Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Vol. 19 No. 2

SUMMER 2015

INSIDE

2. Director’s Corner

4. Visitors to the Center

5. Alumni and Student

News

6. Visiting Scholars

7. Faculty News

8. Outreach Activities

9. Dynamic Risk

Assessment Tool

Workshop

10. Recent Publications

11. Case Histories

16. Symposium Program

19. Sponsorship

Opportunities

20. Hazards 26

22. CE Calendar

Centerline Centerline

The 2015 International Symposium will be held at the College Station

Hilton Conference Center on October 27-29, 2015.

Early Registration ends September 30, 2015!

Program now available!

18th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature

In Association with IChemE

Through the Texas A&M University Study

Abroad Office, Dr. Sam Mannan and Dr. Chad

Mashuga traveled to Qingdao, China to teach

an intensive three week course in Process Safe-

ty Engineering. Three MKOPSC students: Edna

Mendez, Tatiana Flechas, and Yue Sun, took

the course along with 40 students from China

University of Petroleum

(CUP). Course topics

included hazard identifi-

cation, risk assessment,

accident investigations,

relief systems, toxic materials, modeling, and much

more. (continued on page 3)

MKOPSC Faculty Teach Process Safety

Engineering at China University of Petroleum

From left: Tatiana Flechas, Yue

Sun, Edna Mendez, Dr. Mannan,

Wang Haoyi

2 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Director’s Corner

The importance of process safety continues to dominate the news as demonstrated by high profile incidents such as the Tianjin incident in China on August 12, 2015. I have always thought that process safety education and competency in process safety is a very important component of the solution. We know that everyone needs to know and practice the principles of process safety on a regular basis if we are to accomplish anything close to the zero goal of fatalities and injuries. In this issue of Centerline, I am sharing my thoughts about the different levels of education needed in terms of process safety. I would opine that there is a common agreement among our professional bodies that, “safety is really important.” The question though is that do we give it sufficient emphasis in the undergraduate degree and other levels of education? At the undergraduate level, I believe that some process safety education should be included in all engineering disciplines. That is because it is not just chemical engineers who have to deal with process safety matters. It is quite often we find mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, civil engineers, as well as other engineering disciplines who end up working on process safety projects or managing projects where process safety is a key component. For this very reason, I am also opposed to creating a Bachelor’s degree specifically for process safety because it has the possibility of some specific negative outcomes. A really unwanted negative outcome of creating a Bachelor’s degree in process safety would be the perception that other engineering disciplines do not have anything to do about process safety. And that would be disastrous because good process safety performance requires the active commitment and participation by everyone working in the plant. With regard to integrating process safety into the chemical engineering curriculum, I believe that key individual elements of process safety should be threaded into undergraduate chemical engineering courses that serve as the foundation of chemical engineering discipline (e.g., thermodynamics, kinetics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer), that safety topics should be the seamless and almost invisible threads that bind the whole together. In addition, process safety should be taught as a stand-alone final year course (like process design – with which it should have a close relationship) that should integrate principles from all the foundations on which it is based. A similar approach could be tailored for other engineering disciplines as well. Finally, some thought needs to be given to integrating components of process safety, inherent safety, management systems and leadership to disciplines outside engineering, such as chemistry, management, and accounting. Often chemists are the ones who synthesize processes and materials and are in the best position to implement inherent safety options. And often management and accounting majors find themselves in leadership positions which have a direct and major impact on process safety. At the Master’s and PhD level, I believe some degree of specialization and expertise is necessary. These are people who develop specialty expertise in process safety and are able to solve open-ended problems and bring special value to the company/organization. In addition, hopefully some of the PhD graduates would go on to academic/research careers of their own to keep new and other university programs continuing to evolve and flourish. Some people have

