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Infotag September 2017

 Vor 20 Jahren wurde die Niederlassung Basel des damaligen Schweizerischen Institutes zur Förderung der Sicher-heit gegründet. Nach verschiedenen Umfirmierungen dürfen wir heute als Geschäftsbereich der TÜV SÜD Schweiz AG auf eine erfolgreiche Entwicklung zurückblicken.

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Infotag September 2016

Schadensprävention, Prozesssicherheit, Wirtschaftlichkeit und Anlagenverfügbarkeit – diese Aspekte standen im Fokus der Workshops und des Infotages am 14. September in Basel. Dr. Georg Suter konnte über 100 Gäste aus der Chemie- und Pharmaindustrie im Basler Dreiländereck begrüßen und sich am Ende mit seinem Team über eine gelungene Kundenveranstaltung freuen.

Für den ganzen Bericht, klicken Sie bitte HIER. [ PDF 450 kB ]

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Publikationen

2016

Effectiveness of increase of relative humidity as a measure to reduce the ignition probability of explosive atmospheres by static electricity

M. Glor; K. Moritz

In most Standards and Codes of Practice the increase of relative humidity to reduce the ignition hazards of explosive atmospheres due to static electricity is recommended. Limit values are however rarely available. It is not clear at all, which additional measures like earthing, abdication of insulating plastics, etc. can be omitted, if the relative humidity is increased above a certain limit. In particular the following questions should be answered:

  • What is the influence of relative humidity on the charge build-up of equipment, materials, packages and personnel?
  • How effective is this measure to avoid ignition hazards due to the build-up and accumulation of static electricity?
  • What are the demands on relative humidity and what are the limit values?
  • Is it possible to omit measures like earthing, exclusion of insulating plastics, etc.?

In order to get reliable answers to all these questions comprehensive experimental investigations have been performed. At relative humilities from 20% to 80% and temperatures from 15°C to 30°C the surface resistance, the charge relaxation as well as the charge transfer after corona and tribo charging have been measured. Samples from different materials typically used in process industry like different types of glasses, insulating and dissipative plastics, wood used for wooden pallets, etc. have been included. In addition ignition experiments with a gas ignition probe and typical charging currents arising during the filling of drums or containers with liquids or powders have been performed.

The results clearly show that increasing relative humidity is of limited effect to reduce the ignition probability of explosive atmospheres in process industry. Of course the effectiveness depends a lot on the material of the equipment. But for instance even at 80% relative humidity a drum without direct earth connection on a wooden pallet on concrete floor being filled with an insulating organic powder accumulated sufficient charge to ignite a flammable vapor. Thus even if earthing is omitted accidentally increasing relative humidity does not significantly decreas the ignition hazard.

 
Determination of material resistivity of fully assembled spiral coiled tubes by measurements and model calculations

M. Glor

It is well known that pneumatic transfer of powders or granules through pipes, tubes or hoses is one of the processes giving rise to the highest build-up of static electricity in process industry. As soon as either the product or the equipment is insulating, charge build-up occurs. In fixed installations usually metal pipes are used, which are reliably connected to earth. If highly insulating products are transferred through such pipes, the charge build-up on the pipes is immediately released to earth and no electrostatic ignition hazard related to pipes exists.

The charged product is transferred into a receiving silo or container, where it may generate very high electrical fields and provoke discharges, which have to be assessed separately. If however, for reasons of handling and manipulating the transfer line must be flexible, often tubes or hoses mainly made from plastics are used. Many different constructions are presently on the market, where the insulating material is reinforced with an embedded metal coiled spiral. As mentioned in earlier publications such tubes or hoses may give rise to propagating brush discharges, if the resistivity of the material embedding the metal coiled spiral is not sufficiently conductive. The requirements which have to be met by the material of the tubes or hoses have been experimentally determined in the past and published at the last EFCE LP Conference. In the meantime these requirements have been incorporated into the new 2015 edition of the German guidelines on the avoidance of ignition hazards due to static electricity TRBS 2153.

Since the most important requirement is given in terms of a limit value for the resistivity of the material into which the metal coiled spiral is embedded, the question comes up, how can the resistivity of a fully assembled spiral coiled tube be reliably determined in industrial practice without dismantling and destroying the tube? Based on computer model calculations taking into account the geometry of the metal coiled tube guidance is given in this paper to calculate the relevant material resistivity based on simple resistance measurements on the fully assembled spiral coiled tube.

 
 Ignition of a cloud of dry powder using super brush discharges

 S. Forestier; M. Glor; J. Dien;

Ignition of a cloud of dry powder is a major concern in the field of industrial process safety. The different types of discharges are already defined (spark discharges, brush discharges, propagating discharges, cone discharges, corona discharges) such as their ignition properties in a gas or a dust atmosphere. For example, it is known that a classic brush discharge cannot ignite a cloud of dry flammable dust (Glor & Schwenzfeuer, 2005; Schwenzfeuer & Glor, 2001). Glor and Schwenzfeuer performed direct ignition tests using brush discharges and defined that even if the energy released by this kind of discharge equaled the one of a spark, the power released by the brush discharge is too low to trigger an ignition.

