Qualitative Assessment for Inherently Safer Design (QAISD) at preliminary design stage

Conventional hazard evaluation techniques such as what-if checklist and hazard and operability (HAZOP) studies are often used to recognise potential hazards and recommend possible solutions. They are used to reduce any potential incidents in the process plant to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) level. Nevertheless, the suggested risk reduction alternatives merely focus on added passive and active safety systems rather than preventing or minimising the inherent hazards at source through application of inherently safer design (ISD) concept. One of the attributed reasons could be the shortage of techniques or tools to support implementation of the concept. Thus, this paper proposes a qualitative methodology that integrates ISD concept with hazard review technique to identify inherent hazards and generate ISD options at early stage of design as proactive measures to produce inherently safer plant. A modified theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) hazard review method is used in this work to identify inherent hazards, whereby an extended inherent safety heuristics tool is developed based on established ISD principles to create potential ISD options. The developed method namely Qualitative Assessment for Inherently Safer Design (QAISD) could be applied during preliminary design stage and the information required to apply the method would be based on common process and safety database of the studied process. However, user experiences and understanding of inherent safety concept are crucial for effective utilisation of the QAISD. This qualitative methodology is applied to a typical batch reactor of toluene nitration as a case study. The results show several ISD strategies that could be considered at early stage of design in order to prevent and minimise the potential of thermal runaway in the nitration process.     

生物质制燃油关键设备设计中的安全性研究

针对生物燃油生产过程中热载体复合加热装置中集气箱结构与热交换管的支撑问题可能带来的不安全因素,将创新设计方法学——TRIZ(发明问题解决理论)应用于加热装置的安全设计中,按照TRIZ解决问题的系统化方法,通过技术矛盾分析和创新原理应用解决存在的技术冲突,能有效地消除设备存在的不安全因素。在设备的安全设计中应用TRIZ理论,与传统方法相比能降低解决问题的难度,提高解决问题的效率,增强设备的安全可靠性,是一种值得推广的经济实用的创新方法。     

基于TRIZ(发明问题解决理论)的林木生物质粉碎机安全设计

按传统方法设计林木生物质粉碎机,其能耗增加、生产率降低;且细小的木屑极易堵塞筛网,带来安全隐患。将创新设计方法学——TRIZ(发明问题解决理论)应用于林木生物质粉碎机安全设计中,按照TRIZ解决问题的系统化方法,通过技术矛盾定义和创新原理应用、物理矛盾定义和分离方法应用、物场模型建立和标准解法应用等TRIZ工具,实现了高效率、低功耗、细粉碎粒度、高安全可靠性的目标。在设备的安全设计中应用TRIZ理论,可以帮助设计人员迅速发现主要问题并提供解决问题的相应原理,减少传统试错法所耗费的时间、精力,大大提高设计效率和设计安全性。     

基于微分动态逻辑的数字化反应堆控制系统建模与验证方法

核电数字化仪系统既涉及反应堆随时间变化的物理动态演化过程,又涉及计算机的离散控制过程,属于典型的实时混成系统。微分动态逻辑是近年在混成系统验证领域的新方法。提出以微分动态逻辑为基础的构建反应堆控制系统安全验证模型方法,验证反应堆控制系统中离散化的逻辑控制与反应堆连续性的物理连续变化过程之间的相互作用能否保证反应堆安全需求,从而提高数字化反应堆控制系统设计的安全性。     

Model-based hazard identification in multiphase chemical reactors

Chemical productions operated in extreme conditions (high pressure, high temperature) require a detailed analysis of all potentially dangerous situations that can lead to a major industrial accident and thus cause a loss of life and property. Many accidents in the near or distant history underline the need of a detailed safety analysis in process industries, not only in the phase of plant design but also during the operation of the plant. It would be shown that simulation of a chemical unit using an appropriate mathematical model and the nonlinear analysis theory can be a suitable tool for safety analysis. This approach is based on mathematical modeling of a process unit where both the steady-state analysis, including the analysis of the steady states multiplicity and stability, and the dynamic simulation are used. Principal objective of this paper is to summarize problems regarding the model-based hazard identification in processes. A case study, focused on phenomena of multiple steady states in ammonia synthesis reactor will be presented. The influence of the model complexity and model parameters uncertainly on the quality of safety analysis would be underline.     

