According to European “Offshore” Directive (2013/30/EU) by the next July, 19 safety cases (Relazi... more According to European “Offshore” Directive (2013/30/EU) by the next July, 19 safety cases (Relazioni Grandi Rischi RGR, Major Accidents Report) should be submitted to the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) in order to maintain the license to operate. By the preparation of RGRs the Owner should identify all the hazards connected with the installation, assess all the major risks, identify the acceptable/tolerable risks according to a defined ALARP criterion for human life and environment. Taking inspiration from real applications in Italy, this paper intends to highlight: • the importance of a coherent assessment framework based on rule sets to manage all the information gathered during the various stages (also to facilitate the assessment conducted by the AHJ and the selected independent third-party inspector); • the advantage coming from the use of a collector cloud-based IT system to manage data during assessment and to update them in the future leveraging the MOC process (also ...
It is urgent to expand the market of biodegradable alternatives to oil-derived plastics owing to ... more It is urgent to expand the market of biodegradable alternatives to oil-derived plastics owing to (i) increasingly limited oil availability/accessibility, and (ii) the dramatic impact of traditional plastics on aquatic life, the food chain, all Earth ecosystems, and ultimately, human health. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are promising biodegradable polymers that can be obtained through microbial fermentation of agro-industrial byproducts, e.g., milk and cheese whey. Here, the PHA-accumulating efficiency of a mixed microbial culture (MMC, derived from activated sludges) grown on dairy byproducts (cheese and scotta whey) was measured. Bioreactor tests featuring temperature and pH control showed that both scotta and pre-treated Toma cheese whey could be used for PHA production by MMC, although scotta cheese whey supported higher PHA yield and productivity. The advantages of open MMCs include their plasticity and versatility to fast changing conditions; furthermore, no growth-medium steri...
Biodiesel production facilities are widespread in the world as the demand for “green” fuels incre... more Biodiesel production facilities are widespread in the world as the demand for “green” fuels increase continuously. So, the number of accidents increases with the number and the capacity of plants. In this paper, the fire and explosion risks in biodiesel production facilities are discussed. Beside some evident risk sources such as flammable storage tanks, we have shown that process deviations may give a relevant contribution to the overall risk and that two critical aspects may be: the excess of the amount of residual methanol in the streams fed to the phase separation step (e.g. biodiesel/unreacted separation after reaction, or glycerin/fatty acids separation), which can affect separation efficiency, and the condensation of flammable vapour streams.
ABSTRACT The Authors of this paper were the technical consultant of the public prosecutor in the ... more ABSTRACT The Authors of this paper were the technical consultant of the public prosecutor in the trial for the accident that occurred in the Thyssen Krupp plant in Torino on Dec. 6, 2007. The accident was one of the most serious work accidents that happened in Italy in the last years. It caused seven fatalities. On the early morning of December the 6th a modest fire developed in the entry section of a pickling and annealing line in the TK plant in Turin. The eight workers on duty started to fight the fire with fire extinguishers and a fire hydrant, getting close to the fire. Suddenly a violent jet fire, caused by the rupture of an hydraulic circuit, occurred. The flame instantaneously hit the eight workers while they were still fighting the fire. Seven workers suffered very serious burst, one died instantaneously while other six among the following month. One of the workers, who was partly shielded by an operating machine suffered only minor bursts and survived. The authors conducted the investigation and followed the whole trial on charge by the public prosecutors. In this paper the accident dynamics, the causes and the consequences and the forensic methods adopted by the Authors during their investigation are illustrated. Paper illustrates the entire workflow: -background, the company, the activities, the chemicals, the operators, etc.; -evidences gathering and the role of a formal recognized accident analysis process (assessment of the logical sequences that lead to an accident) and analysis techniques (e.g. fault tree analysis); -the dynamic of the accident; -technical investigation (starting from the site examination and recorded damages); -assessment of witnesses; -electronic data collection and analysis; -fire scenario modeling (real fire, alternative evolutions). This paper, written by the Public Prosecutor Technical Consultants, deals with several key aspects of the forensic role endorsed by the authors: • the investigations carried out by the authors (investigation methods); • the fire scene reconstruction, supported also by advanced numerical in order to understand the complex fire dynamics; • the formulation of different hypothesis in terms of alternative evolutions in case of different behaviors, different technical devices in place, different protection devices, different reaction times of the involved people in order to evaluate, from the technical point of view, alternative emergency situations with an estimation of the relative outcomes, all of them verified with technical reasoning, calculations and simulations; • the assessment of the judgment in order to verify the weight of the technical aspects in the global reasoning of the judges that lead to the very severe judgment against the company managers.
