Awarded Orders

The offensive odour is in fact hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) and whilst it chiefly represents a nuisance to the local populace, at levels higher than the 8 parts per billion (ppb) concentration at which 50% of human beings can identify it, it can have debilitating medical effects such as headaches, itchy eyes and sore throats. A measure of the seriousness of the situation is a recent protest march by residents and several petitions being submitted to the government. It is now a major news story.

Both the EA and Newcastle Under Lyme Borough Council are committed to alleviating the distress the landfill gas is causing the local community and it was decided that the best way forward was to monitor the levels of H2S pervading the local residences accurately and regularly. In order to effect this, the council contacted ABLE regarding the Jerome J605 Gold Film Hydrogen Sulphide Analyser which, since its launch, has become the recognised industry standard for water treatment, waste management companies and regulatory bodies such as the EA and SEPA. The Jerome’s specificity and single digit ppb low level detection capability makes it admirably suited to nuisance odour monitoring.

Currently, around the clock monitoring is taking place in the vicinity of the landfill as the authorities attempt to gather a representative quantity of data, with a view to forcing the landfill operators to take curative action and future responsibility for odour monitoring. This may well take legal action to resolve but whatever the outcome, Newcastle Under Lyme Borough Council know that they can put their faith in the Jerome to deliver viable measurement data.

The amount of mercury in a fluorescent lamp varies from 3 to 46 mg, depending on lamp size and age. Newer lamps contain less mercury and the 3–4 mg versions are sold as low-mercury types. A typical 2006-era 4 ft (122 cm) T-12 fluorescent lamp contains about 5 milligrams of mercury.

Mercury is essential to a fluorescent bulb’s ability to emit light; no other element has proved as efficient. As effective as it is at enabling white light, however, mercury—sometimes called quicksilver—is also highly toxic. The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal. The inorganic salts of mercury are corrosive to the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tract, and may induce kidney toxicity if ingested.

Vision Recycling wanted to implement both a mobile mercury monitoring capability for general plant safety use and a stand-alone fixed-point analyser in an enclosure to police a potential vapour “hot spot”. The company selected the proven Jerome J405 Gold Film Mercury Vapour Analyser as recommended by ABLE, who offered to custom build the system enclosure. A 15-minute sampling regime will be used with integral beacon illumination to indicate both normal operation and the exceeding of a pre-set vapour concentration threshold.

Areera’s state-of-the-art technology is supplied by FDP Recycling, a Limerick based company who specialise in AI based recycling robots. The FPD system automatically cuts open the flat panel display, detects the position of the tubes, extracts them with a robotic arm, separating and containing the bulk of the contaminated material safely.

Safety regulations specified the need for regular mobile mercury vapour monitoring throughout the plant. Having invested in a “Rolls Royce” standard automated system, the situation demanded best in class monitoring and, following a demonstration of ABLE’s revered Jerome J405 Mercury Vapour Analyser, Areera had no hesitation in procuring a unit. From office areas to canteen, to changing rooms, as well as the main storage and processing areas, Areera staff now enjoy peace of mind augmented by fast and accurate mercury measurements across the plant.

Whilst the systems have provided years of reliable service, ABLE’s inspection revealed that some components were ageing and had contributed to recent electronic board failures, interrupting essential fuel deliveries. Upgrade recommendations were focused on the Portbury site as the source of the recent issues.

As testimony to the longevity and robustness of the ABLE commissioned installation, it was determined that the flow station spools were in good condition and fully serviceable, as were the underground transducer cables and the transducers themselves. However, the field junction boxes needed replacing and the CTM allocator flow computers were obsolete so had to be upgraded.

Subsequently, new JBs and the current generation flow meters, the FST030 have been procured and will be commissioned by ABLE in the near future.