However, some doubts remained for super brush discharges. Such as a brush discharge, a super brush discharge occurs between a charged insulating object and a conductive electrode. The main difference lies in the surface charge density reached on the insulator that is much higher for a super brush discharge than for a brush discharge. A high charge density can be reached for example using pipes of polyethylene individually charged by tribo-charging piled one above another. Such a configuration was evocated by Lüttgens (Lüttgens & Wilson, 1997) and tested by Larsen (Larsen, Hagen, & van Wingerden, 2001) who performed direct ignition tests in oxygen enriched atmospheres.

This study is relevant with the actual safety problems since pharmaceutical and chemical powders are well known to generate electrostatic charges during their transport or handling and since the same configuration of independent polyethylene fibers can be found in flexible bulk containers that are one of the most common solutions to package this kind of powder.

This paper presents the experimental set-up and the results of direct ignition tests performed with a polyethylene wax whose MIE is lower than 1mJ at ambient conditions. The electric field reached at 1 meter and the charge transfer were also registered and are described. Finally, numerical simulations are carried out to define the original surface charge density in order to help to understand the phenomenology of this discharge and its frequency of occurrence in industry.


Flexible method for corrective actions ranking in the field of protection against explosion

S. Forestier; J. Dien; G. Suter

In European Union, assessing the hazard of the explosion of a dust or gas atmosphere in a plant is mandatory for its manager (European directive 1999/92/CE). This assessment relies on three different steps that are:

- the identification of explosive areas and their frequency (appear during normal process, appear rarely during normal process, do not appear during normal process, do not appear at all) based on the standards IEC 60079-10-1 for gas atmospheres and IEC 60079-10-2 for dust atmospheres, i.e. the process of Ex-Zoning

- the identification of ignition sources and the assessment of the frequency occurrence based on the standard EN 1127-1

- the assessment of the possible consequences of an explosion based on the standard EN 1050.

If the assessment highlights that the resulting risk is too high, some corrective measures must be implemented to decrease this hazard to a reasonably low value. It is common that for a large plant, several dozens of action shall be implemented.

There is a lack of methods in the literature to help HSE engineers to rank the actions to be taken. What should be corrected first? A very rare deviation that could severely injure or even kill an operator or a less dangerous but more frequent one?

This paper proposes a method derived from the determination of a SIL level (standard IEC 61511-3). A similar decision tree is build which is based on the consequences of the explosion defined in EN 1050, takes into account the probability of attendance of an operator in the hazardous area and the frequency of occurrence of an ignition source and of an explosive atmosphere.

This method gives an index for each explosion scenario. It thus permits to compare the respective indices and to set priorities for safety measures.

This method is very flexible and can be adapted to the need of individual plants. It can easily be tailored to the safety policy of the enterprise, and it allows making evident in a transparent manner to top management and authorities the how priorities in the protection concept were set.

This method is illustrated with two case studies in this paper.

Atmospheric Powder Dispersion in an Urban Area

P. Lauret; M. Perrin; L. Aprin; F. Heymes; S. Forestier; A. Pey

Dust dispersion in an urban area becomes a major concern in several fields: global safety, pollution tracking, accidental release of highly active substances in powder form.

In Switzerland, this last point became a relevant scenario of major accident in the middle of 2015. Every company producing or working with highly active substances in powder form (e.g. pharmaceutical and chemical firms) must thus assess the consequences of the dispersion of this kind of product and based on the results of the simulations, the authorities grant their approval for the production of this powder. The main background of dust dispersion modeling relies on heavy gas dispersion modeling. Indeed, air loaded with dust has an apparent density higher than the ambient one and behaves globally as a heavy gas. But other phenomena such as sedimentation, agglomeration have to be considered. Furthermore, in complex configurations such as urban areas, the accuracy of heavy gas models is low.

This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency of an Artificial Neural Networks model to predict the dust dispersion in an urban area. Dust concentration data were collected at different places in a city.

The wind velocity, direction, and atmospheric temperature were measured at nearest Meteoswiss station. This one year long data acquisition is thus a very rare data set that can be really useful to calibrate dust dispersion models in such areas.

Results about the comparison between the experimental concentrations found and the results of Artificial Neural Networks based model of dust dispersion are presented. The results are discussed to explain the trends of the experimental values and the variation of accuracy of the tested models.

