Safety integrity level analysis of fluid catalytic cracking fractionating system based on dynamic simulation

Key Words:Safety engineering;Complex networks - Computer software - Fluid catalytic cracking - Petrochemicals

Abstract:Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is an important part of petrochemical production, so its safety analysis is significant for smooth operation of the whole refinery. A novel DYN-SIL method combining dynamic simulation with safety integrity level (SIL) is put forward to analyze the risk of FCC fractionating system in this article. Aspen Plus is employed to perform the steady-state simulation for the fractionating system prior to dynamic simulation. Then, the fractionating system is abstracted into a network topology to choose the most important variables using a quantitative analysis based on complex network theory. Finally, Aspen Dynamics is used to simulate the non-steady response of these variables in case of external disturbances and explore the SIL grade of their control structures. The effectiveness observed in this research suggests the potential application of this method to real production systems.<br/> © 2019 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers

Volume:104

Issue:NO

Translation or Not:no