Quantitative Risk Assessment

Vol. 6 No. 1

Year : 2010

Issue : Aug-Oct

Title  : Quantitative Risk Assessment 

Author Name  : Kailas L. Wasewar, M. Siva Kumar 

Synopsis  : 

The chemical process industries (CPI) contributed significantly in Indian economy. The growing importance of environment concerns is forcing CPI to use the state-of-the-art technology which increases the complexity of the process. The diversity in the products manufactured by CPI has made it more and more common for these industries to use reactors, conduits and storage vessels in which hazardous substances are handled at extreme conditions. Accidents in such units are caused either by material failure (such as crack in the storage vessels), operational mistakes (such as raising the pressures temperature/flow-rate beyond critical limits), or external perturbation (such as damage caused by a projectile) can have serious-often catastrophic-consequences. The accidental release of the inventory results in toxic release, fires and explosions. Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) is utilised as a tool to evaluate the risk posed to the society from the process and storage facilities. In present paper, the status of quantitative risk assessments in chemical process industries has been described.