University of Cagliari

Faculty of Engineering and Architecture

Chemical Engineering and biotechnological processes
Course of Safety and Environmental Chemical Engineering

Exercise-4 (Safety)

BY Tiegisti Fessehaie Embaie Matricola-70/88/65277

Date 29/12/2022
Exercise 6-1
Many chemical operators believe that the inerted vapors above a flammable liquid are not flammable when
they mix with air. This is frequently not the case: If the inerted vapors escape from the vessel and mix with
air or if the vessel is purged with air after emptying, the resulting mixture might be flammable.
A storage vessel contains liquid benzene at 120°F. The vessel vapor space is inerted with pure nitrogen. The
total pressure in the vessel headspace is equal to 0.6 (in) of water gauge. Assume that the vapor space is
saturated with benzene vapor.
(a) Determine the volume percent concentration of benzene in the vapor.
(b) Use a flammability diagram to show whether or not this mixture will become flammable when
mixed with air.
The following data are known: LFL = 1.4 %vol; UFL = 7.1 %vol; UOL=36 %vol; LOL ≅ LFL;
LOC=11.4%

Solution:
a. First we have to calculate Psat of benzene using Antoine equation :

=> Psat = 261.5mmHg =0.34408 atm

And we know the absolute pressure is 1 atm , so we can fine the volume percent concentration of
benzene
%vol benzene = 34.4% and %vol of N2 = 65.6%
b. We can refer to excel file which is calculated in detaile .
C6H6 + 7.5 O2 --> 6CO2 + 3H2O ⇒ z = 7.5
We can find the percentage of oxygen by the following expression in which the stoichiometric line
can be drawn :-

= 88.2%
The flammability diagram can be drawn by :-

- First we Draw LFL and UFL on air line (%Fuel in air) and consider interception with the air line.
- Then we Draw stoichiometric line using z from combustion reaction.
- Then we Plot intersection of LOC with stoichiometric line.
- After that we Draw LOL and UOL in pure oxygen).
- Finally we Connect the dots to get approximate diagram

Since our fuel(benzene) and nitrogen composition lays in the flammability zone We can conclude
that our mixture is flammable when mixed with air.
 0 100

10 90

20 80

30 70
40
60
50
50

60 40

70 30
80
20
90
10
100LOL operative
UFL
LFL
#REF! 0
0.00 10.00 20.00 30.00 40.00 50.00 60.00 70.00 80.00 90.00100.00

Fuel Nitrogen Oxygen

Stoich-line (1st point) 0 100 0
Stoich-line (2st point) 11.7647 0 88.2353
LOC (1st point) 88.6 0 11.4
LOC (2st point) 0 88.6 11.4
Air line (1st point) 100 0 0
Air line (2st point) 0 79 21
LFL (1st point) 1.4 98.6 0
LFL (2st point) 1.4 77.894 20.706
UFL (1st point) 7.1 92.9 0
UFL (2st point) 7.1 73.4 19.5
LOL (1st point) 1.4 0 98.6
LOL (2nd point) 1.4 0 98.6
UOL (1st point) 36 64 0
UOL (2nd point) 36 0 64
Operative line (1st point) 34.17 65.83 0
Operative line (2st point) 0 79 21
Exercise 6 – 2

Our plant site is considering installing a propane storage tank at a location 110 m from a control room. We
have been asked to evaluate the risk at this location due to flammability and explosion hazards.

(a) What continuous release of propane (in kg/s) is required to result in a concentration at the control room
equal to the LFL? Make sure you clearly state and validate your assumption of atmospheric stability.
Assume rural conditions, a temperature of 25˚C, and a pressure of 1 atm.

(b) The control room is designed to withstand a side-on peak overpressure of 2.2 psi. How much propane (in
kg) can be stored at this location? Be sure to clearly state and justify your assumption of an explosion
efficiency.

For propane: LFL = 2.1 %vol ; Ec = 2043.1 KJ/mole

Solution:
Using the LFL as the concentration limit value , we can calculate the mass flow rate of propane that is to be
released into 110 meters as follows.

The suitable model here is the plume model by considering a continuous release of propane.

we can find Qm as we have C taken from LFL=2.1%=21000ppm

And σy and σz can be calculated from :-

X= tank location = 110m and we assume rural condition and stability class of F

Qm= 1.769400764kg/s
Then we can calculate the scaled overpressure (Ps) :

= 0.14966

where Po is side-on peak overpressure and Pa is the atmospheric pressure.

