Fire broke out in a low-pressure hydrogenation unit at a chemical plant. The unit's fire detectors sounded the alarm while the 1st process phase (hydrogenation of phenylacetylcarbinol with benzylamine in an isopropyl alcohol solution using a catalyst) was ongoing. An[...]
In the attic of a slaughterhouse, 2.2 tonnes of ammonia (NH3) intended for recycling back to the unit leaked onto a solenoid valve on the low-pressure return circuit of a ground beef freezer. Employees were evacuated for 24 hrs, 40[...]
At a facility specialised in renovating gas cisterns (degassing, washing, painting), a 2.3-m³ tank exploded during welding work. One worker was propelled 10 m and away died, 5 other employees sustained slight injuries and had to be hospitalised. A third[...]
In a synthetic rubber unit, a pressure spike on the demineralised water network at 3:30 pm began disturbing height verification performed at the cement/water + catalyst interface in a settling basin, causing 10 to 15 tonnes of cement to be[...]
A detonation occurred during the preparation of munitions destruction furnaces by a specialised firm at a military installation. These operations, performed by a team of 5 professionals, consisted of preparing holes and filling them with munitions intended for destruction. A technician[...]
In an automobile paint plant, a technician left his workstation at 4:15 pm in forgetting to turn off the pump used to transfer paint containing 55% acrylic resin, 15% xylene, 16% butyl acetate and 4% ethylbenzene. The transfer of resin[...]
At 10:30 pm in a fine chemistry plant, a reactor underwent a pressure rise during chlorination of alcohol using thionyl chloride (SOCl2). This slightly exothermic reaction took place in a solvent medium (1,2 dichloroethane, or DCE) and under a slight[...]
An explosion and fire occurred at night inside a workshop dedicated to toluene di-amine (TDA) synthesis by means of hydrogenating dinitrotoluene (DNT) in the presence of Raney nickel; the workshop had been taken offline for scheduled maintenance. Internal fire-fighters had[...]
At a 40-ha chemical facility located on the outskirts of an urban area, the safety disc set at 1.5 bar on a 15.2-m3 reactor burst in a plant working with formo-phenolic resins used for glues applied to agglomerated material. The[...]
At a chemical plant, leak occurred at 5.20 pm while a tank car containing 48 tonnes of ammonia (NH3) was being unloaded. Twenty-seven tonnes of NH3 were released over 37 minutes until the operator closed the tank's bottom valve by[...]
