(59b) Implementation of a Process Safety Management System and Inherently Safer Design Strategies for a Rehabilitated Bioethanol Facility in Trinidad & Tobago

Over the last century, Trinidad & Tobago’s (TT) economy has been primarily oil and gas based. Diversification of the local economy to improve foreign exchange earnings has been at the forefront of national development plans in recent decades. The introduction of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) in 2007 provided a valuable opportunity for diversification - the commissioning and operation of a 100 million US gallon/year bioethanol facility in Trinidad that was capable of denaturing 190 proof ethanol feedstock from Brazil for export to North America for use as a biofuel in vehicles. In 2012, the facility ceased its operations because of a discontinuation of its feedstock supply and contributory global market factors. Based on the vibrant sugar cane industry that TT once enjoyed, a business model was proposed which involved using local feedstock to continue and sustain the facility’s operations, which would have also resulted in the introduction of bioethanol fuel into the local transportation sector with the benefits of reducing gasoline imports and promoting cleaner vehicular emissions. However, this strategy was not viable largely due to the diesel and gasoline fuel subsidy enjoyed by citizens at the time.

With the recent economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the emphasis the Government of TT has placed on the transition towards a diversified economy in its Vision 2030 National Development Strategy, the revitalization of the sugar cane industry in TT cannot come at a better time. The government’s removal of the local fuel subsidy is also a catalyst for national discussions to begin on the use of bioethanol fuel and subsequently, the rehabilitation of this facility. Should rehabilitative works prove to be economically viable, a rigid Process Safety Management (PSM) system with the application of Inherently Safer Design (ISD) strategies must govern the modifications to this aged plant, as well as the production operations to ensure compliance with modern industry safety standards. The objective of this study is to therefore apply the 14 elements of PSM to this rehabilitated and modified bioethanol facility, and employ ISD strategies for risk reduction and incident prevention. An added benefit of this study is that this PSM model can be applied to other aged, local processing facilities which currently do not follow a PSM standard, which is one step closer to improving the overall safety culture in industrial organizations in TT.

Keywords: Bioethanol, Process Safety Management, Inherently Safer Design