25-Mar-20

CHE F413: Process Plant Safety

Chapter 9
Introduction to Reliefs
Instructor-in-charge:
Amit Jain, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor, Dept. of Chemical Engg.
BITS Pilani – Pilani Campus
Pilani – 333031 (RJ), India
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Introduction
 Increase in process pressure beyond safe levels.
 Defense:
1. Prevent accident
2. Better Process Control
3. Install relief systems
 Relief Device
 Associated Downstream Process Equipment
 The methodology for the safe installation of pressure
relief devices is illustrated in Figure 1.

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Figure 1. Relief Method

Relief Concepts
• The incremental
pressure increase
over the initial relief
pressure is called
overpressure.
• The pressure
drops until the relief
valve closes; this
pressure difference
is called the
blowdown.

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Definitions
 Definition to describe reliefs:
 Set pressure:
 Relief devices begins to activate.
 MAWP:
 Also c/d as Design pressure
 Operating pressure:
 Usually 10% below MAWP.
 Accumulation:
 The pressure increase over the MAWP of a vessel during the
relief process.
 Overpressure:
 Pressure increase over the set pressure during the relieving
process.
 Back pressure:
 The pressure at the outlet of the relief device during the relief
process due to pressure in the discharge system. 5

Definitions
 Blow-down:
 The pressure difference between the relief set pressure and
the relief reseating pressure.
 Maximum allowable accumulated pressure
 The sum of MAWP plus the allowable accumulation.
 Relief systems
 Includes: the pipe to the relief,
 The relief device,
 Discharge pipelines,
 Knock-out drum,
 Scrubber,
 Flare, and other type of equipment which assist in the safe
relief process.
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Location of Reliefs
 Requires the review of
 Every unit operation
 Every process
 Installed at every point identified as potentially hazardous.
 The type of questions asked in this process are:
 What happens with loss of cooling, heating , or
agitation?
 What happens if the operator makes an error?
 What is the sequence of closing valves on vessels or in
lines which are filled with liquids and exposed to heat or
refrigeration?
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Guidelines for Specifying Relief

Positions
 All vessel other than steam generators need reliefs,
including reactors, storage tanks, towers and drums.
 Blocked-in sections of cool liquid lines which are exposed
to heat (like the sun) or refrigeration needs reliefs.
 Positive displacement pumps, compressors, and turbines
need reliefs on the discharge side.
 Storage vessels need pressure and vacuum reliefs to protect
against pumping in or out of a blocked-in vessel, or against
the generation of a vacuum by condensation.
 Vessel steam jacket are often rated for low pressure steam.
Reliefs are installed in jackets to prevent excessive steam
pressure due to operator error or regulator failure.
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Example 8.1

Example 8.1

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Major types of relief devices

Figure

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Advantages of Rupture Discs

 Rupture discs are available in much larger sizes
than spring-operated relief valves
 Rupture discs typically cost less than
equivalently sized spring-operated relief valves.
 They are more corrosion-resistant as compared
to spring-operated relief valves.

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Disadvantages of Rupture Discs

 An important problem with rupture discs is the flexing
of the metal as process pressures change which could
lead to premature failure at pressures below the set
pressure.
 In addition, vacuum service may cause rupture disc
failure if the relief system is not specifically
designed for this service.
 Once open, they may lead to the complete discharge of
process material.
 It may also allow air to enter the process, leading to a
possible fire and/or explosion
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Disadvantages of Rupture Discs

 when rupture discs rupture, pieces of the disc
may become dislodged, creating potential
downstream plugging problems.
 In all these examples the problems are
eliminated if the rupture disc and system are
specified and designed appropriately for the
specific operating conditions of the process.

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Rupture discs are frequently installed in series to a

spring-loaded relief:
(1) to protect an expensive spring-loaded device from a
corrosive environment,
(2) to give absolute isolation when handling extremely
toxic chemicals (spring-loaded reliefs may weep),
(3) to give absolute isolation when handling flammable
gases,
(4) to protect the relatively complex parts of a spring-
loaded device from reactive monomers that could cause
plugging, and
(5) to relieve slurries that may plug spring-loaded
devices.
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Subcategories of Spring-loaded
Reliefs
1. Relief Valve:
 Primarily for liquid service
 Reaches full capacity at 25% over-pressure
2. Safety Valve:
 Primarily for gas service
 Reseats at ~4% below the set pressure
3. Safety Relief Valve:
 For both liquid & gas service

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Relief Scenarios
 A relief scenario is description of one specific relief
event.
 The worst case scenario is the scenario or event which
requires the largest relief vent area.
 Examples of relief events are:
 A pump is dead headed; the pump relief is sized to handle the
full pump capacity at its rated pressure.
 For each specific relief all possible scenarios are
identified and catalogued. The worst case scenario is
identified later.

