Happy Independence Day 2020!

Flow Safe Safety Relief Valves

Flow Safe is a USA based manufacturer of high quality and high performance safety relief valve products, including pilot operated safety relief valves and spring operated safety relief valves.  Their products are used worldwide in these markets:  Natural gas production, transmission, underground storage, and distribution; Petroleum and petrochemicals; Mechanical equipment manufacturers including reciprocating, centrifugal compressors and positive displacement blowers; Industrial gas industries including cryogenics and lite molecular weight gases; High pressure methanol injection; Liquid pipeline surge relief protection; Chemical Industry; Power; Pulp and paper; Food and beverage; Marine; and Aerospace.

For more information about Flow Safe Safety Relief Valves in New England, contact Piping Specialties, Inc. Call them at 800-223-1468 or visit their website at https://psi-team.com.

Process Refractometers Improve Production and Quality of Phosphoric Acid Production

Phosphoric acid is an important product used in industrial applications such as the manufacture of agricultural phosphate fertilizers, detergents, pesticides, metal coating, etc. Due to its non-toxic and mildly acidic nature, phosphoric acid is also used in other applications including food flavoring, soft drinks, pharmaceuticals, dental products, cosmetics, and skin care products.

Phosphoric acid is produced by mining the naturally occurring phosphate rock and processing it via a wet process or a thermal process. The concentration of the acids during the wet process can be measured inline with the process refractometers, such as those manufactured by K-Patents.

To learn more about where and how these refractometers are used in wet process phosphoric acid production, visit the PSI Controls web page. 

DOWNLOAD THE FULL WET PROCESS PHOSPHORIC ACID REFRACTOMETER APPLICATION NOTE HERE

Piping Specialties, Inc. / PSI Controls

https://psi-team.com

800-223-1468

Wiring the AMETEK Drexelbrook Universal IV RF Admittance/Capacitance Continuous Level Measurement System

The video above describes how to wire the Drexelbrook Universal IV  Continuous Level Measurement System.

The Universal IV level system is the most advanced RF continuous level measurement system available. It includes worldwide hazardous location approval and is immune to vapor, dust and foam interference as well as to tank obstructions such as nozzles, ladders, pipes and agitators. The Universal IV features standard display/keypad, auto-ranging capabilities, local or remote installation, as well as state of the art measurement technology providing unmatched stability and accuracy. It is ideal for a wide array of level applications in industries such as oil and gas refining, water and wastewater along with the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

The Pro Model integrates the RF Admittance technology with the versatility of Cote-Shield technology.  The Cote-Shield technology is designed to ignore coatings on the probe and measurement span of 1" to 800'. 

The Lite Model is the entry level RF Capacitance measurement system without Cote-Shield capabilities, can be used in non-coating conductive liquids and insulated coating applications where Cote-Shield is not required and offers a level measurement range up to 20' typically.

Universal IV RF Continuous Level Measurement System Features

• Easy one-time calibration
• Low cost of ownership, no maintenance and no moving parts to wear out
• Immune to tank obstructions such as nozzles, ladders, pipes and agitators
• Available as intrinsically safe systems
• Output: 4-20 mAdc, HART. Compatible with HART.
• Supply voltage: 13-30 VDC, 2 wire loop powered

For more information on the AMETEK Drexelbrook Universal IV RF Admittance/Capacitance Continuous Level Measurement System visit this link - https://psi-team.com/drexelbrook-universal/ or call 800-223-1468.

New Product Line: Max-Air Technology Valve Actuators and Controls

Piping Specialties / PSI Controls is please to introduce Max-Air Technology to its family of products.

Max-Air’s full line of pneumatic control products – including their industry recognized rack and pinion actuators – provide cost-effective solutions for simple on/off control or more complicated flow requirements such as diverting or multi-port applications. Their patented adjustable dual travel stops provide the greatest degree of control in the industry at ±10 degrees on each end of the stroke. To complement their actuators, they have a complete range of control accessories including solenoid valves, limit switches, positioners, and a wide assortment of automation hardware. In addition, Max-Air offers best-in-class assembly services and turn-key automation packages to minimize installation time and simplify project sourcing.

Learn more and download the Max-Air Product Portfolio from this link.

For more information, contact Piping Specialties. Call us at 800-223-1468 or visit out website at https://psi-team.com.

Process Control Case Study: Refinery Explosion and Fire

A case study of the 2018 Husky Energy refinery explosion in Superior, WI. This animated video recaps all the events and circumstances leading up to an explosion starting in the Fluid Catalyst Cracker (FCC). The key factor was an eroded sliding gate valve that allowed a protective layer of reactor catalyst to disappear. This allowed air and hydrocarbon to blend, forming a combustible mixture, and setting the stage for a chain reaction of events. This video, courtesy of the Chemical Safety Board (csv.gov) is an excellent educational reference and should be viewed by engineering, maintenance, and plant management personnel everywhere.

