Process and Plant Safety

694 Pages·2020·24.38 MB·English

by  Ulrich Hauptmanns

Ulrich Hauptmanns
Process
and Plant
Safety
2nd Edition
Process and Plant Safety
Ulrich Hauptmanns
Process and Plant Safety
Second Edition
Ulrich Hauptmanns
Schönebeck, Germany
Originally published Hauptmanns: Prozess- und Anlagensicherheit, Berlin, 2020, translated
by the author
ISBN 978-3-662-61483-9 ISBN 978-3-662-61484-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61484-6
Springer Vieweg
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To Uta and Anton
Preface to Second Edition
The second edition of the present book provided the opportunity to thoroughly
revise the text and to make a number of corrections. New examples resulting
from inquiries of practitioners were added. The chapter on “appropriate safety
distances” was extended by including experiences from the author’s consulting
activities.
I would like to thank Prof. Dr. U. Stephan, Dr.-Ing. Arizal and Dipl-Ing. D.
Möckel for their expert advice.
Schönebeck (Elbe), February 2020 Ulrich Hauptmanns
vii
Preface to the German Edition
Quidquid agis prudenter agas, respice finem
Safety is a basic human need. That is why a modern society must ensure that
industrial production is safe. The task of engineers dedicated to process and plant
safety is to achieve this. They ensure that plants are designed for safety and built
and operated safely and that people have safe workplaces. Only if this is fulfilled
is the operation of industrial plants ethically acceptable.
Safety means that hazards are kept small. However, there is no possibility to
eliminate them completely; for whatever is possible will occur with a certain
probability.
In order to make engineered systems safe, the probability of hazards must be
reduced as far as possible. This requires a structured approach that is based on
experience as well as experimental and theoretical findings. In this book, the
approach for analyzing and designing safe process plants is described. Starting
points are possible hazards from material properties and operating conditions.
The focus is placed on the qualitative and quantitative modelling of technical sys-
tems and the simulation of physical and chemical processes during operation and
accidents. The material presented is extended and complemented by a number of
examples and case studies, which refer to real plants or events.
A characteristic of analyses of process and plant safety is that the interde-
pendencies within the engineered system, the influence of its components on one
another and human interventions must be accounted for. A further characteristic is
the stochastic nature of the processes to be analyzed, which renders it, for exam-
ple, impossible to predict the moment of occurrence of an accident. These aspects
are duly addressed.
Process and plant safety is interdisciplinary. Just as for building and operating
a plant process, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering as well as informat-
ics have to be combined, plant safety needs these disciplines, too. This makes the
selection of topics difficult and shows that experts for safety, who cannot possibly
have a command of all these areas of knowledge, should address safety tasks in
cooperation with specialists of the areas mentioned.
The selection of topics follows that of the model curriculum “Process and Plant
Safety” of ProcessNet. My gratitude goes to my colleagues, Profs. A. Schönbucher,
ix
x Preface to the German Edition
H. W. Brenig, H. U. Moritz, and J. Schmidt as well as to Dr. O. Klais for instruc-
tive and vivid discussions when elaborating the curriculum and deciding on una-
voidable omissions.
Safety needs foresight. It should not derive from trial and error as it did in the
earliest days of engineering. An important tool is the elaboration of scenarios, i.e.
potential developments of the future. This requires thought experiments to be per-
formed, which must be based on a broad background of knowledge in engineer-
ing and natural sciences as well as of experimental results and the simulations of
accidents.
The book provides students and practitioners with the necessary tools for ana-
lyzing processes and plants and designing them for safety. It makes use of knowl-
edge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, as well as of thermal and fluid dynamics,
as taught during the first semesters of engineering courses.
The text is based on courses that I have been offering for more than a decade
and a half at the Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg. Discussions with col-
laborators and students have contributed to it. I thank them for their dedication.
I gratefully acknowledge the expert advice of Professors U. Stephan and Y.
Ding, and Drs. J. F. Bremen, V. Schröder, D. Jablonski, and Arizal, as well as that
of Dipl.-Ing. P. Guterl and Dipl.-Stat. J. Peschke. To Dr. Arizal I am also obliged
for the implementation of a large part of the figures. My profound gratitude is
expressed to all the experts from industry who granted me access to their plants
and shared their knowledge of industrial practice with me.
My thanks go to the Springer Verlag for the good cooperation and fine presen-
tation of the book.
The author hopes that the book enables students and practitioners to acquire
knowledge of modern methods of safety analysis and to contribute to the safety
of processes and plants by using them. In doing so they should follow the advice
from classical antiquity that I have placed in front “Whatever you do, do it with
intelligence and with the outcome in mind.”
Schönebeck (Elbe), Spring 2013 Ulrich Hauptmanns
Preface to the English Edition
The preparation of the translation gave me the opportunity to correct a number of
minor mistakes and to occasionally formulate concepts in a somewhat clearer lan-
guage. Wherever possible, German references were replaced by English ones. All
of this should be of benefit to the reader.
Schönebeck (Elbe), Spring 2014 Ulrich Hauptmanns
xi
Contents
1 Introduction .............................................. 1
1.1 Introduction ........................................ 1
References ................................................ 7
2 Hazardous Properties of Materials ........................... 9
2.1 Flammability ....................................... 9
2.1.1 Safety Parameters for Flammable
Gases and Vapours ........................... 11
2.2 Chemically Unstable Materials: Decomposition and
Polymerization ...................................... 37
2.3 Flammable Liquids .................................. 38
2.3.1 Flash Point ................................. 39
2.3.2 Fire Point .................................. 39
2.4 Dusts ............................................. 40
2.4.1 Self-Ignition ................................ 40
2.4.2 Glow Temperature ........................... 41
2.4.3 Explosion Limits ............................ 41
2.4.4 Minimum Ignition Energy ..................... 42
2.4.5 Limiting Oxygen Concentration (LOC) ........... 42
2.4.6 Maximum Pressure and Maximum Rate of
Pressure Rise ............................... 43
2.5 Explosives ......................................... 44
2.5.1 Brisance ................................... 46
2.5.2 Loading Density ............................. 46
2.5.3 Oxygen Balance ............................. 47
2.5.4 Maximum Pressure .......................... 47
2.5.5 Explosion Energy ............................ 48
2.6 Toxic Materials ..................................... 53
2.6.1 Limiting Long-Term Exposure ................. 53
2.6.2 Limiting Short-Term Exposure ................. 54
References ................................................ 60
3 Exothermic and Pressure-Generating Reactions ................ 63
3.1 Formal Kinetics Description of Chemical Reactions ......... 63
3.2 Reactor Models ..................................... 64
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