PTT 329 – Safety and Loss

Prevention

DESIGN TO
PREVENT FIRE
AND
EXPLOSION
DESIGN TO PREVENT
FIRE & EXPLOSIONS
 FIRE AND EXPLOSION PREVENTION/
MINIMISATION

A 2-fold strategy is used to limit the potential

damage from fires and explosions:

¢  Prevent the initiation of the fire or explosion

(fire prevention)
¢  Minimize the damage after a fire or explosion
has occurred (fire protection)
FIRE PREVENTION FEATURES/METHODS
The various methods include:

¢  Inerting/purging

¢  Staticelectricity control

¢  Ventilation

¢  Sprinkler system

¢  Explosion proof equipment and instruments

For any fire or combustion explosion to occur, 3 conditions must be
met as shown in the Fire Triangle:

¢  A combustible or explosive material must be present

¢  Oxygen must be present to support the combustion
reaction
¢  A source of ignition must be available to initiate the
reaction

¢  If any of the 3 conditions of the fire triangle are eliminated, the
triangle is broken and a fire or explosion cannot occur (e.g.
inerting, control of static electricity and ventilation.)

¢  Damage due to fires and explosions is minimized by stopping fires

or explosions as quickly as possible, and also by designing the
process equipment to withstand their effects (e.g. sprinkler
system, explosion proof equipment.)
 1. INERTING
¢  Process
of adding inert gas to combustible mixture to
reduce concentration of oxygen below limiting oxygen
concentration (LOC)

¢  Inert gas- N2 and CO2 and steam(sometimes)

¢  Inerting
begins with initial purge of vessel with inert
gas to bring oxygen concentration down to safe
concentrations

¢  For
many gases the LOC is approximately 10% and
for many dusts approximately 8 %. Commonly used
control point=4% below LOC (Example: 6% oxygen if
LOC is10%)
 INERTING METHODS
1.Vacuum Purge - evacuate and replace with inert.

2. Pressure Purge - pressurize with inert, then relieve

pressure.

3. Sweep Purge - continuous flow of inert.

4. Siphon Purge - fill with liquid, then drain and replace liquid
with inert.

5. Combined purge : pressure and vacuum purge, others.

*purging - replacing the atmosphere in a container by an

inert substance to prevent formation of explosive mixtures
 VACUUM PURGING
If the vessel to be inerted is designed to withstand vacuum pressure, an inert
atmosphere can be created by repeatedly drawing a vacuum on the vessel
and filling with inert gas. The three states of interest for the vacuum purging
process are:
 PRESSURE PURGING
•  If the vessel to be inerted is designed to withstand elevated pressure, an
inert atmosphere can be created by repeatedly pressurizing the vessel by
filling with inert gas, allowing the purge and residual gases to mix, and then
relieving the pressure. The three states of interest for the pressure purging
process are:
 SIPHON PURGING
There are two steps in the siphon purging process:
1)  displacement of gas in the vessel by filling with a liquid and
2)  displacement of the liquid in the vessel with purge gas. The
states of interest for the siphon purging process are shown here:
 SWEEP-TROUGH PURGING
¢  A process of adding purge gas into a vessel at one opening and
withdraws the mixed gas from the vessel to the atmosphere or
scrubber from another opening.
¢  Sweep-through purging is a simple process that can be
accomplished at atmospheric pressure (the vessel to be purged
does not have to be designed for vacuum or pressure conditions)
 SWEEP-TROUGH PURGING

For inerting process using sweep –through purging, the volumetric

quantity (Qv,t) of inert gas required to reduce the oxidant
concentration from C1 to C2 is given by:

V = the vessel volume

C = is the concentration of oxidant within
the vessel (mass or volumetric units),
Co = is the inlet oxidant concentration
(mass or volumetric units)
Qv = the volumetric flow rate, and
t = time
 EXERCISE 7

A storage vessel contains 100% air by volume and

must be inerted with nitrogen until the oxygen
concentration is below 1.25% by volume. The
vessel volume is 1000 ft3?

(a)  How much nitrogen must be added, assuming

the nitrogen contains 0.01% oxygen?

(b)  How much nitrogen must be added, if pure

nitrogen is used.
 2. STATIC ELECTRICITY CONTROL
Static electricity
¢  Sparks due to static charge buildup and sudden discharge.

¢  Static charge buildup is a result of physically separating a poor

conductor from a good conductor or another poor conductor.

¢  Generated when a fluid flows through a pipe or from an opening

into a tank

¢  Main hazards are fire and explosion from sparks containing
enough energy to ignite flammable vapors

¢  Bonding or grounding of flammable liquid containers is

necessary to prevent static electricity from causing a spark
 BONDING AND GROUNDING
Bonding:
¢  Physically connect two conductive objects together with a bond
wire to eliminate a difference in static charge potential
between them
¢  Must provide a bond wire between containers during
flammable liquid filling operations, unless a metallic path
between them is otherwise present

Grounding:
¢  Eliminates a difference in static charge potential between
conductive objects and ground
¢  Although bonding will eliminate a difference in potential
between objects, it will not eliminate a difference in potential
between these objects and earth unless one of the objects is
connected to earth with a ground wire
 3. VENTILATION
¢  The purpose of ventilation is to dilute the explosive vapors with
air to prevent explosion and to confine the hazardous flammable
mixtures.
¢  Always provide adequate ventilation to reduce the potential for
ignition of flammable vapors.

Open Air Plants

¢  Average wind velocities are high enough to safely dilute volatile
chemical leaks which may exist within a plant.

Plants Inside Buildings

¢  Local ventilation - the most effective method for controlling
flammable gas releases.
¢  Dilution ventilation- also used because the potential points of
release are usually numerous and it may be mechanically or
economically impossible to cover every potential release point
with only local ventilation.
 LOCAL EXHAUST VENTILATION
¢  Local exhaust ventilation systems remove the contaminant
before it spreads through the workplace.

¢  They are most useful for controlling toxic materials when their
airborne concentrations could exceed legislated standards.
 DILUTION/GENERAL VENTILATION
¢  General (dilution) ventilation systems supply clean air that
mixes with the air in the workplace, diluting the concentration
of the contaminant.

¢  It is not suitable to control exposure to toxic substances

because these systems actually spread the contaminant
throughout the workplace before exhausting it.
 4. SPRINKLER SYSTEM
¢  Thesystem consists of an array of sprinkler heads
connected to a water supply.

¢  Theheads are mounted in a high location (usually

near ceilings) and disperse a fine spray of water over
an area when activated

¢  Thecontrol point is connected to an array of heat

and/or smoke detectors that start the sprinklers
when an abnormal condition is detected

¢  If
a fire is detected, the entire sprinkler array within
an area is activated, possibly in areas not even
affected by the fire.
 5. EXPLOSION PROOF EQUIPMENT

¢  All electrical devices are inherent ignition sources.

Most safety practices for electrical installations are
based on the National Electric Code (NEC).

¢  Process areas are divided into two major types of

environments/area:

ü  Explosion Proof (XP) - flammable materials

(particularly vapors) might be present at certain
times.
ü  Non-explosion Proof (non-XP) - flammable materials
are not present even under abnormal conditions.
 EXPLOSION PROOF HOUSING
¢  In an XP area, the electrical equipment and some
instrumentation must have special explosion proof housings.

¢  The housings are not designed to prevent flammable vapors and
gases from entering but are designed to withstand an internal
explosion and prevent the combustion from spreading beyond
the inside of the enclosure.
 AREA CLASSIFICATION
¢  When designing an XP area, all pieces of electrical
equipment and instrumentation are specified for
the class, group, and division.

¢  All
pieces of equipment and instrumentation within
an area must be appropriately specified and
installed.
AREA AND MATERIAL CLASSIFICATION :

Class I Flammable gases/vapors present

¢  National
Electrical Class II Combustible dusts present
Code (NEC) Class III Combustible dusts present but not
defines area likely in suspension
classification Group A Acetylene
s as a Group B Hydrogen, ethylene
function of Group C CO, H2S
the nature
Group D Butane, ethane
and degree of
process Division 1 Flammable concentrations
normally present
hazards
Division 2 Flammable materials are normally
present in closed systems
¢ THANK YOU