Environment

and Safety
C. LISTON, HIMA Americas, Houston, Texas

How pipeline management becomes

part of a plant safety strategy
A typical refinery or chemical plant as guidelines for operators to help miti- • Reliability—A measure of the
contains miles of pipelines. Identifying gate the risks and consequences of leaks. system’s ability to accurately assess
and correcting leaks in these pipelines These standards include: whether a leak exists or not.
can be problematic. The potential cost of • API 1160—Overall standard • Accuracy—The ability of a system
remediation and possible financial penal- to cover all pipeline integrity to estimate leak parameters such
ties due to pipeline leaks in plants has in- management as leak flowrate, total volume lost
creased, along with the threat of damage to • API 1130—Design and and leak location.
the operator’s reputation from the possible implementation of leak detection • Robustness—The ability of a
negative environmental impact (FIG. 1). systems system to continue to function
Operators have low confidence in • API 1149—Theoretical during unusual hydraulic conditions
commercially available leak detection calculations of possible leak or when data is compromised.
systems, so they often delay action when detection system performance
an alarm is received from a leak detection • API 1175—Standard for the The evolution of leak detection. The
system, risking both financial resources selection, operation, maintenance industry’s response to these standards, and
and corporate reputation. Fortunately, and continuous improvement to leak detection overall, has been evolu-
the reliability of detection systems has of leak detection systems. tionary. This evolution can be represented
improved. These systems have been ad- as a set of four steps. The first step—which
opted into an innovative new approach, What to look for. Many operators do will be referred to as Leak Detection 1.0—
which is a hybrid leak detection solution not know what to look for when search- uses a single method chosen from the
based on a safety integrity level 3 (SIL 3) ing for a reliable leak detection system. A many available. It is worth reviewing these
safety controller. By tightly integrating combination of factors exist that must be alternatives, as they are not only used for
safety-related hardware and monitoring evaluated to find the best solution. The Leak Detection 1.0, but also provide the
software, the solution ensures the long- four primary factors include: building blocks for the more recent evo-
term availability and safety of a plant’s • Sensitivity—A combination of the lutionary stages. The detection methods
pipelines. It also contributes to reducing size of a detectable leak and the must first be classified by whether they are
the adverse consequences of incidents, time required to detect it. externally or internally based. The exter-
improves safety by minimizing the size of
leaks and protects the reputation of the
plant and its operator.

The need for standards. Continued

improvement of leak detection is neces-
sary since hundreds of pipeline incidents
are reported every year, and these num-
bers have not seen improvement over the
last 15 yr. The leading causes of these in-
cidents are material defects, followed by
corrosion, excavation damage and incor-
rect operation—although excavation has
figured more significantly in past years.
The American Petroleum Institute (API)
FIG. 1. Leak incident cost escalation.
has released a set of standards to be used
Hydrocarbon Processing | APRIL 2018 89
 Environment and Safety

nal methods discussed are acoustic sensor, The last external method uses a vapor measured flow deviates from the model, a
fiber optic cable and vapor sensor. sensor. A vapor-sensing tube, installed leak is identified. To design a reliable sys-
Acoustic sensors are distributed along along the entire length of the pipeline, tem with minimal false alarms, the noise
the pipeline to detect internal noise levels. contains air moving at a constant speed level should be continuously inspected to
Any leak produces a low-frequency acous- toward a sensor at the end of the pipeline. modify the models. RTTM works very well
tic noise at its location, which the sensors During a scan, an electrolysis cell emits in transient conditions, and can potentially
can detect. This method’s advantage is its a test peak of hydrogen. If vapor from a use existing flow, pressure, temperature
sensitivity to small leaks, while its disad- leak is detected, the system will calculate and density instrumentation. However, it is
vantages include a high number of false where the leak is based on timing differ- very expensive to program, and continuous
alarms, which can be caused by vehicles, ences between the vapor peak and hy- tuning is required. Training costs for opera-
valves or pumps, and the fact that the drogen peak arrivals at the sensor. Leak tors to tune the system must be allocated,
method’s efficiency and accuracy is de- location and size accuracy is high, but the and it is not always possible to obtain all of
pendent on the operator’s skill level. installation price is also steep. Scanning is the parameters necessary for programming.
Fiber-optic leak sensing depends on in- performed only once or twice a day rather The volume balance method is based
stalling a fiber optic cable along the entire than continuously, so a leak could become on the principle of the conservation of
pipeline length. This cable monitors con- extremely large by the time it is detected. mass; what goes in must come out, unless
tinuously for temperature changes caused there is a leak. This method is also used in
by pipeline leaks. This method’s advan- Internal methods. Five internal or com- some supervisory control and data acquisi-
tages are high leak location accuracy and putational pipeline monitoring (CPM) tion (SCADA) systems. The compensated
theft identification. However, it has a high methods are available. The first is a statisti- volume balance variant is the optimum
installation cost, leak identification times cal analysis method that relies on the pipe- variant to use in a leak detection system,
can be slow, stability over time is unprov- line pressure and flow profiles reacting to as this optimizes its functionality. This ver-
en and the entire pipeline must be exca- a leak in a typical manner. These profile sion of the method accounts for changes in
vated to install the cable. Additionally, the reactions can be calculated by using the both pressure and temperature. Rising tem-
method does not yield any leak size data. correlation between inlet and outlet flow, peratures result in expansion, and building
as well as inlet and outlet pressure. Unfor- pressures cause compression. This method
tunately, without a steady-state condition, uses proven technology and algorithms,
this correlation does not exist. This means utilizes existing instrumentation with min-
that the method does not work in tran- imal programming, and remains effective
sient conditions, and leak location tends in transient conditions. However, it can
to be of low accuracy, improving only as estimate only the leak location.
the leak continues. However, this method The pressure drop method is a simple
does have the advantage of utilizing exist- approach that uses existing instrumenta-
ing instrumentation. tion; during shutdown conditions, a pres-
Real-time transient modeling (RTTM) sure drop indicates a leak. This method
uses basic physical laws, such as conser- can detect the smallest of leaks—known
vation of mass, conservation of momen- as seepages. However, it too can estimate
tum and conservation of energy, to create only the leak location.
mathematical models of the flow within The negative pressure wave method
the pipeline. The pressure and flow pro- works on the principle that as a leak oc-
FIG. 2. Optimal leak detection methods. files are calculated in time steps. When the curs, it generates a negative pressure wave
of a known velocity both upstream and
downstream of the leak. The leak loca-
tion can be calculated by comparing the
arrival times of the negative wave at each
transmitter. The method utilizes existing
instrumentation to provide extreme leak
sensitivity and excellent leak location ac-
curacy, with a reduction in false alarms.

