Computers and Chemical Engineering 25 (2001) 793 798 www.elsevier.

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Dynamic simulation of the behaviour of pressure relief systems

Juha-Pekka Pokki *, Markku Hurme, Juhani Aittamaa
Helsinki Uni6ersity of Technology, Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Plant Design, P.O. Box 6100, FIN-02015 HUT, Finland Received 10 May 2000; accepted 5 January 2001

Abstract Pressure relief of near critical processes working at two phase region is simulated dynamically. The design procedure for pressure relief devices is demonstrated by an example. The example shows that the required relieving area of the safety valve depends on time and scenario. This is the basis for the selection of the type and the size of safety valve. When the process relieves through the selected valve the outow and the pressure of the protected vessel varies dynamically. This phenomenon cannot be discovered by the static approach that is normally used in the design of pressure relieving devices. The traditional sizing equations, API 520 and DIERS, are also difcult to apply in near critical region and they include coefcients that are sometimes difcult to obtain. The sensitivity may be so large that a different size of the relieving device is selected depending on the model. Usage of two common models, API 520 and DIERS, in the region of two phases is discussed. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Dynamic simulation; Modelling; Relief system

1. Introduction In a chemical process disturbances may take place which cannot be handled by the control system. These disturbances include loss of cooling, power failure, blockage of process equipment or piping, malfunction of control equipment, feed at abnormal rate, abnormal weather conditions, etc. As a consequence an increase in pressure of some process equipment may result. The equipment is designed to tolerate a certain maximum pressure that should not be exceeded because that may cause the equipment to rupture. Pressure relieving devices prevent excessive pressure and operate independently of the control system. The devices open a route for the material to relieve into a safe location. Often the design of pressure reliving devices is based on an assumption of stationary behaviour of the system. However, the behaviour of such systems is nearly always dynamic. During the relief the uid relieved may be in liquid, vapour liquid mixture, gas or supercritical phase. This gives challenges for the design of safety systems that must be capable to handle various process conditions. In many cases the answer to these problems
* Corresponding author.

is dynamic simulation which provides more information on the behaviour of the pressure relief systems than the stationary approach does. The most common design methods are API 520, (American Petroleum Institute, March, 1993), and DIERS, (Leung, 1996). In these methods the design problem is divided into separate regions depending on the phase of the relieving uid. It is essential that the simulator identies the phase, provides the physical properties of the relieving uid and shifts smoothly from one region to another when the phase of the relieving uid changes. In this paper API 520 and DIERS models are compared. The simulation reveals that there might be large deviations depending on the model used. The selection of model and scenario is important in designing pressure relief systems.

2. Principles of the modelling In the previous paper, (Pokki, Aittamaa, Keskinen, & Hurme, 1999), a dynamic simulator for calculating abnormal process conditions of chemical processes was presented. The simulator operates in two modes, design and rating mode. The simulation in the design mode gives the required outow of uid, polymer and catalyst

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and the discharge area to keep the reactor pressure equal to the set pressure of the pressure relieving device at every time step. The phase of the relieving uid depends on the location of the pressure relieving device in the reactor, usually pressure relieving devices are placed at the top of the reactor or vessel. The polymer particles ow out with the uid if the polymer does not settle down inside the reactor once the abnormal event starts. That is why this simulator allows also the calculation of polymer ow in the design mode. The uid in this work means hydrocarbons and also quantum gases like hydrogen and nitrogen in liquid, vapour, gas, vapour liquid or supercritical state. In the rating mode the pressure relieving device is specied and temperature, pressure and many other thermodynamic properties of the reactor are calculated at every time step. This mode requires the specication of the pressure relieving device. It includes its discharge area, valve coefcients and the characteristic curve, i.e. the opening of the valve as a function of pressure difference. The uid owing through the relieving device may split into two phases. In the previous paper this was not studied because the mass ow was the primary interest. The basic equations presented in the previous paper, (Pokki et al., 1999), are not repeated here. To summarise the model it was assumed that the reactor is a vessel that has a dened volume. The shape of the reactor was not considered. If the reactor is tall the pressure in the bottom is higher due to hydrostatic pressure and there may be also temperature gradients. The heat capacity of the wall of the vessel and the effect of solved polymer in the uid are omitted. The reaction rate of each monomer depends on temperature and on concentration of monomer and catalyst. It is assumed that the ow in inlet and outlet pipe does not affect the pressure relieving device. In the previous paper, (Pokki et al.), the speed of sound was used as the speed of owing uid. The validity of this assumption decreases when the uid becomes dense. That is why the kinetic energy term is removed from the energy balance. 3. Valve models API 520, (American Petroleum Institute, March, 1993), is a widely used and it is a recommended practice in petroleum industry. The equations are divided into vapour/gas equations and liquid equation. The selection between critical or subcritical vapour/gas ow is based on critical ow pressure pcf. pcf 2 k/(k 1) = , (1) p1 k+ 1 where k =cp /c6 is ratio of heat capacities and p1 is the inlet pressure. When pcf is greater than back pressure, pb, the vapour/gas ow is critical and the API 520 equation for orice area A is as follows

