Inherent safety is a concept that enables risk reduction through elimination or reduction of hazards at the grass root level of a process development cycle. This proactive approach aids in achieving effective risk management while minimizing fixed and operating cost. Several indices which quantify the measures of inherent safety have been identified and by applying these techniques on conceptual design stage, an estimate of the inherent risk and additional safety cost measures can be developed. This approach facilitates easy decision making in an early stage, for choosing the best process that is superior in process, economic and safety performance. Yet, these quantitative techniques are not being used effectively in process industries. In this thesis, a comparative approach was developed wherein, two different process technologies producing same chemical were compared through techno-economic and safety analysis, to identify the superior process.
Recent advancements in shale gas monetization have contributed to the growth and expansion of large number of petrochemical plants, particularly the ethylene industry. For this thesis, the production of ethylene through two process technologies were considered, such that one route is the primary process route while other is a novel process that is still in development stage. The process routes identified were ethane steam cracking, a well-established process and "ECLAIRS" (Ethylene from Concentrated Liquid phase Acetylene- Integrated, Rapid and Safe), an emerging Gas to ethylene process. A top level analysis was performed using key quantitative indicators of process, cost and inherent safety. The results show that the state of art technology of ethane cracking has an attractive process and economic potential, while the gas to ethylene technology is more inherently safer. The areas of improvement were identified and critical analysis of metrics was carried out.
