10 November 2009

In this day and age of prevailing energy efficiency and environmental concerns, optimized performance of all aspects of a plant is key to its successful and profitable and safe performance on an ongoing basis.

In particular, the optimisation of furnace combustion operations is paramount.

This is according to Ian Fraser, Managing Director of RTS, a Tshwane-based company offering innovative technologies and solutions to industrial problems, which is the South African agent representing principal Premier Combustion Services (PCS) in the local market.

“PCS is a UK-based company dedicated to providing combustion solutions by evaluating and recommending the most safe , efficient and hence most cost-effective solution for the plant operators,” Fraser advises.

“In many instances, PCS also works with clients in the planning of heater and furnace shutdowns; and in South Africa, at our mutual client Sasol Secunda, for example, RTS and PCS provide a seamless on-site team doing consulting, full-spectrum training and assisting with shutdowns,” adds Roy Godwin, Director of PCS in the UK, who travels to South Africa regularly to work with RTS’s local team on site at Sasol Secunda, and other refineries and petrochemical companies in South Africa.

“In the past, companies both globally and locally were not as concerned as they are currently about whether or not the fuel burning process was effective, and therefore inefficient and often unsafe” Godwin points out.

“However, South African companies are now joining their global counterparts in taking the combustion optimization process far more seriously, as energy is substantially more expensive than in the past,” he says.

According to Godwin, energy-saving combustion process, by ensuring an optimal air / fuel mixture – and consistently monitoring and managing this effectively at refineries and other plants – is therefore now pivotal.

Furthermore, RTS’s Fraser adds, with current environmental legislation, such as the laws governing air pollution, having become far stricter, the burner combustion optimization process is also now more important - because incomplete or inefficient combustion produces more pollutants into the atmosphere,” he explains.

“In any situation like this, it is not just the team consulting and implementation expertise and service which PCS and RTS provides, but the on-site training, skills transfer and ongoing support which ensures that combustion optimization is lived, and practiced, on a daily basis at our clients’ facilities,” Fraser continues.

Several different operational and procedural aspects are covered in the training, which is conducted on a one-on-one basis, with a personalised focus, and attention to detail. The training covers production, mechanical, process, instrumentation, and automation aspects which all feed into the combustion optimisation process.

Fraser and Godwin also point out the immense importance and emphasis given in their daily on-site training to all aspects of safety, as the elements involved are naturally highly flammable so any uncontrolled ignition could be potentially extremely dangerous and is to be avoided at all costs.

‘Efficiency and safety are also inextricably linked – if you are burning optimally, following the right process, then you are also burning safely,” Godwin maintains.

“This is done through strict adherence, at all times and in all situations, to the Safety, Health, Environmental, Risk and Quality (SHERQ) best-practices, processes and procedures of the client, as well as to our own safety methodologies and guidelines,” Godwin explains.

Fraser adds that Bradley Bam, RTS’s on-site combustion engineer who consults permanently to Sasol in Secunda, conducts weekly monitoring and evaluation of combustion processes, to ensure this adherence on a continuous basis.

“This has proven very successful, as we have had no lost time on the plant for the past six years, not even a First Aid case,” Godwin points out.

“We are proud to provide a seamless and efficient, on-site heater and combustion optimization service and support facility, together with our principal PCS, not only to Sasol Secunda but to our other clients here in South Africa.

We perceive this to be a niche and expert service for which there will be an ever-present and growing demand, to keep up with the world’s never-ending appetite for energy,” Fraser concludes.

Ends
[687 Words]

Note to Editors

Rand Technical Services, or RTS, is a specialised, Tshwane-based company offering innovative technologies and solutions to industrial problems.

Run by Managing Director Ian Fraser since its inception in the early 1990’s, the company offers globally-sourced, quality products such as continuous belt weighers without load cells, laser-based gas detection devices for hot or corrosive areas, and electrolysers for hydrogen production.

Product delivery and technical consultation by highly-trained staff is offered throughout Southern Africa to a range of clients in industry sectors such as mining, glass, steel and energy.

Editorial Contacts

Richard Cooper
Marketing manager
Rand Technical Services
012 - 993 9620
info@rtsafrica.co.za
www.rtsafrica.co.za

Kendal Hunt
PR Consultant and Writer
Kendal Hunt Communications
011 – 7045649 or kenh@mweb.co.za