Case Studies

Read how ioMosaic has reduced process safety risk, maintained compliance and substantially increased peace of mind for our clients worldwide.

 

Process Safety Management

An international consumer products manufacturer suffered a significant business interruption due to failure of a critical support facility. This incident raised the question of whether there were other critical support facilities that could cause a similar interruption in production or a significant safety or environmental impact.

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A chemical manufacturing company determined they needed to better manage their risk reduction by improving the effectiveness of their Asset Integrity (AI) program, also known as Mechanical Integrity (MI). 
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An international oil company was preparing to startup a state of the art acid gas injection facility and needed to benchmark against current industry practices for handling large quantities of toxic gas at high pressure.

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A supplier was being sued because his product, when delivered, went into the wrong storage tank. This led to a chemical reaction and release of chlorine to which the plaintiffs claimed they were exposed.

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An international chemical manufacturing company was struggling to manually manage its PSI and sought to transition to an electronic system where PSM data from multiple facilities could be stored and accessed into one comprehensive system for qualified employees across the organization.

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Following an incident at a gas processing plant, an examination and analysis were needed to determine what factors may have led to the occurrence.
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An LNG plant in the U.S. was planning the renovation and expansion of its existing facilities, as well as replacing and installing new pipelines for transmission and distribution. Before construction began, the client needed to be sure the potential risks were identified and successfully managed to prevent any release of LNG and damage to their existing equipment and storage tank. 
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The chemical company of a large integrated energy company was developing a corporate standard for LOPA, which incorporated a risk ranking matrix. The company was interested in obtaining an independent review of the design of the risk matrix, and in benchmarking the underlying risk tolerability criteria with generally accepted industry norms.
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The client was experiencing disruptions that were causing significant facility downtime and expense. The facility also had experienced deflagrations originating from various other parts of their facility. The client believed that their expensive, custom-made square rupture disks were prematurely rupturing on their blowing stills and their knockout boxes because they were incorrectly specified.
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A U.S. chemical company planned to install a new carboxylic acid manufacturing unit at one of its facilities, allowing nitric acid (HNO3) to be recovered from its manufacturing process via absorption recovery and thermal oxidation. To ensure that the new manufacturing unit was operated and maintained in a safe manner, a facility siting study was required.
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A world-class chemical company was involved in a project to triple the capacity of its fumigant plant to meet demand due to the phase-out of competing ozone depleting fumigants. An independent review of the company’s risk assessment methods and safeguards for protecting the public from operational hazards was requested by certain government agencies. The plant was regulated by several state and local agencies and any expansion project required permit authorization, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
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A coal fired power plant, producing enough energy to supply 190,000 households, had observed leaks from their break away anhydrous ammonia unloading connections. The client initiated a Management of Change (MOC) to replace the connections with non­break away connections. The plant uses anhydrous ammonia in its NOx scrubbing processes, a chemical that is unloaded from tanker trucks and tank railcars. The electric utility company had expanded their NOx scrubbing system in 2009. 
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As the supplier of contract labor, the client was being held responsible for the operation and safety of a chemical plant in which there was an explosion and several fatalities.
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A U.S. manufacturer of pharmaceuticals needed to conduct a process hazard analysis (PHA) of a new alcohol process for them which utilized a variety of highly hazardous materials including hydrogenation, potent compounds, flammable liquids, toxic, and water-reactive chemicals.
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An international personal products manufacturer needed to complete process hazard analyses of their alcohol processes to meet regulatory and company requirements. The process hazard analyses could not be completed until all necessary process safety information was compiled.

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A leading chemical supplier relocated their microbiology and environmental labs from one location to another one in 2008. A PHA was conducted when the labs were set up. The client wanted to have a revalidation of that PHA by conducting a new PHA to review the basic design and practices. Specifically, this new PHA study focused on conceptually identifying any hazards associated with the labs from the point of view of general housekeeping, emergency equipment, piping, electrical, and ergonomics which could have direct impacts on the people, environment, property, and/ or public relations.
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A major pulp and paper manufacturing company in Mississippi determined that its process safety management (PSM) program had to do more than merely follow OSHA regulations; they wanted it to also be effective in preventing accidents.

