Hydrogen Hazop
Hydrogen Hazop
Hydrogen Hazop
INTRODUCTION
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PROJECT SCOPE
The Air Products safety philosophy is based on its declared policy that
safety is a line management responsibility and that all accidents are
preventable. The Corporate Procedure Project Hazard Review was
developed to reflect and implement these principles in practice. The
main purpose of the procedure is to ensure that a hazard review team is
formally appointed and charged with the responsibility to assess, quantify
and reduce, wherever possible, the risks associated with any new project.
In approaching its task, the hazard review team will be required to
compare the quantified risks with other risks involved in the industrial gas
business and exercise good judgement in balancing risk reduction against
cost.
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This did not in fact occur due to the commitment by project management
and the design task force to meet or exceed all the agreed targets with
respect to cost, schedule, safety, operability, reliability and integration
with existing operating equipment. There was significant involvement
with Dutch local approval authorities over the perceived risk of liquid
hydrogen. For the calculation of offsite risks it was agreed to use the
SAFETI programmes developed by Technica for The Netherlands
Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
The SAFETI data for liquid hydrogen required a significant degree of
collaboration with Technica to develop suitable models and data for
hydrogen release phenomena.
With copious information available on the hydrogen
liquefaction/purification process, project hazard reviews could focus on
the implications and effects of a large liquid hydrogen storage installation,
European trailer loading requirements, local authority licence
requirements and a coordinated approach to facility layout (including a
carbon monoxide tube trailer filling facility and garage facilities for
distribution network) on offices and other processes already onsite.
Although the plant layout was subjected to repeated examination for
optimisation and cost reduction, it was possible to establish criteria for
separation distances between the major process units and other areas
using the worst case releases and calculated consequences. The results
showed the types of incidents which could be contained within the process
units and those which had a general effect and needed to be subjected to
third party risk quantification.
It proved necessary to insist on several changes to existing facility
arrangements to avoid unnecessary risk to personnel and services not
associated with the new operating units. Temporary offices had to be
moved; permanent offices/workshops had their functions changed to
reduce staff levels; plant systems and services had to be segregated or
relocated for operability reasons; established contractor laydown and
service areas had to be relocated.
Initial calculations for third party risk showed that a catastrophic failure
of the liquid hydrogen sphere resulting in a vapour cloud drifting without
premature ignition might cause fatalities several kilometres away from the
source of the release. However, such third party consequences would be
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much less severe if the vapour cloud encountered an ignition source close
to the point of release. The effect on the site in this case would be worse
due to the potential exposure of operating personnel and other process
units.
As a result of the initial investigations the authorities laid down minimum
licence requirements for the design and protection of the liquid hydrogen
storage and provided criteria for external overpressure tolerances (from
independent incidents) in line with the criteria developed for the onsite
separation distances previously discussed.
Hazard study reports were required by the authorities for the liquid
hydrogen storage tank, the liquefier process and the firefighting
provisions. In addition, the liquid trailer loading arrangements and
procedures, the hydrogen feed from the PSA system, the venting and
flaring arrangements were all subjected to HAZOP and HAZAN studies.
Design safety reviews were mostly completed by mid 1986, except for the
trailer loading system which was not conducted until 1987.
SPECIFIC ITEMS RESULTING FROM DESIGN HAZARD REVIEWS
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While fire detectors were ultimately provided for the liquefier expanders
(at the cold box), the tanker loading area, the PSA valves and the
compressor enclosure, it was decided that the detectors would provide
alarms only and would not automatically actuate the fire water deluge
systems.
This was to avoid spurious actuation of the water systems even though the
reliability of the detectors were to be enhanced by means of voting
systems. The detector system design allowed for the consequence of low
manning of an automatic plant coupled with the high likelihood of
ignition in the event of a pressurised hydrogen gas release.
For a sustained water deluge of equipment in the event of a fire, it proved
necessary to have a water availability beyond the capacity of the existing
facility cooling water system. An external supply from neighbouring
customer facilities in the petrochemical complex was therefore provided.
In designing the liquid hydrogen storage tank, it was found necessary after
a review of previous criteria to increase the size and number of inner
vessel overpressure protection devices. This necessitated a major rework
of the vent/flare arrangement for the tank to accommodate the possible
flows safely. There were also unusual considerations (for liquid hydrogen
storage) for the effects of loss of vacuum on the insulation space, where
the ingress and condensation of air on the cold surfaces would promote
rapid boiling of the stored liquid. The heat flux created by this event
exceeded that for the fire engulfment case and determined the relief
device sizing. A further hazard could be created by air condensing on
vent or drain lines in the event of use or valve leakage; this would create a
potential for the accumulation of oxygen enriched liquid in addition to the
hazards of liquid hydrogen.
The mechanisms for overpressure of the liquid hydrogen tank are
illustrated in the fault tree shown as Figure 1.
A major contribution to catastrophic failure of the storage tank was the
improper selection or fitting of the overpressure bursting disc.
A special monitoring provision had to be developed to minimise such an
event by ensuring that no other bursting discs of the same size were stored
on the facility (for other cryogenic tanks) and by methodically preparing
an auditable maintenance and replacement procedure for bursting disc
changeover.
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The design was complete and construction well advanced by May 1987, at
which time consolidation and checking of all outstanding hazard review
recommendations was conducted.
