Safety and Environmental Considerations

Containers approved by OSHA and other regulatory agencies must be used when transporting or transferring hazardous chemicals. In addition, proper procedures must be followed when mixing chemicals, either within the manufacturing process or while handling waste solutions. 

The majority of CFF processes are operated in a closed configuration which minimizes vapor emissions. Some traditional techniques such as centrifugal processes may generate aerosol foaming in the air (e.g., pathogens) which is highly undesirable. 

Due to the highly proprietary nature of fermentation of biochemical products, the published descriptions on cross-flow filtration performance are very limited. This section will review some of the more important types of applications where cross-flow filtration is used. The performance descriptions are limited by available published information which is often incomplete. As a result, at best, only qualitative or general comparisons can be made between the various technology alternatives. 

In view of the catastrophic effects and the increasingly severe legal and economic implications of a disastrous explosion, a large amount of effort is devoted to the safety of operations, while keeping control costs at an acceptable level. This work has been given increased impetus in the United States by the military plant modernization now underway and the development of a variety of new or improved processes for making explosives. 

Many governmental regulations control the classification, shipping, and handling of explosive materials. The publications in the field of safety have increased greatly and a number of important symposia have been held on the subject, including the annual explosive safety seminars conducted by the Explosives Safety Board of the United Sates Department of Defense. 

Standard safety procedures include attention to such matters as intraline distances to minimize explosion propagation, cleanliness, nonsparking equipment and explosion-proof motors, and location in selected areas away from the heavily populated areas. The development of continuous processes for explosive manufacture that use extensive automatic controls and minimize in-line quantities has contributed significantly to decreasing the hazards of operations. 

Highly detailed and systematic methodologies have been developed to identify possible failure modes and to quantify their probability of 

A great deal of experimental work has been done to quantify the hazards of an unwanted explosion. The vulnerability of structures and people to shock waves and fragment impact has been well established. This effort has also led to the design of protective structures superior to the conventional barricades and that permit considerable reduction in allowable safety distances. 

The following is a brief discussion of typical problems that can occur with storage bins, along with some common solutions. 

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Exploration activities are potentially damaging to the environment. The cutting down of trees in preparation for an onshore seismic survey may result in severe soil erosion in years to come. Offshore, fragile ecological systems such as reefs can be permanently damaged by spills of crude or mud chemicals. Responsible companies will therefore carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prior to activity planning and draw up contingency plans should an accident occur. In Section 4.0 a more detailed description of health, safety and environmental considerations will be provided. 

Conceptual design—the generation of ideas for new processes (process synthesis) and their translation into an initial design. This stage includes preliminaiy cost estimates to assess the potential profitability of the process, as well as analyses of process safety and environmental considerations. 

Where process, safety, and environmental considerations permit, vacuum protection may be provided by properly sized ever-open vents. Alternatively, active protective devices and systems are required. Vacuum breaker valves designed to open and admit air at a predetermined vacuum in the vessel are commonly used on storage tanks, but may not be suitable for some applications involving flammable liquids. Inert gas blanketing systems may be used if adequate capacity and reliability can be ensured. Where the source of the vacuum can be deenergized or isolated, suitably reliable safety instrumented systems (e.g, interlocks) can be provided. 

A primary focus in process design is to produce designs that have good overall operability characteristics, as determined by safety and environmental considerations, low product variability, low operating costs, and ease of startup/shutdown. The process design and control system... 

In addition, the use of ionic liquids is often prompted by safety and environmental considerations, where their negligible volatility and nonflammability makes them ideal replacements for more toxic molecular solvents and, importantly, overcomes the problem of solvent evaporation that exists with the long-term use of volatile solvents in electrochemical applications. The wide liquid range and good thermal stability are also extremely advantageous for device applications. 

It is necessary in failure investigation to determine the type of damage, the cause of the damage, potential solutions to either minimize or eliminate the damage, choosing the best solution based on economics, safety and environmental considerations. The final step involves the practical implementation of the best solution in service conditions to confirm the validity and conclusion that it is indeed the best solution. 

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