A W/(1b/h) = in2 CKd (p1/psia)Kb

'

(T/R)Z , M/(g/mol)

(2)

and when pcf B pb the vapour/gas ow is subcritical the equation is as follows A in2 = W/(1b/h) 735F2Kd

'

(T/R)Z . M/(g/mol)(p1/psia)[(p1/psia)(p2/psia)] (3)

When the relieved uid is liquid the sizing equation is A W/gal.US/min) = in2 38KdKwK6 G . (p1/psig)(p2/psig) (4)

'

It is assumed in Eq. (4) that the uid remains liquid as it ows through the valve. The variables and values of coefcients Kd, Kb, F2, Kw, and K6, are given in API 520. When these Eqs. (1) (4), are used in near critical conditions some questions arise. The critical pressure ratio is dependent on ratio of heat capacities. The heat capacity at constant pressure cp increases when the critical point is approached and the value of k can be much larger than 2 that is the highest value mentioned in API 520. Also in the near critical conditions the value of compressibility factor deviates signicantly from unity. Two phase ow is handled by combining these equations. This procedure is not clearly specied in API 520. The uid is ashed either to critical ow pressure or to back pressure whichever is greater. Then the area for vapour and liquid is computed with vapour/gas and liquid equations, respectively. The required area of the valve is equal to the sum of vapour and liquid areas. The selected area is equal to or greater than the required area. According to Leung and Nazario (1990) the API 520 method may lead to undersizing of pressure relieving devices. They modied the API 520 liquid equation by using the pressure drop from upstream pressure to critical ow pressure instead of pressure drop from upstream pressure to downstream pressure. This modication gave better results in their work. If the vessel is exposed to re the sizing of pressure reliving device requires the rate of heat transfer to the contents of the vessel. If the vessel is lled with liquid the so-called wetted surface method of API 520 is commonly used. The heat transferred is Q A = 21000F 2 BTU/h ft

 n



0.82

(5)

where A is the effective wetted surface area and F is the environment factor. Environment factors are tabulated in API 520. They are sensitive to engineering judgement, since the insulation may deteriorate in time and loose its re protection capability. In that case the heat transferred from ames to vessel is remarkably higher

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and may lead to excessive overpressure. Another important aspect is the wetted area in cases when the vessel is only partially lled with liquid or is supercritical. The wetted surface usually decreases as the relief proceeds reducing the heat rate. It seems that the assumption of constant heat rate based on initial condition leads to a conservative design. The problem with the supercritical uid is that the uid cannot be characterised clearly as liquid or vapour/gas for Eqs. (1) (4) since the uid has both liquid and vapour like properties at the same time. The DIERS method, (Leung, 1996), for two phase ow is more precisely dened than API 520. It has been claimed to apply for systems where the reduced temperature is less than 0.9 and the reduced pressure is less than 0.5. Above those conditions it underestimates the mass ux and thus overpredicts the area. The method is developed primarily for one-component ashing uids. The calculation procedure of DIERS (Leung, 1996) and (Nazario & Leung, 1992) determines rst the parameter.
2 x6 C Tp 6 = 0 g0 + f0 0 0 fg0 , 60 60 hfg0

The Eq. (10) is good for initial guess if \ 0.4. When 0 B B 0.4 the initial guess is pc = 0.3. If the relieving uid is close to the thermodynamic critical point, the -parameter can be determined from, (Leung, 1996), =

 , 
61 1 60

p0 1 . p1

(11)

The subscript 1 refers to the properties determined at 70% of inlet pressure via isenthalpic ash. It is also suggested by (Leung, 1996) to determine -parameter for non-ideal systems at 90% of inlet pressure via isenthalpic ash. After the critical pressure ratio is solved the mass ux G in orice is calculated from G (p0/60)1/2 =

 

'    ,   
2 ln

p p + ( 1) 1 p0 p0

  
(12)

(6)

p0 1 +1 , p

where x0 is mass fraction of vapour at inlet, Cf0 is specic heat capacity of liquid at inlet, T0 temperature at inlet, p0 is pressure at inlet. Subscript fg refers to liquid vapour transition, g refers to vapour. Specic volume of uid w0 at inlet conditions is 60 = x06g0 +(1x0)6f0. (7)

when critical ow pressure pc is less than back pressure pb the ow is not choked and p is set equal to pb. If pc \ pb the ow is choked and mass ux G is computed from G p = c . (p0/60)1/2 1/2 (13)

