Total refinery explosion

The major disadvantage of large plants is their vulnerability to large losses. In 1967 an explosion and tire in a Cities Service oil refinery at Lake Charles killed 7 employees and injured 14.6 The damage and business interruption costs exceeded 30,000,000. Usually the losses are not this large. However, in 1966 there were 20 fires in the chemical and petroleum industry, which caused damages in excess of 250,000.7 Even if there is no fire, the failure of a bearing on an ammonia compressor can cause the plant to shut down for a number of days two days for cool down, one day for repairs, two days for startup. The loss in sales from this interruption alone could exceed 50,000 per day, or a total of 250,000. ... 

The rupture of an 8 inch (20 cm) LPG pipeline resulted in the worst petrochemical incident in the Western Hemisphere (in terms of casualties). This tragic incident occurred in November 1984 within a LPG terminal. The facility received hydrocarbons from three refineries in a suburb of Mexico City. The LPG was stored in six spheres up to 630,000 gallons (2.4 million liters) each and 48 bullet tanks. A total inventory of about 3.8 million gallons (14,400 cubic meters) was on-site at the time of the explosion and fire. Mahoney reported property damages of 19.9 million. (U.S. 1984). [21]... 

In 2002, a French court found the president of Total guilty of manslaughter in the death of six operators from the fluid catalytic cracking unit explosion at the La Mede refinery. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison (suspended) and fined 4,500 ( 4,000) (CCPS, 2008a). 

On March 23, 2005, explosions and fires at the BP Texas City Refinery killed 15 people and injured 180 others. Financial losses totaled more than 1.5 billion. Officials ordered 43,000 people nearby to remain indoors. 

We may all say accidents happen. However, their occurrence may not only take human lives, destroy millions of dollars in property and lost business, they may also cost us our jobs and reputations. The Bhopal, India, accident in 1984 released methyl isocyanate and caused over 2500 fatalities. A petroleum refinery blew up in Houston, Texas, in 1989, killing 23 workers and damaging properly totaling U.S. 750 million, spewing debris from the explosion over an area of 9 km. Many thought that after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the United States in 1979 and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986, we would finally get a handle on how to prevent accidents. Unfortunately, the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 proved otherwise (see Picture 2.1). 

Ignition sources are not necessarily an external source of heat it could be tlie temperanire of the liquid itself. Refineries and chemical plants frequently operate processing equipment that contains a liquid above its respective ignition temperature. Under noniial operating conditions, when the involved liquid is totally contained within the equipment, no problems are presented because the container or piping is completely filled with either liquid or vapor. If lull and totally enclosed, it means there can be no air present thus an explosive or ignitable... 

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