Effective seal pot monitoring
Nufarm uses instrumentation to protect against product loss
A chemical plant in Bradford is planning to add level and pressure instrumentation to seal pots around its site after a successful trial. Monitoring the seal pots, which help to avoid loss of containment around mechanical seals, was previously a manual task. But now any deviation in pressure or level acts as an early warning that the mechanical seal is degrading or the seal support system is compromised.
Nufarm's plant in Bradford
Seal pot with level and pressure sensors
The benefits
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Protection against product leakage and seal failure
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Improved safety and reliability
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Easy commissioning as the configuration settings can be copied from one device to another
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Supports proactive maintenance
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Use of instrumentation in tandem with operator routines provides a robust reliability strategy
“You can easily monitor levels and pressure to proactively manage changes before they become an issue.”
Nufarm
The challenge
In many industrial applications, mechanical seals play a critical role in preventing leaks. However, in certain demanding environments, a seal support system such as a seal pot is essential to avoid loss of containment, which could have wide-reaching implications for safety, environmental protection and reputation. Seal pots are often situated in hard-to-access or hazardous areas, making the monitoring process challenging.
The solution
With support from Endress+Hauser, Nufarm trialled the installation of level and pressure instrumentation on one of its seal pots. The measurements they provide are used to confirm that there is adequate barrier fluid volume (meaning no loss, evaporation or internal leak) and that the barrier fluid pressure is maintained above process pressure, which confirms that the fluid is flowing into the seal cavity and the process isn’t leaking.
Early warning system
The values from the instrumentation are fed into the site’s DCS computer system for analysis and trend monitoring. “Trending is great because if there’s an issue you can actually see the level and pressure start to decline and make a quick diagnosis. This is exceptionally useful during RCAs <root cause analysis>,” says Ben Ross. “And this is all without needing to go in with permits or specialised PPE.”
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