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Explosion Protection: Hydrogen IIC T1

Gas Group IIC contains 3 gases: Hydrogen, Acetylene and Carbon Disulphide

Hydrogen is a group IIC gas and belongs to the T1 temperature class making it one of the hottest, most dangerous gases. When mixed with oxygen, Hydrogen is a highly explosive substance that is odourless, colourless and lighter than air. The lightweight element accumulates above the oxygen, and where effective ventilation is not in place, a build-up can occur. In extreme circumstances there have been cases of battery room explosions as a result of ineffective battery room ventilation. A small smoulder can create a huge explosion when hydrogen is in the presence of oxygen, and besides this, hydrogen is hazardous to health, causing skin burns and eye issues.

A typical industrial application where high levels of hydrogen are prone to exist is within large battery rooms where energy storage cells are contained that power different parts of a building, vehicle, ship, system or component. Everyone knows the function of a battery; to store electricity in the form of chemical energy and to convert to electrical energy when required. Vented lead-acid batteries or flooded batteries as they are also commonly known, consist of plates that are flooded with an acid electrolyte. When charging, the electrolyte emits hydrogen through the vents in the battery. Under normal operations, the release of hydrogen is relatively small, but this is elevated during heavy recharge periods, especially for large industrial batteries and hydrogen cells. For battery room ventilation and in more current renewable energy storage cells and carrier technologies, hydrogen will be a key factor in ensuring a reliable, safe, and stable energy source in the post fossil fuel period. Therefore, the safety of hydrogen ventilation and a correct hazardous area classification should always be undertaken when handling applications that have this explosive high temperature class (T1), IIC group gas.

The Construction Industry Collective Voice (CICV) is calling on the Scottish Government to intervene and help address concerns raised by Scottish construction businesses over the introduction of the new UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark.

The unique trades organisation’s Post-Brexit and Trade Group has written to Business Minister Ivan McKee requesting assistance as CICV businesses grapple with new UKCA conformity assessment and certification arrangements that replace CE Marking after 31 December this year.

The UK Government is introducing a new “UK Conformity Assessed” mark for goods placed on the market in Great Britain from 1 January 2023. Ministers seek new powers to end the recognition of CE Marking in favour of UKCA Marking in the recently passed Building Safety Act.

CICV has highlighted the deep frustration among manufacturers and importers that there is at present no route to accept historic test data and reports from EU Notified Bodies for use in complying with UKCA Marking.

This poses a particular problem, it says, for goods in relation to the Assessment and Verification of Performance (AVCP) System 3. If manufacturers and distributors want to continue selling their goods in Great Britain, they have to be re-tested and certified by an accredited UK Approved Body.

The CICV is concerned at the lack of progress between the UK Government and individual companies, trade associations and certification and testing bodies to prepare properly.

It argues that there is insufficient testing capacity and capability for manufacturers to have their goods assessed and certified for the British market, using UK-based Approved Bodies, by the end of this calendar year.

The letter says: “There are simply not enough approved companies or qualified people to conduct the huge number of assessments and certifications required to gain UKCA Marking in time.

“For example: there are no UK Approved Bodies able to test:

• insulation: most types of pipe insulation and duct insulation;
• trench heating: most types for residential, commercial & municipal buildings;
• renders: several types of synthetic renders and render-based brick slips;
• glass: several types of coated and laminated glass inc. mirrors;
• plastic pipes: several types of thermoplastic pipes for underground drainage.

For other goods, there are scant few UK Approved Bodies available:

• radiators: only one approved company whose entire annual capacity is fully booked;
• fire doors: only two approved companies for smoke leakage tests;
• sealants: only one approved company - most tests take up to 3 months to allow for curing.”

The CICV says that with continued uncertainty about as-yet-unknown future regulations, large capital costs for SMEs to invest in more or new equipment and facilities and next-to-no time available to find and train specialist staff, there is little appetite for businesses to take the plunge.

The letter says: “Whitehall has told businesses to prepare for the end of CE Marking on 31 December 2022. Legislation is required but the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) cannot give a firm date for this.

“The risk is that faced with ongoing difficulties - like higher raw material, energy, labour and transport costs and other inflationary pressures - businesses do not bother, hoping somebody will come up with answers in time.”

It continues: “CICV says the situation is fast becoming serious for British manufacturers who are already spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on testing to both UK and EU standards. With eight months to go, there are too many unresolved questions about post-2023 arrangements.

