RISK ASSESSMENT OF A CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT QUANTITATIVE APPROACH: DOW FIRE AND EXPLOSION INDEX

Abstract

The petrochemical Industry is based upon the production of chemicals from petroleum and also deals with chemicals manufactured from the byproducts of petroleum refinery. At the preliminary stages of chemical plant development and design, the choice of chemical process route is the key design decision. In the past, economics were the most important criterion in choosing the chemical process route. Modified studies imply that the two of the important planning objectives for a petrochemical industry, environmental risk and the industrial safety involved in the development. For the economic evaluation of the industry, and for the proposed final chemicals products in the development, simple and clear economic indicators are needed to be able to indicate an overall economic gain in the development.A risk assessment is an important step in protecting your workers and your business, as well as complying with the law. It helps you focus on the risks that really matter in your workplace. This study presents the Dow fire and explosion index calculation of catalytic reforming unit of Indian oil corporation limited refinery, panipat located in Haryana state. Dow Fire &•Explosion Index is an industry recognized method for ranking the relative risk of a process unit. Methodology impels the user to evaluate all of the aspects of a process unit that increase the severity of a fire or explosion .Catalytic Reforming Process is a octanizing process that produce a high octane number reformate which is a main component of the gasoline pool & a hydrogen rich gas. In CRU the naphtha feed after adequate hydro treating is passed over a slow moving bimetallic catalyst bed in a series of adiabatic reactors in presence of hydrogen under low pressure and high temperature condition The product specification includes (1) high octane reformate stream,(2) rich hydrogen gas stream,(3) light reformate and (4) LPG stream. Thus we get a rich hydrogen gas (about 90%purity) and LPG as a valuable by products. The Dow fire and explosion index calculation justify the hazard potential of unit and objective of hazard indication