Process Safety Technical Areas

Industry is increasingly moving towards utilizing High Integrity Protective Systems (HIPS) to reduce flare loading and prevent the environmental impact of pressure venting. HIPS are becoming the option of choice to help alleviate the need to replace major portions of the flare system in existing...

The discussion of societal risk criteria for the process industry began in the 1970's, led primarily by the Dutch and British governments. Most of the discussion, however, has centered on fixed facilities. The literature on the societal risk of hazardous goods transportation, particularly by...

The focus of most laboratory experiments and piloting operations is the development of a new, innovative chemical process or the improvement of an existing chemical process. These activities are designed to, and focus on, evaluation of the intended chemistry for the process being studied. The...

PSM ≠ Process Safety Leadership : Practical actions that set PS Leadership apart It is well known in business improvement circles that good management does not necessarily equal good leadership. This applies to PSM as well. Effectively leading the translation of PSM to action for all whom it...

Taking a Risk for Safety Over the last twenty years companies in the process industries have invested heavily in their occupational safety programs. These investments of time and money have been made in many areas, including training, behavior-based safety and the use of PPE. The results have been...

Although the potential consequences of combustible dust explosions are becoming more widely known, the potential consequences of combustible dust fires are sometimes overlooked. The CSB investigated three incidents involving combustible iron dust at Hoeganaes Corporation. Two people died from burns...

Evaluation of Dust Explosion/Fire Hazards during a Process Hazards Analysis [PHA] Mayur Patel DuPont Engineering mayur.patel@ind.dupont.com and S. Dharmavaram DuPont Engineering seshu.dharmavaram@usa.dupont.com Many of the recent dust fire and explosion incidents have shown that PHA teams have...

A release of flammable substances can result in various fire or explosion events depending on whether there is an immediate or delayed ignition. Although developments have taken place in producing fit-for-purpose ignition models, there remain significant uncertainties, including how to identify the...

Laminar and turbulent premixed flame burning velocities are two parameters that are sometimes needed to evaluate explosion hazards. There is ample information in the literature regarding the burning velocities of most common ignitable gases and vapors in air. Little information, however, is...

ABSTRACT AIChE Spring 2012 Meeting Prediction of Corrosion in Pipes Sally Nicola, Victor Carreto, Ray A. Mentzer, M. Sam Mannan Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Texas A&M University sally.nicola@neo.tamu.edu Corrosion is one of the most important mechanical integrity issues the...