TRIZ进化理论在粉碎机创新安全设计中的应用

为了准确评价林木生物质粉碎机现有产品的技术水平,预测其研发方向以适应规模化生产的需要,将TRIZ进化理论应用于林木生物质粉碎机创新安全设计中,通过TRIZ理论的S曲线分析明确当前产品的技术水平处于初始期,应加大研发力度,提高系统的有用功能,降低成本和有害功能;改进产品可能的结构状态,在此基础上,提出新产品概念方案。在新产品的开发中,应用TRIZ进化理论有助于企业准确定位现有产品的技术成熟度,预测产品未来的发展趋势,作出科学的研发决策,减少研发周期,提高创新能力。     

Influence of parameter uncertainty on modeling of industrial ammonia reactor for safety and operability analysis

Chemical reactors represent probably the most hazardous units of chemical industry. Safety analysis of a chemical reactor requires basic knowledge of all particular processes which can be described by mathematical models. Most of the model parameters involved in the prediction of reactor behavior are uncertain. These uncertainties can cause discrepancies mainly in the prediction by models with nonlinear behavior and they can be the source of confusion in the design of chemical reactors and consequently also in the safety and operability analysis.The main aim of this work was to analyze the influence of uncertainties in the model parameters on the prediction of operating quantities by mathematical models with nonlinear behavior. Such analysis can be used for safety and operability analysis of an industrial catalytic ammonia reactor. The industrial fixed-bed reactor was used by a mathematical model with nine parameters. Analyses of the influence of uncertainty in a single model parameter and their combination were carried out by the Monte Carlo approach. It is shown that even a small uncertainty in one of the key parameters or in a combination of these key parameters can result in several steady states results of the operating quantities and can be the source of confusion in the design and consequently also in the safety and operability analysis.     

化工过程本质安全性之模糊评价系统

在综合分析化工过程构成的基础上,建立的化工过程本质安全性评价指标,借鉴国内外本质安全评价的研究,应用Matlab模糊推理系统,以评价指标的等级划分、隶属度函数设计及推理规则设定等为主线,建立化工过程本质安全性模糊评价系统,实现评价指标和评价推理结果的可视化。通过甲苯高温加氢脱烷烃制取苯的工艺过程,实施不同工艺路线及其操作条件改变的本质安全性评价,验证了所建立模糊评价系统的可行性。研究结果对指导化工安全设计和安全评价、减少和消除重大危险源,进一步提升我国化工行业的整体安全水平具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

Simple graphical method for inherent occupational health assessment

The concept of inherently safer design was introduced to design a fundamentally safer process so that hazards can be avoided or minimized rather than controlled or managed. The ideology has later been extended to the environmental, but not health criteria due to its complicated underlying principles. Even though health risk methods are already established, majority are for existing plants assessment. Early consideration of health aspect starting from process design stage however, has received much less attention. This paper introduces a simple graphical method to evaluate the inherent occupational health hazards of chemical processes during the R&D stage. A survey was conducted to identify the important health parameters for the graphical method development, involving nine world inherent safety and health experts. Based on their input, process mode, material volatility, operating pressure and chemical health hazard (toxicity and adverse effect) are the significant factors affecting inherent health hazards of chemical processes. The choice of parameters was bounded by the information availability at this stage. The method was applied on six routes to methyl methacrylate and ten routes to acetic acid. The parameters were plotted for each subprocess of the alternative routes. The ‘healthiest’ route was selected based on thorough hazards assessment across all the subprocesses. The first case study reveals the tertiary butyl alcohol as the ‘healthiest’ one as it poses relatively lower, or at least comparable hazards to the other routes due to exposure and health impacts. Meanwhile the acetic acid case study indicates ethanol oxide and ethyl oxide based routes as the inherently healthier as they operate at lower operating pressure besides posing comparable hazards level for the other three parameters, compared to the other routes. The case studies show that the inherent occupational health of a chemical process can already be evaluated easily in the R&D stage with the simple graphical method proposed.     