Thermal stability predictions for inherently safe process design using molecular-based approaches

N. Baati; A. Nanchen; F. Stoessel; T. Meyer

Any step of an industrial chemical process can potentially involve thermal risks, as most reactions carried out are exothermic, chemicals are often thermally unstable, and operating conditions set to favor high conversion and throughput. Even with efficient risk assessment methods and implementation of risk mitigation measures, accidents are still occurring. They are mainly due to misdiagnosed previous incidents, unanticipated failures and/or unsafe acts, which in return lead to unforeseen conditions, making the in-place safety system unsufficient or inappropriate.

A rigorous thermal risk assessment is part of most chemical process designs. This requires answering crucial questions: would the chemical decompose? if so, at which temperature? how much heat would be released and at which rate? This information is gathered either from own data, literature, expertise, or experiments. In particular, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) allows to identify and quantify thermal decompositions characteristics such as its potential energy release, triggering temperature, and thermokinetics data. DSC experiments are not the most resources demanding thermal analysis, however, when an intermediate cannot be isolated or is physically unavailable, it becomes simply impossible to perform a measurement. Additionally, when several tests have to be performed the required resources accumulate.

Hence, in the absence of practically feasible experiments and considering how important this information is, simulated estimations would be an appropriate substitute. Indeed, simulations do not require samples, and could allow to analyze simultaneously numerous alternatives with a certain desired feature and determine the least hazardous one. Moreover, they can be performed at the early stage of a process design, when the flexibility is still high and the costs of change low. This work aims to propose a reliable method to predict DSC curves from the molecular structures, a method that takes place in scouting synthesis routes for the design of inherently safer processes.

We apply two structure-based modeling methods: Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship and Group Contribution (i.e. Marrero-Gani framework). A set of 100 thermally reactive and structurally diverse chemicals is analyzed. Predictive models are developed for five key properties extracted from their experimental DSC measurements. Together, these properties preserve the complete thermal trail instead of a classical standard two-value characterization of DSC information. The description and prediction performances of the models developed from both methods are evaluated and compared. We put forward a method relying on molecular-based approaches to predict thermal stability and how it could be used to identify thermal threats without necessarily facing them. These estimations could enable a more efficient design of inherently safe processes by identifying eventual substitutions with less hazardous chemicals early on, and/or reducing the needed resources of experimental tests by narrowing the investigations.

Finally, predictive models would constitute a helpful tool that emphasizes where to concentrate efforts and therefore enables better resources allocation. They allow to deliver estimated values in the absence of measurements and eases the assessment process allowing to focus on the inherently safer procedure.

 
Drum burst due to runaway reaction and the limits of MOC

 A. Pey

Daily operations and equipment failures may require slight process changes which in many cases are carried out without any effect on safety. But sometimes unknown hazards are hidden beyond those slight changes.

Even if a company has a well implemented Management of Change protocol, the evaluation of every single process change may be difficult to assess in detail as a balance between time available and analysis depth has to be achieved, therefore assessment is made with information and knowledge available in the spot. In this sense, even if the evaluation is done, the knowledge available may lead to neglect hazards.

In this paper, an example of a slight process change is presented which lead to a runaway reaction and a drum burst. Hopefully no injures had to be blamed and only damages on the area where the drum burst had to be considered. A solvent and a process reactant were mixed for a too long time inside a drum due to a pump failure leading to a different operation during the dosing of reactants into the reactor.

The change was evaluated according the MOC and available criteria by plant operator, shift leader and production chemist on duty, without identifying any significant hazard thus allowing the chance to be carried on.

Investigations later revealed that a hazardous exothermic reaction was present at temperatures close to ambient temperature between the reactant and the solvent. This case is an example of an unknown by the operational workforce – known only by experts and the fact that experts may not be systematically involved in the assessment of slight process changes due to the time available to carry out operations.

Beside the analysis and explanation of the accident, the aim is to define measure to prevent similar incidents to take place; therefore lessons learned allow defining some recommendations related to MOC management which can be applied to any company helping to unhide hazards and make the knowledge available to people carrying out operations in the field.

 
 The Minimum Ignition Energy of Powder Mixtures

A. Bisel; C. Kubainsky; D. Steiner; D. Bordeaux; J. Benabdillah

The minimum ignition energy (MIE) is one of the most important parameters for the assessment of explosion risks and the design of protection concepts when handling combustible powders.

It is well known that the MIE depends decreases with decreasing particle size . Therefore testing standards require that MIE is determined with a defined sieve fraction of the powder, i.e. <63micron according to EN and <71micron according to ASTM.

In the pharmaceutical industry the handling of powder mixtures is common. Investigations have shown the effect of mixing dust explosive powders with inert or less sensitive auxiliary materials.

Due to granulation or compacting processes, granulometry of powders in galenical production can be quite complex, i.e. the particle size distribution may shown several maxima, such that the median value is insufficient to characterize the powder. This paper shows the effect of complex particle size distributions on the MIE. In particular the effect of small fraction of fines in a relatively coarse (granulated) powder is investigated.


