Are You Safe From Gas Explosions?

In January 2016 EU legislation came into effect that states that the emission of VOCs must be monitored and controlled by the Best Available Technology (BAT). This is not limited to the production of gases that can occur during a process but also the gases that are used in the process and transported across plant, including natural gas.  There are very good reasons for the control of these substances, they are volatile and could ignite causing an explosion or get into the environment and wreak havoc in the animal kingdom.

So what is the Best Available Technology? ERIKS have trained Condition Monitoring Engineers specially trained state-of-the-art optical imaging cameras which have the ability to see gases. They operate based on theory that many of the VOCs have a similar property, in that they appear opaque in the infra-red spectrum at a specific wavelength. This means that at least 20 of the most volatile of gases can be seen using the camera. 

Some of the most common industries who have requested an OGI survey include chemical processing plants, pharmaceutical industries, distilleries, paint shops and bakeries.

“Bakeries?” I hear you cry!

Yes – we are doing surveys on the natural gas pipe-work and valve systems on the ovens and provers. A leak there could have disastrous consequences due to all sides of the fire triangle being present. The company in question had already blown the side of a building off due to a gas leak, which injured several employees with two being hospitalised, and were conducting the survey as a trial to determine the integrity of the rest of their install. Allied to this we are able to survey the insulation of the oven to provide guidance to potential cost savings, giving the added the value of a fantastic energy saving survey.

So if you have VOCs on your site or even just natural gases, can you afford not to see what is really going on?