Explosion at a Silicon Coating Plant
An explosion and fire occurred at a chemical plant applying silicone coatings. The blast occurred when some polymethyl hydrogen siloxane was accidentally fed into a reactor, together with the correct feedstock, allyl glycidyl ether. The two epoxides reacted, overheated and hydrogen burst out of a ruptured pipe into the building, where it mixed with air and exploded. The 5 workers were caught in the resulting fire. According to the Company, the police believe that human error is to blame. Although both chemicals were labelled, they were stored in drums of the same colour. Damage is put at DM 10M $6.7M (1995).
Event Date
February 15, 1995
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Causes
Cause Comments
Immediate cause is the erroneous mixing of a wrong substance ( polymethyl hydrogen siloxane) with the correct one (allyl glycidyl ether) in a reactor ,causing overheating and hydrogen production. This could occur because of inadequate chemicals identification so that chemicals were added incorrectly.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational Condition
Pre-event Summary
An explosion and fire occurred at a chemical plant applying silicone coatings. The blast occurred when some polymethyl hydrogen siloxane was accidentally fed into a reactor, together with the correct feedstock, allyl glycidyl ether. The two epoxides reacted, overheated and hydrogen burst out of a ruptured pipe into the building, where it mixed with air and exploded.
Currency
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
Unknown
Event Nature
Emergency Action
Unknown
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
Source lost