Consideration and exploration of the development path for inherent safety of chemical engineering

At present, China’s chemical industry is facing serious challenges in terms of accidents and safety production. This paper firstly explained the specific meaning of the “four principles” of chemical industry inherent safety and their role in reducing or even eliminating risks at the source of production and in the manufacturing process. Then, from the perspective of technology maturity, the implementation of the “four principles” of intrinsic safety and the existing problems was analyzed, and upgrade of the existing chemical process equipment and technology was proposed by focusing on the minimization and substitution principle of the “four principles” of inherent safety. The corresponding inherently safe process equipment and technologies were developed. On this basis, potential technical paths for the implementation of the minimization/substitution principle were explored. The development of intelligent unit integration technology and equipment to reduce the amount of hazardous chemicals and energy density in the plant would be achieved through the design and development of minimized unit equipment at the extensive centimeter scale integrated with artificial intelligence. The production safety risks can be thereby controlled. In addition, it was necessary to extend the principle of minimization/substitution to green chemical production, reduce the safety risks caused by improper disposal of “three wastes”, and achieve the unity between production, safety and environmental protection. Finally, two examples of the application of centimeter-scale intelligence integration technology in chemical production and chemical waste gas treatment were presented, reflecting the broad utility of the technology. It can be foreseen that the whole process intrinsic safety technology can fundamentally change the stereotype of “tall towers and huge tank”, effectively improve the level of chemical safety risk prevention and control, and improve the chemical industry to be safe, high-end and intelligent development. © 2023 Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.