LDARtools Hopes to See You at ISA

Good Morning,

Hope all is well on your end. We have been keeping very busy at LDARtools. We are getting geared up for the 14th Annual ISA LDAR Fugitive Emissions Symposium. This year the conference is May 19th– May 22nd in New Orleans, LA. If you have never been I encourage you to attend. It’s the best way to stay up to date on best practices in air compliance, air emission reduction challenges and requirements, and  of course the latest news in LDAR. It also helps that New Orleans has a great culture  and even better food.

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This year our very own CEO, Rex Moses, will be presenting. As of now the draft agenda has him scheduled to speak on Tusesday, May 20th at 11:30 AM. Mr. Moses will be presenting “Harness the POWER and FLEXIBILITY in Your LDAR Program”.  His presentation will highlight using the best technology and software to optimize safety, compliance, productivity, and reliability.

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Don’t forget…breakfast is the most important part of the day! Have a great weekend from Team LDARtools!

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LDARtools El Paso Stripper hits the market, The EPS Pro

Please note this product is no longer for sale by LDARtools.

 

LDARtools was recently identified at the 4C conference of being the “Think Tank” for the entire LDAR Industry. This makes us pretty proud. We are doing our best to live up to that role and today we are announcing our newest product.

The EPS Pro is the first in a line of cooling tower monitoring products that will redefine the best practice.

While the EPS Pro was built to comply with the required standards(appendix P), the status quo was ignored. Gone are the project boards, dolly and neoprene plugs! There was a better way to do it an we found it.

What exactly does Appendix P require?

3.1 Air stripping apparatus. An air stripping apparatus as presented in Figure 1 and meeting the following requirements:

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3.1.1 The stripping chamber shall be a cylinder 36 inches in length with an internal diameter of 3 inches, and constructed of clear, heavy-walled glass.

3.1.2 The stripping chamber packing material shall be beryl saddles between 6 to 8 millimeter size. The depth of the packing material will be 26 inches.

3.1.3 The end caps of the stripping chamber must meet the dimensions specified in Figure 2. Neoprene stoppers are recommended; however, securing clamps will be required to prevent leakage. Black rubber stoppers are not allowed due to the
potential absorption and release of organic compounds. Alternative designs for the end caps, such as customized threaded plastic caps with Neoprene gaskets, are acceptable provided the materials used are non-reactive with the sample matrix or target compounds, and the end caps meet the specifications in Figure 2. The tip of the water sample inlet line is intentionally left 5 to 6 inches above the water level in the stripping chamber to help accelerate the response of the system as some VOCs will be released immediately as the water falls into the chamber.

3.1.4 Tubing used in the air stripping apparatus for transporting gas and water shall
be 1/4 inch stainless steel or Teflon material. Stainless steel or Teflon 1/4 inch
tubing of minimal length shall be used to route water sample from the sample tap to
the air stripping apparatus. The water sample tubing from the sample tap shall not
be more than 50 feet in length.

3.1.5 An empty, clear-glass flask is used as a knock-out to remove some of the moisture in the stripped air stream, but gas exiting the stripping chamber will essentially be at saturated moisture for the ambient conditions. Different styles of knockout flasks are acceptable; however, the flask must be clear-glass and 500 ml or less in size.
3.1.6 A T-union with one leg leading to a bubbler must be included.

Check it out below! Rugged!

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LDARtools signs EnRUD Resources as a Distributor.

Houston, TX, February 17, 2013 – EnRUD Resources and LDARtools, Inc. announce that EnRUD will become a distributor of LTI’s suite of LDAR products on a non-exclusive basis.

As such, EnRUD will provide to its customers a full range of LDARtools® hardware and LDAR software products at the lowest possible prices.

“Enrud’s offering of LDARtools software and hardware products will allow customers easier access to our state of the art features”, said Rex Moses, President of LDARtools®.

Please refer inquiries to:

LDARtools®
Kevin Moses, Director of Operations, kmoses@ldartools.com

Enrud Resources
Roy Massengale, President, roy@enrud.com

 

About EnRUD

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EnRUD Resources is dedicated to providing solutions for managing environmental and maintenance information in the petrochemical,refinery and manufacturing industries.  Our information management solutions are designed to automate and facilitate many of the daily labor intensive activities performed by facilities around the world.