3 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

M. Sam Mannan

Summer 2015

the opinion that a PhD is not worth the investment and makes you over-qualified. I certainly do not agree with that opinion. In my career, I have had the opportunity of advising 46 PhD students who have graduated and gone on to successful careers. Of these 46 PhD graduates, only three are in academic/research jobs. The remaining are working in the energy and petrochemical industry in different kinds of jobs including production and operations jobs. I believe that industry is snapping up these PhD graduates with process safety expertise because industry recognizes the depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise they bring to the job. These PhD graduates from the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center have completed research on an open-ended problem but have also achieved expertise in applying their knowledge of the fundamentals of science and engineering to solving practical process safety problems. These PhD graduates develop skills to think out of the box, to work with minimum or no supervision, to propose new ideas, defend arguments, disseminate knowledge, be a self-learner, solve problems, handle projects, and many other things. That is why I believe the PhD graduates from the MKOPSC are in such great demand. Also, as an engineer a PhD broadens the horizon/job pool and gives one access to a broad diversity of jobs. PhD graduates can work in industry, consultancy, academia, R&D, as well as many other occupations. In a period of economic uncertainty and limited job security, this type of flexibility offered by a PhD is a very wise investment for the future. Unemployment figures for PhD's is very low and starting salaries for PhD's are much higher than Bachelor’s degree holders. Continuing education and certification programs are another way to acquire and maintain competency in process safety. The MKOPSC offers about 60 different short courses on different topics in process safety, loss prevention, risk assessment and related topics. The MKOPSC also provides a curriculum for Process Safety Practice Certificate.

4 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

May 22—Natalie Salter and Kiran Krishna

from Shell

June 2—Susie Scott and Laurence

Pearlman from Oliver Wyman

June 25—Angela Summers and Keith

Baker from SIS-Tech

June 29—Brian Besancon and Ben Jurcik

from Air Liquide

July 8—Wes Lohec, Buddy Lang, Buzz

Morris, Reggie Judice, and Ellen Leonard

from Chevron

July 20—Vijay Raghunathan and Cynthia

Spitzenberger from DNV GL

July 23—Andrew Stein, Jason White, and

Dustin Smith from Smith & Burgess

August 7—Dwight Johnston and Natalie

Salter from Shell

August 10-11—Dr. Saba Gheni, and Dr.

Constantine Stewart from Sandia National

Laboratories

June

July

August

May

Visitors to the Center

Study Abroad When the students and faculty were not studying,

they traveled to cultural sites in Beijing, including the Great Wall,

the Forbidden City, and the Olympic Village.

5 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

STUDENT AND ALUMNI NEWS

Dr. Qingsheng Wang ’10 was promoted to Associate Professor at Oklahoma State Univer-

sity.

Bin Zhang successfully defended his dissertation, “Liquefied Natural Gas Hazards Mitigation

with High Expansion Foam.”

Jiaojun Jiang successfully defended his dissertation, “Study of Dust — Gas Hybrid Mixture

Explosions.” He has accepted employment with Evonik Corporation.

Brian Harding wrote two papers, “Integration of Process Safety Engineering

and Fire Protection Engineering for Better Safety Performance”, in the Journal of Loss Pre-

vention in the Process Industries, and “What should every graduating chemical engineer

know about process safety and how can we make sure that they do?” in an ASEE Confer-

ence Proceedings.

Nirupama Gopalaswami’s poster “Quantification of turbulence in cryogenic liquid using high

speed flow visualization” was presented at Hazards 25, 13-15 May, Edinburgh, UK.

Dr. Ray Mentzer, senior lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineer-

ing and MKOPSC, received the Instructional Faculty Teaching Award. "I'm

most honored to receive this recognition for teaching. During my seven

years at A&M I have strived to be an effective educator and attended regu-

lar meetings at the Center for Teaching Excellence, and I'm most pleased

to be recognized by my fellow teachers and students." Five faculty mem-

bers from the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering were

recognized by the Dwight Look College of Engineering at an awards banquet on May 6. Dr.

M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering and director of the Texas A&M

Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), presented the Faculty and Staff Awards.