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries
Abstract In the work presented in this paper, the role of particle shape in turbulence generation... more Abstract In the work presented in this paper, the role of particle shape in turbulence generation, and dust feeding and dispersion in the standard 20 L explosion sphere has been investigated. To this end, CFD simulations were performed by taking into account only the effect of the shape factor on the drag coefficient, whereas the effect of the particle geometry and the interaction between non-spherical particles and rebound nozzle were fully neglected. Numerical results have shown that the turbulence level and the dust dispersion established inside the sphere are strongly dependent on the shape factor. Interestingly, as the shape factor is decreased, thus moving from spherical shape to fibrous shape, the model predicts that the fraction of dust actually fed into the vessel increases. Conversely, literature experiments have shown that the degree of partial feeding increases in going from spherical particles to fibrous particles. This suggests that the experimentally observed partial feeding can be attributed only to the geometrical interaction between the non-spherical dust particles and the holes of the rebound nozzle. As a consequence, in order to improve the feeding efficiency for non-spherical dust particles into the 20 L explosion vessel, a proper design of the nozzle is required.
According to European “Offshore” Directive (2013/30/EU) by the next July, 19 safety cases (Relazi... more According to European “Offshore” Directive (2013/30/EU) by the next July, 19 safety cases (Relazioni Grandi Rischi RGR, Major Accidents Report) should be submitted to the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) in order to maintain the license to operate. By the preparation of RGRs the Owner should identify all the hazards connected with the installation, assess all the major risks, identify the acceptable/tolerable risks according to a defined ALARP criterion for human life and environment. Taking inspiration from real applications in Italy, this paper intends to highlight: • the importance of a coherent assessment framework based on rule sets to manage all the information gathered during the various stages (also to facilitate the assessment conducted by the AHJ and the selected independent third-party inspector); • the advantage coming from the use of a collector cloud-based IT system to manage data during assessment and to update them in the future leveraging the MOC process (also ...
It is urgent to expand the market of biodegradable alternatives to oil-derived plastics owing to ... more It is urgent to expand the market of biodegradable alternatives to oil-derived plastics owing to (i) increasingly limited oil availability/accessibility, and (ii) the dramatic impact of traditional plastics on aquatic life, the food chain, all Earth ecosystems, and ultimately, human health. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are promising biodegradable polymers that can be obtained through microbial fermentation of agro-industrial byproducts, e.g., milk and cheese whey. Here, the PHA-accumulating efficiency of a mixed microbial culture (MMC, derived from activated sludges) grown on dairy byproducts (cheese and scotta whey) was measured. Bioreactor tests featuring temperature and pH control showed that both scotta and pre-treated Toma cheese whey could be used for PHA production by MMC, although scotta cheese whey supported higher PHA yield and productivity. The advantages of open MMCs include their plasticity and versatility to fast changing conditions; furthermore, no growth-medium steri...
Biodiesel production facilities are widespread in the world as the demand for “green” fuels incre... more Biodiesel production facilities are widespread in the world as the demand for “green” fuels increase continuously. So, the number of accidents increases with the number and the capacity of plants. In this paper, the fire and explosion risks in biodiesel production facilities are discussed. Beside some evident risk sources such as flammable storage tanks, we have shown that process deviations may give a relevant contribution to the overall risk and that two critical aspects may be: the excess of the amount of residual methanol in the streams fed to the phase separation step (e.g. biodiesel/unreacted separation after reaction, or glycerin/fatty acids separation), which can affect separation efficiency, and the condensation of flammable vapour streams.
ABSTRACT The Authors of this paper were the technical consultant of the public prosecutor in the ... more ABSTRACT The Authors of this paper were the technical consultant of the public prosecutor in the trial for the accident that occurred in the Thyssen Krupp plant in Torino on Dec. 6, 2007. The accident was one of the most serious work accidents that happened in Italy in the last years. It caused seven fatalities. On the early morning of December the 6th a modest fire developed in the entry section of a pickling and annealing line in the TK plant in Turin. The eight workers on duty started to fight the fire with fire extinguishers and a fire hydrant, getting close to the fire. Suddenly a violent jet fire, caused by the rupture of an hydraulic circuit, occurred. The flame instantaneously hit the eight workers while they were still fighting the fire. Seven workers suffered very serious burst, one died instantaneously while other six among the following month. One of the workers, who was partly shielded by an operating machine suffered only minor bursts and survived. The authors conducted the investigation and followed the whole trial on charge by the public prosecutors. In this paper the accident dynamics, the causes and the consequences and the forensic methods adopted by the Authors during their investigation are illustrated. Paper illustrates the entire workflow: -background, the company, the activities, the chemicals, the operators, etc.; -evidences gathering and the role of a formal recognized accident analysis process (assessment of the logical sequences that lead to an accident) and analysis techniques (e.g. fault tree analysis); -the dynamic of the accident; -technical investigation (starting from the site examination and recorded damages); -assessment of witnesses; -electronic data collection and analysis; -fire scenario modeling (real fire, alternative evolutions). This paper, written by the Public Prosecutor Technical Consultants, deals with several key aspects of the forensic role endorsed by the authors: • the investigations carried out by the authors (investigation methods); • the fire scene reconstruction, supported also by advanced numerical in order to understand the complex fire dynamics; • the formulation of different hypothesis in terms of alternative evolutions in case of different behaviors, different technical devices in place, different protection devices, different reaction times of the involved people in order to evaluate, from the technical point of view, alternative emergency situations with an estimation of the relative outcomes, all of them verified with technical reasoning, calculations and simulations; • the assessment of the judgment in order to verify the weight of the technical aspects in the global reasoning of the judges that lead to the very severe judgment against the company managers.
Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries
Abstract In the work presented in this paper, the role of particle shape in turbulence generation... more Abstract In the work presented in this paper, the role of particle shape in turbulence generation, and dust feeding and dispersion in the standard 20 L explosion sphere has been investigated. To this end, CFD simulations were performed by taking into account only the effect of the shape factor on the drag coefficient, whereas the effect of the particle geometry and the interaction between non-spherical particles and rebound nozzle were fully neglected. Numerical results have shown that the turbulence level and the dust dispersion established inside the sphere are strongly dependent on the shape factor. Interestingly, as the shape factor is decreased, thus moving from spherical shape to fibrous shape, the model predicts that the fraction of dust actually fed into the vessel increases. Conversely, literature experiments have shown that the degree of partial feeding increases in going from spherical particles to fibrous particles. This suggests that the experimentally observed partial feeding can be attributed only to the geometrical interaction between the non-spherical dust particles and the holes of the rebound nozzle. As a consequence, in order to improve the feeding efficiency for non-spherical dust particles into the 20 L explosion vessel, a proper design of the nozzle is required.
Fire risk assessment has always been a challenging issue. Furthermore, performance based approach... more Fire risk assessment has always been a challenging issue. Furthermore, performance based approaches to fire engineering showed that risk based decisions and fire scenarios are a fundamental element of the fire safety strategy assurance. In particular, a correct assessment of the risk allows all the involved stakeholders to identify a specific strategy among a pool of possibilities. Risk assessment is the perfect tool to identify comparable fire protection strategies and to measure fire risk reduction associated to the single specific prevention and protection measures composing each different fire strategies. This approach implies the need to abandon a classic, not even conservative approach, that in many cases linked the total fire load to the fire risk level, despite specific dynamics, layouts, prevention measures and risk management issues during time. During the years, a number of different methodologies have been developed: for specific cases, for industrial or civil buildings, to adopt a method enforced by the local law and regulations acts, etc. Methods have been based on matrices, indexes, check-lists, etc. Present paper illustrates a method developed by the authors taking into account several international recognized methods; even coming back to methodologies developed in early seventies. The Method is named “FLAME” (Fire risk Assessment Method for Enterprises), it goes back to the fire safety fundamentals against a generalized approach to fire safety engineering based on complex and time-consuming methods like CFD that deals only with the ‘consequences’ aspect of the fire risk (that is indeed characterized also by frequency estimation) using as reference scheme the “Fire Safety Concept Tree” explained in detail in the NFPA 550 Standard. In order to identify the most appropriate fire safety strategy it is important to identify the associated fire risk that the strategy is intended to mitigate to a certain level. Alternative solutions can be evaluated considering the risk reduction operated by different strategies and by different elements composing the fire strategies themselves and also costs with a modern ALARP approach. A clear advantage is the possibility to get an overview of the whole fire risk as the cumulative risk assessed by the model and not solely related with the consequences evaluation of a limited number of fire scenarios (usually the most obvious ones). Risk level assessment leads to the identification of the fire scenario (or a pool of) that governs and limits the specific situation, declined for both humans and structures (assets) considering that the two vulnerabilities could be linked to different fire risk scenarios. The method has been tested against different buildings occupancies. In the present case results of the FLAME method application to hospitals and health-care facilities are reported. A fire compartment-based risk estimation has been conducted on an overall of about 300 compartments (overall size of about 60000 m2). Coherence has been found among risk estimation by FLAME parametric code and prescriptions of the Italian fire code. There is good agreement when assessing the RSET with the method proposed in FLAME, dealing with the occupants’ behaviour and the actual characteristics of occupants in clinics or hospitals and difficulties due to poor mobility or incapacity to understand emergency cues. In general, the level of risk is identified as shown in Table 1.
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Papers by Luca Marmo