Management Systems in Production Engineering

2012,No3(7),pp3842

LNGTERMINALSAFEOPERATIONMANAGEMENT
AndrzejADAMKIEWICZ,WodzimierzKAMISKI Mari meUniversityofSzczecin

Abstract: Thisar clepresentsthesignicanceofLNGterminalsafetyissuesinnaturalgasseatransport.Itshowspar cularrequi rementsforLNGtransmissioninstalla onsresul ngfromthespecicproper esofLNG.Outofthemul layercri cal safetyareascomprisingstructuralelementsoftheterminalsafetysystem,possibili estodecreasetheriskofemergency occurrenceonLNGterminalshavebeenselected.TasksperformedbytheLNGterminal,togetherwithitsownpersonnel andtheoutsideone,havebeendened.GeneralthesesforLNGterminalsafetyhavebeenformulated. Key words: terminal,LNG,opera on,safety,gascarrier,unloading,personnel

INTRODUCTION At present, deliveries of natural gas (LNG) by sea transport comprise about25% of the interna onal natural gas trade turnover in the world [1]. Natural gas LNG con sis ng mainly of methane (up to 98%) a er condensa on takesupc.a.600 meslessspace,whichenableseconomic seatransportwiththeuseofvessels.speciallydesignedfor thispurposeTheintendedbyPGNiGS.A.(PolishOilandGas Company) diversica on of gas deliveries to Poland envis ages reaching such a state when 1/3 of the gas will be of domes corigin,1/3willbeimportedfromtheEastand1/3 from the Scandinavia via the LNG terminal in winoujcie. The switchingin of the terminal to the na onal transmis sionnetisplannedfortheyear2013whereasthetechno logical startup of the terminal should take place a year lateri.e.30thJune2014[13]. Poland lacks specialist personnel as well as experi enceinLNGterminalopera onTherefore,theproblemof safe LNG terminal opera on should be considered as the safety of LNG installa ons for transmission and storing on land together with the safety of the ship performing the opera onofLNGunloading. SAFETYREQUIREMENTSINLNGOPERATIONS Poten al reexplosion hazards connected with trans porta on,storingorapplica onofLNGresultmainlyfrom theproper esofthissubstance,andespeciallyfrom[2,4]: 1. Atatmosphericpressuredependingonthecomposi on, LNG boiling temperature is about 162C, at whichLNGvapoursaremuchheavierthanair. 2. SmallamountsofLNGliquidphasegetchangedinto acloudofgasofbigvolume.inthecaseofLNGleak age from high pressure equipment and installa ons or pipes, it will get released into the atmosphere. Thisprocessisconnectedwithextensivemixingwith air.LNGisnotatoxicgas,itiscategorizedasgreen

housegaswhoseemissionintotheatmosphereinu encestheglobalwarmingeect. 3. LNGisinammable(withintherangeof5.3%14%of itsconcentra onintheair) 4. contactoflivingorganismswithliquidLNGof160C destroystheirbiological ssues. 5. A direct contact of LNG with water is followed by a phenomenonofarapidtransi onoftheliquidphase intovapour(amelessexplosion) SafetyinLNGopera onsiscoveredbyamul levelpro tec on,crea ngcri calsafetyareasintegratedwithbranch standards and regula ons, which is illustrated in Figure 1 [6].

Fig. 1. Mul level cri cal safety areas [6]

Four levels of safety requirements the rst and the secondlevelofsecurity,protec onsystemsofmonitoring, supervisionandcontrolaswellassafetyareasareapplied inthewholeLNGindustrialchaini.e.produc on,condensa on,seatransporta on,storageandregasica on,where as legal acts and branch standards form a superior layer, comprisingalltherequirements[6].

