Abstract
The planned operation of natural gas liquefaction units offshore has raised numerous new safety concerns. Cryogenic spillage is among the most critical as load bearing structures cannot be designed to resist such accidents.
In order to propose a more accurate protection at manageable cost, to improve structural integrity and to lower the risks associated with cryogenic spillage on structures, Technip as FLNG market leader, has run an extensive physical test program to investigate the performances of insulation materials as well as developing a test method.
In a first step, numerous protective materials were screened and then tested to assess their performances. We found that all products currently available in the market display limitations. During the test campaign, innovative product designs were investigated to improve structural design and avoid the need for human intervention “Inspection Maintenance and Repair” during service lifetime.
Secondly, we lead to the development of an ISO standard to bring to the industry a test method capable to investigate the behavior of any insulation materials when suddenly exposed to cryogenic liquid.
In this paper, a summary of the JIP will be presented and analyzed. We will focus on investigations done to properly assess the resistance of this material during rapid cooling following an accidental cryogenic release as per ISO 20088.
