Working for a constant reduction in gas leaks is one of the most important measures which can reduce the total level of risk in the energy business.

The jet fire phenomena represent a significant element of the risk associated with major accidents in the Energy and Oil & Gas Market. Jet fire is a turbulent diffusion flame resulting from the combustion of a fuel continuosly released with some significant momentum in a particular direction.

Current industry practices face mitigation and control of jet fire mainly with passive methods; gas leakage detection based on sensors is sometimes adopted.

In this paper we describe an innovative method, adopted in plants since 2006 based on flow metering mathematic calculation designed in order to estimate in real time the values deemed useful to prevent jet fire on the line which has to be secured.
The method complies with the following recommendations: API RP 1130 (Computational Pipeline Monitoring For Liquid Pipelines), IEC 61511 (Safety Instrumented Systems).

The implementation of this method, which can be tailored as hardware-independent (for a basic coverage) and dedicated (for an extended coverage), to the specific needs of the plant, takes place by following a specific quality check.
Thanks to it, the End User can benefit from valuable advantages in plant loss prevention, health and environmental plant protection compliance programme, and savings on insurance coverage expenses.