Relief system

design
A BASIC INTRODUCTION
BY QAYYUM KHAN– LEAD PROCESS ENGINEER
2
Mexico City Disaster 3

Major Contributing Cause: Missing Safety Valve

4
5
 6

Superimposed back pressure :-

Pressure in discharge header before valve
opens. Can be constant or variable.

Build up back pressure :-

Pressure in discharge header due to frictional
losses after valve opens.

Total back pressure :- Back pressure

Superimposed back pressure + build up

back pressure
 7
General Code requirements include:
ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel Codes

ASME B31.3 / Petroleum Refinery Piping

API RP 520 Sizing, selection and installation of pressure devices in

refineries part 1

API RP 520 Sizing, selection and installation of pressure devices in

refineries part 2

API RP 521 Guide for pressure relieving and depressurising

system.

API RP 526 Flanged steel pressure relief valve

API STD 2000 Venting atmospheric and low pressure storage tank
8
 9

Locate
Relief valve
Selection
of Relief
valve
Credible
Scenario

Choose
Worst case

Size relief
valve
Design
relief
system
 10
 Proximity to protected equipment and To
Flare
should be at or between the source of
overpressure and Equipment/piping.
 In vapor service, it should be located at
a high point in the system. There must be Static
clear path exists between the source of
overpressure and the relief valve. Accumulation

 In liquid service, it must be located such

that equipment and piping are protected
against static accumulation of liquid.
 It must be located to avoid pulsating
service, particularly true for rapture disc,
where fatigue from pulsation can often
lead to a premature failure of rupture
disc.
 Maintenance access.
 11
 Vessel
. with demister pad should
have the relief nozzle s located
below of demister pad to avoid
relieving through demister pad.
 In fractionating tower sytem,it
shall be installed on the 
Flare
To

fractionating tower or its

overhead vapor line.To minimise
high inlet pressure drops, large
relief valve may be flanged
directly to the fractionating
tower.

Demister pad
 12

I. Spring operated valves

 Conventional pressure relief valve
 Balance bellow pressure relief valve
 Pilot operated pressure relief valve
II. Rapture devices
 Rapture disc
 Rapture pin
 13
When to use spring operated valve
 Losing entire contents is unacceptable
• Fluids above normal boiling point
• Toxic fluids
 Where process temperature varies significantly.
 Return to normal operations quickly
 Withstand process pressure changes, including vacuum and
cyclic load.
 14

When to use rapture disc /Pin

 Capital and maintenance savings
 Losing the contents is not an issue
 Benign service (nontoxic, non-hazardous)
 Need for fast-acting device
 Potential for relief valve plugging
 High viscosity liquids
 15
I. Spring operated valves

A. Conventional type
It is used when back pressure

at outlet of relief valve is less

than
10% of set pressure.

 Advantages
+ Less expensive, most reliable
type if properly sized and
operated
+ Versatile - can be used in
many services
 16
 Disadvantages

- Relieving pressure
affected by back
pressure Conventional

- Susceptible to chatter if Relief Valve

built-up back pressure

is too high
- Coke or slurry particle
may
Clog guiding surface or
foul seating surface
 17
B. Balance bellow type
It is used when back pressure

at outlet of relief valve is

more than 10% and less
than 50% of set pressure.

 Advantages
+ It can be used in flashing
service.
+ Can handle higher built-
up back pressure
+ Protects spring from
corrosion
 18
 Disadvantages

- Bellows susceptible to
fatigue/rupture
- May release
flammables/toxics to
atmosphere
- It can not be used in the
service where freezing
may occur, including
hydrate formation.
- Not suitable for heavy
oils, waxy service
 19
B. Pilot operated
It is used when back pressure
is less than 70% of set
pressure.

 Advantages
+ Back flow preventer feature
+ Can operate at up to 98% of
set pressure
+ Less susceptible to chatter
(some models)
+ Low pressure application,
where operating pressure is
90% of set pressure
+ Where premium tightness
desired
 20

 Disadvantages

- Not recommended in services following Indian boiler

regulation.
- Shall not be used in dirty service and high
temperature service above limits recommended by
valve manufacturer
- Shall not be used in service which may result in solid
precipitation.
21
 22
II. Rapture Devices

A. Rapture Disc
It is used when operating pressure is 70%
of the rated burst pressure. Reverse-
acting
disk are used for operating pressure 90%
of burst pressure
 Advantages

+ Used where rapid pressure

build up is expected.
+ Used in viscous service
 23
 Disadvantages
- It do not reclose .hence
continues loss of product.
- It must be isolated,
removed and replaced
after each relief.
- It is not recommended
where process
temperature varies
significantly.
- It should not be used
where significant
superimposed back
pressure exist.
 24
B. Rapture Pins
Rapture pins are similar in function
to a rapture disk.
Advantages

