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Interlocked and safe: state-of-the-art gas analysis
Safety is critical in any pyro process. Incorrect or inadequate monitoring of explosive gases can create unsafe working environments, endangering plant employees. It may also damage or destroy costly machinery, resulting in long-term production shutdowns.
Protecting employees and equipment, along with overall plant safety, is at the forefront of FLSmidth’s robust double probe system, known as DDOP: Double Dry nOn-cooled Probe. DDOP enables gas monitoring without any potentially hazardous blind periods.
Uninterrupted analysis and optimisation
DDOP uses a double probe configuration to continuously measure explosive gases, such as CO and CH4. Despite their brevity, blind periods during probe cleaning are high risk, which is why DDOP always has one probe measuring and analysing, while the other is being cleaned and readied to take over.
DDOP constantly measures explosive gas developments and provides operational staff with early warnings about potentially dangerous conditions, enabling quick corrections to the burning balance. As it is specifically designed and used for interlocking kiln burners, fans and electrostatic precipitators, DDOP makes it possible to compare measurements in the kiln and at the preheater exit, giving operators information they can employ to optimise plant performance.
Additionally, DDOP helps identify possible leakages, adding another layer of plant safety protection.
Dependable functionality and easy maintenance
Like all of FLSmidth’s solutions, DDOP is designed to function smoothly within the demanding environments of cement plants and in other similar applications. The easy, trouble-free installation, operation and maintenance of DDOP means that the system performs reliably, even in harsh, high-dust settings.
While the DDOP safety and interlocking gas analysis system is suitable for any filter air pollution control (APC) arrangement, it is ideally suited for electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). After having installed more than 4,000 ESPs in a wide range of industries and applications, FLSmidth has a deep understanding of their operational risks and the importance of pre-filter continuous gas analysis equipment.
How it works
Designed to operate in dusty environments in the preheater exit, DDOP is a complete filter protection system consisting of:
- A double dry non-cooled probe
- A probe cleaning panel
- Heated sample lines
- A GASloq™ gas conditioning unit
The double probe configuration permits true continuous gas analysis and protection from CO/CH4 peaks, while the 180°C heated sample lines prevent condensation before the gas reaches the GASloq gas conditioning unit. The two parallel sampling systems within the GASloq system each draw gas from one of the two probes, sending it at high speed to the common set of analyser units.
Why DDOP?
DDOP minimises the potential of damage to equipment, thus reducing the likelihood of longterm production shutdowns, and provides measurements that create opportunities for operators to increase efficiency. Pre-filter gas analysis is important for producers in six key industries (cement, lime, waste, power, steel and nickel) and DDOP provides an easy maintenance system that fulfils many producers’ safety and interlocking gas analysis needs.
After more than 40 years designing market-leading gas analysis solutions and with a dedicated commitment to research and development, FLSmidth is well-positioned to understand and respond to the unique challenges of the cement, minerals and process industries. Through its large product portfolio – the result of a committed R&D programme that produces cutting-edge technology – FLSmidth is highly focused on environmental protection.