Fire Protection Measure at Natural Gas Liquefied (NGL) Plant 1

[Isbtanwir]

Dear All,

I would like to post a question regarding what is the industry spacialist experience in requiring fire protection system for NGL processing plant. I am involved in fire protection code study for one NGL plant and client specifically wants "no fire water or fixed fire protection system in there plant mainly because it is impracticle for them to install on there facility due to (1)cost of installation (2)water is not available cheap (3) freezing conditions (4) most importantly they know that other NGL processing competitors dont have fire water system in there plant."
I have done code study for API 2510, 2510A, 2218, NFPA 58. And since plant is located in British Columbia, I am still doing code study for Building Code and Fire Code for British Columbia. NFPA 58 says it is not applicable to natural gas processing facilities so thats' OUT. API 2510 give option of (1) having fire water system or (2) no fixed fire water but portable fire water and fire proofing of equipments Or (3) NOTHING. Yes API 2510, says you can have nothing at NGL facilty as long as facility is "remote located" and client agrees with the cost of fire damage.
My client, want to gather some data from different industry fire spacialist as to what other people do and how do they justify that they need no fire protection or limited fire protection in their plant. I am still lost in British columbia code review and to find if that building or fire code has any specific requirements. I would appreciate your guidance this regards for finding specific details in British columbia codes. OR what are industry practices in this regards and how do they justify it.

Thanks All.

 

[KiwiMace]

The standards very often do not apply to industrial plant. This is a question for the insurance underwriter. The insurance underwriter has there own set of guidelines such as FM global property loss prevention data sheets. By complying with these, the insurance cost is reduced, or payout may be conditional on compliance.

 

[GHartmann]

Try this AICHE publication:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34590009/...ical-Petrochemical-And-Hydrocarbon-Processing

You may also want to consider:

API RP 2001 Fire Protection in Refineries
API Publication 2510A Fire Protection Considerations for the Design and Operation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Storage Facilities

http://utenti.unife.it/mauro.venturini/Research_activity/52_pres.pdf

The study is all about risk, and risk management. These type of studies are often undertaken by the insurance carrier.

 

[dcasto]

He is the reality. I have removed fixed fire water systems in Natural Gas Plants that are rated at 1.0 BCFD down to 20.0 MMCFD. Every time our insurance carriers were ok with that. In all the cases we donated our equipment that was still good to a local fire department. We only train our people to fight small fires. We only keep 30 pounder dry chemical and some CO2 extinguishers as needed. We donate hefty amounts of money to local fire departments

There is noting in any code that requires fire protection at such plants.

 

[Isbtanwir]

Well guys,

I had meeting with client insurer that they agree that they dont have specific requirepment for a fixed water spray system since local codes are silent on the issue and API documets are used only as recommendations. But one thing that came out of our meeting was that they said if we are deciding on proving no fire water then we should first do a "fire safety analysis" proving that fire water is not necessary for protection of plant against fire. Anybody has done a similar analysis for their NGL processing plants that I can study for reference or any out source guidance in this regards.

2ndly, I knw the Mr. Dcasto mentioned that they only have fire extinguishers on the plant to deal with small fires. Can you give me some guidance in this regards. I-e which locations in the plant get what type of extinguishers and what are their capacities.

Thanks All,

 

[maddocks]

I'm with dcasto on this one. Nobody stays to fight a gas plant fire. Most fire water systems are not maintained properly and they leak like sieves in a short time period. Put in gas detection, put in fire detection, ESD the plant and then tell the op's team to get out and evac if necessary. Most plant extinguishers are the small 30 lb units with a couple of wheeled 500 pound units but i'm really not expecting the op's team to wheel these things to the fire unless it's close and controllable.