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A chemical facility needed to update a previous Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) study of their plant to ensure the QRA reflected the most recent changes to equipment and buildings. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119 PSM requires, under the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) element, that employers conduct a facility siting study to verify that the location and occupancy of buildings, control rooms and trailers have been properly evaluated.
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A global chemical manufacturer with a facility in Brazil that manufactures soil fumigants, fungicides, biological inoculants, and specialty fertilizer products needed to conduct a remote Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) and Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA). 
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Chemical weapons produced by the US military must be demilitarized by international treaty. Since some of these weapons are old, they must be demilitarized at the sites where they are currently stored to avoid potential releases during transportation. Existing technology for chemical weapon demilitarization is using incineration.

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A large Canadian refinery was performing risk assessments to identify personnel, environmental, and operational hazards in order to satisfy legal and business requirements. This work was being done on a planned schedule, with each unit being reviewed annually. The challenge was to use Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) methodologies that provided an effective analysis appropriate to the particular unit to be studied and the potential hazards.
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When a tank car failed at a customer’s plant, a release of toxic gas occurred. Our client, the supplier of the chemical, was the subject of a class action lawsuit.
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Emergency Relief Systems Design

A refinery approached ioMosaic for the purposes of ensuring that pressure relief capacity was adequate for the loss of liquid seal scenario in a high-pressure separator (2,000 psig). They were also concerned about the pressure waves that would occur in the high-pressure separator’s outlet lines on rapid closing of the isolation valves and sought our expertise.
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An American energy company needed an assessment of the adequacy of their Emergency Relief System (ERS) discharging to the atmosphere for two refineries with a combined processing capacity of 120 MBD. Their main concern was the possibility of ammonia release into the atmosphere and the potential for a toxic dispersion.
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A large oil refinery with a very complex flare network had become so complex that the tools the refinery was using to evaluate the flows through the flare network could not adequately model the system. Management no longer had confidence that their model results reflected the actual network performance and therefore, could not be sure the system would perform properly in the event of a global relief scenario at the facility.
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An American energy company with multiple refineries in California and other locations in the US required some complex dynamic analysis. ioMosaic was to evaluate dynamically a tube rupture overpressure scenario for several heat exchangers systems.
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An international energy company required an effluent handling system detailed analysis. ioMosaic was to update and evaluate their flare system model in the event of power failure with a subsequent loss of cooling global overpressure event.
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An international pharmaceutical company operates a pilot plant for new product development. Due to the changing nature of the pilot plant needs, most of the process equipment is portable and is connected to other equipment and vent headers using flexible hoses.

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A multinational energy company wanted to complete an evaluation of a pressure relief valve system in order to comply with the PSM standard OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119 which requires that employers compile information pertaining to the equipment in the process, including relief system design and design basis. 
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As a result of recent industrial incidents, a petroleum company desired to ensure the effluent from all relief devices in toxic or flammable service were routed to flares and/or another safe locations. The client wanted to evaluate the adequacy of the existing flare systems with the effluent from the atmospheric relief valves included, mitigate all existing flare systems issues, estimate the cost associated with modified piping, and evaluate potential high-integrity protection systems (HIPS).
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A multinational energy company operated a 174,000 BPD refinery whose pressure relief valves (PRVs) were damaged and needed replacement for an upcoming turnaround. The client required confirmation on the sizing of a pre-existing valve as well as evaluation of a second PRV. They also needed a new PRV sized for a new knock out drum that would be installed with two new compressors. Prompt completion was needed to meet their accelerated deadline.
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A heat exchanger manufacturer was being sued on a claim of poor workmanship after the heat exchanger had been in service in a plant for ten years.
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The client was storing reactive materials in vessels that could be subject to fire exposure. They wanted to be sure that the relief protection on the vessels was correctly sized, or if not, what changes were necessary for an effective relief system.

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An LNG manufacturer had four nearly identical trains with three flare header systems. The client decided they wanted to use a new and more stringent criteria than previously performed under a different design criterion. The large scope and tedious nature of the data entry was a challenge since all calculations needed to be checked to determine the maximum pressure each flare pipe line would be exposed to.
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A feasibility study for relocating existing flares for the olefins, ethyl benzene, and ethanol units of a petrochemical company in the Middle East was needed. An additional flare stack for a new ethyl benzene plant was also considered. The challenge was to evaluate the worst-case scenarios and HSE-related issues while also designing an economical solution.
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An independent company executed a large capital project that included expansion and modification of one of their process units. The client required an update to existing flare analysis, which ioMosaic had previously completed, with the global scenario information from the capital project.

