High Integrity Pressure Protection System (HIPPS) Application:

For Relief Load Evaluation & Optimization of Flare Sizing

ABSTRACT
Process safety and risk mitigation during plant operations upsets, traditional methods & new
techniques/best practices, not only guide us towards a risk free working environment, but also bring
new thoughts to mitigate catastrophic incidents. These incidents can occur in case of upset plant
conditions and leading to an overpressure scenario.
For pressurized systems, relief devices are used to ensure safety of equipment and personnel. These

systems relieve all additional loads to the Flares. Proper Flare Sizing was and is still a big challenge to
optimize the operational/environmental cost by avoiding fluids to go to the flare. For an optimized relief
system, followings are the key items:

Relief Load Calculations

Design of Relief Valve
Proper Flare Load Calculation

Relief load calculations must be performed very carefully in order to protect the process system and at
the same time optimizing the relief system avoiding oversize of the relief headers & flare stacks.
Similarly, proper Flare Load Calculations is the key factor for the optimized performance in order to
operation as well as environment.
HIPPS (High Integrity Pressure Protection System) is a tool to ensure alternate solution to protect
equipment in cases where:

High-pressures and / or flow rates are processed.

The environment is to be protected.
The economic viability of a development needs improvement.
The risk profile of the plant must be reduced.

The HIPPS will shut off the source of high pressure before the design pressure of the system is exceeded,
thus preventing loss of containment through rupture (explosion) of a line or vessel. Therefore, a HIPPS is
considered as a barrier between a high-pressure and a low-pressure section of an installation.
However, in some cases, to ensure process safe times, some alternate/parallel options to be considered
as well i.e. relief system along with HIPPS, or HIPPS along with relief system.

Key Words: HIPPS, Relief Load, Flare Sizing, Process Optimization, Process Safety