Autocontrol Technologies and Fluxo initiate partnership to provide automatic sampling systems
Despite the challenges presented this year, in October 2020, Fluxo and Autocontrol Technologies finally got together. There are more than 60 years of combined experience at the service of Brazil, one of the most complex and respected Oil and Gas markets in the world.
Autocontrol Technologies Srl (ACT) was created in 1993. In principle, the business was exclusively focused on the automatic sampling of liquid hydrocarbons. In the following decade, ACT expanded further in the Oil and Gas market, starting to work with the fields of online instrumentation, process measurement and control automation, thus helping the customer from design to installation, providing complete and ready-to-use systems. ACT CEO Roberto Scatizzi is trained in chemical engineering, is a former Instrumentation and Measurement Manager at SGS, as well as one of the world's leading authorities on automated sampling. He is one of the original editors of the ISO3171 International Standard.
ACT is an international leader in the design and manufacture of automated sampling systems for crude oil and refined products. Although ACT has been around for 27 years, it is, in some ways, one of the industry's closely guarded secrets. ACT's product portfolio covers the entire range of automatic sampling systems (liquid, gas, LNG) and much more.
Exclusive products
In its portfolio, there are two unique products that give ACT an edge over the competition and allow it to provide customized solutions for all of a customer's possible automated sampling requirements.
ACT manufactures the only portable electronic automatic sampling system (commonly known as EPASS) on the market, which can sample up to four lines simultaneously, and can be easily moved between sampling points, such as different ones. piers or even between different ships, to sample crude oils and refined products as they are loaded or unloaded on the manifold from the ship.
The second unique product is the PRIME-RCX (fixed type system) which can sample up to six lines simultaneously, and is normally employed at the base of the loading arms, allowing a representative sample to be collected as close as possible to the transfer measurement point of custody.
In Bergamo, 60 km from Milan, Italy, ACT manufactures all the essentials needed for sampling systems. Among the main ones are: a Model PS55 sample collection probe, which has the added feature of providing an adjustable sample capture size without the need to remove the process line to effect the change; O CS55 Cell Sampler model, which is at the heart of a sampling system of the fast loop, and is designed to drastically reduce the known pressure drop problem in such systems; the well established GS-20 Gas Sampler, which was recently combined with the newest product in the sampling portfolio, the LNG EQUALIZER, which is a crucial element of any LNG sampling system.
ACT also designs and manufactures all the necessary accessories, such as: SPC (Sample Preconditioning System), sample receivers, capture verifiers and, through the STC Filters group company, the filtration sections of its systems. automatic sampling.
As everyone knows, autosampling is not simple, as no one can really see what's going on inside the pipeline. For this reason, to avoid the usual “disclaimers” statements such as “you can trust us” and “based on our experience” several years ago, ACT went one step further and invested in its own software. fluid simulation, the ANSYS Fluent® CFD Simulation SW. Fluent is industry leading software used to analyze fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, chemical reactions and other related phenomena. After all, in some cases, especially when there are big investments, why guess what the outcome is and find it wrong when it's too late, instead of making sure it works right from the start?
ACT automatic sampling systems are designed, built and tested to international standards to ensure reliability in the field and provide the best possible return on investment for customers.
In Brazil, the ANP/INMETRO Joint Resolution No. 1, of June 10, 2013, establishes through item 8.1.11. of item "8.1. Oil sampling” that in-line sampling systems should be used when making a fiscal or custody transfer measurement of oil.
The rising costs of oil, processing and disposal of pollutants reinforce the importance of having a representative sample for the entire volume of oil that is transferred and measured. Thus, the use of automatic in-line sampling systems is increasingly a condition Sine Qua Non so that the product sample is representative, allowing qualitative and quantitative analysis in oil measurements.
Years of experience in the area and unparalleled professionalism ensure immediate returns on investments, since the correct sampling tends to reduce significant costs over time. By accurately determining the percentage of water in oil, you can avoid improperly paying royalties, as they will only be charged for the volume of oil measured.
Today, ACT provides its customers around the world with automatic sampling systems at: oil terminals, production wells, offshore platforms, refineries and measurement skids. The company is also a permanent member of the main international organizations that regulate this issue, such as: ISO and API.