Massive fire in pesticide plant

A reactor in a pesticide plant apparently exploded about a few hours ago. Many people are feared injured. Read the breaking news in this link.
See photos of the fire in these links:
Link 1
Link 2  
See video in this link.

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More pictures of steel plant accident

The steel plant accident has several probes working to find the root causes. An article in the Hindu mentions three probes - one by the factory Inspector, another by National Legal Service Authority (NALSA)and another by a high level committee to go into the accident and recommend measures to prevent recurrence of such accidents.

The committee, to be headed by former SAIL Chairman S.R. Jain, will investigate the incident and submit a report within a month. I hope we get to see the root causes from all these investigations.

Meanwhile see some more pictures of the accident in this link.

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Micro reactors and inherent safety - the future?

A press release mentions the following:
"Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal have developed a method for safer production of nitroglycerine: a microreactor process, tailored to this specific reaction. What makes the process safer are the tiny quantities involved. If the quantities are smaller, less heat is generated. And because the surface is very expansive compared to the volume involved, the system is very easy to cool. Another benefit: the tiny reactor produces the explosive material considerably faster than in agitating vessels. Unlike a large agitating vessel filled before the slow reaction proceeds, the microreactor works continuously: the base materials flow through tiny channels into the reaction chamber in “assembly-line fashion“. There, they react with one another for several seconds before flowing through other channels into a second microreactor for processing – meaning purification. This is because the interim product still contains impurities that need to be removed for safety reasons. Purification in the microreactor functions perfectly: the product produced meets pharmaceutical specifications and in a modified form can even be used in nitro capsules for patients with heart disease. “This marks the first use of microreactors in a process not only for synthesis of a material but also for its subsequent processing,“ observes Dr. Stefan Löbbecke, deputy division director at ICT. The microreactor process is already successfully in use in industry".

The use of micro reactors on a large scale will usher in a sea change in process safety. We will be investigating micro explosions instead of the major ones now!!
Read the press release in this link.

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Vehicle movement near flare headers

In March this year, a backhoe knocked a flare header off a pipe rack in a refinery in the USA, leading to a partial evacuation of the refinery. Flare systems including the flare header play a critical part during emergencies, start up and shutdowns. Ensure that you have proper engineering controls (vehicle impact protection) and administrative controls to prevent this happening to your emergency flare/ vent header systems including pipe racks. Read my earlier post on vehicle impact protection in this link.

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Accident at steel plant

Thanks to Deivanayagam for sharing pictures of the steel plant accident. The pictures show the extent of the explosion. The control room damage is also seen. The cause of the incident is being investigated. I hope the incident report is shared so that everyone can learn the lessons.A blast wave can damage everything in its path. Are your control rooms blast proof? See the pictures in this link. (Large file.... be patient)
 
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