High Performance Materials

Chartek® – The solution for jet fires in

harsh onshore and offshore environments
International Paint

Introduction
International Paint has been providing Epoxy Passive Fire
Protection (PFP) solutions to the oil and gas market for over
35 years. Offering a complete coatings solution package in the
world’s harshest offshore environments and hazardous onshore
processing and refining facilities has helped make International
the number one global coatings supplier to the industry.
International Paint’s Epoxy PFP coating Chartek® is known around
the world. Its reputation is built on excellent proven long term anti-
corrosive performance and durability in erosive hydrocarbon and jet
fire scenarios. In the event of a fire Chartek® swells up (intumesces)
and efficiently insulates the steel substrate. Chartek is the
preferred PFP product for many multinational oil majors, national
oil companies, engineering contractors and construction yards.

Figure 1. Effect of a jet fire on the core temperature of structural

Introduction to Jet fires
A jet fire occurs when a leak of pressurised liquid or gaseous
hydrocarbons ignites, forming a stream of fire. Over the years, as
the science of fire safety has become better understood, design
engineers have realised that one of the biggest threats to an
escalating disaster comes from the rapid steel temperature rise
caused by jet fires (see figure 1). Above 400 °C steel starts to
lose its strength. Use of Chartek Epoxy PFP delays this loss of
strength providing vital time for site evacuation (see figure 1).
Issues with Jet Fire Assessment Methods
Some class societies have not been confident enough
to be able to determine material performance in jet
fires as there has been no international standard and
guidance on jet fire assessment has been lacking.
The need for a clear concise jet fire standard for PFP has
already been raised1. The case has been put forward for
oil majors and class societies to adopt ISO 22899 Part 1
as the major jet fire standard, particularly as there will be
internationally recognised guidance on jet fire assessment and
validation in the soon to be published ISO CD 22899 Part 22,3.
steel and insulation protection offered by Chartek®
The ISO 22899 Jet fire Standard
Previous procedures to test products for resistance to a jet fire
were based on protocols developed by the UK Health and Safety
Executive. Recent developments in generating clear assessments
allow a new approach to address the resistance of all types of PFP
materials (e.g. cementitious, intumescents, etc) subjected to a jet
fire. This is now covered by the international standard ISO 22899.
The ISO 22899 test protocol is a result of over 20
years of joint industrial research on jet fires. This has
involved thorough studies on flame kinetics and numerical
modelling from a large number of jet fire experiments.
ISO 22899 testing evaluates whether a product is prone to
fail on flange edges (the “web” in a jet fire box), on the flat faces
adjacent to flame impact as well as curved surfaces in the form
of cylindrical hollow sections (see figure 2). The re-circulation
of the jet fire, due to the box configuration (edges of the box),
leads to high heat fluxes that result from confinement effects.

Figure 2. Chartek® coated jet fire test “box” for ISO 22899 assessment (left) and jet fire testing showing confinement and entrapment of the flame in the test box (middle and right)

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 High Performance Materials

“Class societies ISO 22899 – Chartek® ISO 22899 Type Approval

now rely on ISO
22899 for guidance
in assessing the
certification of
PFP performance
in jet fires”
References
1. Mather P. “Determination of
the resistance to Jet fires of
passive fire protection casting
systems”, Offshore Technology
International, 2010, vol 2, p66-67
2. ISO 22899 “Determination of the
resistance to jet fires of passive
fire protection materials Part 1:
General Requirements” 2007
3. Mather P. “Heating up – Testing
resistance to jet fires”, ISO
Focus+, October 2010
4. Wade R. “Corrosion performance
of PFP in offshore environments”,
NACE, 2011, #19234.
Confidence for Class Societies
Within the oil and gas industry, products
undergo an approval and certification
process prior to use. The four international
leading class societies for fire protection are:
• Lloyds Register of Shipping (LR)
• Det Norske Veritas (DNV)
• Bureau Veritas (BV)
• American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Manufacturers of all types of PFP
coatings work closely with class
societies’ offshore specialists to
determine PFP jet fire assessments
based upon third party test data.
Publication of ISO 22899 Part 2 will
mean there is now a standard which gives
clear guidance on jet fire assessment
criteria. Its global adoption will mean
greater transparency and objectivity in
assessing the jet fire performance of PFP
products for the oil and gas industry.
Chartek is the first Epoxy PFP coating to
receive ISO 22899 type approval by class
societies with International taking a leading
role in the development of the standard.
Chartek has been third party tested
and is certified to resist jet fires
for up to three and half hours.
Concluding Remarks
Chartek has been shown to have excellent
weatherability as a coating both through real
world track record and testing for the harshest
onshore and offshore environments4.
Type approval certification has been secured
for Chartek in accordance with ISO 22899 for
protection against erosive jet fire scenarios.
ISO 22899 is now the only and most definitive
guide to enable class societies to issue PFP
type approvals for jet fires. Therefore jet
fire certification based upon ISO 22899
should be unilaterally sought for all PFP
materials for the oil and gas industry. ■

Problems with seawater corrosion?

Use Copper-Nickel 90/10
corrosion resistant alloy for seawater piping systems.
www.kme-marine-applications.com

Use OSNALINE ® tube bundles

easily installed and external protected remote control lines.
www.kme-tube-bundles.com

KME Germany AG & Co. KG · Klosterstrasse 29 · 49074 OSNABRÜCK · P.O. Box 3320 · 49023 OSNABRÜCK · GERMANY
Business Unit Marine Applications · Phone +49-541-321-32 20 · Fax +49-541-321-30 20 · info-maritime@kme.com
Business Unit OSNALINE® Tube Bundles · Phone +49-541-321-32 20 · Fax +49-541-321-30 20 · info-osnaline@kme.com

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