Are facilities for treating VOCs through catalytic oxidation (CO) considered equipment involving open flames?
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Has anyone built a facility for catalytic oxidation of CO to treat VOCs? Does this fall under the category of open-flame equipment as defined in petrochemical regulations? Although it burns without flames, it still belongs to waste gas incineration equipment; could flames appear under abnormal conditions?
Well, it depends on what exactly constitutes this abnormal situation. For example, if the catalytic furnace explodes, then flames will definitely leak out, as the temperature inside the furnace is very high.
But situations like a furnace exploding are about as likely to happen as winning the lottery – maybe even less so, otherwise this technology wouldn’t be able to be widely adopted;P
I think the original poster is being a bit too stubborn. Should we consider the possibility of that workshop being hit by an asteroid? Should we consider the possibility that the 380V voltage suddenly changes to 450V? Should we consider the possibility of aliens suddenly attacking the workshop in order to steal the lubricant? Since it’s a probabilistic event, it should be treated equally, right? Reputable VOC manufacturers use interlock controls: the equipment stops operating when the temperature exceeds a certain level, and an alarm is triggered in such cases. If we consider extreme scenarios like this, even drinking water could become a dangerous task, as it’s possible to get food stuck in one’s teeth just by drinking!
But one has to consider everything carefully when it comes to Ken
Thinking things through carefully and worrying needlessly are two different things. Either they lack confidence in the company’s security management, or they buy inferior VOC equipment in order to save money.
Some information found online states that CO involves flameless oxidation; and with metal structures such as heat exchangers providing isolation, even the exhaust gases resulting from tempering do not reach the ignition point； There are no valve switches on the CO process pipeline, so there is no risk of safety issues due to instrument failure. I’m not sure if this is the case.
If you want to think that way, then I have nothing to say.
As long as you choose a reputable manufacturer with engineering experience, you don’t need to worry too much. As long as it is used normally and operations are not carried out in violation of regulations, there will be no problems.