AIChE Seminar 2019 - The Impact of Ageing Process Plants on Safety - New Techniques to improve Safety
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.
Ageing infrastructure in process manufacturing industries and changes in operating regimes can adversely affect equipment integrity and reliability. Experts in the field of plant operation will give an overview of new methodologies and techniques to improve process safety in the chemical industry and related sectors.
The 34th European AIChE seminar is an effective platform for interacting and sharing insights
Ageing and Corrosion - Arjen Reinders, McDermott
Many petrochemical plants are past their original design lifetime but are still being operated for many years to come. Whilst these plants are inspected and maintained in various ways, this may impose risks. Depending upon the applicable process conditions involved it may result in specific damage mechanisms. The plant design is based on the damage mechanisms and design life but several damage mechanisms are time dependent and therefore in the light of lifetime extension, it is important to assess the current situation of these plants and to make estimates of residual lifetime. For more than 25 years McDermott has developed and successfully applied a specific methodology called ”Plant Life Expectancy Study”, which is assessing the current situation of a plant asset and evaluating the possibility to extend lifetime. This presentation will outline the plant life expectancy study and the underlying principles as provided by McDermott as a support for investment decisions or future plant operation.
Presentation file here
Normalization of Deviation - Tijs Koerts, Operation Director of the European Process Safety Centre
Many large industrial accidents with hazardous chemicals have in the root cause a contribution from human involvement. Sometimes people deviate for very good reasons from a developed procedure, while not fully understanding the hazard and while not being corrected by pears or leaders. A famous example is the Texas City refinery incident (see the CSB film Anatomy of a Disaster – available on YouTube). This phenomena has obtained its own name: “Normalization of Deviation”. Some examples will be discussed as well as manners how to recognise these and improve behaviour.
Presentation file here
Ageing Operators: Is the best yet to come? - Prof. Dr. Jop Groeneweg, Leiden University
In this presentation various apspects of the influence of ageing on cognitive performance are discussed. In general it is believed that ageing has only negative effects. In this presentation a more nuanced picture is presented.
Presentation file here