Pasadena, Texas

Aristech Chemical Corp. Pasadena, Texas BASF Corp. Freeport, Texas Eastman Kodak Co. Longview, Texas Hoechst Celanese Bay City, Texas Union Carbide Corp. Texas City, Texas 114 99 284 136 330 11.4 19.5 166 13.6 33 Rli Rli Co " Rli Rli... 

Ex situ or off-site, regeneration of base metal catalysts is a service offered by several vendors worldwide, including Catalyst Recovery, Inc., of Lafayette, Louisiana, and Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada Catalyst Recovery, Europe of Rodange, Luxembourg Nippon CRI of Miyako, Japan Englehard (formerly Edtrol) of Salt Lake City, Utah Eurecat, U.S., of Pasadena, Texas and Eurecat, SA of La Voulte, Erance (22—28). 

Pasadena, Texas (Ref. 14) 23 (unknown number in buildings) An isobutane and ethylene release in a polyethylene plant resulted in an explosion that destroyed the facility, including the control room, and also damaged an administration building 0.5 mi (0.8 km) away. 

The four most cited accidents (Flixborough, England Bhopal, India Seveso, Italy and Pasadena, Texas) are presented here. All these accidents had a significant impact on public perceptions and the chemical engineering profession that added new emphasis and standards in the practice of safety. Chapter 13 presents case histories in considerably more detail. 

A massive explosion in Pasadena, Texas, on October 23,1989, resulted in 23 fatalities, 314 injuries, and capital losses of over 715 million. This explosion occurred in a high-density polyethylene plant after the accidental release of 85,000 pounds of a flammable mixture containing ethylene, isobutane, hexane, and hydrogen. The release formed a large gas cloud instantaneously because the system was under high pressure and temperature. The cloud was ignited about 2 minutes after the release by an unidentified ignition source. 

Robert M. Bethea, Explosion and Fire at Pasadena, Texas (New York American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1996). 

Flixborough, England 23 Bhopal, India 25 Seveso, Italy 26 Pasadena, Texas 27 Suggested Reading 29 Problems 30... 

Celanese Bayport Marine Terminal June 13, 1998 Methyl Acrylate Tank V-9227 Polymerization Incident Public Information Disclosure, Celanese, Pasadena, Texas, 1999. 

Event 2 Explosion—Plastics manufacturing. Phillips Petroleum, Pasadena, Texas (October 23, 1989). 23 fatalities, 130-300 injured extensive facility damage (U.S. 

U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). 1989. Phillips Petroleum Chemical Plant explosion and fire, Pasadena, Texas. U.S. Fire Administration Technical Report 035. Emmitsburg, MD Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

Pasadena, Texas explosion caused by leakage of ethylene and... 

At a facility in Pasadena, Texas, a serious fire and explosion occurred on a compressor section involving failure of a check valve, h) During the investigation by regulators, it was disclosed that a similar occurrence had recently taken place. The company was cited for failure to adequately apply lessons learned from previous incidents. 

Liz and I recently had a project to expand the wet-gas compressor capacity of a centrifugal machine in Pasadena, Texas. We ran a pressure survey on the compressor system, as summarized in Fig. 30.2. 

A major refinery in Norco, Louisiana, U.S., experienced an explosion on May 5, 1988, resulting from a rupture of an elbow in process piping. Property damages were estimated to be 300 million (U.S., 1988) which was the most costly refinery incident up to that time. (The Phillips Incident in Pasadena, Texas, just 17 months later in October, 1989, experienced property damages two-and-a-half times greater.) This Norco incident had enormous effects on worldwide feedstock supplies. [25]... 

On October 23, 1989, at approximately 1300, an explosion and fire ripped through the Phillips 66 Company s Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas. At the site, 23 workers were killed, and more than 130 were injured. Property damage was nearly 750 million. Business interruption cost is not available but is probably a very large figure. 

