Chapter 8

Hazop Study

CHAPTER - 8

HAZOP STUDY

HAZOP stands for hazards & operability studied. A HAZOP survey is one of the most common and widely accepted methods of systematic qualitative hazard analysis. It is used for both new or existing facilities and can be applied to a whole plant, a production unit, or a piece of equipment It uses as its database the usual sort of plant and process information and relies on the judgment of engineering and safety experts in the areas with which they are most familiar. The end result is, therefore reliable in terms of engineering and operational expectations, but it is not quantitative and may not consider the consequences of complex sequences of human errors. The objectives of a HAZOP study can be summarized as follows: 1) 2) To identify (areas of the design that may possess a significant hazard potential. To identify and study features of the design that influence the probability of a hazardous incident occurring. To familiarize the study team with the design information available. To ensure that a systematic study is made of the areas of significant hazard potential. To identify pertinent design information not currently available to the team. To provide a mechanism for feedback to the client of the study teams detailed comments.

3) 4) 5) 6)

A HAZOP study is conducted in the following steps: 1) Specify the purpose, objective, and scope of the study. The purpose may he the analysis of a yet to be built plant or a review of the risk of UN existing unit. Given the purpose and the circumstances of the study, the objectives listed above can he made more specific. The scope of the study is the boundaries of the physical unit, and also the range of events and variables considered. For example, at one time HAZOP's were mainly focused on fire and explosion endpoints, while now the scope usually includes toxic release, offensive odor, and environmental end-points. The initial establishment of purpose, objectives, and scope is very important and should be precisely set down so that it will be clear, now and in the future, what was and was 108

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2)

Select the HAZOP study team. The team leader should be skilled in HAZOP and in interpersonal techniques to facilitate successful group interaction. As many other experts should be included in the team to cover all aspects of design, operation, process chemistry, and safety. The team leader should instruct the team in the HAZOP procedure and should emphasize that the end objective of a HAZOP survey is hazard identification; solutions to problems are a separate effort. Collect data. Theodore16 has listed the following materials that are usually needed: Process description Process flow sheets Data on the chemical, physical and toxicological properties of all raw materials, intermediates, and products. Piping and instrument diagrams (P&IDs) Equipment, piping, and instrument specifications Process control logic diagrams Layout drawings Operating procedures Maintenance procedures Emergency response procedures Safety and training manuals

3)

Economics and Environmental Study of the Plant

The final choice of the plant site usually involves a presentation of the economic factors for several quality attractive sites. The exact site of economic study of plant locations will vary with the each company making the study. It should include the following; The limitations of preliminary plant location cost studies should be pointed out to management. No matter how carefully a survey is prepared, future trends such as population and marketing shifts, development of competitive processes and the advent of new industries. Services and transportation facilities cannot be reliably predicted.

Plant Location and Site Selection

The location of the plant has a crucial effect on the profitability of the project and the scope of the future expansion. Many factors are considered when selecting a suitable site. A brief explanation of each factor is given below; I) Raw Material Supply

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Probably location of the raw material of an industry contributes more towards the choice of a plant site than any other factor. This is especially noticeable in those in which the raw material is inexpensive and bulky and is made more compact and obtains a high bulk value during the process of manufacturing. ii) Marketing Area For materials that are produced in bulk quantities, such as minerals, cement, acids and fertilizers, where the cost of the product per ton is relatively low and cost of transportation has a significant fraction of the sale price. The plant should be located close to the primary market. This consideration will be less important for low volume production, high price product such as pharmaceuticals. iii) Transportation Facilities The transport of material and the product from the plant will be over riding consideration in site selection. If practicable, a site should be selected that is close to at least two major forms of transport, road, rail, water way (canal or river) or a sea port. Road transport is being increasingly used and is suitable for local distribution from a central ware house. Rail transportation will be cheaper for long distance transport of bulk chemicals. Air transport is convenient and efficient for the movement and personnel and essential equipment and supplies and proximity of the site to a major airport should be considered. iv) Sources of Power Power for chemical industry is preliminary from coal, water and oil; these fuels supply the most flexible and economical sources, in as much as they provide for generation of steam both for processing and electricity production, power can be economically developed as a byproduct in most chemical plants. If the needs are great enough, since the process requirements generally call for low-pressure steam. The turbines of engines used to generate electricity can be operated non-condensing and supply exhaust steam for processing purposes. v)

