Pressure-relief systems chemical plant design

Wilday, A.J. 1991. The Safe Design of Chemical Plants with No Need for Pressure Relief Systems. Elazards IX—New Directions in Process Safety. IChemE Symposium Series. No. 124, pp. 243-253. Institute of Chemical Engineers, IChemE, Rugby, U.K. 

Parkinson, J. S. (1979) Inst. Chem. Eng. Sym. Design 79, Kl. Assessment of plant pressure relief systems. PARRY, C. F. (1992) Relief Systems Handbook (Institution of Chemical Engineers, London). 

Pressure-relieving systems are unique compared with other systems within a chemical plant hopefully they will never need to operate, but when they do, they must do so flawlessly. Other systems, such as extraction and distillation systems, usually evolve to their optimum performance and reliability. This evolution requires creativity, practical knowledge, hard work, time, and the cooperative efforts of the plant, design, and process engineers. This same effort and creativity is essential when developing relief systems however, in this case the relief system development must be optimally designed and demonstrated within a research environment before the plant start-up. 

Pressure-relief valves protect life and property. They are installed on pressurized systems in almost all types of industries such as refineries, oil and gas production facilities, pipelines, electric power generating plants, paper mills, chemical plants, and other industrial facilities worldwide. Pressure-relief designs are available for both compressible and noncompressible fluid applications in a wide range of sizes, material selections, pressure classes and temperature ranges. 

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