Enhancing truck and railcar loading.

New Turnkey Flow Measurement Solution Enhances Truck and Railcar Loading Operations

Emerson now offers a MID-certified, turnkey flow measurement solution in Europe that enhances truck and railcar loading operations by improving measurement accuracy and traceability, increasing loading bay availability, and reducing operating costs. The new solution addresses custody transfer applications for downstream terminals, refineries, LNG plants and chemical plants, where accurate and reliable measurement of all product transfers is essential. It is also intended to help these operations achieve Top Quartile performance, or performance metrics within the top 25 percent of peer companies.

The solution features accurate and reliable technologies that not only assure measurement accuracy but also help operators increase availability by minimising downtime. The assembly’s compact and modular design also significantly reduces engineering complexity as well as commissioning and installation time for new loading platforms and simplifies upgrades to existing loading installations.

The Emerson module uses Micro Motion™ Coriolis flow meters to provide highly accurate, stable and repeatable measurement of mass and volume flow and density. Rosemount™ transmitters measure pressure and temperature, and an Emerson preset batch controller manages the loading of hydrocarbon liquids into the trucks and railcars, and automatically controls a Daniel™ control valve for low flow start-up, high flow rate control, low flow shutdown and final shut-off. A loading arm, an air separator, grounding and overfill protection can be provided to meet application requirements.

“Using Emerson’s flow module to improve loading operations contributes to greater operational efficiency and can help companies achieve Top Quartile performance,” said Thomas Sautier, flow solutions product manager for Emerson’s Automation Solutions business. “At a typical bay where 20 trucks per day are loaded, the accuracy improvement of flow measurements with Coriolis technology compared with mechanical meters can help to save more than €50,000 in financial imbalance risk per year.”

With a volume flow rate accuracy of up to 0.05% for liquids, the Micro Motion ELITE® CMF-Series Coriolis meters reduce measurement uncertainty and can improve the accuracy of the truck load by up to 150 litres.

The assembly supports implementation of Industrial Internet of Things strategies with digital intelligence and powerful analytical software embedded in the Coriolis flow meters. The flow meters offer smart diagnostics, accessible via a range of digital communications, providing an online health status of the device and process that is available on demand, either on-site or remotely, without interrupting loading operations.

The assembly has been developed in compliance with the requirements of both the European Measuring Instruments Directive (MID) and the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML).

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