(57bw) Fundamental Research at Purdue Process Safety Research Center

Fundamental Research at Purdue
Process Safety Research Center

Significant
industrial incidents continue to occur such as fires, explosions and gas
releases resulting in serious injuries, loss of life, and damage to the
environment and facilities.  Such incidents
are not solely germane to the oil & gas industry, but occur in a wide
variety of industries including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and
manufacturing.  Two years ago the ‘Purdue
Process Safety and Assurance Center’ (P2SAC) was established within the School
of Chemical Engineering to conduct fundamental research to prevent such
incidents. The presentation will address the four research projects the Center
is currently pursuing with funding from its initial Sponsors: BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil,
Honeywell, Eli Lilly and Shell.

The initial
projects include:

- optimal
placement of gas detectors to prevent fires and explosions:  the research uses CFD-based dispersion
simulations and rigorous mathematics to perform optimal placement over hundreds
of thousands of leak scenarios and potential detector locations.

-
design & synthesis of catalysts to prevent
undesired hazardous byproducts: zeolite catalysts are widely used in the
refining industry and certain structures can promote undesired byproducts
leading to potential over-pressures and explosions. Zeolite synthesis and
characterization methods are being developed.          

-
real time process optimization to reduce risk:
Novel continuous
manufacturing processes can reduce the risk related to powder handling.
Continuous manufacturing, as with pharmaceuticals, requires efficient process
monitoring and control.

- application of
inherently safer separation technology to significantly reduce processing volume, solvent use, and extent of
unit operations. Advanced mixed
solvent extraction & simulated moving bed techniques are used to recover
polycarbonates and flame retardants from plastic waste.   

Indirect
benefits from the Center are the depth of the core Chemical Process Safety
course required of all undergraduates, as well as undergraduate process safety
research initiatives in such as areas as dusts, reactive chemicals and nano-materials.

Current
focus is on growing the Center and encouraging participation by a wide variety
of industries such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture and manufacturing, in
addition to oil & gas, and chemicals. 

10-13-16