NEW FREE WHITEPAPER: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MERCURY IN THE GAS INDUSTRY

Friday, Jul 16, 2010

A new whitepaper has been published by SGS United Kingdom Ltd outlining some of the most important aspects relating to the sampling and measurement of Mercury.

The presence of mercury in crude oil, natural gas and any processed products can have significant health and safety, as well as financial implications.

While the toxicity of mercury and its species is relatively well known, coming to worldwide attention in the 1950s with a series of poisonings and deaths, less information is available on its corrosive properties and how this corrosion can, in extreme cases, lead to catastrophic plant failure.

For example, in 1973 a huge explosion at an LNG plant in Algeria was attributed to corrosion of aluminium heat exchangers caused by mercury, while in 2004 an explosion at an LNG plant in Western Australia caused by mercury corrosion of an inlet valve on an aluminium heat exchanger lead to plant shutdown. Fortunately there was no loss of life on this occasion, although there was a huge loss of revenue for the plant.

Although these are extreme cases, there have been numerous unplanned plant shutdowns around the world caused by mercury corrosion of aluminium heat exchangers, cryogenic components and hydrogenation catalysts.  It is mercury’s unique properties that make it so corrosive.

Dr Derek Bryce, Laboratory Specialist at SGS who has almost 20 years experience in the field of mercury determination, author or co-author of over twenty papers on the subject and who has presented at over 20 conferences world-wide said, “The paper demonstrates how critical it is to measure mercury accurately and explores the means to ensure that all personnel are safe and that a plant or process is not in danger of corrosion from mercury”.

Collect your free whitepaper www.uk.sgs.com/mercurywhitepaper

Notes for editors:

SGS – SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With 59'000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1'000 offices and laboratories around the world."

For more information, contact Susan Nattrass, on 01276 697 999