Chemical Engineering December 2011 - 14

Detecting steam-trap leaks gets easier
CHEMENTATOR
S
team traps are designed to allow condensate,
but not steam, to escape from
a steam line. When they malfunction,
however, numerous costly consequences
can result including energy losses, insufficient
heating to processes, maintenance
issues and more. At its Global Users
Exchange in late October, Emerson Process
Management (St. Louis, Mo.; www.
emersonprocess.com) introduced a new
n combustion, the ratio of fuel to air
is key to efficiency, emissions control
and stable performance of the combustion
system. Adjusting this ratio to accommodate
variability in fuels - due to
the use of different fuels, and the variability
that naturally occurs with some
of the lower-cost fuels and renewable
fuel sources - is a difficult task. Emerson
Process Management (St. Louis,
Mo.; www.emersonprocess.com) has introduced
a technology, called True BTU,
which is a patent-pending innovation
I
wireless device that continually monitors
steam traps for leaks, making them
easier to find and thus promptly repair.
Currently, some leaky steam traps
are only repaired when someone notices
they are leaking. A better approach
to steam trap monitoring is periodic
manual inspections, but this also has its
drawbacks. The Rosemount 708 Wireless
Acoustic Transmitter combines
temperature and sound measurements
that can continually monitor and detect
a leaky steam trap, and also analyze for
other problems, such as a possible plug
in the line. Each unit is strapped onto
the steam pipe near the steam trap to
be monitored. This same technology and
device can also be used on pressure relief
lines to detect when a pressure relief
valve has opened.
Control the fuel-to-air ratio in combustion with varying fuels
for calculating the actual Btu values
of fuel sources to make energy production
predictable and repeatable. At the
company's Global Users Exchange in
late October, Chip Rennie, director of
Industrial Energy for Emerson, called
True BTU combustion control a " game
changer. " He further said that this platform
" reinvents the current model of
combustion management, which has
been around since the 1920s and is still
in practice today. "
To compensate for the variability
in fuels, excess air is typically used in
combustion systems. This means that
most of the time the fuel-to-air ratio is
not ideal. With True BTU, the change
in O2 level in the outgoing gas stream
is measured, and using a stoichiometric
equation for combustion, the fuel-to-air
ratio is instantaneously adjusted. This
technology allows companies to interchangeably
use the most available and
affordable renewable or waste fuels to
consistently create steam to power their
operations, says the company.
Need to predict emissions from a scrubbing
column and display real-time data? We're on it.
We make your challenges our challenges.
To see how CHEMCAD has helped advance engineering
for our customers, visit chemstations.com/demos19.
David Hill, CHEMCAD Support Expert →
Engineering advanced
Circle 10 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.che.com/35072-10
© 2011 Chemstations, Inc. All rights reserved. | CMS-322-1 11/11
http://www.emersonprocess.com http://www.emersonprocess.com http://www.chemstations.com/demos19 http://adlinks.che.com/35072-10
Chemical Engineering December 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering December 2011