Leak Detection 2.0 and 3.0. With

the ‘building block’ detection methods
in mind, Leak Detection 2.0 simultane-
ously uses multiple leak detection meth-
ods to provide comprehensive coverage.
The approach is a combination of the best
three internal leak detection methods:
Enhanced pressure wave, compensated
FIG. 3. A hybrid solution for advanced leak detection.
volume balance and the pressure drop
90 APRIL 2018 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 Environment and Safety

method (FIG. 2). By applying these meth- lowered as necessary. These systems are Takeaways. The use of a hybrid ap-
odologies simultaneously, system avail- used particularly in environmentally sensi- proach solution for pipeline manage-
ability can be ensured for all phases of the tive areas where a delayed response can be ment offers plant operators consider-
pipeline, while also significantly reducing damaging to the environment. able benefits. Uninterrupted operation
false alarms. This approach reduces pro- and maximum availability are ensured,
gramming costs for the plant operator. Ad- A hybrid solution. Leak Detection 4.0 while the system complies with present
ditionally, the system requires little, if any, is an innovative approach that integrates and upcoming global safety standards
tuning to compensate for changes in the the leak detection methodologies of Leak according to SIL 3. This type of system
physical properties of the pipeline, such as Detection 2.0 with an SIL 3 safety system ensures maximum functional safety and
corrosion or debris buildup. with ESD capability. This method creates extremely high reliability by automati-
The next evolutionary phase, Leak a hybrid solution to optimize a plant’s leak cally shutting down affected areas during
Detection 3.0, introduces the concept of detection system (FIG. 3). critical situations. As a result, it cuts pipe-
emergency shutdown (ESD) action, as This solution can be installed as a line operating costs, significantly reduces
well as monitoring. It concerns detection complete pipeline management automa- false alarms and increases the profitability
of ruptures, which are more serious than tion solution to help improve safety in re- of installations.
leaks and must be handled accordingly. fineries and chemical plants. The solution NOTES
Typically, a leak is classified as a rupture if controls and regulates safety-related pro- a
Refers to HIMA’s FLOWorX leak detection software
it reaches or exceeds approximately 30% of cesses for uninterrupted operation over b
Refers to HIMA’s HIMax system
the pipeline flowrate, although the precise the plant’s entire lifecycle. It can continu-
value is defined by each plant operator’s ously monitor pipelines, shut them down CHRIS LISTON holds a BS degree in
individual risk analysis. Rupture detection automatically in hazard situations and civil engineering from the University
of Kansas. He has worked in the oil
systems were created as standalone sys- prevent or significantly reduce damage. and gas industry for most of his
tems operating independently of the leak This hybrid approach helps prevent false career. As a Regional Sales Manager
detection implementation, and are de- alarms, and allows unlimited alterations, for HIMA Americas for the past few
years, he has served as the subject
signed to shut down a pipeline in the event modifications, extensions, improvements matter expert for pipeline management systems. In
of a rupture. The leak percentage threshold and even mandatory proof tests while the that capacity, Mr. Liston covers midstream companies
at which the system reacts can be raised or plant is in operation. and pipeline EPCs throughout North America.

SUBMIT
ABSTRACTS
October 25, 2018 | Houston, Texas
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Hydrocarbon Processing | APRIL 2018 91