Safety issue with flammable Solvents in pharmaceutical Production

M. Steinkrauss; E. Huxol; C. Kubainsky; G. Suter

 

In the pharmaceutical production are isolators in use to handle open highly active pharmaceutical compounds. The isolators are the safety barrier to avoid inhalation or skin contact with the highly active substances. From time to time the isolators must be cleaned and disinfected due to GMP and microbiological requirements.

Often flammable solvents like ethanol are used for this purpose. Contrary to Deconex and others, flammable solvents dry without leaving any residue behind. Disinfection is carried out by spraying, wiping or bathing most parts of the equipment, the plant and the room.

By spraying flammable solvents, formation of an explosive atmosphere is possible. Swissi simulates evaporation of flammable solvent in an self build isolator under different conditions by spraying the solvent. The experiments have shown that approximately 20% of the liquid has evaporated during the spraying. 50 ml/m2 of combustible disinfectant have been used.

In the small sprayed area of 0.193 m2 after app. 15 minutes the maximum of 50% of the LEL was reached. By spraying the full base area of 0.72 m2, the LEL was reached after a few minutes. The success of the disinfection also depends on the contact time and therefore on the air exchange inside the isolator. The experiments have shown that at high air exchange, the evaporation rate is so high that a contact time of 5 min is not applied to the entire surface.

Normally the equipment and ventilation of an isolator is not designed to prevent explosive atmosphere. Some ignition sources are present every time. Typical electronic equipment like ultrasonic baths and balances but also the electrical installations of the room itself, hot surfaces, mechanical sparks and electrostatic discharges could ignite this atmosphere and endanger people and plant. Some events of exploded isolators are known.

Low ventilation can also easily lead to inhalation high above the accepted exposure limits when the isolator is open to the room or exchanges air with it. For Ethanol, these values are about 30 - 60 times lower than its lower explosive limit.

The experiments will show how the air exchange can be optimized or disinfection can be further optimized, so that an explosive atmosphere can be excluded. Effective measure will be described and also lessons learnt from incidents.


Aging Equipment in Facilities and Daily Maintenance – Latent Risks on Sites with Major-accident Hazards acc. Directive 2012/18/EU

R. Semmler

Since decades systematic safety analyses are well established methods to reduce the risks on sites with major-accident hazard acc. directive 2012/18/EU. In this time frame the methodologies have evolved as well as the depth of the analysis conducted. A special focus was also laid on aging equipment when sources of major accidents have been analyzed. However, safety related parts of the plant have been in focus yet, i. e. vessels, reactors and other apparatus enclosing the hazardous substances or physical process parameters as well as related safety systems to eliminate or mitigate the risk. As part of the analyses the outage of facilities, energy and operating supplies was covered.

In the systematic safety analyses the potential impact of severe weather conditions including i. e. flooding and other impact caused by environment and neighborhood are discussed if reasonable to the location of the site. But what will happen if the source of flooding is internal? A crater is developing due to release of compressed gases and causes the hazard of structure instability of steelwork/platforms and buildings? Is it reasonable to consider auxiliary facilities as a cause of this type of hazards?

Acc. to article 10 c) of the directive 2012/18/EU the safety report needs to demonstrate that adequate safety and reliability have been taken into account in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of any installation, storage facility, equipment and infrastructure connected with its operation which are linked to major-accident hazards inside the establishment.

Based on selected examples the latent risk of aging auxiliary facilities as well as human factors will be discussed showing that future safety analyses need to be more comprehensive to uncover their latent risks and to fulfill the requirements of article 10 c) in addition with annex II “Minimum data and infor-mation to be considered in the safety report referred to in Article 10”.

 
 Thermal process safety based on Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Dynamic

C. Guinand; M. Dabros; B. Roduit; T. Meyer; F. Stoessel

A specific problem encountered in scale-up of fed-batch reactors is the accumulation of non-converted reactants, which may lead to an uncontrolled temperature increase in case of malfunction of process control. Therefore, mastering this aspect is one of the most important and challenging process safety tasks. One solution is to adapt the feed rate in order to control the accumulation to the desired level. However, this approach is disadvantageous considering reaction time and costs involved; The reaction kinetics need to be known to quantify and manage this problem in an optimal way.

In order to save resources and effort, the dynamics of the system can be simulated by mathematical models, where parameters are estimated using numerical fitting of measured calorimetric data. Generally, the reaction system can be represented by two mathematical models: 1) The reaction kinetic model, describing the chemical dynamics (synthesis and decomposition reactions) of the system; and 2) The system dynamic model, describing the reactors dynamics under its working conditions.

