Specification and prediction of noise levels in oil refineries and petrochemical plants

Abstract This paper describes the experience of the oil industry in specifying noise limits for new plants using the procedure published by the Oil Companies Materials Association. The procedure defines a calculation method for predicting the noise in neighbouring areas due to a plant, which includes curves for deriving the excess attenuation due to ground effects. Long-term measurements, covering a period of one month to several years, have been made around four refineries and the median noise levels have been compared with predicted noise leves. There is a satisfactory agreement and this indicates that the OCMA procedure is broadly correct.