Plastics manufacturing facility explosion

An explosion in a plastics manufacturing facility in Illinois results in five deaths, plant closure and eventual tear down of the facility... 

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

This polyviityl chloride (PVC) manufacturing facility plant had been constructed by Borden Inc. and started in 1965. In 1987, ownership was transferred to Borden Chemicals and Plastics. The PVC plant was sold to the Formosa Plastics Corporation in early 2002, and this deadly chemical release/fire/explosion occurred 2 years later. The plant remained idle after the explosion and was tom down in August 2013. 

On April 23, 2004, massive amount of flammables escaped from a reactor about 10 30 p.M. at the Formosa Plastics Corporation, llUopolis, Illinois, manufacturing facility. An explosion and fire followed which killed five chemical process operators and severely injured three other workers [8] (see Figs 4.1 and 4.2). 

In another incident, on January 29, 2003, an explosion and fire destroyed the West Pharmaceutical Services plant in Kinston, North Carolina, causing six deaths, dozens of injuries, and hundreds of job losses. The facility produced rubber stoppers and other products for medical use. The investigators fovind that the fuel for the explosion was a fine plastic powder used in producing rubber goods. Combustible polyethylene dust accumulated above a suspended ceiling over a manufacturing area at the plant and was ignited by an unknown event (Fig. 2.1). 

Present-day PAH contamination is also associated with wood-treatment industries, since PAHs are major components of creosote and anthracene oil—commonly used in wood-preserving pesticides. Other current industrial units that generate PAH contaminants are steel and carbon manufacturers, plasticizer and dye facilities, and some explosives generators. Generally, soil PAH concentration increases with increasing impact of industry, traffic, and domestic heating. For example, PAH concentration ranges from 5mg/kg soil in an undeveloped area to 1.79 x lO mg/kg at an oil refinery. In urban estuaries, PAH concentration can exceed lO mg/kg. ... 

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