The petrochemical industry is a wide-ranging industry with many processes and applications involving the production, processing, distribution, and transportation of hydrocarbons. One petrochemical application that requires oxygen monitoring is vapor recovery monitoring. A variety of petrochemical products are transported via barges, and before cleaning the holds of the vessels they must be de-gassed using vacuum blowers on the dock to extract the chemical fumes from the hold and replace them with normal air.
After being extracted from the holds, natural gas is added to the vapor stream to ensure there is an adequate air/fuel mixture to destroy the vapors in the vapor combustion unit. Oxygen analyzers are commonly used just after the natural gas is injected in the stream to check the O2 concentration and determine how much natural gas is needed to ensure O2 levels stay below 14.5% for adequate combustion.
Since this application deals with explosive gases, some form of hazardous area classification is required for analytical equipment. Our OMD-625 and OMD-150-NG are designed to be used with natural gas and are designed to class 1, division 1, and class 1, division 2 hazardous area specifications, respectively. Isolated analog or digital outputs on the analyzers allow them to interface with a PLC system that monitors the entire dock works from a central control room.
