Refinery and petrochemical production facilities process and produce gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons. In case of any failure, improper design, or human error, flammable or toxic substances can be released into the environment. In such cases, vapor barriers of steam curtains are used in the chemical industry to primarily dilute the released gases as well as to divert the gases to the safe area away from a potential source of ignition. When steam is ejected from a nozzle in the pipe wall, the medium rubs against the edge of the nozzle, liquid water impinges on the wall of the nozzle, and an electrostatic charge can therefore be expected. From the above description, it can be deduced that if the operation of the steam curtains is associated with the generation of electrostatic charge and the possibility of its discharge and the generation of electrostatic sparks, the activation of the steam curtains during the discharge of flammable gases paradoxically represents a certain risk. From the point of view of assessing the potential risks in the operation of vapor barriers, the magnitude of the electric charge energy generated is a crucial issue. Measuring the electric charge on the flowing steam from the nozzles is complicated with a large scatter of measured values. However, with reference to the experience gained from repeated measurements, the experimentally measured values and the obtained results can at least be seen as an expert estimate. This paper focuses on the evaluation of experimental measurements of the magnitude of the generated electrostatic charge on real steam curtains of an ethylene plant. Based on the measured results, risks are defined and appropriate measures are taken.

中文翻译：

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可燃气体泄漏时蒸汽幕保护的风险和局限性

炼油厂和石化生产设施加工和生产气态和液态碳氢化合物。如果出现任何故障、设计不当或人为错误，易燃或有毒物质可能会释放到环境中。在这种情况下，蒸汽幕的蒸汽屏障在化学工业中用于主要稀释释放的气体以及将气体转移到远离潜在点火源的安全区域。当蒸汽从管壁中的喷嘴喷出时，介质与喷嘴边缘摩擦，液态水撞击喷嘴壁，因此可以预期产生静电荷。从上面的描述，可以推断，如果蒸汽幕的运行与静电荷的产生及其放电的可能性和静电火花的产生有关，那么在可燃气体排放过程中蒸汽幕的激活矛盾地代表了一定的风险. 从评估蒸汽屏障运行中的潜在风险的角度来看，产生的电荷能量的大小是一个关键问题。测量来自喷嘴的流动蒸汽的电荷很复杂，测量值分散很大。但是，参考从重复测量中获得的经验，实验测量值和获得的结果至少可以看作是专家估计。本文重点评估乙烯装置真实蒸汽幕上产生的静电荷量级的实验测量值。根据测量结果，定义风险并采取适当的措施。