Safety Liquid Ammonia Disconnect threatens NH3 Vapor Spill

Instrumentation engineering root cause analysis of Safety Liquid ammonia Disconnect threatens Large Quantities NH3 Vapor Spill.

Note: This root cause analysis (RCA) is from real-time scenarios that happened in industries during the tenure of two or three decades ago. These articles will help you to improve your troubleshooting skills and knowledge.

Safety Liquid Ammonia Disconnect threatens NH3 Vapor Spill

Problem: The port authorities while inspecting the liquid ammonia (LA) to issue permits for its routine operation, identified a flaw and suggested a remedy too:

Read Previous Article: Ammonia Ball Valve Failure

The ship tank’s NH3 inlet nozzle to which the liquid ammonia (LA) clamps has a block valve. However, realizing a LA disconnect and closing the large block valve takes few minutes. But the large quantity of NH3 spill makes approaching the valve impossible.

In addition, it requires all in the area going away to escape the pungent ammonia odors. All these affect port operations seriously.

Hence the port authorities insisted on the plant crew bolting check valve to the ship nozzle valve. After LA clamping they open the block valve. This way in case of a LA unclamp the check valve prevents NH3 spill and thus the associated problems as above.

This was indeed an effective excellent safety precaution. The plant readily accepted the suggestion and implemented it and enjoys the benefits of every ship loading.

Author: S. Raghava Chari

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