Availability of Labor

Labor will be needed for construction of the plant and its operation. Skilled construction workers will usually be brought in from outside the site area, but there should be an adequate pool of unskilled labor available locally, and labor suitable for training to operate plant. Skilled tradesmen will be needed for plant maintenance. Local trade union customs and restrictive practices will have to be considered when assessing the availability and suitability of local labor for equipment and training. Vi) Water Supply Water for industrial purposes can be obtained from one of two general sources; the plants own source or municipal supply. If the demand of water is large, it is more economical for the industry to supply its own water. Such a supply may be obtained from drilled wells, rivers, lakes, dammed streams or other supplies. Before a company enters upon any project, it 110

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must ensure itself of a sufficient supply of water for all industrial, sanitary and fire demands, both for present and future. vii)

Effluent Disposal

All industrial processes produce waste products and full consideration must be given to difficulties and cost of their disposal. The disposal of toxic and harmful effluents will be recovered by local regulations and the appropriate authorities must be consulted during the initial state of survey to determine the standards that must be met. viii) Local Community Considerations The proposed plant must fit in and be acceptable to local community. Full consideration must be given to the safe location of the plant so that it does not impose a significant additional risk to the community. On a new site, the local community must be able to provide adequate facilities for, the plant personnel; school, banks, housing, recreational and cultural facilities. ix) Land Considerations Sufficient suitable land must be available for the proposed plant and for future expansion. The land should ideally be flat, well drained and have suitable load-bearing characteristics. A full site evaluation should be made to determine the need for piling or other special foundations. x) Climate Adverse climatic conditions at a site will increase costs. Abnormally low temperature will require the provisions for additional insulation and special heating for equipment and pipe runs. Stronger strictures will be needed at locations subjected to strong winds (cyclone hurricane areas) or earthquakes. Xi) Political and Strategic Considerations Capital grants, tax concessions, and other inducements are often given by governments direct new investment to preferred locations such as areas of high unemployment. The availability of such grants can be the over-riding consideration in site selection.

Table - HAZOP Guide Words and Meanings Guide Words Meaning No Negation of design intent Less Quantitative decrease More Quantitative increase Part of Qualitative decrease As well as Qualitative Increase Reverse Logical opposite of the intent Other than Complete substitution 111

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4)

Conduct the study. Using the information collected, the unit is divided into study "nodes" and the sequence diagrammed in Figure, is followed for each node. Nodes are points in the process where process parameters (pressure, temperature, composition, etc.) have known and intended values. These values change between nodes as a result of the operation of various pieces of equipment' such as distillation columns, heat exchanges, or pumps. Various forms and work sheets have been developed to help organize the node process parameters and control logic information.

When the nodes are identified and the parameters are identified, each node is studied by applying the specialized guide words to each parameter. These guide words and their meanings are key elements of the HAZOP procedure. They are listed in Table (10.1). Repeated cycling through this process, which considers how and why each parameter might vary from the intended and the consequence, is the substance of the HAZOP study. 5) Write the report. As much detail about events and their consequence as is uncovered by the study should be recorded. Obviously, if the HAZOP identifies a not improbable sequence of events that would result in a disaster, appropriate follow-up action is needed. Thus, although risk reduction action is not a part of the HAZOP, the HAZOP may trigger the need for such action.

The HAZOP studies are time consuming and expensive. Just getting the P & ID's up to date on an older plant may be a major engineering effort. Still, for processes with significant risk, they are cost effective when balanced against the potential loss of life, property, business, and even the future of the enterprise that may result from a major release. HAZOP Study of Storage Tank for Di-ethanol amine A HAZOP study is to be conducted on MEA storage tank, as presented by the piping and instrumentation diagram show in figure. In this scheme, MEA is unloaded from tank trucks into a storage tank maintained under a slight positive pressure until it is transferred to the process. Application of the guide words to the storage tank is shown in Table along with a listing of consequences that results from process deviation. Some of the consequences identified with these process deviations have raised additional questions that need resolution to determine whether or not hazards exist.

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Di-ethanol amine Storage Tank

Figure- : Piping and instrumentation diagram [20]

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Deviations from operating conditions Level: Less

What event could cause this deviation

Consequences of this deviation on item of equipment under consideration Pump cavities Reagent released Reagent released Reagent released Reagent released Tank overfills Tank overfills

Process indications

Tank runs dry Rupture of discharge line V-3 open or broken V-1 open or broken Tank rupture (busting of vessel)

LIA-1 FICA-1 LIA-1, FICA-1 LIA-1 LIA-1 LIA-1 LIA-1 LIA-1

More

Unload too much from column Reverse flow from process

Temperature: Less More

Temperature of inlet is colder than normal Possible vacuum Temperature of inlet is hotter than normal Region released External fire Tank fails

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