Event
- Event ID
- 528
- Quality
- Description
The incident started at the unit removing CO2 from the process gas stream of a hydrocracking facility. (Catalysed Removal of Carbon Dioxide = Catacarb). Localized corrosion caused a pipe to fail and dumped the Catacarb from the unit and then hydrogen was released and ignited.
The fire lasted approximately 10 minutes.
The unit was shutdown, resulting in loss of the supply of Catacarb.- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- fire
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Component involved
- pipe (generic)
- Failure mode
- rupture & ignition
- Initiating cause
- material degradation (internal corrosion / erosion)
- Root CAUSE analysis
Localized corrosion caused the failure of a pipe. The Catacarb was dumped from the unit. Hydrogen was released and ignited.
- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 01/01/2020
Facility
- Application
- Petrochemical industry
- Sub-application
- Hydrocracking process
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
Catacarb reactor
- Process pressure range [MPa]
- medium to high pressure (10 to 50 MPa)
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location
- industrial area
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Post-event summary
The fire lasted approximately 10 minutes.
The unit was shutdown, resulting in loss of the supply of Catacarb.
Smoke visible offsite.
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
References
- Sources categories
- News
- Reference & weblink
Snapshot from the site of the Major Accidents at Chemical/Refinery Plants in Contra Costa County
https://www.cchealth.org/health-and-safety-information/hazmat-programs/…
(accessed January 2025)
