Brian R. Dunbobbin

Oxygen compatibility of high-surface-area materials

High-surface-area metallic structured packings are finding increasing use in the cryogenic distillation of air. An experimental program was performed to determine the oxygen compatibility of selected metals under the high-surface-area-to-volume ratios and adiabatic conditions encountered in commercial use. Under some conditions brass packing unexpectedly had a higher relative flammability than aluminum, which is contrary to reported test results using metal rods and strips. This is due, we believe, to the specific geometric and adiabatic configuration of the packing material which appears to enhance the propagation of combustion in brass. Aluminum flammability in gaseous oxygen has been shown to be very dependent upon argon dilution and, in the presence of liquid oxygen, strong energy releases have been observed, similar to those experienced with aluminum powder and liquid oxygen. Copper was found to be nonpropagating in all tested oxygen purities. These findings suggest that results from oxygen compatibility tests on rods and strips cannot be used reliably for ranking the suitability of materials in high-surface-area-to-volume ratio and adiabatic configurations.

Safe management of unforeseen delays in mechanical integrity inspection schedules

The days of “frequent” annual maintenance outages where mechanical integrity (MI) testing and inspections are performed are gone. The new reality of modern industrial gas and chemical plant operation includes increasing durations between scheduled maintenance down time that have sometimes reached 5 years and beyond. In addition, in the interest of keeping initial capital cost under control, there is constant pressure to restrict redundant architectures and systems intended to allow maintenance while running the plant.

Newly acquired facilities and the identification of process safety risks

In recent years, there has been a large number of acquisitions and takeovers in chemical production and manufacturing. In many cases, the disclosure of technology issues is not always complete and the need to quickly and thoroughly identify safety-related issues is vitally important to the buyers due diligence. We outline a tiered approach to quickly identifying key process safety risks so that the acquiring company, its employees and community can be adequately protected.

Preventing incidents at newly acquired facilities : Implementation of lessons learned

The large number of acquisitions taking place in the chemical industry has increased the need to efficiently assess the process safety risks at such facilities so that they meet the requirements of the acquiring company. This can be difficult if the technology issues are not fully disclosed during the “Due Diligence” phase of an acquisition.