Hazards Analysis, Code Compliance & Procedure Development

Services to identify process safety hazards and facilitate compliance with established standards and codes.

Combustible Dust Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify dust explosion and reactivity hazards

Flammable Gas & Vapor Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify explosion hazards for vapor and gas mixtures

Chemical Reactivity Testing

Laboratory testing to quantify reactive chemical hazards, including the possibility of material incompatibility, instability, and runaway chemical reactions

ISO Accreditation and Scope
Fauske & Associates fulfills the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 in the field of Testing
DIERS Methodology

Design emergency pressure relief systems to mitigate the consequences of unwanted chemical reactivity and account for two-phase flow using the right tools and methods

Deflagrations (Dust/Vapor/Gas)

Properly size pressure relief vents to protect your processes from dust, vapor, and gas explosions

Effluent Handling

Pressure relief sizing is just the first step and it is critical to safety handle the effluent discharge from an overpressure event

Thermal Stability

Safe storage or processing requires an understanding of the possible hazards associated with sensitivity to variations in temperature

UN-DOT

Classification of hazardous materials subject to shipping and storage regulations

Safety Data Sheets

Develop critical safety data for inclusion in SDS documents

Biological

Model transport of airborne virus aerosols to guide safe operations and ventilation upgrades

Radioactive

Model transport of contamination for source term and leak path factor analysis

Fire Analysis

Model transport of heat and smoke for fire analysis

Flammable or Toxic Gas

transport of flammable or toxic gas during a process upset

OSS consulting, adiabatic & reaction calorimetry and consulting

Onsite safety studies can help identify explosibility and chemical reaction hazards so that appropriate testing, simulations, or calculations are identified to support safe scale up

Mechanical, Piping, and Electrical

Engineering and testing to support safe plant operations and develop solutions to problems in heat transfer, fluid flow, electric power systems

Battery Safety

Testing to support safe design of batteries and electrical power backup facilities particularly to satisfy UL9540a ed.4

Hydrogen Safety

Testing and consulting on the explosion risks associated with devices and processes which use or produce hydrogen

Spent Fuel

Safety analysis for packaging, transport, and storage of spent nuclear fuel

Decommissioning, Decontamination and Remediation (DD&R)

Safety analysis to underpin decommissioning process at facilities which have produced or used radioactive nuclear materials

Laboratory Testing & Software Capabilities

Bespoke testing and modeling services to validate analysis of DD&R processes

Nuclear Overview

Our Nuclear Services Group is recognized for comprehensive evaluations to help commercial nuclear power plants operate efficiently and stay compliant.

Severe Accident Analysis and Risk Assessment

Expert analysis of possible risk and consequences from nuclear plant accidents

Thermal Hydraulics

Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

Environmental Qualification (EQ) and Equipment Survivability (ES)

Testing and analysis to ensure that critical equipment will operate under adverse environmental conditions

Laboratory Testing & Software Capabilities

Testing and modeling services to support resolution of emergent safety issues at a power plant

Adiabatic Safety Calorimeters (ARSST and VSP2)

Low thermal inertial adiabatic calorimeters specially designed to provide directly scalable data that are critical to safe process design

Other Lab Equipment and Parts for the DSC/ARC/ARSST/VSP2 Calorimeters

Products and equipment for the process safety or process development laboratory

FERST

Software for emergency relief system design to ensure safe processing of reactive chemicals, including consideration of two-phase flow and runaway chemical reactions

FATE

Facility modeling software mechanistically tracks transport of heat, gasses, vapors, and aerosols for safety analysis of multi-room facilities

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Recent Posts

Process Safety Tools of the Trade

Posted by The Fauske Team on 08.13.14

By Chuck Kozlowski, Manager, Thermal Hazards Testing & Consulting, Fauske & Associates, LLC 

Just like different repairs around the house require different tools, process safety requires specific tools for specific applications. Engineering safety labs like ours work with our clients to determine the best and most cost effective way of meeting their process safety needs. Many of the jobs that we see involve vague chemistries with very few known physical properties. For these types of chemistries the VSP2TM or ARSSTTM teamed with one of the simplified analytical relief sizing methods (Fauske vapor/gas or Omega methods) is typically the preferred choice for obtaining a viable, cost effective relief system design.

However, in cases where well defined chemistries/physical properties are considered, simulation programs can be a very useful tool. Runaway reaction simulators are particularly useful for projects where a large number of vessels with similar chemistries/reactants are being studied. An example of one such application would be a runaway reaction assessment/inhibitor effectiveness and relief system design for a complete unit. Simulation tools such as RRERSP simulation program (developed by Harold Fisher, Chair of the AIChE, DIERS group and Principal Consultant to FAI) can provide the necessary information to size relief systems and produce a variety of time dependant data for each runway scenario including temperature, pressure, venting rate and venting composition. Simulation can be used to explore a variety of mitigation strategies when necessary, including lowering set pressure, installation of insulation of various types and thickness, water spray, or other means of overpressure protection. The RRERSP simulation program can also be used to calculate heat losses due to radiation during a cooling period after a fire or inadvertent heating scenario to confirm continued stability of the material. An example of a design case using the RRERSP simulation program for a fire exposure scenario is outlined below.

Vessel Volume

  880 Gallons

MAWP

  3.5 barg

Contents

  5000 lb Styrene inhibited with 1800 TBC

Upset Scenario

  Fire exposure (2 hr duration)

Existing Relief Device

  3K4 Relief Valve Orifice area = 2.138 in2

Using the RRERSP simulation program, the fire exposure scenario was explored for the existing relief system and is shown in Figure 1. Simulation shows that the vessel exceeds the maximum allowable accumulated pressure (MAAP) for a reactive system of 1.1*MAWP. As a result, different mitigation strategies were considered and are summarized below:

  •  Lower set pressure to see if existing valve can be used with a 1 barg set  pressure (see Figure 2)
  •  Rupture disk (4 inch) to fit on vessel nozzle (see Figure 3)
  •  Insulate vessel with 1 inch of cellular foam glass insulation (see Figure 4)

Using this methodology, mitigation strategies can be easily explored for large numbers of vessels with similar chemistries. It was determined that for this specific application, simply lowering the set pressure to 1 barg would not suffice, however utilizing a 4 inch rupture disk would provide adequate protection for the vessel. It was also determined that a relief scenario could be avoided by applying at least 1 inch of fire resistant foam glass insulation.

pic 1

Figure 1                                    Simulation output for existing relief installation

 Pic 2

Figure 2                                    Simulation output for 3K4 SRV with 1 barg Set Pressure

Pic 3

 Figure 3                                    Simulation output for 4 inch Rupture Disk 3.5 barg Set Pressure

Pic 4 

Figure 4                                    Simulation for vessel with 1 inch foam glass insulation (does not vent)

Providing a comprehensive package of tools and design alternatives allows our customers to make better, more cost effective decisions when designing or verifying relief systems. To discuss a full list of our testing and simulation capabilities and which methodology is best for your application, please contact Mr. Chuck Kozlowski at (630) 887-5216 or kozlowski@fauske.com, www.fauske.com

ADVANCED REACTIVE SYSTEM SCREENING TOOL (ARSST)

Topics: hazard identification, process safety management, process safety, process hazards analysis, process hazards, chemical engineering safety, runaway reactions, chemical

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