Reconstruction of firefighting systems was discussed in perm at the conference on fire safety of oil and gas objects

On September 26, 2019, Perm hosted an International Conference “Fire Protection and Fire Safety of Oil and Gas Complex Objects”. CEO Evgeny Veselov and Deputy CEO, Technical Director Sergey Panov represented the Pozhneftehim Group of Companies at the event. The conference on fire protection was organized by the Ogneportal.ru team with the support of VNIIPO EMERCOM of the Russian Federation and the Association of NSOPB. Participants discussed issues of improving fire safety and the industry law enforcement practice.

Sergey Panov made a presentation to the audience on the topic “Reconstruction of integrated foam fire extinguishing and water cooling systems at oil industry facilities”. The urgency of the problem is associated with changes in the regulatory framework in the field of industrial and fire safety that have occurred over the past decades. Reconstruction involves bringing systems at the facilities into working condition, taking account of current regulatory documents in the field of fire safety.

One of the main problems the customers encounter during the reconstruction is the high degree of deterioration of the foam fire extinguishing and water cooling systems created in the ‘60-‘80s of the last century. This appears in the following:

• generators of GPS, GWP type with primitive methods of fastening;
• worn-out ring loops and water pipes that can no longer withstand pressure above 0.6 MPa;
• the foam concentrate solution in the filled water main does not have any fire extinguishing ability;
• fire extinguishing detection and control systems are inoperative;
• limited water supplies that do not meet current regulatory requirements;
• obsolete equipment at pumping stations and foam dosing rooms.

At the same time, the reconstruction of one object as part of the oil and oil products warehouse requires a review of general technical solutions for fire pumping station capacities, network repair, replacement of the foam concentrate storage and dosing systems, replacement of the foam concentrate itself, development of a local fire extinguishing detection and control system, etc.

Pozhneftehim presentation here (PDF 3,2 mb)

Sergey Panov told about the design problems and clearly explained the phased scheme for the reconstruction of the firefighting system at the tank farm. The most probable scenario was considered, in which it was necessary to replace a single pumping and foam proportioning station with a filled piping system by distributed dry pipe networks of foam pipelines that supply a highly effective fire extinguishing foam from foam dosing rooms. At the same time, the foam concentrate dosing station is located next to the groups of protected objects, which reduces the response time of the system (inertia) and the likelihood of a fire spreading to neighboring facilities of the tank farm. “The reconstruction of the fire extinguishing systems at facilities requires an integrated approach and involvement of a qualified organization ready to bear responsibility for the fire extinguishing technology and carry out the project from the design stage to acceptance tests and subsequent technical support”, the Pozhneftehim emphasizes. - According to our estimates, about 75% of the systems at existing industrial enterprises are inoperative and require reconstruction. The importance of choosing effective and high-quality fire extinguishing systems is growing due to the fact that the technical re-equipment of significant manufacturing enterprises will affect their safety for many, many years”.

The following entities are among the participants of the conference “Fire Protection and Fire Safety of Oil and Gas Complex Facilities”: VNIIPO EMERCOM, FSBEI Ural Institute of the State Fire Service of RF EMERCOM, V. A. Kucherenko CNIISK, Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia for the Perm Territory, FSBI SEU FPS IPL in the Perm Territory, Perm Scientific and Research Technological Institute, Fire Garrison - Perm. In addition, the following companies were represented at the event: LUKOIL-Permnefteorgsintez, Engineering Consulting Center Promtekhbezopasnost, NefteProm Service, OgneKhimZashchita, Troe Pozharnikov, PJSC Construction and Installation Trest No. 14, OSK Group Holding, Rockwool, Tizol, Saint-Gobain, LPO Lacquer Coating, Metafrax, ETS-Chemical materials, Corrosion-resistant protective coatings St. Petersburg, Bina Chemical, Territoria Tsveta, LKM-snab, AnticorPRO, IVC Technomash, Promtorg and others.