+ It is not affected by
variation in process
temperature.
+ Easy maintenance and
replacement, it does
not require isolating and
opening the devices.
 25
o Relief scenarios are due to an imbalance in heat,
pressure, mass species (chemical reaction).
o In order to design the safety and relief systems, the
process engineer must determine the cause of
overpressure. It require detail analysis of entire system
and identification of all potential upsets (during start of
run and end of run) both internal and external to process
equipment
o The result of above analysis need to be incorporated in
the Relief narrative.
 26
Relief scenarios
1. Blocked outlet
2. Loss of cooling
3. Reflux failure
4. Loss of feed
5. Overfilling
6. Automatic control failure
7. Abnormal heat input
8. Exchanger tube rupture
9. Fire case
 27
10. Hydraulic expansion
11. Total power failure/partial power failure
12. Internal explosion
13. Addition of volatiles
14. Side stream reflux/pump around failure
15. Accumulation of non condensate
16. Check valve failure.
17. Upset /Relief in adjacent equipment
18. Vapor break through
19. Loss of separation ability
20. Inadvertent operation of a manual valve
 28
 Blocked out let should be assumed to occur at any location
in the process where flow could be blocked. The effect of
blocked outlet should be applied to piping system as well
as equipment.
Flow blockage could be caused by
 Inadvertent closing or failure of manual valve
 Accumulation of solid
 Failure to remove isolation blind
 Failure of instrumented system or control valve
 Failure of cooling water for condensing system
This scenario may be applied with other relief scenario
example thermal
Expansion.
 29

Pump discharge
 In this scenario, only source of fluid having sufficient pressure to exceed MAWP shall be considered

blocked outlet
as event of causing relief .Example when MAWP of equipment is higher than maximum discharge
pressure of centrifugal pump (at maximum suction and shut in condition, plus frequency variation
and turbine over speed ),relief load for closed outlet is zero.
 30

No flow
Pressure

3% frequency
factor
Normal flow

Centrifugal
Pump

Capacity
 31

1. Compressor, pump discharge :-

Suction pressure based on full analysis of fault condition. Discharge pressure control is
assumed to remain in the normal operating condition, usually closed (no credit);the
surge or spillback control remain in normal position; and the compressor discharge
PSV functions normally. Using the compressor curve, determine pump/compressor
discharge volume flow that corresponds to a discharge pressure equal to vessel PSV
relieving pressure.
2. Supply header :-
Supply pressure based on a full analysis of the fault condition.
Determine flow that corresponds to the hydraulic limit of the full open system with
vessel from header to vessel PSV at relieving pressure.
 Consider outlets individually closed.
For the vessel or pipe that has multiple outlets, select the block out that gives largest relief.
Multipleoutlets closed should be considered where there is single comman cause such as interlock,
instrument air failure, or multiple stream entering a single line that is blocked.
 Increase in relief load resulting from additional (solar /high temperate process stream) heat input .
 32
 Thermal expansion of process fluid
may result from energy absorbed
from external source.
 The increase in fluid temperature
brings about a decrease in density
and specific volume will goes up Hydraulic
expansion
ultimately it increase the pressure. It
may required provision for thermal
relief .
The analysis of thermal expansion
scenario will fall into following
categories.
Blocked
1. Simple thermal expansion with a outlet
liquid only relief
2. Thermal expansion of a liquid with
vaporization at relief condition
3. Thermal expansion of
compressible vapor.
 33

1.Relief load due to • Relief load (gpm) = BH/500GC

thermal expansion • B=Cubical expansion coefficient
(1/°F)
of liquid is • H= Heat transfer rate BTU/HR.
calculated as • G=Specific gravity
• C=Specific heat (BTU/pound. °F)

2.Thermal relief with • W =H/λ

• W= vapor relief rate
vaporization is • H= Total heat transfer rate,BTU/hr
calculated as • λ = latent heat of vaporization
 34

1.Relief load due • W =Q*B/C

• B=Expansion coefficient for the gas at
to thermal relief condition (vol/vol/⁰ F)
expansion of gas • Q=Absorbed
BTU/hr
duty at relief condition,

is calculated as • C = specific heat of gas at relief

condition BTU/lb.°F
 35
Step to be followed in fire case relief load calculation
 Wetted surface area.
 Environmental factors.
 Determining heat input from fire.
 Relief load calculation.
Fire circle:- As per API-RP 521 section 3.19.2.2 (5th ed) where minimum fire circle
area of 2500 sq feet (i.e 21 meter ) and 25 flame height is recommended But it
may exceed up to 30 meter if vessel diameter exceed the 6.1 meter.
While calculating fire relief load ,process engineer should assume
 All inlets and outlets are blocked with no heat input other than fire
 No heat exchange
 No condensing
 shut down of all pumps and compressor
 36

