Adhesives Manufacturer Saves Energy and Stays in Compliance with Flammability Anayzer

Flammability analyzer increases
safety while lowering energy cost.

A large manufacturer of adhesives needed to reduce energy costs in their plant. A large part of their energy cost was literally going out the window in the ventilation system and associated fuel costs. The heated air they produced for ventilation was expensive, yet is was necessary in order to comply with the NFPA's (National Fire Protection Association) standard of 25% LFL (lower explosive limit) on solvent vapor concentrations.

The 25% LFL applies to areas using just ventilation, but increases to 50% LFL if a continuous flammability analyzer is installed. If the manufacturer installed vapor analyzers, they could reduce the amount of energy on ventilation and fuel.

To meet the objective of lowering energy costs, the company installed PrevEx Flammability Analyzers, manufactured by Control Instrument Corporation, on each adhesive dryer. The PrevEx is a flammability analyzer for lower flammable limit monitoring (LFL/LEL) designed to provide fast response time (less than 1 second), capable of quickly changing gas concentrations, and with failsafe performance.

PrevEx flammability analyzers use a heated flame cell and an integrated controller that continuously measures total flammable vapor concentrations from 0 to 100% of the Lower Flammable Limit (LFL) range. To avoid condensation during sampling, the entire analyzer pneumatic assembly is heated.

A PrevEx analyzer was fitted on each printing press dryer to detect the possibility of solvent vapor accumulation. The PrevEx analyzers were chosen because of their "Universal Calibration" feature which prevents downtime due to re-calibration requirements.

By installing the flammability analyzers, the manufacturer was able to decrease ventilation and the associated energy costs while still staying in compliance with the NFPA code.

To understand more about flammability analyzers, look over the product document below:

Control Instruments PrevEx Flammability Analyzer Brochure from Ives Equipment

For more information on flammability analyzers, contact:
Ives Equipment
www.ivesequipment.com
877-768-1600