ManagementSystemsinProduc onEngineering3(7)/201239
A.ADAMKIEWICZ,W.KAMISKILNGTerminalSafeOpera onManagement

1. Primary containment (the rst level of security) is reached throughout the use of appropriate materials for the construc on of containers and equipment and also throughout providing a correct technical design at each technological stage. This issue is governed by the PNEN 1473:2002(U)regula onInstalla onsandequipmentfor condensednaturalgasdesigningonlandinstalla ons[10]. 2.Secondarycontainment(thesecondlevelofsecurity), isreachedthroughouttheappropriateconstruc onofcon tainersguaranteeing,inthecaseoflackof ghtnessorLNG leakages, isola on and securing the leakage. In prac ce, containersoftheSCT,DCT,FCTtypehavebeenapplied[2]. 3. The purpose of safeguarding systems is to minimize the frequency of LNG leakages and the relief of leakage eectsiftheydotakeplace.Atthissecuritylevel,LNGoper atorsintroducesystemsdetec ngleakagesofgas,liqueed gas,systemsfordetec ngres,alarmsystems,monitoring ofprocesses,systemsofemergencyswitchingoofequip ment or processes equipment for regh ng. Safety man agement systems based on risk analysis required by Di rec ve96/82ECcalledSEVESOIIand2003/105/ECarealso applied[5]. 4. Safety areas (separa on distances) should be deter minedbyappropriateregula ons,sothatLNGinstalla ons were located in a safe distance from human se lements, public places, neighbouring industrial plants. Currently, there is a lack of sucient legal regula ons determining safe distances from other construc ons and sites not only inPolandbutalsoinEurope.InCanada,accordingtoregu la ons for LNG storing, it is required to assess the risk in cluding the descrip on of emergency plans comprising NG releases, re and explosions using the Preliminary Hazard andOperabilityStudytoiden fypoten alhazards.Onthe basisoftheriskevalua onstudy,theoperatorisobligedto ensure all possible safety systems (technical and organiza onal) preven ng a poten al industrial emergency. The results of such an analysis play an important role in the planning and site planning processes basing rst of all on the emergency plans, and directly connected with them, ranges of areas of overpressure wave generated by an ex plosion, heat radia on, ight trajectory of parts of equip ment ripped by an explosion or the ranges of propaga on of the LNG release cloud [12]. In the case of a leakage of LNG from pressurized equipment, it will be released into theatmosphereasinthejetform.Thisprocessisconnect edwithintensivemixingwiththeair.Thenabigpartofthe

LNGinthereleasedcloudwillbeini allyintheformofan aerosol.Next,asaresultofmixingwiththeairitwillgradu ally evaporate. The combus on point of the gas air mix ture created as a result of LNG leakage may be reached whentheconcentra onofnaturalgasinthemixtureisbe tween 5% to 15% of the cloud volume [1]. Then the re leased LNG cloud when it meets on its way an eec ve source of combus on may undergo the UVCE (Unconned VapourCloudExplosion)whichisanexplosionofvapour in an unrestricted space. The concentra on of the natural gas in the released LNG signicantly diers, star ng from the high values occurring at the centre of the cloud and directlyoverthegroundtoverylowonesonthevergesof thecloud.Themaximumconcentra onofthenaturalgasin the cloud depends mainly on the total volume of the air mixedwiththegasandthespeedofmixing.Thela erone dependsonthePasquilstabilityclass[10]andthedegreeof turbulencesduringtheprocessofmixing.Thephysicalsize ofthevisibilityrangeofthecloudofthereleasedLNGwill toahighextentdependontheLNGmass,dispersion me andatmosphericcondi ons[2]. 5. Legal acts and branch regula ons are to oblige LNG operators to apply opera onal procedures, technological overhauls of equipment, personnel training, ge ng ready for emergencies all of which is regulated by the 96/82 EC Direc ve.Suchorganiza onsasSIGITO(SocietyofInterna onal Gas Tanker and Terminal Operators), GPA (Gas Pro cessorsAssocia on)publishanextensivenumberofmateri alsonthesafetyofLNGterminalsonthebasisoftheexpe rienceinthebranch,indica ngandrecommendingthebest prac calmethodsdecreasingtheriskofoccurrenceofdan gerous situa ons. The introduc on by the LNG operators thesofarnonobligatorytheISO9000(qualitysystem)and ISO 14000 (system of environmental protec on manage ment) standards and OHSAS 16000 (workplace safety sys tem)willundoubtedlyaddtotheincreaseofsafetyinLNG terminalopera on[10,11]. TheLNGterminalsafetysystemcomprisesthesafetyof people,naturalenvironment,propertyandsecurityoffacili es is a dynamic system which undergoes improvements. Changing technologies, legislature and recommenda ons resul ngfrombranchexperienceandmoreandmoremod ern methods of training cause systema c increase in e ciencyandlaunchingimprovementsintothesafetysystem asitisshowninFigure2[1].

