Excellence in safety is the key to address the increasing complexity of industrial production processes and the increase of rules and regulations both in Europe and internationally. One of the priorities is reduction of the number of incidents during start-up and non-routine operation of chemical plants.
25 years lessons learned start-up and non-routine operation of a cracker plant, Geert Vercruysse, BASF
The process safety concept of a plant is determined during the engineering phase of a project. Once the process is started this safety concept will be validated during the life cycle of the plant, based on operational experience and lessons learned from incidents. In the presentation three incidents, related to start up and shutdown, will be elaborated in detail and its impact given on the process safety concept. Further it will be illustrated that similar scenarios can/could occur in different process unit set ups.peration of a cracker plant. Presentation file here
Safe Start-up culture, Marcel Beekman, Fluor
Safe Startup development should be done early in design phase. Considerations for Design, Engineering and Construction phases are discussed:
- Company Culture
- Design and good operability practices
- Safety in Construction
- Turn Over Development and Safe Hand Over
- Training and familiarization of Operations
- Pre-commissioning
- PSSR/Operational Readiness
- Commissioning and Start-up
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Pressure Relief Systems - Thinking Ahead for a Safe Start-up, Bob Siml, Siemens
It is essential to have a thorough Management Of Change (MOC) process in place to identify pressure relief systems that may need to be adjusted.
Analysis tools can improve the detailed analysis of complex pressure relief systems such as dynamic simulation, QRA and Safety Instrumented Systems. Non-normal operations during start-up should also be considered to ensure proper safeguards are in-place. Further, training, operational procedures and the limitations of relief systems must be considered.
One of the challenges is to consolidate all documentation in a digital platform to facilitate PHA’s and prestart-up reviews. Also addressed are lessons learned in the design, procurement, and commissioning process. Presentation file here
Design considerations for switching a cracking furnace between normal operation and decoke mode, Menno van der Bij, Technip
Design considerations for switching a cracking furnace between normal operations and decoke mode This paper presents the design considerations for the change-over system for the motor operated cracked gas valve (CGV) and decoke effluent valve (DEV) of ethylene cracking furnaces.
A steam cracking furnace regularly requires decoking due to coke formation inside the radiant coil. The furnace is at end of run (EOR) condition when the furnace reaches one of the EOR criteria. Then the furnace has to be switched from cracking mode to decoking mode. During decoking mode, air is introduced into the furnace in order to gently burn off the coke layer.
Switching a furnace from cracking mode (steam-hydrocarbon service) to decoking mode (steam-air service) requires an adequate handling of the involved risks in order to guarantee safety for people and environment.
This paper will explain the functionality and the safety principles of the system resulting from the performed hazard and operability (HAZOP) study and safety integrity level (SIL) review meetings. It addresses how the cracking and decoking mode switch-over can be designed to comply with today’s standards. Presentation file here
By Marcel Kelder, Sales Manager Advanced Solutions at Yokogawa Europe B.V.
Vertical integration and information sharing is a way of providing correct information throughout the vertical supply chain of a company. Vertical integration is a powerful technology with great potential to help companies sharing their data to answer business questions that traditionally were too time consuming to resolve. The success of a vertical supply chain critically depends on effective ways to share logistical information.
Improving the vertical information flow is a key success factor for vertical supply chains. It makes companies more agile and flexible regarding changing market conditions and provides the single truth to shareholders and other stakeholders. Although the justification for integration may sound logical, the brutal fact is that many companies in Europe are struggling with integration. The question is why.
This presentation explains the importance of vertical integration for companies. It is discussed why it is so difficult to initiate integration programs. Examples will be given of companies that decided to integrate business and operational applications. Best practices to establish vertical integration to complete the project successfully are discussed.
Presentation file here
By Claus-Peter Hälsig & Martijn Glass
We are where we are. And everything around seems normal and we quickly think that:
- "It has always been this way". But we know that's not true: if we go back in time, things were very different.
- "It will always stay the same". But we know that's not true either: things will change. The big question is "how will things change?" In this presentation we'll be looking at waves of change in 5 big areas that effect engineering. For each topic we'll look at two waves that have already happened ... one wave has only recently broken ... and then we'll try to extrapolate those three waves and predict what the next wave will look like. Come join us on this journey and together try to predict the future, a place where no generation has gone before!
Presentation file here
Excellence in safety is the key to address the increasing complexity of industrial production processes and the increase of rules and regulations both in Europe and internationally. Experts in the field of Safety in Design will give an overview of methodologies and programs developed to improve process safety in the chemical industry and related sectors.
Alarm about the number of alarms; give back the overview to the operator, Remco Deerenberg, Croon
Companies more and more recognize that the alarm-load for operators has to be reduced. It is true that increasing incidents, production loss and maintenance costs can be related to alarms that were overlooked in the quantity of alarms. Conservative estimates indicate that up to 3% of all losses can be attributed to problems in the alarm management. Via the new directive IEC 62682 Alarm management is likely to become law? Checks on the proper operation of your DCS will increase, just as is happening for other standards regarding safety. Croon has experience to get the Alarm management organized as per the EEMUA directive and to reduce the alarm load.
Remco Deerenberg (41 years of age) works as Consultant Industrial Automation at Croon Elektrotechniek; as well as Innovation Coordinator since 1st of January. He has a degree at University of Applied Sciences of Utrecht graduating in Sales Management. His areas of expertise are especially related to industrial automation. This combination makes him an outstanding candidate for combining the technical departments and sales-drive departments in such a way that they work together in an advantageous manner for Croon. Presentation file here
Cyber security engineering, Sinclair Koelemij, Honeywell
We introduced the concept of security engineering for industrial control systems. A brief introduction will discuss some major incidents that happened in the industry to show the importance of cyber security. Next we will discuss the challenges a project phases when implementing an industrial control system. Where in the project does cyber security start, where does it end and who are the stakeholders. Are there minimum requirements and standards impacting control system projects?
