Reduction of Failure Risk for the Key System of a Petrochemical Plant through Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM)

This study analyzes and conceptualizes Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) applications for calculating the probability of equipment failure modes in order to gauge the impact of failure modes on the cost of impeded production and to further understand the failure risks attached to various failure modes. High/medium/low failure risks can be utilized to determine the optimal maintenance strategy for effectively reducing failure risks and the loss of equipment in the key system of a petrochemical refinery. Risk analysis in the study of failure modes can provide a better understanding of the risk distribution needed to facilitate overall maintenance of both low-risk and high-risk equipment. Ultimately, this study will enhance the reliability and productivity of such plants. Typically, the equipment is made up of a compressor system that includes a pump, turbine, cooler, tank, instrument cells and other various components. Coincidentally, a key compressor system also accounts for a large portion of the production loss. Following detailed analysis of the reliability of failure modes, the economic influence and outcome of two compressor systems in a petrochemical refinery, and the risk distribution rate, we discovered that 5% of the equipment from both compressor systems accounted for 90% of the risk ratio. This indicated that it is possible to control most of the risks by merely controlling a small number of high-risk items. Furthermore, with the data gleaned from the failure modes of high-risk equipment, we can ascertain the causes of these failures, perform root cause analysis, and effectively run a comparison between the investments in risk and the maintenance costs. To begin the study, the optimal maintenance strategies are set forth in the analysis presented here.