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A leading global chemical manufacturer requested an assessment of a hydrogen peroxide vessel to prevent future runaway reactions.
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A leading producer of chemicals and related products retained ioMosaic to complete an evaluation of the Maleic Anhydride (MAN) unit, needed to ensure compliance with the OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119 Process Safety Management (PSM) standard. 
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An energy company contacted ioMosaic to evaluate dynamically the stability of eight separate Seal Oil Pressure Relief Devices (PRDs) during a blocked outlet scenario because of pocketed outlet piping.
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A new peroxide injection system for use in the production of poly olefins was being tested. Six different peroxides were being evaluated for use in the process. An on-site engineering and construction firm retained ioMosaic to complete an evaluation of the peroxide storage vessels to ensure compliance with the PSM standard.
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A leading producer of chemicals and related products needed an evaluation of their Light Olefins Unit to ensure compliance with the OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119 PSM standard.
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A California oil refinery capable of refining 240 thousand barrels of crude oil per day needed to evaluate a vapor break-through scenario from a high-pressure vessel to a low-pressure vessel using dynamics.
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A polystyrene production facility wanted a complete audit of all pressure relief valve files and documents to determine and process safety information gaps. Requirements included analyzing a third-party contractor’s evaluation of specific vessels that did not have a relief device installed on them, and a pressure relief and flare system design evaluation on the relief devices at the facility.
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An oil and gas company retained ioMosaic to complete a stability evaluation of six pressure relief valve (PRVs) that were identified to have inlet pressure drop in excess of 3% of the set pressure to ensure compliance with the PSM standard.
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The client required an evaluation of potential stability issues that were highlighted for a proposed PRV installation. This PRV design had be estimated to run afoul of the 3% rule. Given the complexity of this work and our known expertise in this area, the client came to ioMosaic to perform an extensive analysis of the PRV stability dynamics.
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After recently purchasing an idle refinery on adjacent property, a major petroleum company determined that the pressure relief and flare system (PRFS) design and design basis documentation were out-of-date. The PRFS required evaluation and documentation based on current industry standards and the new owner's corporate standards.
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A large refinery desired to conduct a third-party audit of their emergency relief systems to ensure that the methodology and engineering analysis used in the design of their emergency relief systems was adequate, conformed to RAGAGEP, and was being performed consistently without significant systemic errors.
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An international oil and gas company requested ioMosaic perform a relief system revalidation of the DHT at a feed rate of 60,000 bbls/day in a previous assignment. The client desired to increase unit throughput to 78,000 bbls/day or higher and thus ioMosaic evaluated the relief safety at 92,000 bbls/day.
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Previously, a multinational energy company requested ioMosaic perform a relief system revalidation of two crude desalter units at a throughput of 135,000 bbls/day. Now the client desired to evaluate the capacity and stability of the two desalter valves at a new flowrate of 165,000 bbls/day with different feedstocks. Electrostatic desalters are commonly used to separate water, salt and other impurities from crude oil emulsions.
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A major petroleum company recently increased production capacity and required an analysis of its existing relief systems to validate performance and design. As a result of increasing production capacity and debottlenecking studies, several refinery units
were found to be operating at charge rates higher than the design basis for the relief systems documentation. The documentation and calculations needed to be reviewed and revised to ensure the systems were adequately protected.
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LNG Risk Management

An incident at a gas processing plant centered around the loss of liquid level and breakthrough of a high pressure two-phase mixture into low pressure equipment (HP/LP Interface) leading to cold temperatures and subsequent brittle failure of a vessel. The case team needed to confirm or rule out operator actions that could have led to the incident. The individual events and actions that lead to the incident happened over a period of several hours. The process was so complex that careful study by many experts was unable to clearly identify the cause-and-effect of each of the events and actions.

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An LNG manufacturer had four nearly identical trains with three flare header systems. The client decided they wanted to use a new and more stringent criteria than previously performed under a different design criterion. The large scope and tedious nature of the data entry was a challenge since all calculations needed to be checked to determine the maximum pressure each flare pipe line would be exposed to.
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The California Energy Commission was directed to assist in the development of clean alternate transportation fuels. As part of this effort, they support the commercialization of fuel cell vehicles operating on hydrogen fuel. In order to be used extensively in the transportation sector, the safety of hydrogen production, storage, and supply needed to be addressed.

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Laboratory Testing

An international pharmaceutical company had an aggressive schedule for new product development and needed technical support with respect to reactivity testing and process safety in their pilot plant.
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