What’s fugitive emissions
Fugitive emissions are emissions of gases or vapors from pressurized equipment. Emissions of dangerous or poisonous fumes into the atmosphere through spills, leaks, or evaporation in process industries such as Chemical, Pharma, Oil and Gas, power etc. and are considered as more dangerous than actual leaks. Fugitive emissions are often invisible and contain dangerous gases, posing significant risks to the work environment.
Why it’s important?
With growing awareness and strong environment control norms, compliance measures to control fugitive emissions will become more stringent in near future.
Arresting it at the source!
The best way to control fugitive emissions is to arrest it at its biggest source – valves.
Selecting valves that meet the compliance norms for fugitive emissions in every future purchase is important. But some simple steps performed on regular basis can go a long way in arresting fugitive emissions in existing valves.
Here is how some of the best companies do to ensure minimum fugitive emissions.
Standards. Keep it close.
Deviations from standards in valve design and material-selection fuel fugitive emissions. Following these standards to the core, along with manufacturer’s specifications in installation, maintenance of components go a long way in arresting fugitive emissions.
Tighten-up the Joints.
Often its the small things that makes the big difference. That’s true for fugitive emissions as well. Over 15% of fugitive emission is attributed to loose valve joints or flanges. The simple act of tightening the joints on regular intervals can reduce fugitive emission, significantly.
Maintenance does the magic.
Companies following a preventative maintenance programs identify and stave off small problems before they become big ones. Predictive maintenance of valves is observed to bring down fugitive emissions of valves by close to 90% and keep it there for full life-cycle of the valve.
Check old valves, replace with FE tested ok
Finally, the most important measure is to procure FE tested valves as a policy. Typically, older valves tend to contribute more to Fugitive emissions owing to operational wear and tear. Check the fugitive emission levels of old valves and if found to be high, replace the same with FE tested ones.
Fugitive emissions are a key and growing concern. Companies that are successful in achieving a low levels of fugitive emission utilize the strategies above in order to minimize the potential for leaks. For sharing your thoughts and experiences on the topic, write to us at evalve@ipcvalves.com and we will be happy to share and publish it with the readers of this newsletter.