) calculation is a tool to help determine the areas of greatest loss potential in a particular process. It also enables one to predict the physical damage that would occur in the event of an incident. The first step in making the F&EI calculation requires using an efficient and logical procedure to determine which process units should be studied. A process unit is defined as any major item of process equipment. The following process units could be identified in a typical plant. Unloading facility Storage tank Reactor Distillation Column Quench Vessel Storage Vessel Loading facility
A designation of the Process Unit must be entered in the appropriate space on the F&EI form. The Manufacturing Unit designation must also be entered on the F&EI form. A Manufacturing Unit is the entire production facility including chemical processes, mechanical processes, warehouse, packaging lines, etc.
It is quite clear that most manufacturing units have many process units. To calculate the Fire and Explosion Index, however, only process units that could have an impact from a loss prevention standpoint should be evaluated. These are known as Pertinent Process Units. Important factors for selecting Pertinent Process Units include: a. Chemical energy potential (Material Factor) b. Quantity of hazardous material in the Process Unit c. Process pressure and process temperature d. Units critical to plant operation, e.g. Reactor Important Considerations A. The Fire and Explosion Index system assumes that a process unit handles a minimum of 2,500 kg of a flammable, combustible or reactive material. If less material is involved, generally the risk will be overstated. However, F&EI calculations can provide meaningful results for pilot plants if they handle at least 500 kg) of combustible or reactive material. Careful consideration is needed when equipment is arranged in series and the items are not effectively isolated from each other. An example would be a reaction train without an intermediate pump. In such situations, the type of process determines whether several vessels or just a single vessel should be considered as the Process Unit.
B.
It should rarely be necessary to calculate the F&EI for more than three or four Process Units in a single process area of a Manufacturing Unit. The number of Process Units will vary according to the type of process and the configuration of the Manufacturing Unit. A separate F&EI form must be completed for each process unit evaluated. C. It is also important to give careful consideration to the state or point in time of the operation. By their nature, such normal stages as startup, steady-state operation, shutdown, filling, emptying, adding catalyst, etc., often create unique conditions having an impact on the F&EI. Generally, good judgment will enable selection of the point in time of operation to perform the F&EI calculation. Occasionally more than one point in time will have to be studied to determine the significant risk.
The instability ranking can be obtained from a qualitative description of the instability (or reactivity with water) of the substance, mixture or compound at ambient temperature. Definitions in National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 704 should be used to assign hazard ratings for materials which are not listed in the F&EI calculation tool in S2S.
Instability Ranking 1 4 10 14 14 14 24 24 24 29 29 29 40 40 40
0 1 2
F.P. 73 F ( 22.8 C) < 100 F (< 37.8 C) or F.P. < 73 F (< 22.8 C) & BP. 100 F ( 37.8 C) F.P. < 73 F (< 22.8 C) & B.P. < 100 F (< 37.8 C)
16
16
24
29
40
21
21
24
29
40
16 21 24 1 2 3 4 10 16
16 21 24 14 14 16
24 24 24 24 24 24
29 29 29 29 29 29
40 40 40 40 40 40
Combustible Solids
Dense > 40 mm thick4 Open < 40 mm thick5 Foam, fiber, powder, etc.6 F.P. = Flash Point, closed cup
Notes: 1 Includes volatile solids. 2 Will not burn in air when exposed to a temperature of 816 C for a period of five minutes. 3 K values are for a 16 Litre or larger closed test vessel with strong ignition source. See NFPA St 68, Guide for Venting of Deflagrations. 4 Includes wood 2 inches nominal thickness, magnesium ingots, tight stacks of solids and tight rolls of paper or plastic film5 Includes coarse granular material such as plastic pellets, rack storage, wood pallets and non-dusting ground material such as polystyrene. 6 Includes rubber goods such as tyres and boots,
worst case when focus is placed on the most hazardous operational point involving the MF, and this will be a realistic worst case one that could actually occur. In the F&EI system, only one hazard may be evaluated at a time. If the MF is based on a flammable liquid present in the Process Unit, do not take penalties relating to combustible dusts , even though dust may be present at a different time. A reasonable approach might be to evaluate the Process Unit once using the MF of the flammable liquid and a second time using the MF of the dust. Only the calculation resulting in the highest F&EI and Actual Maximum Probable Property Damage need to be reported. One important exception is the hybrid, described previously under Mixtures. If a hybrid mixture is selected as the most hazardous material present, it is penalized both as a dust and as a flammable vapor in the Process Unit Hazards Factor sections of this manual. Some items on the F&EI form have fixed penalty values. For those that do not, determine the appropriate penalty by consulting the text that follows. Remember analyze only one hazard at a time, relating the analysis to a specific, most hazardous time (e.g., startup, normal operation or shutdown). Keep the focus on the Process Unit and Material Factor selected for analysis and keep in mind that the results of the final calculation are only as valid as the appropriateness of the penalty assessments. The entry of all the pertinent information to allow calculation of the Fire and Explosion Index and the radius of exposure is made in the excel workbook F&EI Calculation workbook S2S July 2006.xls
When the indexes for all pertinent units in the plant have been calculated, the results give an indication of the ranking of risk of each unit relative to another. This ranking can be used for screening out the lower risk items and concentrating study on the higher ones.