A quantitative risk analysis for the vegetable oil industry in Mexico

In industrializing countries, the rapid population growth frequently tends to reach the vicinity of the industrial parks, yielding an imminent hazard to the residents in the case of the occurrence of an accident. In the case of Mexico, particularly in the city of Morelia, the industries associated to the vegetable oil and margarine, originally located far from the city, have been absorbed by the city due to the high population growth. It should be noticed that this industry represents a high hazard because it uses huge amounts of hydrogen and LP gas. Therefore, to determine the potential impact of an accident for the people within and around these industries, this paper presents a quantitative risk analysis applied to the vegetable oil refining industry in Morelia. The main objective is the identification of the facilities with the highest hazard, as well as the risk analysis to the personnel inside and the people leaving around the plant. According to the quantitative risk analysis, the hydrogen processing and storage units are the most dangerous facilities inside the plant. Moreover, the identified potential accidents were boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion, flash fire, jet fire, and vapor cloud explosion, which were evaluated through the software SCRI. Furthermore, an inherent approach was applied to propose alternatives for risk reduction.