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A natural gas feed preheater fire
Author(s) -
Singh Jagmohan,
Joshi M. D.,
Desai U. R.
Publication year - 2000
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.680190111
Subject(s) - air preheater , shutdown , interlock , waste management , header , natural gas , engineering , environmental science , nuclear engineering , mechanical engineering , computer science , computer network
This paper examines an incident in an ammonia plant which began when a leakage in the radiant section tube of a natural gas preheater ignited a small fire. The small fire ultimately developed into a major blaze which caused the leaky tube to burst resulting in the plant shutdown. A subsequent investigation revealed inadequate equipment safety procedures. These faulty measures included the bypassing of an instrument interlock system provided for the gas feed preheater. The bypass caused operational problems because two plants were operating from a single natural gas supply header. In the aftermath of the incident, the instrument interlock system of equipment was modified to handle an emergency shutdown in the affected plant safely and, in the process, avoid hampering other ammonia plants.