Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
- Hayder A Alhameedi 1, 2
- Athmar A. Alzubaidi 3
- Joseph D. Smith 2
- Doug Allen 4
- Saud Aldawood 5
- Paul Ani 2
1 Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of AL-Qadisiyah, Al Diwaniyah 58001, Iraq.
2 Linda and Bipin Doshi Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409-1230. USA.
3 Accounting and Banking Sciences Department, University of AL-Farabi, Baghdad 10022, Iraq.
4 Chief Engineer at Zeeco, Inc., Broken Arrow, OK 74014, USA.
5 Nuclear Technologies Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Riyadh 11442, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Abstract
Multidimensional consequences may arise from an accident in the flare system of any chemical or petrochemical plant due to the improperly managed flare system, which can lead to the presence of the toxic and flammable gases. The Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) is a systematic method used to assess and identify risks that can occur during operation, ensuring risk reduction and the safety of using equipment or units. This study aims to apply the HAZOP technique to identify the hazards associated with the gas flaring process in an air-assisted flare. The air-assisted flare system was subdivided into four sections (nodes), which were analyzed separately. These nodes included the gas supply line, air supply line, pilot flame line, and flare unit. A total of 11 potential high-risk factors related to gas flaring were identified and measured to eliminate or mitigate these risks, which were recommended to reduce the negative effects on human health, the environment, and the economy.
Keywords
- Mohammadfam, A. Sajedi, S. Mahmoudi, and F. Mohammadfam, “Application of hazard and operability study (hazop) in evaluation of health, safety and environmental (hse) hazards,” International Journal Of Occupational Hygiene, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 17–20, July 2012. [Online]. Available: https://ijoh.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijoh/article/view/52
- Mkrtchyan, U. Straub, M. Giachino, T. Kocher, and G. Sansavini, “In- surability risk assessment of oil refineries using bayesian belief networks,” Journal of Loss Preventionin the Process ), vol. 74, no. 2, p. 104673, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2021.104673
- Dunj ´o, V. Fthenakis, J. A. V´ılchez, and J. Arnaldos, “Hazard and operability (hazop) analysis. a literature review,” Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 173, no. 1-3, pp. 19–32, 2010. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.08.076
- Mocellin, J. D. Tommaso, C. Vianello, G. Maschio, T. Saulnier- Bellemare, L. D. Virla, and G. S. Patience, “Experimental methods in chemical engineering: Hazard and operability analysis—hazop,” Cana- dian Journal of Chemical Engineering, vol. 100, no. 12, p. 3450–3469, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/cjce.24520
- Lee, A. Shigrekar, and R. A. Borrelli, “Application of hazard and operability analysis for safeguardability of a pyroprocessing facility,” Nuclear Engineering and Design, vol. 348, pp. 131–145, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.02.021
- Cahyono, M. B. Zaman, N. Siswantoro, and D. Priyanta, “Hazard and operability (hazop) study at separation system in the offshore platform,” International Journal on Engineering Applications(IREA), vol. 10, no. 1, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.15866/irea.v10i1.20951
- Sikandar and S. Ishtiaque, “Hazard and operability (hazop) study of wastewater treatment unit producing biohydrogen,” SINDH UNIVERSITYRESEARCH JOURNAL(SCIENCE SERIES) Hazard, vol. 48, no. 1, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://sujo.usindh.edu.pk/index.php/SURJ/article/view/4993
- J. S. Shadhan, S. Alhamd, and M. N. Abbas, “Recovery of vanadium element from wastewater of petroleum refineries using effective adsorbent: Mathematical approach via isothermal, kinetics and thermodynamic simulation,” Al-Qadisiyah Journal for Engineering Sciences, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 211–219, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.30772/qjes.2024.145441.1069
- D. Noriyati, W. Rozaaq, A. Musyafa, and A. Soepriyanto, “Hazard operability study and determining safety integritylevel on sulfur furnace unit: A case study in fertilizer industry,” Procedia Manuf, vol. 4, no. less, p. 231–236, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2015.11.036
- L. Fuentes-Bargues, M. C. Gonz ´alez-Cruz, C. Gonz ´alez-Gaya, and M. P. Baixauli-P ´erez, “Risk analysis of a fuel storage terminal using hazop and fta,” Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 715–724, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14070705
- Labovsk ´y, Z. ˇSvandov ´a, J. Marko ˇs, and L. Jelemensk ´y, “Hazop study of a fixed bed reactor for mtbe synthesis using a dynamic approach,” Chemical Papers, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 51–57, 2008. [Online]. Available: http://doi.org/10.2478/s11696-007-0078-4
- de J. Penelas and J. C. M. Pires, “Hazop analysis in terms of safety operations processes for oil production units: A case study,” Applied Sciences (Switzerland), vol. 11, no. 21, p. 10210, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/app112110210
- T. Martins, M. C. B. Santos, F. D. A. D. S. Mota, and C. M. Lima, “Hazop analysis of a continuous biodiesel production plant,” REVISTA GEINTEC-GESTAO INOVACAO E TECNOLOGIA, vol. 12, no. 12, p.48–62, 2022.
- Y. Choi and S. H. Byeon, “Hazop methodology based on the health, safety, and environment engineering,” Int J Environ Res Public Health, vol. 17, no. 9, p. 3236, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17093236
- Jung, H. Kim, , and C. Kang, “Efficiency analysis of the integrated application of hazard operability (hazop) and job safety analysis (jsa) compared to hazop alone for preventing fire and explosions in chemical plants,” Processes, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 88, December 2025. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13010088
- A. Alhameedi, A. A. Hassan, and J. D. Smith, “Towards a better air assisted flare design for low flow conditions: Analysis of radial slot and flow effects,” Process Safety and Environmen- tal Protection, vol. 157, p. 484–492, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2021.11.007
- M. Torres, S. Herndon, , and D. T. Allen, “Industrial flare performance at low flow conditions. 2. steam- and air-assisted flares,” Industrial Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 51, no. 39, p. 12569–12576, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1021/ie202675f
- Casti ˜neira and T. F. Edgar, “Cfd for simulation of steam- assisted and air-assisted flare combustion systems,” Energy Fuels, vol. 20, no. 3, p. 1044–1056, 2006. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1021/ef050332v
- Shahab-Deljoo, B. Medi, M.-K. Kazi, and M. Jafari, “A techno-economic review of gas flaring in iran and its human and environmental impacts,” Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 173, p. 642–665, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2023.03.051
- Mahdi and A. Esmaeili, “Failure analysis of a flare tip used in offshore production platform in qatar,” Materials, vol. 13, no. 15, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13153426
- A. Alhameedi, J. D. Smith, P. Ani, and T. Powley, “Toward a better air-assisted flare design for safe and efficient operation during purge flow conditions: Designing and performance testing,” ACS Omega, vol. 7, no. 47, p. 42793–42800, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c04618\
- Baybutt, “Guidelines for designing risk matrices,” Process Safety Progress, vol. 37, no. 1, p. 49–55, July 2017. [Online]. Available: https://doi.org/10.1002/prs.11905
)
