Highlights of LNG risk technology

The authors have recently undertaken a major review of LNG consequence modeling, compiling a wide range of historical information with more recent experiments and modeling approaches in a book entitled “LNG Risk-Based Safety: Modeling and Consequence Analysis”. All the main consequence routes were reviewed – discharge, evaporation, pool and jet fire, vapor cloud explosions, rollover, and Rapid Phase Transitions (RPT’s). In the book, experimental data bases are assembled for tests on pool spread and evaporation, burn rates, dispersion, fire and radiation and effects on personnel and structures. The current paper presents selected highlights of interest: lessons learned from historical development and experience, comparison of predictions by various models, varying mechanisms for LNG spread of water, a modeling protocol to enable acceptance of newer models, and unresolved technical issues such as cascading failures, fire engulfment of a carrier, the circumstances for a possible LNG BLEVE, and accelerated evaporation by LNG penetration into water.     

Risk reduction concept to provide design criteria for Emergency Systems for onshore LNG plants

The functional safety requirement is widely applied in the process plant industry in accordance with the international standards, such as IEC and ISA. The requirement is defined as safety integrity level (SIL) based on the risk reduction concept for protection layers, from original process risk to tolerable risk level. Although the standards specify both, the Prevention System and the Emergency System, as level of protection layers, the standards specify in detail only the use of the Prevention System (i.e., Safety Instrumented System (SIS)). The safety integrity level is not commonly allocated to the Emergency System (e.g., Fire and Gas System, Emergency Shutdown System and Emergency Depressuring System). This is because the required risk reduction can be normally achieved by only the Prevention System (i.e., SIS and Pressure Safety Valve (PSV)). Further, the risk reduction level for the Emergency System is very difficult to be quantified by the actual SIL application (i.e., evaluated based on the single accident scenario, such as an accident from process control deviation), since the escalation scenarios after Loss of Containment (LOC) greatly vary depending on the plant design and equipment. Consequently, there are no clear criteria for evaluating the Emergency System design. This paper aims to provide the functional safety requirement (i.e., required risk reduction level based on IEC 61508 and 61511) as design criteria for the Emergency System.In order to provide clear criteria for the Emergency System evaluation, a risk reduction concept integrated with public’s perception of acceptable risk criteria is proposed and is applied to identify the required safety integrity level for the Emergency System design. Further, to verify the safety integrity levels for the Emergency Systems, the probabilistic model of the Emergency Systems was established considering each Emergency System (e.g., Fire and Gas System, Emergency Shutdown System and Emergency Depressuring System) relation as the Overall Emergency System. This is because the Overall Emergency System can achieve its goal by the combined action of each individual system, including inherent safe design, such as separation distance.The proposed approach applicability was verified by conducting a case study using actual onshore Liquefied Natural Gas Plant data. Further, the design criteria for Emergency Systems for LNG plants are also evaluated by sensitivity analysis.     

Risk analysis and assessment methodologies in the work sites: On a review, classification and comparative study of the scientific literature of the period 2000-2009

The objective of this work is to determine and study, analyze and elaborate, classify and categorize the main risk analysis and risk-assessment methods and techniques by reviewing the scientific literature. The paper consists of two parts: a) the investigation, presentation and elaboration of the main risk-assessment methodologies and b) the statistical analysis, classification, and comparative study of the corresponding scientific papers published by six representative scientific journals of Elsevier B.V. covering the decade 2000-2009. The scientific literature reviewing showed that the risk analysis and assessment techniques are classified into three main categories: (a) the qualitative, (b) the quantitative, and (c) the hybrid techniques (qualitative-quantitative, semi-quantitative). The qualitative techniques are based both on analytical estimation processes, and on the safety managers-engineers ability. According to quantitative techniques, the risk can be considered as a quantity, which can be estimated and expressed by a mathematical relation, under the help of real accidents’ data recorded in a work site. The hybrid techniques, present a great complexity due to their ad hoc character that prevents a wide spreading. The statistical analysis shows that the quantitative methods present the highest relative frequency (65.63%) while the qualitative a lower one (27.68%). Furthermore the hybrid methods remain constantly at a very low level (6.70%) during the entire processing period.     

Investigation of the propensity of sulfide concentrates to spontaneous combustion in storage

Spontaneous combustion of sulfide concentrates can cause many serious problems during storage. In this study, two representative samples (sulfur-rich sulfide concentrate and iron-rich sulfide concentrate) were investigated for the self-heating behavior using the crossing-point temperature (CPT) method. The corresponding apparent activation energies were determined, 13.7366 kJ/mol for iron-rich sulfide concentrate and 21.3817 kJ/mol for sulfur-rich sulfide concentrate. Furthermore, the surface temperatures of sulfide concentrate stockpiles in different seasons were also measured by a thermal image apparatus. It was found the temperature for iron-rich sulfide concentrate stockpile was higher than that for rich-sulfur sulfide concentrate stockpile. These research results show iron-rich sulfide concentrate exhibits stronger propensity to spontaneous combustion than sulfur-rich sulfide concentrate. Particular attention should be paid to the fire hazard of iron-rich sulfide concentrate in daily safety check work. The combination of the CPT method with the infrared thermal image measurement provides a new approach for the risk assessment on the propensity of sulfide concentrates to spontaneous combustion during the production, storage and transportation. The useful data and experience achieved in this investigation can be also referenced in similar cases later.     

