Our White Papers

Chemical process hazards cannot be effectively managed if they first cannot be properly identified. This is especially true for reactive chemicals storage, processing, and management. Reaction rates can be significantly influenced by the presence of contaminants, inhibitors, incompatible chemicals, etc.

Two-phase flow is often considered in system hydraulics as well as the evaluation and design of pressure relief and effluent handling systems. A variety of scenarios can lead to two-phase flow under relief conditions. In general, two-phase flow during relief can occur because of flow hydrodynamics and poor vapor/ liquid disengagement where (a) the liquid swells due to generation of vapor bubbles in the liquid 1, (b) fluid expansion occurs due to heating, and/or (c) the superficial vapor velocity is high enough through the pressure relief device.

Potential hazards resulting from intentional or accidental spilling of large quantities of LNG include thermal radiation from vapor cloud fires (also referred to as flash fires) and pool fires.

The growing public concern over potential terror threats to LNG carriers and the expected increase in LNG shipping traffic led to several recent LNG safety studies.

This white paper explains how and who determines the maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP), the relationship between MAWP and Design Pressure, and finally how high-pressure vessel is designed. It specifically looks at how ASME VIII Division 1 formulas

Based on previous incident investigations, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has concluded that reactive hazards pose a serious challenge to the Chemical Process Industry (CPI). Of the 167 uncontrolled chemical reactivity incidents reported between January 1980 and June 2001, CSB findings indicate that over 50% of chemicals involved in the incidents were not covered by existing OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) or EPA Risk Management Program (RMP) requirements.

According to the “Status Report on Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program,” published by OSHA in October 2009, the Hazard Communication (HazCom) standard is the most frequently-cited standard with respect to combustible dust-related hazards. This paper can help you determine what type of information you need to develop and include on your Safety Data Sheets (SDSs).

Safety and risk analysis studies involving toxic chemicals often require the use of limiting toxicity criteria to develop safe exclusion zones, individual risk profiles, and/or societal risk profiles. For a short duration release, a fixed concentration criteria may overpredict the extent of hazard or risk.

This paper concerns the management of onshore transmission oil and gas pipelines and the choices that operators must make for investment decision-making, particularly concerning the environmental consequences of incidents where there is a loss of containment (LOC) event from the pipeline (i.e. a leak or rupture).

Emergency relief discharge from a chemical reactor or a process storage vessel will often need treatment before it can be vented to atmosphere. The discharge of flammable and/or toxic materials can create fire and explosion hazards as well as toxicity hazards both on site and off site.

Most companies have completed at least three process safety management (PSM) compliance audits of their covered facilities since the promulgation of the OSHA PSM standard. These companies, however, are not seeing noticeable improvements in their PSM programs.