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Example 9-2: Specify Relief Types

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Ex. 9-2: Specify Relief Device

 PSV-la
 is a rupture disc
 to protect PSV-lb from the reactive monomers (plugging
from Polymer)
 b. PSV-lb
 is a safety relief valve
 because a runaway reaction will give two-phase flow, both
liquid and vapor.
 c. PSV-2
 is a relief valve
 because this relief is in a liquid service line. 19

Ex. 9-2: Specify Relief Device …

 d. PSV-3
 is a relief valve
 because it is for liquid only.

 e. PSV-4
 is a safety relief valve
 because liquid or vapor service is possible.

 Because this vent will go to a scrubber with possibly

large backpressures, a balanced bellows is specified.

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Ex. 9-2: Specify Relief Device…

 PSV-5
 is a safety relief valve for liquid service only.
 This relief provides protection for the following
scenario:
 The liquid is blocked in by closing all valves;
 the heat of reaction increases the temperature of the
surrounding reactor fluid; and
 pressures are increased inside the coil because of thermal
expansion.

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Relief Systems
 Once the relief type is chosen and relief size is computed, the
relief systems can be designed:
 Deciding how to install the relief in the system
 Deciding how to dispose of the exiting liquid and vapors
 Relief systems must be designed with the same effort and
creativity as for the process and plant design and development.
 Must be optimally designed and demonstrated.
 A poor installation can result in completely unsatisfactory relief
performance.
 A designer must be familiar with governmental codes, industrial
standards, and insurance requirements.
 Another important consideration is reaction forces.

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Relief System Practices

Telltale gauge Figure 8.10

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Relief System Practices

Figure 8.10

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Relief System Practices

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Relief System Practices

Figure 8.10

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Containment System
 In most system, relief is first discharged to a
knockout system to separate liquid from vapor.
 Vapors are then treated separately in condenser,
scrubber, incinerator, flare, or a combination.
 This type of system is called a total containment
system.

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Horizontal Knockout Drum

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Horizontal Knockout Drum

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Dropout Velocity
 The design method for sizing this type of system was published
by Grossel and in API 521.
 The method is based on the maximum allowable velocity for
minimizing liquid entrainment.
 The dropout velocity of a particle in a stream is:

Drag Coeffi.

Centipoise

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Flares
 Burn the combustible or toxic gas to produce non combustible,
non toxic products.
 The diameter of flare should be suitable to maintain stable flame
and prevent a blowout (when vapor velocities are greater than 20
% of the sonic velocity).
 The height of flare is fixed on the basis of heat generated.
 The usual criteria is that the heat intensity at the base of the
stack is not to exceed 1500 Btu/hr/sq ft.
 Ex. Heat intensity-effect:
 2000 _ blisters in 20 seconds
 5300 _ blisters in 5 seconds
 3000-4000 _ vegetation and wood are ignited
 350 _ Solar radiation

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 The heat intensity, q, at a specific point is,

where, Qf is heat generated, ε is emissivity, and R, the distance

from the flame.
 Assuming a flame height of 120 df, an emissivity of 0.048 M1/2,
and a heating value of 20,000 Btu/lb, the flare height Hf can be
given as a function of flare diameter df, desired heat intensity qf,
at a point Xf from the base of the flare, for a burning fluid with
molecular weight M, and a vapor rate Qm.

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 Scrubbers :
 If the vapors are toxic, a flare or scrubber systems
may be required.
 Scrubber systems may be packed columns, plate
columns, or venturi type.

 Condensers
 If the vapors have a relatively high boiling point and
if the recovered condensate is valuable.
 Condensation is simple and is usually less expensive.

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End of Chapter 9: Relief Systems.

Next Chapter: Hazards Identification

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