A Fire in the Hydrotreatment Oven of a Refinery
The fire started 3 hours after being shut down. The unit was shut down and the fire extinguished.The oven contained only gaseous products and mainly hydrogen.
Event Date
December 7, 2005
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Causes (Select all applicable options):
Cause Comments
The cause was a destabilization of the of the operative conditions. During one of the production phase, a tube of the oven had been affected by instable flows and its temperature slowly raised up to the mechanical resistance limit, Under internal pressure, the tube failed with a longitudinal crack of ca. 750 mm.
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
Hydrotreatment unit
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational Condition
Pre-event Summary
The oven used for hydrotreatment of complex oils had been shut down 3 hours before.
Currency
Lessons Learned
As corrective measure, the plant operator:1) verified the soundness of the range of allowed operative conditions, 2) ensured the correct functioning of the thermocouples measuring the temperature of the tubes,3) improved the operative procedures, in particular those regulating the transitory phases.
Emergency Action
The Internal Operation Plan is launched.
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
Event no. 52706 of the French database ARIA (accessed December 2020)