One of our customers, a global producer of high performance materials, industrial specialty chemicals and coating solutions, was using a catalytic sensor to monitor the LFL of the off-gas vent stream and experiencing an unacceptable 25 second response time.
You see, in their process acrylate monomers, styrene and vinyl acetate monomer are used. The off‐gas from the polymerization process is collected in a vent line and sent to an RTO for oxidation. They continuously check the %LFL of the mix of monomer vapors in the vent line. If the LFL goes over 25% they bypass the RTO and send the high LFL stream to a caustic soda scrubber and active carbon filters without any ignition source. They also purge the duct with nitrogen starting at the RTO and up to the emergency vent. They do not want a high LFL stream to reach the combustion chamber of the RTO. Therein lies the problem, with a 25 second response time, it takes too long to prevent a high LFL stream from going into the RTO. They needed an analyzer with a quicker response time, preferably less than 5 seconds.
They chose to install a n LFL Flammability Analyzer on their off‐gas vent stream. This analyzer has a very fast response time, less than 3 seconds (including sample transport time), and can react quickly to divert a high LFL stream from going to the RTO.
To find out more about the product they chose and the success they've been experiencing for over a year read the specialty chemical case history.
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