“The preferred solution is for ministers to pause now that the Building Safety Act is on the statute book and take heed of what industry is telling them. The CICV view is that deferring the 31 December 2022 date is obvious and necessary and UK ministers should move quickly to say so and dispel uncertainty.

“Drafting the statutory instruments to bring in new provisions is critical and must be done correctly to avoid unintended consequences that harm British businesses. It is sensible and pragmatic to delay the secondary legislation to allow business to prepare properly.

“If the situation described is not resolved (and soon), the logical conclusion is that goods cannot be sold after 1 January – and construction, housebuilding and property RMI will slow down or stop.”

The letter concludes with the CICV asking the Scottish Government to recognise the concerns expressed and to see if there is scope within devolved powers to assist. “Any representations you can make to the UK Government on our behalf would be gratefully appreciated”, it adds.

Alan Wilson, MD of SELECT, the representative trade body of Scotland’s electro-mechanical sector and who chairs CICV, said: “With this submission to Mr McKee we are hopeful that that the Scottish Government can bring its influence to bear on this matter and allay the well-founded fears of CICV members.”

Improvements to the way training is delivered promise to enhance the quality and safety of water jetting services across all industrial sectors in the United Kingdom.

The Water Jetting Association (WJA) is strengthening its mandatory refresher training by introducing a significant element of practical tuition.

It is also upgrading the way delegates attending the City & Guilds accredited courses are examined, with digital click pads that will ensure leaning can be more rigorously tested.

The WJA is also introducing a new workbook for its Safety Awareness course that improves engagement and provides delegates with a reference guide.

WJA Training and Safety Committee Chairman Darren Hamilton said: “We’re always looking to improve our training. These changes reflect the vision of our committee has to improve outcomes for delegates, contractors and their customers.

“Ultimately, by upgrading our courses in this way, making them as up-to-date as possible, with the most relevant content and learning techniques, we will improve the quality and safety of water jetting, which is our ultimate aim.”

The WJA is the membership organisation for the water jetting industry in the UK and is the largest provider of water jetting training. Courses are also delivered around the world, notably in the Middle East.

High and ultra-high pressure water jetting is a critical process for pipe and tank cleaning in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

It is also used for concrete hydrodemolition, surface preparation, drain and sewer cleaning, industrial cleaning, and material cutting.

To obtain their WJA cards and certificates, operatives must complete a two-stage training process.

First, they must pass the class-based one-day WJA Safety Awareness course. Then, they must complete at least one of four practical modules – Surface Preparation, Tube and Pipe Cleaning, Drain and Sewer, and Hydrodemolition.

Previously, refresher training involved passing the Safety Awareness course every three years. Now, a new refresher course has been created which is focused on practical training as well as health and safety.

Darren Hamilton said: “The new refresher process allows us to check that operatives are using the correct water jetting techniques and their skills are developing as we’d expect. We’ll also include regulation updates and technical changes introduced by the WJA.

“This is a more rounded approach designed to provide advantages for operatives, the companies they work for and their clients.”

The WJA is also improving learning testing by incorporating the CLiKAPAD digital audience response system within each course.

Instead of delegates being tested at the end of the course, they will use digital click pads to answer questions at set stages throughout the training. The responses are locked and the WJA instructor finds out who has passed or failed at the touch of a button at the end of the course.

“The system allows trainers to read out questions shown on screen, overcoming any potential reading difficulties operatives may have. And it provides for a more intensive and engaging learning process,” said Darren Hamilton.

The new Safety Awareness workbook, developed over two years, uses graphics and photographs to explained water jetting concepts, with sections delegates complete themselves during the course.

Once completed, operatives keep the workbook for future reference, allowing them to check what they have learned and see the progress they have made in their technical understanding.

In another development, the WJA is strengthening the verification process for those wanting to become WJA-approved training instructors.

In a new step, as well as completing a detailed form and being interviewed, they must agree to be audited as they give at least one of their first courses. As is currently the case, they must then be audited every three years.

www.waterjetting.org.uk

How digital solutions can reduce downtime and improve safety in hazardous environments ~

 Industries operating in hazardous areas must consider standard safety practices and ensure all equipment meets the requirements for flammable or explosive atmospheres. Effective monitoring, predictive maintenance and rapid response to failure is crucial for engineers managing these assets. Here, Marek Lukaszczyk, European and Middle East marketing manager at global motor manufacturer WEG, discusses how digitalisation can reduce risk and improve efficiency in hazardous industries.

