Chemical Plant

A chemical facility had been struggling to determine the cause of high levels of benzene on-site. Operations had installed a central benzene analyzer that sampled air from remote sampling inlets located near critical equipment components that were suspected sources. When high levels of benzene were detected at one of the sampling locations, an operator inspected the equipment that was suspected of leaking so that it could be repaired. However, often when high levels of benzene were detected, no problem could be found in the equipment being monitored. In this situation, it would be natural for operators to assume that the unexplainably high readings of benzene were false alarms due to malfunctioning of the detection equipment. However, as the number of unexplained alarms increased, so did the concern of the facility managers.

The facility managers turned to Airdar for help to resolve the confusion around their emissions and an Airdar Analysis of the client’s data was performed. The Airdar Analysis revealed the truth: some of the alarms were indeed due to leaking from the suspected emission sources. Airdar was able to show that the efforts made to repair these components were successful in reducing emissions. The Airdar Analysis also showed that other alarms that had previously gone unexplained were not false alarms, but instead were caused by fugitive emissions from unsuspected locations. The benzene plumes from these unsuspected locations were being carried by the wind to the sampling inlets, causing confusion regarding the source of the emissions.

With the help provided by Airdar, the client was able to address the fugitive emissions and regain confidence that they knew exactly what was going on at their site. Plant operators were able to save valuable time, and the safety of the facility was improved.