Browsing by Author "Mannan, M. S."
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Item Analysis of the EPA RMP* Info Database(Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, 2000) Al-Qurashi, F.|; Rogers, W.J.; Mannan, M. S.EPA’s risk management program requires regulated facilities to submit a risk management plan, which includes the 5-year accident history of the facility. EPA has compiled the risk management plan in the RMP*Info database. This paper presents an analysis of the RMP*Info database in order to determine the most significant chemicals released and other trends. According to this analysis, 85% of the releases in the chemical industry are due to twelve chemicals. The sources of those releases and their consequences are presented. In addition, the effects of the chemical type, toxic or flammable, and the number of full time employees in the facilities are discussed.Item Corrosion Detection and Prediction Studies(2012-10-19) Nicola, Sally; Mannan, M. S.; Holste, James C.; Petersen, Eric L.Corrosion is the most important mechanical integrity issues the petrochemical industry has to deal with. While significant research has been dedicated to studying corrosion, it is still the leading cause of pipeline failure in the oil and gas industry. Not only is it the main contributor to maintenance costs, but also it accounts for about 15-20% of releases from the petrochemical industry and 80% of pipeline leaks. Enormous costs are directed towards fixing corrosion in facilities across the globe every year. Corrosion has caused some of the worst incidents in the history of the industry and is still causing more incidents every year. This shows that the problem is still not clearly understood, and that the methods that are being used to control it are not sufficient. A number of methods to detect corrosion exist; however, each one of them has shortcomings that make them inapplicable in some conditions, or generally, not accurate enough. This work focuses on studying a new method to detect corrosion under insulation. This method needs to overcome at least some of the shortcomings shown by the commercial methods currently used. The main method considered in this project is X-ray computed tomography. The results from this work show that X-ray computed tomography is a promising technique for corrosion under insulation detection. Not only does it detect corrosion with high resolution, but it also does not require the insulation to be removed. It also detects both internal and external corrosion simultaneously. The second part of this research is focused on studying the behavior of erosion/corrosion through CFD. This would allow for determining the erosion/corrosion rate and when it would take place before it starts happening. Here, the operating conditions that led to erosion/corrosion (from the literature) are used on FLUENT to predict the flow hydrodynamic factors. The relationship between these factors and the rate of erosion/corrosion is studied. The results from this work show that along with the turbulence and wall shear stress, the dynamic pressure imposed by the flow on the walls also has a great effect on the erosion/corrosion rate.Item Evaluation of Styrene-Acrylonitrile Copolymerization Thermal Stability and Runaway Behavior(Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, 2002) Aldeeb, A. A.; Rogers, W. J.; Mannan, M. S.Evaluation of thermal stability and runaway behavior of any exothermic chemical reaction is of great importance to the design and operation of a chemical process. The evaluation process should be based on a thorough investigation of the reaction chemistry including reaction pathways, thermodynamic, and kinetic parameters. When addressing the reactivity hazards of any reaction, the dominant pathway(s) should be identified. Identifying the main reaction pathway under specific conditions will lead to a better thermodynamic and kinetic characterization of the reaction. In this paper the styrene-acrylonitrile copolymerization reaction in bulk is evaluated for its thermal stability and runaway behavior. Traditional thermal analysis techniques (calorimetric analysis) are combined with computational quantum chemistry methods and empirical thermodynamic-energy correlations. Reaction pathways are identified from the theoretical approach and verified by experimental measurements. The results of this analysis are compared to literature data for this system.Item Experiments for the Measurement of LNG Mass Burning Rates(2012-07-16) Herrera Gomez, Lady Carolina; Mannan, M. S.; Petersen, Eric; Hall, Kenneth R.Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is a commonly used flammable fuel that has safety concerns associated with vapor dispersion and radiation emitted from pool fires. The main objective of this effort is to advance the knowledge of pool fires and to expand the data that is commonly used to validate semi-empirical models. This includes evaluation of the methods that are utilized to obtain experimental values of mass burning rates, which are used in models where semi-empirical correlations cannot be applied. A total of three small-size experiments designed to study the radiative characteristics of LNG pool fires were carried out at Texas A & M University's Brayton Fire Training Field (BFTF). This set of experiments was designed to study how the heat feedback from the fire to the pool surface is subsequently distributed through the liquid volume and the validity of different methods for measuring burning rates. In this work, a number of semi-empirical correlations were used to predict the characteristics of the flame and examine the predictive accuracy of these correlations when compared to the values obtained experimentally. In addition, the heat transferred from the energy received at the pool's surface to the surroundings was investigated. Finally, the parameters that influenced the measurement of radiative head feedback to the liquid pool were analyzed to investigate potential causes of calibration drift in the instrumentation. The results of this work provided information regarding the validity of certain techniques for the measurement of mass burning rates and the use of correlations to predict the characteristics of an LNG pool fire on a small-scale. The findings from this work indicate that the energy received at the liquid surface was used entirely for evaporation and no indications of transmission to the surroundings were observed. Lastly, it was found that during the experiments, the sink temperature of the sensor was not constant, and therefore, the readings of the radiative heat were unreliable. This was due to the insufficient cooling effect of the water circulated. It was later shown in the laboratory that through a series of qualitative tests, a change of 20°C in the cooling water resulted in a calibration drift.Item Inherent Safety Index For Transportation Of Chemicals(Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, 2002) Gentile, M.; Rogers, W. J.; Mannan, M. S.Inherent Safety can be understood as the absence or reduction of hazards (which implies lower risk) rather than low risk reached by add-on protective barriers. While the methodologies for risk analysis are well developed and understood, the evaluation of inherent safety is still not based on systematic procedures and depends on the assessment of subjective principles. The behavior of a chemical substance is one of the most important sources of hazard in a chemical process due to its intrinsic chemical and thermodynamic properties. When these substances are raw materials or sub-products (waste) they must be transported to/from the chemical facility, and this activity extends the chemical hazards from the processing plant to the community. Therefore, to obtain a general evaluation of the inherent safety level of a chemical plant, it is necessary to consider the hazards due to transportation of chemicals and treat these as an additional ìpropertyî of the substance. This paper presents an overview of a novel inherent safety index based on fuzzy logic, which is useful to evaluate the inherent safety level of a plant. An example evaluates the transportation step of chemical substances, shows how the index works, and describes how it can be applied to different stages of the life cycles of a chemical facility. In this paper a very brief and basic introduction to fuzzy logic mathematics is provided. More information and related internet links can be obtained from the website mkopsc.tamu.edu and then from the links research ! inherent safety ! fuzzy logic.Item Use of Failure Rate Databases and Process Safety Performance Measurements to Improve Process Safety(Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, 2002) Keren, N.; West, H. H.; Rogers, W. J.; Gupta, P. J.; Mannan, M. S.In this paper, a methodology is proposed to combine process safety performance measurements techniques, decision-making strategies, applications of private and generic databases, reliability calculations, and benchmarking to reduce risk and improve process safety. Increasing performance reliability can require extensive resources. The suggested methodology involves a gradual improvement process that promotes implementation and does not require continuous or complete verification.