Fig. 2. General structure of the safety system [1]

40ManagementSystemsinProduc onEngineering3(7)/2012 A.ADAMKIEWICZ,W.KAMISKILNGTerminalSafeOpera onManagement POSSIBILITIESOFDECREASINGTHERISKOFEMERGENCY OCCURRENCESATLNGTERMINALS ThesafetyofLNGterminalopera onshouldbeconsid ered together with the safety of a gas carrier performing theopera onsofLNGunloading.AvesselunloadingLNGat aterminalcanbeabigthreat.Thus,decreasingthepossi bility of emergencies on the ship leads to a decrease of emergencyoccurrenceriskattheterminal. The decrease of risk of emergency occurrence which canbedangerousforLNGopera ons may take place when the vessel opera ng at the LNG terminal[9]: a. Possesses valid cer cates, conrming its technical condi ons,issuedbyclassica onins tu onsonthe basisofperiodicalinspec ons. b. Is safe which is conrmed by safety inspec ons of thePortStateControlorbytheFlagStateControl. c. Possessesposi veresultsofauditsperformedwitha viewofsafetybyexternalauditorsorcharterersreg istered in the Vessel Inspec on Ques onnaire Sys tem. d. Has a crew whose competences are conrmed by cer catesincompliancewiththeSTCWconven on aswellasaddi onaltrainingse.g.onLNGcarriersim ulators(FullMission) e. Uses the ISMsystem (system of safety management onashipandinthecompany)ISO9000,ISO14000, OHSAS16000introducedbytheshipowner f. Shouldsuccessfullygothroughoutasafetyinspec on performedbyasafetyinspectoroftheLNGterminal. Suchaninspec onshouldtakeplacebeforetheship moorsattheterminal. g. Goes through the procedure imposed by the IMO CheckListShip/ShoreSafetyPlan. Loweringtheriskofemergencyoccurrenceontheside oftheterminalmaybecarriedoutthroughout[3,10,11]: a. ApplyingtothestandardsofLNGac vi esincompli ance with the SIGITO, OCIMF, IMO recommenda ons. b. Introducing the standards of ISO 9000 (quality sys tem), ISO 14000 (environmental protec on manage ment system) and OHSAS 16000 (workplace safety system). c. Launching the management safety system based on risk analysis required by 96/82 EC Direc ve called SEVESOIIand2003/105/EC. d. Introduc on of procedures for performed ac vi es, rou nemaintenanceandemergencyac vi esaswell as a system of permits for performing dangerous works. e. Preparingaprocedureofac onsinthecaseofdier entemergenciesaccordingtothePNEN1473regula on,prepara onofriskevalua onperformedeither inthequan ta veorqualita vewayusingstandard methods of risk evalua on. Risk evalua on should contain[7,8]: iden ca onofinternalandexternalrisksources, classica on and determina on of areas endan geredbyexplosion, determina onofemergencyoccurrenceprobabil ity(e.g.uncontrolledleakage,re,explosion), evalua on of results including heat radia on, overpressure wave and the range of LNG cloud propaga on, determina onofindispensablesafetysystems. f. Terminal crew training regarding safety, opera onal and emergency procedures in compliance with the recommenda ons published in the SIGITO and OCIMFdocuments. g. Determiningmeteorologicalcondi onsatwhichLNG unloading opera ons performed by the ship will be stopped. h. Determina on of safe ship mooring condi ons at a terminal and appropriate assistance of tugboats at mooringopera ons. i. Emergency shutdown of LNG transfer opera ons from the ship; ESD1 (shuts down transfer opera on regardless of where they were ini ated on the ship or at the terminal), ESD2 (shuts down the valves at the ship manifold connec ng pipe with the terminal pipeline and automa cally shuts down this connec on). j. Prepara onofemergencyplans. k. Introduc on of a permit system allowing theperfor manceofspecicworkscri calforthesafetyandrisk managementofdangerousopera onsbasedonmar ketanalysisattheworkplace. The LNG terminal management is obliged to prepare procedures of ac ons in the case of dangerous situa on occurrence(LNGleakage,re,explosion).Whenworkingon such procedures, the following should be taken into ac count[5]: a. Determina on of a kind, quan ty and loca on of equipment indispensable to detect an uncontrolled LNGleakageorre. b. Iden ca onofinternalandexternalsourcesofrisk. c. Determina onofprobabilityofanemergencyoccur rence(e.g.uncontrolledleakage,re,explosion), d. Determina on of ways of ac on of LNG terminal employeesinthecaseofre,explosionoranuncon trolledleakage), e. Classica on and determina on of areas endan geredwithanexplosion. f. Carrying out a probable evalua on of eects taking into account heat radia on, the overpressure wave andtherangeofLNGcloudpropaga on. g. Determina on of protec on methods of construc on facili es and process equipment against heat radia onduringreand/orexplosion. h. Determina on of requirements within water supply forregh ngneeds. i. Determina on of requirements for regh ng equipmentandreex nguishers. j. Introduc on of systems sustaining the opera on of facili esandprocessequipmentinthecaseoftech nological breakdown e.g. as a result of the lack of electricitysupplyetc. k. Determina on of rules regarding personnel training foremergencysitua onoccurrence. l. Determina on of me schedule and carrying out drillsforemergencysitua ons(LNGterminalnstalla ons,pipelinesorbreakdownsofthemooredship). m. Workingoutasystemfordrawingconclusionsfrom the carried out prac ce emergency alarms and im plemen ng these conclusions into the modied emergencyplans

