When the contents of incoming gas shifted to include higher levels of toxic hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a major Middle-Eastern petroleum refinery was faced with a significant safety challenge. The potential release of this toxic gas was of concern in four locations: the pump area, fence security gate, rack room, and maintenance engineering control center.
Facility engineers determined that the addition of 13 toxic gas detectors would provide the coverage necessary to quickly identify a gas release and properly warn nearby operators and first responders of an incident. However, integrating such a system using traditional fixed-point gas monitoring methods would require a substantial amount of costly signal and power cabling. Wireless gas monitors, such as the Rosemount928, enabled these 13 areas to be monitored without installing any conduit.
The addition of the sensors solved the concern of identifying a gas escape, but safety engineers were unwilling to depend on wireless communication alone to support safety functions. This was remedied by implementing a direct wired digital output from the Rosemount 928 transmitter to a local field alarm station with siren and strobe communication. The alarm station consumed more power than Rosemount 928 transmitter could support, but this problem was easily addressed by adding a solar power collector to the station to keep the battery charged.
The facility is now outfitted with 13 solar-powered alarm stations and gas monitors which communicate with each other via the WirelessHART® network so an alarm at one site can trigger others based on location and typical gas diffusion patterns. Deploying a system of this sophistication, without cabling beyond the local solar cells and field alarm stations, enabled the facility to bolster their safety program with minimum cost and effort compared to that of conventional methods. Integrating the Rosemount 928 transmitter with the field alarm stations fulfilled the refinery’s critical safety needs in a challenging environment.
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Josh Hernandez | Global Product Manager | Emerson | Flame and Gas
6021 Innovation Blvd | Shakopee | MN | 55379
T +1 952-204-4427 | joshua.hernandez@emerson.com