Inertisation and blanketing
SOL technology, products and services for inertisation are based on many years of experience in controlling the injection of inert gas into plants or a section of them to obtain the required concentration inside, in particular in relation to the residual content of one or more types of chemical.
An operation conceptually analogous to inertisation is blanketing: this differs from inertisation because normally blanketing requires a modest and continuous flow of slightly pressurised inert gas. We speak of blanketing when the plant or plant section to be treated contains products in a liquid or solid phase, obviously in addition to inert gas, while inertisation normally refers to the operation carried out after evacuating the liquid, solid or gaseous products present.
Inertisation can be carried out on the basis of the characteristics of the plant and the operational possibilities available with continuous or discontinuous flows of inert gas: with InerSOL technology, with the same volume to be inertised and the same content of inert gas, it is possible to optimise process times and nitrogen consumption with us specific study of customer requirements. In continuous production cycles, once an initial inertisation is carried out a suitable pressure of inert gas must be constantly maintained within the system using special control systems and apparatus that make it possible to bleed off gas during tank loading phases and injected during the withdrawal phases.
Nitrogen is the most used inert gas because of its particular characteristics:
- high chemical inertia
- low electrical and heat conductivity
- very low condensation temperature
Noble gases, in particular argon, which has greater chemical inertia even at high temperatures, can be used for these applications.