Infrared cameras ensure safety and production process at oil and gas plants

Production installations at oil refineries have to be kept up and running to ensure a stable production and to satisfy the current high demand for oil products. Moreover, safety and plant reliability are important issues, enhanced by tight environmental prescriptions.

“Unlike current "point" solutions that check only a single site for hazards, the Gas Detection Infrared Camera provide more complete information, more quickly.”
-Anna Alberius, FLIR Systems

A refinery plant is a rewarding object for infrared inspections. It exists of powerful heaters and air coolers, electrical installations, pumps and compressors, vessels, and endless piping, thus offering opportunities at every step to deploy a non-intrusive instrument such as an infrared camera for inspection purposes.

What are the most important applications of infrared cameras in the oil and gas business? Where does the infrared camera excel as a pro-active maintenance star and an operations cost killer?

Surveying electrical installations

Electrical fault detection, transformer condition, distribution lines and substation inspections helps to save millions of dollars in cost savings and cost avoidance. Usually underestimated in cost calculations and relevant decision-making, cost avoidance is determined by the likelihood of a failure to develop in a worst-case scenario, such as an unscheduled shutdown, which may have happened if the fault had not been detected. 

Detecting heat transfer and heat loss

The distribution of heat across coolers and heat exchangers is an indicator of the condition of equipment. Infrared cameras uncover poor heating and cooling, thus indicating a waste of energy and improving the efficiency of process operations. They are also a valuable tool to detect heat loss from steam traps and leaks.

Controlling refractory-lined equipment

Refractory is an inner lining, consisting of high-temperature resistant materials which protect the outer shell of piping, vessels, and process furnaces from hot gases and fluids circulating inside the plant. If the refractory lining fails, the steel-made shell will quickly be weakened by heat and internal pressure. A long-term monitoring of refractory lining, based on a regular inspection every week or two weeks, leads to a detailed account of the refractory "behavior pattern" and its resistance features. This allows managing the scheduling of planned shutdowns to renew the lining, and to avoid costly unplanned shutdowns. Regular observation also enables plant engineers to improve the quality of the employed refractory material.  

Tracing solids buildup

Buildup of solids is a result of refractory remnants or changes in process conditions.  If ash or other residues in furnaces or piping are not detected they can result in unplanned shutdowns with lengthy and expensive searches for the cause. 

IR - an invaluable method

Thermal imaging is a very good indicator of material, process and mechanical conditions at refineries and petrochemical plants. However, "Infrared inspection of fixed refinery equipment appears to be under-utilized in the industry", says Andy Whitcher, Senior Consultant of UK-based infrared thermography consulting company Tecpinions and an expert in infrared gas detection, - "and trending the results over time adds to the huge cost savings: it increases the refiner's knowledge of the condition of his equipment, allowing him to make more accurate and informed decisions."

Keeping the flame burning: FLIR infrared cameras for flare detection

Flaring is the process by which byproduct gas from the refining process is burned off in a flaring device. The torches are often watched by visual cameras. Infrared cameras, however, can see through fog and offer the same visibility quality day and night, providing more safety.  

FLIR has compact, fix-mounted infrared camera systems, providing analogue and digital outputs for video, FireWire and Ethernet data transfer to a PC. An SDK package enables easy integration into existing control and analysis software that checks the flare stack, monitors pilot flames for plant safety and gas combustion for environmental reasons.    

GAS detection

Fugitive emissions of process liquids and gases are a major concern for both the industry and national or supranational regulation bodies. On the operational level, minimizing hydrocarbon gas discharges from piping systems is a major issue.

FLIR offers GF-Series cameras which instantly visualize gas by inverting the physics of fugitive VOC gas leaks. These leaks appear as "smoke" on the camera's viewfinder screen, allowing the user to see fugitive gas emissions and delivering real-time thermal images of gas leaks. The imagery can be recorded in the camera for easy archiving, documenting or e-mailing.  

All-in-one: Gas detection and predictive maintenance 

The FLIR GF320, a gas detection camera, also measures temperatures and visualizes objects in different color palettes. It means that the FLIR GF320 camera can see both gas leaks and carry out classic infrared inspections for electrical and mechanical maintenance. It substantially reduces inspection times while the plant remains in operation. Its built-in GPS system allows service teams to be sent quickly to the right problem spot.

Ensuring capacity and operating standards: leaks occur in less than 1 percent of the plant

Leak detection is an important part of operations for exploration, manufacturing, storage and transport of oil and natural gas products. However, experience shows that up to 84 percent of leaks take place in less than 1 percent of the refinery plant. It means that for the other 99 percent, expensive tools and time-consuming inspections are allocated to scan safe and leak-free components. Stationary detectors are often not in the position where the gas is escaping. But mobile operators equipped with cameras can efficiently cover wide areas, find and repair gas leaks, and consequently reduce the total amount of hydrocarbons and chemical vapors released to the atmosphere.  

Increasing workplace safety

In hazardous working conditions, infrared imaging enables the rapid scan of a wide area before humans are exposed to heat, chemical, electrical or mechanical dangers. Unlike the current "point" solutions that check only a single site for hazards, the Gas Detection Camera provide more complete information, more quickly.  

Improving air quality and cutting greenhouse gas emissions

Regulations in many countries require oil & gas companies to document both the inspection methods and the findings to ensure worker safety, limit emissions to protect the environment and provide records that are controlled by law. By finding gas leaks and repair them before they become a safety and environmental problem, owners of refineries, gas processing plants and other petrochemical installations can reduce risk and protect workforce, humans and invested capital. 

Conclusion

The use of infrared technology has many benefits in the oil and gas business.  Although gas imaging is a "new" technology for many inspection technicians, infrared imaging itself has proven to be a mandatory diagnostic tool in the downstream and upstream oil and gas business. IR might look as a major investment in terms of equipment, training, condition monitoring program development and setup. But if used in conjunction with a consistent infrared inspection program and appropriate professional and reliable equipment, it will reach its full potential. 

FLIR 

FLIR Systems is the world leader in the design and manufacturing of infrared cameras in use worldwide for applications including predictive maintenance, R&D, process monitoring, automation, gas detection, building inspection and many others. FLIR Systems has four manufacturing plants located in the USA (Portland, Boston and Santa Barbara) and Sweden (Stockholm) and operates direct sales offices in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, China, Japan and Australia. The company numbers over 1,500 infrared specialists and serves international markets through a network of 60 regional offices providing sales and support functions.