Addressing process safety challenges in downstream industries in Brunei Darussalam.

International oil and gas corporations operating in Brunei may apply process safety management (PSM) and analysis techniques, resulting in varying approaches and measures to address process safety issues. Global corporations may have developed their own process safety standards while smaller firms employ established ones. This research compares the local PSM systems and standards with international ones to determine which employers face the most difficulties in implementing or increasing process safety inside their organizations. This study found that Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations are used by 30% of local users in downstream operations. Common challenges encountered by local users are management/leadership commitment to process safety (11.9%), mechanical integrity and management of safety critical devices (5.3%), management review and intervention for continuous improvement (4.9%), communication amongst workers (3.8%), management of change (3.8%), operational control, permit to work and risk management (3.8%) and incident reporting (3.8%).

Emergency response plan for methane and chlorine with dispersion modelling using CAMEO.

There is a significant need in the current industrial scenario for methods to be formulated to treat dangerous chemicals most safely. Accidental release of toxic chemicals will result in emergencies. Hence, an emergency response plan (ERP) is inevitable. The most toxic chemicals in the water and wastewater sector are chlorine and hydrogen sulphide, whereas methane is a flammable gas. CAMEO software is used in this research to predict the region that toxic gas release impacts. This research deals with a sewage treatment plant ERP and control measures for methane and chlorine gases. The affected area of hazard will depend upon the weather conditions and the time of the accident. Comparing two different seasons, the impacted distance is more significant in summer than in winter. It is observed that the night and early morning is more dangerous than the afternoon and evening as it shows the larger impacted distance.

Green alga-mediated treatment process for removal of zinc from synthetic solution and industrial effluent.

The present work explored biosorption of Zn(II) ions from aqueous and zinc-bearing factory effluent using marine seaweed Ulva lactuca. The batch pH edge experiments using aqueous zinc solution indicated that Zn(II) uptake by U. lactuca was found to be maximum at pH 4.5 and the batch isotherm trials performed at pH 4.5 resulted in maximum uptake capacity of 128.0 mg Zn(II)/g. With 0.1 M CaCl2 (pH 3.5, HCl) as elutant, the elution of Zn(II) ions from Zn(II)-laden U. lactuca biosorbent was effective with possible regeneration and reuse for three cycles. The zinc industrial effluent was found to comprise of 87.8 mg/L of zinc ions along with excess co-ions and high total dissolved solids (838.1 mg/L). Owing to this, Zn(II) uptake from electroplating effluent by U. lactuca was suppressed due to competition from other ions. Continuous-flow sorption trials were conducted at flow rate of 5 mL/min in an up-flow fixed column. The existence of surplus competing ions in zinc wastewater influenced the Zn(II) biosorption by U. lactuca. U. lactuca-loaded packed column exhibited uptakes of 78.3 and 70.8 mg Zn(II)/g for aqueous solution and effluent, respectively. The results of three continuous sorption-desorption cycles demonstrated that reuse of U. lactuca biosorbent in remediation of zinc-containing wastewaters was practical and economical.

Biosynthesis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) by Cupriavidus necator H16 from jatropha oil as carbon source.

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is a biodegradable polymer that can be synthesized through bacterial fermentation. In this study, Cupriavidus necator H16 is used to synthesize PHB by using Jatropha oil as its sole carbon source. Different variables mainly jatropha oil and urea concentrations, and agitation rate were investigated to determine the optimum condition for microbial fermentation in batch culture. Based on the results, the highest cell dry weight and PHB concentrations of 20.1 and 15.5 g/L, respectively, were obtained when 20 g/L of jatropha oil was used. Ethanol was used as external stress factor and the addition of 1.5 % ethanol at 38 h had a positive effect with a high PHB yield of 0.987 g PHB/g jatropha oil. The kinetic studies for cell growth rate and PHB production were conducted and the data were fitted with Logistic and Leudeking­Piret models. The rate constants were evaluated and the theoretical values were in accordance with the experimental data obtained