Nova Analytical Systems: #85 - Caribbean Applications

A couple of my holiday shots. The pictures shown below are of the Noranda Bauxite Mine in St. Anne, Jamaica.

The last time in

Jamaica

, I drove by this facility and wondered what it was. I subsequently learned that it is part of a bauxite mine facility. Apparently after tourism, bauxite mining and agriculture are

Jamaica

’s largest industries. Coincidentally, I recently had a telephone call from the Superintendent of this very facility.

They apparently have a few diesel engines operating in individual rooms in the plant. The engine exhaust is obviously vented outside of the building. However, if a leak should develop in the exhaust system, it may result in dangerous accumulations of gases inside the building.

For the safety of their staff, they wanted to monitor the following gases:

Oxygen Deficiency: 0-25%, alarms will sound if the O2 levels drop to 19.5% or lower
Carbon Monoxide: 0-200ppm
Nitric Oxide: 0-100ppm
Sulfur Dioxide: 0-20ppm

These ranges of analysis cover the safe breathing conditions and permissible exposure limits of these gases.

To start, they have 3 engine rooms and they want to have some kind of centralized monitoring system. An auto-sequencer will be a good choice here. It is mounted right beside the monitor. This device is basically a series of solenoid valves and pumps which are controlled to pull different samples from different zones in a timed sequence. This will allow one monitor to be used for all three areas.

Eventually, they hope to tie the monitor / sequencer in with a PLC or a data collection system of some kind. But for now, labeled LED lights on the auto-sequencer will show which area is being sampled. And the monitor will show if any alarms are engaged.

We sometimes may forget that some of the Caribbean islands have other sustaining industries besides tourism. These regions no doubt struggle with a delicate balance of having profitable industry while preserving the beautiful environments that attract so many travelers.

We are occasionally contacted by Caribbean engineers & professionals for emissions analyzers. For example, in

Trinidad and Tobago

, we have sold continuous and portable flue gas analyzers into the petrochemical and gas process industries there. Legislative initiatives are apparently also moving these islands toward reductions in automotive exhaust emissions. We have also had requests from Curacao for information on emissions analyzers. Cutting back emissions is a good idea anywhere. But in areas that depend so much on pristine environmental beauty, it would seem to be nothing short of mandatory.

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