On the development of a new hybrid risk assessment process using occupational accidents’ data: Application on the Greek Public Electric Power Provider

The occupational accidents have a major impact upon human integrity and also bring about high costs for the social health and insurance system of a country. In addition, risk analysis is an essential process for the safety policy of a company, having as main aim the effacement of any potential of damage in a productive procedure, while the quantified risk evaluation is the most crucial part of the whole procedure of assessing hazards in the work. The main goal of this study is double: a) the development and presentation of a new hybrid risk assessment process (HRAP) and b) the application of HRAP in the Greek Public Power Corporation (PPC) (the unique electric power provider and the largest industry in Greece), by using occupational accidents that have been recorded, during the 12-year period of 1993-2004. The new process consists of four distinct phases a) the hazard sources’ identification phase, b) the risk consideration phase, c) the risk-evaluation phase, and d) the phase of the risk assessment and safety-related decision making. The results show that in some cases the risk value has been calculated in PPC to be higher than 500 (in the risk rating of 0-1000), which imposes the taking of suppressive measures for abolishing the danger source, while the fatal accident frequency rate (per 10⁸ man-hrs) is FAFR ≅ 2.4.     

污染场地调查与评估信息系统设计

为了管理和风险评估污染场地,结合调查和评价应用中的管理工作流程,对污染场地数据库的设计方案进行了分析,其中包括数据标准的制定、数据库总体结构设计和数据表设计等;同时具体介绍了调查与评估信息系统的设计方案,包括系统设计目标、总体结构和功能模块设计等内容,为系统的构建进一步提供技术支持.     

Fine particle-bound PAHs derivatives at mountain background site (Mount Tai) of the North China: Concentration, source diagnosis and health risk assessment

Ten nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (nPAHs) and 4 oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (oPAHs) in fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) samples from Mount Tai were analyzed during summer (June to August), 2015. During the observation campaign, the mean concentration of total nPAHs and oPAHs was 31.62 pg/m³ and 0.15 ng/m³, respectively. Two of the monitored compounds, namely 9-nitro-anthracene (9N-ANT) (6.86 pg/m³) and 9-fluorenone (9FO) (0.05 ng/m³) were the predominant compounds of nPAHs and oPAHs, respectively. The potential source and long-range transportation of nPAHs and oPAHs were investigated by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) method and the potential source contribution function (PSCF) methods. The results revealed that biomass/coal burning, gasoline vehicle emission, diesel vehicle emission and secondary formation were the dominant sources of nPAHs and oPAHs, which were mainly from Henan province and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Bohai sea. The incremental life cancer risk (ILCR) values were calculated to evaluate the exposure risk of nPAHs and oPAHs for three group people (infant, children and adult), and the values of ILCR were 7.02 × 10^?10, 3.49 × 10^?9 and 1.41 × 10^?8 for infant, children and adults, respectively. All these values were lower than the standard of EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) (<10^?6), indicating acceptable health risk of nPAHs and oPAHs.     

Plant Diversity Hotspots in the Atlantic Coastal Forests of Brazil

Abstract:  Plant-diversity hotspots on a global scale are well established, but smaller local hotspots within these must be identified for effective conservation of plants at the global and local scales. We used the distributions of endemic and endemic-threatened species of Myrtaceae to indicate areas of plant diversity and conservation importance within the Atlantic coastal forests ( Mata Atlântica ) of Brazil. We applied 3 simple, inexpensive geographic information system (GIS) techniques to a herbarium specimen database: predictive species-distribution modeling (Maxent); complementarity analysis (DIVA-GIS); and mapping of herbarium specimen collection locations. We also considered collecting intensity, which is an inherent limitation of use of natural history records for biodiversity studies. Two separate areas of endemism were evident: the Serra do Mar mountain range from Paraná to Rio de Janeiro and the coastal forests of northern Espírito Santo and southern Bahia. We identified 12 areas of approximately 35 km² each as priority areas for conservation. These areas had the highest species richness and were highly threatened by urban and agricultural expansion. Observed species occurrences, species occurrences predicted from the model, and results of our complementarity analysis were congruent in identifying those areas with the most endemic species. These areas were then prioritized for conservation importance by comparing ecological data for each.     

Parental risk perceptions of childhood pedestrian road safety

Problem: Pedestrian injury is a major hazard to the health of children in most developed countries, including Australia. In a previous study it was found that parental road risk perception is a significant factor associated with their modeling of safe behavior as pedestrians. This study aimed to investigate factors that affect parental road risk perception. Method: This cross-sectional population-based randomized telephone survey aimed to study factors associated with risk perception on pedestrian road safety among parents with young children aged 4–12 years. Results: Five factors were found to be significantly associated with parental risk perception. They included age of child, sex of parent, employment of parent, living environment, and previous injury experience. The results suggested that the age of the child contributed greatest to the variance explained by the regression model. However, other factors remained significant even after adjusting for each other. Discussion: Results were discussed in light of the design and development of childhood pedestrian road safety campaigns. Impact on industry: Parental risk perceptions determine their safe road modeling behavior. In this study, significant factors that affect parental road risk perception have been identified. The information obtained can be used in the design of road safety programs that aim at changing the road risk perception of parents.