About LDARtools®

LDAR Tools

LDARtools® was founded in 2007 with the goal of developing, manufacturing and supporting more reliable and user friendly LDAR hardware and handheld software. LDARtools® patented software programs Cal3.0 (automatic calibration) and FEScout (GPS vicinity locator and technician management) have become the state-of-the-art in the LDAR world. In addition, LDARtools® stocks millions of dollar’s worth of LDAR related supplies, manufactures phx21, c2, SpanBoxes and develops and supports a wide range of compliance related handheld software. Based out of Texas, LDARtools® also has a branch in China and distributors in Taiwan and Europe. 

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4C LDAR Conference is almost HERE!

What’s LDARtools doing this year?
7a – 8a
BREAKFAST & REGISTRATION Sponsored by  LDARtools & EnRUD Resources
11a – 11:45a
How to Generate LDAR Excellence, Mediocrity or Downright Neglect
Rex Moses,LDARTools
Details: Learn how to use Best Available Technology and LDAR software tools to optimize the work of field technicians. The way these technicians interface with their work and tools is the deciding factor in whether your LDAR program is one of excellence, mediocrity or downright neglect.
11:45a – 12:45p
LUNCH Sponsored by  LDARtools & EnRUD Resources
Find out more:
https://4cconference.com/#!/agenda/day2
See you there!
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11 Reasons not to monitor an LDAR Component

Managing Components that were NOT Monitored Part II

What happens when your LDAR technician is unable to monitor a component the first time the component is assigned to him in his route?

The answer to this question can have dramatic consequences on the efficiency and effectiveness of your LDAR program.

The most obvious reason is the one that most current LDAR programs presume: he just ran out of time. The fact that the component is still showing “Unmonitored” in the LDAR Database tells us nothing about the component. We infer, very simply, that he just ran out of time. Therefore, the component is downloaded tomorrow and assigned either to the same component or to a different one.

But looks can be deceiving and that we presume need not always be the case.

Which is another way of saying, there might be a lot of other reasons why that component was not monitored. And if any of these other reasons are true, it is far better for YOU if you know what they are- before you send another tech out to monitor it.

Years of LDAR experience, leads to the awareness that a component may go unmonitored for a wide variety of reasons. For instance:

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  1. The tech was unable to find the component.
  2. The component involved climbing and the tech didn’t want to climb.
  3. The tech determined that the component had been removed from service.
  4. The tech determined that the component was temporarily out of service.
  5. The tech was able to locate the component but was unsure about how to monitor the component due to its complexity.
  6. The tech was able to find the component but believed that it was a DTM component.
  7. The component required some special PPE to monitor that the tech did not have (e.g., goggles, life preserver, rubber boots, etc.).
  8. The component had been insulated over.
  9. The component’s emission seam (such as a connector) had been welded together.
  10. The tech was not able to tie off above his center of gravity.
  11. The component was surrounded by tall grass during snake / alligator season.

Each of these scenarios can impact how best to manage this particular component going forward. Lumping them all together into what the industry refers to as a “trash route” in your LDAR Software and sending someone else out to try to monitor them is the least effective response.

We will describe several of these situations in our next blog. For now, let’s all agree:  an unmonitored component could be much, much more than just another unmonitored component.

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WHAT? Eliminate LDAR stragglers?

You start the quarter with 5,000 components to monitor. As the weeks tick off, more and more and more components get monitored. The data in your handheld computers gets uploaded each day.  Your LDAR database recognizes the components that were monitored and they are removed from the schedule.

But some components DON’T get monitored.

As early as the first week of the quarter, the number of “scheduled to be monitored” includes what we call “stragglers:” components that a technician tried to monitor but, for a whole variety of reasons, did not monitor. As the quarter rolls by and each day draws to a close, the number of components that a technician tried, but was unable to monitor grows.

The problem is that the major LDAR Database programs (like LeakDAS, Guideware and FEMS, for instance) do not differentiate between components that are “fresh” (i.e. no one has tried to monitor them) and components that are stragglers (i.e. a technician tried, but was unable to monitor).

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The result is that, toward the end of the quarter, a larger and larger proportion of the components “in the schedule” are stragglers. Some have called this the “dregs.” Others, have referred to them as “trash routes.”  Another term is “DTFs” (as in Difficult to Find.)

