The Dakar ammonia accident, in Senegal on March 24, 1992, is the worst ammonia industrial acci-dent ever. This anhydrous ammonia industrial catastrophe claimed 129 lives and injured another 1,150 workers and citizens.
The accident happened at a peanut oil processing facility where ammonia was used to detoxify the product. Anhydrous ammonia was stored in a portable tank commissioned in 1983 and repaired in 1991 before the incident. The weld repairs made were on cracks detected on the tank's surface. Fre-quent overfilling of the tank ("authorized" to hold 17.7 tonnes) was one of the primary causes noted in the reports. An overpressure inside the tank led to its catastrophic failure releasing 22 tonnes of pressurized ammonia. A heavy white cloud of ammonia aerosol plus vapor spread a significant dis-tance causing fatalities and injuries.
This paper presents an analysis of the incident and the resulting consequences.
Dharmavaram, S., Air Products, Allentown, PA, U.S.A.
Pattabathula, V., S.V.P. Chemical Plant Services, Brisbane, Australia
https://www.uvu.edu/es/docs/paper4a-dakar_accident_final.pdf
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