Event Recap: CGA’s 2022 Safety and Reliability of Industrial Gases, Equipment, and Facilities Seminar

November 4, 2022

Rich Craig, Vice President, Technical and Regulatory Affairs for the Compressed Gas Association (CGA), welcomed participants to the 2022 CGA Safety and Reliability of Industrial Gases, Equipment, and Facilities Seminar, held as an in-person event October 18-19 in McLean, Virginia. More than 60 individuals participated to listen, learn, and ask questions.

First held in 1962, the Safety and Reliability seminar is CGA’s longest running event of its kind.

Chaired by Alan Burton, Director of Operations Support, Americas, Messer North America, this year’s seminar included presentation topics on:

  • lessons learned and recommendations from a liquid oxygen (LOX) valve incident, an ASU inlet air cold imbrittlement incident due to backflow, an oxygen fire in a vacuum insulated piping line, and several incidents involving oxygen and equipment fires at ASUs;
  • dispersion calculation differences between detailed CFD calculations and simplified calculations with PHAST;
  • using bowtie analysis to safeguard validation;
  • a review of indicators of common pre-purification unit (PPU) bed failures;
  • using acoustic monitoring for improved ASU performance and reliability;
  • guidance on identifying incident root causes;
  • using predictive analytics to improve plant reliability;
  • cybersecurity considerations in a remote operations environment;
  • a panel session on ASU coldbox management;
  • hydrogen vent field testing; and
  • an update on CGA’s Hydrogen Initiative: Safety is Step One.

The event also included a well-attended reception hosted by CGA’s Young and Emerging Professionals Committee.

123456789

CGA would like to thank all event presenters who generously shared their time and expertise to ensure the seminar’s success:

  • John P. Bernard, CGA Consultant & Technical Manager, CGA’s Atmospheric Gases and Equipment Committee
  • Patrick Smith, Operational Excellence Technical Team, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
  • Matthew I. Barausky, Americas Operations Machinery, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
  • Florent Le Clainche, LI Industrial Watch Manager, L’Air Liquide S.A.
  • Amy Auker, Sr Process Engineer, Matheson
  • James E. White, Director – Materials Engineering Lab, Linde PLC
  • David Parsnick, Fellow, ASU Process Safety, Linde PLC
  • Adam Histed, Process Engineering Manager, Airgas, an Air Liquide company
  • David Calvert, Birmingham Zone Production Manager, Messer North America Inc.
  • Anthony Pancerella, Manager, Operations Pressure Systems, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
  • John A. Somavarapu, Director, ASU Technology, American Air Liquide
  • Walt Mishkovsky, Sr Manager, Process Safety, Messer North America Inc.
  • Thomas K. Drube, Vice President, Engineering, Chart Industries, Inc.
  • David Clark, Director of Data Integrity and Strategy, Air Liquide Large Industries US LP
  • Sven Erhardt, Senior Expert, Process Safety, Linde GmbH
  • Olivier Ettighoffer, Process Safety Engineer, L’Air Liquide S.A.
  • May-Yee Wendy Yip, Process and Systems Director, Cryogenics, Air Liquide Global E&C Solution US Inc.
  • Todd Quintard, Director of Remote Operations, Messer North America Inc.

Planning for the next Safety and Reliability of Industrial Gases, Equipment, and Facilities Seminar will begin in early 2023. For further information, please contact Jill Thompson at jthompson@cganet.com or (703) 788-2720.