Pyroban began as a project implemented by

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British Chemical industry, chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

(ICI) after the accidental release and ignition of a

flammable A combustible material is a material that can burn (i.e., sustain a flame) in air under certain conditions. A material is flammable if it ignites easily at ambient temperatures. In other words, a combustible material ignites with some effort ...

vapour In physics, a vapor (American English) or vapour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is a substance in the gas phase at a temperature lower than its critical temperature,R. H. Petrucci, W. S. Harwood, and F. G. Herring, ''General ...

by a diesel engine at its Wilton Plant in the UK in 1969. In 1972 Power Research Ltd was formed by Phil Tyrer, to offer a sub-contract prototype design and development service to prevent industrial equipment creating an

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

in a flammable atmosphere. Power Research carried out development work for the Pyroban project and in 1974 changed its name to Pyroban Ltd offering explosion proof solutions to industries such as oil and gas, mining and manufacturing. In 1980 the company pioneered gas detection used on

battery electric vehicle A battery electric vehicle (BEV), pure electric vehicle, only-electric vehicle, fully electric vehicle or all-electric vehicle is a type of electric vehicle (EV) that uses electrical energy exclusively from an electric vehicle battery, on-boa ...

s such as

forklift A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...

trucks so that they could be used in areas where flammable gas or vapour is present. This method is still being used today. By the turn of the century, many

industrial accidents A work accident, workplace accident, occupational accident, or accident at work is a "discrete occurrence in the course of Work (human activity), work" leading to physical or mental occupational injury. According to the International Labour Organ ...

, the result of the ignition of flammable material, had shaped health and safety policy across the developed world. In Europe, this was consolidated with the introduction of the

ATEX Directive The ATEX directives are two of the EU directives describing the minimum safety requirements for workplaces and equipment used in explosive atmospheres. The name is an initialization of the term ''ATmosphères EXplosives'' ( French for "exp ...

in 2003. These policies have improved the safety of people working in hazardous areas and drove an increasing need for explosion protected equipment leading to new innovations from Pyroban as it aligned with the latest technologies. Around 2003, Pyroban pioneered the introduction of gas detection in diesel engines to certifiably eliminate the use of a

flame arrestor A flame arrester (also spelled arrestor), deflagration arrester, or flame trap is a device or form of construction that will allow free passage of a gas or gaseous mixture but will interrupt or prevent the passage of flame. It prevents the trans ...

in the diesel engine exhaust stream. This was significant as it meant that operators could keep engines running on an

offshore platform An oil platform (also called an oil rig, offshore platform, oil production platform, etc.) is a large structure with facilities to extract and process petroleum and natural gas that lie in rock formations beneath the seabed. Many oil platforms wi ...

without having to clean the flame arrestor every 8 hours. It also prevented operational issues from occurring where dummy flame arrestors (blanks) could otherwise be used, exposing oil and gas rigs to potential

explosions An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generate ...

. The

Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, Dynamic positioning, dynamically positioned, Semi-submersible platform, semi-submersible offshore drilling Oil platform, rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, ...

disaster in 2010 had a significant impact on the global

oil and gas industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The largest volume products ...

and helped shape policy further. On 31 August 2011, Pyroban was acquired by

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc., also known as Cat, is an American construction, mining and other engineering equipment manufacturer. The company is the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 73 on the ' ...

On 17 November 2017, Caterpillar Inc. divested its 100% interest in the Pyroban Group and it is now owned by the Longacre Group. In 2020, Pyroban was able to expand on its 2003 innovation and replace the plate type flame arrestors found in explosion protected

diesel engines The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the die ...

with a passive system that doesn't use gas detection. Pyroban is a founding member of the Pioneer Safety Group of companies which provides safety solutions for businesses operating in hazardous or harsh environments all over the world. Today, the company is instrumental in supporting businesses that need to operate with potentially explosive atmospheres while introducing

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

and

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machine ...

into their operations, and supports emerging technologies such as

hydrogen storage Several methods exist for storing hydrogen. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand. While large amounts of hydrogen are produced by variou ...

for

hydrogen vehicles A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen to propulsion, move. Hydrogen vehicles include some road vehicles, rail vehicles, space rockets, forklifts, hydrogen-powered ship, ships and hydrogen-powered aircraft, aircraft. Motive power is ge ...

References

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External links

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