“I believe that excellence should be recognized and rewarded,” said Banks. “This year 50

faculty and 17 staff members were honored for their contributions, their passion and com-

mitment to elevating our programs.”

Dr. Ray Mentzer Receives Award from Dwight Look College of Engineering

6 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

International Scholars Summer 2015

Ning Huang

Tsinghua University

Visiting Interns

This summer we were pleased to welcome the following visitors at the Center. If you would like to

visit the Center, including laboratories and the Library, please contact us!

Visiting Faculty

Richart Vazquez

Instituto Tecnologico

de Celaya

Laura Angarita

Universidad

Industrial de

Santander

Jeimy Martinez-

De la Hoz

Universidad

Industrial de

Santander

Abhimanyu Singh

IIT Gandhinagar

Bing Wang

Tsinghua University

Huaizhe Yu

Tianjin University

Giacomo Antonioni

University of Bologna

Stefany Lombana

Universidad de

San Buenaventura

Stefanny Figueroa

Universidad de San

Buenaventura

Ingry Ruiz

Universidad de

San

Buenaventura

7 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Dr. Mahmoud El-Halwagi, professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University, holder of the McFerrin Professorship, and MKOPSC Faculty Fellow, has pursued the study of issues surrounding sustainability for nearly three decades.

The interplay of water and energy, especially as it relates to industrial processes, is the basis of his present research, a three-year, $1 million dollar project that was funded in 2014 by the Qatar National Research Fund. El-Halwagi is a co-principal investigator on the project, while Dr. Patrick Linke, professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M Uni-versity at Qatar, is the principal investigator.

Water, in its many forms, has a direct relationship with the fulfillment of energy demands, said El-Halwagi. The duo of water and energy is met with financial trade-offs and environmental implications. While these

topics are usually studied independently, the duo is rarely separable.

“In order to produce energy, typically you need water," said El-Halwagi. "In order to transform ener-gy from one form to another, you also need water. However, in order to use water, you need to treat it, and that usually requires energy. So, these two are intertwined."

As an example of the pressing opportunity for his methodologies, El-Halwagi considers the chemical conversion of natural shale gas to fuel, a process that produces a substantial amount of water as a result of the reaction.

“In Qatar, they have the world’s largest gas-to-liquid plants," he said. "In the U.S., we will also be building gas-to-liquid plants. So, if a country like Qatar, or a state like Texas, is blessed with energy resources such as shale gas, we are also implicitly blessed by water within that gas. You just have to properly get it out."

The end goal is broad, deep and interconnected with reality and necessity. The nexus is influenced by the needs of a given industrial objective and balanced by the environmental considerations. El-Halwagi said that his conceptual approach is for the ultimate benefit of industrial, agricultural and residential sectors, for which there is often a shared water source. “In terms of balancing water us-age, discharge and environmental impact, one needs to step back and look at the bigger picture for a whole region,” he said.

If we as a society are able to do this, he said, “This will translate into reduced cost and improvement of environmental performance, and more sustainable manufacturing. Not only is it good for the envi-ronment, but it’s also good for the business.”

Advancing this science and technology in mainstream application is only part of the objective. Aca-demically, there is much potential in the classroom, he said. “I always endeavor to bring these ad-vanced techniques to my undergraduate students so they are always at the cutting edge of technol-ogy.”

Article by Kidron Vestal, TAMU Chemical Engineering

El-Halwagi Explores Energy, Water Nexus

8 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

July 15-16 Valve World Americas Expo Role of Effective Valve Selection and Operation for Improved Safety Performance Houston, TX August 2-4 Bayer Crop Science Short Course Process Safety Management Management of Change Lubbock, TX August 15-20 Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, Brazil August 22-28 Texas A&M at Qatar Doha, Qatar

