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Faculty of Engineering DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING CBE 9185 - RISK ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT IN ENGINEERING SYSTEMS Assignment #3 Question1:
Critical Function of a Small Business Take any small business and there are several critical functions that must be maintained for the business to operate. A convenience store (C Store) has been used for this example. Most readers of this book have been to a C Store. This store has the following attributes: four gas pumps; 1 ea. 10,000 gal 87 octane gasoline tank; 1 ea. 10,000 diesel tank; 30 ft of beer and soda cooler; 100 ft of room temperature storage; two soda fountains; one microwave food station. The first step for conducting a CFA is to define the mission and critical functions of the store. The mission of the business is to make money. The critical functions that are needed to allow the store to make money are as follows: a location/building; a shopper friendly environment; products to sell; means to perform transactions (cashier or self-service station); appropriate operating licenses. In this example, the goal is not to optimize the cash flow but only to stay open.
Draw a Figure to show the relationship of the critical functions to the mission and the support functions.

Note: In the absence of any of the critical functions, the store could not make money or not for very long. The appropriate licenses critical function could be eliminated but within short order; in most well-run cities, this would cause the business to close soon.

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Question2:
Chemical Reactor Critical Function Analysis In this example, a CFA will be performed on a chemical reactor system. The mission of the reactor is to produce a 5000-gal batch of chemical D within the quality limits. The attributes of the reactor are as follows: It is a 5500-gal-capacity batch reactor. Three chemicals are combined in the reactor to produce chemical D. These chemicals are chemicals A, B, and C. The ratio of the three chemicals are as follows: 10% chemical A; 30% chemical B; 60% chemical C. Chemicals have to be mixed in the proper ratio for 30 min to ensure a successful batch. The reaction is exothermic. For each degree over 300F the reactor reaches, the quality of the product is reduced. Chemical E is the contaminant produced. The batch becomes 1% chemical E for degree over the 300 level. Increased temperature can cause a spike in reactor pressure. If the pressure reaches 310F, the reactor pressure will near the safety factor limits of the reactor. At this point, the rupture disk will break and the gases produced will be directed to a scrubber column. The product must have less than 2% chemical E to be successful. In this regard, the critical functions of the system are as follows: pressure control; temperature control; chemical metering; chemical mixing; safety systems. Figure 1 shows the CFA for the reactor system. In the event of a process upset, the mission becomes to prevent a catastrophic failure of the pressure vessel.

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FIGURE 1 Critical functional analysis of a chemical reactor system.

Redraw Figure 1 to show the relationship of the critical functions needed to succeed in this mission (Critical functions during process upset)

Question3:
Go through uncertainty handout and find the main differences between the categories and levels etc. try to give examples from your filed.