The global production of bio-based chemical products, particularly biofuel products, has tremendously increased over the last decade. Driven largely by a new legislation, this increase has generated the commercialization of new products and processes. Unfortunately, alongside these developments were a significant number of accidents and explosions at biofuel facilities, entailing property damage, injury, and even deaths. The aim of this current study is to draw attention to incidents that occurred in biofuel facilities and clarify the misconceptions that cause people to ignore safety in bio-refineries. A process hazard analysis (PHA) method, namely the hazard and operability study (HAZOP), is first used in biofuel production. This method is an ethanol distillation and dehydration process. Through the HAZOP analysis, 36 recommended action items are proposed, and all recommendations are accepted. The case study reveals that potential high-level risks exist in the current biofuel process design and operating procedures, and these risks can be better controlled if they can be previously identified.
A petrochemical smart factory is a green, efficient, safe and sustainable modern factory that combines cutting-edge information and communication technology with petrochemical advanced technology and equipment. A Cyber-physical System (CPS) is the infrastructure of a petrochemical smart factory. Based on the future challenges of the petrochemical industry, this paper proposes the definition, connotation and framework of a petrochemical CPS and constructs a CPS system at the enterprise, unit and field levels, respectively. Furthermore, the paper provides theoretical support and implementation reference of a CPS in the petrochemical industry and other industries by investigating the construction practice of a multi-level CPS in the China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC).
On-site maintenance (ONSM) is critical to ensuring the safety of equipment in the petrochemical industry. However, many accidents occur during ONSM processes because of unstable equipment, complicated work environment, and human error. To reduce congestion and exposure to hazards during on-site operations and thereby reduce the probability of accidents, off-site maintenance (OFSM) is proposed based on Energy Release Theory (ERT). The information requirements for OFSM are analyzed. A support system for OFSM, which makes use of visualization, information management, and localization capabilities, is developed. A case study utilizing OFSM and its support system for an oil-loading facility of a petrochemical company is conducted. The application results indicated that implementation of OFSM system can significantly reduce the operation risks and can improve the operation efficiency.