Positioning and Placement of Gas Detectors

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 Perhaps the most difficult task of any project that involves gas monitors and gas detectors is to decide on the placement of the various detectors and monitors. Even with all the new software( and all the associated bells and whistles) available now, it is more of an art than a rigid science.  Some questions that need answering before you start the job are

1. How do you estimate where the leak would likely take place? From flange joints in piping? Or from valve stems/packings? Or from sampling points? Or from reactor agitator shafts (even with all the mechanical seal stuff)?
2. Once leaked, how would the gas flow? How will the molecules move in the air? We can study gas dispersion models of leaks, but they are not accurate predictions. Would the gas flow just as the dispersion model says it should? Or will it flow in some other pattern?
3. How much would reach the detector?
4. Would the detector sense it? (Would the sensor be "alive" or already poisoned to death a long time back?

Only then can we start siting the detectors. This is of course after the technology has been selected (InfraRed or Catalytic Combustion or Semiconductor or other).

 

Types of toxic gas monitors and gas detectors

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There are various technologies that are used to make toxic gas detectors. Also these instruments are available in various forms, like fixed, portable or pocket types. There are different sensors used to detect different types of toxic gases. Some types of sensors can detect a variety of different gases, others can detect only one type of gas.

Fixed toxic gas detectors

These are very commonly found in large manufacturing plants and similar facilities. Each fixed gas detector is mounted at a place where it is very likely to sense the toxic gas, in case of a leak. The detector may or may not have a local display that shows the concentration of the gas. Each detector is connected via cables to a central system, that is monitored by plant personnel. In case of a leak this panel will generate alarms to warn the operators about the dangers and may also carry out any interlock actions (like triggering closure of valves or initiating a shutdown).

Portable toxic gas detectors

Portable gas monitors are used by workers to sweep a work area, to know if there is any toxic gas lurking around the area. These detectors are also called as handheld gas detectors. These detectors are normally battery powered and have a display with a buzzer and lights, to warn the operator, in case a dangerous level of toxic gas is detected. They may have their own inbuilt sampling pumps, to draw air into the sensor. Some variants also store data, to calculate time weighted average values, peak values and other important data for regulatory compliance.

Pocket toxic gas detectors

A typical personal toxic gas monitor is shown in the picture above. These are similar to the portable types, except that they are very small and meant to be carried by individual workers, by use of a belt clip, or inside a pocket. These instruments are normally throw away types and have a lifetime of about two years (lesser if they are constantly exposed to the toxic gas being detected). They also have a display, buzzer and light, but due to the small size there are no sampling pumps or data logging chips inside.

Typically, a worker carries it with him, when he enters an area that could contain such a gas (for example, he will carry a pocket H2S detector when he enters a process vessel for cleaning, if it had processed H2S previously). The vessel might still have some amount of Hydrogen Sulfide inside (or the gas may enter later through some piping that still remains connected). The worker's pocket gas detector now acts like his guardian angel, or personal bodyguard and warns him immediately, should the gas be detected. This allows him to escape or be rescued by his co-workers.

Where to get more information?

You can download a very useful e-learning course on toxic gas detectors here. This training course on gas monitors covers all types of gas detectors and gas monitors, including toxic gas monitors. It will take about three to four hours to complete and if you take an online test (optional, free of cost), you can also get a certificate of achievement, that would be a useful testimonial.

Toxic Gas Monitor fundamentals

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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).

For a detailed explanation of how gas detectors work, why don't you download the Gas Monitors training course today?

Importance of proper Gas Monitors proved in Bayer Cropscience incident

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By now, all of those of you in industry must have heard about the Bayer Cropscience incident that took place in August 2008 in Institute, W. Va. There was an explosion in the Methomyl unit and two workers were killed. Several lapses were pointed out by the US Chemical Safety Board that led to the unfortunate incident. One issue however that was not highlighted by the board but emphasized by local investigative reporters, was the non working of several toxic gas detectors in the facility. The management claimed that the detectors were disconnected from the monitoring system due to maintenance, but this itself seems wrong. Generally only one detector is removed at a time for maintenance or calibration. The next one should be removed only when the first is in place.
Secondly there were no such toxic gas detectors placed along the western side of the plant. The wind direction unfortunately on that day was from the plant's western side to its neighbors (communities staying near the plant).
The explosion that took place was very close to a tank containing the extremely toxic chemical Methyl Isocyante (MIC), the same that caused the now infamous Bhopal disaster.
All in all it just shows how seriously companies should take the selection, installation and proper operation and maintenance of gas detectors and gas monitors in their plants. If not then disasters may be looming!

