• PROCESS DESIGN

• SITE SELECTION AND EVALUATION

• PLANT LAYOUT AND PLOT PLAN
• CIVIL ENGINEERING DESIGN
• STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING DESIGN
• ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
• PLANT UTILITIES
 PROCESS DESIGN
• PFDs are developed to show major equipment items
including sizes, duties, selected operating pressures and
temperatures, major control loops and the process flow
arrangement.
• Some of the safety elements in PFDs:
 Process materials properties (CRC and Perry’s Handbooks,
MSDS, CSDS)
 Process conditions (high and low pressure and temp.)
 Inventory limits (fewer equipment, fewer protective
devices)
 Emergency and waste releases
 Process control philosophy
 PRIMARY DATA SOURCES FOR
EXPOSURE LIMITS
• American Conference of Government
Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) – TLV
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) –
PEL
• American Industrial Hygiene Association
(AIHA) – WEEL, ERPG
• National Institute of Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) - IDLH
 SITE SELECTION
• Important factors in plant siting:
 Population density around the site (adequate buffer space)
 Occurrence of natural disasters (weather extremes)
 Accessibility to raw materials
 Accessibility to markets
 Transportation (highways, waterways, airways)
 Availability of land
 Availability of power and utilities (adequate water supply)
 Labor
 Interface required with other plants (strategic installations nearby)
 Government policies (siting permits and incentives)
 Means of pollution and waste and effluent disposal
 Emergency response support
 Nearby hazardous installations
 SITE EVALUATION

• Credible worst case scenarios

• Reasonable definition of local meteorological
conditions and possible extremes
• Population density and numbers of people
likely to be involved
• General planning and development guidelines
for the region
• Ability to control movement of people in an
emergency
 PLANT LAYOUT
• Factors of consideration:
 Minimal explosion damage, since explosion overpressure falls off
rapidly with distance from the center of the explosion
 Minimal thermal radiation damage, as the intensity also falls off
with the distance
 Less property damage (containment of accidents)
 Easier access for emergency services such as fire fighting
 Easier access to equipment for maintenance and inspection
 Efficient and safe construction (drainage and grade sloping)
 Optimum balance among loss control, maintenance and operation
requirements
 Future expansions
• Large impact on plant economics (more spaces increased capital
costs but also enhanced safety – need to optimize)
 PLOT PLAN
• Facilities that should be separated from each other:
 Process units
 Tank farms
 Outdoor drum storage yards
 Loading and unloading stations
 Heat transfer fluid heaters and other fired equipment
 Flares
 Power and boiler houses
 Electrical and instrument rooms
 Utilities e.g. substations, gas metering stations, nitrogen plants, cooling
towers
 Control rooms
 Warehouses
 Fixed fire protection facilities e.g. fire pump houses and reservoirs
 Other support facilities such as waste treatment areas, maintenance
areas, administrative buildings and laboratories
 REFERENCES FOR SAFE
SEPARATION DISTANCE
• National Fire Prevention Agency (NFPA 30) –
Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code
• NFPA 59A – Liquified Natural Gas
• Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS 1988a) –
Guidelines for Safe Storage and Handling of High Toxic
Hazard Materials
• CCPS 1987 – Guidelines for Use of Vapor Cloud
Dispersion Models
• CCPS 1988b – Guidelines for Vapor Release Mitigation
• Industrial Risk Insurers (IRI 1991a, 1992) – Plant
Layout and Spacing for Oil and Chemical Plants
 CIVIL ENGINEERING DESIGN

• Site preparation:
 Geotechnical studies (soil investigation)
 Man-made underground obstacles (UG scanning)
• Surface drainage
• Foundations
• Underground piping (utilities, instrument,
electrical, process lines – single or double walled)
• Below grade and grade level structures
 STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING DESIGN

• Potential natural events:

 Seismic considerations
 Cold weather protection
 Winds
• Open versus closed-in structures (working
conditions)
• Access and egress considerations (at least 2 exits)
• Pipe racks (20% > original weight design)
• Elevated structures (fireproofing requirements)
 ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
• Control room design
• Explosion-resistant or explosion-proof buildings (add
50-80% cost)
• Safe shelter (one part of the building)
• Ventilation systems:
 General ventilation
 Local ventilation of hazardous areas
 Ventilation of control room
 Ventilation following purge with an inert gas or purge
after halon release or building shutdown
 Ventilation of motor control centers (MCC)
 PLANT UTILITIES
• Electricity – pumps, fans, compressors, instrumentation,
MOV, agitators
 Emergency power supply
 Uninterruptible power supply – redundant system
• Cooling water – condensers, coolers, jackets on rotating
equipment, quench water
• Instrument /plant air – transmitters, controllers, ESD,
pneumatic CV, alarm, pumps
• Steam – turbine drivers, reboilers, reciprocating pumps,
steam injection, eductors
• Fuel oil/gas – boilers, engine drivers, gas turbines
• Inert gas – seals, catalytic reactors, purging
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A58.1 - Minimum
Loads for Buildings and Other Structures
• American Petroleum Institute (API) Recommended Practice (RP)
521 1990 – Guide for Pressure-Relieving and Depressuring Systems
• API RP 941 1990 – Steels for Hydrogen Service at Elevated
Temperatures and Pressures in Petroleum Refineries and
Petrochemical Plants
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Std 447 1980
– Emergency and Standby Power Systems for Industrial and
Commercial Applications
• ACGIH 1986 – Industrial Ventilation – A Manual of Recommended
Practice
• NFPA 49 1991 – Hazardous Chemicals Data
• NFPA 325M 1991 – Fire Hazard Properties of Flammable Liquids
• NFPA 491M 1986 – Fire Protection Guide on Hazardous Materials
• IRI 1992 – Plant Layout and Spacing for Oil and Chemical Plants