Inherent safety metrics for evaluating process routes in early design stages

Abstract

The choice of chemical process routes is a key decision in the early design stages. An a??inherently safera?? route will help eliminate many hazards and obviate many risk control devices. Many inherent safety indices have been proposed to quantify hazards, health and environmental impacts of a route. Usually routes involving more reactive, toxic chemicals and hazardous reactions are considered less safe. However, using the statistical hypothesis testing, we have shown that the NFPA ratings, a common component in the Inherent Safety metrics, and related ratings do not produce a good assessment of a processa?? safety level. Inherent safety indices have many shortcomings such as subjective scaling, weighting, and limited set of factors. In this thesis, we propose a statistical analysis-based methodology for comparing routes. This easy-to-use, extendable, theoretically sound approach can determine the broad similarities and differences in the safety, health and environmental footprints of the routes. Three case studies are illustrated a?? Acetic acid, phenol, and methyl methacrylate manufacture.