Sinclair Koelemij is a cyber-security professional who serves as technical leader for EMEA at Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security. He has over 35 years of control systems experience in various engineering, service, management, and consultancy roles, of which the last 14 years in cyber security for industrial control systems. Sinclair participated in the development of several cyber security standards, and has conducted many risk and security assessments in the field of critical infrastructure, he conducted both consultancy and remediation projects. Sinclair completed an M.S. education in Information Technology, a bachelor degree in Informatics, and holds several security certifications, including CISSP-ISSAP, CISM, CRISC, and the physical security certification PSP. Presentation file here
Remnant Life Assessment, Jac de Boer, Tebodin
Invest in existing and aged assets, renew the assets or maybe relocate assets. Familiar decisions for asset owners who are incessantly faced with a more competitive world, higher safety and environmental standards and higher demands on quality and output. Remnant live assessments for these aging assets give asset owners the input to support their business case and make the proper investment evaluation. Tebodin shares the experience of executed Remnant Live Assessment projects in the Middle East and developed a step approach for Remnant Live Assessments for the European markets.
Mr. Jac de Boer has extensive experience in various facets of asset management and maintenance management. Markets in which he has experience are Oil & Gas, Energy, Utility and Offshore. Presentation file here
Safety requirements for furnace fuel handling systems, Menno van der Bij, Technip
The EN-746 standard and the new ISO-13577 standard both specify the safety requirements for combustion and fuel handling systems that are part of industrial furnaces and associated processing equipment. These standards deal with significant hazards, and events relevant to combustion and fuel handling systems.
This presentation focuses on high temperature furnaces such as steam reforming and cracking furnaces and will address differences in approach between EN 746-2 and ISO 13577; prescriptive and performance based. The differences will be demonstrated with two examples:
- All Burner Closed test versus valve proving
- Safety Integrity Level (SIL) classification to determine Safety Instrumented Function architecture versus predefined architecture
Menno van der Bij is Deputy Manager Electrical and Instrumentation department at Technip Benelux in The Netherlands. He joined KTI, now Technip Benelux, in 1985 as instrument designer and has been responsible for instrument design and engineering in Hydrogen, Ethylene and Gas treatment projects (onshore and offshore). He is member of ISO/TC 244 and CEN/TC 186 “Industrial furnaces and associated process equipment” standardization committees. He participates in the WIB WG functional safety and the NEN SIL-Platform. Presentation file here
Protection against explosion hazard in chemical industry, Dirk Roosendans, Total
The oil industry operates installations with important quantities of flammable substances. A particular hazard is the accidental release of a large quantity of flammable material resulting in the formation and ignition of a flammable cloud within the installation, leading to a devastating vapour cloud explosion or “VCE”. A technology is under development in TOTAL for the mitigation of VCEs based on the injection of inhibitor particles in the cloud. A number of chemicals with inhibiting properties have been tested on laboratory scale and medium scale.
Dirk Roosendans has a master degree in chemical engineering and a master degree in safety engineering and has been working 25 years in the area of process safety. He is currently conducting a PhD on vapour cloud explosion mitigation. He spent the first 10 years of his career as a risk engineer, of which 7 years with the consultancy company Det Norske Veritas (DNV). In 2002, he joined ATOFINA as Process Safety Manager at the headquarters in Brussels. In 2004, Dirk became the corporate Process Safety Manager for Total Petrochemicals and in 2007, he took the position of corporate manager for Health and Industrial Safety in the same organization. In January 2012, upon the merger of the chemicals branch and the refining branch of TOTAL, Dirk Roosendans was appointed corporate Process Safety Manager for this new entity. Presentation file here
'An integrated Project and Operations team - A Success Factor for a Safe Start Up, Prof. Geert Vercruysse, BASF
The gradual transition from a construction zone to a production plant happens during the pre commissioning and commissioning phase of a project. The presentation will show with an example how this was safely executed in the Butadiene Expansion Project at the BASF Antwerp site. A close cooperation with the construction contractors, the use of a turnaround management tool and the set up of an integrated construction and operations team were clearly three success factors for a safe start up.
Prof. Ir. Geert Vercruysse graduated in 1992 at the University of Ghent. He started his career at BASF Antwerp as a production manager for the EB/Styrene plant where he became project manager in 1998 and plant manager in 2001. As of 2004 he became plant manager at the Steamcracker, which is also located on the Antwerp site. In October 2012 he took the responsibility of the Butadiene Project as Project Manager. Since October 2010 Geert combines his professional activities with the role of guest professor in Process Safety Engineering at KU Leuven and University of Ghent. Presentation file here
By Dr. Ir. Mathieu Westerweele
Process modelling Expert and founder of Mobatec research
A chemical engineer is often asked to describe the static and/or dynamic behaviour of a physical, chemical or biological process. This information is required in the different stages of a plant life cycle like analysis, control, design, research, simulation, optimization or process operation.
To analyse the behaviour of such a process, the engineer requires a mathematical representation of the physical and chemical and/or biological phenomena taking place.
Mobatec Modeller is a software tool for developing dynamic (and steady-state) process models (based on first principles) of physical, chemical and/or biological processes of any size - from a single unit to entire processing plants. It is designed to effectively assist a model developer in building and maintaining consistent models. The tool is used to build very large dynamic process models of entire plants (resulting in more than 100.000 equations that need to be solved simultaneously). User-friendliness, functionality and good user-assistance are a prerequisite for being able to manage such large models.
During the presentation a short introduction to the basics behind the development of dynamic process models will be provided.
Presentation file here