Although adequate files had been maintained by the Safety Engineer, no
system of cross referencing existed and it was therefore necessary to
produce a comprehensive bibliography of all internal and external
correspondence for checking and review. The documentation sources
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within the various design departments were identified and checked after
which it was a simple matter for the hazard review team to check that
recommendations had been carried forward through the chronology to
completion or identified as outstanding items for the prestartup auditing
procedures. The review was timeconsuming but yielded important
results both in identifying major deviations from the original design safety
philosophy and in finding those items still incomplete after 18 months of
the design phase had elapsed.
In fact, the need to perform a HAZOP on the PSA unit was identified at
this stage as there had been a change of vendor and cycle from that
envisaged during the original design. The meetings also highlighted those
items which were related primarily to the operating phase of the plant for
which the plant management were solely responsible. Examples included
updating and expanding the existing facility emergency plans, operator
training, personnel protection (fire resistant overalls, were introduced at
this time), maintenance frequencies and proof test intervals for critical
circuits.
By August 1987, all items had been completed or recatalogued for
inclusion in the site inspection procedures. The latest feedback from the
operating American plants had also been obtained and collated (these
affected the design of flame arresters on hydrogen vents which, from
previous experience, have a high ignition probability) and the files
updated for future reference.
SAFE TO OPERATE VERIFICATION
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At the end of the audit a Safe to Operate certificate was issued including
a summary of outstanding remedial work, each item of which was
categorised as either essential before start up or complete by a
specified date. On completion of the essential items the equipment was
released for commissioning.
It is important that items in the non essential category are not forgotten
and are reviewed about 3 months after commissioning to ensure that
plant safety in the long term is not compromised.
A selection of defects discovered during the Engineering and Safety Audit
on the facility is displayed in Table I.
POST-COMMISSIONING AUDIT
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instrument supply and installing a solenoid operated trip valve using quick
release connections. This activity formed part of the trailer loading
preparation and required that the spool piece be inserted into a location
in the loading station liquid valve instrument supply line, thus enabling
the valve to be opened as necessary. During the loading condition the
trailer can therefore be remotely isolated in an emergency or, both fill
point and trailer valves opened as required.
In the drive away condition the fill point valve cannot be opened without
a trailer present.
During the audit it was found that the spool piece and connections
were complete. However, the solenoid operated trip system had not been
installed and a jumper line had been fitted in its place to permit normal
operation without the remote trip facility.
This proved to be a classic example of a late project modification
where final completion escaped the scheduled construction activity and
precommissioning auditing. It was nevertheless identified by the post
commissioning checks.
Maintenance of Process Protective Systems
The company operates a computerised preventive maintenance
system whereby each plant receives a monthly instruction detailing the
tasks to be carried out. Each plant then makes a formal return on pre
printed cards, confirming that the tasks have been completed.
Examination of the monthly task sheets revealed that although the
protective systems recommended by the HAZOP and risk quantification
studies were included, the critical nature of their functions, and the
degree of priority required for their maintenance, was not given sufficient
emphasis. It was also found that while records of instrument failures
were being maintained by the plant personnel, such information was not
communicated to the central office on a regular basis using the task
confirmation cards. These observations reflected no lack of diligence on
the part of the maintenance department, but served to highlight the need
for improved communication links between the hazard review team and
the plant operator.
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with the valve in the closed position and the system at a pressure of 63
bar. The sudden opening of the valve created a sonic pulse in the vent
header downstream of the valve. The reactive force from the vent
discharge tore the header from its supports and turned the pipe outlet
downwards into the compressor area. The venting hydrogen gas ignited
causing considerable fire damage.
Observations
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The supports for the modified stack proved inadequate for the
reactive force when venting occurred.
The resulting fire from the valve failure caused extensive damage
to cables linking control and trip circuits. This highlighted the
need to pay careful attention to the location, routing and fire
protection of critical instrumentation and circuitry at the design
stage of a project.
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As has been indicated in this paper the HAZOP activity does not
cease after the commissioning phase. It is essential that the plant
operator is continually aware of the significance of recommendations
arising out of hazard studies which were devised to prevent or mitigate
the consequences of potentially hazardous events. Only by constant
vigilance with respect to the maintenance of safety systems and the
interchange of information relating to incidents or failures can we feel
confident that the facility hazard review will be meaningful during the
operating life of the plant.
References
Premises for Risk Management an annex to the Dutch National
Environmental Policy Plan, 2nd Chamber of the States General, 1988 - 89
Session, 21137 Nos 1-2.
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FIGURE 2
GROUP RISK LIMITS FOR MAJOR ACCIDENTS (1)
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TABLE 1
SAFE TO OPERATE VERIFICATION
Examples of Key Items Found
COMPONENT
CORRECTION REQUIRED
Instrument cable
Certification to be checked.
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TABLE II
SUMMARY OF OPERATING INTERRUPTIONS
Year
Safety
Shutdowns
(Spurious)
Safety
Shutdowns
(Real)
1988
1989
1990
1991
6
6
3
2
3
0
Operating incidents during this period included the hydrogen fire (see para
9.1), a machine cooler mechanical failure (protected by the installed relief
device) and a trailer overfill caused by an incorrect load being input as data
to the computer loading system.
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