ManagementSystemsinProduc onEngineering3(7)/201241
A.ADAMKIEWICZ,W.KAMISKILNGTerminalSafeOpera onManagement

LNGTERMINALPERSONNEL ManagementofsafeLNGterminalopera onisconnect edwiththepersonnelemployedforopera ngtechnological installa ons of the terminal and the safety of the tasks to be performedby the personnel. Personnel employmentof theterminaldependson[9]: a. Na onalregula ons. b. Port regula ons and the structure of the port man agement. c. Numberofunloadingposi onsattheterminal. d. Terminalunloadingcapacity. e. Physicalsizeoftheterminal. f. Equipment installed at the terminal and require mentsregardingtheirservicing. g. Level of advancement and amount of control measurementequipment. h. Level of integra on of the personnel employed at theterminal,abili esofpar cularemployeestoper formmanytasks. i. Personnelabili es,skillsandcompetences. j. Policyofthecompanyregardingtheemploymentof subcontractors. Whenconsideringtheissueofpersonnelemploymentat an LNG terminal, terminal management should take into account the number and frequency of tasks to be per formed, qualica ons that are required to perform such tasks, number of people necessary to perform par cular tasks, me indispensable for performing the tasks taking into account shi work and also carry out market analysis connectedwith: a. Dangersresul ngfromLNGtransferfromtheshipto theterminal. b. Safetyoftheshipmooredattheterminal. c. Detec onofgasorliqueedLNGleakages. d. Detec onofreorsmoke. e. wharfmonitoring, f. Monitoringoftheshipatthewharf. g. Monitoring of the part of cargo being currently un loadedandLNGpressurestheprocessoftransfer. h. Ac va on of emergency shut down systems ESD1 andESD2. i. Ac va on of emergency alarms and introduc on of emergencyprocedures. j. Correct communica on systems: terminalship and internalonesattheterminal. k. Protec onofthefacilityfromunauthorizedpersons, destruc onacts,terrorista ack. l. Systemofcontrolandsupervisionrunbytheauthor izedpersonnelpresentattheterminal. m. Protec onofescaperoutesandtheirmonitoring. n. Abilitytoreactatemergencysitua ons. EXTERNALPERSONNELEMPLOYEDATLNGTERMINALS Safetyofamari meLNGterminalisalsoinuencedby people whose ac vi es are indispensable for performing thetaskfacingtheterminal.Asarule,theyshouldbequali edandtrainedinthesafetyissues.Thisgroupcomprises: a. SeapilotsanddockpilotswhobringtheLNGcarrier toportandLNGterminalwharf, b. Tugboatcrews assis ng the leading ofthevessel to port.TugboatsusedfortheLNGvesselmooringop era onorassis ngtheLNGcarrierintheportmust haveaninternalclosedven la onsystem. c. Wharfmen performing mooring and unmooring op era onsoftheship.