One of the critical process control applications aboard the FPSO is that of Triethylene glycol (TEG). TEG is used by the oil and gas industry to “dehydrate” natural gas. It may also be used to dehydrate other gases, including CO2, H2S, and other oxygenated gases.[2] It is necessary to dry natural gas to a certain point, as humidity in natural gas can cause pipelines to freeze, and create other problems for end users of the natural gas.

TEG is placed into contact with natural gas and strips the water out of the gas. TEG is heated to a high temperature and put through a condensing system, which removes the water as waste and reclaims the TEG for continuous reuse within the system. The withdrawal of the water-rich glycol from the bottom of the absorber is facilitated by a level control, and high- and low-level shutdown can be applied to the reboiler, surge tank and flash separator.

When looking for a robust, reliable level measurement instrument, Cameron, acting on behalf of SBM Offshore, consulted ABLE Instruments. ABLE recommended Magnetrol’s industry proven AtlasTM Magnetic Level Indicator, providing both visual indication and a transmitter generated 4-20mA control signal (HART).

The Prosperity FPSO will utilize a design that largely replicates the design of the Liza Unity FPSO. The FPSO will be designed to produce 220,000 barrels of oil per day, will have associated gas treatment capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day and water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day.

Its principal related companies operate in over 60 countries across the globe. The company also owns subsidiaries that provide vacuum technology and distribution services.

Traditionally, BOC has used pitot tubes to measure sir flow on their reformer combustion line. However, these outlet collection systems operate under severe service conditions that push the metallurgical limits of the materials used. For that reason, reliable long‐term performance depends strongly on the operational control and maintenance practices applied by the owners. The pitot tubes had displayed measurement errors from day 1 and had ultimately failed. The search for an alternative solution was complicated by severe restrictions on installation space. Consequently, ABLE Instruments recommended the deployment of a V-Cone Flow Meter. With built in flow conditioning, the V-Cone is especially beneficial in tight-fit installations where straight pipe runs are at a premium and only a minimal pressure drop can be tolerated. SIL2 was also a requirement so ABLE worked with BOC to ensure the correct associated pressure transmitters and manifold were supplied.

The moisture content of the polycarbonate used to construct the panels is critical to the finished quality of the product. Too much moisture in the pellets prior to melting and extrusion and the final product will suffer from runniness and splay (off-colour streaking), too little moisture can cause clogging and production delays and render the end-product brittle.

Considering the significance of an accurate, trace moisture measurement of the polycarbonate pellets prior to production, Kingspan approached ABLE Instruments, experts in the field of moisture analysis, for a precise and reliable solution. ABLE recommended the best-in-class Computrac MAX-4000XL loss-on-drying moisture and solids analyser.

Simple to operate, highly durable and equally at home in research, manufacturing and laboratory environments, the MAX 4000XL is the ideal choice for critical moisture analysis.

The FPSO will be designed to produce 180,000 barrels of oil per day. Furthermore, the FPSO will have a water injection capacity of 250,000 barrels per day, associated gas treatment capacity of 12 million standard cubic meters per day and a minimum storage capacity of 1.4 million barrels of crude oil.

SBM Offshore will design and construct the FPSO Mero 2 using its industry leading Fast4WardTM program as it incorporates the Company’s new build, multi-purpose hull combined with several standardized topsides modules.

Johnson Controls International plc were contracted for the supply of mass flow meters for Chemical Distribution Packages to the FPSO – chemical solutions to improve oil recovery, remove formation damage, clean blocked perforations or formation layers, reduce or inhibit corrosion, upgrade crude oil, or address crude oil flow-assurance issues.

Aware of the accuracy and versatility of the Rheonik Coriolis line, Johnson Controls approached ABLE instruments, Rheonik’s exclusive distributor for the UK and Ireland, and subsequently placed an order for an instrument package that included 115 meters for various chemical injection duties, including Hydrogen Sulphide scavengers, Demulsifier, Asphaltene, Scale (Ethanol/MEG), Foam and Wax Inhibitors.

Delivery of the FPSO is expected in 2022.