Browsing by Author "Orellano, Santiago"

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    BLEVE: safety distances estimation by simple models based on the Jakob number.
    (2023-07-03) Kraft, Romina Alejandra; Mores, Patricia L.; Orellano, Santiago; Scenna, Nicolás José
    One of the most important points in the design of inherently safe processes is to estimate reliable distances among process units at preliminary stages of the plant project to minimize losses and damages caused by the potential occurrence of technological accidents. Therefore, in this paper the achievement of simple, general, dimensionless and reliable equations (Simple Dimensionless Models SDMs) for the direct estimation of safety distances considering the occurrence of BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) event, is proposed. The developed models directly relate safety distances with critical design/operation variables (involved substance, vessel volume, target vulnerability and explosion temperature), which are easily accessible at early stages of the plant project. SDMs are achieved by analysing the influence of these simple variables on the safety distances, which are estimated using a selected rigorous model (Reference Model RfM). This task is simplified by the incorporation of the Jakob Number as an input variable, allowing to obtain dimensionless models and simultaneously an adequate representation of the explosion conditions and the involved substances. As result, the achieved SDMs demonstrate a particularly good fit with respect to the RfM estimations and, at the same time, reliability and versatility. As it is shown in the analysed study cases (involving critical decision variables for the process design and the system safety), the SDMs prove to be also accurate, general, and easily incorporable into more complex optimization problems (QRA analysis, design of emergency plans, safety distance estimation to minimize the probability of domino effects, optimal layout designs, among others).
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    Dispositivo de control de torque soldadura de proyección .
    (2022) Cavagna, Enzo; Rossi, Damián; Echavarria, Emiliano; Orellano, Santiago; Masetro, Javier
    El proyecto consiste en la elaboración de un equipo que controle el torque de las tuercas soldadas en chapas con soldadura por protuberancia o proyección. El equipo está pensado para funcionar a pie de máquina, controlando el 100% de las piezas, con un tiempo de control menor al tiempo operativo de la soldadora, a fin de no demorar el proceso. Este equipo es capaz de controlar y distribuir las piezas según si la tuerca resiste el torque programado o no sin necesidad de que un operador intervenga. Para el funcionamiento del equipo de control se usa aire comprimido de línea sin necesidad de adquirir ningún equipo secundario. El equipo es totalmente automático y programable según los requisitos del cliente para cada lote de piezas en particular.
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    Optimización de rutas de transporte de gas licuado de petróleo por carretera.
    (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Industria, 2022-04) Orellano, Santiago; Kraft, Romina Alejandra; Rodríguez, Néstor Hugo; Mores, Patricia Liliana; Scenna, Nicolás José
    La explosión BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) seguida de una bola de fuego, tiene consecuencias devastadoras. Los efectos térmicos sobre las personas ocasionados por el segundo fenómeno son los más severos. El GLP (Gas Licuado de Petróleo) frecuentemente se involucra a este tipo de accidentes. Efectuando un análisis en la base de datos Facts sobre el origen de los accidentes que involucraron al GLP, se observa que el 14% de ellos ocurrieron en el transporte en carretera. Considerando esto, resulta indispensable el diseño y la planificación de rutas óptimas tendientes a la minimización del número de personas expuestas a ciertos niveles de vulnerabilidad especificados. En este trabajo, se utiliza un método sistemático para la definición de éstas mediante el empleo de sistemas de información geográficos. La metodología utilizada para encontrar la ruta óptima consistió, en primer lugar, en la estimación de distancias de seguridad ante una bola de fuego debida a explosiones BLEVE mediante un modelo simple propuesto desarrollado en el CAIMI. Luego, se identificaron potenciales rutas para el transporte de GLP entre dos puntos fijos mediante la extensión “Online Routing Mapper” del software QGIS. Asociado a estas se incluyeron en el análisis otras posibles alternativas considerando el entorno. Una vez definido el conjunto de potenciales rutas, se evaluó el impacto sobre las personas ante una posible colisión y el posterior desencadenamiento de una explosión BLEVE seguida de una bola de fuego. Operativamente, esto se realizó en QGIS mediante un análisis vectorial, que implicó la utilización de herramientas de geoprocesamiento para determinar las zonas de evacuación de acuerdo con las distancias calculadas anteriormente partiendo de las potenciales rutas analizadas (creación de buffers). A partir de la información suministrada por la Provincia de Santa Fe, de acuerdo con el último censo realizado en 2010, se incorporaron capas vectoriales representativas de las funciones de densidad de población de las ciudades de la región involucradas. Luego, empleando la herramienta de intersección de capas, se estimó el número de personas potencialmente expuestas a las zonas de riesgos en el caso que aconteciese un accidente de estas características. Finalmente, empleando como criterio la minimización de personas afectadas, se determinó la ruta óptima. El método desarrollado fue probado exitosamente en casos de estudio particulares, involucrando el transporte de GLP desde una refinería ubicada en la ciudad de San Lorenzo hacia distintos puntos de envasado en garrafas en el oeste de la ciudad de Rosario.
