Safety, flame arresters

Safety Devices Pressure relief devices, flame arresters, and methods for handhng effluent from controlled releases provide control of accidental undesirable events. Special equipment should be considered for highly toxic chemical service. The following matters are considered ... 

Arrester Testing and Standards Regulatory and approval agencies and insurers impose acceptance testing requirements, sometimes as part of certification standards. The user may also request testing to demonstrate specific performance needs, just as the manufacturer can help develop standards. These interrelationships have resulted in several new and updated performance test procedures. Listing of an arrester by a testing laboratoiy refers only to performance under a defined set of test conditions. The flame arrester user should develop specific application requirements based on the service involved and the safety and risk criteria adopted. 

It was not nndl the 1950s that detonation flame arresters made of crimped metal ribbon elements were developed and began to be used more freqnendy (Binks 1999). The major impetus for die use of crimped metal ribbon detonation flame arresters in the US was the enactment of clean air legislation (Clean Air Act of 1990) which inadvertently created a safety problem by requiring reductions in volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. To do this, manifolded vent systems (vapor collection systems) were increasingly installed in many chemical process industry plants which captured VOC vapors and transported them to suitable recovery, recycle, or destruction systems. This emission control requirement has led to the introdnction of ignition risks, for example, from a flare or via spontaneous combustion of an activated carbon adsorber bed. Multiple... 

Roussakis, N. and Lapp, K. 1989. A Summary of Investigations from Ten Inline Flame Arrester Failures. Paper presented at a meeting of the API Committee on Safety and Fire Protection, September 21, 1989, Seattle, WA. 

For hydranlic (liqnid seal) flame arresters, the following safety featnres and instmmentadon are recommended ... 

HSE (Health and Safety Executive). 1980. Guide for Flame Arresters and Explosion Reliefs. Booklet HS(G)11. Health and Safety Executive, Her Majesty s Stationery Office, London, England. 

Britton, L. G. 2000a. Using Maximum Experimental Safe Gap to Select Flame Arresters. Process Safety Progress, 19(3), 140-145. 

Kuchta, J. M., Cato, R. J., and Gilbert, W. H. 1970. Flame Arrester Materials for Fuel Tank Explosion Protection. Safety Research Center Report No. S4/38. Safety Research Center, Bureau of Mines, Pittsburgh, PA. 

Overhoff, K-H, Schecker, H-G, Fellensiek, J., and Oncken, U. 1989. Investigation for the Design of a New Water Trap Flame Arrester. International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion m the Process Industries, Paper 54. Oslo, Norway, June 19-22, 1989. 

Before performing any inspection or maintenance on a flame arrester, the associated process eqnipment and piping shonld be taken ont of service or isolated. The work area mnst be proven by test to be free of any harmfnl gases or vapors. It shonld also be verified that all piping is clean and free of obstrnctions and debris. All plant, company, local, state, and federal safety and fire codes and standards shonld be followed. 

It is important that the inspection and maintenance activities be docn-mented as reqnired per company practice and any process safety management regnlatory reqnirements. Maintenance records shonld indicate the inspection resnlts and the scope of maintenance work performed, if any. Before the flame arrester is reinstalled in the process, it shonld be visnally inspected to make snre that reassembly conforms to the mannfactnrer s recommendations. Some companies affix a tag to the flame arrester indicating the inspection and maintenance date. 

Flame arresters meeting this specification also comply with the mini-mnm reqnirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Maritime Safety Committee Circnlar No. 373 (MSC/Circ. 373/Rev. 1). This specification is not widely nsed in the US chemical indnstry (Pietrowski 2000). 

Britton, L. G. 1997. Subsection on Flame Arresters, pp. 26-38 to 26-43, Section 26—Process Safety m Perry s Chemical Engineers Handbook, edited by Green, D. W. and Maloney, J. O., 7th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. 

Forster, H. 2001. Flame Arresters—The New Standard and the Consequences. Paper presented at the Inti. European Safety Management Group Sympos.-Process Safety and Industrial Explosion Protection, March 27-29, 2001, Nurnberg, Germany. 

HSE. 1996. Flame Arresters. HSE Book HS(G)158. Health and Safety Executive, available from HSE Books, P. O. Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk COlO 6FS, England. 

Lightfoot, F. K. 1977. Flame Arresters-lnsure Their Protection. Professional Safety, February, pp. 44-47. 

Laurence G. Britton, Ph.D. Process Safety Consultant Consulting Scientist, Neolytica, Inc. Fellow, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Fellow, Energy Institute Member, Institute of Physics (U.K.) (Flame Arresters)... 

---