Explosion Hazards in the Process Industries

559 Pages·2016·41.59 MB·English

by  Rolf K. Eckhoff

EXPLOSION HAZARDS
IN THE PROCESS
INDUSTRIES
Second Edition
ROLF K. ECKHOFF
University of Bergen, Norway
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this second edition of this book to my dear wife, Astrid, for her
everlasting love and support, to our eight grandchildren, Gunhild, Sigurd,
Johanne,Elias,Maren,Simen,Martin,andFilip,andtothepreciousmem-
oryofthetwo,ÅshildandNora,whomwesosadlylost.ThewordsinIsaiah
42:16 have continued to give me hope and courage.
Rolf K. Eckhoff
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rolf K. Eckhoff was born in Stavanger, Norway, in 1937. He obtained his
MSc in chemical engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology in Trondheim in 1961. He obtained the degree dr. techn.
from the same university in 1976 and the degree DSc (Eng) (higher
doctorate) from the University of London, UK, in 1992. He is currently a
professoremeritusofProcessSafetyTechnologyattheUniversityofBergen,
Norway, and a concurrent professor at the Northeastern University,
Shenyang, PR China. Prior to joining the University of Bergen in 1996,
Eckhoff worked for 33years as a researcher, senior researcher, and chief
scientist at Chr. Michelsen Institute (presently, GexCon AS) in Bergen.
His main areas of research have included powder technology, dust explo-
sions, and gas explosions. He is the author of the textbook, Dust Explosions
intheProcessIndustries,firstpublished1991,secondeditionin1997,andthird
edition in 2003. The fourth edition, to appear in 2016, is co-authored by
T. Skjold. Eckhoff is also the author/co-author of about 150 technical/
scientific publications/papers and more than 130 research reports. He has
advised industry on numerous occasions, and lectured on courses,
conferences,andseminarsinanumberofcountriesinEurope,andinChina,
Bahrain, Israel, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Canada,
United States, and Brazil.
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xi
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION
Myveryfirstcontactwiththeareaofindustrialexplosionhazardswasduring
mypostgraduatestudiesatKing’sCollege,UniversityofLondon,1966e68.
Intheearly1970s,theNorwegianprocessindustriesexperiencedaseriesof
seriousdustexplosions,whichconfrontedmewiththechallengetoestablish
dust-explosionpreventionandmitigationasanewfieldofresearchandcon-
sultancyinNorway,basedattheChr.MichelsenInstitute(CMI)inBergen.
Afewyearslater,whentheoilandgasindustryontheNorwegiancontinen-
talshelfevolvedatgreatpace,Iwasfacedwiththefurtherchallengetostart
upCMI’scomprehensiveresearchprogramonpreventionandmitigationof
accidental gas explosions.
In 1991, I approached the University of Bergen (UoB) to discuss the
possibility of establishing process safety technology as a new field of
teaching and research there. I was appointed part-time professor in
1992 and full-time professor in 1996. During the building up of my
own activity at UoB, I was also taking a central role in establishing a
common new framework program of process technology at large within
our faculty of mathematics and natural sciences. We were convinced that
our candidates should build their process safety studies on a foundation
of general process technology (chemical engineering). The result of a
joint effort by many people is a complete 5-year study program in pro-
cess technology, comprising a 3-year bachelor program providing the
general basis, followed by a 2-year master program providing the speci-
alities. Process safety technology is one of several options for the master
studies.
During my time as part-time professor, I developed a short course on
“electricalapparatusesforhazardousareas”publishedasa160-pagebasictext-
bookinNorwegian(Tapir,Trondheim,1996).AfterjoiningUoBfulltime,I
usedthisbook as a centralelementin a wider basicbachelor-levelcourseon
explosionhazardsintheprocessindustries,butIthenhadtohandoutsupple-
mentary material on case histories and prevention/mitigation. I therefore
decided to write a completely new textbook, comprising all the material
needed for this course. Because the book might also useful outside Norway,
I chose to write it in English.
The book covers accidental gas/vapor, spray/mist, dust, and explosive/
pyrotechnic/propellant explosions, whereas various types of accidental
j
xiii
xiv PrefacetoFirstEdition
physical explosions, boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVEs),
and explosions due to chemical runaway reactions are not included.
