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Bonded, Grounded, and Burned to a Crisp: Electrostatic Ignition of Flammable Gases
Author(s) -
Cox Brenton L.,
Bishop Justin A.,
Ogle Russell A.,
Traiicholas A.,
Prigmore Jay R.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
process safety progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.378
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1547-5913
pISSN - 1066-8527
DOI - 10.1002/prs.12024
Subject(s) - flammable liquid , boiler blowdown , ignition system , flammability , waste management , forensic engineering , nuclear engineering , engineering , environmental science , chemistry , materials science , mechanical engineering , inlet , composite material , aerospace engineering
Ignition by electrostatic discharge of clean flammable gas, such as natural gas, being released to the atmosphere during blowdown operations is unlikely. However, the presence of foreign material in the form of solid particles or liquid droplets changes the risk level significantly. The discharge of a flammable gas stream with a cloud of foreign material poses a potential electrostatic hazard, even if the piping system and associated equipment is otherwise bonded and grounded. The foreign material may be capable of accumulating sufficient electrostatic potential to ignite the flammable gas. There have been several documented incidents where ignition has occurred during a flammable gas blowdown. In some instances, gas lines were being cleaned, while in others, the blowdown was completed as a safety measure for another process. This article will focus on a case study where a stream of flammable gas was ignited during a blowdown and an obvious ignition source (other than electrostatic discharge) was not present, but foreign material was observed. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 38: e12024, 2019