Total Hydrocarbon Analysers Purchased To Avoid Any Risk Of Explosion At Production Plant

Avery Dennison is a multi-national company involved in the production of adhesive labels and other marking products. At the Cramlington factory in Northumberland they manufacture the market leading Fasson brand of pressure sensitive paper, film and foil roll materials which are used to produce a variety of self-adhesive labels for beverage, health and beauty and food packaging materials worldwide. The production of such labels involves the application of adhesive to the core material (paper, film or foil) and as a result of this process flammable vapours such as hexane or toluene are driven off.

Although there is generally a move towards water based materials for environmental reasons, there are still certain processes where solvents cannot be replaced for technical reasons. In these cases it is essential that the evaporated solvent level, which can cause a risk of explosion, is measured and controlled for the safety of both the plant and the employees. For this purpose Avery has recently purchased four Flame Ionisation Detectors (FIDs) from Signal (UK) which are used to monitor the solvent mix and provide alarms should the concentration rise to more than a fraction of the explosive limit (LEL).

The possible complexity of the solvent mix required that calibration tests be undertaken both in Signal’s test facility and on site to provide calibration factors to be used for each solvent mix. These factors are then substantially downrated to provide a safety margin away from the LEL. Along with this the response to a safe transfer standard gas mixture was provided to allow for routine checking of the analyser response.

Signal Group provide regular maintenance and call out along with supplying all necessary operating spares to ensure the continuing reliable operation of the monitoring system and suitable alarm outputs are taken to the local control room where plant monitoring takes place.

Signal Group is the largest UK manufacturer of source emissions test equipment. It provides a wide range of gas analysers, systems and sample handling components for every kind of industry and application. Further information is available at www.signal-group.com