-100% O₂ purity measurement with a 0-10 ppm CO and a 0-5 ppm CO₂ impurity measurement, reducing cost for analytical equipment and making integration of the analyzer into the DCS much easier.

If you have a challenging gas purity application, have a question about process gas analyzers, or would like to share your experiences within the gas purity and process gas industry, we would like to hear from you. Post a comment and let us know!

To learn more about gas purity applications and process gas analyzers, visit www.rosemountanalytical.com/gaspurity.

Hi everyone. I’m Xavier D’souza from Net Safety and I’d like to tell you about an interesting safety challenge that occurred at a semiconductor manufacturing plant that could have implications for your industrial environment.

The company is a multi-national semiconductor manufacturer that wanted to significantly reduce the risk of a catastrophic event in a wafer manufacturing plant that is very close to a nearby town. The challenge they presented was to assure no risk of an uncontrollable fire by means of a system that could provide reliable detection and mitigation within 90 seconds or less. They needed fast accurate detection in a complex outdoor area monitoring for the presence of invisible Silane flame. Silane Gas (SiH4) is an extremely volatile and toxic gas which can spontaneously ignite on contact with air without any external ignition source, and is almost invisible to the human eye (similar to hydrogen [H2] flame). Silane combustion products, OH and H₂O, are responsible for most of the Silane flame emission in the UV (below 0.3 microns) and near IR (2.7 microns) spectral bands.

Net Safety offered our UV/IRS-A-H2-SS-X for this application, the detector has a 130^o Horizontal and 95^o Vertical FOV and its sensors are fine tuned to the wavelengths produced by Silane flame. We backed up the product performance claims using the data provided by the South West Research Institute which independently tested the flame detector for Silane & Hydrogen Flame. The report produced confirmed that the Net Safety UV/IR H2 flame detector will detect Silane flame in < 2 seconds.

Net Safety worked with our integrator in Italy to provide a SIL 2 approved panel with our detectors, which have their own independent exida SIL 2 rating report.

After successful completion of installation, the integrator carried out performance testing. The time required to create a foam height of 1mts from the point of fire detection was < 90 seconds – this objective was achieved.

Whether you are monitoring for Silane or hydrogen in your plant, finding a detection system fine tuned to the appropriate wavelength will be one key factor to your success.

Folks, this is Jim Gray, and in this blog I want you to do the talking.

We are in the investigation mode for updating our intrinsically safe two wire analytical transmitter, and we would greatly appreciate your input. What features are important to you and your day-to-day operation?  Here are some areas you might consider:

• What could be done with the local operator interface to make it easier to calibrate and configure the transmitter and access diagnostic messages?
• How much information would be useful at the Local Operator Interface (LOI)?
• How much do you rely on a hard copy manual?
• Would it make it easier to have this information available using the LOI?
• How could transmitter installation and sensor replacement be made easier?
• What digital protocols are important?
• Do you access transmitters using the device description or FDT/DTM?
• Are there any features of these protocols that are not presently being implemented, that you feel are important, like control in the field in the case of FOUNDATION Fieldbus

Your thoughts on these or any other aspects of installing and maintaining analytical transmitters would be very much appreciated. If you include the rationale behind your ideas, it might help us find a novel solution to fulfilling your needs. It might also help you win a $100 Best Buy gift card for providing the best feedback!

Xavier D’souza here. In the past customers used conventional LED’s, typically Red color Seven Segment types. We all remember in the 80’s this was the only way to display, however, when customers’ needs became more complex and demanding we saw the advent of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). This was immediately followed by the backlit displays as it was at times difficult to see the displays, especially in direct sunlight. Today, with the advent of newer technologies, both LCD’s and LED’s have taken a quantum leap and in the last couple of years the market has been increasingly flooded with commercial products using the latest Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED’s) and LCD displays.

A typical OLED display is a layer of organic material or polymer between two electrodes, and depending upon the type of organic material used, the color of light will be emitted upon excitation of electrical voltage. Significant improvement in semiconductor technologies has seen the return of the LED’s in the form of OLED, or the Organic LED, with major advantages over its predecessor and other display technologies currently on the market which has many leading manufacturers looking at them again.

Primary benefits include:

