Event
- Event ID
- 585
- Quality
- Description
A lack of nitrogen purge in empty electrolytic chlorate cells allowed hydrogen to accumulate and to form a hydrogen-chlorine explosive mixture.
- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Component involved
- electrolytic cell
- Failure mode
- internal explosion
- Initiating cause
- inadequate or no purge
- Root causes
- Unknown
- Date entry in HIAD
- 28/01/2026
Facility
- Application
- Chemical industry
- Sub-application
- sodium chlorite production
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Location type
- Confined
- Location
- unknown
- Operational condition
- UNKNOWN
- Description of the facility/unit/process/substances
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS
“Sodium chlorate is an inorganic compound produced by the electrolysis of concentrated sodium chloride solutions (NaCl).
The overall reaction can be simplified to the equation:
NaCl + 3 H2O → NaClO3 + 3 H2[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chlorate]
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 1
- Currency
- US$
- Property loss (onsite)
- 7.000
In-depth data
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
- Explosion type
References
- Sources categories
- Zalosh
- Reference & weblink
Table II - Industrial Incidetns of Appendix A of Zalosh and Short
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HYDROGEN FIRE AND EXPLOSION INCIDENTS
Quarterly Report No. 2 for Period December 1, 1977 - February 28, 1978
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6566131
(accessed September 2020)
