CASE STUDIES ON THE RISK QUANTIFICATION OF PLANT OPERATING CONDITIONS

摘要

Safety, corrosion, hydrogen damage, foaming, fouling, circulating solvent losses, energy consumption and valuable product losses are some of the major concerns associated with gas processing. The magnitude of these concerns depends on several factors including plant configuration, raw gas composition and the type of circulating solvent used for treating raw gas. Historically, rich and lean solvent acid gas loading values have been used as a guide to predict corrosion and other concerns. This value however, does not incorporate all the different factors that contribute to the risks associated with a plant's operating conditions. This paper presents several case studies on the application of a new approach for risk quantification for different gas plant operating conditions. The risks to the absorber and regenerator sections are determined using the Absorber Gas Treating Function? (AGTF) and the Regenerator Gas Treating Function? (RGTF) methods respectively. The AGTF and RGTF value models incorporate the essential variables that affect the risks associated with specific operating conditions. The magnitude of the AGTF and RGTF values is related to the potential risk for that section. These new calculation methods offer several benefits, as they provide a basis for production optimization, management of change, process simulation evaluation, establishment of inspection intervals, troubleshooting, economic analysis of different operating conditions, process hazard analysis and a base for establishing an effective process safety management program. The case studies in this paper cover specific plant concerns, operating conditions, AGTF/RGTF analysis, comparison of AGTF/RGTF risk rankings with results of other condition monitoring techniques, conclusions and a listing of the changes implemented.