A   DE   L  D B /180

wet    

A   DE   L  D B /180 B  cos11 2 E D 

wet    
 
 37
 API RP 520/521/2000,NFPA 30 and
OSHA 1910 permit use of certain
environmental factor to partially or
completely mitigate relief loads
resulting from external pool fire.
 Mitigation is typically achieved by
use of “fire proof” or “fire resistant
insulation”
Insulation can only be used to mitigate
fire load if the following is met.
 Insulation shall have capacity to
resist fire for 2 hours without losing its
resistance to heat transfer.
Approval shall be obtain from the
client. It is his responsibility to maintain
integrity of insulation.
 38

0.82
Q  21,000 F  A





Btu/hr wet
 

0.82
Q  34,500 F  A






Btu/hr  wet 
 39

• W = Q/λ
• W = reliving rate ( lbs/hr)
Relieving rate • Q = Heat absorption by vessel
(Btu/Hr )
• λ = Latent heat of vaporization (BTU/lbs)
 40

Latent heat of vaporization (λ) of fire relief vapor shall

be determine as follows
• For single component, and narrow boiling mullticomponanat , use latent heat of
valorization at relieving pressure
• For wide boiling multicomponanat with non-condensate gases or steam in
overhead vapor
I. Remove non condensate from required stream.
II. Using unisim,Calculate duty required to flash 5 mole% of required stream.
III. Mass flow rate of 5 mole % flash stream.
IV. λ =Duty/mass flow rate
 41

Latent heat calculation

for multicomponant
system
42
 43
Supercritical :-
If the content of vessel are at or
Methodology in brief
above its critical 1. Streams are created in unisim that has the
composition of the required. The temperature is
pressure/temperature during fire set to the normal process temperature, the
relief at relieving pressure fire heat pressure is set to the relieving pressure.
input cause thermal expansion of 2. Calculate the volume of the vessel being
the supercritical fluid. protected and enter it into unisim as the Actual
Volume Flow. This is done by using an "adjust"
Since fluid is above its critical pressure function to set the molar flow to be such that the
volume flow is correct.
and temperature it is not possible to
generate physical property at its 3. Connect the stream to a heater that has zero
reliving condition. Hence it is not pressure drop. Set the heat flow into the heater to
be the HEAT ABSORBED divided by 12 (to calc 5
possible to estimate relief load mins worth of heat input).
during fire case. 4. Create the outlet stream from the exchanger and
note that the actual volume flow is greater than
To calculate relief load we need to on the inlet. Create a "splitter" to remove all the
follow methodology mention as excess flow rate so that the actual volume flow is
follows. reduced back to the volume of vessel.
5. Repeat the steps above for in order to assess
which time stage produces the greatest volume
flow to be relieved
 44

Relief load calculation

 45
Liquid relief :-
When a PRV for liquid –filled system is size
for liquid displaced by vapor generated
by fire.It is likely that flashing will occur at
the PRV outlet. In this case HEM
(homogeneous equilibrium method shall
be used. These assume equilibrium
between the liquid and vapor at all
pressure transit through the PSV.
A mass flux is calculating by integrating
Bernoulli's equation as follows :

A = W/Gmax*Kb*Kd
 46

This section pertains to analyzing partial power failure scenarios for calculating individual relief load. Starting point for assessing
electric power failure is single diagram, which defines the bus allocation of A, B, and potentially C motor driver. The loss of
any bus or part of a bus bar(and consequence the connected downstream buses)must be considered. Electrical driven
equipment is generally arranged on the bus bar such that the main driver is on the apposite half of bus bar to
the standby unit

There could be two type of power failure

1. Total power failure

2. Partial power failure

For the power failure scenario under investigation determine the following:
 Loss of voltage level individually and resulting electric system affected (for example complete unit wise loss of 440 volt supply, while 2300 volt supply,
steam driver, gas engine driver etc still operable )

 Loss of any one feeder system or substation (for example complete wise loss of 440 volt and 2300 volt while steam driver and gas driver still operating.

 Loss of any individual electric equipment.

 Failure of one bus (e.g A or B pump buses) if the driven equipment can be arrange such that the individual relief loads can be made worse by failure
of only certain driver

 Partial power failure can cause greater relief load than total power failure
 47

Relief load
 Unbalance heat load
calculation
for column:
I. Basic approach is to make a mass
and energy balance under relief
condition. We must make
estimate of all streams (mass and
enthalpy ) crossing system
boundary during relief except
actual relief load
48
 Basic unbalanced heat load equation:
49

I. Partial power failure (Reflux

pump fails):-
a. Feed pump operate : feed continues
b. Splitter reflux pump P-4522A/B fail,
No reflux or distillate.
c. Splitter overhead duty fails
d. LP steam reboiler E-4523 operate:
heat input to column
e. Spitter botom pump P-4520 A/B
Continue: bottom draw off continue.
 50

Unbalanced heat load

51