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Tuesday, December 24th:

Christmas Eve. Today RHZ Environmental has dealt with plant issues at multiple sites. Though we're enjoying the holiday with our family, many others aren't. They're on sites trying to resolve issues that had pulled them away from their families. Spending 20 minutes on the phone helping someone resolve an issue that's plagued them for hours is not a problem. Being in this industry all of use have been on the other end of the phone.

Within an hour of receiving the calls, all of the issues had been resolved. Some are temporary fixes, and will need addressing once the proper parts arrive, while others need no further action to be taken.

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 Sunday, November 24th: A five-tower Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer was experiencing extreme differential pressure swings (15" - 31"WC). This was also causing the main draft fan to experience rapid changes in speed, and the plant was forced to shut down some of its sources, since there wasn't enough static pressure available for proper ventilation. Booth doors were popping open, and site personnel were complaining about fumes.

Multiple cracks were found on the wheel of the main draft fan, and these cracks were photographed within the first 15 minutes of the inspection. After an extensive inspection RHZ Environmental was able to ascertain the RTO's condition, and offer a comprehensive plan to allow the plant to operate all of their sources, in the short-term by immediately addressing the static pressure issue, as well as setting out concrete steps the plant needed to take resolve all of the oxidizer's issues.

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 Monday, July 8th:

Biomethane processes are fascnating, yet require understanding in order to optimize oxidizer operation. A facility increased its flow by nearly 50%, and was operating near the limits of its PSA system. This meant that their equipment was operating at high pressures, which meant it operated more efficiently, and was better able to strip methane from the stream.

While this was good news for the facility, the increased volume of lower BTU waste gas brought out the oxidizer's limited stream balance.  The upper chamber began to experience erratic temperature swings during PSA bed switching. It was a combination of a few issues, but after 20 minutes of adjusting flows, the loading in the upper chamber - along with the automated controls in the lower chamber - allowed the unit to regain its consistency, which is a hallmark of this site, to the envy of many others.

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Wednesday, May 21st:

Redesigned controls on the first of two high BTU waste gas streams. Recuperative Thermal Oxidizers are a good option for this process, but they need proper controls to maintain proper combustion chamber temperatures through a wide range of waste gas stream concentration levels. This design worked well for a time, but as the process changed over time, the original control scheme was unable to automatically adjust - hence the need for a new, responsive control scheme.

The new controls are working well, and the unit is now automatically responding to changes in concentration levels, where before it wouls have shut down.

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Thursday, December 20th:

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Wednesday, November 28th a small catalytic oxidizer successfully passed its EPA test. The catalyst was old, and to ensure sufficient reactivity the set points had to be adjusted. Once this was done the unit performed better than it had for the past few years.

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Tuesday, November 27th a catalytic oxidizer successfully passed another EPA test. During the initial test run I found ductwork damage, which was causing a lot of issues with the tests. Once this was resolved the unit handled the three test runs with ease.

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Wednesday, October 24th: Another RTO Success story:
A 12-year old 5-tower RTO turned in a solid performance with a Destruction Rate Efficiency exceeding 99.5% during its final test. The unit averaged over 99.4% for all 3 tests thanks to RHZ Environmental's exceptional EPA test-preparation, extensive undertanding of the equipment and quick response time the day of the test.
 Before the initial test run RHZ Environmental personnel were made aware of a potential issue, and 2 minutes later the results of their corrective action made a profound impact on the system's destruction rate efficiency; eliminating any doubt about the unit's ability to pass the strict EPA tests, as evidenced by the  results.
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Tuesday, October 23rd : RTO Shines during EPA Testing.
A 23-year old 5-tower RTO excelled in its official EPA test after a troubling start. During the first test, two outputs failed on an 120VAC output card, resulting in the failure of two purge dampers to function properly. Even with this, the unit achieved a 98.987% Destruction Rate Efficiency. RHZ quickly found and fixed the problem. This involved wiring and programming. It took RHZ less than an hour to troubleshoot and correct the problem.
 The results were impressive, with the 3rd test run proving that the system can operate 40F below its previous combustion chamber temperature set point, while achieving a Destruction Rate Efficiency of 99.46%.
The 40F reduction in combustion chamber temperature reduces gas consumption by over 0.34MCF/Hr, and may result in savings that will exceed 2,145MCF annually.

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Wednesday, September 12th: An engineering test is performed on a 5-tower RTO, and due to the results obtained (99.4% DRE), its combustion chamber set point was lowered by 25F. This will reduce gas consumption by over 0.214MCF/Hr. This may result in an annual savings that could easily exceed 1,340MCF.

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Tuesday , September 11th: An engineering test is performed on a 5-Tower Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer and the results were outstanding. The final numbers reflected a 99.7% Destruction Rate Efficiency - the highest results ever obtained for the 13 year old system. Plant personnel were very pleased with RHZ Environmental's work.

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Labor Day Weekend: Two 5-Tower Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers are prepped for their upcoming Engineering and EPA tests. In addition to this work, internal repair work is performed on one of the 5-tower systems to repair holes found in the plenums and duct-work during a recent internal inspection.

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