Ethylene oxide reactor: Safety according to operability analysis

Abstract

Abstract A detailed account is given of operability analysis of the cooling system of an ethylene oxide reactor (30,000 t/yr) as a typical example of a particularly critical process. Although this method is purely qualitative, it proved very effective in revealing the more critical parts of the plant at the design stage, with the result that suitable modifications were introduced. This assertion is supported by the results of a fault tree analysis, which is also described with reference to a detailed example of a reactor feed and control circuit. It was found that operability analysis is of more general and ready applicability than fault tree analysis, since it does not require failure rate data.