Chemical Engineering June 2010 - 22

Honeywell
Newsfront
         
    
     
   
   
  

 
 
 
      
  
  
   

" With automated methods, users
get near immediate notification that
something has happened to cause corrosion,
right now, " he explains. " Engineers
can look at the process and know
the temperature is increasing or the
pH is off. This gives them the power
to relate corrosion to events that take
place during the actual process and
permits engineers to determine and
correct whatever process upsets are
affecting corrosion. "
Similar realtime, online corrosion
monitoring is also available in wireless
systems for remote locations, such
as refineries and tank farms. Honeywell
Process Solutions' (Morristown,
N.J.) SmartCET is a self-contained,
battery-operated, wireless corrosion
transmitter. Users install the transmitter
in the field and hook it up to
the corrosion monitoring probe, which
is placed in the process. This probetransmitter
combination communicates
a signal to the home base unit,
called a Multinode, which receives
the wireless signal. The data can be
uploaded directly into the plant control
system, allowing variables to be
trended and alarmed, in the same way
as other process variables like temperature
and flowrate. For corrosion and
material specialists, further statistical
data are available automatically from
the system, providing trendable corrosion
mechanism information.
" This is a very cost effective solution
for processing facilities with remote
locations or tank farms because
it does not require the expense of running
wires, " says Phillip Ng, global
senior product manager of corrosion
with Honeywell. " And, the transmitters
provide very dynamic data, which
can be read every 30 seconds. "
He says while some may scoff at
this because they believe corrosion is
a slow process, the timely, dynamic
data allow operators to pinpoint the
times when corrosion activity starts
spiking. " Since engineers can see
what change in the process is causing
corrosion spikes, they don't need
a corrosion specialist to translate the
data, " he explains. " They don't need
to understand fundamental corrosion
science and theory, but simply
what process change has taken place
and how to react to that change to
Circle 9 on p. 62 or go to adlinks.che.com/29251-09
Honeywell's XYR 6000 Wireless SmartCET
Corrosion Monitoring Transmitter
accurately measures corrosion rate and
pitting without the expense or hassle of
installing cabling
stop the corrosion from happening. "
James Gray, divisional president with
Metal Samples Corrosion Monitoring
Systems division of Alabama Specialty
Products (Munford, Ala.), agrees that
this type of data from remote locations
is crucial. His company offers a remote
telemetry system that obtains realtime
corrosion monitoring data via the
Internet from anywhere in the world.
The system features communications
via Inmarsat Isat M2M satellite to a
secure Web Monitor data server.
The system is available for use with
corrosion monitors based on electrical
resistance,
linear-polarization resistance
or sand (erosion) probes (see box
on p. 22). A small optional solar panel
connects to the base station for use
where no power is available.
" This technology allows remote locations
to enjoy the same benefits of realtime
data, " says Gray. " Because users
can now take readings at these remote
locations at whatever frequency they
want, they can graph out corrosion
rate data, allowing them to profile the
actual corrosion rate at shorter time
intervals than would be possible with
traditional methods. "
A similar, but non-invasive corrosion
monitoring technology is available
from GE Energy (Greensville, S.C.) for
installation where the integrity of piping,
vessels and other fixed assets was
historically subjected to time-based
manual inspection methods requiring
excavation, scaffolding and special
permits. GE's Rightrax system reduces
these problems via online technology
that provides improved, more timely
and more frequent corrosion/erosion
information, helping to decrease the
risk of asset failure. The system uses
http://adlinks.che.com/29251-09
Chemical Engineering June 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering June 2010