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    Optimization of revalorization process from wine industry residual biomass.
    (Asociación Argentina de Ingenieros Químicos/ Oscar Pagola, 2023-06) Bonfigli, Mónica Beatriz; Orellano, Santiago; Arias, Ana Marisa; Scenna, Nicolás José; Mores, Patricia Liliana
    The large quantities of residual biomass generated by agro-industries represent important resources for new value chains with strong industrial potential. The circular vision of bioeconomy promotes the revalorization of these wastes by obtaining biofuels and bioproducts with high added value. Despite the significant evolution observed in the last decades, and an increasing volume of related patents, circular bioeconomy research is not yet significantly mirroredby the market, showing that its full potential is still far from being reached. Grapes are one of the most widely grown fruits throughout the world. A significant amount of solid waste is generated mainly composed of grape pomace, whichcan represent more than 20% of the biomass harvested and processed. Grape pomace is a low-value by-product that contains a significant quantity of useful components that could be employed as food ingredients, chemicals, and biofuels. The successful recovery of these compounds would not only reduce the generated pollutants, but would also contribute to the sustainable development and economic competitiveness of the wine industry. In this context, the objective of this work is to analyze the recovery process of bio-active compounds from by-products of the wine industry and to optimize two variables of interest a) total extraction yield and b) the required fresh solvent flow, from the definition of different objective functions through mathematical modelling. The effect of the quantity of raw material to process, its moisture content and the extraction temperature on the mentioned variables was studied. The implemented non-linear program (NLP) was not oriented to explore optimal structural alternatives (process synthesis), but to optimize the different operating variables against different optimization scenarios, fulfilling the proposed restrictions. The proposed process configuration is based on a standard structure for this type of extractive plants. It consists of a tunnel dryer, a crusher, extractors, intermediate storage tanks, a film evaporator, a heat exchanger and pumps. The optimization model was solved for different alternatives in order to explain the effect of a range of operating conditions and volume of each leaching tank to achieve at least given percentage of anthocyanin extraction with a minimum solvent requirement. The solutions of the analyzed alternatives adequately represent the trade-offs between the total extraction yield and required solvent. As a result, an increase in solvent consumption with the increase in extraction yield is observed. The energy consumed in the evaporator is proportional to the quantity and quality of the product, as well as to the quantity of recovered solvent, which reduces the consumption of fresh solvent for a given feed value. These results are promising, and set the base for future studies such as the design and selection of operation mode, exploring different configuration alternatives.
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    Risk-based approach for safety distance estimation in the process industry.
    (Asociación Argentina de Ingenieros Químicos/ Oscar Pagola, 2023-06) Kraft, Romina Alejandra; Orellano, Santiago; Mores, Patricia Liliana; Rodríguez, Néstor Hugo; Scenna, Nicolás José
    Different approaches have been proposed for safety distance estimation from hazardous facilities. The most widespread method is mainly based on the evaluation of the consequences of potential accidental events and the limitation of the physical vector on people, or on atmospheric and pressure process units, seeking to prevent the domino effect [1]. In this methodology, the stochastic variables involved in the phenomena (fire, explosion, or toxic dispersion) are fixed by defining a conservative scenario. This is particularly appropriate for accidents where the influence of environmental variables is relatively small (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions -BLEVEs-, mechanical explosions). However, the consequences of the worst-case scenario for events involving toxic or flammable gas dispersion, for example, could be much greater than the rest and not be representative of the site. This approach does not consider the occurrence frequency of the event and therefore, a remote accidental event would demand the same effort as a frequent one in the case of layout design. In addition, some accidental events such Vapor Cloud Explosions (VCE) or projectile ejection from BLEVEs can reach distances of more than 1000 meters and therefore, this approach results impracticable in some cases of plant layout design. Bearing this in mind, this article proposes a risk-based methodology to estimate safety distances to overcome the mentioned limitations of the impact threshold method. Here the quantitative risk is evaluated for different receptors, including the impact on people and on process equipment by using probit equations corresponding to the probability of escalation by domino effect. Methodologically, the contribution to risk at different points located in eight directions is quantified by evaluating several scenarios generated by Monte Carlo simulation and composing the consequences and frequencies of each one. An iterative algorithm is developed to determine the distance that satisfies the risk threshold in each direction. This approach is applied to LPG storage tanks (spheres and cylinders) of different sizes and considering the historical information of wind speed and direction of Rosario city. The estimated safety distances are compared to those recommended by international standards such as NFPA 58 [2], and those obtained by evaluating the consequences to given impact thresholds. Finally, risk thresholds are assessed and recommended in order to define a general algorithm to estimate safety distances. Future works will intend to generalize the proposed approach to automatically determining separation distances matrixes for layout optimization.