Maximum Allowance Temperature Case study

Type of service: Dynamic Simulation Studies for Plant Safety

Inprocess client: Italian Bio-refinery

Year: 2023

Country:  Italy

Description: The risk of exceeding the Maximum Allowable Temperature was identified in a new biorefinery unit. To assess the potential for material failure or loss of containment, Inprocess developed a dynamic custom model and evaluated five critical emergency scenarios to obtain a realistic process response.

Dynamic simulation results showed that 3 out of 5 scenarios could lead to temperature excursions beyond design limits at the top of the fractionator, particularly if alarms are not properly managed by operators. As mitigation measures, it was proposed to fix a High-High Temperature Trip (@ 130 °C), provoking the shutdown of the furnace and the shutdown of the main heat source pumps. A second mitigation measure was the HIPPS activation (@ 2.5 barg): provoking the Automatic furnace shutdown.

The study helped prevent potential pipe failure and loss of containment without requiring any CAPEX investment. In addition, the dynamic model remains available for the client to support future operational and safety analyses.

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