Petrochemical
We offer extensive services in the petrochemical industry, focusing on niche engineering design requirements in the following fields:
Hazardous area classification (HAC)
Any place in which an explosive atmosphere may occur requires special precautions to protect the safety of workers and equipment. We offer a service to classify these areas by analysing the environment where explosive gas atmospheres may occur and producing a resultant report and layout drawing. It allows the Client to enable the design team to implement the correct electrical design and select the appropriate equipment for that environment.
Inspections and audits
Electrical installations in hazardous areas possess features specially designed to render them suitable for operation. It is essential for reasons of safety in those areas that, throughout the life of these installations, the integrity of those special features are preserved. We offer audit and inspection services in terms of the relevant codes to verify the integrity of the installation.
Hydrocarbon detection systems
Leaks which release flammable vapours can potentially go undetected in areas where plant operators are not required to carry out regular day-to-day tasks. These areas include tank farms, automated pump bays, vapour recovery units, etc. Any leak represents the possibility of a fire or explosion, putting personnel and plant assets at risk. Hydrocarbon detection systems mitigate the risk through the installation of strategically placed hydrocarbon detectors which raise alarms, drawing operator attention to the risk immediately.
Overfill protection and level alarm integration
Spillages caused by overfilling fuel wastes money introduces a risk of explosion and fire and has a significant impact on the environment and reputation. The Buncefield incident is a prime example of the potential consequence of an overfill in a tank farm. Our Automatic Overfill Prevention designs cater to the specific requirements of each plant individually, with low probabilities of failure on demand (PFD), up to a safety integrity level of 3.
Tank gauging systems
Tank gauging systems acquire a level, temperature and water bottom data from tank gauges, to compute and display gross volume, mass, available product inventories and storage capacity. will include alarms and reports. We ensure seamless integration with local PLC/SCADA process control and deliver a system which allows operators and managers to have full control over wet stock management.
Control system design
Our approach to control systems focuses on a philosophy of segmentation and simplicity with an emphasis on maintaining operational uptime. We focus not only on the immediate requirements of the project but also on the maintainability of the system, throughout the project lifecycle. The ability to easily identify faults and repair them seamlessly and quickly supports the maintenance team and significantly reduces downtime. Simply put, our focus is to not limited only to the engineering design; but rather to all processes, direct or indirect, process or business, which impact the fundamental objective – the plant must operate when it needs to, support the overarching business goals and do so safely, or not at all.
Earthing, bonding and electrical continuity
Earthing/grounding and bonding are of major importance for the safety of personnel and the protection of material assets in the petrochemical industry. Electrostatic discharge due to two differing potentials across metallic parts, that aren’t bonded correctly in a hazardous area where flammable vapours may be present, may have sufficient energy to cause an explosion. While these inspections are generally covered in the inspections and audits we do for our clients, we do also offer this as a dedicated service on its own.
Explosion Protection (Ex) equipment selection
The Electrical Machinery Regulation (EMR) requires all hazardous areas to be classified and that the equipment used in such areas be certified. Knowing which equipment is suitable for which part of the installation and in which parts of the plant, is crucial. Furthermore, also understanding the benefits and shortfalls of Explosion Protection (Ex) rated equipment and when to select one over the other, requires in-depth knowledge of hazardous area and years of field experience.
Intrinsically Safe (IS) system designs
Intrinsic safety (IS) is a protection technique for the safe operation of electrical equipment in hazardous areas by limiting electrical energy available for ignition. While the initial IS loop design and approval process is slightly more onerous, at Cyntech, we still favour IS circuits over other Ex methods as not only is it safer, but it also simplifies circuits and reduces the installation cost when compared to other Ex protection methods.
Emergency Shut Down (ESD) system designs
An Emergency Shutdown (ESD) System is a method for not only stopping process operations in a safe and controlled manner but also to isolate the process and reduce the possibility of an unwanted event quickly. Our ESD systems are designed with a low probability of failure on demand (PFD). When activated, the ESD system absolutely must work. To this end, our designs include advanced diagnostics to identify with accuracy whether an alarm was activated or whether there was a fault in the line. In safety systems, we must measure all variables impacting the reliability of the system and to ensure operational uptime.
Road and rail loading and off-loading systems
The objective of any road/rail loading and or off-loading system is to improve the utilisation of existing facilities. We are continuously exploring new ways to increase the efficiency of gantry utilisation and to provide real-time data back to a central control room. As road loading gantries are invariably the greatest risk area in terms of fire, we ensure that the best practice safety systems are implemented. We always advise that you can’t manage what you can't measure and to that end, we monitor all processes from batch loading to flow rate, to safety system reliability and so on. From the time the truck arrives in the bay, to the time it leaves is also measured. The status of the earth and overfill monitors are also recorded along with total batch loads. We strive to find new solutions in gantry operations, to increase overall operational efficiency and minimise incidents.
Pipeline transfer
Very large, wide steel pipes are used as a common means to move crude oil and other fuel products - such as diesel, petrol, marine fuel, and methane gas - from one place to another, such as a refinery to a fuel storage terminal. If the pipeline fails or leaks, there should be emergency equipment that automatically senses that something is wrong. At Cyntech, we design safety interlocks via telemetry systems to ensure that the fuel stops flowing in the safest and most controlled manner, Furthermore, our control system would then automatically notify the people responsible for the pipeline and get an alarm letting them know of the problem.
Fire detection and protection systems
In the petrochemical industry, fire events and flammable and toxic gas leaks are a problem that can undermine the safety and business continuity. Obtaining a reliable early warning of a potential risk of explosion or fire event is a major desire for the Petrochemical, Gas, Oil and Fuel Industries in general. Now while every site is different and every client has unique needs, our approach at Cyntech is to find the best solution for each application by utilising a variety of available technologies in conjunction with each other such as hydrocarbon gas detectors, hydrocarbon liquid detectors and even flame detectors, to give the best result and mitigate risk exposure.
Thermography
Faulty electrical switchgear, connections or imbalanced loads may cause hot spots in motor control centres and distribution boards. These hot spots are often invisible to the naked eye and can create a major possibility of a fire or explosion. Defects related to transformers, like low oil levels or bad connections, can be detected early on and can potentially reduce the chance of critical downtime. A great deal of the power distribution in petrochemical plants goes towards driving motors. Preventing these motors from failure and adopting a proactive approach is vital to minimising operational downtime. Problems such as misalignment, high vibration, faulty fans, etc. could be detected using thermography. The possibilities for using thermography to aid predictive maintenance in process plants and renewable energy can be endless.