Emergency vapor

This chapter covers the design of facilities to handle equipment drainage and contaminated aqueous effluents that are sent for appropriate disposal blowdown drum systems to receive closed safety valve discharges, emergency vapor blowdowns, etc. and facilities for process stream diversion and slop storage. Also covered are criteria for selecting the appropriate method of disposal. Design of flares is covered in a subsequent chapter. 

Vapor load considerations must include all safety valve, emergency vapor blowdown and vapor stream diversion sources which release as a result of a single contingency. 

For identifying small amounts of substances as they come off the column, the emerging vapors can be passed through a small cooled tube packed with dry potassium bromide. The amount of sample adsorbed by the salt is usually enough so that a pellet of the salt will give an excellent infrared spectrum. Another technique is to collect all the eluent and carrier gas in an evacuated bulb and then isolate the compound by distillation on a vacuum line. 

The high potential and small radius of curvature at the end of the capillary tube create a strong electric field that causes the emerging liquid to leave the end of the capillary as a mist of fine droplets mixed with vapor. This process is nebulization and occurs at atmospheric pressure. Nebulization can be assisted by use of a gas flow concentric with and past the end of the capillary tube. 

A sample to be examined by thermospray is passed as a solution in a solvent (made up separately or issuing from a liquid chromatographic column) through a capillary tube that is strongly heated at its end, so the solution vaporizes and emerges as a spray or mist of droplets. As the droplets... 

Acoustic Wave Sensors. Another emerging physical transduction technique involves the use of acoustic waves to detect the accumulation of species in or on a chemically sensitive film. This technique originated with the use of quartz resonators excited into thickness-shear resonance to monitor vacuum deposition of metals (11). The device is operated in an oscillator configuration. Changes in resonant frequency are simply related to the areal mass density accumulated on the crystal face. These sensors, often referred to as quartz crystal microbalances (QCMs), have been coated with chemically sensitive films to produce gas and vapor detectors (12), and have been operated in solution as Hquid-phase microbalances (13). A dual QCM that has one smooth surface and one textured surface can be used to measure both the density and viscosity of many Hquids in real time (14). 

A concentration of 35,000 ppm in air produces unconsciousness in 30—40 minutes. This concentration also constitutes a serious fire and explosion hazard, and should not be permitted to exist under any circumstance. Any person exposed to ethyl ether vapor of any appreciable concentration should be prompdy removed from the area. Recovery from exposure to sublethal concentrations is rapid and generally complete. Except in emergencies, and then only with appropriate protective equipment, no one should enter an area containing ether vapor until the concentration has been found safe by measurement with a combustible-gas indicator. 

Types of Equipment The three most commonly used types of equipment for handling emergency relief device effluents are blowdown drums (also called knockout drums or catch tanks), cyclone vapor-liquid separators, and quench tanks (also called passive scruh-hers). These are described as follows. 

Install flame arresters on atmospheric vents to prevent fire on the outside of the tank from propagating back into the vapor space inside the tank. Provide fire resistant insulation for critical vessels, piping, outlet valves on tanks, valve actuators, instruments lines, and key electrical facilities. Provide remote controlled, automatic, and fire-actuated valves to stop loss of tank contents during an emergency provide fire protection to these valves. Valves should be close-coupled to the tank, and must be resistant to corrosion or other deleterious effects of spilled fluids. Vessels should be provided with overpressure relief protection. 

NFPA 1991 Standard on Vapor-Protective Suits for Flazardous Chemical Emergencies, 1994 edition. National Fire Protection Association, Quincy, MA. 

Vapor Pressure The pressure exerted by a vapor above its own liquid. The higher the vapor pressure, the easier it is for a liquid to evaporate and fill the work area with vapors which can cause health or fire hazards. Venting Emergency flow of vessel contents out of a vessel. The pressure is controlled or reduced by venting, thus avoiding a failure of the vessel by overpressurization. The emergency flow can be one-phase or multi-phase, each of which results in different flow characteristics. 

Program created for DOT, EPA, and FEMA to aid emergency preparedness personnel in assessing the sequence and nature of events that may follow an accident. ARCHIE incorporates several estimation methods that may be used to assess the vapor discharge, fire, and explosion impacts associated with episodic discharges of hazardous materials. 

TRACE II Toxic Release Analysis of Chemical Emissions Safer Emergency Systems, Inc. Darlene Davis Dave Dillehay 756 Lakefield Road Westlake Villa, CA 91361 (818) 707-2777 Models toxic gas and flammable vapor cloud dispersion. Intended for risk assessment and planning purposes, rather than realtime emergencies. 

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