OVERVIEW

The course aims to provide formal methodologies for the assessment of reliability, availability and safety in industrial plants, with a detailed insight into the economic and financial aspects of the process industry.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to give students the basic theoretical scientific knowledge and the technical tools allowing them to acquire:

• the basics of probabilistic theory;
• the formal methodologies to assess and evaluate reliability and availability of plant and processes and the basics of maintenance engineering;
• investment evaluation, cost estimation and optimal allocation of the budget;
• the identification of hazards, their relationship with occupational and process safety and the knowledge of the most important techniques for hazard identification;
• the assessment of industrial risk as a combination of frequencies and consequences, human factor assessment and integrated risk management;
• transversal skills in terms of communication and team working ability, as well as learning capability during class numerical guided applications and team case-study on a selected research topic within the broad safety domain.

The knowledge of these issues is necessary to manage safety problems during the whole plant lifetime, ensuring compliance with the occupational and process safety regulations of industrial plants and the industry sustainability goals.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is to give students the basic theoretical scientific knowledge and the technical tools allowing them to acquire:

• the basics of probabilistic theory;
• the formal methodologies to assess and evaluate reliability and availability of plant and processes and the basics of maintenance engineering;
• investment evaluation, cost estimation and optimal allocation of the budget;
• the identification of hazards, their relationship with occupational and process safety and the knowledge of the most important techniques for hazard identification;
• the assessment of industrial risk as a combination of frequencies and consequences, human factor assessment and integrated risk management;
• transversal skills in terms of communication and team working ability, as well as learning capability during class numerical guided applications and team case-study on a selected research topic within the broad safety domain.

The knowledge of these issues is necessary to manage safety problems during the whole plant lifetime, ensuring compliance with the occupational and process safety regulations of industrial plants and the industry sustainability goals.

PREREQUISITES

To fruitfully attend the classes and to fully understand the course contents, it's necessary to have a robust knowledge of the fundamentals of analysis, thermodynamics (specifically of the mass and energy balances - even in presence of phase transitions and chemical reactions - and of the vapor-liquid equilibria), of the transport phenomena (specifically of the local balances of mass, energy, momentum), of Boolean algebra and of calculus of probabilities.

TEACHING METHODS

In-class lessons. Tutorials and numerical case-studies solved and critically discussed during the lessons. Self-directed teamwork focused on acquiring transversal knowledge, to be assessed at the examination. The teacher will NOT make available the video recordings of the lessons. Students are warmly recommended to directly follow all the lessons at the best in person.

Lessons are delivered in Italian: to fruitfully attend classes, a good comprehension of Italian language is necessary (B2 level). 

DSA students

Students who already have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Professor Federico Scarpa (federico.scarpa@unige.it  ), the Polytechnic School's disability liaison.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1.Introduction

Process plants and the issue of personnel and process safety within the socio-economic comtext. Qualitative and quantitative risk assessment. General Risk Model. Unwanted events classification: fire, explosion and release. Relevant national and international regulations.

2. Economic and financial aspects.

Theory and applications within the process plant sector: basics of financial mathematics; investment evaluation criteria; cost analysis; depreciation techniques; optimal choice of different technical alternatives;

3. Occupational vs. process safety

Statistics and accident frequency evaluation. Performance indicators of personnel safety. Human factor and risk determining factors. Occupational health and ergonomics. Risk management models.

4. Reliability engineering

Theory of industrial reliability and elements of statistics. Frequency and probability. Human and system reliability. Fault-tree analysis of complex systems, redundancies, standby. Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA).

5. Legislative context

The European and oversea legislative frameworks in the fields of personnel and process safety, health in working environment.

6. Hazardous substances and their properties

Gas, vapour and dust hazardous properties and their evaluation. Classification including GHS and CLP framework. Risk indicators. Hazard identification tools and application to case-studies. Fire, explosion, instability and reactivity. Sound and vibration: basic concepts.

7. Introduction to Quantitative Risk Assessment

Local, individual and social risk. Damage models. Risk acceptability criteria. Risk mitigation and design of emergency relief systems. Land use planning.  Risk in multimodal HazMat transportation. HSE risk. Complementing economics with safety. management.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The reference teaching textsbooks are: 

P. Citti, G. Arcidiacono, G. Campatelli. “Fondamenti di affidabilità”. Mc Graw Hilll, Milano, I.

M.S. Peters, K.D. Timmerhaus “Plant design and economics for chemical engineering”.  Mc Graw Hilll, New Yourk, US.

D.A.Crowl, J.F.Louvar, Chemical process safety: fundamentals with applications, III ed., Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA, 2011.

G. Nota. “Advances in Risk Management” Sciyo ed.(only Chapter 4 : “Trends, problems and outlook in process industry risk assessment and aspects of personal and process safety" by B. Fabiano and H. J. Pasman. Free download: http://www.intechopen.com/books/advances-in-risk-management. Lecture slides and reference scientific papers are promptly delivered in electronic format online.  Supporting material for tutorials is provided during the lessons and together with lesson and tutorial attendance is adequate for passing the final examination

Additional reference text available for consultation at the university library, or on the web:

G.G. Brown. “Unit Operations” Hoepli ed., Milano.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

According to the official calendar of lessons of Genoa University, available at the following link:

 https://corsi.unige.it/corsi/10376/studenti-orario

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The oral final exam is set to evaluate student’s knowledge level, design and application abilities, as well as effective technical communication skills. It includes as first question a critical discussion on the optional team case-study performed and completed during the lesson period (for students performing the case-study). During the exam it is requested to discuss topics pertinent to human safety and plant reliability, plant economic assessment at the design or running stage as well as to numerically solve a practical design problem, including economic evaluations, pertinent the examined  scenarios. The exam consists in an oral proof, generally of nearly 45 – 60 minutes, where the student can be required to sketch out  numerical exercises related to the course contents, requiring neither the use of a PC, nor to retrieve data about the chemical, physical and hazardous properties of the substances. Students should refer, as an example, to the exercises explained by the teacher during the lessons.

During the "Winter session"  3 examination dates are fixed (January, February and lessons break), 2 examination dates are fixed during the "Summer session" (June and July) and 2 in the "Autumn session" (September and lessons break). All exam dates are fixed strictly following the official scheduling of the Polytechnic School.

DSA students

Students holding a DSA certificate, or needing other dedicated education needs, are kindly requested to contact the professor at the start of the first semester to agree upon educational activity and final examination, in close adherence with the targets and learning outcomes of the course. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The aim is to provide knowledge and solving capabilities on safety and loss prevention issues in the process industry, with emphasis on reliability, environmental and personnel/process risk and including economic implications. The effectiveness assessment during the course development is performed by monitoring capabilities in numerical applications, lessons learned from incidents and optional team case-studies.

Higher grades at the final exam will be awarded to students who demonstrate an organic understanding of the subject coupled with a clear presentation of all the course contents, as well as a high ability for critical application  and the ability to face more complex problems related to safety aspects and economic evaluation thanks to the expertise acquired during the whole duration of the studies. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

No formal requirements are foreseen; courses on Chemical Plant, Theory and Development of Chemical Processes and Chemical Engineering Principles represent useful background knowledge.

Lecture slides are delivered in electronic format before each thematic lesson. Supporting material for tutorials is provided during the lessons.