How to choose the fire protection distance for boilers?

I. Building codes focus on \"mitigation\" rather than \"prevention,\" and they stipulate measures primarily aimed at preventing the spread of accidents and the aggravation of their consequences (such as fire resistance ratings, fire compartments, fire separation distances, explosion relief mechanisms, safe evacuation procedures, firefighting measures, etc.). There are basically no provisions for preventing accidents from occurring in the first place. Measures to prevent accidents are the first type of safety measures, and they are the most important. The petrochemical regulations are comprehensive fire safety standards that cover both \"extinguishing\" and \"prevention\" – that is, they include provisions for preventing accidents from occurring, as well as measures to stop accidents from spreading or worsening their consequences. II. Building codes only specify the fire prevention measures that should be taken for buildings (such as factories and warehouses) and structures (such as storage yards and tank farms), but they provide virtually no regulations regarding the safety measures that should be implemented for the production, storage, auxiliary equipment and facilities within these buildings and structures, as well as for the production processes themselves. Petrochemical regulations are comprehensive standards that include provisions regarding buildings and structures; more importantly, they specify the safety measures that must be taken for production, storage, auxiliary equipment and facilities, as well as the production processes themselves. III. The claim that the regulations regarding the petrochemical industry are \"strict on the outside but lax on the inside\" is widely spread at present and has misled many people; however, this claim is utterly incorrect. Petrochemical enterprises are far more dangerous than ordinary chemical enterprises, and their production processes are usually continuous with various units being interconnected. It is impossible to expect that in the event of an accident, only the external impacts can be minimized while allowing things to remain \"lax\" internally, resulting in successive explosions in one unit after another. IV. Upon comparison, in terms of fire separation distances, except for tank areas, the requirements set by petrochemical regulations are much higher than those specified in building codes (for example, petrochemical regulations require 30 m between Class A installations, while building codes require 12 m between Class A factory rooms). Only in the tank area is this the case; according to building codes, the capacity of a single tank area is limited (5000 m3 for categories A and B, and 25000 m3 for category C). If the amount of material to be stored exceeds the capacity allowed for one tank area, then two tank areas must be used, and a large fire separation distance must be maintained between them. The petrochemical regulations do not specify the capacity of an entire tank area; instead, they only set limits on the capacity of a single tank group. Multiple tank groups can be arranged together to form a tank area, and this is the main reason why the petrochemical regulations are less stringent regarding fire separation distances compared to building codes. Furthermore, the petrochemical regulations impose lower requirements on the distance between the plant’s storage tanks (intermediate storage tanks) and the plant itself. In addition, regarding fire separation distances, the petrochemical regulations are more stringent than those for building construction. V. For medium and large-sized enterprises, if their production facilities are arranged in an open-frame structure, regardless of whether they belong to the petrochemical, refining, or chemical fiber industry, and regardless of whether they are listed in Tables 5, 6, and 7 of the interpretations related to petrochemical regulations, the fire separation requirements specified in those petrochemical regulations must be followed. This is because the building codes do not provide any regulations regarding the spacing between such open-frame facilities; moreover, the building codes also offer no guidelines on safety evacuation and firefighting measures for such facilities, so it is necessary to adhere to the petrochemical regulations. VI. For a given enterprise or project, the same set of regulations must be applied regarding fire separation distances; it is absolutely correct that one area should not follow building codes while another area follows petrochemical industry regulations. However, the codes are not entirely unrelated to one another; they refer to each other. For example, enterprises that follow the petrochemical industry codes when determining fire separation distances must, in cases involving fire separation distances between buildings such as warehouses, office buildings and other civil buildings, or auxiliary facilities like air compressor rooms, apply the building codes, as the petrochemical industry codes do not provide regulations or specify which codes should be followed in such situations. ——This situation still complies with the principle that a company can only follow one set of regulations regarding fire separation distances: the petrochemical regulations are applied uniformly, although these regulations indicate that other standards should be referred to for matters related to fire separation distances between buildings, without specifying exact figures. By adhering to the data requirements set out in those other standards, we are also fulfilling the requirements of the petrochemical regulations. VII. The various standards refer to each other; it is absurd to require that, if building codes are listed as the basis for evaluation, petrochemical industry standards cannot be included. In addition to the mutual references regarding fire separation distances mentioned earlier, there are other factors as well. For example, enterprises that follow building codes for fire separation distances must also implement safety measures regarding their production, storage, and auxiliary equipment and facilities. If such measures are not specified in other standards (and certainly not in building codes), then requirements should still be established based on or with reference to petrochemical industry standards. VIII. Regarding the situations described in points 5 and 7, the main reason for relying on the petrochemical regulations is the current lack of a comprehensive fire protection code for chemical plants that are not part of the petrochemical industry; such a code is needed to address the issues in existing building codes, such as the presence of fire suppression systems but no fire protection measures, as well as the existence of buildings and structures without corresponding equipment and facilities. In the absence of such a standard at present, for enterprises that adhere to building codes regarding fire separation distances, evaluating and designing their fire safety measures solely based on those building codes is far from sufficient to meet the requirements of safe production; it is necessary to rely on or refer to other standards, among which the most important one is the petrochemical standards.

Hello, by your meaning, it is to implement one standard uniformly. So, under the petrochemical regulations, is the safety distance for boilers determined based on them being classified as category II plant-wide critical facilities? Are there any other instructions and regulations regarding boilers inside? Please give me some advice. Thank you!

To ensure safety, the fire separation distance should be appropriately increased