PR-015-09200-R01A Compressor and Pump Station Incidents and Technology Gaps
Authors: Wilcox  
Published: August 2023

In 2008, Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) took the initiative to identify the main causes of reportable incidents in compressor and pump stations. Data was gathered from several sources including the United States� Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Canada�s National Energy Board, and PRCI member companies. More than 1600 incidents were reviewed over an 18 year period (1990 to 2008). The incidents were evaluated based on their frequency of occurrence and the consequences of the incidents (injury, ignition, environmental impact, etc�). In pump stations, pump seals, valves out of sequence due to operator error, and gasket and bolting were identified as the highest impact incidents types. In compressor stations, the three highest impact incident types were found to be pipe components, natural forces (hurricanes and lightning strikes), and gaskets and bolting.

During the 2008 project, research roadmaps were developed based on the results of the incident data review. In the process of defining the research projects, a brief review into the available technology for the incidents types was conducted. It was quickly found that a more detailed state-of-the-art review was needed to accurately identify the research required for several of the incident areas. Therefore, a state-of-the-art review of the three highest impact incidents in pump and compressor stations was proposed. The work documented in this paper is the state-of-the-art review of these incidents.

In the PRCI CPS 9-1 (2008) project, it was found that more information was needed on several of the incidents in order to fully define the root cause. Therefore, the first task of the PRCI CPS 9-1 (2009) effort was to attempt to gather more information on the top three impact incident types. Thirty-two pipeline companies were contacted and additional information was provided for approximately 25% of the incidents. From the review of this additional and past data, several focus areas were identified for the state-of-the-art reviews.

The state-of-the-art studies included a survey of the current technology, identification of common failure mechanisms, and review of strategies to reduce incident occurrences. These studies are reviewed in detail in the appendices of this document. From the state-of-the-art studies and the incident review, technology gaps were identified. Technology gaps are areas where new innovative technologies or applications are required to address current inspection/maintenance strategies for a particular piece of equipment or task. Technology gaps were only identified for pump seals. These gaps included the inability for pump seals to survive process upset conditions, inability to correctly identify and model expected loads and operating conditions for pump seal selection, and lack of installed seal inspection or life prediction methods except through leakage detection. All other incident types (valves out of sequence due to operator error, gaskets and bolting, pipe components, and natural forces) have adequate technology to address the incident occurrences. In the majority of the incidents, even though the technologies exist, it may not be used or applied correctly. Several recommendations were made for future work. These included work that a company may consider conducting internally to reduce the occurrence of incidents and future research. The recommendations for future work for operators and research for industry are summarized in a list below. Research items included on the research roadmaps are indicated with an asterisk.