Joseph F. Louvar

HOTSPOT DISTRIBUTION WHILE SHORTSTOPPING RUNAWAY REACTIONS DEMONSTRATE THE NEED FOR CFD MODELS

ABSTRACT Runaway reactions continuing to be a problem in the chemical industry. A recent study showed that 26.5% of major chemical plant accidents are due to runaways. Runaways are caused by (a) mischarges of the reactants, catalysts, or contaminants or (b) loss of temperature control. Our studies cover the concept of shortstopping the runaway reactions to prevent accident scenarios. Experiments are conducted with CFD (Fluent) models. Shortstopping runaway reactions can be carried out by (a) adding an inhibitor to neutralize the reaction and/or (b) adding a cold diluent to lower the rate of reaction. In this present work we study the characteristics of runaway reactions and inhibition techniques with a full 3-D CFD simulation to explore nonsymmetric addition points for inhibition. Our 3-D simulations are performed using the multiple reference frame method, and reactions are enabled using user defined functions in Fluent. These CFD results show the distribution of hotspots, that characterizes the shortstopping performance. They also clearly demonstrate the value of using CFD simulations in situations that are experimentally prohibitive.

SACHE: 17 years of promoting teaching of safety to chemical engineering students

Abstract The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) began the Safety and Chemical Engineering Education (SACHE) program in 1985. The objectives of SACHE are to encourage the incorporation of safety content into the chemical engineering curriculum, to develop safety content for chemical engineering courses, and to provide opportunities for faculty members to learn about process safety from industrial experts. Since 1985, SACHE membership has grown to more than 120 member schools. SACHE continues to provide course content, annual chemical process safety workshops at industrial facilities for chemical engineering faculty, and supports a number of AIChE student awards to promote safety awareness among chemical engineering students and faculty.

How to Communicate to Create a Safety Culture and Improve PSM Results

Almost all articles that promote the reduction or elimination of process accidents include process safety management and the importance of communication and a positive safety culture. However, they do not clearly describe how to communicate effectively to create this culture. The objective of this article is to focus on how to communicate and create a positive safety culture to achieve the desired process safety management results; that is, to reduce or eliminate process accidents.

Supporting materials for teaching process safety

This article contains supporting materials and information that can be added to any safety course to improve the effectiveness of teaching in a university course or in an industrial seminar. These materials are primarily selected from a huge source of available materials by Safety and Chemical Engineering Education Committee (SAChE) and the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. The selection process is based on my own industrial and teaching experiences: (a) materials that I know emphasized the industrially important safety concepts and (b) materials and information that give the students and young professionals a positive safety culture; that is, the long lasting interest, knowledge, and motivation to prevent process accidents and injuries. The concepts described and stressed in this article include (a) motivation or reasons for studying process safety, (b) laboratory safety (including requirements for wearing safety glasses), (c) reactive chemicals, (d) boiling liquid expanding vapor explosions (BLEVEs), (e) hazards of dusts, (f) confined space entry, (g) nitrogen asphyxiation, (h) safety reviews and introduction to PSM, (i) Piper Alpha and details of PSM, and (j) continuing education. This article also identifies the source of existing and readily available process safety course lecture materials: the core materials that are enhanced with the supporting materials and information described in this article.