OVERVIEW OF DISASTER
MANAGEMENT IN THE
CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING REGIME.
J SUSHMA SRI
317106203003.
CONTENTS:
. WHAT IS A DISASTER?
. TYPES OF DISASTERS
. BRIEF OUTLOOK OF CHEMICAL PROCESS
SAFETY
. DISASTERS IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES AND
THEIR CASE STUDIES.
WHAT IS A DISASTER?
A disaster is a serious disruption
occurring over a short or long period of
time that causes widespread human,
material, economic or environmental
loss which exceeds the ability of the
affected community or society to cope
using its own resources.
TYPES OF DISASTERS:
Natural hazards are naturally occurring physical phenomena caused either by
rapid or slow onset events which can be geophysical (earthquakes, landslides,
tsunamis and volcanic activity), hydrological (avalanches and floods
), climatological (extreme temperatures, drought and wildfires), meteorological (
cyclones and storms/wave surges) or biological (disease epidemics and
insect/animal plagues).
Technological or man-made hazards (complex emergencies/conflicts, famine,
displaced populations, industrial accidents and transport accidents) are events that
are caused by humans and occur in or close to human settlements. This can
include environmental degradation, pollution and accidents.Technological or man-
made hazards (complex emergencies/conflicts, famine, displaced populations,
industrial accidents and transport accidents)
There are a range of challenges, such as climate change, unplanned-urbanization,
under-development/poverty as well as the threat of pandemics, that will shape
humanitarian assistance in the future. These aggravating factors will result in
increased frequency, complexity and severity of disasters.
BRIEF OUTLOOK OF CHEMICAL
PROCESS SAFETY.
The word "safety" used to mean the older
strategy of accident prevention through the use
of hard hats, safety shoes, and a variety of rules
and regulations. The main emphasis was on
worker safety. Much more recently, "safety" has
been replaced by "loss prevention." This term
includes hazard identification, technical
evaluation, and the design of new engineering
features to prevent loss. The subject of this text
is loss prevention, but for convenience, the
words "safety" and "loss prevention" will be used
synonymously throughout.
Safety or loss prevention: the prevention of
accidents through the use of appropriate
technologies to identify the hazards of a chemical
plant and eliminate them before an accident
occurs.
Hazard: a chemical or physical condition that has
the potential to cause damage to people, property,
or the environment.
Risk: a measure of human injury, environmental
damage, or economic loss in terms of both the
incident likelihood and the magnitude of the loss or
injury.
Hydrodynamic models representing two-
phase flow through a vessel relief
Dispersion models representing the
spread of toxic vapor through a plant
after a release, and
Mathematical techniques to determine
the various ways that processes can fail
and the probability of failure.
Accident and Loss Statistics
Accident and loss statistics are important measures of the effectiveness of
safety programs. These statistics are valuable for determining whether a
process is safe or whether a safety procedure is working effectively.
Many statistical methods are available to characterize accident and loss
performance. These statistics must be used carefully. The three systems
considered here are
OSHA incidence rate,
Fatal accident rate (FAR), and
Fatality rate, or deaths per person per year
OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the
United States government. OSHA is responsible for ensuring that workers
are provided with a safe working environment. Table 1-2 contains several
OSHA definitions applicable to accident statistics.
fires are the most common, followed by explosion and toxic
release. With respect to fatalities, the order reverses, with
toxic release having the greatest potential for fatalities.
Economic loss is consistently high for accidents involving
explosions. The most damaging type of explosion is an unconfined
vapor cloud explosion, where a large cloud of volatile and
flammable vapor is released and dispersed throughout the plant site
followed by ignition and explosion of the cloud
COURSE OF ACCIDENTS.
Initiation (the event that starts the accident),
Propagation (the event or events that maintain or expand the
accident), and
Termination (the event or events that stop the accident or
diminish it in size).
Safety engineering involves eliminating the initiating step
and replacing the propagation steps with termination events.
Table 1-7 presents a few ways to accomplish this. In theory,
accidents can be stopped by eliminating the initiating step. In
practice this is not effective: It is unrealistic to expect
elimination of all initiations. A much more effective approach
is to work on all three areas to ensure that accidents, once
initiated, do not propagate and will terminate as quickly as
possible
Failure of a threaded 1 1/2" drain connection on a rich oil line at the
base of an absorber tower in a large (1.35 MCF/D) gas producing
plant allowed the release of rich oil and gas at 850 psi and –40°F.
The resulting vapor cloud probably ignited from the ignition system
of engine-driven recompressors. The 75' high x 10' diameter
absorber tower eventually collapsed across the pipe rack and on
two exchanger trains. Breaking pipelines added more fuel to the
fire. Severe flame impingement on an 11,000-horsepower gas
turbine–driven compressor, waste heat recovery, and super-heater
train resulted in its near total destruction.
An inherently safe plant11, 12 relies on chemistry and physics to
prevent accidents rather than on control systems, interlocks,
redundancy, and special operating procedures to prevent accidents.
Inherently safer plants are tolerant of errors and are often the most
cost effective. A process that does not require complex safety
interlocks and elaborate procedures is simpler, easier to operate,
and more reliable. Smaller equipment, operated at less severe
temperatures and pressures, has lower capital and operating costs.
CASE STUDIES OF DISASTERS:
1.BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY:
• MIC BUILDUP IN E610 TANK.
• WATER ACCUMULATION IN E610
CAUSING A RUNAWA Y REATION.
• HIGH PRESSURE BUILDUP IN THE
TANK LEADING TO MIC LEAK FROM
TANK.
• FLARE SYSTEM AND SCRUBBER WERE
MALFUNCTIONING.
• AROUND 2000 LIVES WERE LOST AND
20000 WERE INJURED.
VISAKHAPATNAM GAS LEAK
LG POLYMERS RR VENKATAPURAM.
LACK OF ENVIRONMEANTAL
CLEARANCE.FOLLOWED ONLY
STATE PERMITS.
SELF POLYMERISATION OF
STYRENE LEADING TO A RUNAWAY
REACTION.
ESCAPE OF MONOMER STYRENE
VAPORS.
THERMAL STRATIFICATION IN M6
TANK.
NO ADEQUATE TBC TO INHIBIT SELF
POLYMERISATION.
11 DEAD AND SEVERAL INJURED.
THANK YOU!
