(44w) Using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) to Reduce Fire Risk in High Temperature Oil Handling

Using Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) to Reduce Fire Risk in High Temperature Oil Handling

M. Yarlott, R. Johnson, W. Fahey

Summary of Project

Veolia Water North America contracted for a Design, Build, Operate project with the City of Chicago's Wastwater Reclaimation Facility, Biosolids handling process. This unit process is only a small component of the much large wastewater operations in Chicago, however it has significant fire risk associated with the “hot oil” used in the drying of biosolids.  During the project startup and performance evaluations in 2009, many issues were identified which could pose a significant safety risk related to containment of the “hot oil”.  Veolia has extensive and successful experience with the application of RCM to similar complex processes and from 2010-2011 completed an RCM review of every system in the process which identified design, process control, and maintenance procedures that reduced the risk associated with the mechanical integrity of the “hot oil” system.

What Was Done and What Was Found

During the initial startup and testing of this Veolia contract design/build operations project, the performance of the bio-solids “hot oil” drying equipment in particular struggled with achieving the effective uptime requirements and was identified as a significant risk factor to the entire process.  The goals of the RCM Study were to identify and optimized the maintenance strategy and to identify spare parts, procedures, and plans to minimize the risk while maximizing the uptime of the system.  The results of the study identified a few design changes, a prioritized maintenance program, and a list of critical spare parts which as reduced risk while improving the facility uptime from 50% in July of 2010 to 80% in July of 2011.

Conclusions

For a very technical unit process with significant risk, the value of a complete RCM study will have a very high return on investment.  This is particularly true for processes that rely on mechanical integrity of all of the components to limit potential for fires, explosions, and toxic releases.

Biography

Marc Yarlott is a project engineer with the Veolia Water North America’s Above Ground Asset Management team which provides training, tools, and support services to Veolia projects across North America.  Mr. Yarlott is also a co-author on a Veolia practice manual on Above Ground Asset Management that has been published for guidance to Veolia projects world-wide.