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Evaluation of instrument leak detection capabilities for smart LDAR application: Refinery testing
Author(s) -
Furry D.W.,
Harris G.,
Ranum D.,
Anderson E.P.,
Carlstrom V.M.,
Sadik W.A.,
Shockley C.E.,
Siegell J.H.,
Smith D.G.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
environmental progress and sustainable energy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.495
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1944-7450
pISSN - 1944-7442
DOI - 10.1002/ep.10327
Subject(s) - refinery , leak , environmental science , process (computing) , computer science , operating system , environmental engineering
To progress wider application of optical imaging technology for Smart Leak Detection and Repair, confirmatory field test data on instrument leak detection capabilities for refinery streams were collected. During this testing, the optical imaging instrument was used to monitor over 110,000 components in six different refinery process unit areas. Seventy‐two leaks were found (∼0.065% of total components) using the optical imaging instrument and 40 of these leaks were bagged to quantify the mass emission rate. In addition, 30 components with high Method 21 readings that were not detected as leakers with the optical imaging instrument were bagged. The monitoring team was able to view over 4500 components per hour on average. This article includes a summary of the process areas monitored with the optical imaging instrument, the approximate number of components monitored in each process area, the time for this monitoring, a list of the components found leaking by the optical imaging instrument, the Method 21 reading for the leaking components, and the mass emission rate if the component was bagged. The minimum size refinery leak detected by the instrument during this test was 0.18 grams per hour. The maximum leak found by Method 21 that the camera could not detect was 11 grams per hour. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2009