Protecting the Planet

2021-05-23

At SYMEX Technologies we take air pollution more seriously than ever before! We’ve built a reputation for providing the world’s best and most efficient hydrocarbon vapor emission control system. You see, when hydrocarbons enter the atmosphere anywhere in the world, they react with the ultra-violet rays of the sun to form low level ozone, often called “smog”. This air pollutant is a serious health hazard, causing emphysema, a precursor to cancer, and a threat to us all. In the 1960s this realization became the key motivating factor in a global move years ago to reduce the release of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, and to control those that are released. Of the many control methods tried, two emerged as front-runners: destruction via the combustion process, and hydrocarbon recovery via short-cycle pressure swing adsorption-absorption systems. The latter is more prevalent today as the former produces unwanted green-house gases. The largest emitters were identified. Petroleum liquids terminals, moving huge volumes of liquid hydrocarbons every day, were targeted first. By 1970 most were required to install hydrocarbon vapor emission control systems. Today, many of those aging systems and their outdated mechanical control


systems have since suffered decades of neglect. During the same time electronics, instrumentation, computer systems, software development, and process technology in general have all advanced at an amazing pace. By the advent of the new millennium in 2000 we finally had all of the tools needed to make dramatic advances in vapor emission control plant design. SYMEX Technologies capitalized on this by developing its DRYVac™ vapor recovery system … a smaller, simpler, smarter, and more efficient technology! The timing was perfect. Older units were failing emissions testing everywhere, proving the fallacy of leaving operating efficiency to chance. While others attempted to retrofit older systems with more powerful vapor movers, SYMEX Technologies completely redesigned the new DRYVac™ VRU using the world’s first dry vacuum pump designed exclusively for vapor control. This eliminated the weaknesses of those earlier plant designs, and allowed SYMEX Technologies to capitalize on the use of affordable electronic instrumentation to build a smart, self-managed VRU. Gone are the wet vacuum pumps and their unwieldly seal fluid systems, heat exchangers, circulating pumps, and all of the costly, time consuming maintenance issues that came with them. Today’s VRU is the DRYVac™.