Introduction
Chemical and processing units are at risk of fire and explosion due to a variety of reasons including fire hazards, chemical reactivity, and leakage of materials. Catastrophic events, production cessation, and damage to the equipment and organizational investments may occur due to the lack of accurate recognition and assessment of these hazards. The accidents that occurred in the Flixborough chemical complex (England), Pasadena chemical complex (USA), Mexico City LPG Terminal, Feyzin Refinery (France), and Piper Alpha Oil Production Platform can be given as examples of these catastrophic events. Therefore, the mentioned hazards should be identified, assessed, and controlled to ensure the security of the processing industries (1).
Towards this goal, the processes of recognition and risk assessment of fire and explosion hazards have been performed through different methods. The occurrence of various accidents induced by fire and explosion hazards indicates that the classical techniques of risk assessment are not effective enough due to the unspecialized point of view to the risk assessment processes. Thus, accurate and dexterous methods are required to identify and assess fire and explosion risks from a specialized viewpoint. Dow’s Fire and Explosion Index (F&EI) has been recently developed to identify and investigate fire and explosion hazards. This index (which does not require high levels of specialty and details) calculates the general risks of processing units through a simple and comprehensive method.
This method is based on historical loss data, the energy potential of materials, and the extent to which loss prevention practices are currently applied. Dow uses numerical values of hazard factors associated with different material and process characteristics to determine fire and explosion hazards in a step-by-step objective evaluation. Therefore, incorporation of such a method (especially for recognizing the critical points) is indispensable due to its key advantages including economic identification, saving time and concentration on the fire and explosion control activities in important and critical sections. In addition to the investigation and quantification of total effective parameters in fire and explosion occurrence, Dow’s index can efficiently assess other useful information such as the maximum amount of potential damage, maximum days of production cessation in probable explosion and fire (2, 3). The main aim of this method was not to classify the facilities into safe and unsafe categories; however, a relative ranking of hazards and risks in an organization can be provided (4).
The F&EI was designed by Dow and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in 1967. This method has since been revised six times. Its last revision (7th edition) was published by Suardin (5). Etowa et al. developed a computer program based on this method to automate F&EI calculation (6). Different researches have been conducted on the incorporation of this method in different applications. Etowa et al. employed this method to investigate the inherent safety of reservoirs used for storing methyl isocyanate(6). Rigas et al. performed a comprehensive study for the safety analysis of a new production line in a pesticide factory in Northern Italy using Dow’s method(7) In this regard, Suardin (5) and Hendershot(8) can also be studied.
Moreover, Ahmadi et al. conducted a study for the rational ranking of fire and explosion hazards in a petrochemical industry (9). The quantitative determination of fire and explosion risk in a processing unit was also performed by Ahmadi et al. (10).
The main aims of the present study were to identify fire and explosion hazards and assess the induced risk in a processing company. Other goals of the study were to predict the maximum probable damage and determine the maximum number of days of production cessation using Dow’s F&EI, and to present appropriate control guidelines.
Material and Methods
The present qualitative case study was performed on a processing company (in Southern Iran) in 2015 using Dow’s F&EI. Dow’s index was first introduced in 1964 by a chemical materials production company named Dow. It has since then been revised 6 times and the last version was presented in 1994. Dow’s F&EI (as one of the specific and useful methods for risk assessment and evaluation of the damage induced by fire and explosion in processing industries) has provided an appropriate framework for identification and assessment of fire and explosion damages. It has also provided effective ways for controlling of the identified hazards. This method calculates the risks of fire and explosion hazard in processing units in a simple, fast, and comprehensive way. Moreover, it does not require high level of specialty and process details(11, 12).
The implementation process of the present study is defined in the following stages.
Preliminary data collection: In the first stage, the required information were obtained for coordinates of units’ installation and location, equipment, and the main piping routes and cables by investigation of the plot plan. In addition, the required information on the schematic view of the studied system, the flow between the principal system elements, and the basic design, such as quantity and quality of the utilized materials in the processes, were collected by investigating the process flow diagrams (PFDs). The required detailed information on the relationship between the parts, machines, valves, fittings, and other mechanical parts were determined using piping and instrumentation diagrams/drawings (P&IDs) (3).
Processing units: After the preliminary data collection and familiarization with the processes, the studied company was classified into processing units. In this study, the processing unit was defined as an element from the processing equipment that could be investigated as an independent system such as reactor, distillation column, absorption tower, compressor, pump, furnace, and reservoir. Any identified processing unit was then accurately investigated in terms of stock materials, the materials’ potential chemical energy, operational conditions, records of past damages, and its potential ability to stop the production. The effects of the mentioned parameters were investigated on the whole process regarding fire and explosion to select those processing units that had severe adverse effects on the process (2, 3).
Material factor (MF): In this stage, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the chemicals were determined, and based on that, the material factors were calculated for each processing unit. Material factor can be defined as the material’s emission intensity and release of potential energy which may be calculated by considering its flammability and
reactivity. The material factor usually ranges from 1 to 40 and can be determined based on standards NFPA-325M and NFPA-49 considering material flammability (NF) and reactivity (NR).
The calculated parameter is the base factor representing the hazard level at surrounding environment’s temperature and pressure conditions. The material factors were revised because the environmental conditions differed from the processing conditions in the studied units. Since, several materials were usually used in each processing unit, the maximum values between the calculated material factors were considered according to the weight percentage of the material(3, 11).
Process general hazards factor: In this stage, the process’s general hazards (which are generally classified into 6 main categories) were identified. Since existence of these hazards in processing units could induce the risk of fire and explosion, a specific penalty value was assigned for each of the identified hazards according to table 1. Clearly, the higher levels of hazards induced received higher penalty. Furthermore, the penalty value was ignored if there was no hazard. Finally, the total values of the assigned penalties were calculated for the identified hazards and process general hazards factor (F1) was obtained for the processing units by addition of 1 to its value (2, 3).
Table 1: General process hazards and corresponding penalties
Penalty value |
Description |
General process hazards (F1or GPHs) |
0.30 |
Mild reactions such as hydrogenation, hydrolysis, isomerization, sulfating, and neutralization |
Exothermic chemical processes |
0.50 |
Moderate reactions such as alkylation, esterification, oxidation, polymerization, condensation, and incremental reactions |
1.00 |
Severe reactions within which the control of reaction conditions was difficult and critical such as halogenation |
1.25 |
Sensitive exothermic chemical processes such as nitration |
0.20 |
Endothermic chemical reactions that occurred in the reactor |
Endothermic chemical processes |
0.40 |
Endothermic chemical reactions that occurred in the reactors and their energy sources were provided from combustion of solid, liquid, and gas fuels such as lime production (calcination) and materials pyrolysis induced by direct contact with fire |
0.50 |
Performance of loading and unloading of grade one flammable liquids and liquid pressurized gases (LPG) in one way in a continuous or discontinuous way |
Manual handling, transportation and material warehousing |
0.50 |
Those processes within which the detonative mixes may appear during material addition (induced by contact with air) or other reactivity hazards may be revealed such as centrifuge, discontinuous or interrupted reactions, and modular mixing. |
The following penalties have been applied according to the materials in cases in which they were stored in roofed warehouses or outdoor environment (unroofed warehouses). |
0.85 |
Flammable gases or liquids with NF = 3 or 4 |
0.65 |
Volatile solids with NF = 3 |
0.40 |
Volatile solids with NF = 2 |
0.65 |
Flammable liquids with 140 ºF/60 ºC < FPclosed cup > 100 ºF/37.8 ºC 12 |