PROCESS SAFETY
OUR SERVICES
- Compatibility Study
- Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA)
- Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP)
- Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)
- Hazard Analysis and the Critical Control Points (HACCP)
- Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
- Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA)
- Risk Management Plan (RMP)
- Inherent Safety
- Consequence Analysis for Events with Flammable and Toxic Chemicals
- Equipment and Process Plants Reliability Studies
- Control of Static Electricity in Chemical Plants
- Training and Information Courses in the Risk Assessment and Management Techniques
- Safety Integrity Level (SIL) Assessment
- Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA)
Control of Static Electricity in Chemical Plants
A significant number of fires and explosions that occur in industry has static electricity as cause. In dust explosion occurrences, the available investigations reveal that 9% of them had static sparking as ignition source; and this amount rises to 35% in case of polymeric powders.
From the electrification of liquids, powders, solids and non-conductive coatings can result both the ignition risk as the physical shock. The ideal solution for solids and coatings is the usage of electricity conductive non-metallic material. Should these materials are not commercially available in all required forms, it is necessary to evaluate the possibility of non-conductive elements discharge, at any situation in which they shall be used. In particular, one should consider the possibility of high-energy discharges from the content of non-conductor containers. Understanding the charge generation process, we can control and/or eliminate this hazard through appropriate measures such as sizing, earthing, conductive non-metallic materials, ionization, etc.
As a rule, the necessary assessments can be made in a qualitative or semi-quantitative way; but they can be more accurate and produce more effective protection measures if there are suitable data about the behavior of the system at issue. This implies a more specialized assessment, with laboratory tests to determine, for example, resistivity, charge decay, minimum ignition energy or explosion behavior.