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RTS’ application engineering experience provides customised industrial solutions

January 2020 News

In 2015, Rand Technical Services, formed in Pretoria in 1989, was strategically divided into two sister companies – RTS Africa Engineering and RTS Africa Technologies.

RTS Africa operates from a small central office in Brooklyn Pretoria and a factory in Silverton, supplying specialised technologies throughout Africa. The company has vast experience in supplying spin filtration, laser-based gas detection and electrolysers for hydrogen production.

“We provide specific systems integration services with these technologies,” says managing director, Ian Fraser. “For instance, we have been involved in undertaking the local upgrade of automation systems on the hydrogen generators supplied by our principals – NEL Hydrogen in Norway. As projects demand, we expand our staffing levels by insourcing trusted consultants and contractors, to accommodate the work on hand.”

RTS is the sole representative for numerous companies in Europe, the UK and US including NEO Monitors (gas and dust analysers); H2Scan (hydrogen leak detection and process gas measurement solutions); IMR (environmental equipment); NEL (hydrogen generators); Nafco (air, gas and liquid filtration systems); and Procon (boiler tube leak detection).

RTS Inertial Spin Filter

In addition to an internationally recognised range of products, RTS also offers its own locally designed and developed RTS Inertial Spin Filter. These self-cleaning filters, which are engineered locally, contain a module imported from the US. Metalworking is outsourced to a local company and assembly is undertaken at the RTS factory. The factory also includes a calibration facility, developed primarily for hydrogen instruments, but which is now being expanded to cover other product types.

RTS Inertial Spin Filters provide an effective maintenance-free solution to dust problems in MCC rooms, transformer rooms, control rooms, for example. The filtration principle is based on highly efficient cyclone technology and dust reduction is 98% of 15 µm and larger particles, and ensures that no secondary filtration is required. This eliminates the need for expensive, complex, high-maintenance bag houses.

“The spin modules are made from high-density polypropylene and are highly resistant to wear,” explains Fraser. “Modules supplied by RTS have been in service for over 20 years. Since the system is self-purging, there is no filter element that can become blocked from dust overload.”

The company provides sales and services throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and is also available for NEL Hydrogen service support in South America. “We would like to expand our operations in the markets in which we currently operate while maintaining our high service level standards,” says Fraser. “The company has a number of clients in the mining, chemical, petrochemical and industrial sectors, and a growing market for RTS is the hydrogen sector. Hydrogen will soon replace fossil fuels as a primary energy transfer medium and we are well positioned to provide technology and services in this industry.”

Recent projects that the company has completed include major overhauls of hydrogen generators at various locations including power stations and sugar mills. It has also supplied large inertial spin filter ventilation and SO2 stripping systems for mine control rooms in the platinum industry.

Customer service and satisfaction is paramount at RTS. Fraser says that the team will go the extra mile to provide an effective solution to problems, since satisfied customers are the best advertisement. “Our policy is to provide a holistic end-to-end service and engineer solutions to each individual application,” he concludes. “We are a small, niche company that can undertake large projects by applying adaptability in our approach terms of technical acumen and by utilising third-party resources.”


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