March 01, 2013

Piping leakage due to corrosion has the potential to cause catastrophic fires and damage to process equipment in petroleum refining and other chemical process industries (CPI) facilities. Despite the risks, mistakes are often repeated in the way burner piping is designed and used. Using the failure-analysis investigation of a specific refinery fire to illustrate, this article describes the problem of corrosion-related leakage in flexible burner hoses, and provides recommendations on burner-piping design criteria. It also discusses remedial measures, as learned from the investigation, that can be taken to help avoid future accidents.