Chemical Engineering June 2020 - 14

Newsfront
adaptability Helps flow
instrumentation evolve
A common adage says " if you can't measure it, you can't control it. " Now, advances in flowmeasurement
technologies are increasing the breadth of what it is possible to measure
In BrIef
environmental
management
less process
disruption
multifaceted flow
devices
a
s process
demands
evolve and
organizations
Sierra Instruments
DB
increasingly focus on
sustainability in their
operations, chemical
processors must stay
abreast of what these
changes mean for
their instrumentation
devices, especially
those that measure,
monitor and control
flow. Beyond measuring
flowrate, modern flowmeters increasingly
must adapt to rapidly changing conditions,
measure many parameters beyond flowrate
and continuously communicate with other
systems in a plant.
Analyzer
Flow
FIGURE 1. The qMix tool integrates with a gas chromatograph to provide realtime measurement
of varying gas compositions
u.s. environmental protection agency (epa)
and Bureau of land management (Blm).
changing gas compositions can certainly
Environmental management
" customers want more than just a flowmeter,
they want solutions. this may be additional
hardware or software that allows the
flowmeter to interface with another control
system in the plant, " says scott rouse, director
of product management for sierra
instruments, inc. (monterey, calif.; www.
sierrainstruments.com). combining adaptability
with connectivity, sierra has developed
a mass flowmeter that can be updated with
changing gas compositions in real time, integrating
with a gas chromatograph to obtain
gas composition (figure 1), explains rouse.
using sierra's qmix gas-mixing application
(app), users can create unlimited custom
gases or gas mixtures to compensate for
gas compositional changes in the field. measurement
of combustion, flaring and wastegas
processes are often regulatory requirements,
and sierra has now developed an
advanced qmix functionality, qmix realtime,
for realtime monitoring of flare and stack
gases, says rouse, thus helping users meet
the requirements of organizations like the
14
wreak havoc on flow-measurement accuracy
in a wide range of industrial applications, including
those processing biogas and natural
gas. " in biogas and natural gas applications,
gas composition can change and look very
different from week to week, " explains ria
edens, industrial marketing communications
manager at fox thermal inc. (marina, calif.;
www.foxthermal.com). fox thermal offers
the gas-selectX tool on several of its thermal
mass flowmeters, which allows users to
quickly re-program the meter to begin measuring
new gas compositions identified by
gas sampling. this tool utilizes a library of
common pure gases or can be programmed
for the users' own custom gas mixtures. in
shale-gas applications, accurate flow measurement
of changing gas mixtures is critical
for allocation and royalty purposes among the
many stakeholders.
compressed air is another area where accurate
flow measurement can reduce wasted
energy, thus greatly contributing to efficiency,
as problems with leakage are nearly universal
to these types of systems. thermal mass flowmeters
provide accuracy benefits with their
simplicity - unlike other flow-measurement
techniques, they do not require accompanying
ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com June 2020
Charting/exporting
qMix
RealTime
QuadraTherm thermal mass
flowmeter

http://www.foxthermal.com http://www.sierrainstruments.com http://www.Chemengonline.Com

Chemical Engineering June 2020

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