Our Publications

The potential for pressure relief valve instability (chattering) is a known hazard. Because of this, relief systems design basis documentation must demonstrate expected stable pressure relief valve (PRV) operation and performance for a multitude of credible scenarios.

After much anticipation, the new 2013 Edition of NFPA 654, Standard for the Prevention of Fire and Dust Explosions from the Manufacturing, Processing and Handling of Combustible Particulate Solids, has finally been issued. This is one of the key standards utilized for safe handling of combustible solids.

Information that can reveal the root cause of an incident resides in many places ― within the plant or process unit, and in control rooms, offices and witnesses' minds. Here's how to find the data and conduct effective witness interviews. Readers who were listening to the radio or watching television on the morning of February 1, 2003, will remember the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia over Texas. Within an hour of losing contact with the Columbia, NASA's Mission Control declared a "contingency" to ensure that all mission data were preserved. All flight controllers had to verify that their logs were up-to-date and institute a hands-off policy with regard to switches, push-buttons, controllers, knobs and the like; all computer data were impounded. This was the start of NASA's investigation procedure.

Use this checklist-based technique of process hazard analysis (PHA) to identify and assess potential dust hazards and to evaluate safeguards that can mitigate risks.

In conjunction with the production of a new film entitled BLEVE update, the NFPA sponsored a series of six BLEVE tests using 1.893 m3 propane tanks.

During the years that I have led process hazard analyses (PHA), I have repeatedly encountered team members who adamantly proclaimed that a scenario that I have proposed is invalid or too farfetched.

This guidance applies to reactive systems subject to process- and fire-induced runaway reactions, tanks that store reactive materials, and two-phase flow of reactive materials.

A safe workplace requires that everyone in the facility pay attention to both process and occupational safety. A strong safety program recognizes that safety culture and attitude, i.e., operational discipline and safe work practices, are essential for minimizing risk and maximizing potential. Developing a sound process safety culture, i.e., an ongoing process that requires persistence and hard work, is the key for success. This poster illustrates key performance indicators (KPI) intended to identify process safety culture weaknesses, and to provide guidance and criteria to ensure a sound process safety culture implementation.

This study aims at calculating the maximum thermal inbreathing rate by performing dynamic simulations for different tanks using ioMosaic’s SuperChems™ software. The first objective of this research was comparing the detailed SuperChems™ single-phase and two-phase wall dynamics model to existing large scale test data and models. The results were successfully reproduced using this software with error margins between ± 5%. Previous to this work, the software had not been evaluated for this important modeling.

Vapor breakthrough (also known as gas blowby) can occur after an instrument fails, allowing uncontrolled flow from high-pressure to low-pressure equipment. After a loss in upstream liquid level, high-pressure vapor may enter the low-pressure system, resulting in overpressure of the low-pressure equipment.

Be aware of the changes on the new requirements of API 752 Third Edition, which was revised to address specific OSHA concerns during refinery NEP inspections. This presentation focuses on a review of industry incidents caused by facility siting problems, OSHA requirements, RAGAGEP's for facility siting, the approach needed to meet the current analysis requirements, and recommendations.

This presentation, by Georges A. Melhem, Ph.D., FAIChE, provides an overview of the ARC and APTAC calorimeters and how measured data can help with process safety and optimization. Examples are provided to illustrate how ARC/APTAC data can be used for the estimation of physical properties, vapor/liquid equilibrium, reaction rates, and the development of kinetic models.

Market and governmental demand for decarbonization continues to grow, and it is only natural that our industry responds in kind by exploring and advancing the technologies that allow us to decarbonize.

In process safety, the problem is always about the potential for catastrophic releases of highly hazardous chemicals with direct or indirect results to: Property damage, personnel injury/death, environmental impact, operation interruption and financial losses.

We describe herein our recent work for the DOE, Office of Transportation Technologies, in which we evaluated several methods of hydrogen storage from the perspective of fuel cell powered vehicles.