Upcoming Outreach Activities

September 10 Chemical Process Magazine Process Safety Webinar

September 14-17 44th Turbomachinery & 31st Pump Symposium Practical Implementation Issues Regarding Process Safety Houston, TX Dr. Ray Mentzer September 15-23 Nanjing University of Science and Technology Visit Nanjing, Chengdu, and Beijing China September 22-24 3rd CCPS China Conference on Process Safety Ningbo, China October 21 SOCMA’s ChemStewards National Safety Symposium Accountability and Competence for Improved Process Safety Performance Houston, TX

October 16-18

2015 Chemical Process Safety Technology Forum

Beijing, China

Dr. Edward Quick

Outreach Activities

Texas A&M University’s Dwight Look College of Engineering and

the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITKGP) have signed

a formal affiliation agreement to promote institutional collaboration

in education and research. The primary objective of the agreement

is to promote interaction and collaboration between faculty, staff

and students of the two institutions, carry out academic and re-

search programs, and provide joint supervision of doctoral and

master’s students.

Dr. Debjyoti Banerjee, associate professor in the Department of

Mechanical Engineering and an MKOPSC Faculty Fellow, will

serve as coordinator for Texas A&M. Professor Souvik

Bhattacharyya, deputy director and professor of mechanical engineering at IIT Kharagpur, will serve as coor-

dinator for IITKGP.

IITKGP is a public engineering institution located in Kharagpur, India. The Institute was established in 1951,

and is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the Indian government. Nearly 9,000 undergradu-

ate and graduate students are enrolled at the Institute.

Front, from left: Professor Siddhartha Mukhopadhyay, dean, AA&IR and professor, IITKGP; Anand; and Bhattacharyya. Back row, from left: Dr. Narasimha Reddy, Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Banerjee; and Dr. Sam Mannan.

Texas A&M signs collaboration agreement with IIT Kharagpur

9 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

ExxonMobil Research Qatar and MKOPSC Host

Dynamic Risk Assessment Tool Workshop

ExxonMobil Research Qatar (EMRQ) in partnership with the Mary

Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC) organized a work-

shop aimed at promoting an open dialogue with industry and gener-

ating an understanding of the project “Development of a Dynamic

Risk Assessment Tool” that is under development by EMRQ and

MKOPSC.

The objective of this project is to develop a computational tool that

could perform a real-time risk assessment for use by managers and

operations personnel to determine the current risk level for a given

process area or facility. The tool will autonomously and logically ana-

lyze many observed key performance indicators to establish the fundamental factors which contrib-

ute to the total risk, and provide ongoing recommendations.

The workshop was held on June 11th 2015 in the Woodlands, TX. There was a great turnout, and

representatives from BP, Shell, DNV GL, Atkins, Honeywell, Lloyd’s Register, Invista, Siemens, BHP

Billiton, Occidental Petroleum, and AcuTech Consulting attended the workshop. Discussions includ-

ed uncertainty in Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA), identification of key performance indicators,

DRA tool applications, and limitations in QRA.

Thus far, conclusions include that dynamic risk assessments are a powerful tool to estimate the val-

ue of risk on a real-time basis. To assess the risk, the tool could be updated on a daily basis with

process observations including near misses, equipment failure, human performance, and deviations

from process operational limits. Current risk assessment methodologies such as the Bow-Tie ap-

proach do not link how leading and lagging indicators could be included to quantify the value of risk.

If you would like to get involved with the project, please contact Rym Kanes at

rym.kanes@exxonmobil.com or +974-4497-8130.

Rym Kanes, Research Engineer at

ExxonMobil Research Qatar

10 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Mathieu. O., J. Goulier, F. Gourmel, M.S. Mannan, N. Chaumeix, E.L. Petersen, “Experimental Study of the Effect of CF3I Ad-dition on the Ignition Delay Time and Laminar Flame Speed of Methane, Ethylene, and Propane,” Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, vol. 35, 2015, pp. 2731-2739.

Su, C.H., S.T. Huang, C.P. Lin, J.M. Tseng and M.S. Mannan,

“Safety and Kinetic Parameters Analysis for 1,1,-Di(tert-butylperoxy) Cyclohexane Mixed with Monoammonium Phosphate,” Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process In-dustries, vol. 34, March 2015, pp. 191-195.