Variables are explained in (Leung, 1996) and (Nazario & Leung, 1992). The critical pressure ratio pc p pc = c, p0 is computed, as -parameter is known, from p 2 + ( 2 2)(1 pc)2 +2 2 ln(pc) +2 2(1 pc) = 0. c (9) This leads to iterative solution of critical pressure ratio. In this work the explicit expression for critical pressure ratio is obtained from Nazario and Leung (1992) and used as an initial guess for iteration. pc = 0.55+0.217(ln ) 0.046(ln )2 +0.004(ln )3. (10) (8)

If the ow in DIERS model, (Leung, 1996), enters gas region the mass ux is computed from = 0.606.
p0zg0 where z is density. The area of the orice is A= W , KG G (14)

(15)

where W is required mass ow and K is the valve discharge coefcient.

4. Example This example consists of a reactor, volume 30 m3, two storage tanks, both 70 m3 and a buffer tank, 120 m3, see Fig. 1. The initial molar composition of the reactor, tank 1, tank 2 and the buffer in mole fractions is; hydrogen 0.01, propane 0.10, propene 0.80, n-butane 0.05 and n-pentane 0.04. The computed thermodynamic critical point is 376 K and 4.9 MPa abs, based on the method of Heidemann and Khalil (1980). The amount of polymer in the reactor is 15 wt%. It is assumed that the reactor is at the two phase region when the runaway begins. The reaction rate in the reactor is temperature

Fig. 1. Schematic gure of the system.

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Table 1 Required valve area from different models simulated in design modea Reactor DIERS s2p (Ds2p) API 520 (A2p) DIERS 07ad (D07ad) Mod API 520 (Am2p) Tank 1 DIERS s3p (Ds2p) API 520 (A2p) Mod API 520 (Am2p) Tank 2 DIERS s2p (Ds2p); API 520 (A2p); Mod API 520 (Am2p); 2000 l 1000 mm2 1500 l 750 mm2 2500 l 1400 mm2 1800 l 800 mm2 2600 l 1000 mm2 2400 l 1100 mm2 3000 l 1200 mm2 1300 l 1100 mm2 1050 l 950 mm2 1500 l 1300 mm2

a The required valve area varies between shown limits during simulation.

Table 2 Combinations of valve models used in the simulations in rating mode Case a Reactor Tank 1 Tank 2 Reactor Tank 1 Tank 2 Reactor Tank 1 Tank 2 DIERS s2p (Ds2p) DIERS s2p (Ds2p) API 520 (A2p) DIERS 07ad (D07ad) API 520 (A2p) DIERS s2p (Ds2p) Mod API 520 (Am2p) Mod API 520 (Am2p) Mod API 520 (Am2p)

Case b

Case c

Fig. 2. Simulated pressure of reactor in rating mode.

dependent and follows the Gaussian distribution shaped curve. Reaction rate is 1.86 kg/s at initial temperature of reactor 352.15 K and 2.22 kg/s at 373 K that is the maximum reaction rate. The contents of the storage tanks are at 298.15 K in two phase region. Both storage tanks are nearly full of liquid and the relief is two phase ow. Both tanks are exposed to re and the heat transferred is constant although the area of wetted

surface decreases as the uid is relieved. The content of the buffer at 303.15 K is in vapour region. The purpose of the buffer tank is to remove the peaks of the ow to the are and partly store the vented material. This example demonstrates the sensitivity of the dynamic simulation of the pressure reliving systems to different models and assumptions. The system is simulated in the design mode and the results are presented in Table 1. The abbreviations are; (Ds2p) refers to saturated two-phase ow of DIERS, (D07ad) to nearcritical two-phase ow of DIERS, (A2p) to two-phase ow of API 520, (Am2p) to modied two-phase ow of API 520 model by Leung and Nazario (1990). The discharge coefcient of DIERS model is set to 0.81. The equation of state used is Peng Robinson (Peng & Robinson, 1976). The required area of safety valve, (SV), of the reactor is greatest if the near-critical two-phase DIERS model (D07ad) is used. The API 520 model (A2p) gives the smallest required area. The required area is given as a function of time and the selected area of SV is selected from API 526, (American Petroleum Institute, June, 1995). In this case K, 1185 mm2 is selected because it is a compromise between results of API 520 and DIERS models. There is no polymer ow out in this example but the calculation of polymer containing relief is discussed by (Pokki et al., 2000). The tanks 1 and 2 are identical in volume, content and initial state but the amount of heat rate from ames to the tank 2 is only half of the heat rate to tank 1. This situation demonstrates the difculties in estimating the insulation factor. The selected size of safety valves of tanks 1 and 2 is M, 2322 mm2 which is also a compromise between API 520 and DIERS models. The set pressures of tanks are 1.5 MPa abs. The sensitivity of relief valve sizing is studied by simulating the system using different API 520 and DIERS combinations with the sizes of SVs selected based on the design mode. The vapour/gas ow from buffer tank to are starts as pressure increases over 0.2 MPa abs. The ow area is set to 10332 mm2 to keep its pressure below 1 MPa abs. The ow is modelled with API 520 vapour/gas equations. The models used in the simulations are presented in Table 2. The simulated pressure of reactor is shown in Fig. 2. The set pressure of SV of reactor is 4.0 MPa abs. The modied API model gives the maximum pressure below + 10% overpressure which is acceptable but both DIERS models give overpressure higher than 10%. The mass ow from reactor is shown in Fig. 3. The sensitivity in mass ows computed from the models is so large that it affects the design of the discharge pipe. The discharge pipes should be designed conservatively. The pressure of tank 1 exposed to re varies as shown in Fig. 4. Pressure starts to increase faster when the DIERS model than API models are applied. The increase is in accepted limits.