The study of such system requires several experiments performed at different scales maximizing the disturbances and allowing evaluation of the overall system dynamics. Nevertheless, even with this method, the investigation can be very long due to the increasingly complex process and reaction models, resulting in a large number of parameters and needing a vast amount of measurements. Therefore, an innovative three-step approach focusing on a combination of process development, safety assessment and simulation using measurements performed at different scales is developed:

Step 1) Reaction Kinetic Investigation: Initial measurements are planned at different scales (milligram, gram, kilogram) in a statistically optimal way to cover efficiently the experimental space with a minimum number of experiments.

Step 2) Reactor Dynamic Investigation: Different heating and cooling ramps are strategically chosen in order to characterize the physical and dynamic properties of the full-scale reactor to be used.

Step 3) Process optimization under safety constraints: Predicting the industrial reactor behavior considering safety constraints, for example the reactant accumulation, by experimental simulation of the large-scale reactor dynamics in laboratory scale experiments in order to optimize the productivity.

This approach was applied to the reaction system involved in the Morton International Inc. accident that happened in New Jersey (1998). The incident was caused by a synthesis reaction followed by an autocatalytic decomposition of the product. In short, the proposed investigation procedure shows a major role in establishing the relationship between reactor dynamics and reaction kinetics. Compared to conventional scale-up methods based on trial and error, this procedure simplifies and decreases the development time of several steps. Moreover, using the models contributes significantly to a better understanding of the system. Indeed, the experiments at large-scale can be planned specifically and in an optimal way leading to the best possible operating conditions considering safety and productivity issues.

2015

 

 A holistic approach to Process Safety

Matthias Brey (a), J.-Michel Dien (b)

(a) Kienbaum Management Consultants GmbH, Düsseldorf, D
(b) TÜV SÜD Swissi Process Safety GmbH, Basel, CH
 
Euroforum 2015 (19.-20.März 2015, Köln, Deutschland)

Abstract

Aufbau eines holistischen Process Saftey Sicherheitssystems, das aufbauend auf einer technisch sicher designten Anlage die Risiken einer Anlage analysiert (Risikoanalyse) und spezifische Gefahren ermittelt (Gefahrenermittlung) auf denen dann eine Process Safety Management System gebaut wird, das es den Menschen in der Anlage ermöglicht mit proaktiven Kennzahlen (leading Key performance Indicators) die Risiken für die ermittelten Gefahren zu minimieren, indem bereits auf einem Near Miss level größere Vorfälle (incidents) abgewandt werden. Zudem werden einzelne Safety Barrieren durch das Management System so aufeinander eingestellt, dass die Risiken eines Vorfalls auch generell minimiert werden (20 CCPS Elemente können proaktiv gemanagt werden versus das Vertrauen darauf, dass einzelne Elemente Gefahren abwenden können)

 

Gewährleistung der Sicherheit bei der Handhabung von Pulvern durch Einführung von Corporate Richtlinien

  1. J.-Michel Dien, TÜV SÜD Swissi Process Safety GmbH, Basel, CH
  2.  
  3. Schüttgut Basel 2015 (6.-7.Mai 2015, Basel, Schweiz)

Sowohl in der Lebensmittelindustrie als auch in der chemischen und pharmazeutischen Industrie werden weltweit ähnliche Geräte und Prozeduren eingesetzt bzw. angewandt. Von der Lagerung bis zur Verpackung über Dispensierung, Blend-Herstellungen, Trocknungsprozesse und Transportverfahren werden Pulver in Containern, Mischern, Mühlen, Filteranlagen usw. bearbeitet. Für jede Gerätefamilie können die Gefahren anhand von Pulver-Sicherheitskenngrössen charakterisiert werden. Diese spezifische Produktdaten zusammen mit der Kenntnis der Anlagen und Prozeduren fliessen dann  in die Gefahrenbewertung ein. Durch Corporate Richtlinien können die Sicherheitsstudien und die Definition von Sicherheitsmassnahmen vereinheitlicht und vereinfacht werden, und ein hoher Sicherheitsstand in den Betrieben auf eine pragmatische Weise gewährleistet werden. Mitarbeiterschulungen z.B. in Rahmen von e-Learning können die richtige Anwendung solcher Richtlinien vermitteln und das Verstehen kontrollieren. Die Swissi Process Safety GmbH hat sich besonders auf das Gebiet des „powder handlings“ spezialisiert und gibt Ihnen eine Übersicht.

 

 Chemieprozesse nach Maß

Jean Michel Dien (a), Rainer Semmler (b)

  1. (a) Swissi PS GmbH, Basel (Schweiz)
  2. (b) TÜV SÜD Chemie Service (Deutchland)
  3. Verfahren Technik - 14.10.2014

Abstract

Wer chemische Prozesse optimiert, hat meist die Sicherheit im Blick. Dabei werden teils enorme Effizienzgewinne und Einsparpotenziale verschenkt. Das betrifft mögliche Produktionsvolumina genauso wie den Umfang der dafür tatsächlich erforderlichen Technik. Aber wie lassen sich effiziente Chemieprozesse mit sicheren Anlagen verbinden?