A hazardous area is any area with an atmosphere containing, or potentially containing, gases, vapours or dust which are flammable or explosive. Industries such as oil and gas, chemical production, fuel storage and even paper production are all classed as hazardous. These areas are rigorously analysed when installing equipment to minimise the risk to individuals and assets.

It’s crucial that equipment operating in these conditions are effectively monitored to pre-empt any issues before they occur. Unlike most industries, these issues not only result in downtime, but present a significant safety risk.

Hart Door Systems has completed the installation of five steel shutters on a major Northumberland grain silo which had suffered significant damage on its existing shutters caused by storm Arwen.

“This storm is well documented with widespread and serious damage being reported across northern England where windspeeds reached over 100 mph,” says Carl Crossman, Hart’s project manager. “The location, Hetton Sheds farm, is wedged between Northumberland’s Kyloe Hills and the Cheviot foothills. The silo took the storm’s full force with six steel shutters, one in a machine store and five in a grain store, being damaged beyond repair.”

Mr Crossman says the original shutters stood ‘no chance’ of standing up to the serious storm. “We advised the client that the original 20g 65mm original shutters, where the wind-lock guides blew out causing irreversible damage, should be replaced with a heavier steel shutter comprising 18g laths and 100mm wind-lock guides,” says Mr Crossman.

“Five shutters measuring 5.7 metres wide x 5.9 metres high and one of 6 metres wide x 5.07 metres high have been fitted to the very large silo. This was our first installation as a result of the Arwen storm more of which are forecast to be a regular feature as a result of Climate Change. We were able to draw on our experience with our Typhoon shutter which is installed in Far Eastern locations such as Hong Kong which is used to violent storms.”

www.hartdoors.com    t: 0191 214 0404    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A UK industrial filter maker has appointed two strategic hires, in Malaysia and the United States, to help spearhead its drive into global markets.

Both Nizam Mohamed and Silas Kirst join Amazon Filters as Business Development Managers tasked with pursuing and delivering the company’s growth ambitions.    

Nizam is based in Kuala Lumpur and is responsible for sales and market development in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region while Silas will support plans for North, Central and South America from an office in Houston, Texas. 

Both new recruits come to Amazon Filters with impressive track records in senior-level sales roles.

Nizam, whose career experience includes leading teams in sectors such as oil and gas, steel manufacturing, automotive and marine, said: “Amazon Filters is widely recognised as a leading filter manufacturer that invests substantially in its products and services on behalf of customers.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to play my part in its continued growth into new markets.”   

Silas has more than 13 years’ experience in sales management directly focused on filtration technologies in different industries.

He said: “I will be applying my experience to cultivate lasting relationships with our customers, distributors and partners across the entire region from Argentina, Brazil and Chile in the south all the way up to the United States and Canada.”

Amazon Filters Managing Director Neil Pizzey said: “Diversification is key to us, both by sector and geography.

“On sector, we service an ever-growing list of global industries that rely on processing engineering.

“They include municipal water, the oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, food and beverage, and the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals, chemicals and liquid coatings.

“And on geography, we continue to do more business in sales territories beyond our traditional heartlands of the UK and Europe.

“As well as welcoming Nizam and Silas, we have recently appointed new area distributors in Latin America and Asia.

“Strengthening our presence in new markets makes a lot of sense.

“Customers appreciate someone ‘on the ground’ they can actually meet and who has local knowledge, and it means we can respond more quickly to customer demand.”

. For more information, visit www.amazonfilters.com or call 01276 670600.  

In a volatile trading environment, how do you make money from your oil and gas assets? Firstly, the assets need to be available but, even more importantly, they must be available at the right time. If both of these things happen, owners of these assets have a much better chance of maximising their returns.

The current climate is most certainly volatile. Coming hard on the heels of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict led to a huge jump in oil prices, which recently peaked at more than $120 a barrel – the highest for a decade. 

Meanwhile, wholesale gas prices soared to record levels. In the British gas market, the contract for immediate delivery rose to almost 200 pence per therm in April, while the contract for weekend delivery topped 180 pence per therm.

To a large extent, the high prices have been driven by concerns about security of energy supplies caused by the Ukraine crisis. Europe relies on Russia for around two fifths of its gas imports so there are fears that supplies will be hugely disrupted, either if Russia cuts off supplies to Europe or European countries choose not to purchase Russian gas.