Four gas monitor or PID meter? Which one do you use?

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Many people in the process industry used to use a standard "four gas" monitor for years, until the advent of PID type gas monitors. So this is just an open ended question to you all... what's your favorite meter? To the newbies, a four gas monitor is basically what it says, a portable gas monitor that can measure upto four different types of gases. These can be any mix of four sensors, or a mix of one LEL sensor (for explosive gases and vapors), an Oxygen sensor (for confined space entry) and two toxic gas sensors (say H2S and Chlorine for example). These type of four gas monitors have been used for several years and are workhorses of the plant operations and maintenance teams. However the advent of PID type meters has meant a threat to the domination of the four gas monitor. Essentially a PID meter stands for a gas monitor that uses a PID (Photoionization detector) to measure a wide range of gases. These cover most compounds found in industry such as most volatile organics and toxic gases like H2S. Many PID meters also come with a built in software and systems to automatically do datalogging and calculations of parameters like TWA, etc for regulatory compliance. Calibration is easier too, with just one gas IsoButylene being used.
So tell us what's your favorite meter- PID or four-gas?

How to verify if a gas monitor is really working?

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As you all know the reliability and accuracy of an instrument can only be verified after it is calibrated against a known standard. This is also the case with toxic gas monitors as well as other types of gas detectors.

In case of gas monitors, there are two ways to check the functioning, one is a full fledged calibration where the sensor is exposed to different concentrations of a known air-gas mixture (to calibrate it at various points from minimum to maximum) and the other is to subject it to a "bump" test. A bump test exposes the sensor to just one known concentration of the gas, to verify if it responds.

Now which amongst these two methods should you use?

There are two issues here. First, are you interested in the accuracy of measurement, or merely the functional testing? Accuracy of measurement is important in many applications, where, for example, an oxygen meter is used for confined space entry. A reading that shows 20% when the actual value is say 17% can be disastrous. Here, we require that the instrument always function at it's best accuracy and has to be thoroughly calibrated always. Also a "bump" test is simple, just check the reading in the outside air-it should Oxygen of about 21% (more or less depending on the area and the pollution levels).

However in other cases, the instrument may be used more for detecting the presence of a toxic gas rather than its exact concentration. Suppose a Chlorine gas monitor is installed on the outlet of a vent line, that carries away vent gas away from a confined Chlorine storage area-here the presence of Chlorine must be detected, rather than the exact ppm level. It does not matter whether it shows 2 ppm when the level was 1 ppm. It has to detect the presence (according to its minimum resolution). Here, instead of subjecting the Chlorine gas monitor to a full calibration, it may be simpler to bump test it once a while. As long as it responds to a bump test of the lowest concentration of Chlorine, it's fine, you need not carry out a full fledged 3 or 4 point calibration.

What are the advantages of bump testing?
1. It is simpler than a full fledged calibration
2. Less lecetrolyte is consumed in case of electrochemical sensors-this increases the life of the sensor substantially
3. Cheaper and easier-just one gas bottle per type of gas is needed.

Any other advantages? Please use the comments section below to post.

Gas Monitors-Placement is key to ensuring safety of your Industrial plant

Area monitoring

Many of the fixed type toxic and combustible gas detectors in usage in industry today, are used for area monitoring. What do we mean by area monitoring? We do a strategic placement of these gas detectors in locations that will have the explosive vapor or gas present, in case of a leak. Obviously, we cannot place these gas detectors at all possible places, as this will be very costly, not only in terms of the cost of acquiring these gas detectors and their associated panels, wiring, controls, etc, but also because each gas detector has a maintenance cost associated with it.

Each gas monitor requires periodic calibration with a test gas, replacement of sensor and/or electronics and other maintenance from time to time. We cannot avoid this cost as otherwise the gas monitor will fail to function properly. Just having a gas monitor physically present in an area, may at the most satisfy a factory inspector, or insurance surveyor, it cannot actually detect anything, if not maintained well. Hence, we designate certain areas of our plant or facility as being the most vulnerable to a gas leak. We then pin point the place where the gas is most likely to be present immediately after a leak. We then ensure that vat least we have a gas detector at that point to monitor such a leak.

Placement is the key to safety at a reasonable cost

In the UK, there is a concept known as ALARP (As low as reasonably possible). This indicates that we can spend only so much on safety as to yield a benefit that is more than the cost of the spending. Thus, it is not possible to have swarms of gas detectors all over a plant, as it would cost a fortune to install and maintain them. Maybe the number of such gas detectors would be many more than the number of conventional instruments like pressure or flow transmitters in the plant! Thus strategic placement of gas monitors is the key to achieving safety under an ALARP principle. How does one therefore go about the placement?