2014

"Tornados als umgebungsbedingte Gefahrenquelle im Sinne der Störfall-Verordnung "

Klausjuergen Niemitz(a), Georg Suter(b)

  1. (a) Clariant, Sulzbach (Deutschland)
  2. (b) Swissi PS GmbH, Basel (Schweiz)

Technische Sicherheit - Ausgabe 11-12/2013

Abstract

Die Berücksichtigung umgebungsbedingter Gefahrenquellen ist eine explizite Anforderung der Störfall-Verordnung, ohne dass im Detail festgelegt ist, welche abschließend darunter verstanden werden. Lediglich Erdbeben und Hochwasser sind hervorhebend genannt. Darüber hinaus gibt es keine Kriterien, anhand derer eine Entscheidung abgeleitet werden könnte. Die langjährige Praxis der Erstellung von Sicherheitsanalysen bzw. -berichten in Deutschland gibt erste Hinweise, welche umgebungsbedingte Gefahrenquellen generell nicht und damit faktisch nur als exzeptionelle Auslöser von Störfällen betrachtet worden sind. Die Frage stellt sich, ob diese Entscheidung auf der Grundlage der wissenschaftlich verfügbaren Informationen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Klimawandels nach wie vor Bestand hat.

Electrostatic ignition hazards in insulating or dissipative tubes and hoses for pneumatic transfer of powders—Measurements and model calculations

Martin Glor (a), Carsten Blum (b), Wolfgang Fath (c), Claus-Diether Walther( d)

  1. (a) Swissi Process Safety GmbH, WRO-1055.5.27, CH-4002 Basel, Switzerland
  2. (b) DEKRA EXAM GmbH, Dinnendahlstr. 9, D-44809 Bochum, Germany
  3. (c) BASF SE, GCP/RS - L511, D-67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany
  4. (d) Bayer Technology Services GmbH, BTS-OSS-PPS-SE, D-51368 Leverkusen, Germany
  5. Process Safety and Environmental Protection 92 (2014) 300–304

Abstract

When transferring powder through pipes or hoses made from insulating material, propagating brush discharges can not be excluded. To calculate the limit value of the resistivity of the insulating material, below which no propagating brush discharges will occur, the charging current due to the powder transfer must be known. This charging current has been determined experimentally. Based on
analytical calculations and computer models limit values for the resistivity of the hose material are derived from these experiments.

A review of the past, present and future of the European loss prevention and safety promotion in the process industries

Eddy De Rademaeker, Georg Suter, Hans J. Pasman, Bruno Fabiano

Abstract

In 2013, the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE) celebrates its 60th anniversary. EFCE has continually promoted scientific collaboration and supported the work of engineers and scientists in thirty European countries. As for its mission statement, EFCE helps European Society to meet its needs through highlighting the role of Chemical Engineering in delivering sustainable processes and products. Within this organizational framework the Loss Prevention Symposium series, organized throughout Europe on behalf of the Loss Prevention Working Party of the EFCE, represents a fruitful tradition covering a time span of forty years. The tri-annual symposium gathers experts and scientists to seek technical improvements and scientific support for a growingly safer industry and quality of life. Following the loss prevention history in this paper, a time perspective on loss prevention and its future is presented.

2013

Glor, M., Blum, C., Fath, W., Walther, C.-D.:Electrostatic Ignition Hazards Associated with the Pneumatic Transfer of Flammable Powders through Insulating or Dissipative Tubes and Hoses, Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Glor, W.: Modelling of Electrostatic Ignition Hazards in Industry: too Complicated, not Meaningful or only of Academic Interest?, Chemical Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Pey, A. and Lerena, P.:Implementing the Seveso Directive Requirement on the Anticipated Presence of Dangerous Substances, Chemical Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Steinkrauss, M. and Lerena, P: Explosion in an Exhaust Line of a Chemical Reactor, Chemical Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Baati, N., Nanchen, A., Stoessel, F., Meyer, Th.:Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships for Thermal Stability and Explosive Properties of Chemical, Chemical Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Suter, G., Stocks, V., Gwerder, C., Eiche, M.:Heat Exchange Elements in Sample Cells for Thermal Analysis, Chemical Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Nanchen, A., Stoessel, F.:Sizing Emergency Relief Systems for Multipurpose Plants, Chemical Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

Bosch, J., Pey, A.: Loss of Control of a Chemical Reaction and Release of Hydrogen, Engineering Transactions Vol. 31, 2013, ISBN 978-88-95608-22-8; ISSN 1974-9791

 

2012


S. Abele, M. Schwaninger, H. Fierz, G. Schmidt, J.-A. Funel and F. Stoessel: Safety Assessment of Diels-Alder Reactions with Highly Reactive Acrylic Monomers; Org. Process Res. Dev.; Special Issue: Safety of Chemical Processes 2012

