Hydrogen Peroxide Pressure Study and New Panel Sizing Case Study

The Challenge

On a previous project, a leading global chemical manufacturer requested ioMosaic assess an incident at a facility where a hydrogen peroxide vessel underwent a runaway reaction. We evaluated that incident and designed a room relief vent to prevent any further incidents. The client then came back at a later date requesting a similar study, but with a different size vessel and room.

Our Approach

The client needed new panels sized for a similarly designed reactor room as the previous study. This involved running dynamic reactive models to find the correct size relief area that would prevent the room from suffering destructive levels of pressure. The set up was a reactor containing hydrogen peroxide and water with a rupture disk set at 150 psig. The vessel relieves into a 13 ft x 13 ft x 13 ft room with a weak panel set at 0.347 and 0.174 psig.

After delivering a report containing the results and graphs detailing the pressure, temperature and composition profiles of the vessels, the client determined it was necessary to consider another scenario and requested a project scope change order. A third scenario was added where a larger vessel would be in the same room. As the pressure sensitivity of this project was very high, it led to improvements in the dynamic code to account for smaller pressure spikes and to show greater accuracy.

The Benefits

Three ideal relief areas were delivered to the client. The relief areas were evaluated for three scenarios the client had set and designed. A discharge coefficient of 1 was used so the client knew it would have to account for the non-ideality of actual vent panels. The client was told that an 84 in² ideal panel would work best for the smaller sized vessel and a 305 in² ideal panel would be enough to keep the room from over pressuring with the larger vessel. These multiple scenarios yielded insight and data to improve operational safety providing the client confidence in their process safety decisions.

Learn More

Our mission is to help you protect your people, your plant, your stakeholder value and our planet. To learn more about how we can help you manage risk, call us at 1.844.ioMosaic.