Due to the interconnected nature of global energy markets, Russia is hugely important to anyone who owns oil or gas assets around the world. After all, Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter and second biggest producer of natural gas.

So, what can oil and gas plant owners do to ride the wave of volatility and maximise the value of their assets?

As stated above, they must be able to generate at the right time to make money from their assets. For this to happen, the asset must be working efficiently at the right time, and any potential defects must be identified early to give the best chance of being available when the market is booming. Any assets that are hit with foreseen problems in the current market are missing out.

Technology can give a great advantage in achieving this. Artificial intelligence (AI), for example, can unravel several difficulties inherent in running oil and gas plants. This, in turn, can reduce the time needed to take action to rectify the problems.

Imperfection detection and enhancing quality assurance

One of the difficulties in the oil and gas industry is how to distinguish defects or imperfections in components that have a tendency to malfunction. These imperfections can be time-consuming to identify and costly to repair. A malfunctioning item identified early enables the operator to plan when to maintain making an intervention more efficient and making the most of availability when the market is good. AI-controlled defect detection arrangements are practical and are amazingly efficient in comparison to standard, human-driven quality assurance cycles.

Make better decisions with analytics

Oil and gas organisations manage lots of information derived from the operational performance of dozens of pieces of equipment. However, due to an absence of appropriate technology, they’re often not able to profit from the tonnes of data that rest in information storehouses.

Organisations can use specialist researchers to break down and analyse data on equipment performance – yet this is a time-consuming and costly exercise and no human can capture all of the information created in a solitary day of activities.

AI algorithms study many data streams from various sensors and plant machinery, and can capture the performance of an entire network of equipment, all in real time. The technology can then convert this information to generate intelligent suggestions/ calls to action based on specific business needs. These deep insights enable geoscientists to have better visibility of the overall processes and operations of the plant or network of plants.

In summary

Using AI to investigate the performance of oil and gas assets can pinpoint equipment defects and provide information to fit equipment availability to the market. This can help these assets to perform far more efficiently and gives them a much greater chance of being available at the right time, helping owners of these assets to maximise their profits.

For more information, visit https://www.encora.energy/

By Andrew Normand, UptimeAI partnership lead for Encora Energy

When we certify products ATEX, UKCA or IECEx we test a product to the relevant Standards, and we control the future manufacturing compliance by listing the ‘controlled drawings’ or ‘scheduled drawings’ on the certificate.

Whilst these ‘scheduled’ drawings are only designed to control the safety related aspects of manufacturing, many critical parts may have been individual tested and listed on the drawings by type and part number. This is very often the case with Intrinsic Safety where a specific integrated circuit may have been tested, for example for transient let thorough or temperature.

Given that these parts may become unavailable (which seems to be happening a lot currently), it is highly advised that when seeking certification, a manufacturer lists of ‘alternative’ items in the Bill of Materials. It is both faster and less expensive to consider this at the time of certification and we would always recommend it for certain types of critical parts, for example: batteries, cements, gaskets, and critical intrinsic safety components.

If you have a part on your certication drawings listed by manufacturer/part number and that part is no longer available (or has very long lead times) you will need to get a ‘variation’ to your certication (as the drawings will change to show a new part). This variation may involve retesting parts, for example retesting a gasket or cement may involve thermal conditioning and that can take a month of testing, so don’t leave it until the last minute! Contact ExVeritas via the contact form on our web site if you need any more information on this or require a Certificate Variation to allow more flexible manufacturing (we can take over existing certificates and add new parts at the same time).

If you are on our web site, why not order out new A1 wall poster full of the very latest IEC, ATEX and UKCA information!

 For nearly 50 years CCG’s Ex certified cable glands have been recognized globally by electrical engineers for the Built-in Safety^TM features of the Captive Component Gland® design.

Having major safety advantages over other makes of glands which have loose components, CCG’ Ex certified glands have their critical seals, single orientation armour clamping cones and cone rings (for SWA and braid cables) held captive within the gland. This Built-in Safety^TM design means that these components do not need to be individually assembled when the gland is installed and therefore cannot get lost or wrongly fitted. This equates to an extremely easy safe and speedy installation process.  

Building on this already solid international reputation for innovation, in 2013 CCG revolutionized the international cable gland market with the introduction of the award-winning QUICKSTOP-Ex® Injection Resin flameproof barrier gland.

