EHS assessment issues
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For major hazard sources, the raw materials fed into the production units are measured in terms of tons per hour; as for determining how many tons of a particular material are present in such a production unit, there is a specific method for calculating that.
It can be calculated by multiplying the total volume of the equipment and pipelines through which the hazardous substances pass by their specific gravity or density; the length of the pipelines can be estimated roughly.
The average value can be calculated based on monthly purchase orders
In actual production, during the startup and shutdown of the plant, the amount of material flowing into and out of the system should be similar to the amount of material stored in the plant. Companies generally carry out this type of work in order to prepare and store materials when driving and parking. If there is no data on this aspect, an estimate can still be made, just as mentioned above. The volume of the intermediate storage tanks is easy to determine; however, it’s difficult to estimate the amount of material stored in various towers, reactors, and condensers. I’ve also seen some evaluation reports, and not many of them provide such detailed analysis in the identification of major hazard sources.
It has nothing to do with the hourly feed rate; what is specified in the definition of a major hazard source is the maximum storage capacity of the unit. Estimate the volume of the equipment and pipelines, multiply it by the density of the medium, and don’t forget to multiply by the medium filling factor.