Perhaps you have heard tales of the legendary LDAR technicians, who could take these trash routes and (by magic, voodoo or exemplary skills and dedication) find and monitor all of the components.

But, the stress can be difficult to absorb and is compounded by the realization that we are going to have to do it all again – next quarter.

Now there is an alternative. It is the result of Bluetooth advances that have made it possible to equip the technicians with handheld computers that are capable of doing more than simply displaying a record of a component to be monitored and then storing the monitoring results.  With the new software that is available, the technicians can give details as to WHY she was unable to complete a component that was scheduled to be monitored. Rather than simply skipping over the components (which tells the database, the site administrator and the next technician that sees this component NOTHING), the technician can provide valuable information about the situation surrounding this component.

There are more the 12 different reasons why a technician might not be able to monitor any given component.  IN EACH AND EVERY CASE, your program objectives of value, integrity and safety are facilitated if and only if you know which of those reasons is true for each component.

IT MATTERS whether the technician did not monitor the component because she couldn’t find it OR if she could find it, but was not able to identify the emission seams on a complicated piece of equipment, for instance.  IT MATTERS that you know that BEFORE you send out the next technician.

We will consider each of the possible scenarios in our next blog and how KNOWING can make a big difference for you and the success of your LDAR program.

In the mean time, check out our new palapa!

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Details on our newest phx21 patent!

LDAR monitoring is performed in process facilities: typically refineries and chemical plants, which are frequently dirty environments. There is dust, grease, process material and other foreign substances. The suction at the probe tip that is engineered to draw in the air sample from along the leak interface and does not discriminate: it will vacuum up anything small enough to be captured by its suction.

To protect the analyzer, the manufactures of the TVA 1000B and the phx21 specify that the instruments should be operated with the appropriate filtering systems. Inevitably, the filters “catches” something. As foreign particles accumulate one of two things must happen:

  1. If the (suction) pump continues at a constant rate of power, then the restriction in the path the sample has to travel will reduce the volume of the sample; OR
  2. The volume of the sample can be maintained at the optimal level by increasing the voltage to the pump.

Introducing US Patent # 8,587,319, which provides for implementing, specifically, the innovation described by #2.

The patent itself is expressed in technical jargon LDAR technology, with such technical terms as “BOFID,” “operating conditions,” “sensors,” “measured values,” “controllers,” “voltage input,” and “detector region.” But the bottom line is that the patent provides for a “speed control” feature on the pump in an LDAR analyzer that ensures that the sample flow remains constant even (especially!) when the filter starts to get clogged up during routine operation.

This ensures the accuracy of the readings and is the best guarantee that your analyzer will pass the drift assessment required by your consent decree WITHOUT HAVING TO REPLACE THE FILTERS PRIOR TO DOING THE DRIFT TEST.

Another, important feature of the phx21, which includes the embodiment of this patented innovation, is that it monitors the condition of the filter and displays that condition to the technician on the monitoring screen of her handheld computer.

In this way, the phx21 monitors the conditions of the filters, adjusts the voltage of the pump AND tells the technician when it is time to replace the filter.

At LDARtools we are committed to finding the better way. There is it. What kind of drift assessments are you doing, today?

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LDAR Analyzer Filter Maintenance and Drift Assessments

Since 1990, Method 21 has required a daily calibration to confirm the accuracy and reliability of the analyzer, such as a TVA 1000B or phx21.

As the years past, knowledgeable LDAR professionals began to notice the impact that contaminated filters were having on the reliability of the monitoring results. It became more and more apparent that as debris accumulated in the filter and the sample flow was compromised, the  PPM readings being displayed were no longer accurate.

In other words, a dirty filter, by degrading the quality of the sample getting to the detector could and likely would lower PPM readings significantly outside of the accuracy range of the analyzer.   A 600PPM leak at the valve packing could be displaying as a 60PPM leak on the analyzer’s readout.

Leaks were being missed. Potentially LOTS of leaks were being missed.

The first reaction was for the industry to become more diligent about encouraging technicians to be mindful of the condition of their filters.

Several years ago, the EPA began including Drift Assessment requirements as provisions in LDAR Consent Decrees.  One of the primary motivators for these drift assessments was to mandate a midday or end-of-day confirmation that the analyzer was still generating accurate readings.  Stated another way, the drift assessment was meant to ensure that the readings were not being improperly lowered as the result of lowered flow caused by clogged or compromised filters.