d. Inspectors/expertswhoaretomeasuretheamount ofcargoontheshipandcollectcargosamplesfrom theship. e. Safetyinspectorsoftheshipownerorthecharterer. f. Shipagents. g. Terminal equipment repair teams or ship mainte nancecrews. h. Customsocers, i. Portsanitaryocers, j. MembersofFiregh ngServices. k. Shipsuppliers(suppliersoffood,spareparts). l. Portsecurityocersandterminalsecurityocers. TASKSPERFORMEDBYLNGTERMINAL Management of LNG terminal safe opera on requires llingthepostswhicharenecessaryforasafeopera onof LNG unloading from the ship to the terminal, taking into account the safety of people, the environment and the property(ship/equipmentandLNGterminalfacili es)[5,9]. TasksoftheLNGterminalcrewatLNGunloadingorloading comprise: a. Communica on with the vessel before it arrives at theport. b. Mooring the ship at an appropriate posi on at the terminal. c. Servicingtheopera onofshipmooring. d. Checkingandconrmingsafemooringoftheship, e. Installa onofagangwayallowingasafeaccessonto theship. f. Prepara on of the onland installa on of the LNG terminalforaccep ngthecargofromtheship. g. Organizing and par cipa on at a conference on the ship before star ng LNG transfer from the ship to theterminal. h. Fullling the checking procedure according to the Ship/ShoreSafetyCheckList. i. Carrying out a cargo conference on the ship where the condi ons of LNG transfer from the ship to the terminalarese led. j. Connec ngtheshippipestoterminalinstalla on. k. Collec ngsamplesofLNGcargofromtheship. l. Measurement of containers on the ship and estab lishingtheamountofthecargo. m. Establishingandmonitoringcommunica onsystems betweentheshipandtheterminal. n. Conrma onofthestateofsafetransferthroughout cyclic checking of the safety in compliance with the ship/shoresafetychecklist. o. Con nuouscontrolandcheckingtheposi onofthe shipattheterminal. p. Con nuouscontrolandcheckingthemooringofthe ship. q. Con nuous control and checking the pipelines, valves and other installa ons in order to detect po ten aloccurrenceofLNGleakages. r. Regularcheckingofcargolevelontheship. s. Checking the water surface around the ship in case an uncontrolled leakage of oil or fuel from the ship takesplace. t. Checking weather forecasts and hydro meteorologicalcondi ons. u. Monitoring of the part of cargo being currently un loaded and pressures in pipelines receiving LNG at theterminal.