M. Glor:Zündgefahren infolge elektrostatischer Aufladungen von Packmitteln, VDI Technikforum Sichere „Handhabung brennbarer Stäube", Düsseldorf, Mai 2012

T. Gmeinwieser,Sicherheitstechnische Kenngrößen für Einheitsoperationen mit brennbaren Stäuben, VDI-Fachtagung „Sichere Handhabung brennbarer Stäube", Nürnberg, November 2012

M. Glor: Requirements for Flexible Intermediate Bulk Containers (FIBC) - Current Status of Standardization, Nürnberg, November 2012

F. Stoessel: Is autocatalysis always a threat? GETA-STK-Symposium, October 2012

2011

M. Eiche, M. Schwaninger, V. Stocks, Influence of crucible construction material on the thermal stability as measured by DSC, Annual Meeting of STK (Swiss Society for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry), Sisseln, June 2011

Dr. G. Suter, 8th European Congress of Chemical Engineering, Berlin, September 2011

Dr. G. Suter, International Conference on Modern Managment Standards of Occupational and Health, Lodz, November 2011


Dr. G. Suter, Accidents in the Workplace, CHEManagment December 2011

2010

P. Reuse, J. Lebrun, V. Legendre, A. Nanchen and F. Stoessel, Small Scale Online Optimisation of a Semi-Batch Reaction Under Industrial Thermal Conditions, 13th International Symposium on Loss Prevention

O. Holzschuh, C. Gwerder and P. Reuse, CG80: A New Cell with Pressure Measurement for the DSC, 13th International Symposium on Loss Prevention

M. Glor, C. Kubainsky and G. Suter, Charge Build up Associated with the Transfer of Liquids, 13th International Symposium on Loss Prevention

A. Pey and G. Suter, Fires and explosions initiated by static electricity - case histories, 13th International Symposium on Loss Prevention

A. Pey and G. Suter, Key factors for a safe design of a VOCs treatment system, 13th International Symposium on Loss Prevention

2009


A. Nanchen, M. Steinkrauss, F. Stoessel, Utilisation of the criticality classes 1 within TRAS410, Forsch Ingenieurwesen 73: Oktober 2009

2007

Lamanna P., Nilsson H. and Reuse P., On-line reaction calorimetry optimisation of safety parameters, 12th Loss Prevention Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland

2006


Glor M., Electrostatic Ignition Hazards Associated with FIBC, FIBC Guide 2006

Dien J.-M., Revue d'incidents d'origine électrostatique tirés de l'industrie chimique, Société Française d'Electrostatique, 30 - 31 August 2006, Grenoble, France

Dien J.-M., Glor M., Electrostatic Hazards by using FIBC, CHISA 2006, 28 - 31 August 2006, Praha, Czech Republic

Suter G., R. Gfeller Web based e-Learning with centralized Coaching, CHISA 2006, 28-31 August 2006, Praha, Czech Republic

Suter G., Prüfungen zur Transportklassierung, Gefahrguttag, 14. Juni 2006, Basel

Dien J.-M., Glor M., Die elektrostatische Gefahr von flexiblen Schüttgutbehältern, ACHEMA 2006, 21 May 2006, Frankfurt, Germany

Bisel A. L'analyse des propriétés d'un produit face aux risques d'explosion de poussières, Infovrac, décembre - janvier 2006

2005


Glor M. Elektrostatische Zündgefahren – Ereignisse, neue Erkenntnisse, Trends / Electrostatic Ignition Hazards – Incidents, new Conclusions, Trends, Proceedings des VDI-Kolloquiums "Sichere Handhabung brennbarer Stäube", Nürnberg, 1. bis 3. März 2005. VDI Berichte 1873 (2005) p. 163, VDI-Verlag GmbH Düsseldorf 2005

Dien J.-M., Ereignisabklärung: die versteckte Gefahr einer Hydrierung, Erfahrungsaustausch für amtlich anerkannte Sachverständige, 17. März 2005, Fulda, Germany

Dien J.-M., Utilisation dans l'industrie des GRVS pour la manipulation des poudres, les dangers électrostatiques, Société Française de Génie des Procédés, 02 juin 2005, Nancy, France
Abstract: please contact Mr. J.-M. Dien

Glor M. Electrostatic Ignition Hazards in the Process Industry, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Electrostatics organized by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE), Espoo-Helsinki, Finland, 15 – 17 June 2005. Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 447-453,

Glor M. and Schwenzfeuer K. Direct ignition tests with brush discharges, Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Electrostatics organized by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE), Espoo-Helsinki, Finland, 15 – 17 June 2005. Journal of Electrostatics 63 (2005) 463-468,

