석유화학공장의 소화설비에 관한 연구

Abstract

Abstract

Although preventative actions for fire and explosion accidents in petrochemical plants are being taken, the role of firefighting facilities are becoming extremely important in order to immediately respond to large fire outbreaks caused by negligent management or equipment defects and to minimize the damage by fire. However, domestic law of fire protection system only provides minimum requirements necessary for initial firefighting in petrochemical plants. The conclusion on the improvement measures made after investigating the required vs. available fire water supply and quantity of fire water, quantity of foams available, installation of firefighting facilities, analysis of actual fire and explosion cases as well as the opinions of safety related personnel in 32 petrochemical plants in Ulsan National Industrial Complex are as follows: First, it was found that required fire water supply was more than 3,500㎥/h, available fire water supply was more than 5,500㎥/h and quantity of fire water available was more than 100,000ℓ for oil refinery companies in Ulsan National Industrial Complex. Also, more than 50% of the investigated firms were able to supply twice the amount of fire water demand and 32% of the firms had more than ten times the quantity of fire water required. Second, the required fire water supply should be designed based on the worst case fire scenario for selecting firefighting facilities and fire water flow duration.

It was revealed that oil refinery companies took 4∼10 hours, 28% of investigated firms took 2 hours, 47% took 1 hour and 19% took approximately 30 minutes to extinguish fire. Hence, the fire water flow duration should be determined by considering the process area, amount of hazardous material used, unit hazard classification, fire and explosion cases etc. Third, the installation of fixed water spray system for extinguishment, exposure protection, control of burning, and dilution of vapour cloud must be considered in accordance with the recommendations given by API and NFPA Codes for chemical equipment in petrochemical plants. And the installation of water curtain equipment is necessary in order to prevent the expansion of fire within hazardous area. Fourth, the large amount foam monitor system and foam truck must be set up in large hazardous liquid storage tanks in preparation for massive fire outbreaks. The improvement should be made by holding the foam enough to cover the area of the whole dike as well as surface area of the largest storage tank. Fifth, oil storage tanks that exceed certain amount of hazardous material must be designed so that hazardous material does not penetrate to dike and floor by deciding the technical standards on solidity and air tightness. The improvement on related legislation should be made so that hazardous material does not leak by deciding on the technical standards on connecting part and piping system in dike. Sixth, the equipment investment of 3.13 billion won, made from 2006 to 2013, for the improvement of firefighting facilities was found to be economically beneficial as 2.49 billion won was saved on fire insurance.