A Technical Solution For The Optimization Of Gas Detectors' Placement In High-Sulfur Crude Oil Processing Installations

With the fast development of petroleum and chemical industry in China, the leakage accidents of hazardous gases of petrochemical plant are increasing rapidly. Once the hazardous gases leaked,it will result in serious human casualty, property loss and environmental pollution.High sulfide crude oil processing is prone to cause significant risk of leakage of hydrogen sulfide gas. This paper tried to find out the possible leakage points, studied its leakage probabilities and put forward a method to enhance the detection efficiency and accuracy of hydrogen sulfide leakage.

The accident scenarios most likely to happen could be acquired by the leak probability analysis of typical installations. In order to do this, a three-dimensional CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) model of typical device leakage and diffusion of hydrogen sulfide was set up. Gas alarm detector positions were set as monitor points in the model, and the model parameter sensitivity analysis were carried out. What’s more, a downscaling installation model was used to test correctness of the model. Then, the validated CFD model could be used to predict real-time gas concentration fields for the leakage scenarios most likely to happen. The horizontal spacing, vertical height, selection of flammable and toxic gas detectors and other aspects of optimization analysis could be decided according to gas leakage and diffusion variation. The optimization scheme will be suitable for the safety investment benefits relationship by the safety economics decision analysis. The results could obtain the best leakage detection optimization scheme of high sulfide crude oil processing.

Based on the above research, a technical scheme for the optimization of dangerous gas detection and alarm instrument layout in high sulfur crude oil process installations based on CFD and fuzz probability analysis was proposed. The scheme is expected to enhance the efficiency of gas leakage detection, prevent fire explosion and personnel poisoning accident. It’s an important way to improve inherent safety degree in the design stage of chemical plant. The results of the project can reduce accident risks in view of hydrogen sulfide leaks, enhance the prevention and emergency rescue level of such accidents, as well as improve the level of safety production in high sulfide crude oil processing.

Keywords: high sulfide crude oil processing; optimized technology scheme; hydrogen sulfide leakage; CFD