• Ability to withstand lower temperatures – Typically, industrial-designed OLED’s can withstand -55^o C, whereas LCD displays can crystallize and leak at these low temperatures. We are seeing newer applications, especially in Arctic drilling, where customers are looking for products to meet a 60^o C requirement and this could be an interesting choice for display.
• Low power consumption – Today we see gadgets all around us – be it the iPad, iPhone, TV, PVR/DVR, etc. – and energy consumption and costs are increasing. Moreover many more devices are being powered in industrial, residential, advertisement media, etc., and it is important to conserve energy to maintain a greener and environment-friendly planet. Low power consumption will go a long way in achieving this goal, moreover these displays do not require backlight thereby further saving power consumption.
• Wider viewing angles and increased brightness makes the display visible even in bright light – this offers a higher contrast and true black color. Customers are demanding higher resolution and true color picture OLED’s due to their higher brightness, making them capable of achieving incredible true-life pictures.
• In order for an LCD to achieve the same level of brightness as OLED it must have a “backlight.” The typical backlight of an LCD, which is an LED or CCFL, typically has a life span of 30,000 to 60,000 hours, which gives it a maximum life span of less than seven years. The OLED display utilized by Net Safety Monitoring with our proprietary screen saver technology has an expected life span of 20 years, even when installed in extreme applications.
• As the world has increasingly moved to a digitally transmitted signal from the hitherto analogue signal, customers are increasingly phasing out their outdated tube-based sets and their power-hungry plasma sets. The volume sales increase will lead to lower prices and vice versa.
• OLED can be manufactured on flexible surfaces, so the displays no longer have to be on a flat screen. It will be possible to mount the display rolled up or in a circular manner, giving designers a new dimension to design newer products with fresh ideas that can challenge the way we have looked at displays. Moreover, the displays can be made very thin, thereby saving volume and weight, giving the product a more refreshing look and reducing shipping & packing costs. A Japanese company is looking to make T-shirts with an OLED display that would be fun to wear and others to watch.

MILLENNIUM II GAS DETECTOR – Superior Display Capabilities Through OLED Technology
Net Safety Monitoring utilizes an OLED display in our Millennium II Series of gas detection products. This display consists of three full lines of information, with 16 alpha-numeric characters per line, for a total of 48 visible characters on the display. This allows for a wide range of information to be simultaneously displayed and effectively communicated in multiple languages, while being easily read in any lighting condition. This large display combined with the other performance advantages associated with OLED displays makes the Millennium II the preferred choice among operators in the field. To learn more about the Millennium II gas detection package and it’s other advanced features, visit www.net-safety.com/millennium2.

Hello everyone. I’m Stéphane Canadas, Analytical Specialist at Emerson Process Management. A customer of ours in Europe has an application that demonstrates the importance of having a wireless technology that can meet the need of demanding field networks. The company performs sugar processing. While your application may be different, if you have a demanding application, there are lessons to be learned from this example.

As part of this company’s production process, clean, sliced beet is pumped into one of three rotating drum diffusers and then mixed with water at approximately 85^o C to extract the sugar. pH levels of the solution must be monitored within the drums to optimize the soaking period and ensure it has the correct pH level before it passes through the next stages of purification. In the past, the company performed the pH measurements manually with solution samples taken every hour and analyzed in a laboratory. As you can imagine, this was very time consuming and did not provide immediate or continuous information as needed. Collection of the sample was difficult, requiring an operator to open a valve on the rotating drum, fill a bottle from the port and close it, all in a few seconds while the drum was on the lowest part of its rotation. At times, the port would be blocked by beet fibers preventing a sample from being taken for several hours forcing the process to run blind. Has your plant ever experienced anything similar? If so you know how unsatisfactory such a procedure can be.

The customer wanted to install a continuous automated monitoring system. They first tried a wired installation using a slip ring but the connection points for both power and data proved to be very unreliable causing data signals to be lost. They next set upon a wireless solution to solve the problem but wanted any wireless system they purchased to perform a number of tasks across the plant. It was important, therefore, that they selected an open standard technology that would not lock them into a single vendor.

After reviewing a range of systems, the customer settled on the Rosemount Analytical Model 6081-P wireless pH transmitter. The transmitter, along with a 3500 SMART pH sensor, was installed on the rotating drum. Because of the inherent ease-of-installation of the Emerson field network system, the wireless devices began transmitting data the minute they were attached to the drum. Since the sensor is preconfigured in the lab by Emerson, it received its specific setup through the wireless network and began immediate operation. Measurement data from the device is transmitted every sixty seconds from the sensor to a Smart Wireless Gateway and then transmitted to the customer’s DCS providing the much-needed continuous measurement.

Initially, the wireless system just provided continuous pH measurements to be viewed by the operator who then made manual adjustments to control the pH levels. However, since the initial four-week trial period proved so seamlessly integrated and reliable, they are now using the wirelessly transmitted data to control the pH level in the diffusion drums automatically.

The bottom line is that with the selection of a field network wireless system with the configuration, security, reliability and simplicity required by demanding applications, this company was able to significantly improve productivity and process quality while reducing energy use, water and rework. These results were achieved in a highly demanding rotating drum application. The decision to move from monitoring to control is strong testimony in the company’s confidence in the Model 6081-P and Emerson Smart wireless field network solution. We might call that a sugar of a deal.

 In what demanding applications have you used or considered using wireless technology?

Snehal Shah here for this week’s blog post. As you may know, steam and water analysis systems in power plants present challenges common to many industrial plants in harsh environments. Finding a cost-effective way to predict maintenance requirements without excessive personnel time was one of the requirements when a Power Plant in India set out to select an analysis system for two new power plants. Their choice was Emerson and their system is wireless. Why did they choose wireless and why should you consider wireless?