Recognizing that explosive gasses or liquids can migrate down the interstices of cables in hazardous areas thus bypassing traditional cable gland inner seals, the IEC 60079-14 installation standards require that barrier glands be fitted on Ex d (flameproof), Ex nR (restricted breathing) and Exp (pressurized) equipment, and on cables which run from hazardous areas to non-hazardous areas. 

A barrier gland is designed to fill all the interstices and gaps and seal around the individual cable conductors within the cable inner bedding, thus giving a 100% barrier seal against explosive gasses and liquid migration down the cable. Traditional inner rubber compression/tapered seals can never achieve this level of sealing.

   The IEC 60079-1 standard requires that Ex d glands with rubber type compression / tapered displacement seals withstand a pressure of 30-bar, this test is to simulate an internal explosive pressure generated within a flameproof enclosure. However, these tests are performed on solid steel mandrels and do not take into consideration the real-life properties of cables experienced in the field which are that they have bedding susceptible to creep or cold flow, and are never completely filled, solid or gas-tight. This means that although traditional glands with compression / tapered seals will easily pass the 30-bar pressure test on a steel mandrel they will perform very differently when installed on the multitude of different types of cables found installed in modern hazardous areas plants. Unfilled or multicore cables become mini pipes whereby explosive pressures generated in flameproof enclosures force hot gasses down cables bypassing the traditional gland seals and flame paths. This not only causes damage to the cable but also creates the potential for an external explosion. With onsite temperature fluctuations, explosive gasses or liquids can also migrate down cables from a zoned area into non-zoned areas such as a control room or non-certified equipment. (The infamous SeaGas explosion incident in Australia is a good example of this type of gas migration.)

CAPTION: EXPLOSIVE GAS TRANSMISSION THROUGH UNFILLED CABLE, BYPASSING TRADITIONAL FLAMEPROOF SEALS

Although traditional two-part putty mixed barrier glands have been on the market for many years, these barrier glands took a long time to install as the putty had to be hand-mixed and installed and took a few hours to set. They also had a wide margin of error as it relied on the skill and subjective opinion of the installer to install the gland correctly. With the increased awareness of the updated IEC 60079-14 requirements and the increased mandatory requirement for barrier glands over the traditional “rubber taper/compression seal” type glands, CCG designed a faster easier and safer means of installing barrier glands. The QUICKSTOP-Ex® Injection Resin Barrier Gland uses a two-part quick setting resin which is instantly and accurately mixed and injected into the gland seal pot by means of a double injection tube and a vortex mixing nozzle. Being a liquid, the resin flows around the cable conductors filling all the voids and then bonds in just minutes with a 100 % gas blocking seal quickly achieved.

After a request from one of CCG’s major international oil and gas customers for an inspectable version of the QUICKSTOP-Ex® gland, the 2^nd generation VORTEx® Inspectable Injection Resin Barrier Gland® range was launched at the Offshore Europe Expo in 2019. The resin colour was changed to a bright yellow and a clear resin chamber was introduced so that the installer could easily inspect the resin fill.

Despite the Covid-19 economic downturn, CCG has seen tremendous uptake in the VORTEx® range of glands having supplied two major expansions in the Shell and SANTOS coal seam gas fields in Australia, the Sriracha Thai Oil refinery project and the Saudi Aramco Zuluf, Abu Safah, Berri and Safaniya Oil Field development projects.

As international safety standards and specifications change and engineers become more aware of EEHA safety-related issues, Ex d I/II certified VORTEx Injection Resin Barrier Gland® technology is not just a simple game-changer, it is the major technological shift in cable gland design and safety, making flameproof glands with old-style compression / tapered seal technology all but redundant.

Enquiries:

• Tel: + 44(0)1642 430346
• Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A new push-around scissor lift from BoSS aims to take factory maintenance to a new level of safety and productivity.

The BoSS PA-lift, available from Access Platform Sales (APS), has industry-leading working height of 5.4m with smart technology previously only offered with larger access platforms.

It is also outdoor rated, with a reduced maximum working height of 4.6m (for wind speeds up to 12.5m/sec), even with optional anti-climb guards fitted.

The scissor lift, manufactured by Wernerco, has been designed as a replacement of the already popular BoSS X3 and BoSS X3X models, and represents a major upgrade in key performance areas.

Chris Banks, Technical Director at APS, the exclusive distributor of BoSS products in the UK and Ireland, said: “The BoSS PA-lift represents a significant step forward in push-around platform design.