Emerson’s Thomas Otten to speak at ACHEMA about how DOW’s effective use of flow metering technology improved safety and saved time and money

Emerson’s Business Development Manager Thomas Otten, will be speaking at ACHEMA 2018 on June 14 at 11.10pm about the savings achieved with DOW.Thomas has held the position of Emerson Automation Solutions’ Business Development Manager for the Chemical Industry in Europe since 2014, specialising in flow measurement. A process engineer with a deep knowledge of flow dynamics and flow measurement, he looks for industry trends and options to optimise processes with the Emerson product portfolio. He joined the company in 2012 and has an Engineer’s Degree in Chemical Process Engineering from the Cologne University of Applied Sciences.

Mr Otten’s talk will discuss why, more than ever, running a plant productively and safely requires the right technologies and experience. With new international safety standards released, many companies are required to re-examine their established safety practices to ensure they are meeting all relevant standards.

The standard practice at most facilities is to take the instrumentation out of the process and send it to an accredited laboratory for calibration. This practice poses several risks to personnel and environment, as it involves unmounting the instrument from the pipeline, which might still be contaminated with the process fluid. Also handling, shipment and a proper re-installation add risk to the procedure. Chances are that the calibrated instrument works worse after the process than it did before.

In addition to the risk for maintenance personnel, instrument and environment. The average maintenance cost for a proof test by means of a calibration is of $ 2500 per sensor.

The global flow technology team of DOW has looked at the performance history of the meters and agreed to opt for a new procedure, which uses in-line verification of the instruments.

The in-line verification provides a coverage factor above 90% and thus a re- calibration interval of every 20 years is calculated, which is close to end of life.

At one of its giant Polyol plants, DOW maintains an installed base of 100 SIS related Coriolis meters. Checking these with the new procedure provides a saving of approximately $250.000/year just on maintenance costs.

More than ever, running a plant productively and safely requires the right technologies and experience. With new international safety standards released, many companies are required to re-examine their established safety practices to ensure they are meeting all relevant standards.