CGA P-8.6 – Unmanned Air Gas Plants – Design and Operation

This publication has been written to address issues relating to the increasing number of air gas production facilities that are run unmanned or remotely operated.

The purpose of this publication is to provide guidelines for the design, operation, and maintenance of a plant that has unmanned or remote operations.

Unmanned or remotely operated plant functionality can range from a plant with full remote functionality i.e., satellite plant controlled by a remote operating center (ROC) to a plant with autonomous operation.

The installations that are included in this publication are:
• cryogenic air separation plants;
• cryogenic nitrogen generators;
• noncryogenic plants (pressure swing absorption, vacuum pressure swing absorption, membrane, etc.,) for oxygen and nitrogen;
• pipeline compression stations;
• compressed dry air facilities; and
• back-up systems and site storage, if existing and integrated with the production unit.

Specifically excluded are product supply tanks installed at a customer’s premises, home care units (for example, concentrators), and noncryogenic plants with a capacity of 5 ton (5 000 kg) per day or less. For noncryogenic plants from 5 ton to 20 ton (5 000 kg to 20 000 kg) per day, a risk assessment shall be carried out to identify which requirements of this publication apply.