Case Study on Major Chemical Disasters

8/8/2019 Case Study on Major Chemical Disasters

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Dr. S. Maruthappa 4.12.2009

Vice President, Safety Engineers Association of India.

President Institution Fire Engineers (UK) Chennai Br

Case study on Major Chemical Disasters-One day Symposium onPrevention of Industrial/Chemical Disasters at Bangaloru

Accidents in Chemical process industries constitute major threat to property andpopulation because of the magnitude. With the rapid development in science andtechnology, several new innovations have come up and Chemical process industries dealwith thousands of new chemicals and several processes. Nevertheless, there areinnumerable causes that lead to disasters of major or minor in nature. So it would be of

great use if we could collate and categorize all the disasters, which occurred in the past,so that the analysis results of these disasters are not only a useful lesson but also ishelpful to prevent their recurrence.

Disaster is an accident / event that can lead to tremendous destruction to theenvironment, equipment, plant and people. The consequences of the chemical disaster inthe chemical toxic gas release and dispersion. The various accidents due to theseconsequences are well known and gives prominent caution to prepare, practice andamend the / Toxic Disaster Management plans for each and every hazardous processindustries and their material storage / Handling location. As per amended factory act in1985 after Bhopal incidents. Each chemical industry aims to achieve totally zeroaccidents potential. Therefore prevention, protection and suppression techniques havebeen applied to reduce the probability disaster.

Some of the worst disasters of toxic releases have occurred in toxic chemicals like MIC,Ammonia, and Chlorine cyclohexane etc. Some datas on past planning in details whichexplains the various stages of Disaster Management plan. The various stages of DisasterManagement are, Planning, Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery.

We learn best through our own experiences in different phases of our life. Mistakes couldbe catastrophic in a chemical plant, but it is a great opportunity to learn and design asafer plant in the future. We must learn from previous incidents and develop design asafer plant in the future. We must learn from previous incidents and develop new

procedures, practices and management systems.These incidents have much learning which reveal many hidden facts about safety andprovide efficient tools for prevention of similar incidents in the future. In spite of theselessons Indian industry continues to suffer.

Let us take up the case of major disasters that had happened in our country. Ammomia &Chlorine are the toxic gases used in our industries, by many fertilizer plant and watertreatment, chlore alkali plants bleaching in paper industries

Let us take up the toxic gas release of Ammonia & Chlorine resulted in Fatal accidents.

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BHOPAL TRAGEDY

If we see the history of worst chemical disasters, in industries the first thing that comes toour memory is one at Bhopal

On the night of Dec. 2nd and 3rd, 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, began leaking.due to run-away reactions, temperature and pressure rise and the safety valve lifted to

the atmosphere. About 25-27 tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate spread throughthe city of Bhopal.

Half a million people were exposed to the gas. Protective systems that should haveprevented or minimized discharge were out of service. Refrigeration system to cool thereactor was down. Scrubbing system to absorb the released vapour was not immediatelyavailable. Flare system to burn vapours getting past the scrubber was out of service.

Lessons we learned form Bhopal Tragedy

1)Reduce inventory of hazardous material (MIC)

2)Keep all the safety related equipment in order

3)Keep residential areas away from the plant

4) Proper Management

Another worst chemical disaster: that comes to our mind was;

Flixborough Disaster A CASE SYUDY.

On 1st June 1974 the Nypro (UK) site at Flixborough was severely damaged by a largeexplosion. Twenty-eight workers were killed and a further 36 suffered injuries. Offsite

consequences resulted in fifty-three reported injuries. Property in the surrounding areawas damaged to a varying degree.

A 20 inch bypass system ruptured, which may have been caused by a fire on a nearby 8inch pipe. This resulted in the escape of a large quantity of cyclohexane. