 Safety is an important parameter at design

stage.
 Identify the stages of industry where there
could be a potential hazard.
 Classified into 3 categories
 Relative safe
 Potential hazard – Toxic, Flammable, explosive
 Serious hazard
 Laboratory- safety- fume hood, small quantity
 Precautions required- flammability, poisonous reaction, runaway
reactions etc.
 Nitrates, ether compounds , unstable compounds enclosed electric
heaters, adequate ventilation, MOC
 Halogens, substance like metallic sodium potassium, lithium
bromide etc
 Solvents of low flash point and high toxicity
Identify the 3 categories based on the information available at the
development stage.
Try for alternate – route, material, MOC, process…
Freeze the PFD in detail of each step of the process
Conduct a HAZOP study at the development stage.
Alternate process could be developed which may
be both operation and process wise more safe.
Repeated discussion with all the stake holders like
engineering, project, manufacturing , Safety and
environment would yield a balance approach to
the well designed plant
 Raw material storage and warehousing.
 Development laboratory and analytical laboratory.
 Process Plant
 Ancillary operation of the process.
 Utility and services

Overall site and plant layout its interconnectivity

and intra connectivity with respect to wind
direction, safety parameters distances etc.
 Segregation of types and class of material
being stored.
 Storage of solvents and liquid chemicals.
 Storage of acids and alkalis.
 Storage of gases other than inert gases.
 Hazardous material storage
 Toxic material storage
 Corrosive material storage.
 Safe storage, minimal storage and segregation
 Handling of chemicals.
 Fume hood construction –Metallic vs. non
metallic.
 Exhaust system in fume hood – combining vs.
individual.
 Reaction handling and attention during operation.
 Unattended operations
 Emergency handling training and Paraphernalia's
 Four Elements of Manufacturing

Reaction Utilities

Isolation Drying
 Reaction

 Isolation

 Drying
 44
44 Mechanical
Process
Design
Accidents (%)

22

12
11

5 5

Mechanical Operator Error Unknown Process Upsets Natural Hazards Design Sabotage and Arson
 The design of chemical processes and products with specific attention to
 Eliminating hazards from the manufacturing process rather than relying on the
control of these hazards (Risk assessment based on ICH guidelines Q9)
 “Once you get something dirty, the only way to get it clean is to make
something else dirty.”
 The best way to keep the world clean is to not get it dirty to begin with.

Three parts to a facility

 Process
 Equipments
 Man Machine Interface
 Traditional safety approach
• “Add on” safety features
 Prevent - alarms, safety interlocks, procedures, training
 Mitigate – sprinkler systems, water curtains, emergency response
systems and procedures
 Inherently safer design
• Eliminate or significantly reduce process hazards

Inherently
Safer
Design

Green Chemistry
and Engineering
 User Requirement Specification (URS)
 Functional Design Specification (FDS)
 Design Qualification (DQ)
 Stage wise Inspection and Factory
Acceptance Test (FAT)
 Site Acceptance Test (SAT)
 Installation Qualification (IQ)
 Operational Qualification. (OQ)
 Process Qualifications (PQ)
 SEMI CONTINUOUS
BATCH REACTOR REACTOR
 PROCEDURAL
• Maximum adiabatic pressure for 100% reaction is 150 psig, reactor
(normal followed design pressure is 50 psig) design to 225 psig.
• Gradually add limiting reactant with temperature control to limit
potential energy from reaction
• Train operator to observe critical operating limit

 INHERANT
• Develop chemistry which is not exothermic, or mildly exothermic
 Maximum adiabatic exothermic temperature > boiling point of all
ingredients.
Minimize
 Use small quantities of hazardous substances or energy
• Operate below boiling point in case of exothermic reactions.
• Green chemistry/Catalytic conversions.
• Reduce hold time
• Intermediate storage reduce
• Piping minimal.
• Process equipment appropriate
• Split steps into smaller operations.
BENEFITS
• Reduced consequence of incident (explosion, fire, toxic material release)
• Improved effectiveness and feasibility of other protective systems – for example:
 Secondary containment
 Reactor dump or quench systems
 Large
Rupture
Disk

A
B
C Condenser
D
E
Distillate
Receiver

Steam
Refrigerated
Brine

Water Return

Water Supply

Condensate
 Selecting Technology? Plant Design? Equipment Details? Operations?
 Best answer?– All levels!
 Inherently safer design is not a meeting.
 Inherently safer design is a way of thinking, a way of approaching
technology design at every level of detail – part of the daily thought
process.

 Vacuum trap design, Semi continuous distillation

 Use of hose pipe.
 Process flow in tube side or shell side in HE
 PRV use in each area
 Type of stirrer Anchor/turbine- mixing vs. agitation
 Control of Utility Mechanical seal for reactors & pumps
 Non flame proof electrical panels.

 Improper cable gland for all electrical fittings.

 Lack of maintenance schedule and proper upkeep of the mechanical and electrical systems.

 Frequent check and maintenance of the vent system including flame arrestors.

 Improper earthing of machines, solvent lines jumpers etc.

 Solvent handling and spillages ( use of drums instead of piped tanks and pumps).

 Nitrogen blanketing of the reactors.

 Improper sizing of the condensers and vent condensers.

 Open manhole operation leading to hazard.

 Training of operators on regular basis - lack of commitment

 Any change in process parameters is to be discussed in totality with the base

documents.

 Over period of time there could be some operational best practices observed. This

should be recorded and trained to all concerned to ensure more safety in operation.

 It is a tendency that a set of equipment may be used for a different purpose than

originally intended to. It is important that the complete review from URS to IQ and

PQ be followed meticulously which is not the normal practice.

 The above change parameters should be recorded with due diligence.

 The risk could be for the following areas.

A. Product safety
B. Process safety.
C. Operational safety
D. Plant safety

The ICH Q9 guidelines helps us to define the product safety during

any changes in the surrounding. This is a good tool for ensuring
product safety.

Risk assessment and management should be a continuous process

and if done with multidiscipline approach can reduce the hazard in
the industry.