Whitepaper: Common Pitfalls Designing Emergency Pressure Relief Venting Systems

Whitepaper Download

An emergency pressure relief system (EPRS) is the most frequently employed Basis of Safety or layer of protection option for overpressure safeguarding in the chemical, pharmaceutical and allied industries. It can provide protection to reactors, storage tanks, columns, boilers, dryers and other processing equipment. When designed and operated properly such a system can be both cost-effective and reliable. Correct specification, operation, maintenance and inspection of the EPRS is critical for the safety of staff and the environment. However, we continue to see incidents that put some focus on the common failures along the lifecycle of the system. In this paper we analyze some of the most common pitfalls in the design of an EPRS and how to overcome them. The paper is based on real cases collected along the years by DEKRA Process Safety consultants.