Piping Specialties, Inc. / PSI Controls
https://psi-team.com
800-223-1468

Markets and Applications for Thermal Flow Meters

Insertion, in-line, multipoint & portable thermal flow meters are used for monitoring and measuring industrial gas flows for stacks, ducts, flares, emissions, biogas, chemical processes, condensing gases, and pressurized gases. They provide the dependability required for most challenging industry requirements and are perfect for applications that call for reliability, exacting accuracy, cost-effectiveness. Below are the primary industries and their associated applications where thermal flow meters are found.

Coal Power

The increasingly stringent environmental and pollution requirements in the U.S. have resulted in a declining use of coal. However, coal remains the most common fuel source for generating power (mostly in specific industry applications), and more than 90% of the coal mined in the U.S. is used for generating power.

Coal Power Metering Applications Include:

• Hot and cold pulverizer Air
• Primary Air
• Fuel air flow   
• Secondary or underfire Air   
• Tertiary or overfire Air
• Baghouse airflow
• Exhaust/emissions flow

Incinerators

Incineration (also called gasification, pyrolysis, plasma arc, and waste‐to‐energy) is the thermal treatment of disposed waste materials, converting it to ash, flue gas, and heat. Incineration reduces the original waste mass by up to 85% and the volume up to 95%. Flue gases are cleaned or burned before the final emissions are released into the atmosphere.

Specific Incinerator Installations:

• Monitoring primary and secondary air to the furnace
• Measuring combustion air to a boiler
• Monitoring stack flue gas
• Measuring and monitoring emissions

Landfills

Landfill gas falls into five basic monitoring categories: soil gas, near surface gas, emissions, ambient air, and facility air. Soil gas, emissions, and facility air are environments suited for thermal mass flow devices. Thermal technology is excellent for measuring extremely low flows and is known for having very low pressure drop.

Standard thermal flow meters do not work well in condensing gas environments, such as those found in landfill methane recovery systems. The unpredictable moisture levels caused by leachate, rain, temperature, and humidity add to the accuracy issues related to wet gas flow measurements.

Specific Landfill Installations:

• Measuring emissions
• Air monitoring spot checks across cells
• Measuring gas conversion utilized in electricity generation
• Supporting fuel cell management
• Post‐combustion emissions

Metal Industries

This category includes primary and secondary industrial metal sources such as smelters, foundries, metal refineries, steel mills, and metal recyclers.

Specific Installations in Metal Industries:

• Measuring furnace air
• Measuring combustion air to blast furnace
• Natural gas, combination air to blast furnace and reheat furnace
• Monitoring exhaust, stack, and emission gases
• Baghouse flow
• Argon or chlorine gas flow, SNIF process in Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) area
• EPA Method 14 stack flow (aluminum only)
• Nitrogen blanketing
• Continuous caster pneumatic systems
• Coater line exhaust flow

Petroleum & Petrochemicals

The petrochemical industry creates products from petroleum that includes oil and gas. But petroleum is also used to create ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, and xylene — all of which provide the building blocks for solvents, dyes, detergents, fertilizers, adhesives, rubbers, plastics, resins, synthetic fibers, lubricants, and gels.

Specific Installations in Petroleum & Petrochemicals:

• Measuring combustion air to a boiler
• Measuring gas to flares
• Monitoring stack flue gas
• Measuring emissions (CEM)
• Measuring combustion fuel‐to‐air ratios
• Monitoring low‐pressure hydrocarbon storage vessel vent lines
• Monitoring high‐pressure distillation column off‐gases
• Monitoring very‐low flow for stuck open relief valves alarms
• Monitoring knockout drum relief valve switch to the flare

Pulp & Paper

Creating paper pulp relies on a careful balance of low velocity air flows among the various processes. For example, the recovery boiler following the digester must be modulated to follow changes in the digester load. Other imbalances can create excessive amounts of pollutant gases, reduce chemical recovery efficiency, reduce the boiler’s steam production, create extra soot to coat boiler tubes, or cause excess corrosion problems for boiler components.

Specific Installations in Pulp & Paper:

• Measuring combustion air to a boiler
• Measuring primary/secondary/tertiary air to a recovery boiler
• Monitoring stack flue gas
• Measuring stack emissions
• Monitoring digester gases and aeration air
• Measuring inlet combustion air to gas turbine generator sets
• Controlling tight fuel‐to‐air tolerances, such as with natural gas
• Measuring turbine exhaust gases
• Measuring overfire and underfire air

Wastewater

The primary applications in the wastewater environment are measuring blower air to each pool in the aeration basin and measuring digester gas flow. Operating the aeration blower accounts for up to 60 percent of all power consumed at a wastewater site, and proper air management can lead to massive savings in energy usage and equipment efficiency. Monitoring the health of the digester can provide indicators that minimize disruptions and leaks.

Flow Metering Applications in Wastewater Include:

• Header (blower) air flow
• Individual pool air flow in the aeration basin
• Digester gas production
• Precombustion engine fuel flow
• Air/fuel to boiler or engine
• Flare gas flow

For more information on the application of thermal flow meters in New England, contact PSI Controls. Call them at 800-223-1468 or visit their website at https://psi-team.com.