Coriolis Control Enables Cost Saving Vapor

In the research and testing of automobile catalysts the chemical dodecane, a liquid alkane hydrocarbon, is used in the simulation of diesel engine exhaust. Customers within this research field were unaware that the amount of dodecane could be precisely and accurately controlled and that it could be injected in the vaporous state that they preferred.

During visits to a number of these research facilities several similarities were apparent: the customer had created a “hand crafted” solution to injecting dodecane which made it challenging to maintain stable control of the amount of dodecane injected which lead to difficulty in getting to repeatable results. Time, effort, material samples, and dodecane were all being wasted due to the coarse control methodology of the injection.

The Bronkhorst solution was to establish that the researchers wanted to have dodecane injected in a vapor state and therefore should be added via a highly accurate low flow Coriolis Flow Meter directly coupled to a Controlled Evaporator Mixing (CEM) system. This solution ensured that precisely the desired mass of dodecane was injected into the test reactor and that it was added in a complete vapor state. The CEM system allows for the accurate control of a liquid such that a specific mass of that liquid is vaporized. Because the CEM system can provide such accurate control the researchers were able to maintain a stable dodecane level at each stage of testing which lead to repeatable results and an efficient use of both materials and manpower thereby reducing overall project cost.