In a high pressure gas plant, hydrogen gas leaked through a flange on a non return valve located on a hydrogen inlet of a reactor. The leaking gas ignited.

A fire occurred at an oil factory during maintenance work. On the day of the incident, a distillation unit was shutdown for a steam air tightness test. Cooling equipment on the distillation unit was found to be leaking at the header and joint. Nitrogen purging was carried out before the repair work. The header cover was then connected and tightened up using an impact wrench, when the fire broke out.

Explosion accident while testing liquid water turbo-pump - A fire occurred during testing of a turbine pump which is a part of a rocket engine. On the day of the incident, seven seconds after the rpm of the pump reached its steady state (45,000 rpm), excessive vibration was detected. The pump was immediately stopped but a loud bang was heard. The operator started to apply nitrogen gas. One and a half minutes after the bang, flames were seen in front of the testing building which came from burning cables. Hydrogen gas discharged from the vent stack on a liquid hydrogen tank also caught fire.

A tube in a hydrorefiner heater ruptured resulting in an extensive fire inside and outside the furnace. The main fire in the furnace was extinguished within 15 minutes and the escaping gas / vapour release from the ruptured tubes allowed to burn under controlled conditions. There were no injuries to personnel but the furnace suffered damage estimated at 10,000 (1973), which included four distorted tubes and certain refractory damage.

In this plant, after conversion of the major part of the carbon dioxide into urea, the off-gasses from the reactor consist of ammonia, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. Prior to venting this gas into the atmosphere it is washed with a carbamate solution. This absorption is carried out in a high pressure scrubber, where the explosion occurred. The internals were damaged without affecting the vessel itself as it was designed to take an explosion. A second explosion occurred in April 1974 and also damaged the internals.

A fire broke out on a heat exchanger in a hydrocarbons plant. The cause of the fire was leakage of hydrogen.

During repairs of a heat exchanger in a benzene plant, a mixed gas (methane and hydrogen) contained in the cold box attached to the exchanger leaked and caught fire from a welding spark. The exchanger was severely damaged by the fire.The cause of the incident: The valve was not provided with a blind plate, the cold box was in a incomplete closed position.

Dyestuffs intermediates plant. Hydrogen escaped from leak in pipeline connection to cylinder. Householders nearby evacuated for a short while.

An explosion occurred in a pipe system carrying hydrogen and methane at an ammonia plant. No major injuries have been reported.

A fire and explosion occurred at a catalytic reformer unit. The fire centred between the reactors and fired heaters of the reformer and resulted in extensive damage to the unit.The explosion rocked the nearby refinery control centre and broke windows half a mile away. There were no injuries. After the explosion, the operating crew isolated all hydrocarbon and utilities lines at the unit battery limit. The columns and vessels could not be pumped out due to total loss of power.