It is my intention to produce a Powerpoint presentation covering the
entire book, with some of the photographic material in color, and with
additional illustrative material. This will primarily be for my own use, but
such a presentation may also be helpful for other teachers using my book
in their classes. We are also building up a set of about 10 laboratory-scale
experimentsoninitiationandpropagationofgasanddustexplosions,which
the students shall have to carry out and report on in writing as part of the
course.
Iamdeeplygratefultothecompanies,researchinstitutions,standardiza-
tion organizations, publishers, etc., which granted permissions to use some
of their valuable material for the book, and to the many skilled persons,
including some of my students, for providing valuable information and
advice.
Rolf K. Eckhoff
Bergen, June 2005
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
The first edition of this book was published in 2005 by Gulf Publishing
Company, Houston, Texas, United States. A corrected reprint appeared
in 2008. In 2013, the copyright was transferred to Elsevier Science. They
decided to produce a second edition of the book to appear in 2015e16,
ie, just about one decade after the appearance of the first edition.
I have, of course, reviewed all the original chapters of the book and
added,modified,anddeletedmaterialwhenthiswasconsideredappropriate.
However, the most significant change from the first to the second edi-
tionistheadditionofthreenewchapters.ThefirstisChapter3on“Boiling
Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions (BLEVEs),” a topic that I deliberately
leftoutwhenwritingthefirstedition,butwhichIlaterrealizedwouldadd
to the usefulness of the book. The same applies to the new chapter on
“Water-Vapor Explosions” (Chapter 4).
Thethird,entirely newChapter9on “DestructiveandHarmfulEffects
byPressure,SolidFragments,andHeatFromAccidentalExplosions”.Ihave
foralongtimerealizedthatsuchachapterhadtobeincludedinthesecond
editionofthisbook.Finally,Ihavetotallyrewrittenthepreviousverybrief
andincompleteChapter8onhazardsandriskanalysis.Thischapternowap-
pears as a considerably expanded and updated Chapter 11 on “Review of
Some Methods of Hazard and Risk Analysis.”
I wish to express my sincere indebtedness to Professor Isabelle Sochet,
E(cid:1)cole Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Bourges, France, for her kind
helpandadviceinpreparingthenewChapter9.Iamalsogreatlyindebted
to five anonymous reviewers of myproposal for thebook revision. Allfive
offeredmanyvaluablesuggestions,whichIhavelargelyfollowed,andwhich
havenodoubtimprovedthequalityofthebook.FinallyIwishtothankall
my students for valuable feedback on various aspects of the book, and for
their enthusiasm and interest in the subject.
Rolf K. Eckhoff
Bergen, March 2016
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xv
CHAPTERONE
Introduction
1.1 PROCESS SAFETYdA PERSISTENT CHALLENGE
Right from the start of the development of the oil and natural gas
industry on the Norwegian continental shelf very high safety standards
wereestablished. This was amatter ofboth attitude in industry and official
national policy. Until the Piper Alpha oil production platform explosion
catastrophe in the North Sea in 1988, it was felt by some people that
Norwaywasoverdoingsafetyissuesinitsoffshoreindustry.However,after
thisaccident,theimpositionofstrictsafetyrequirementsinoffshoreoiland
gas industries gained wide international acceptance. The more recent
blowout, explosion, and fire catastrophe on the oil platform Deepwater
Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 has undoubtedly amplified this
trend. It has also been pointed out that substantial benefits would result if
the high standards of safety in the offshore industries could be adapted to
industry onshore and to society at large.
However, high safety levels cannot be established once and for all by a
single all-out effort. Deterioration results if the high level once attained is
not actively secured by continuous maintenance and renewal. This applies
to both safety technology and human factors.
Education has a key role in the continuous maintenance and renewal
process. This ranges from short practical training courses to in-depth
long-term education. Universities and colleges have responded to the
challenge by establishing courses of study on a wide range of safety as-
pects. In the case of process safety, relevant topics include reliability
and risk analysis; the physics, chemistry, and technology of processes
and hazards; and means of accident prevention and mitigation. Much
emphasis has been put on methods of reliability and risk analysis, which
are indeed very important. However, it is sometimes felt by the process
industry itself that education in the “hard” aspects, ie, the physics, chem-
istry, and technology of processes and process hazards, has been some-
what left behind. This situation presents a special challenge to
universities and colleges. In 1996 the University of Bergen established
ExplosionHazardsintheProcessIndustries
ISBN:9780128032732 ©2016ElsevierInc. j
1
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803273-2.00001-3 Allrightsreserved.