Commercial plants Lyondell Petrochemical Co., Channelview, Texas, uses both the OCT technology and ethylene dimerization technology. Two other plants have used related technology including a Phillips 66 Co. plant at Pasadena, Texas. A 690-million lb/yr unit is under construction for BASF Fina Petrochemicals in Port Arthur, Texas. 

K-Resin SBC was invented by Alonzo Kitchen, a research chemist at Phillips Petroleum Research and Development laboratories. With inventorship came the opportunity to name the new resin, which he called K-Resin . The first pilot plant resins were made in 1967, and commercial samples were prepared for test marketing in 1968. Commercial production started in October of 1972 at the SBC plant in Borger, Texas, on a 10 million pound per year capacity line. Initially, the solution product was steam stripped to remove the hydrocarbon solvent, but this left a significant haze in the resin. The finishing system was quickly converted to a devolatilizing extruder. Commercial production continued at this plant until 1979, ending with the opening of a new production facility at Adams Terminal (later renamed the Houston Chemical Complex) in Pasadena, Texas. The new plant had a nameplate capacity of 120 million pounds per year. Plant expansions increased the production capacity in 1988 and 1994 to a total nameplate capacity around 300 million pounds per year. 

The European Union enacted the directive on the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances in response to the 1976 dioxin release from the ICMESA facility near Seveso, Italy the United States enacted a similar Emergency Preparedness and Community Right-to-Know Act in response to the 1984 Bhopal disaster and 1989 Phillips Pasadena, Texas, refinery explosion and fire. 

This technology should be used in a 50 000 t/year plant in construction in Qatar and a second 90 OioO t/year plant has been under consideration in Pasadena, Texas. 1-Hexene is mainly used as a comonomer for LLDPE manufacture. 

The safety of contractors who may be exposed to process hazards has become a great concern since the occurrence of very serious incidents at Pasadena, Texas (October 23, 1989), and Chan-nelview, Texas (July 5, 1990). Employers are now required to (1) evaluate the safety performance of contractors (2) inform contract employers concerning fire, explosion, and toxicity hazards (3) ascertain that contractor employees understand the site s emergency plan (4) control the presence of contractors in process areas and (5) maintain an injury and illness log related to a contractor s work in process areas [1(h), 2(87), 5, 42]. 

The flammable gases used by the petrochemical industry have been involved in many accidents.109 A Are and explosion following a leak of ethylene and isobutane from a pipeline at a Phillips plant in Pasadena, Texas, in 1989, killed 23 people and injured 130.110 The U. S. Occupa... 

The Alfol technology is commercialized in the United States by Conoco (110.000 t/year of C to C22 alcohols at Lake Charles, Louisiana) and Ethyl Corporation (115,000 t/year of C6 to C20 alcohols in Pasadena, Texas). In Western Europe, Condea Chemie has a 50,000 t/year capacity plant in Brunsbuettel (West Germany). These alcohols are essentially used to manufacture detergents. 

Tenneco at Pasadena, Texas Shintech at Freeport, Texas and Firestone (now Hooker Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum) at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Chemische Werke Huls in Germany is reported to be operating reactors having more than a 50,000-gal capacity. 

In the United States, most of the consumption of silane is internal. Silane is consumed in a free-space polycrystalline silicon production facility (3000 t/yr) at Moses Lake, Washington. This facility was built by Union Carbide but as of 1996 was operated by Advanced Silicon Materials Inc., a joint venture controlled by Komatsu. Silane is also consumed in a fluidized-bed polycrystalline silicon production facility (1250 t/yr) in Pasadena, Texas, built by Ethyl Corporation and operated as of 1996 by MEMC, a publicly traded company 51% owned by Htls. The world merchant market for silane is about 250 t/yr. The bulk price for silane is 80— 120/kg much higher pricing is placed on small packages. The primary use of silane is in microelectronics. Minor applications exist in reprography, ie, in photocopiers, and in specialty glass technology. 

Pasadena, Texas, US At a Phillips 66 plant, 23 were killed and 132 were injured after a reactor broke and a mixture of ethylene and isobutane Ignited. 

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