C2H4 (ethylene) gas leakage detection and cleanup incorporate a mix of advanced technology, equipment, and process control. The ethylene lower explosive limit (LEL) is 2.7% (volume concentration), the detection limit should be as low as 0.1% LEL (i.e., 27ppm), the precision of infrared spectroscopy technology (e.g., TDLAS) is ±2ppm (wavelength 3.3μm), and the response time is <5 seconds. Suitable for chemical plant pipeline monitoring (e.g., 65% reduction in leakage accidents following installation at BASF plant, Germany). Semiconductor sensors (such as MQ-4) are low cost ($15/unit), but with ±15% error rate (concentration >500ppm) and suitable only for domestic use or small workshops (3 times/day). Based on OSHA statistics, 85% of industrial accidents caused by ethylene leakages in 2022 were caused by over 10-minute detection delays, and the use of laser methane detectors (such as FLIR GF77) can reduce response time to 2 seconds and reduce the false positive rate to below 1%.
With respect to leak fixing technology, in case of pipe microholes (diameter <0.5mm), nano sealants (such as Henkel Loctite 290) can be cured in 30 seconds (pressure 0.2MPa), withstanding temperature range -40°C to 150°C, and the cost of repair is merely 10% of traditional welding expenses (the cost of single point repair is reduced from $500 to $50). For tank cracks (length >10cm), composite material (carbon fiber cloth + epoxy resin) will be used, tensile strength can reach 600MPa (the original material is 250MPa), but the construction period is extended to 48 hours (loss of approximately $20,000 / day). A Chinese petrochemical company utilized a intelligent robot (with ultrasonic probe) to locate and repair ethylene pipe leaks and improved efficiency by 80% over manual check (4-hour inspection time reduced to 48 minutes).
Gas recovery and emission regulation are critical to the emergency, and the activated carbon adsorption tower (VOC recovery >95%) can treat a leak concentration of 1,000ppm ethylene, process capacity of 500 ³/h (energy consumption of 15kW·h), but saturation cycle is only 72 hours (replacement cost $1,200 / time). Catalytic oxidation systems (e.g., Honeywell UOP) oxidize ethylene to CO₂ and H₂O at 300°C with 99.9% efficiency, suitable for leak conditions with >5% concentrations (e.g., tank rupture), but requiring 30 minutes of preheating to start (with a further cost of $200 / hour in fuel). In the USA, the EPA requires ethylene leakage emission concentration <500ppm (24-hour average), and the company can be fined up to $37,000 per day if it gets in breach (Section 112 of the Clean Air Act).
Predictive maintenance solutions such as Siemens MindSphere monitor pump and valve health using vibration and temperature sensors (10kHz sampling rate) to provide 14 days’ notice of failure (92% accuracy) and reduce unplanned downtime by 70%. Distributed optical fiber sensing (DTS) technology can measure strain and temperature in real time (±0.1°C accuracy) for 10 km of pipelines, ±1 m positioning accuracy (traditional methods ±10 m), and deployment cost approximately $200 / m (5 years maintenance cost saving of 40%). Norwegian Equinor applied AI algorithms (10 terabytes of training data) to increase ethylene leak prediction accuracy to 89% and reduce annual maintenance costs by $1.2 million.
Regulations and training improve risk management, EU ATEX directive requires ethylene equipment explosion-proof certification (e.g., Ex d IIC T4), flameproof housing pressure 1.5MPa (1.5 times peak internal explosion pressure). Employee safety training every year (≥8 hours) reduces error rates from 12% to 3% (DuPont data), and simulated leak drills (every 3 months) improve emergency response time by 30% (average response time reduced from 20 minutes to 14 minutes).
On the basis of technology integration (detection rate ±2ppm+ repair rate <1 minute) and smart management (AI forecasting + online monitoring), the leakage probability of c2h4 gas can be adjusted to 0.01 times/year · km (average in the industry 0.1 times), ensuring industrial safety and compliance operations.