KROHNE Flowmeters Ensure Safety in Critical Pharmaceutical Application

Eight KROHNE H 250 flowmeters have been installed as part of a system to purify and neutralise explosive gas in a Hazardous Area.  The unit has been manufactured as part of a new installation at a pharmaceutical company in Ireland.

The five stage vortex scrubber system was designed and built by Gilwood (Fabricators) Company Ltd, based in Heywood, Lancashire.  The KROHNE flowmeters are critical instruments that accurately monitor and visually display the volume of water being used to clean the gas. 

Five separate cleaning stages are needed to purify the gas because of its high level of contamination.  The gas passes through each stage in turn where contaminants are gradually removed by spraying it with water.  If water volumes are too low then the gas discharged will not have been cleaned to a safe level.

The flowmeters monitor the flow of water that passes into each vortex to ensure that the correct volume is used at each stage.  They also monitor the fill to the reservoir tank and the input and output to the water system, where they are used to provide an overall protection signal that confirms water flow. KROHNE H 250 flowmeters were chosen because they meet ATEX standards for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.  They are also particularly suitable for liquid applications.

Seven of the flowmeters measure water flow rates of between 160 - 1600 Lts/hour, with the remaining meter measuring 1,000 - 10,000 Lts/hour.  The flow rate values are displayed on the scale of each meter without being linearised, using KROHNE's M9 indicator.


KROHNE Flowmeters Ensure Safety: continued
Christopher Gilmartin, managing director of Gilwood (Fabricators) Company, said:  "KROHNE provided us with excellent technical support when we were designing the five stage scrubber.  Purifying this gas is a critical application and we needed to have total confidence in the information and advice we were given."

Key Words: chemicals, pharmaceutical, variable area flow meter, hazardous area


AP0264