Safety-centered process control design based on dynamic safe set

The objective of this research is to develop an approach for the process control design problem with safety as the primary target. The work proposes the concept of dynamic safe set (DSS) to characterize and evaluate the safeness of a closed-loop system.The DSS is defined as a set of initial states of the process that guarantees safe operation, which is represented by a set of safety-critical constraints that is to be satisfied at all times. The DSS calculation accounts for potential safety threatening disturbances that may significantly affect the dynamics of the system. An addon control scheme based on the DSS concept is proposed to guide the system when it is under sudden and large set point changes that may be needed during abnormal situations. Existing system theoretic concepts of maximal output admissible sets is used to mathematically formulate and determine the DSS. The concept of dynamic safety margin (DSM) is proposed as a quantitative measure of the size of DSS. An approach based on the DSS and DSM concepts for process control design with the objective to maximize safety, subject to other performance constraints, is proposed.The approach is tested on an exothermic CSTR case study. The results showed the strong effect of steady state operating conditions, control parameters and actuator design parameters on DSM. A grid of design parameters that includes the reactor set point, the controller parameters, and the heat exchanger design parameter was analyzed. The analysis led to identifying a maximally safe control system design. The proposed approach allowed to formulate the process control design problem by bringing safety upfront, without compromising performance metrics.     

化工过程开发中本质安全化设计策略

本质安全化设计是预防人为失误及设备失效、降低化工过程风险应优先采用的技术。在比较传统设计方法与本质安全化设计方法的基础上,讨论了化工过程开发各阶段实现本质安全的机会,认为在开发初期,实施本质安全化的成本低,难度小;通过分析可行性研究、工艺研究、概念设计、基础设计、工程设计等阶段本质安全化设计的影响因素、设计目标和设计方法,探索化工过程开发中本质安全化设计策略,提出了化工过程本质安全化设计流程。通过工艺过程本质安全设计、工艺流程的简化和优化、不同设计方案的本质安全度评估等措施,可提高化工过程本质安全水平。     

基于模糊综合评价的化工工艺本质安全指数研究

建立化工工艺的本质安全评价指标体系,包括可燃性、爆炸性、毒性、反应性、温度、压力、储量等7个指标。为解决前人指数法中的边界波动效应,采用模糊综合评价建立化工工艺本质安全评价指数模型,确定各指标的权重、危险分级及对各分级的隶属函数。以甲基丙烯酸甲酯的5条工艺路线为例进行分析,结论与前人提出的指数方法的评价结果相吻合,表明该指数方法可以用来进行化工工艺的本质安全评价,以指导设计初期的本质安全型工艺路线选择。     

Cybersecurity and dynamic operation in practice: Equipment impacts and safety guarantees

Though dynamic operation of chemical processes has been extensively explored theoretically in contexts such as economic model predictive control or even considering the potential for cyberattacks on control systems creating non-standard operating policies, important practical questions remain regarding dynamic operation. In this work, we look at two of these with particular relevance to process safety: (1) evaluating dynamic operating policies with respect to process equipment fidelity and (2) evaluating procedures for determining the parameters of an advanced control law that can promote both dynamic operation as well as safety if appropriately designed. Regarding the first topic, we utilize computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis simulations to analyze how cyberattacks on control systems could impact a metric for stress in equipment (maximum Von Mises stress) over time. Subsequently, we develop reduced-order models showing how both a process variable and maximum Von Mises stress vary over time in response to temperature variations at the boundary of the equipment, to use in evaluating how advanced control frameworks might impact and consider the stress. We close by investigating options for obtaining parameters of an economic model predictive control design that would need to meet a variety of theoretical requirements for safety guarantees to hold. This provides insights on practical safety aspects of control theory, and also indicates relationships between control and design from a safety perspective that highlight further relationships between design and control under dynamic operation to deepen perspectives from the computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis discussions.     

性能化设计思想在化工设施布局安全设计中的应用

指令性规范是目前化工设施平面布局安全设计的主要依据,但其在应用中存在着条款僵化、安全理论基础不全面、可拓展性不明确等问题。本文将性能化设计思想引入到化工企业平面布局安全设计中,初步提出了一种包含危险辨识、性能化目标确定、后果评估及安全设施效用评估等主要组成部分的基于性能化设计思想的平面布局安全设计体系。对体系中最重要的部分—性能化目标确定进行了重点分析,将化工设施布局安全设计分为装置内设备之间的位置设计、厂区内装置区之间的位置设计以及厂区与外部单位之间的位置设计三个级别,从工艺关联性等角度对各级别布局设计中事故场景选择及设施可接受受损水平进行分析,并提出了通过匹配事故场景和设施可接受受损水平来确定性能化目标的方法。     

