Asset integrity management in mature process plants

Abstract

AbstractSeveral plants in Brazil have mature assets or use equipment that comes from decommissioned facilities. In addition, the culture of process safety in Brazil is an under‐researched topic that has only recently begun to attract corporate attention. Since catastrophic accidents are not very common, any accident related to the process can result in very large losses in terms of damage to equipment and loss of human and social capital. In mature process plants, these issues are even more sensitive because their organization may not yet have developed an effective integrity management program. Nevertheless, it is a proven fact that the assets of these plants are often nearing the end of their residual lifetime. Therefore, the present work aims to develop a high‐level checklist to evaluate the mechanical integrity and identify possible failures in the integrity management of vessels and tanks, based in good engineering practices, Regulatory Standard 13 (NR 13), API 579‐1/ASME FFS‐1, API RP 580, API RP 581, HSE (Health and Safety Executive) requirements, and other relevant standards as references. The checklist ts divided into six sections, namely (1) Brazilian Regulatory Standard 13 (NR 13); (2) Design and manufacturing; (3) Operation; (4) Management systems; (5) Deterioration mechanism; and (6) Risk‐based inspection, as the most relevant criteria for evaluating the integrity of mature pressure vessels and tanks.