Transport of chemicals

The transportation of chemicals is dierefore highly regulated. In addition to general transport legislation numerous statutory provisions govern die carriage of hazardous substances by air, road, rail and sea. These tend to address die need for  

This chapter provides an insight into general principles associated with the transportation of hazardous substances reference is made to selected regulations for illustrative purposes. 

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Transportation of Chemicals. Feed materials and finished products are frequendy transported by tank tmck and railroad tank cars. Design, constmction, and movement of these vehicles is regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) (97). The DOT regulations require placarding of material-transport vehicles to alert the pubHc and emergency personnel to the nature of their contents. 

Waterborne Transport. Despite natural limitations, the transportation of chemicals by water has enjoyed substantial growth, especially siace the ead of World War 11. Assisted by governmental developmeat of the inland waterways system, including locks and other navigational aids, water carriers transport large quantities of bulk chemicals in barges between inland ports or between such ports and coastal ports. In addition, bulk chemicals ate transported by self-propelled tank vessels between U.S. coastal points, and between U.S. ports and overseas destinations. In 1989, 56.1 million metric tons (61.9 million short tons) of chemicals were transported in the U.S. domestic waterborne commerce (16). 

As in the case of highways, considerable contention results from public maintenance of the inland waterways for recreation, flood control, and other purposes, as well as for the transportation of barges and other freight-carrying vessels. Because barge transportation of chemicals is considered essential to economical distribution, governmental toUs assessed for such maintenance ate of critical interest to the chemicals industry. 

Tanks for the transport of chemicals cannot usually be cathodically protected because of the danger of impurities contaminating the cargo. Particular emphasis is placed on the quality of the coating to avoid contamination by corrosion products. 

Irrespective of the mode of carriage, the safe transport of chemicals is the responsibility of ... 

Figure 15.1 Responsibilities for safe transport of chemicals by road...

Ships and their cargoes are subjected to stresses in ah directions during handling, transfer, and the journey. Adequate stowage is crucial. In line with the transportation of chemicals on land systems to address include ... 

There are many regulations governing the transportation of chemicals, and any evaluation of transportation risks and options must include consideration of those regulations. In addition, some companies have policies that require going beyond legal requirements for specific materials. 

Safety issues are not covered here. These are dealt with in Systems and Equipment book, and some fundamental issues will be taken up in the second edition of the Fundamentals book. The following aspects should be taken into account in system design fan safety AHU fire protection issues safety measures in mines, tunnels, underground car parks, etc. transportation of chemical and explosives. 

The cargo may catcli fire, explode, or corrode die tank. The use of die same container to cany different chemicals is quite normal it is fairly common practice widi road tankers, barges, sliips, and pipelines. Tins not only creates potential problems of incompadbility between substances carried but also means diat carriers are less familiar widi die substances being transported. Tims it is essential diat all personnel involved in die transport of chemicals be diorouglily trained in die properdes of the chemicals, their possible luizards, and die emergency procedures associated widi each liazard. ... 

While understanding chemical reactions is a necessary first step, integrating knowledge of reactions with knowledge of sources, sinks, and transport of chemicals is also necessary. In addition to this "hard science understanding, there is also the need to incorporate social science understanding of human use or abuse of our environmental resources. 

Models of atmospheric phenomena are similar to those of combustion and involve the coupling of exceedingly complex chemistry and physics with three-dimensional hydrodynamics. The distribution and transport of chemicals introduced into groundwater also involve a coupling of chemical reactions and transports through porous solid media. The development of groundwater models is critical to understanding the effects of land disposal of toxic waste (see Chapter 7). 

Responsibility for the safe transportation of chemicals rests with the chemical producers and their workforce, any haulier used and, to some extent, the customer (e.g. during offloading), as summarized in Figure 12.2. Effective communication is crucial between all relevant parties. Various regulations, codes of practice and guidelines cover the labelling of containers and vehicles to identify the substances and their hazards in an emergency. 

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