INTEGRATING HAZARD ANALYSIS INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ADVANCED PROCESS-CONTROL

In mid-1997, an Advanced Process Control (APC) scheme was implemented at a resins manufacturing complex with the goal of minimizing flare fu el gas usage while maintaining sufficient energy (BTU/SCF flare gas) t o be in environmental regulatory compliance. Prior to APC implementati on, the flare system was manually controlled by plant operators with m inor attention paid to the minimization of fuel gas usage. Since imple mentation,. APC has saved the plant thousands of dollars in fuel gas c osts and reduced unnecessary combusted fuel gas emissions. Hazard anal ysis techniques were used in the develop ment of the control scheme. A n overview of the APC used, the economic evaluation, and the hazard an alysis techniques used in the project are presented here.