Chemical Engineering March 2019 - 22

Endress+Hauser
A.W. Lake
FIGURE 4. Endress+Hauser's Promass Q Coriolis
flowmeter features on-board diagnostics and
Heartbeat Technology to ensure product and process
safety
flow may be an issue, says Wade
Mattar, flow marketing manager with
Schneider Electric (formerly Foxboro;
Foxboro, Mass.; www.schneiderelectric.us).
" Often they may have liquid
and gas mixed in a line - a challenging
application - and this may
create bubbles in the flow, which further
adds to the difficulty in achieving
an accurate measurement, " he says.
" For these difficult conditions, it's important
to select a technology, such
as a Coriolis meter, that can handle
them with accuracy " (Figure 2).
Mattar continues: " Processors
often don't realize that one size does
not fit all when it comes to flow measurement.
That's why there is a variety
of flowmeter types; each one is
designed for a specific type of application
and to handle specific process
challenges. Selecting the right
one for the application and environment
will help ensure a more accurate
reading. "
High-value products and safety
Accurate readings are a necessity
in today's CPI. " Manufacturers
of flow equipment need to ensure
that meters and instruments are accurate,
because chemical processors
are usually working with large
quantities of valuable materials and
they want to be able to accurately
control and monitor them to avoid
losses, " explains Adam Booth, product
marketing manager - flow with
Endress+Hauser (E+H; Greenwood,
Ind.; www.us.endress.com).
Schneider Electric's Mattar agrees:
" Accuracy is king in the chemical
industry where they are constantly
blending streams of different chemicals
in very precise percentages,
batching recipes for a high-quality
final product or transferring product
22
FIGURE 5. A.W. Lake's FAC sensors are equipped
with Bluetooth connectivity, allowing them to send
diagnostic and other information to mobile devices
into containers or unloading tank
trucks. On top of that, there may be
regulatory involvement in the mix and
the equipment may be audited to ensure
it is accurate. "
Safety, adds SOR's Bequette, is
another area of concern for flowmeter
accuracy. " If the flowmeter is
not accurate and there is a chemical
coming in for a reaction, poor
accuracy could result in an unstable
reaction, " he says. Cooling water is
another example. If enough cooling
water isn't introduced due to an inaccurate
flowrate, runaway temperatures,
and the hazards associated
with those conditions, could result.
Unfortunately, at the same time
as the need for greater accuracy
is increasing, industry is also going
through a period of workforce challenges,
including retirement, attrition
and associated loss of knowledge,
which have led to fewer, less experienced
workers taking on more responsibilities.
How does this affect
flow monitoring accuracy? Accuracy
of readings requires calibration verification,
and this is a notoriously laborintensive
and costly task, requiring
scheduled maintenance. Further, drift
may occur prior to scheduled maintenance.
When this happens, unless
there are experienced operators or
maintenance technicians who realize
something is " off, " there may be
costly product loss or quality issues,
or hazardous situations can occur.
Workforce and diagnostics
" Industry is currently struggling with
a loss of expertise due to retirement
and attrition and losing these
experienced people not only limits
the knowledge of the rest of the
plant, but it puts stress on the workers
who are left because they don't
have the history to know how to
address the root cause of the problem, "
says Mike Klein, vice president
of chemical industry marketing with
Emerson Automation Solutions (St.
Louis, Mo.; www.emerson.com).
" Another result is that fewer people
are working the plant, so the workload
is higher for those who remain.
For these reasons, it is imperative
that the devices provide trustworthy,
accurate and reliable data that
really allow the users to have a good
decision-making process. "
To assist, providers of flow meaare
working to
surement devices
provide instruments that offer helpful
features, such calibration verification
and diagnostic capabilities.
" There is a lot of innovation at the
flowmeter level in making the meters
more reliable and accurate because
a measurement a user doesn't trust
is a useless measurement, " says
Schneider Electric's Mattar. " So the
current trend includes providing onboard
verification of accuracy and
health of the measurement. "
For instance, in its Coriolis meters,
Schneider Electric offers flowmeter
verification technology that alerts
users if the instrument has varied
from its as-built performance. " Users
can check on a scheduled frequency
from the instrument itself whether the
device is still working as designed, "
explains Matter.
Before such capabilities, the only
way to verify a flowmeter was to remove
it from the process and send
it out to have the calibration verified.
Randall Brown, director of marketing
with Fluid Components International
(FCI; San Marcos, Calif.; www.
fluidcomponents.com) says verification
technology, such as FCI's VeriCal,
provides several benefits (Figure
3). " Having a built-in, in-situ check
that can be performed on demand or
on a timed basis allows users to verify
that the instrument is still as accurate
as when it was shipped from the factory, "
he says. " The big benefit here
is that they don't have to pull it out
of the process, replace it with a spare
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
MARCH 2019
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Chemical Engineering March 2019

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