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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

Fire on the methanation unit of a refinery

Event

Event ID
827
Quality
Description

In a petrochemical plant, a fire occurred on the methanation unit (95% H2 + 5% CO -> CH4 + H2 + H2O) of a steam cracker.
A seal break on a flange of the circuit caused of the accident.
No casualties were reported.
The internal operational plan was started.

Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Hydrogen Release and Ignition
Nature of the consequences
fire
Macro-region
Europe
Country
France
Date
Component involved
flange (gasket)
Failure mode
rupture & ignition
Initiating cause
unknown
Root CAUSE analysis

INITIATING CAUSE: a seal break on a flange of the circuit.

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

Facility

Application
Petrochemical industry
Sub-application
Methanation process
Hydrogen supply chain stage
All components affected

methanation unit

Location type
Open
Location
industrial area
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

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

No casualties were reported.

Emergency action

The internal operational plan was initiated.

In-depth data

Release type
gas mixture
Involved substances (% vol)
H2
CO
CH4
Probable IGNITION SOURCE

References

Sources categories
ARIA
Reference & weblink

ARIA data base
event no. 2174