Jiang, J., Y. Liu, C.V. Mashuga and M.S. Mannan, “Validation of a

New Formula for Predicting the Lower Flammability Limit of Hybrid Mixtures,” Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 35, May 2015, pp. 52-58.

Pittman, W.C., R.A. Mentzer and M.S. Mannan, “Communicating

Costs and Benefits of the Chemical Industry and Chemical Technology to Society,” Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 35, May 2015, pp. 59-64.

Zhang, J., H. Chen, Y. Liu, H. Elledge, C.V. Mashuga, and M.S.

Mannan, “Dust Explosion of Carbon Nanofibers Promoted by Iron Nanoparticles,” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Re-search, vol. 54, no. 15, 2015, pp. 3989–3995.

Inchaurregui-Méndez, J.A., R. Vázquez-Román, J.M. Ponce-

Ortega and M.S. Mannan, “A Heat Exchanger Networks Syn-thesis Approach Based on Inherent Safety,” Journal of Chemical Engineering Research Updates, 2015, vol. 2, no. 1, 22-29.

Zhang, M., J.K. Oh, S. Huang, Y. Lin, Y. Liu, M.S. Mannan, L. Cis-

neros-Zevallos and M. Akbulut, “Priming With Nano-Aerosolized Water and Sequential Dip-Washing With Hydro-gen Peroxide: An Efficient Sanitization Method to Inactivate Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 on Spinach,” Journal of Food Engineering, vol. 161, September 2015, pp. 8-15.

Chowdhury, A.Y., H.G. Johnston, B. Marks, M.S. Mannan and

E.L. Petersen, “Effect of Shock Strength on Dust Entrain-ment Behind a Moving Shock Wave,” Journal of Loss Pre-vention in the Process Industries, vol. 36, July 2015, pp. 203-213.

Chen, H., W.C. Pittman, L.C. Hatanaka, B.Z. Harding, A. Bous-

souf, D.A. Moore, J.A. Milke, and M.S. Mannan, “Integration of Process Safety Engineering and Fire Protection Engineer-ing for Better Safety Performance,” Journal of Loss Preven-tion in the Process Industries, vol. 37, September 2015, pp. 74-81.

Gopalaswami, N., L.N. Vechot, T. Olewski and M.S. Mannan,

“Small-scale Experimental Study of Vaporization Flux of Liq-uid Nitrogen Released on Ice,” Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 37, September 2015, pp. 124-131.

Reyes-Valdes, O.J., V. Casson-Moreno, S.P. Waldram, L.N.

Vechot and M.S. Mannan, “Experimental Sensitivity Analysis

of the Runaway Severity of Dicumyl Peroxide Decomposition Using Adiabatic Calorimetry,” Thermochimica Acta, vol. 617, October 2015, pp. 28-37.

“Mitigation Effect of High-Expansion Foam on LNG Vapor Haz-

ard,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-49th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, April 26-30, 2015, Aus-tin, Texas (presented by B. Zhang, Graduate Research Assis-tant).

“Experimental Study on Propane Jet Fire Hazards: Thermal Radi-

ation,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-49th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, April 26-30, 2015, Austin, Texas (presented by B. Zhang, Graduate Research Assistant).

“An Optimization Formulation for Risk Reduction of the Layout of

Offshore Platforms,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-49th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, April 26-30, 2015, Austin, Texas (presented by J.C. Richard-son, Graduate Research Assistant).

“Combustion and Explosion-Related Properties of Carbon Nano-

fibers,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-49th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, April 26-30, 2015, Austin, Texas (presented by J. Zhang, Graduate Research Assistant).

“Quantification of Turbulence in Cryogenic Liquid Pool Using High-

Speed Flow Visualization,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-49th Annual Loss Prevention Sympo-sium, April 26-30, 2015, Austin, Texas (presented by N. Go-palaswami, Graduate Research Assistant).

