Skip to main content
Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Explosion during a chemical reaction

Event

Event ID
642
Quality
Description

The explosion occurred in a chemical plant manufacturing raw materials for cosmetics. Fluoro-nitro-benzene and liquid chemicals were mixed in a high-pressure reactor for the development of a new product. Hydrogen gas was then injected. During the production process, about 12 hours after the start of the reaction, an abnormal reaction occurred and the reactor exploded due to a sudden increase in pressure.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
Macro-region
Asia
Country
Japan
Date
Component involved
reactor / oven / furnace / test chamber
Failure mode
internal explosion
Initiating cause
run-away reaction
Root CAUSE analysis

Nothing is known on the runaway reaction, on the production procedures used, on the preventive and mitigating measures which could have been in place.

Root causes
Unknown
Date entry in HIAD
01/01/2020

Facility

Application
Chemical industry
Sub-application
Inorganic chemicals products
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

reactor

Location type
Unknown
Location
industrial area
Operational condition
Description of the facility/unit/process/substances

WHAT IS FLUORONITROBENZENE
Fluoronitrobenzene is an organic compound with the formula FC6H4NO2.
It can be hydrogenated to give 4-fluoroaniline, which is a precursor to fluoroimide (a fungicide) and to parafluorofentanyl (an opioid).

Emergency & Consequences

Number of fatalities
0
Number of injured persons
0
Post-event summary

The original entry from RISCAD, was reproting 6 injuries. The KHK database does not report any injury.

In-depth data

Release type
Gas-liquid mixture
Involved substances (% vol)
H2,
nitrobenzene fluoride
Probable IGNITION SOURCE
Explosion type

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)

The first entry in HIAD was coming from RISCAD, which is now closed.