42ManagementSystemsinProduc onEngineering3(7)/2012 A.ADAMKIEWICZ,W.KAMISKILNGTerminalSafeOpera onManagement v. Monitoringofemergencyshutdownsysteminstal la ons, ESD1 and ESD2 and their switching on if needarises. w. Reac ngindangeroussitua ons: reonshiporattheterminal, faultyopera onofunloadingsystemsortheship powersystems, LNGleakage, terrorista ack and: 1) communica on with port administra on, both rou neandemergency, 2) organiza on of ship emergency unmooring in the caseofathreatonamajorscale, 3) control and supervision over repair/maintenance teamsofLNGterminalinstalla ons, 4) monitoring of people working at the terminal, ship crews and other persons indispensable for terminal andshipopera on, 5) monitoringofescaperoutes, 6) carryingouttheopera onsofsafedisconnec onof LNGtransferpipelinefromtheshipunloadinginstal la ona ertheunloadinghasbeencompleted, 7) performing the opera on of safe unmooring of the shipfromtheterminalwharf. Due to the wide range of tasks and their importance fromthesafetypointofviewwhichtheterminalcrewhas toundertake,averyimportantissueisthenumberofper sonnelforeachtaskorintegra onoftheterminalcrewand trainingitforperformingmanytasks. FINALREMARKS SafeLNGterminalopera onmanagementisanissueof great signicance, of utmost importance due to the spe cicsanddangersconnectedwiththeirsafeopera on. Introduc on of quality and safety standards recom mended by OCIMF will undoubtedly lead to a decrease in theriskofemergencysitua onoccurrence. Trainings of crew/personnel with a view of safety and introduc onofproceduresoftaskperformanceaswellasa system of permits for performing special tasks, prepared using the methods of risk analysis, will bring about a de creaseintheriskofemergencysitua onoccurrence. Determina on of procedures of ac ons in emergency situa onsandtheirregular,periodicprac cingduringprac ceemergencyalarmsisabsolutelynecessaryandobligato ry. REFERENCES: [1] CodeofPrac ceonLiquiedNaturalGasfacili es,No vaSco a,DepartmentofEnergy2005. [2] EN 1160:1996: Installa ons and equipment for lique ednaturalgas.Generalcharacteris csofLNG. [3] FossM.etal.:LNGSafety&Security.EnergyEconomics Research.Oct,2005. [4] Grzywa E., Molenda J. Technology of Basic Organic Syntheses. Vol. 1. WNT. Warsaw 2000, 3rd edi on (revised). [5] HopkinnsM.:Thetransporta onofliquedgas.Mate riaySIGTTO,2008. [6] aciak, M.: Safety of equipment and gas installa on networkopera on.Krakw2010. [7] WonK.Kim:Astudyforpreven onofUnconnedVa porCloudExplosionfromspilledLNGconnedindike. h tp://www.gexcon.com. [8] NFPA 59A: Standard for the Produc on, Storage and HandlingofLNG.2006Edi on. [9] OCIMF Manning at Conven onal Marine Terminals. June2008 [10]PNEN 1473:2002 (U). Installa ons and equipmentfor liqueednaturalgas.Designingofonlandinstalla ons. [11]PNEN1050:1999.Machines.Safety.RulesofRiskEval ua on. [12]RajP.K.:WhereinaLNGvaporcloudistheammable concentra on rela ve to the visible cloud boundary. NFPAJournal,MayJune,2006. [13]h p://www.polskielng.pl.

drhab.in.AndrzejAdamkiewicz,prof.AM Mari meUniversityofSzczecin FacultyofMechanicalEngineering, Diagnos csandMachineRepairsDepartment ul.Podgrna51/53,70205Szczecin,POLAND email:a.adamkiewicz@am.szczecin.pl drin.WodzimierzKamiski Mari meUniversityofSzczecin FacultyofMechanicalEngineering, Ins tuteofMarinePowerPlants ul.WayChrobrego12,70500Szczecin,POLAND email:w.kaminski@am.szczecin.pl

Artyku w polskiej wersji jzykowej dostpny na stronie internetowejczasopisma.

Thear cleinPolishlanguageversionavailableontheweb siteofthejournal