THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CH25B PLANT AND SAFETY ENGINEERING

SAFETY ANALYSIS FOR THE PRODUCTION

OF METHANOL

Lecturer: Dr. H. FARABI

GROUP: 9
Ann Marie Chamansingh
Jodi Morris
Karinsa Tulsie
Reyos Seeberan
Project Summary

“A General Safety Analysis for the Production

of Methanol based on Methanol Holdings
Trinidad Limited (MHTL)”

Identification of possible scenarios that could result

in hazards:
• Fire
• Explosion
• Toxic Release
Calculations performed to quantify analysis using
Consequence Analysis Models
General Safety Aspects
 Definition of Terms
Safety: The identification and mitigation of
Risk: The likelihood of a specified undesired event occurring
within a specified period or in specified circumstances
Pool fire: Combustion of material evaporating from a layer of liquid
at the base of the fire
Jet Fire: A fire type resulting from fires from pressurized release
of gas and/or liquid.
Explosion: A release of energy that causes a pressure discontinuity
or blast wave
Toxic Release: Sudden release of toxic vapours that have the potential
to cause death and severe injuries at a much greater
distance.
1.Puff: Instantaneous Emissions 2.Plume: Continuous Emission
BLEVE: Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion: a combination
of fire and explosion with an intense emission of thermal
flux.
LOCATION OF POINT LISAS
INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
 TTMC – Trinidad and Tobago
Methanol Company Ltd.
 MHTL Point Lisas Methanol Complex (consists of 4 methanol plants)
located at Point Lisas Industrial Estate
 Company Safety Approach: Protecting
• People
• Property
• Environment
• Liability Issues
• Business Income
 Environmental Management System patterned along lines of ISO 14000
Standards.
 Examples of Initiatives Undertaken:
• Standard Operating Procedures (S.O.P)
• Risk and Environmental Impact Assessment
• Employee Orientation Training
• Process Safety Information
 Production of Methanol
ICI Low Pressure Methanol Synthesis Process

Raw Materials: Natural gas (96% methane) – Received from NGC

Water – Received from WASA

Four Main Process Stages:

Feed Purification - Desulphurisation

Reforming - CH4 + H2O → CO + 3H2

CO + H2O → CO2 +H2

Methanol Synthesis - CO + 2H2 → CH3OH

CO + H2O → CO2 + H2
CO2 + 3H2 → CH3OH + H2O

Methanol Purification - Two step distillation

Resulting Product Purity: 99% methanol
METHANOL SYNTHESIS PROCESS
 Methanol, CH3OH
 Methanol is a primary alcohol that is used in the manufacture of a
variety of other downstream chemicals (e.g. formaldehyde, MTBE )
or directly as a fuel.

 Stored in totally enclosed equipment, designed to avoid ignition and

human contact.

 Properties of Methanol

Molecular Weight 32.04

Boiling Point 64.5°C
Freezing Point -97.8 °C
Vapour Pressure 96 mmHg at 20°C
Solubility in water 100% at 20°C
Flashpoint 11°C
Evaporation Rate 2.1
Vapour Density( air =1) 1.105 at 15°C
Liquid Density 791 kg/m3
PFD INDICATING LOCATION OF
SCENARIOS
 Scenario 3 :
Scenario:

Malfunction of the Make-Compressor.

Possible cause for scenario:

Age of equipment-wear/tear of the compressor could cause it to fail and
consequently stop performing its required function.
Consequences of Scenario:
- No flow of Synthesis Gas through the Make up Compressor into the Methanol Reactor.

- Build-up of gases in the Secondary Reformer.

- Catastrophic rupture of this pressurized vessel characterized as a physical explosion.

This causes a segment of the vessel to be blown away due to the effect of this
explosion.

– No feed enters the Methanol Reactor. Thus, steam enters the reactor but has no feed
to interact with. There is a build-up of steam in the reactor which leads to another
physical explosion and rupture of the reactor.
 Calculations
The following calculations are performed for the safety analysis:
1.) Explosion energy and overpressure for the Secondary Reformer and
the Methanol Reactor.
2.) Range of Fragment from the Secondary Reformer in air.
3.) Velocity of fragments from Rupture of the Methanol Reactor.

1.) E = explosion energy  P1  P2 

E v
 1
For the Secondary Reformer the explosion was calculated to be:
E = 68.2 MJ due to a build up of pressure in the Reformer(P1= 200
bars)
V- volume of vessel = 0.20m3

Heat capacity ratio for expanding gas (unitless) (1.28 for steam, 1.40 for
O2 and 1.40 for CO)

Po- atmospheric pressure. = 1.01 bars.

Similiarly the explosion energy for the reactor was found to be 7.99MJ.
 Calculations (cont’d)
Ps

1.) Overpressure Calculation:

 Calculation of Scaled Distance: 1
(where r is the distance from the vessel centre.)  P0  3
R  r 
E
 Calculation of Scaled Overpressure:
Using Fig 3.13, = 0.114832

 Adjustment of this Overpressure:

Using Table 3.7, the multiplier for a cylindrical vessel is 1.6
Scaled overpressure = (1.6) (0.114832) = 0.1837312

 Calculation of Final Overpressure:

Final Overpressure = Scaled Overpressure × P0
= 0.1837312 ×1.01
= 0.1855685 bar

Similarly the overpressure for the reactor was 0.117743 bar

 Calculations (cont’d)
2.) Calculation of Range of Fragment in air:
 Calculation of scaled velocity:

C D A D u 2
u
Mf g
With po = ambient air density = 1.19kgm-3 , CD = drag coefficient = 1.05, AD = surface
area of fragment = 19.625 m2, u = initial velocity of fragment (assumed to be
15ms-1) and Mf = mass of fragment = 200kg.

 Determination of actual range:

R= 1.49 = scaled fragment
Mf R range determined from fig
r  3.18.
0C D A D
The actual range of the
fragment was calculated to
be 12.20 m
 Calculations (cont’d)
3.) Calculation of velocity fragments from rupture of Reactor.

 Calculation of Scaled Pressure

Where, P – rupture pressure (assumed to be 15 MPa ), P 0 = 0.101 MPa, V =

volume of vessel calculated to be 21.2 m 3, Mc – mass of vessel ( assumed to be
300kg ), a0 – speed of sound of the gas in the vessel = 486.3 m/s
 P  P0  V
P
M c a 02

Scaled Pressure = 4.452093

 Determination of the dimensionless velocity
From table 3,9 this was found to be 4.817055
 Calculation of actual velocity for each fragment.
For the small fragment, ν = 1732.13 m/s
For the large fragment, ν = 2763.12 m/s