“Experimental Study and CFD Simulation of Bund Overtopping in

Case of a Catastrophic Failure of Tanks Containing Water/Liquid Nitrogen/LNG,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-49th Annual Loss Prevention Symposium, April 26-30, 2015, Austin, Texas (presented by Y. Liu, Re-search Scientist).

“Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center: A Catalyst for En-

hanced Process Safety Competency and Knowledge,” paper presented at the 2015 AIChE Spring Meeting-30th CCPS International Conference, April 26-30, 2014, Austin, Texas.

“Hazards Recognition and Evaluation: Implementing the Teach-

ings of Trevor Kletz,” Inaugural Trevor Kletz Memorial Lec-ture, HAZARDS 25, May 13-15, 2015, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

“Hazards Recognition and Evaluation: Implementing the Teach-

ings of Trevor Kletz,” Inaugural Trevor Kletz Memorial Lec-ture, HAZARDS Australasia, May 26-27, 2015, Brisbane, Australia.

“Role of Effective Valve Selection and Operation for Improved Safe-

ty Performance,” Plenary Lecture at Valve World Americas Expo & Conference 2015, George R. Brown Convention Cen-ter, Houston, Texas, July 15-16, 2015.

Recent Publications

11 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

The presentation introduced general information regarding oil spills, and then ranked the top ten

oil spills by volume. The potential causes for oil tanker spills and the contingency and

emergency measures after spills were discussed. The environmental impact due to oil spills

was discussed using three key categories: oil characteristics, duration, and location of the spill.

This was followed by a discussion about the role of the media on oil spill response. The different

levels of risk perception and its effect on public outrage during an oil spill were presented as

well. The presentation covered some of the economic impacts of oil spills, and in particular the

positive regulatory, technological, and procedural changes that have taken place over the

years. The presentation concluded by providing the lessons learned from oil spills.

Lessons Learned from Oil Tanker Spills

Presented by Nirupama Gopalaswami

This case study described the recent oil spill in Sundarban, the world's largest mangrove forest

and a place of unique biodiversity. The presentation detailed the extent of the oil spill and its

consequences in terms of impact on human lives and the environment. The presentation pro-

vided root cause analysis for the spill. Some interactive online tools for spill response were

mentioned as well. Based on the overall incident analysis and available tools for spill response,

the student recommended the formation of contingency and spill management programs, syn-

chronization of policies and organizations in Bangladesh, and long-term monitoring of the ef-

fects of spills.

Sundarban Oil Spill 2014

Presented by Lubna Ahmed

Case Histories

April 16 Steering Committee Meeting

12 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Chemical Release at DuPont, La Porte, Texas

Presented by Sunder Janardanan

Methyl mercaptan was released from the pesticide production unit in DuPont’s LaPorte chemical fa-cility after an operator opened the drainage valve of the process vent system. The vapors spread in-side the building, killing four workers including the operator. The leak was contained after two hours and 23,000 pounds of the mercaptan was released into the atmosphere. According to the CSB’s preliminary report, the valve was opened in response to a pressure rise in the vent gas line during maintenance activity which involved fixing the blockage of the methyl mercaptan supply line. The re-port suggests that methyl mercaptan entered the process vent system through the interconnected piping system, leading to the subsequent pressure rise and release. A local newspaper suggested that the solid reaction products formed from the reaction between water and mercaptan might have led to the supply line blockage after the mercaptan storage tank was contaminated by water in the week leading to the accident. OSHA cited DuPont for 11 safety violations. According to OSHA’s in-vestigation report: 1) the alarm detection systems could detect methyl mercaptan; 2) the process hazard analysis was incomplete; 3) operators were not trained appropriately; 4) standard operating procedures were unavailable.

Methyl mercaptan was used in the production of methomyl insecticide, which was sold under the trademark “Lannate” by DuPont. Methyl mercaptan is flammable and toxic with an IDLH of 400 ppm. Vapors are dense and can settle in low-lying areas displacing oxygen. Vapor dispersion simulations conducted in PHAST showed that the toxic vapor concentration could have reached the threshold levels within a few seconds leading to the death of the operators. The incident highlights the im-portance of using an SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) in rescue operations involving tox-ic vapors.

