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Industrial plants that manufacture chemicals, fertilizers, petroleum products, or, facilities that produce oil & gas, have to handle various toxic chemicals in their day to day operations. Many of these toxic chemicals are in the form of gases or vapors. This article will give a brief overview of the various kinds of
toxic gas detectors used to detect these poisonous materials. The example used will be a detector used to detect Hydrogen Sulfide gas, which is extremely toxic. These detectors are also called simply in industry as
H2S detectors.
Why are toxic gas detectors used?
Toxic Gas detectors are mainly used for monitoring the presence harmful gases and vapors. These detectors are also referred to by many people as toxic gas monitors; both terms are interchangeable and mean the same.
These gas monitors enable a worker present in the plants that have these toxic gases, to protect himself from exposure. One of these ( commonly found harmful chemicals) is Hydrogen Sulfide. This gas that smells like rotten eggs, is even in low concentrations, extremely toxic. At lower levels of concentration the human nose can sense this as a "bad smell", however, paradoxically at higher level, there is no sense of any smell, as the human nose gets desensitized. So a worker who accidentally walks into a Hydrogen Sulfide atmosphere can get literally knocked down, without finding anything amiss! Hence, it is critical that good, working, toxic gas detectors be used in such places to protect workers from accidental exposure.
For example, consider a process vessel in a chemical processing plant that normally contains Hydrogen sulfide gas. In normal operations this vessel will be tightly sealed and no Hydrogen Sulfide can escape. However, in case the vessel sealing does not work (for example, a flange on one of the inlet pipes leaks), then, it is likely that this Hydrogen Sulfide gas can leak out and harm the workers who operate the vessel or are in the nearby area.
To prevent this from happening, a toxic gas detector that can measure Hydrogen Sulfide gas, even in small concentrations, is mounted near the vessel. Whenever it detects a dangerous level of Hydrogen Sulfide, it will give out a warning alarm. (Such a gas detector is also known as a Hydrogen Sulfide Detector).
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