Fundamentals of Process Safety Engineering

This textbook covers the essential aspects of process safety engineering in a practical and comprehensive manner.

It provides readers with an understanding of process safety hazards in the refining and petrochemical industries and how to manage them in a reliable and professional manner. It covers the most important concepts: static electricity, intensity of thermal radiation, thermodynamics of fluid phase equilibria, boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE), emission source models, hazard identification methods, risk control and methods for achieving manufacturing excellence while also focusing on safety. Extensive case studies are included.

Aimed at senior undergraduate and graduate chemical engineering students and practicing engineers, this book covers process safety principles and engineering practice authoritatively, with comprehensive examples:

? Fundamentals, methods, and procedures for the industrial practice of process safety engineering.
? The thermodynamic fundamentals and computational methods for release rates from ruptures in pipelines, vessels, and relief valves.
? Fundamentals of static electricity hazards and their mitigation.
? Quantitative assessment of fires and explosions.
? Principles of dispersion calculations for toxic or flammable gases and vapors.
? Methods of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment and control.

Samarendra Kumar Biswas is an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of process safety. He graduated in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in 1957 and started teaching at Jadavpur University. Immediately thereafter, under an Indo-American Technical Collaboration Programme, he went to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering. He returned to India in 1961 and joined the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, where he taught Chemical Engineering initially as Lecturer and then as Assistant Professor. After IIT, Dr. Biswas joined Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) India and worked initially for eight years on explosives research, and later as Technical Manager. While in Research, he developed new explosives formulations and obtained the first patent in India on pumpable slurry explosives. He then supervised field trials in iron ore mines. In 1975, Dr. Biswas was appointed as Technical Manager, ICI India major complex near Kolkata with manufacturing units of polyethylene (LDPE), rubber chemicals, paints, and other products. As Technical Manager, Dr. Biswas oversaw safety, quality control, and material and energy efficiencies of all units. Jointly with safety experts from the UK, Dr. Biswas conducted a number of safety training classes for ICI India’s managers. In his last two years before retirement from ICI in 1993, Dr. Biswas was the Corporate Environment Manager, responsible for all ICI India plants in India. After retirement from ICI, Dr. Biswas joined the board of the Aegis Group (Aegis Chemicals Ltd., Aegis Logistics Limited, Hindustan Aegis LPG Ltd) in Bombay, as Technical Director responsible for process engineering and operational safety of the Group’s major Oil, Gas, and Bulk liquid Chemical exports, imports, storage facilities in various Indian ports, and distribution facilities countrywide.

Umesh Mathur graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Ind