A global petrochemical company contracted Smith & Burgess to provide engineering assistance to answer PHA recommendations generated as part of a Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA) assessment. Tasks included reviewing the initial recommendations along with the basis for the severities from the team and providing options for resolution. The facility wanted to ensure that sufficient resources were committed in resolving the LOPA concerns while complying with both industry practices and state and federal technical, environmental and safety requirements.
View Project >A United States production company was in the process of designing a natural gas liquids facility. This facility was being commissioned when a review of the design package indicated that the vent stack for the relief valves had not been sized. Based on the information provided, Smith & Burgess developed the relief systems loads. Upon completion, Smith & Burgess was able to provide a detailed vent stack-sizing basis that quickly satisfied RAGAGEP requirements. This lead to an increase in the overall safety of the facility, while satisfying the requirements from the regulatory review, through minor system re-designs.
View Project >A national petroleum company in the process of building a new gas plant, fed by a natural gas field, changed the operating conditions of a section of the gathering system. Rather than modifying the physical system to operate with high pressure and low pressure headers, the company consolidated the entire gathering system into a single system. As a result, the two flare stacks needed to be designed to ensure their adequacy after the major changes.
View Project >A global oil and natural gas operation company contracted Smith & Burgess to provide engineering assistance for reviewing the PSM standard 29CFR191.119 compliance at their production facilities. They were also tasked with helping the company develop a methodology to document the design basis for the relief devices that protect the facilities equipment. These facilities are not currently covered in the PSM standard 29CFR191.119. In applying the standard, the company wanted to assess how well those facilities fared in terms of compliance. The overpressure study helped the company identify several operating and design issues that deviated from the standard, as well as identify the existing documentation deficiencies in order to comply with PSM standard 29CFR191.119. Lastly, the study helped the company categorize their facilities based on the size and set pressure of relief device and operating conditions.
View Project >A global energy and refining company was seeking to resolve an issue with their coker unit operations at an Arctic Circle refinery. Due to throughput increases, the operating pressures in the facility’s coke drums increased significantly and were approaching the MAWP of the drums; subsequently, the relief devices installed on the drums would simmer, releasing material into the flare system that would then clog the header piping. In addition to this problem, there were also previously identified concerns related to the inlet pressure losses for the relief devices. This prompted the facility to lower the set pressure on some of the relief devices, further worsening the simmering problem. The facility was concerned they would have to cut production rates in order to resolve these issues.
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