The total system includes fifty-six Model 1056HT analyzers each using the Smart wireless THUM adapter to provide a highly flexible, self-organizing network. In addition, the Indian Power Plant is using four units each of the Rosemount CFA Silica and Sodium analyzers and four sample conditioning systems. The Power Plant in India chose the Model 1056 because all the units were panel-mounted and by using the Model 1056, the wet chemistry units in the system could also be configured for wireless signal transmission.

While we often think of wireless as a way to save wiring and installation costs in an existing industrial facility, in fact, this project clearly shows that there are other drivers for the choice of wireless. The wireless plants are brand new Green Field projects and the cost of installing a wired system was not the primary factor in the selection of Emerson. Rather it was the quick commissioning made possible by wireless. The time savings involved will allow for early project completion. If you have any questions about how wireless can work for you, please do let us know! We’d be happy to provide you with answers.

Another reason for selection of the wireless technology for the SWAS was the ability to get vital diagnostics from all the measurement points. Analyzer diagnostics such as pH cracked glass are important to maintenance scheduling. Temperature is always measured in the pH, conductivity and DO analysis but typically it is not used in wired systems because it consumes analog input at the DCS. Using wireless, this Power Plant customer in India is able to get sample temperature as required – a significant indicator of the “health” of the sample conditioning system.

Emerson has pioneered wireless steam and water analysis systems for the power industry. With this Indian Power Plant customer, the application clearly demonstrates that there are many important reasons to consider wireless technology in industrial plants of all types. Let us know if you’re considering wireless. We’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Greetings AnalyticExpert community! My name is Geoff Wilson, product manager with Net Safety Monitoring. Net Safety has recently joined the Emerson team and we are very excited about contributing to AnalyticExpert.com discussions. With this first post I’m going to take the opportunity to give a little background on Net Safety and provide some Q&A relating to our products and capabilities.

Net Safety Monitoring is an industry leader in the design, development and manufacture of fixed flame and gas detection as well as many specialized safety and security products designed for harsh, industrial environments. Our principle applications include all areas of the oil and gas market, mining and minerals, power generation, pulp and paper, and water and wastewater.

Net Safety’s state-of-the-art 38,000 square foot R&D laboratory and manufacturing facility is located in Calgary, Alberta — the heart of Canadian oil country, and home to some of the harshest environmental conditions in the world. We enforce strict quality standards and employ innovative engineering to ensure that all our products perform to the demands of the toughest industrial applications — all certified to global benchmarks for safety and performance.

Question: Where are Net Safety products typically installed?

Our safety instruments are all designed for Class 1 Division 1, explosion-proof environments — indoors or outdoors, onshore or offshore. Primarily Oil & Gas applications are where you will find Net Safety instruments, as well as Mining, Petrochemical, Aviation, Power Generation, and Chemical Processing to name a few. Do you have an application where you are having challenges with your existing gas and/or flame detection? Ask us a question!

Question: What is the primary advantage with Net Safety products?

Our customers come to us with many flame/gas detection challenges. These typically include overcoming environmental conditions, application performance issues, lowering maintenance and eliminating sensor faults. Net Safety instruments overcome these challenges by providing reliable, stable protection for plant and personnel in even the harshest conditions — with many unique and intuitive features that improve performance, simplify operation and reduce maintenance.

We have identified that low-power consumption and wide voltage ranges are often the most overlooked key components for safety instrument performance in many applications. Significant power-level and fluctuation issues occur in many of our end-user facilities. These can cause safety instrumentation with narrow voltage ranges and high-power requirements to fail or temporarily go offline. This is obviously a very serious safety issue among operators in which Net Safety instruments provide the most complete and effective solution. All Net Safety instruments have been engineered with the lowest power consumption requirements and the widest voltage ranges available in the market. This provides our customers with the most stable and reliable performance available, without compromising the latest technologies and advanced features. Our end-users also see significant energy cost savings over the life of the instrument. Multiply it by an entire plant installation and compare it against the other leading F&G detection manufacturers and the numbers will surprise you. Would you like more information about the advantages of our low power instrument solutions in your application? Ask us a question!

Question: How do you choose which technology suits a particular application?

Environmental and installation conditions will dictate which gas technology is best suited. On the environmental side, conditions like humidity and temperature are primary factors in determining which sensor technology to utilize; installation conditions are background gases, system design, and the area requiring coverage, to name a few. For flame, one of the most important factors is accurately determining the potential false alarm sources and selecting the appropriate technology, then setting delays and/or voting systems to effectively mitigate any false alarms.

Net Safety Monitoring is very excited to join the Emerson team and, of course, we welcome your questions and inquiries. Over the coming months you will see more contributions from the Net Safety team here on AnalyticExpert.com, and you’ll see our complete line available on the Emerson Process Management website. In the meantime please visit www.net-safety.com to learn more about all our advanced safety solutions.