Process safety management considerations for biofuel production

Abstract

The global production of bio-based chemical products, particularly biofuel products, has tremendously increased over the last decade. Driven largely by a new legislation, this increase has generated the commercialization of new products and processes. Unfortunately, alongside these developments were a significant number of accidents and explosions at biofuel facilities, entailing property damage, injury, and even deaths. The aim of this current study is to draw attention to incidents that occurred in biofuel facilities and clarify the misconceptions that cause people to ignore safety in bio-refineries. A process hazard analysis (PHA) method, namely the hazard and operability study (HAZOP), is first used in biofuel production. This method is an ethanol distillation and dehydration process. Through the HAZOP analysis, 36 recommended action items are proposed, and all recommendations are accepted. The case study reveals that potential high-level risks exist in the current biofuel process design and operating procedures, and these risks can be better controlled if they can be previously identified.