Chemical transport risk analysis with Safeti

Chemical transport risk analysis

Safeti provides a holistic picture of the risk along the route allowing the ready identification of high risk areas. Safeti software's extensive capabilities for chemical transport risk analysis include:

• Various modes of transport including truck, rail, barge, pipeline, etc.
• Multiple routes and release types (leak, ruptures etc.) can be defined
• Releases automatically assessed at predefined locations along the route or at evenly spaced distances, e.g. every 10 m
• Other factors that vary along the route (population density, weather, etc.) can also be defined and taken into account in the model
  

Why chemical transport risk analysis

Hazardous materials often need to be conveyed from where they are made to where they will be utilized. For example, gasoline and jet fuel are transported from refineries to petrol stations and airports. This transport poses a number of risks:

• Material with significant hazard potential being transported, i.e. flammable or toxic
• Large volumes involved
• Mode of transport might need to transverse populated areas, potentially exposing people to undue risk in the event of an incident
• The routes involved are often in uncontrolled environments – hence open to external threats (e.g. 3rd party accidents) that can lead to a loss of containment
  

Consequently, it is often necessary to evaluate various transport options – rail versus road versus pipeline – to find the optimum with regards to various competing ends such as safety, economics, operability, etc. Examples include:

• Identifying optimum transport route – e.g. primary versus secondary routes
• Avoiding densely populated areas
• Identifying areas along a route that need specific mitigation, e.g. increased pipeline thickness or speed restrictions
  

Safeti also includes a dedicated model for assessing the transport risks associated with pipelines, which is particularly useful when doing a quantitative risk assessment of a pipeline. The model takes into account the effect of the variation in process conditions when determining release scenarios and also accounts for mitigation systems such as isolation valves and detection systems.