Risk Analysis in Biodiesel Plants

AGUSTÍN ALEJO D´ALESSANDRO; STELLA M. TONELLI

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 3rd CCPS Latin America Conference; 2011

Global production of biodiesel in 2010 reached 19 million tonnes. In addition, it is estimated that these values will reach 45 million tons by 2020, with the aid of mandatory diesel/biodiesel mixing regulations in Europe and countries like Brazil, Thailand and Argentina, among others. In particular, Argentina in 2010 became the fourth largest producer of biodiesel. Given the growth of this industry, analysis of the risks of accidents in these facilities is of great interest for new installations of large capacity plants as well as medium or small ones. In the first case, the inventory of flammable substances is very large while in the second, their location is commonly in areas very close to the population.  In this paper we present an analysis of risk of biodiesel production plants using the trans-esterification process. First we present a review of reported accidents at similar facilities in different countries.  The study of accident scenarios was divided into two groups: high-capacity plants and plants of medium and small capacity. In both cases we simulated the consequences of spills of hazardous substances involved. The greatest danger detected was fire, explosion or toxic dispersion of methanol and fire involving raw oil and/or the biodiesel. The consequences of the proposed scenarios for methanol were simulated using the software package Effects (TNO). In the case of oil and biodiesel, specific equations were used. Safe distances around the facility are proposed from the results obtained. These distances should be taken into account in the development of this industrial sector in Latin America, both plants already in operation or under construction. In particular, in Argentina, it must be considered that while the Biofuels Act 26,093 was enacted in 2006, it was enforced later, when there were already several plants operating. For example, the article governing the safety aspects of this Act, was not published until late 2008, when Argentina was already a world power because of the installed capacity.