Process Safety Progress最新文献

{"title":"Numerical study of failure modes of hazardous material tanks exposed to fire accidents in the process industry","authors":"Li Mo, Shenbin Xiao, Hang Chen, Xinxin Tan, Ming Yang, Genserik Reniers, Chao Chen","doi":"10.1002/prs.12643","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12643","url":null,"abstract":"Fire accidents in oil tank farms can trigger domino effects, leading to multiple tank fires with catastrophic consequences. Preventing losses in large‐scale tank farms requires a dynamic assessment of fire‐induced domino accidents. Existing research often focuses on calculating the time to failure (TTF) of storage tanks but overlooks the influence of failure modes. This study develops numerical models to explore failure modes of oil storage tanks with uniform and stepwise walls exposed to thermal radiation. Factors such as the flame heights of combustion tank, adjacent spacings, wall thickness, and tank volumes are considered. The numerical model employs a solid double‐layer flame model to determine thermal radiation intensity and temperature, followed by a dynamic stress–strain and buckling analysis to obtain time to buckling (TTB) and time to yielding (TTY). If TTB < TTY, the failure model is buckling; otherwise, the failure model is yielding. Results indicate that failure modes in nonuniform thermal fields include buckling and yielding, with stepwise walls favoring buckling and uniform walls favoring yielding. When the wall thickness is below the critical value, failure is yielding; otherwise, it is buckling. These findings support risk management and emergency response for fire‐induced domino effects in oil tank farms.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"47 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"So, you cannot vent: A deep dive into other explosion protection methods","authors":"Michelle Murphy","doi":"10.1002/prs.12639","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12639","url":null,"abstract":"Current NFPA standards for managing combustible dust hazards require equipment with an explosion hazard to be protected from the effects of deflagration. These protections include deflagration venting in accordance with NFPA 68, Standard on Explosion Protection by Deflagration Venting, 2023 Edition, or oxidant concentration reduction, combustible concentration reduction, deflagration suppression, or deflagration pressure containment, via NFPA 69, Standard on Explosion Protection Systems, 2024 Edition. It makes sense to choose the simplest and most cost‐effective option based on the inherent design and risk of the operation. Implementation of any one of these protection methods requires an understanding of the method and all the associated requirements. While the basic methods are fairly straightforward, the associated requirements are often less understood. In this paper, the author will introduce the basic methods and take a deep dive into the associated requirements of each method of protection. Based on the author's experience in evaluating protection systems, common misunderstandings will be highlighted, for example, the margin of safety to apply and the operational limits required to be developed and documented for oxidant concentration reduction systems.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208802","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Risk and consequence analysis of ammonia storage units in a nuclear fuel cycle facility","authors":"Biplab Das, Shekhar Kumar, S. P. Sivapirakasam","doi":"10.1002/prs.12645","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12645","url":null,"abstract":"Industrial disasters, such as unintended toxic gas releases resulting in fires, explosion, and fatalities, are damaging both the global ecology and the social acceptance of the related technology. Risk and consequence analysis is the key feature of process safety measures for the protection of environment and human life. In this work, the risk and consequence analysis of unintended release of anhydrous liquid ammonia for one of the storage tanks, located inside the nuclear fuel cycle facility, was analyzed for leakages leading to exposure of surrounding human population and fire with allied thermal radiation risk. The risk assessment was performed using four methods: Fault tree, E&FI methodology, Probit, and ALOHA, It was observed that while the predicted hazard severities from fault‐tree analysis, Probit analysis, and ALOHA nearly converged, the conventional F&EI, the safety workhorse of the chemical industry estimated low numeric values of the respective hazard. A methodology was proposed to load this general F&EI value for the case of chemical plant being located inside a nuclear facility. Overloaded F&EI procedure estimated hazard value for envisaged unintended ammonia release in good agreement, with results from FTA, Probit, and ALOHA analyses.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Numerical simulation study on propane gas leakage and diffusion law in slope terrain","authors":"Tingting Luan, Xiaoyun Li, Lixun Wang, Yun Chu, Qinghang Zhang, Xinyu Zhang","doi":"10.1002/prs.12646","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12646","url":null,"abstract":"It is frequent that gas leakage accidents occur at chemical enterprises located in slope terrain. Meet the requirement of urgently studying the gas leakage and diffusion law in slope terrain. In this study, we utilize computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate the scenarios of propane leakage and diffusion under four distinct slope conditions, which are 0°, 10°, 15°, and 20°. The gas diffusion law under different slopes is investigated, and the influence of wind speed and wind direction on the diffusion process is also further analyzed. The study indicates that when the slope exceeds 15°, the change in slope exerts a pronounced influence on