ANALYSIS FOR A SAFER DESIGN OF HIGH PRESSURE OXYGEN PRESSURE REDUCING STATIONS IN STEEL PLANTS

摘要

A pressure reducing station (PRS) in a steel plant controls the pressure and flow of high pressure oxygenrnfrom a cryogenic air separation plant. Metallic components in PRS are vulnerable to fire in pure oxygenrnenvironment. Particles accumulated in filters are the most visible sources of ignition. However, in many firernincidents, the actual source of ignition is found to lie a few meters upstream of filter. It is hypothesized herernthat particles charged with static electricity accumulate inside pipe and hit the pipe wall in all directionsrnwhen the flow suddenly increases due to some operational reasons. The resultant kinetic energy can igniternthe particle. Theoretical confirmation of this possibility may facilitate laboratory experiments and designrnchanges in system configuration that may finally prevent fire in a PRS. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)rnanalysis is used to verify the possibility of particle accumulation upstream of the filter.