Event
- Event ID
- 633
- Quality
- Description
This accident occurred at the unit producing synthetic adhesives by adding hydrogen to petroleum resin under high temperature and pressure. Hydrogen was added to the reaction via a supply pipe at the bottom of the reactor.
Hydrogen leaked from a flange of the check valve attached to the hydrogen supply pipe and ignited due to static electricity. The leak was due to the deformation of the flange gasket, made of aluminium. The aluminium had deformed due to the high temperature, reducing the tightness of the flange.- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- fire
- Macro-region
- Asia
- Country
- Japan
- Date
- Component involved
- flange (bolts)
- Failure mode
- leak & ignition
- Initiating cause
- loss of tightness (thermal stress/cycling)
- Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING CAUSE was the deformation of the gasket of a flange on the hydrogen supply pipe.
The KHK report attributes the ROOT CAUSE to the wrong choice of the gasket material. The report does not specify if this was due to a wrong installation (human error) or a lack of clarity of procedures.- Root causes
- Date entry in HIAD
- 01/01/2020
Facility
- Application
- Chemical industry
- Sub-application
- resins production
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
gasket, flange, check valve,
- Location type
- Unknown
- Location
- industrial area
- Operational condition
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 1
- Post-event summary
minor injury
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
References
- Sources categories
- KHK
- Reference & weblink
High Pressure Gas Accident Cases Database of the KHK (High Pressure Gas Safety Association):
https://www.khk.or.jp/public_information/incident_investigation/hpg_inc…
(accessed May 2025)
