Alfa Aesar Project

INTRODUCTION

Alfa Aesar is a leading international manufacturer, supplier and distributor of chemicals, metals, and materials. Their products are used in a variety of research, development and production applications.

The storage facility is located as part of the large warehouse complex at the intersection of Neck and Shelley Roads in the Ward Hill Industrial Park. It serves as a high hazard storage facility for Flammable liquids, Flammable Solids, Corrosive and Oxidizer classified chemicals. In all, over 5,000 different chemicals are housed in the facility. The building consists of a large warehouse structure with storage areas and offices.

The facility has complete fire suppression coverage throughout all areas. Systems include an AFFF foam extinguishing system for the flammable liquids storage area, and wet pipe sprinkler system protection in other areas.

The building is equipped with strobe and horn/strobe appliances. Beacons located outside the exterior doors to each storage area indicate which space is in alarm. An annunciator is located in the main entry lobby with the graphic directory adjacent to it.

BUILDING OPERATION AND LAYOUT

Alfa Aesar has two facilities in Haverhill – a Bond Street facility and this Shelley Road warehouse facility. Operations at the Bond Street facility are primarily repackaging of materials on site from one container to another, in a dedicated "Repack" area for certain compounds. This Shelly Road facility expands the storage space available to Alfa Aesar. It will be used for bulk storage of received materials.

The building has a small office area in the front. Adjacent to that is the loading dock for receiving. Product is separated in different rooms and areas for convenience, organization and safety based on the type of material. These are broadly classified as:

Corrosives -Acids
Corrosives -Bases
Flammable Liquids
Oxidizers
Flammable Solids
Flammable Solids -Water Reactive

STORAGE ROOM LAYOUTS

Chemical storage rooms have been designed for the safe storage of specific classes of materials. Each area where chemicals will be stored or transported is separated into fire protection zones.

Zone 1 is an area approximately 4,200 square feet in size housing FLAMMABLE SOLIDS. Product stored in this area is primarily metal powders and chips stored in cans, metal pails and drums that vary in size up to 55 gallon drums. It is restricted to materials that do not react with water, or have a very low reaction if in contact with water in the liquid state.

Zone 2 is another area of similar size designed for GENERAL BULK STORAGE in liquid or solid state. Materials stored here are anticipated to be non-reactive with each other or water in the liquid state.

Zone 4 is a 3,880 square foot area storing OXIDIZERS.

65% of the normal inventory includes product that is, or similar in nature to Class 1 Oxidizers.

35% of the normal inventory includes product that is, or similar in nature to Class 2 Oxidizers.

Class 3 oxidizers are not presently stored in the facility. However, should Class 3 Oxidizers be placed into inventory, dedicated storage cabinets, specially constructed to house this material will be provided. These containers are designed to be connected directly to the sprinkler system, so that the higher sprinkler flow densities required for Class 3 Oxidizers is limited to the storage containers, rather than applied to the entire space.

CORROSIVES are stored in a large space on the front side of the facility. The room is divided into two sides by a floor to ceiling partition to separate "Base" product from "Acid" product. The Corrosive BASES are in Zone 5 and the Corrosive ACIDS are in Zone 6.

Zone 3 is the largest storage space in the warehouse. This 8,900 square foot area is where the FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS are stored including materials classified as 1B and 1C flammable liquids.

The lowest level of storage in the rack system is a fiberglass/plastic coated material that forms an open grate floor through which any spilled liquids will fall in the event that the integrity of a container is compromised. The coated nature of the surface is intended to mitigate the formation of sparks. A concrete floor is located approximately 36 inches below the open grate floor to capture spilled liquids, and any release of the AFFF extinguishing system.

Zone 7 is the loading dock area where shipments of all materials will be received. This area is equipped with a portable AFFF foam cart as well as an emergency waste room, vermiculite hood and walk-in hood. Chemicals arriving in this area will be quickly moved to the appropriate storage area.

FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS OVERVIEW

'The facility has complete fire suppression coverage throughout all areas. Systems include an AFFF foam extinguishing system for the flammable liquids storage area, and wet pipe sprinkler system protection in other areas. Each hazard room is self contained with 3 and 4 hour rated walls, and doors. The heating and ventilation system is state of the art allowing 6 air changes per hour and reacting to self contain any room with a problem and isolating it from the rest of the facility.

The Flammable liquids and solids are each in explosion-proof environments with chemical resistant materials on the floors and walls. The Flammable liquids room has a 3 foot pit under an epoxy coated steel grid and FRP floor system. The suppression system is an AFFF Foam system. UV/IR and Flame detectors act as early warning in case of an incident. The building is completely diked housing a possible 250,000 gallons of liquid.

Mechanical system monitoring includes duct-mounted smoke detectors to monitor supply side ductwork of all HVAC air handlers moving more than 2000 CFM. The main sprinkler system and riser valves are provided with automatic monitoring of pressure, tamper and flow status at the zone valve assembly.

The Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing, or MEP systems, allow the fire department to manually control the systems from an isolated control panel. From here, one can manually release smoke hatches and mechanically ventilate a room with an incident ongoing. One can also choose to do nothing and let the buildings systems control the situation. The safeguards give the fire department a window of time sufficient enough so lives are not put in harm’s way if a problem arises.

