Handbook of Fire and Explosion Protection Engineering Principles: for Oil, Gas, Chemical and Related Facilities

by Dennis P. Nolan

Overview

The security and economic stability of many nations and multinational oil and chemical companies is highly dependent on the safe and uninterrupted operation of their oil, gas and chemical facilities. Fire and explosion incidents are among the most critical impacts than can occur to these operations. This book provides a reference guide for professionals involved with fire and explosion prevention and protection aspects of these critical facilities.

The main objectives of this handbook are to provide a practical understanding of fire and explosion problems at oil, gas and chemical facilities and to act as a general reference for engineers, designers and others facing fire protection issues.

This book focuses on terminology that is applied and used in fire protection profession. Therefore NFPA standards and interpretations are utilized as the primary guidelines for the definitions and explanations.

• A unique practical guide to preventing fires and explosions at oil and gas facilities, based on the author’s extensive experience in the industry.
• An essential reference tool for engineers, designers and others facing fire protection issues.
• The expanded second edition is based on the latest NFPA standards and interpretations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781437778588
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	12/15/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	340
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Dr. Dennis P. Nolan has had a long career devoted to risk engineering, fire protection engineering, loss prevention engineering and systems safety engineering. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Business Administration from Berne University, Master of Science degree in Systems Management from Florida Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Fire Protection Engineering from the University of Maryland. He is a U.S. registered professional engineer in fire protection engineering in the state of California.He is currently on the Executive Management staff of Saudi Aramco, located in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, as a Loss Prevention Consultant/Chief Fire Prevention Engineer. He covers some of the largest oil and gas facilities in the world. As part of his career, he has examined oil production, refining, and marketing facilities under severe conditions and in various unique worldwide locations, including Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Russia, and North and South America. His activity in the aerospace field has included engineering support for the NASA Space Shuttle launch facilities at Kennedy Space Center (and for those undertaken at Vandenburg Air Force Base, California) and “classified” national defense systems. Dr. Nolan has received numerous safety awards and is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, He is the author of many technical papers and professional articles in various international fire safety publications. He has written at least four books, several published by Elsevier.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Overview of Oil & Gas facilities; Philosophy of Protection Principles; Physical Properties of Hydrocarbons; Characteristics of Hydrocarbon Releases, Fires and Explosions; Historical survey of Fire and Explosion Incidents in the Hydrocarbon Industries; Risk Analysis; Segregation, Separation and Arrangement; Grading, Containment and Drainage Systems; Process Controls; Emergency Shutdown; Depressurization, Blowdown and Venting; Overpressure and Thermal Relief; Control of Ignition Sources; Elimination of Process Releases; Fire and Explosion Resistant Systems; Fire and Gas Detection and Alarm Systems; Evacuation; Methods of Fire Suppression; Special Locations, Facilities and Locations; Human Factors and Ergonomic Considerations

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From the Publisher

The impact of fire and explosions on oil and gas production can be disastrous. In this book Dennis Nolan, an executive-level Loss Prevention specialist with the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), and US-registered PE in Fire Protection Engineering, draws on his considerable industry experience to present a practical guide to fire and explosion risk reduction for the oil and gas industry and related chemical plants.