Fugitive Emissions Program Relies on Camcode Tags

Where engineers see valves, flanges, pumps and threaded connectors, the trained eye of an LDAR specialist sees potential leak points.

Leak detection and repair (LDAR) or fugitive emissions programs help major industrial facilities to locate and fix equipment leaks throughout their expansive processes. For one of Canada’s leading environmental service companies, the effectiveness of their LDAR services depend on a durable, accurate bar code tag system, which they found in Camcode’s Metalphoto® bar code asset tags.

“My clients were particular about what they wanted … the process went smoothly with Camcode.”

“I’ve been quite happy with Camcode,” the company’s founder and president told Camcode. “When choosing tags, I look for what’s current at the time and I go to the company that offers the highest value solution. Camcode offered me that.”

Camcode’s asset tags play an essential role in LDAR programs. A typical industrial facility may have hundreds of thousands of potential leak points, which must be identified, tagged and tracked by an easily integrated database system. Because of the sheer quantity of such potential leak points, tags can become so voluminous that “it starts to look like a Christmas tree with so many tags on everything,” said the LDAR specialist.

That’s why part of his criteria for tag selection is the ability to easily integrate LDAR tags with other asset tracking systems used by his clients, such as a “tag and lockout” program.

“When choosing tags, I look for what’s current at the time and I go to the company that offers the highest value solution. Camcode offered me that.”

“Placing metal tags on every potential leak point within a facility is seen by some as unnecessary and costly, and this can be true if used solely for LDAR,” he said. “But when we can tie it to other programs, it can be a very justified method of equipment tracking.”

One recent project spearheaded by this environmental service company is an LDAR program for a major new industrial facility that will likely require more than 100,000 LDAR tags in often brutal outdoor conditions that can dip as low as -50 degrees Celsius (-59 degrees Farenheit) in winter months.

“My clients were particular about what they wanted in a barcode tag,” he told Camcode. “In terms of the flexibility of the system and the design of the tags, the process went smoothly with Camcode.”