SPRINKLER SYSTEM

The basis of design for the wet pipe sprinkler system is NFPA 13 with storage areas of the facility considered as Ordinary Hazard, Group 2 Occupancy, and office areas considered as Light Hazard. This includes the corrosives, flammable solids, and oxidizers areas, common corridor areas, and office/administrative areas.

Experiences at the Alfa Aesar Bond Street Facility have resulted in the requirement to be able to control or shut off the fire protection water supply to certain portions of the facility. Accordingly, in addition to the main sprinkler shut off valve, portions of the fire protection system are arranged to isolate certain areas. All valves are supervised by the fire alarm control panel and are normally open.

AFFF SYSTEM

An "Aqueous Film-Forming Foam" or AFFF system provides coverage for the flammable liquid storage area.

The AFFF tank and associated valves are located in a mechanical room at the exterior of the building, but central to the location of the flammable liquid storage area. This facilitates shorter foam extinguishing agent release times once a system is activated. A single cache of AFFF concentrate is stored in two vertical tanks – a main and reserve tank. It is used to supply AFFF concentrate to the flammable liquids storage area through a dedicated alarm.

The fire suppression system in the flammable liquids storage area is a pre-primed AFFF system. Flame detectors are located below the floor grid as well as above the floor. Heat from a developing fire will cause the release of the AFFF solution at the local area closest to the source of heat. UV-IR detectors located throughout the space will also signal the UV -1R detectors. These serve only as an early warning device to summon emergency response personnel to the site based on a signal received from the Fire Alarm system.

The control panels for the AFFF equipment are located in the Mechanical Room where the AFFF tanks and valves are located. This permits access for maintenance and operation of the panel without entering the spaces served. This is designed to minimize risk to responding emergency personnel if the system must be accessed for information or reset during an emergency.

AIR HANDLING SYSTEM

Each portion of warehouse space is provided with a dedicated Air Handling rooftop or Energy Recovery Unit. The Flammable Liquids storage area is equipped with an Energy Recovery Unit that does NOT re-circulate air, but provides 100% outside air when in operation. Air is withdrawn from the space served by the same unit, and exhausted through a heat recovery wheel, at a rate of 4 air changes per hour. Air is completely replaced in the affected space every 15 minutes.

Other warehouse spaces and the main corridor connecting them are served with separate Air Handling Units that typically re-circulate approximately 95% of the air. They have the capability to operate with an economizer to completely replace the air in each space with outside air. These units re-circulate or replace the air in the spaces served at a rate of 6 air changes per hour. Air is completely replaced every 10 minutes.

All air handling equipment will automatically be de-energized in the event of a fire.

Smoke Hatch openings are available for evacuation of smoke and fumes from the flammable solids and liquids rooms and the bulk storage room. The activation of these Spring- activated hatches are accomplished manually from a separate set of controls next to the Fire Alarm Control Panel.

FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS AND OPERATION

The basis for design for the fire alarm system includes compliance with NFPA 72-1999 and the Massachusetts Building Code. The system provides manual and automatic operation with on site audio and visual alarms to indicate a fire event within the building.

'The building fire alarm zoning is geographic in nature and essentially follows the building areas defined by a drawing shown graphically on a Lexan fire alarm directory located at the main entry. The system includes a remote annunciator with test, system silence, and system reset switches behind a locked cover.

Beacons are located outside of exterior and interior doors to each storage area in order to indicate which space is in alarm. Two beacons are mounted on the front corner of the building where first responders can easily see them on approach to the scene. A RED beacon indicates the building is in alarm. An AMBER beacon indicates the alarm is in the Flammable Liquids area and that the AFFF foam system has been deployed.

MANUAL OPERATION OF AIR HANDLING UNITS

Controls for the manual operation of the Air Handling Units are located next to the fire alarm control panel in the foyer. These provide the ability to pressurize various adjacent portions of the building in a controlled manner, to mitigate the accumulation of smoke or noxious odors so that emergency response personnel may more effectively enter the building.

The air handling units for each area have three modes of operation.

• In Automatic-Normal/Non-emergency mode -- the unit is under control from space temperature and humidity sensors.
• Manual -OFF -- the unit is de-energized
• Manual -ON -- the unit is energized in economizer mode, regardless of outside air temperature, with both supply and return fans energized. The unit supplies 100% outside air to the spaces served, and exhausts 100% of the air returned to the unit. This mode maximizes the introduction of outside air into the space and the removal of smoke or airborne particulates. Separate controls for the supply air fan and return air fan are provided so that the unit may be used to positively or negatively pressurize the space.

The Alfa Aesar Bulk Storage Facility has been designed and built with safety in mind. Everything from the storage containers used, the separation of materials by category, the rack systems used, and the safety equipment installed, insure a safe storage condition.

In the event of an incident at the facility the fire suppression and alarm system will operate automatically to isolate the affected area and initiate the fire suppression system. This will give Fire Department personnel and first responders, time to respond and take control as necessary.

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