Applications of Fixed Gas Detectors in the Industrial Field and Other Sectors
More than 80% of production areas in the petrochemical industry carry flammable and explosive risks. According to the Code for Design of Combustible Gas and Toxic Gas Detection and Alarm in Petrochemical Enterprises, the effective horizontal coverage radius of each gas detector is 7.5 meters indoors and 15 meters outdoors. At least one detector shall be installed within each effective coverage area. In addition, detectors shall be separately installed near the inlet and outlet valve manifolds of storage tanks, as well as in pump rooms, compressor rooms, cylinder filling valve rooms and other areas prone to gas leakage.
In most working scenarios, it is necessary to deploy BW LEL or IR detectors to monitor flammable gas leaks. BW LEL and IR instruments support two-stage alarm output. When the combustible gas concentration in the monitored area reaches 10% LEL (Lower Explosive Limit) or 20% LEL, the monitor will trigger the first-stage and second-stage alarm respectively. Alarm thresholds can also be adjusted in accordance with customer requirements.
For toxic and hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, aniline and carbon disulfide involved in production processes, BW PID detectors shall be adopted for leakage monitoring. BW PID equipped with a 9.8 eV ultraviolet lamp is applicable for benzene leakage detection in styrene units of petrochemical plants. BP Texas Refinery in Texas, USA, deployed BW PID with 9.8 eV UV lamps to monitor and alarm benzene leaks in production workshops. During more than six months of continuous monitoring, the BW PID system delivered an accurate and effective alarm for an on-site benzene leakage incident.
Metallurgical Industry
The metallurgical industry, especially iron and steel smelting, uses industrial coal gas as fuel. Blast furnace gas, converter gas and coke oven gas contain extremely high levels of carbon monoxide. Insufficient leakage detection for CO and flammable gases may lead to CO poisoning or explosion accidents. For safety monitoring in iron and steel enterprises, BW CO detectors for toxic carbon monoxide and BW LEL detectors for total flammable gas concentration are the primary solutions. Real-time concentration monitoring of toxic and combustible gases tracks fluctuations in ambient gas levels. Once the concentration exceeds the preset threshold, the instrument will send out an alarm signal to warn on-site staff of gas leakage, prompting immediate evacuation and emergency disposal to prevent accident escalation such as poisoning and explosions.