the dispersion of propane leakage. Compared with diffusion on flat ground, there is a distinct propane aggregation area at the bottom of the slope terrain. Also, the steeper the slope, the more noticeable the aggregation phenomenon. The increase of wind speed makes propane gas lifted, and the gas aggregation at the bottom of the slope decreases. In particular, at a wind speed of 3.3 m/s, the aggregation of propane at the bottom of the first 15° and 20° slopes is more pronounced. Under the upwind condition, the propane gas is entrained at the slope surface, increasing the propane concentration in the area around the tank, which in turn increases the safety risk. The findings of this study have significant implications for the rational layout of chemical enterprises, gas leakage monitoring, and emergency evacuation planning for leakage accidents. They can also help enhance chemical enterprises' safety prevention abilities and the efficiency of their emergency response.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"262 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnosing electrostatic problems and hazards in industrial processes: Case studies","authors":"Vahid Ebadat, Paul Cartwright","doi":"10.1002/prs.12644","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12644","url":null,"abstract":"Static electricity is a phenomenon commonly encountered yet often misunderstood and underestimated in terms of its hazard potential; it continues to challenge the safety and reliability of industrial processes, particularly those involving flammable substances. This paper delves into the critical issue of electrostatic hazards in industrial settings by presenting two flash fire/explosion case studies, one involving biphenyl dust and the other gasoline vapor; both linked to electrostatic discharges. The first case study examines an explosion in a flaker and pack‐out hopper during biphenyl flake manufacturing. The investigation reveals the role of electrostatic charges in the incident and how well‐intentioned equipment changes created warning signs of increased risk that were missed. The second case study discusses a gasoline vapor flash fire, highlighting the common yet overlooked hazard of static electricity during the transfer of flammable liquids. It underscores how common activities involving people can generate sufficient electrostatic charge to ignite flammable vapor–air mixtures in industry. The outcomes of these studies highlight the importance of acting on early warning signs of static electricity and the crucial role of data‐driven diagnostic techniques in addressing and controlling those hazards. By dissecting the intricacies of electrostatic phenomena, safety professionals can formulate actionable strategies to adapt plant operations and prevent hazards from static electricity. The paper advocates for a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating electrostatic risks in industrial settings beginning with process hazard analyses that incorporate static electricity hazards analysis and continues through employee training to ensure that early warning signs are identified, understood, and acted upon. It stresses the need for comprehensive safety measures, including proper grounding and bonding, use of static dissipative materials, and regular maintenance of safety equipment, to prevent incidents. Through these case studies, the paper contributes to understanding of electrostatic hazards in industrial processes and highlights the importance of integrating electrostatic safety measures into routine industrial operations.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Artificial intelligence (AI) and process safety: Some cautionary observations","authors":"Walter Frank","doi":"10.1002/prs.12641","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12641","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a vogue topic in the press, and descriptions of its potential impact range from apocalyptic to salvational. Interest in the topic will no doubt stimulate the search for applications to support both the technical and management systems aspects of process safety management. Within our industries, maintaining institutional memory and technical capability is made increasingly challenging by more frequent job movement among younger staff and the loss to the retirement of more senior staff. One would hope that AI could help fill the gaps caused by these factors. However, the author's sampling of current AI capabilities suggests that AI is not yet ready to do so. This paper provides some examples of errors and insufficiencies identified when seeking AI assistance in addressing process safety issues. It also suggests some existing challenges to better “training” of AI to support the needs of the process safety community. It concludes that caution should be applied, especially by less experienced personnel, when seeking AI assistance in addressing process safety–related technical matters.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208805","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Crossing river oil pipeline spill emergency response plan automatic association study based on Apriori‐Topsis","authors":"Jian Kang, Xiangxuan Meng, Ningning Li, Tao Su, Xiangyu Zhang, Haoyuan Dai","doi":"10.1002/prs.12642","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12642","url":null,"abstract":"With the increase in service time of oil pipelines, the probability of pipeline damage increases and the risk of leakage increases. However, as an important equipment for transporting oil, long‐distance pipelines have to be built across rivers. According to statistics, the leakage accidents of oil pipelines crossing rivers account for nearly 50% of all pipeline leakage accidents. Crude oil diffused into rivers easily cause serious pollution and damage to rivers and nearby organisms. Therefore, it is of great significance to study