Event
- Event ID
- 49
- Quality
- Description
At an agrochemical plant, an explosion occurred near a drained hydrofluoric acid tank, when 4 employees were welding on adjacent pipelines.
The presence of hydrogen might have been the source.- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Macro-region
- Asia
- Country
- Japan
- Date
- Component involved
- chemical storage tank
- Failure mode
- erroneous release & ignition
- Initiating cause
- accidental hydrogen formation
- Root CAUSE analysis
INTIATING CAUSE may have been he presence of hydrogen in the drained acid tank.
On the ROOT CAUSE can only be speculated.- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 28/02/2009
Facility
- Application
- Chemical industry
- Sub-application
- Fertilisers production
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
unknown
- Process temperature range [C]
- ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location
- industrial area
- Operational condition
- Description of the facility/unit/process/substances
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS
Hydrochloric acid is non-oxidising but very corrosive acids and is handled in dilute solutions. Contact with metals produces hydrogen gas, which xan ignite and explode. It produces poisonous gas, including chlorine, in a fire.However, in this case, the presence of hydrogen as reason for the exposion is only given as a possiblity.
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 1
- Number of injured persons
- 3
- Post-event summary
one fatality and three injuries fro mthe explosion.
air pollution measurements recorded around the plant did not indicate the presence of any toxic products, impact on both the environment and local residents would be minimal.
Except for the unit already shut down for maintenance, plant activity was not interrupted.
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Release temperature [°C]
- 25
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
- Explosion type
References
- Sources categories
- ARIA
- Reference & weblink
Event no.27237 of the French database ARIA
https://www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/accident/27273/
(accessed December 2024)HIAD 1.0 reporting template (Original source unavailable).
