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Pressure relief valves and rupture disks are critical safety devices for protecting personnel and processing
equipment from overpressurization situations. Presented here are several engineering practices that can help
to identify and address common problems with the pressure relief systems of chemical process industries Related Stories
(CPI) facilities.
Engineering Practice: Accurate Wetted Areas For Partially
Filled Vessels

Engineering Practice: Discharge Coefficients and Flow

Resistance Factors

Aboveground and underground storage tanks

Using Rupture Disks with Pressure Relief Valves

Common causes of overpressurization Causes of Overpressurization

Overpressure situations can have a variety of causes. Here are some common situations that may cause
increased pressure in processing facilities. Each potential cause is followed by one or more factors that
contribute to the overpressure.

• External fire: Potential vapors from the fire must be relieved with a safety valve on the vessel

• Blocked outlets: Blocked outlets can be caused by control valve failure, inadvertent valve operation and
others

• Utility failure: General or partial power failure, loss of instrument air, cooling water, steam, fuel gas or fuel oil

• Loss of cooling duty: Loss of quench steam, air-cooled exchanger failure, loss of cold feed or loss of reflux

• Thermal expansion: External heat can cause liquid volume to rise in fluids that are blocked in a vessel or
pipeline

• Abnormal heat input: Increased supply of fuel gas, or faster heat transfer after exchanger revamp, and others

• Abnormal vapor input: Failure of upstream control valve to fully open, or inadvertent valve opening

• Loss of absorbent flow: Interruption of absorbent flow when gas removal by absorbent is more than 25% of
total input-vapor flow

• Entrance of volatile materials: Ingress of volatile liquid into hot oil in a process upset

• Accumulating noncondensibles: Blocking of noncondensible vent

• Valve malfunction: Human error or check-valve malfunction, resulting in backflow, control valve failure

• Process control failure: Failure of distributed control systems (DCS) or programmable logic controller (PLC)

Valves
To avoid problems with pressure relief systems, plant managers should consider these practical guidelines.

Assess risk. Many factors can increase the risk and impact of pressure-relief-system failure. If several of the
conditions in Table 1 apply, plant managers should consider planning a detailed study of the pressure relief
systems, such as a quantitative risk analysis (QRA) or a relief-system validation study.

Table 1. Conditions that increase the probability and impact of relief system failure
Conditions that increase the probability of relief system failure Conditions that increase the impact of relief system failure
The plant has over 20 years of service The plant handles toxic, hazardous or flammable fluids
The plant currently handles different products to those it was originally designed
The plant handles gases
for
The plant operates at a different load or at different conditions to those it was
The plant operates at high pressures
originally designed for
There have been contingencies that have required the replacement of equipment
The plant operates at high temperatures
or lines in the past
Rotating equipment (pumps, compressors) has been modified (for instance, new The plant has furnaces or other types of equipment that add
impellers) or replaced considerable heat input to the fluids
The relief valves have not been checked or validated in the last ten years The plant has high-volume equipment (such as columns, furnaces)
Modifications have been made to existing relief valve lines (that is, they have been The plant has exothermic reactors, or chemicals that could react
rerouted) exothermically in storage

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Avoiding Pressure Relief Problems :: Chemical Engineering Page 2 of 3

The plant has large relief valves, or the relief header has a large
A complete and up-to-date relief valve inventory is not available
diameter
The relief load summary has not been updated in the last ten years The plant has a high number of operations personnel
A relief-header backpressure profile is not available, or the existing model has not
The plant is located near populated areas
been updated in the last ten years

Maintain up-to-date relief-valve data. Plant managers should maintain accurate and up-to-date relief-valve
data, including relief valve inventory, relief-valve load summary and relief-header backpressure profile. The
inventory is a list of basic information that applies to each valve, such as process unit, location, discharge Our LinkedIn group is now
over 2,400 members
location, connection sizes, orifice size, manufacturer, model, installation date, and date of last inspection. The strong!
loads summary contains all the overpressure scenarios and relief loads for each device at the plant. The
backpressure profile of the pressure-relief network is valuable when evaluating the critical contingencies of the Join other CPI
systems, as it can be used to identify relief valves operating above their backpressure limits.
professionals from all
Relief-system study. A relief-system validation study comprises three phases: (a) survey and information over the globe and
gathering; (b) modeling of the existing relief system; and (c) relief system troubleshooting. share best practices,
expertise, concerns
Modeling. Results from accurate modeling can identify the need for replacement of a relief valve. However,
and more.
developing an accurate model for every relief valve in a plant is costly and impractical. A compromise that
minimizes time and effort while targeting potential problem areas is to verify each system starting from a Provide feedback to
simple model with conservative assumptions, and to develop more accurate models only for those items that Chemical Engineering
do not comply with the required parameters under the original assumptions. See Ref. 1 for an example. Editors
Rupture Disks
Current members
Rupture disks are often installed as the last line of defense against overpressurization. When handled and represent Worley Parsons,
installed properly, rupture disks are a safe and economical way to protect personnel and process equipment. DuPont, SABIC, Fluor, Air
To help avoid problems with rupture disks, consider the following guidelines: Products, LyondellBasell,
Nalco, Dow Chemical, Dow
Evaluate pressure measurement. Since most rupture disks react to overpressure within milliseconds, it is Corning, BASF, Jacobs
Engineering, ExxonMobil,
important to sample and measure the pressure near the rupture disk, and at time intervals that are narrow Shell, Chevron and more.
enough to catch rapid pressure spikes.
Join Now
Evaluate fatigue and corrosion of disks. Process engineers should pay attention to the effects of corrosion
and fatigue on the performance of rupture disks. In some cases, rupture disks are operating at up to 95% of
their rated burst pressure. And rupture disks can have thicknesses of 0.001 in. If a change in material
We also offer the three
thickness occurs because of corrosion or changes in operating pressure occur, failures can occur. following subgroups for
more targeted discussion:
Check installation. As precision devices, rupture disks have tight burst tolerances. Because of this, it is
critical that the rupture disk be installed correctly, with attention to torque, position and possible inadvertent
damage to seating surfaces. See Ref. 2 for features that aid installation. Process Automation &
Wireless
Check process temperature. The strength of the materials used to manufacture rupture disks is always
dependent upon the temperature. It is important that rupture-disk burst pressures are specified for the
temperature at which they will operate. It is important to keep in mind that it is possible that the specified burst Solids Processing
pressure may not be the same as the temperature inside the vessel, especially if the vessel is insulated.

Water Treatment &

Reuse
References
1. Giardinella, S. Aging Relief Systems — Are they working properly? Chem. Eng., July 2010,
pp. 38–43.

2. Wilson, A.T. Troubleshooting Field Failures of Rupture Disks. Chem Eng. December 2006, Search the Buyers' Guide
pp. 34–36. By Company

3. Wong, W., Protect Plants Against Overpressure. Chem Eng., June 2001, pp. 66–73. By Product

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