Anhydrous Ammonia Leak at Millard Refrigerated Service, Theodore, Alabama

Presented by Dushyant Chaudhari

The presentation highlighted the hazards of ammonia and the reason for using ammonia in

refrigeration. The incident statistics from 1996 to 2011 were summarized to express the seriousness

of the problem. The presentation also included the incident description of the release and possible

causes for the large consequences. An emergency response planning analysis was done using

ALOHA software. Suggestions to improve response planning and training were provided. Overall, a

better control system and active protection measures like water curtains/sprays were suggested to

address the safety of facilities using ammonia as a refrigerant.

Case Histories

June 11 Steering Committee Meeting

13 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Research Presentations

“Flammability of Aerosol Generated by Electrospray”

Yan-Ru Lin, PhD Chemical Engineering Student

The improved electrospray device is more suitable for aerosol flammability study. It can generate aerosols

with high quality, including near mono-size distribution, even dispersion in space, smaller droplet size,

and higher aerosol concentration.

The flame speed tested by the device was stable and more reproducible, and the small propane flame is

better for ignition. Finally, the transition range phenomenon was observed on n-octane aerosol. The maxi-

mum peak was around 33 μm.

“A Potential of CO2 Utilization in High Contaminated Natural Gas Application of Com-

bined Dry-Steam Reforming for Methanol Production”

Rendra Haristyawan, MS Chemical Engineering Student

Because of the increase in worldwide natural gas demands, it is necessary to reconsider developing high-

ly contaminated natural gas, which was previously unattractive. An optimization approach based on a

thermodynamic model was introduced to evaluate the potential application of CO2 through a combined

dry-steam reforming process to generate synthesized gas for methanol production as well as provide in-

sight on the equilibrium properties. The optimization results showed that this option has attractive eco-

nomic potential and offers significant savings on upstream acid gas processing. A comparison to other

alcohol production alternatives was performed. Both options have potential applications on utilizing dry-

steam reforming as well as other combinations. Further techno-economic studies show better process per-

formances and economic parameters on the dry-steam reforming to methanol synthesis with the imple-

mentation of heat integration. Thus, methanol production with CO2 utilization from highly contaminated

natural gas provides an alternative on the field development and monetization. Further integration with

downstream processes is also important.

April 16 Steering Committee Meeting

14 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Research Presentations

“Developing Process Safety Leading Indicators for Organizational Factors in

Petrochemical Industries”

Mohammed Alnashwan, MS Safety Engineering Student

The objective of this research is to construct a systematic technique to develop process safety leading indi-

cators by selecting those most effective, defining different safety metrics for each indicator, conducting

accurate measurements, monitoring these metrics on a frequent basis, and revalidating the measures using

lagging indicators and near-misses. The effects and contribution of different organizational factors were

studied and analyzed within process safety performance. Process safety leadership, a data collection sys-

tem, and proactive monitoring are critical factors that directly impact the development of process safety

leading indicators.

“Analysis of Work-Related Fatalities on Drilling Fields”

Mengxi Yu, MS Safety Engineering Student

The number of fatalities on drilling fields in Texas is the highest in the United States, but besides general in-

dustry standards, there are no specific federal or state regulations regarding safety on drilling fields. In 1983,

OSHA proposed a specific standard for oil and gas well drilling and servicing operations, but the standard

failed to be enforced due to financial concerns. In 1992, OSHA issued Process Safety Management (PSM), but

it excluded oil and gas well drilling and servicing operations. Recently, OSHA’s request for information to de-

termine whether PSM exclusion on oil and gas well drilling and servicing operations should be eliminated. Al-

ternatively, a Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) is required for offshore oil and gas op-

erations. Thus, the objectives of this research is to study fatal incidents on drilling fields in Texas, and deter-

mine whether the postponed 1983 rules should be implemented, and whether PSM/SEMS can be extended to

onshore drilling operations. Based on some preliminary results, the conclusions are: 1) most oil and gas drill-

ing incidents are personnel, indicating applying PSM directly to the drilling fields may not be effective at re-

ducing the fatality rate; 2) smaller establishments tend to have more fatalities, so regulations are necessary

since they do not have ability to develop a safety management system; 3) half of all incidents are struck-by

events.