集对分析理论在爆破工程安全预评价中的应用

为了对爆破工程进行科学合理的安全预评价,从设计方案、施工过程、 爆区环境和安全管理4方面因素中选取设计内容的完整性、起爆参数的合理性、设计人员专业水平等12个指标,构建了爆破工程安全预评价指标体系;针对指标具有模糊性且难以确定的特点,采用熵值法计算各指标权重,并结合集对分析理论,建立基于集对分析理论的爆破施工安全预评价模型。以某烟囱拆除爆破为例,对该安全预评价模型进行应用。结果表明:基于集对分析理论的爆破工程安全预评价模型能够应用于爆破工程的安全预评价,评价结果能够为此类工程施工提供决策依据。     

基于热风险理论对道化学评价中物质系数的研究

随着本质安全研究的深入,道化学评价方法中物质系数MF的计算已不能准确描述反应物本身的热风险大小。在道化学评价方法中引入热风险概念,比较热危险性评价方法和道化学评价方法间相异点;以六甲基磷酰三胺工艺为研究对象,用DSC量热仪对反应物进行分析得出放热速率q、反应波峰峰值、单位质量的反应焓Hr,对采集的工艺参数用热力学理论外推法、基因贡献法得出活化能E、比热容CP并以此求出最大反应失效时间TMRad、绝热温升Qad、物质系数MF值以及工艺单元中物料量。得出最大反应失效时间与物质系数MF间具有相关性,道化学评价方法对因失效反应引发二次反应的热风险评估也适用。     

刚性桩复合地基的理论、实测与安全性研究

科学合理的设计理论是工程安全性和经济性的保障，现场监测是确保工程安全和质量最有效的手段。本文以提高刚性桩复合地基工程的安全性为目的，围绕关乎建筑物安全的“沉降量”等参数指标，从设计理论与试验监测两个方面开展研究。本文完善了刚性桩复合地基的设计理论，通过现场监测试验取得了第一手的数据资料，可作为今后类似工程的设计和施工参考。本研究为进一步提高刚性桩复合地基的安全性提供了理论和实践保障。     

Dynamic model based safety analysis of a three-phase catalytic slurry intensified continuous reactor

Safety analysis like the HAZOP (HAZard OPerability) study can be much more efficient if a dynamic model of the system under consideration is available to evaluate the consequences of hazard deviations and the efficiency of the proposed safety barriers. In this paper, a dynamic model of a three-phase catalytic slurry intensified continuous chemical reactor is used within the context of its HAZOP (HAZard OPerability) study. This reactor, the RAPTOR®, is an intensified continuous mini-reactor designed by the French company AETGROUP SAS that can replace batch or fed-batch processes in the case of highly exothermic reactions involving hazardous substances. The highly hazardous hydrogenation of o-cresol under high pressure and temperature is taken as an example of application. Deviations as a temperature increase of the cooling medium or no cooling medium flow can produce an overheating of the reactor. Thus, three possible safety barriers are evaluated by simulation: shut off the gaseous reactant feed, shut off the liquid reactant feed or stop the agitation. The more efficient actions are the stopping of the agitation and/or of the gas reactant feed. The simulation results can efficiently help the reactor design and optimisation. Safety analysis can also be one of the criteria to compare batch and intensified continuous processes.     

Simulation-based approach to design of inherently safer processes

Safety of chemical processes and plants is a matter of high priority. The design of an inherently safer process is one of very beneficial ways of achieving this goal.The paper describes the method of designing an inherently safer process for a chosen set of equipment and materials involved by applying non-linear optimization. The optimization is aimed at finding an operational mode, which guarantees safety of the process under normal conditions and provides maximal attainable safety in case of one typical accident scenario – cooling failure. Discussion covers problem statement, choice of the optimization criteria, appropriate methods for defining control variables.An important practical challenge is stability analysis of the optimized process mode with respect to permissible deviations of control parameters and variables from the estimated values. The original method for the stability analysis of a non-stationary process is proposed. It comprises simplified preliminary evaluation method followed by the more detailed numerical optimization-based analysis.Several examples illustrate application of the methods proposed.