Explosion in a Hydrogenation Unit of a Refinery
A mixture of hydrocarbon and hydrogen leaks from hydrogenation unit of a refinery. The cloud explodes. The leak was caused due to corrosion of a carbon steel pipe at a bend, which was one eighth instead of five-eighths of an inch. Apparently, automatic shutdown valves failed to operate. The fire was visible from 32 km away. People in a 5 sq. km area were evacuated. Material damage is significant ($ 78.3 million).
Event Date
October 8, 1992
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Cause Comments
Immediate cause was the failure of a pipe due corrosion.Possible contributing cause was the failure of the automatic shutdown valves.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
Pipe and valve
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Event Nature
Emergency Action
Unknown
Release Type
Release Substance
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
ARIA database
event 11282
Listed in E. Oran et al., Mechanisms and occurrence of detonations in vapor cloud explosions,
Progress in Energy and Combustion Science,
77 (2020) 100804, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecs.2019.100804