a reasonable, rapid, and efficient oil spill emergency treatment scheme for pollution and property loss. In this paper, an optimization model of emergency disposal scheme based on Apriori‐Topsis is proposed. Firstly, according to the characteristics of the oil spill pipeline, the general scheme library of emergency disposal is automatically generated by association rules, including the type, quantity, layout, and selected disposal technology of oil recovery equipment. Then, combined with the calculation of emergency disposal materials, the multi‐decision technology Topsis model is adopted to optimize the scheme from two angles of oil recovery effect and economic cost, and finally the cost‐effective emergency disposal scheme is obtained. Finally, taking the oil pollution accident on the second line of the Qing river as an example, the optimization model of emergency disposal scheme based on Apriori‐Topsis proposed in this paper is carried out. The application results verify the availability and effectiveness of the model, which provides a new method for the selection of emergency materials for rivers and pipeline process safety.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) outcomes to better manage critical controls in mining industry: From PHA to verification in the field","authors":"Christophe Catala, Laura Anato, Luis Carrero, Catherine Morar","doi":"10.1002/prs.12640","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12640","url":null,"abstract":"Process safety management in the mining and metals industry is relatively new compared to other high‐hazard process industries such as oil and gas or chemicals. Practices are less mature and are developing, transferring from other industries, and using the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) guidance to manage critical controls. This paper shares how Rio Tinto, a leading mining and metals company, has improved its critical controls management practices. Focus is put on how the company has improved the quality of its process hazard analyses (PHAs) and critical controls management activities through a series of actions. This covers clarification of the methodology used, development of training packages, revision of the methodology used to identify critical controls, development of a PHA facilitation approval process and a PHA facilitation approval committee, implementation of a training and coaching program for internal candidates, and development of assurance activities to monitor effectiveness of the process. These actions have resulted in very encouraging results in terms of overall quality of the PHAs, effectiveness of the PHA approval process to support the new methodologies introduced, and the development of internal facilitation capabilities.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Process Safety Maturity Assessment Tool","authors":"Joey Cranston","doi":"10.1002/prs.12637","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12637","url":null,"abstract":"Due to rapid change from divestitures, acquisitions, and greenfield startups, Albemarle found it challenging to communicate and assess our Process Safety expectations. We decided we needed a tool that would both guide site management through the milestones related to process safety management systems and one that would allow senior management to assess progress. In addition, a tool was needed to challenge existing sites with continuous improvement goals in process safety management. For this reason, one key aspect of the tool is applicability to every site in the company; even though the maturity of the process safety program is diverse.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142208834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reliability in mass alert system for dam emergencies: Case study of Vale S/A","authors":"Flávio Thimotio da Silva, Cilene Faria, Flávio Morais, Germano Ferraz, Roberto Delamora, Priscila Guedes, Daniela de Miranda Souza","doi":"10.1002/prs.12629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.12629","url":null,"abstract":"In its iron ore operations, Vale, the largest mining company in Brazil and the fourth largest mining company in the world by market value, has 77 dams considered with high potential damage in case of a failure in the stability controls. This classification follows the criteria of the sector regulatory agency in Brazil and determines that, for this class, a mass alert system is necessary for the resident population and workers immediately downstream of the dam within a region preset by legislation, considering a simulated flood area. For Vale, the mass alert system for dam emergencies is part of a critical mitigating control for a business risk analysis considering the hypothetical dam break as an unwanted material event. Therefore, both the probability of failure on demand, spurious failure, and availability of the assets of this protection barrier are important elements for this purpose, as well as the emergency response plan and the evacuation simulation of flood areas, which are part of a risk management system that require continuous verification and continuous improvement. Currently, Vale has 375 sirens, and it is planned to reach 420 sirens by the end of 2024. The purpose of this article is to present how the safety concepts applied to these systems were developed, the good practices applied from this study, and the lessons learned from the dam emergency management arising from the break of the Brumadinho dam in 2019. The reliability analyses of the systems involved and the main contributors to the Safety Critical Unavailability are presented, as well as the results of the reduction in the maintenance time and increase in system availability.","PeriodicalId":20680,"journal":{"name":"Process Safety Progress","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141941423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}