DETERMINACIÓN DE RIESGOS DE ACCIDENTES MAYORES A TRAVÉS DEL ANÁLISIS DE PELIGROS Y OPERATIVIDAD (HAZOP) EN EL ÁREA DE DESTILACIÓN DE UNA PLANTA DE ALCOHOL

Abstract

Alcohol distillation plants handle volatile and flammable products; therefore, there is a high risk of fire and / or explosion that can cause serious accidents of material and occupational type. Through the use of the Hazop methodology, operational risks within the plant can be identified, highlighting the resulting labor, economic and social benefits. A multidisciplinary work team is formed with experience in the production of alcohol and the distillation area is divided into 6 nodes to apply the guide words to the parameters of the process, which lead us to identify possible accident scenarios, evaluate the risks and recommend actions to reduce the existing level of risk. Of the deviations of the process parameters in the distillation area, 55% corresponds to fire and / or explosion hazards, which result in 36 recommendations. It was determined that there are no urgent risks and, in spite of the existing safeguards, there are 8 high risks, which with the application of the recommendations may reduce their level of risk. In case of explosion, the Dow index indicates that the radius of affectation is 27 meters which would cause a loss of 50% of the value of the factory with a stop of 72 days for replacement of machinery. This research work can also be applied to other industrial plants with similar activities and processe