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The mass ow from tank 1 is shown in Fig. 5. There are large differences in the time when the ow stops at the rst time.

Fig. 6. Simulated pressure of tank 2 in rating mode.

Fig. 3. Simulated mass ow from reactor in rating mode.

Fig. 7. Simulated mass ow from tank 2 in rating mode.

Fig. 4. Simulated pressure of tank 1 in rating mode.

Fig. 5. Simulated mass ow from tank 1 in rating mode.

The simulated pressure of tank 2 is in Fig. 6. The heat transferred from ames to the tank 2 is only half of the heat of tank 1 and thus the rise of pressure in tank 2 is much slower. Because the ow of heat is smaller there is no accumulation in pressure. The mass ows from tank 2 show substantial deviations between models as seen in Fig. 7 because the smaller mass ow causes longer duration of relief. Finally, the simulated pressure of buffer is shown in Fig. 8. The start of relief from reactor (88 s), tank 1 (322 s) and tank 2 (644 s) can be seen as rapid increase in pressure in Fig. 8. The relief from buffer is in Fig. 9. The peak ow is nearly equal in all models but it happens at different time. The ow stays between 10 and 20 kg/s most of the time, because the reactor relieves before the tanks 1 and 2 start to relieve. Sometimes the capacity of the are may be the limiting factor in plant design. The dynamic simulation helps in adjusting the volume of the buffer tank and the ow to are. Usually increasing volume of

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5. Conclusion It was shown that the results of the relief valve simulation are sensitive to the models used. The selection of model is cumbersome because these are specic to certain regions and the process may enter various regions during emergency relief. The models suffer also experimental validation at near critical conditions. In addition the selection of the scenario is very important in design to nd out the biggest relief ow and the highest peak pressure. The near critical conditions are a challenge for simulation and modelling. The consideration of the dynamic nature of the system is crucial in design of pressure relieving devices. The dynamics reveals the behaviour of buffer tanks that affect the back pressure of pressure reliving devices.

Fig. 8. Simulated pressure of buffer in rating mode.

Acknowledgements Financial support from Neste Research Foundation to (J-PP) is gratefully acknowledged.

References
American Petroleum Institute, (June 1995), API Standard 526, 4th ed., API, Washington, DC. American Petroleum Institute, (March 1993), API Recommended Practice 520, Part I-Sizing and Selection, 6th ed., API, Washington, DC. Heidemann, R. A., & Khalil, A. M. (1980). AICHE J., 26, 769779. Leung, J. C. (1996). Chem. Eng. Progress, 92 (No. 12), 28 50. Leung, J. C., & Nazario, F. N. (1990). J. Loss. Pre6. Process, 3, 253 260. Nazario, F. N., & Leung, J. C. (1992). J. Loss. Pre6. Process, 5, 263 269. Peng, D.-Y., & Robinson, D. B. (1976). Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., 15, 59 64. Pokki, J. -P., Aittamaa, J., Keskinen, K. I., Hurme, M., (1999), Computers and Chemical Engineering Supplement, 23, 399402. Pokki, J.-P., Aittamaa, J., & Hurme, M. (2000). Computer-Aided Chemical Engineering-8 (pp. 811 816). Elsevier.

Fig. 9. Simulated mass ow from buffer in rating mode.

buffer tank lowers the peak pressure and shifts it to later time. Decreasing the size of the SV decreases the ow but increases the peak pressure and shifts the peak pressure to earlier time. These topics can be studied only with the aid of dynamic simulation.
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