A detonation was heard and the hydrogen supply of the site was automatically shut down by the safety devices.The fire was caused by a hydrogen leak and led to the formation of a fireball at the end of a hose at the conditioning station. A plant employee had just disconnected the hose sued for the filling of a semi-trailer. He did so to be able to change a non-return valve which was vibrating noisily. The hydrogen supply had been stopped, the automatic system had been switched to manual mode and the hose had been drained and disconnected.

The truck was delivering hydrogen to a steel products plant and contained from 1500 to 2000 gallons of liquid hydrogen (approximately 7000 to 9000 l). The hydrogen was being pumped from the trucks tank to a tank alongside the business, when the hydrogen vapour were vented and ignited. Witnesses spoke of a 'large explosive noise' (see references). The emergency services closed the traffic and evacuated several businesses, schools and homes for a few hours.

A petroleum refinery experienced a catastrophic rupture of a heat exchanger in the catalytic reformer / naphtha hydrotreater unit (the NHT unit). The heat exchanger, catastrophically ruptured because of High Temperature Hydrogen Attack.Highly flammable hydrogen and naphtha at more than 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260C) were released from the ruptured heat exchanger and ignited, causing an explosion and an intense fire that burned for more than three hours.

The accident occurred during the first phase of the batch synthesis of tricarbonyl compound (methylcyclopentadienyl) manganese (TMCM), while the reaction mixture in the reactor consisted of more than 0.5 t of sodium and organic compounds. Reaction runaway with hydrogen production caused a large increase in pressure and temperature leading to a rupture of the reactor (above 100 bar). The ignition of the released flammable cloud led to the formation of a fireball and generated a large heat flux.

In a laboratory, tests with hydrogen as aerospace rocket propellants were carried out. One of the experiments consisted in the generation of a vertical jet (turbulent regime) to determine the sound levels emitted by jets of H2 gas. The flow was increased up to 55 kg / s. After 23 s, while decreasing the flow, the hydrogen ignited. A fireball was formed followed immediately by an explosion. The Vapour Cloud explosion VCE (mainly negative overpressure) caused damage to structures of the surrounding buildings (walls, doors, roofs).

SUMMARYThe explosion occurred in a catalyst regenerator of the catalytic cracking unit in a fluidized bed during a technical shutdown. A few seconds later, a second explosion is perceived, it is the pressure wave of the first explosion which reached the site recovery boiler 30 m away and connected to the regenerator by pipe. It left 24 people injured; 8 were hospitalized, including 2 suffering from severe burns.

An open backed truck was delivering various industrial gases to sites. At the site of the explosion a rack of argon gas bottles was being delivered to a laboratory in the building adjacent to the truck. The small lifting arm at the back of the truck was being used to offload the argon gas bottles when the operator (truck driver) heard a hissing sound. The operator stopped what he was doing and went to investigate the source of the sound at which point an explosion took place.

As the airship approached the docking mast, it performed a sharp turn to face into the wind, which was shifting. The engines were run at full speed astern for about a minute to slow the airship. Dust came from the lines as they dropped to the ground, but the lines wetted in the light rain. Only the port line had been attached to a ground winch used for drawing the airship down to ground level for disembarking passengers and cargo. The starboard line was being handled by ground crew at the time of the fire. The nose cable had been lowered about 50 ft.