NeSSI: An End to the Mythology

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NeSSI? An End to the Mythology

• Rob Dubois
• CPAC/NeSSI Workshop
• Seattle, Washington, USA
• November 9, 2006

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Where are we?
2008-2012
2004-08
Winston Churchill
END USER VALUE
2000-04
"This is not the end. It is not even the
beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the
end of the beginning."
3
Sample Systems an anachronism in an ocean of
automation.
Carbide Plant, Schkopau, Germany c. 1959 (Site
now owned by Dow Chemical) What has changed?
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Industry Mantra

• 80 of process analytical reliability issues are
  due to the sample system. Why?
• Poor understanding of sample integrity
• plugged, leaking, fouled, flow stopped?
• Poor understanding of sample temperature
• condensing, frozen, two-phase?
• Poor understanding of sample pressure
• vent header influences on analytical results
• Low degree of automation

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An End to the Mythology

• sample systems have to be large
• sample system control needs to be done in the DCS
• visual flow indicators are required
• the need for maintenance rounds
• an analyzer house is needed

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An End to the Mythology

• No need for Sample Handling System (S.H.S.)
  automation
• Thermostats are good enough
• The inside of an enclosed space carrying
  flammables is Division/Zone 2
• The use of conduit/seals inside S.H.S.
• The continued use of 4-20 mA systems

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By-Line Analysis - a new mini Sampling
technique for micro Analyzers

• located very near or on the sample point
• extractive sampling
• fully automated (smart)
• environmentally self-contained (no house)
• tight integration of analytical sampling
• uses two orders of magnitude less sample
• includes a disposal method for used sample

Next Step
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NeSSI? - Score Card

• A digital bus (Gen II) tailored to meet the
  requirements of process analytical
• Smart SHS functionality defined
• Major NeSSI? project(s) on the books
• Automation and reliability linked
• Generation I proven and accepted
• We have set in motion a fundamental and permanent
  change in how we do process analytical

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A Final Thought
When men got structural steel, they did not use
it to build steel copies of wooden bridges. Ayn
Rand. Atlas Shrugged. 1957.