Glor M. Electrostatic Ignition Hazards in the Process Industry, Proceedings of 2nd European Conference on Electrical and Instrumentation Applications in the Petroleum and Chemical Industry PCIC Europe 2005 October 26 - 28, 2004 in Basel, Switzerland

Jaeger N. und Suter G. Neue Erkenntnisse zur Prüfmethodik der Reibempfindlichkeit von brennbaren Stäuben, VDI Fachtagung, “Sichere Handhabung Brennbarer Stäube”; Nürnberg, März 2005

Suter G., Guldbrandsen P. und Gfeller R. Praktische Hilfsmittel zur Umsetzung von ATEX, Secumedia

Suter G. Risk Communication with Hazard Labels, EFCE Seminar on Risk Communication and Acceptance, Brügge

Kubainsky Ch., Gitzi A., Glor M. und Suter G. Untersuchungen betreffend das Rückzündverhalten aus Staubabscheidern in Objektabsaugungen

Audergon L. Arbeitssicherheit und Gesundheitsschutz im Baugewerbe, Bauflash 11/2005, d, 5-7

2004


Glor M. Understanding and Controlling the Ignition Hazards of Static Electricity - New Trends, Proceedings of 1st European Conference on Electrical and Instrumentation Applications in the Petroleum and Chemical Industry PCIC Europe 2004 May 27-28, 2004 in Basel, Switzerland

Glor M. Evaluation of two dust explosions initiated by static electricity, Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industries, Praha, Czech Republic, 31 May – 3 June 2004, organized by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE)

Dien J.-M., Analyse des risques et calorimétrie, complémentarité entre essais et méthodes, Société Française de Génie des Procédés, 04 juin 2004, Paris, France
Abstract: please contact Mr. J.-M. Dien

Schneider M.-A., Maeder T., Ryser P. and Stoessel F., A microreactor-based system for the study of fast exothermic reactions in liquid phase: characterization of the system, Chemical Engineering Journal, 101(1-3) p. 241-250

Glor M. Aktuelle Fragestellungen zur Beurteilung der Zündgefahren infolge elektrostatischer Aufladungen, Proceedings der DECHEMA/GVC-Jahrestagung 12. bis 14. Oktober 2004 in Karlsruhe, Chemie Ingenieur Technik 9 (2004) 1316

Glor M. Elektrostatische Aufladung beim Umgang mit Schüttgütern, Proceedings der DECHEMA/GVC-Jahrestagung 12. bis 14. Oktober 2004 in Karlsruhe, Chemie Ingenieur Technik 9 (2004) 1316

Dien J.-M., Eine Ergänzung der TRAS 410 durch die Empfehlungen der BG-Chemie und dem Schweizerischen Institut zur Förderung der Sicherheit, GVC / DECHEMA Jahrestagungen 12.-14.10.2004, Karlsruhe, Germany

Bisel A., Gitzi A., Steiner D. and Suter G. Minimum Ignition Temperatures for Dust Clouds for practical industrial applications, 11th Loss Prevention Symposium, Prague 2004

Bou-Diab L., Fierz H., Gwerder C. and Suter G. A new Multipurpose Micro Reactor for Reaction Calorimetry, 11th Loss Prevention Symposium, Prague 2004

Reuse P., Wehrli V., Fierz H., Roduit B. (AKTS AG) Characterisation of pressure and temperature rise of run-away reactions using temperature-programmed measurements, Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering CHISA 2004, 22-26 August 2004, Praha, Czech Republic

Dien J.-M., Implementierung der TRAS410 im Chemiebetrieb durch eine systematische Einstufung der chemischen Gefahr, VDI, Köthener Fachtagung, 4.-5.11.2004, Köthen, Germany

Zogg A., Stoessel F., Fischer U. and Hungerbuhler K., Isothermal reaction calorimetry as a tool for kinetic analysis. Thermochimica Acta, 419 (2004) 1-17

Roduit B., Borgeat C., Berger B., Folly P., Alonso B.,. Aebischer J.-N, Stoessel F., Advanced kinetic tools for the evaluation of decomposition reactions, in ICTAC, 2004

Roduit B., Borgeat C., Berger B., Folly P., Alonso B.,. Aebischer J.-N, Stoessel F., Advanced kinetic tools for the evaluation of decomposition reactions, Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 80(2004) 229-236

2003


Glor M. Ignition Hazard due to Static Electricity in Particulate Processes, Journal of Powder Technology, 135-136 (2003) 223-233

Glor M. Dust Explosions – Hazards, Prevention and Protection, Chimia 57 (2003) 778

Stoessel F. Benefits of numeric simulation techniques in process safety, Chimia, 57 (2003) 45-52

Schwenzfeuer K. and Glor M. Ignition hazards associated with earthing and bonding of charged conductive objects, Institute of Physics Conference Sereries No 178, (2003), 19