Hazards Assessment of Vegetable Oil Storage and Processing Plants

摘要

A quantitative methodology was developed in order to assess the possible hazardsrnconnected with the vegetable oil storage facilities and process plants. The mainrncriticalities in these plants are due to the presence of residual volatile flammablernsolvents deriving from the extraction processes. The residual solvent may accumulate inrnthe storage tanks generating flammable vapour mixtures. On the same time, thernpresence of volatile substances in the refining process feed may cause operativernproblems in the sections operating at high temperature and low pressure. Thernmethodology allowed a preliminary assessment of the possibility of explosion hazard inrnstorage conditions. Moreover, the implementation of the refining process model,rnallowed simulating undesired process deviations, and determining the effective controlrnmeasures able to restore the operations.