2 ExplosionHazardsintheProcessIndustries
a course of study in process safety technology, with particular emphasis
on the scientific and technological aspects.
Inprocesssafety,thepreventionoffiresandexplosions,andthemitiga-
tion of their effects, is a central concern. In the case of combustible gases/
vapors, loss of confinement of the combustible substance is the first step in
the accidental chain of events. The next steps are generation and ignition
of the flammable cloud, resulting in explosion and/or fire, which may in
turncauselossoflifeandlimb,anddamagedprocessplant,adjacentprocess
areas, and even moreremote buildingstructures. As pointedoutin Section
1.6below,understandingtheprocessesofaccidentescalationisanimportant
aspect of process safety technology.
Quantitativeriskanalysisplaysanincreasingroleintheefforttoimprove
offshore process safety. In the offshore oil and gas industries highly packed,
congested process plants, with compact living quarters as close neighbors,
ask for very systematic and thorough analysis of all possible risk factors,
includingthehumanelements.Aconciseandconstructiveofficialauthority
policyconstitutesanimportantbasisforensuringthenecessaryhighlevelof
safety.
This book has been written with intent to be a useful source of basic
informationontheorigin,course,prevention,andmitigationofaccidental
explosionsintheprocessindustries.Potentialreaders/usersofthebookare
expected to include people both from a wide range of process industries,
from official authorities, from engineering companies, and not least the
students in technical colleges and universities.
1.2 WHAT IS AN EXPLOSION?
The concept of explosion is not unambiguous. Various encyclopedias
givevaryingdefinitionsthatmainlyfallintotwocategories.Thefirstfocuses
onthenoiseor“bang”duetothesuddenreleaseofastrongpressurewave,
or blast, into the ambient atmosphere. The origin of this pressure wave,
whether a chemical or mechanical energy release, is then of secondary
concern. This definition of an explosion is in accordance with the basic
meaning of the word (“sudden outburst”).
The second main category of explosion definitions is confined a sudden
releaseofchemicalenergyasheat.Thisincludesexplosionsofgases,dustclouds,
and solid explosives. The emphasis is then put on the chemical energy
release itself, and an explosion is defined accordingly. One possible
Introduction 3
definition could then be “An explosion is an exothermal chemical process
that, when occurring at constant volume, gives rise to a sudden and signif-
icant pressure rise.”
Inthepresentbook,thedefinitionofanexplosionwillshiftpragmatically
betweenthetwoalternatives,byfocusingateithercauseoreffect,depending
onthecontext.Itshouldbenotedthatgenuine,physicalwatervaporexplo-
sions(seeChapter4)requireaseparatedefinition,becauseintheseexplosions
the driving force is physical heat transfer, not exothermal chemical reaction.
1.3 GAS/VAPOR AND DUST EXPLOSIONSdREAL
HAZARDS IN THE PROCESS INDUSTRIES
Inthepresentbook,thetwolargestchaptersaredevotedtogas/vapor
explosions and dust explosions. This is justified by the fact that these two
accidental explosion categories seem to represent the majority ofaccidental
explosions in the process industries. The particular industries/facilities in
which gas/vapor or dust explosion hazards may exist include:
Oil and natural gas industries/activities
(cid:129) Oil and natural gas production installations on- and offshore
(cid:129) Oil and gas refineries
(cid:129) Systemsfortransportationofoilandgas(pipelines,ships,trains,cars,etc.)
Petrochemical, chemical, and metallurgical process industries
(cid:129) Petrochemical industries producing chemicals and polymers
(cid:129) Plants producing pharmaceuticals, pesticides, organic pigments, etc.
(cid:129) Paint-production plants
(cid:129) Pulverized-metal production (aluminum, magnesium, silicon, silicon
alloys, etc.)
(cid:129) Chemical food and feed production
(cid:129) Production of cellulose, paper, etc., from wood
Mechanical processing
(cid:129) Grain and feed storage
(cid:129) Flour mills
(cid:129) Sugar refineries
(cid:129) Mechanical wood refining (hardboard, etc.)
Special processes
(cid:129) Production, storage, and handling of explosives, pyrotechnics, and
propellants