An informative and educational resource specializing in process control instrumentation, analytical instruments, and related industrial equipment. Content includes technology basics, how-to's, new product developments, and application notes. Blog is courtesy of Alliance Technical Sales, a leading Manufacturers' Rep headquartered in Clarendon Hills, IL and serving customers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
A bioprocess control system update helped a leading manufacturer of USDA-licensed biologicals improve batch consistency. The pharmaceutical manufacturer had an 800 liter, 30+ year-old stainless steel, steam-in-place (SIP) reactor that was mechanically sound but in desperate need of a new controller. They needed to replace the production capability and required flexible controls for the varying products their customers produced. Of foremost concern was the cost to replace the idle system. ILS Automation came to their rescue.
By combining world-class products, application expertise, and unsurpassed customer service, Alliance Technical Sales enables its clients to increase manufacturing efficiency, reduce production costs, and improve product quality and value. Each of the manufacturers we represent has extensive experience solving critical service applications with the products they manufacture.
Hazardous-area approved silicone rubber heating blankets for electrical surface heating in hazardous locations are available from BriskHeat. They provide a low profile heater design and are ideal for heating surfaces like tanks, hoppers, conveyors, silos, etc.
Silicone rubber heaters provide exceptional durability and longevity, plus moisture, chemical and radiation resistant. They are composed of heavy duty, extra thick silicone rubber which provides exceptional durability and longevity. Available with industrial strength pressure sensitive adhesive backing for easy installation and a patented grounded heating element for your safety meets NEC 427.23.
The resistance heating element is laminated between 4 layers of heavy duty fiberglass reinforced silicone rubber; two layers of 23mil and two layers of 25mil fiberglass reinforced silicone rubber. Optional built-in high-limit thermostats designed to keep blanket below NEC article 500 T-Rating are available.
The use of Tunable Diode Laser (TDL) gas sensors is becoming more and more common in industrial processes. This is because they measure directly in the process gas stream without drift or cross-interference and are far more economical to purchase, install and maintain than other gas analyzer types. TDLs use a measurement technology called absorption spectroscopy: they output a beam of laser light at the same frequency that the gas to be measured absorbs light. The TDL analyzes the light after it has passed through the gas stream and calculates the quantity of the target gas in the stream.
Most TDLs are comprised of two parts: the laser source unit and a receiving/analyzing unit. These parts must be installed directly opposite each other, which is not always easy and misaligned can often occur. METTLER TOLEDO's GPro 500 Series solves this by combining both parts in a single unit. A probe attached to the GPro 500 sensor protrudes into the gas stream. A three-sided mirror at the end of the probe directs the beam back through the probe to the receiver, so alignment is always perfect.
The series is available with a wide range of different probes and adaptions that allow the GPro 500 to be placed wherever required in a process. These include:
a probe with a filter to prevent dust ingress
a wafer probe for narrow (2") pipes
an extractive cell for use with sampling and conditioning systems
a White cell for trace level detection
Using a modular design, the GPro 500 tunable diode laser gas analyzer allows you to select the process adaption that fits your application, and match it with the parameter that you need to measure. We offer sensors that measure a variety of gases including Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen Chloride (HCl), Hydrogen Sulfide (H₂S), Moisture, Ammonia (NH₃), Methane (CH₄) and Oxygen (O₂).
The GPro 500 does not require maintenance-prone extractive and conditioning systems. This means that you receive consistent performance from your tunable diode laser gas analyzer without the downtime and cost associated with these traditional systems. You achieve reliable uptime, critical in safety applications, at a reduced cost of ownership.
Magnetic Level Gauges and Magnetostrictive Level Transmitters for Black Liquor Chemi-Washer in Paper Mill
Black liquor is a waste product found in paper mills from the processes used to break pulp wood down into usable fibers. Many different methods are used to wash black liquor from the fibers before they are sent to the paper / cardboard making sections of the mill, one of which is a black liquor Chemi-Washer. The Chemi-Washer consists of a train of eight washes used to clean black liquor off of the paper fibers. The waste liquid gets progressively cleaner through each section of the train. DP transmitters are traditionally used to measure level in each section of the washer.
