1.

HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH LNG

Hazards identified for dealing with LNG includes the following:

 Flammability
 Asphyxiation
 Frostbite

 Hazards associated with LNG

 Dense phase gas dispersion
 LNG transportation by land and sea, including ship to shore transfer
 Rapid Phase Transition (RPT)
 LNG jet and pool fire characteristics
 Introduction to BLEVE’s.

2. FIRE DETECTION

On ships, the only mandatory requirement for fire detection equipment in the cargo area is the
fusible elements specified in the Gas Codes. The fusible elements have to be fitte
d in the vicinity of tank domes and at cargo manifolds and trigger automatic cargo shutdown upon
fire detected.
Cargo related fires may be broadly categorized as follows:
 Jet fires from leaks at pumps/pipelines
 Fires from confined liquid pools
 Fire from unconfined spillages
 Fire in enclosed spaces, such as compressor rooms

2.1 Jet fires

Dispersing clouds of hydrocarbons can be ignited anywhere the concentration is above the LFL
and below UFL. The majority of clouds which are ignited do so at their edge as they disperse and
meet a strong ignition source (e.g. open flame, internal combustion engine, sparks).
An ignited cloud will “flash back” across its flammable mass (i.e. that part within the flammable
range – between UFL and LFL. It will burn at the UFL boundary until all the LNG is consumed.
This will always flash back to the source and lead to a residual jet file.
The following factors affect the jet fire include:
  Material flame speed
 Concentration (max. speed at stoichiometric concentrations, lower speeds at LFL and
UFL)
 Temperature
 Condensed moisture
 Degree of turbulence
 Presence of congestion/objects that enhance turbulence.

2.2 Vapor Cloud Explosion

A vapor cloud explosion (VCE) can occur when a large flammable mass of hydrocarbon vapor is
ignited in a confined or partially confined space. The thermodynamics of the combustion of a
stoichiometric mixture of hydrocarbon in air will result in an 8 times volume increase of hot
combustion products compared to ambient reactants. This is mainly due to the high temperature
of the combustion gases and partly due to an increase in the number of moles of gas.
In a confined space (e.g. an enclosed box), the final pressure will be maximum of 8 bar (about
120 psi).
In an open space, outdoors situation, there is no confinement and the experimental evidence is
that methane gas will burn relatively slowly (in the order of 10 m/s) with all the expansion resulting
in a vertical rise of gas.
Ignition trails on dispersed unconfined LNG vapour clouds have confirmed that no significant
overpressures are developed (< 1mbar).
Within methane (LNG) clouds, flame propagation is slow and the flame might be extinguished
pre-maturely and not be sustained through the whole cloud. Sufficient flame velocity (i.e. > 100
m/s) to create significant explosion overpressures will not occur over water, if there is no
congestion or confinement.