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ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007

Petroleum, petrochemical and natural

gas industries - Pressure-relieving and
depressuring systems (ISO 23251:2006)

Industries du pétrole, de la pétrochimie

et du gaz naturel - Systèmes de
dépressurisation et de protection contre
les surpressions (ISO 23251:2006)
Erdöl-, petrochemische und
Erdgasindustrie - Druckentlastungs- und
Druckausgleichssysteme (ISO
23251:2006)

07/2007
 ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007

National Foreword

This European Standard EN ISO 23251:2007 was adopted as Luxembourgish Standard

ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007.

Every interested party, which is member of an organization based in Luxembourg, can

participate for FREE in the development of Luxembourgish (ILNAS), European (CEN,
CENELEC) and International (ISO, IEC) standards:

- Participate in the design of standards

- Foresee future developments
- Participate in technical committee meetings
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https://portail-qualite.public.lu/fr/normes-normalisation/participer-normalisation.html

THIS PUBLICATION IS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED

Nothing from this publication may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any mean - electronic, mechanical, photocopying
or any other data carries without prior permission!
 ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007
EUROPEAN STANDARD EN ISO 23251
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM July 2007

ICS 75.180.20

English Version

Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries - Pressure-

relieving and depressuring systems (ISO 23251:2006)

Industries du pétrole, de la pétrochimie et du gaz naturel - Erdöl-, petrochemische und Erdgasindustrie -

Systèmes de dépressurisation et de protection contre les Druckentlastungs- und Druckausgleichssysteme (ISO
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surpressions (ISO 23251:2006) 23251:2006)

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 12 July 2007.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European
Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national
standards may be obtained on application to the CEN Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation
under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN Management Centre has the same status as the
official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION

COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

Management Centre: rue de Stassart, 36 B-1050 Brussels

© 2007 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN ISO 23251:2007: E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
 EN ISO 23251:2007 (E) ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007

Foreword

The text of ISO 23251:2006 has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 67 "Materials,
equipment and offshore structures for petroleum and natural gas industries” of the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) and has been taken over as EN ISO 23251:2007 by
Technical Committee CEN/TC 12 "Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum,
petrochemical and natural gas industries", the secretariat of which is held by AFNOR.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of
an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by January 2008, and conflicting national
standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by January 2008.

According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of

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the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United
Kingdom.

Endorsement notice

The text of ISO 23251:2006 has been approved by CEN as EN ISO 23251:2007 without any
modifications.

2
 INTERNATIONAL
ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007
ISO
STANDARD 23251

First edition
2006-08-15

Corrected version
2006-10-01

Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas

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industries — Pressure-relieving and

depressuring systems
Industries du pétrole, de la pétrochimie et du gaz naturel — Systèmes
de dépressurisation et de protection contre les surpressions

Reference number
ISO 23251:2006(E)

© ISO 2006
 ISO 23251:2006(E) ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007

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© ISO 2006
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ii © ISO 2006 – All rights reserved

 ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007 ISO 23251:2006(E)

Contents Page

Foreword............................................................................................................................................................. v
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... vi
1 Scope ..................................................................................................................................................... 1
2 Normative references ........................................................................................................................... 1
3 Terms and definitions........................................................................................................................... 1
4 Causes of overpressure ..................................................................................................................... 10
4.1 General................................................................................................................................................. 10
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4.2 Overpressure protection philosophy................................................................................................ 10

4.3 Potentials for overpressure ............................................................................................................... 11
4.4 Recommended minimum relief system design content ................................................................. 17
4.5 List of items required in flare-header calculation documentation ................................................ 20
4.6 Guidance on vacuum relief ................................................................................................................ 20
5 Determination of individual relieving rates ...................................................................................... 22
5.1 Principal sources of overpressure.................................................................................................... 22
5.2 Sources of overpressure ................................................................................................................... 24
5.3 Effects of pressure, temperature, and composition ....................................................................... 24
5.4 Effect of operator response............................................................................................................... 24
5.5 Closed outlets ..................................................................................................................................... 24
5.6 Cooling or reflux failure ..................................................................................................................... 25
5.7 Absorbent flow failure ........................................................................................................................ 26
5.8 Accumulation of non-condensables................................................................................................. 26
5.9 Entrance of volatile material into the system .................................................................................. 26
5.10 Failure of process stream automatic controls................................................................................. 27
5.11 Abnormal process heat input ............................................................................................................ 29
5.12 Internal explosion (excluding detonation) ....................................................................................... 30
5.13 Chemical reaction ............................................................................................................................... 30
5.14 Hydraulic expansion........................................................................................................................... 31
5.15 External pool fires............................................................................................................................... 36
5.16 Jet fires ................................................................................................................................................ 51
5.17 Opening manual valves...................................................................................................................... 51
5.18 Electric power failure.......................................................................................................................... 51
5.19 Heat-transfer equipment failure ........................................................................................................ 52
5.20 Vapour depressuring.......................................................................................................................... 55
5.21 Special considerations for individual pressure-relief devices ...................................................... 63
5.22 Dynamic simulation ............................................................................................................................ 64
6 Selection of disposal systems .......................................................................................................... 65
6.1 General................................................................................................................................................. 65
6.2 Fluid properties that influence design.............................................................................................. 65
6.3 Atmospheric discharge ...................................................................................................................... 66
6.4 Disposal by flaring.............................................................................................................................. 76
6.5 Disposal to a lower-pressure system ............................................................................................... 95
6.6 Disposal of liquids and condensable vapours ................................................................................ 96
7 Disposal systems................................................................................................................................ 97
7.1 Definition of system design load ...................................................................................................... 97
7.2 System arrangement ........................................................................................................................ 100
7.3 Design of disposal system components ........................................................................................ 102
7.4 Flare gas recovery systems............................................................................................................. 137

© ISO 2006 – All rights reserved iii

 ISO 23251:2006(E) ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007

Annex A (informative) Determination of fire relief requirements............................................................... 142

Annex B (informative) Special system design considerations .................................................................. 146
Annex C (informative) Sample calculations for sizing a subsonic flare stack ......................................... 149
Annex D (informative) Typical details and sketches................................................................................... 166
Annex E (informative) High integrity protection systems (HIPS) .............................................................. 169
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................... 176
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iv © ISO 2006 – All rights reserved

 ILNAS-EN ISO 23251:2007 ISO 23251:2006(E)

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
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adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

ISO 23251 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 67, Materials, equipment and offshore structures
for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries, Subcommittee SC 6, Processing equipment and
systems.

This corrected version of ISO 23251:2006 incorporates corrections to Table 4, column 2, second row under
the header, and the five rows of data in column 3.

© ISO 2006 – All rights reserved v