Jogler, a leading manufacturer of industrial level instrumentation offers a case study on successfully handling this application.
Have you ever experienced microbial contamination that led to an out-of-spec event, water system quarantine, or product recall even though you perform routine testing? How much time and cost did it take investigate or undo this damage? Even with false positive results, it’s often too late.
The water loop has to be sanitized, rinsed, retested and the affected product may be a total loss.
While plate counting is a regulatory requirement, there are inherent risks and delays that can greatly impact the accuracy of test results. Let’s take a look at these risks.
No matter how careful you are, contamination can still occur at any stage of sampling.
Waiting 5-7 days to get results causes you to use “at risk" water without knowing the microbiological quality.
A sample you take now could yield very different results than a sample taken minutes or hours later.
Sampling too infrequently can also cause you to miss an excursion.
You can only count what will culture and colonies you can actually see.
Such variables and limitations can mislead your assessment of the water quality.
What if you could reduce these risks with a complementary test method? Instead of capturing snapshots that are a week old with sampling, you could have full visibility of your process with continuous, real-time monitoring. When used in parallel with plate counting, the Mettler Toledo 7000RMS real-time microbial detection analyzer can help you react quickly to any trend or excursion before it becomes an event. Giving you complete process transparency for minimized risk and real-time water release.
The Mettler Toledo 7000RMS advanced laser-induced fluorescence technology provides a direct cell count of microorganisms present in pharma-grade waters. Overcoming limitations of growth-based laboratory methods that are an estimation of microbial presence and dependent on time and incubation conditions.
Counts microorganisms from as small as 0.50 microns and accepts direct input line temperatures of up to 90ºC. The Mettler Toledo 7000RMS delivers 24/7 monitoring of water treatment, storage tanks, distribution loops, points-of-use and clean-in-place processes.
Applications: Continuous monitoring of PW, WFI and UPW
In power plants, approximately half of unscheduled shutdowns can be traced to water cycle chemistry issues which involve costly repairs and lost operating revenue that can never be recovered. One of the most important parameters to measure to improve power plant water system efficiency is dissolved oxygen, DO. DO causes corrosion of components that contain iron and copper. Transport and deposits of these particles can also accelerate corrosion and damage critical plant equipment.
DO is measured at several locations in a water system. Traditionally, DO is measured with polarographic sensors, which use a gas permeable membrane to separate the sample from the electrochemical cell inside. Depending on the operating environment, polarographic sensors can require monthly electrolyte and membrane replacement. After service, the sensor cannot produce meaningful readings for several hours because of required polarization. They are also sensitive to sample flow rate and experience interference from dissolved hydrogen.
Mettler Toledo pure water optical DO sensor
Unlike traditional DO sensors, the Mettler Toledo Thornton online pure water optical DO sensor does not require polarization. It uses optical technology to provide fast and accurate analysis. Its measurement response is six times faster than polarographic sensors. The optical DO sensor also does not use electrolyte or a membrane, so it's not sensitive to flow or susceptible to damage from particles and dissolved hydrogen interference. There is no interior body to replace, and service is required only once a year to quickly and easily replace the one-piece Optocap sensing element. This provides plants with lower operating costs and reduced downtime.
The Mettler Toledo Thornton pure water optical DO sensor provides a fast, accurate and low-maintenance method of measuring dissolved oxygen concentration in power plant pure water systems.
For more information for any Mettler Toledo Process Analytics product, contact Alliance Technical Sales. Visit https://alliancets.com or call 630-321-9646.
A bioprocess control system update helped a leading manufacturer of USDA-licensed biologicals improve batch consistency. The pharmaceutical manufacturer had an 800 liter, 30+ year-old stainless steel, steam-in-place (SIP) reactor that was mechanically sound but in desperate need of a new controller. They needed to replace the production capability and required flexible controls for the varying products their customers produced. Of foremost concern was the cost to replace the idle system. ILS Automation came to their rescue.
