Any process that handles hazardous substances has the potential for a loss of containment event that could lead to a significant incident. Asset owners need to ensure that the process equipment is designed, maintained, and operated to minimize the likelihood of this.
Process Safety is a framework for ensuring that the process design envelope is protected and has resilience against system failures and degradation. Process safety as a discipline consequently focuses on preventing or mitigating loss of containment scenarios that could lead to fires, explosions, and accidental chemical releases at process facilities.
It covers ensuring that systems can maintain process variables, including pressure, temperature, flow, and level, within the design values used to size equipment and select materials. Additionally, the plant's safe operation is assessed by evaluating the suitability of alarm and trip set-points of the protective devices and the plant's operability by the front-line team given the design constraints.
Key activities performed by the ORS Team to support design and operations teams include:
Dynamic Process Simulation
We use a range of software solutions, including HYSYS, Unisim & DWSIM, to complete dynamic simulation of process plant behavior to understand the effect of failures better should they occur and also the ability of the design to safely address these failures.
Process Safety Time Assessment
Ensuring that Safety Instrumented Systems can react within a suitable period following a process disturbance and avoid the design envelope from being exceeded. We use both steady-state and dynamic methodologies that include several validated conservative constraints to meet IEC 61511 and ISO 10418 requirements.
Flare, Venting, Relief, & Blowdown System Performance
Safe disposal of fluids in an emergency situation is an essential part of any process plant design. Hence flare systems are considered safety-critical. We use Flare System Analyzer and other industry-standard tools to ensure back-pressures, velocities, momentum, flare tip radiation, and low-temperature material design constraints are all met.
Overpressure Protection assessment
Different combinations of instrumented and mechanical overpressure protection systems exist in all process plant designs. Vessel and piping design reviews, relief valve sizing and selection to the requirements of API 520/521/526, and reliability assessments of instrumented systems under IEC61511 are all necessary to ensure the system is suitably protected.
Gas Dispersion, Explosion & Fire Assessment
Process plant layout and mechanical design need to be robust to minimize escalation if a loss of containment occurs. ORS has state-of-the-art software solutions and expertise for the assessment of dispersion, explosion, and fire (pool, jet, and spray fires) and the ability to interface this with blowdown and flare assessment to minimize the likelihood of vessel rupture in the event of a release occurs elsewhere on the plant.
Independent Design Reviews
Including HAZOP, HAZID, and Risk Assessment by industry experts able to comment on the suitability of new and existing designs to help improve performance and avoid hazardous scenarios once in service.
These services fit seamlessly with our offerings on Functional Safety and Layer of Protection Analysis to ensure your asset design is fit for purpose and safe for operation today and in the future.
