RISK ANALYSIS OF ACETONE AND PHENOL PRODUCTION PROCESS FROM BENZENE AND PROPENE

Process safety is a main concern in chemical and petrochemical industries nowadays. In this context, an applied hazard identification and risk assessment were performed in a hypothetical acetone plant based on the Hock process. The capacity of the plant was chosen according to Brazilian market conditions. Quantitative risk analysis for a few scenarios was carried out by using PhastRisk® software. As a result, equipment and pipelines were designed to meet process throughput as well as safety requirements. Some hazard properties of process stream, such as flammability and toxicity, were evaluated and their impact was taken into account in the plant. Based on a qualitative risk analysis, some recommendations to reduce incident probability were proposed. The quantitative approach also indicated the critical zone of impact, the radiation emitted and the toxic cloud dispersion that would take place from the leakage point. The results showed that the worst case scenario involved a leakage of acetone and propylene