Multipoint flow meters optimise boiler air-gas combustion efficiency at oil refineries and industrial plants to reduce fuel costs

Oil/gas refinery and other process engineers will find the from Fluid Components International’s (FCI) MT100 Series Multipoint Mass Flow Meter provides oil refinery technicians and process engineers with the precise air/gas flow measurements necessary for optimising boiler performance and thereby reducing costly fuel gas consumption and greenhouse waste gas emissions.

Accurate flow measurements for parameters such as combustion air and fuel gas recirculation are critical for operating refinery boilers efficiently and safely.  The large size of the ducts and limited amount of straight run, make these highly demanding applications. 

It is essential to choose the best locations when deploying the flow sensors in piping and duct systems, not only for the purpose of measurement, but also for suitable access for maintenance and installation.  FCI’s MT100 include both mast type and single-point flow elements to provide the best flow measurement solution the flow measurement solution

The highly versatile MT100 Flow Meters offer end users established accurate, repeatable and compact thermal dispersion flow sensor technology. They monitor and report flow rate and/or the totalised flow of air and fuel gases to achieve the perfect combustion ratio needed to achieve optimum boiler efficiency to produce the steam used for cracking and other high-heat refinery and other production processes within the petrochemical industry.

FCI have combined sophisticated electronics with application-specific precision multipoint flow sensors in a robust enclosure developed for operation in the harsh environments common to refineries and petrochemical plants. These devices provide operators with precise and reliable temperature-compensated direct mass flow measurement of air and fuel gases. The MT100 comes with one to eight flow rate sensing points; The sensors are deployed at various points along the boiler burner’s piping and their outputs multiplexed and averaged to measure the air, gas and totalised flows.

The MT100’s sensors can also be deployed at multiple locations in various other air and gas pipelines both in a single plane or across a large mast for measuring stack gas waste. These robust, durable devices, with almost no maintenance requirements, are perfect for operation in dirty, hot and humid surroundings; there are no moving parts, orifices or glass windows, so fouling or clogging is never a problem.

These instruments measure air, natural gas, process gases or flue waste gasses operating in temperatures as high as 454°C/850°F; they measure flow rates over a broad range from 0,07 to 305 NMPS/0.25 to 1000 SFPS with 100:1 turndown and superb accuracy of ± 1.75% of reading, ± 0.5% of full scale.

The MT100’s transmitter features an all stainless-steel NEMA4X/IP66-rated enclosure is to provide a long service lifespan in outdoor installations.  Its electronics includes a wide choice of output options to interface with almost any DCS, PLC, SCADA, or recorder. It also includes, as standard, high resolution, 16 bit, dual 4-20mA, NAMUR 43 compliant analogue outputs with, HART I/O, and Modbus RS485 RTU/ASCII.  Profibus-PA or Foundation Fieldbus communications are optionally available. These features make the MT100 the ideal choice for demanding applications, such as oil/gas refineries and chemical plants, where hot, moist and dirty gases as well as an absence of pipe straight-run, distorted flow profiles, low flow rates and wide turndowns rates are prevalent.

The instrument’s large colour touch-screen LCD readout offers extensive process information to users with analogue and digital displays of flow rate, temperature and totalised flow, and an operator time-base selectable strip-chart of flow rate and sensor status diagnostics. The unit’s electronics also feature a user-programmable data logger to which flow rate, temperature and totalised flow; fault codes can be recorded on a removable, 8 GB microSD card.

Every MT100 Meter is independently tested and verified to comply with IEC safety directives for EMC and LVD and have the CE marking. MT100 meters can be ordered with the options of ATEX or IECEx or FM/FMc agency approvals for Division II/Zone 2. These mass flow meters are TÜV-certified as AMS compliant with EN15267-3 with QAL1 and EN14181, and comply with USA EPA CEMS 40 CFR  60 and 40 CFR 75.