June 11 Steering Committee Meeting

15 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

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Reserve your EXHIBIT Space!

Exhibit Hall—Bluebonnet Ballroom

$1,750

Includes

8′X8′ booth

electrical hookup

table and chairs

listing in meeting programs,

print and online

one complimentary registration

2015 International Symposium

Contact Alanna Scheinerman — ascheinerman@tamu.edu

Phone: 979-845-5981

Tabletop–Promenade

$1,250

Includes

Table and chairs

electrical hookup

listing in meeting programs,

print and online

one complimentary registration

one copy of proceedings

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Call for Papers

Abstract submission deadline: 1 October 2015

Download the Hazards 26 Call for Papers brochure Papers are invited from a range of industry sectors including pharmaceuticals; food; biogas; oil & gas; fuel cell; energy storage; nuclear; chemicals; water; offshore; paint & coatings; fibres; mining & quarrying; paper; waste & recycling; renewables; agrochemicals & farming; and new technologies.

Hazards is an international conference and contributions are welcomed from all regions where the process safety challenge is being addressed. Papers are invited on the following themes:

How to submit an abstract

Send your abstract of no more than 500 words to hazards26@icheme.org by 1 October 2015. Please include a sentence outlining the main objective of your paper and indicating which theme it fits under.

How it works

Abstracts will be reviewed by the technical committee and if successful a full paper will be requested. Following another independent review, successful papers will be offered an oral presentation or a poster presentation. There are approximately 70 oral presentation slots availa-ble.

Key dates Abstracts to be submitted by: 1 October 2015 Abstracts to be reviewed by: End October 2015 Full papers to be submitted by: 15 January 2016 Full papers to be reviewed by: Mid February 2016

Any questions?

For queries about submitting an abstract contact hazards26@icheme.org or +44 (0)1788 534442

21 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

22 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

23 Centerline, Vol. 19, No. 2 Summer 2015

Contact Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center

3122 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3122

Phone: 979-845-3489

Fax: 979-458-1493

http://psc.tamu.edu

Symposia October 27-29, 2015

Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center 18th Annual International Symposium

Beyond Regulatory Compliance, Making Safety Second Nature In Association with IChemE

Hilton Conference Center College Station, Texas

• • •

January 26-28, 2016

71st Annual Instrumentation and Automation Symposium for the Process Industries Memorial Student Center

Texas A&M University College Station, Texas

Calendar of Events

Short Courses

(For more info see: http://psc.tamu.edu/education/continuing-education)

© Copyright 2015. Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center. All rights reserved.

College Station, Texas, USA.

4232 – Dust Explosion Hazards Instructor: Dr. Scott Davis Date: September 28-29, 2015 Time: 8:30am – 4:30pm Credit: 1.4 CEUs/14 PDHs Location: MKOPSC, College Station TX

2052 — Process Hazard Analysis Leadership Training Instructor: Mr. Watson Dupont Date: September 15-16, 2015 Time: 8:30am—4:30pm Credit: 1.4 CEUs/14 PDHs Location: SIS-Tech, Houston TX

2073 — SIS Implementation Instructor: Mr. Bill Hearn Date: September 22-24, 2015 Time: 8:30am—4:30pm Credit: 2.1 CEUs/21 PDHs Location: SIS-Tech, Houston TX

1141 – What Went Wrong? Instructor: Mr. Roy Sanders Date: October 6, 2015 Time: 8:30am – 4:30pm Credit: 0.7 CEUs/7 PDHs Location: Eaton Technology Center, Houston TX