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For instance, if the analyzer produced a reading of 400 on a known gas of 500, the most obvious cause was a restriction in the flow rate caused by a dirty filter.  Finding this result would call into question the accuracy of the readings taken earlier that day and, generally, required that certain components be remonitored.

The most obvious preventative or corrective action, of course, was a diligent program of filter maintenance and replacement.

Unfortunately, what too many LDAR technicians did was precisely what they should NOT have done: they simply established the practice of replacing all filters immediately prior to performing the drift assessment.

When replacing the filter is done purely and solely for the purpose of drift assessment it greatly calls into question the legitimacy of the results.

Are you doing drift assessments? Are the results  you are getting legitimate?  Are your technicians replacing filters before they do them? Are you sure?

There is a better way to do it. And, we at LDARtools found it. THAT better way will be the topic of our next blog!

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LDARtools is GROWING!

We are excited to announce a new job opening!

Job Title(s): Shipping Specialist
Job Summary: Minimal Qualifications:
1. Must be at least 18 years of age.
2. Read, write and speak English.
3. Ability to pass a drug screen and background check.
4. Advanced computer skills.

Work Schedule:
1. Required to work 5 days per week, and achieve 40 hours. Work hours are 8 am to 5 pm.
Essential Job Tasks:
1. Manage, create, package and ship all web store orders.
2. Keep web store inventory organized and clean.
3. Willingness to learn and master varies shipping companies; UPS, DHL, FedEx. Prior shipping experience preferred.
4. Ship any outbound items.
5. Prepare all Will Call orders.
6. Handle any documentation require for web store orders.
7. Create orders using Network Solutions online store.
8. Assist in general inventory maintenance.
9. Assist with quality control of incoming products.
10. Assist in web store maintenance.
11. Assist management in applicable task.

Attitude:

Maintains professional demeanor in work environment.

Cognitive Requirements:
1. Carry out given instructions.
2. Listen to understand and learn.
3. Write effectively in the languages in which business is conducted.
4. Think critically and act logically to evaluate situations, solve problems and make decisions.
5. Use technology, instruments, tools and information systems effectively.
6. Willingness to continue to learn.

To apply:
Email resume to jobs@ldartools.com. Include resume text in the body of the email, do not attach it. Also include the answer (at the top of your email) to the following question: What is the cost to rent an Archer Field PC for One Month? Hint: see our webstore.

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LDARtools is issued a NEW Patent!

LDAR analyzers (like the TVA-1000B and the phx21) are typically operated with multiple filters in place. Filters are positioned in various places, including at the probe tip.  Process environments (where LDAR programs are conducted) are prone to a wide variety of factors (such as dust, dirt, chemicals, etc.) that can either damage the analyzer or compromise its accuracy.  Thus, the importance of filters.

The problem is that, in order to protect the LDAR analyzer from the contaminating particles, the probe tip filter, for instance, has to “trap” the offending particles.  In other words, the filter doesn’t eliminate the contaminant; it catches it and holds it- right there in the middle of the sample flow.

As the filter does its job, the contaminants accumulate on the surface of the filter.  The result of this accumulation is that the passage that the filter is defending starts to get clogged by the foreign particles. This means less of the sample passes through. The accuracy of the results of the analyzers (expressed in PPM) starts to suffer.

The deterioration of the accuracy of the analyzers is completely hidden from the technician. Unless she is constantly vigilant about the condition of the filters, the contamination will occur and the accuracy of the readings will suffer.

Testing has confirmed that, when monitoring a known gas of 500ppm, a TVA will continue to operate and display readings without providing any warning or indication until the filter is so clogged that the readings have deteriorated by as much as 90%- at which point the TVA will flame-out. In other words, we have seen a TVA, with a clogged probe-tip filter,  generate readings of 45ppm when sampling a 500ppm gas.

This is also a primary reason why drift assessments are so integral to the efficacy of an LDAR program- UNLESS your technicians are changing out filters right before they perform the drift assessment.

Are they?

If you would like to learn more about LDARtools’ new PATENTED solution to the challenge of maintaining LDAR integrity in the face of filter contamination, watch this space!

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