Now we can find the scaled distance (Z) from the graph below :- Z =12

But to find the exact value of Z we should use this formula :-

=> Z= 12.42

Then we can find the mass of TNT from the following expression:-

=> mTNT = 694.7255Kg

Then We can find mass of total fuel (propane):

=> m = 3513.456Kg,

Where, - Ec is the heat of combustion of the fuel (2043.1kj/mol)

- ETNT is the heat of combustion for TNT (4686kg/kJ)

- ƞ= the explosion efficiency (0.02)
Exercise 7-1
A 1000 m3 storage vessel contains liquid methyl alcohol (CH4O). The vessel is padded with a gas mix
obtained from a membrane separation unit. The gas from the membrane unit contains 98% nitrogen (plus 2%
oxygen). The vessel is padded to a total pressure of 10 mmHg gauge.
We must prepare the vessel for entry for the annual inspection of the inside of the vessel. The liquid is first
drained from the tank prior to this operation, and then the empty tank must be inerted using a sweep purging
method prior to opening the vessel and allowing air to enter.
Assume an ambient temperature of 25°C and 1 atm.
(a) What is the concentration of gas (in vol. %) within the tank after draining the liquid and prior to
inerting?
(b) Estimate the target fuel concentration (in vol. %) for the inerting operation.
(c) If we use a sweep purging inerting procedure, using the 98% nitrogen sweep gas from the membrane
unit, how much total sweep gas (in m3 at 25 °C and 1 atm) is required to achieve the desired target
concentration?
(d) If the gas from the membrane unit is supplied at the rate of 5 kg/min, how long (in min) will it take
to achieve the desired target concentration?
(e) Calculate the purging cycles and the amount of nitrogen to use if we use a vacuum purge procedure
with a lower pressure equal to 20 mmHg. Calculate also the amount of nitrogen consumed.

For methanol: LFL = 7.5%; UFL = 36%

Solution:
First we need to calculate mol fraction of methanol vapor (y) by dividing Psat by total pressure ,where Psat
can be evaluated from the Antoine equation.
Y = 0.1648= 16.48% (this can be considered as C1 in the formula for finding Total Volume)

The remaining 83.52% is the composition of the air (O2 and N2)
And since gas contains 98% nitrogen and 2% oxygen the composition will be:-

CH4O 16.48538 %
N2 81.84433 %
O2 1.670292 %

We need to find C2 (the concentration of methanol at the fuel section )

Since we have LFL% and we know Z(1.5) from our stoichiometric equation CH4O+1.5O2------>CO2+2H2O

We can find C2= Xfs from the following expression ( applying the law for mixtures on the same line) :
 =>
XF,S = C2= 14.29%

Now, we can find total volume :

= 131.6051m3
where Co = 0 and v is the total volume of the tank (1000m3)
since the gas flow rate is 5 kg/min and 1kg of methanol = 0.764103m3
total volumetric flow rate(Qv) of methanol = 5 kg/min *0.764103m3 /kg = 3.820513m3/min
therefor the time taken to achieve the desired target concentration:-
t = Qv/Qvt = 34.44698min

Now we can Calculate the purging cycles :

Where - , Cf =1.6485ppm
- PL= 20 mmHg and PH= 1atm =760 mmHg
- yo = 0.21

Then the number of N2 moles used will be

And the mass of N2 will be where MW of N2 = 28g/mol

Exercise 7-2
A 60-gal hot water heater, completely filled with liquid water, catastrophically ruptures at a pressure of 290
psig. Estimate:
a. The fraction of water flashed.
b. The energy of explosion in terms of an equivalent amount of TNT, in pounds. Calculate this using
the total enthalpy of the hot water in the heater when it ruptures minus the enthalpy of an equivalent amount
of liquid water at the normal boiling point of 212˚F.
c. What overpressure would result at a distance of 20 feet?
Use a steam table to determine the enthalpy values.

Solution:

From a pressure of 290psig we can find the corresponding saturated temperature that is 301K

The normal boiling point temperature of water is 212°F

∆H= mH2O(hLsat - hLb)