Different strokes for different folks

As the saying goes, we employ different types of placement strategies for different types of gas detectors. Therefore, for those gases and vapors that are heavier than air, we select places that are closer to the floor or grade, for lighter gases like Hydrogen, we select higher levels where the gas is most likely to go after a leak. For a gas like Carbon Monoxide which is only slightly heavier than air, one should mount the sensor at approximately 1.6 meters above the ground level for best results.

The next step is to pinpoint potential leakage sources. These could be the outlet of a Pressure Safety relief valve, or flange joints at the inlet or outlet of a large reactor or other process vessel. All such points should be marked on a layout drawing of the plant, before we visit the site. Note that in this case, we are not targeting fugitive emissions, but only places where there can be a large amount of sudden release of a toxic or explosive gas. Other places include the inlet/outlets of blowers, gas turbines, ventilation equipment, etc.

After this study is complete, we can visit the site and actually see if our marked locations are logically correct. If it is an old site, talk to the operators or other plant personnel who can have an idea about the likely points of gas leakage. Once these are ready, we can mark these on drawings.

Next Steps

Next, select the gas detectors based on the amount of coverage for each point/area. If the area is small, a point type gas monitor will do. If the gas is expected to diffuse into the gas detector, nothing else is necessary. If however, it is felt that the gas may not easily diffuse into the detector, we may need additional forced sampling (like small vaccum pumps and collection funnels) to route the samples from the surrounding area into the gas detector. If the area is larger however, we will need an area monitor like an Infrared open path gas detector. These types of detectors cover a large open path (which is the gap between the infrared source and detector) that can cover hundreds of meters of an area. Ultimately the placement will depend on the likelihood of the gas, the type of gas monitors used and the total budget that can be allocated to the project.

Optimization

After the gas detectors have been ordered, installed and placed in the designated spots, the next stage is do a continuous performance monitoring. Are the detectors really detecting gases? Have leaks taken place that were not detected? If so, why? Were these not detected due to wrong placement or the gas detectors themselves were not functioning? Answers to these will enable you to optimize the placement further and ensure that your gas monitors do the thing that they are best at-protecting the plant, people and the environment from undesirable events.

Sam. P. Whittle is a technical expert on gas detectors and gas monitors. He is an engineer with several years of experience in various industries. At present he is on the panel of subject matter experts of Abhisam Software

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sam_P._Whittle

Safety Alert for Sperian Portable Gas Monitor issued

The Safety Management Group has published a safety alert from Sperian Instruments regarding the possible malfunctioning of BioSystems PhD5 portable gas detector. The notice states that

"There is a possibility that PhD5 instruments that have the Security Beep function enabled can stop actively detecting gas while continuing to show safe readings"

The notice further states that only a "handful" of detectors may be affected but it advises users to disable the security beep in the instrument as an immediate solution to the problem. It was not clear how disabling the security beep solved the problem, perhaps it is a bug in the instruments firmware. If the security beep is enabled, apparently some instruments stop actually measuring the gas, while showing safe readings! This is a dangerous failure and users should contact Sperian Instruments to update the firmware.

More details can be found on the Safety Management Group Website.

How do pocket H2S monitors work?

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This post will give you a brief idea about how a pocket h2s monitor works. A pocket h2s monitor is a small instrument that is meant to be used by a worker who is working in an area that may get poisoned with Hydrogen Sulfide gas (referred to as h2s). The H2S monitor is a small portable toxic gas monitor that has a clamp at the back, so that it can be easily clamped to the worker's belt or clothes. Alternatively it can be carried in a pocket. Intrinsically Safe versions are also available which means that they can be use din hazardous areas.

The pocket h2s monitor consists of a sensor (mostly electrochemical), associated electronics (including an LCD display, buzzer, light/LED) and a housing with the clamp. It has to be calibrated with a known concentration of h2s gas in air using a standard calibration gas bottle. Every time a worker enters a confined space area that may later on allow some traces of h2s inside, the worker has to carry this monitor, so that whenever h2s ingress happens, the h2s monitor will go off, sounding a loud buzzer and flashing a red LED as a warning to escape at the earliest.
Some versions can even transmit this alarm wirelessly to a remote control room or to a host unit that may be mounted in the area. This enables the workman's colleagues to rescue him, should he be unable to escape on his own.
A typical unit looks like this (shown above).