Benefits, HAZOP study

Batch reactor, typical, DACSL kinetic and reactor modeling, 94 Benefits, HAZOP study, 37 Benson s second-order group additivity method, CHETAH program, 82 Benzoyl peroxide (BPO), effect of dilution with xylene, CHETAH program, 87... 

A HAZOP study is a very useful technique that may lead to a more reliable and safer process. Whether it is applied at preliminary design stages or to the detailed layout of an existing plant, its benefits can be invaluable. It reduces the possibility of accidents for the process involved, improves on-stream availability of the process, can lead to a better understanding of the process and possible malfunctions, and provides training for the evaluation of any process. Finally, it is also a way of optimizing a process and providing a reliable and cost-effective system. 

The nuclear industry could benefit from HAZOP studies. A nuclear power plant is conceptually very similar to a chemical plant. Because HAZOP looks carefully at process deviations, it would help identify hazards that might go unnoticed in a traditional probabilistic risk assessment. 

In this section we give a brief description of three commonly used methods of safety analysis Fault Tree Analysis, Event Tree Analysis and Failure Mode and Effect Analysis. Those are the methods which, in our opinion, can mostly benefit fix)m being extended with more formal semantics. We do not cover here Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP) which is a "structured brainstorm" - type method with the main stress on managerial aspects. However, as HAZOP may make use of FTA, ETA and/or FMEA, it can also benefit firom the proposed approach. 

It is mandatory that the safety of a process plant fulfills a certain required level and standards. This is because of general legal requirements, besides the indirect benefits to the image and economic performance of a company. Therefore, safety should influence process decisions from the first moments of the design project. One of the existing studies adopted the well-established hazard and operability (HAZOP) method for safety assessment of biofuel process (Jeerawongsuntom et al., 2011). 

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