(55bd) Process Safety and Hyperloop Transportation

This paper shows how the principles of process safety can be applied to technologies that are not part of the traditional energy and process industries.

One of the themes of current process safety activities is transferring knowledge and lessons learned to other industries. For example, the CCPS is currently working on a book with the working title, ‘Upstream Process Safety’.

The writer of this paper has been researching the new technology of hyperloop transportation for the last four years. He has been using the principles of process safety to analyze the safety of this exciting, but potentially risky, form of transportation. As part of his research, he recently presented a paper at a hyperloop conference at the University of California Los Angeles. The paper showed how process safety ideas can be used in technologies that are very non-traditional.

Issues covered include:

• Hazard identification — particularly the potential for a module coming off its “tracks” and hitting the tube wall while traveling at over 600 mph.

• The transportation of freight — particularly hazardous and flammable chemicals.

• Probabilistic risk analysis.

The use of process safety technology in non-traditional industries, including transportation, has formed the basis of blogs and reports on social media. A book with the working title “Hyperloop” is being written. It will contain a chapter on safety — with particular reference to the principles of process safety. These materials will form the basis of teaching programs in both the process and the transportation industries.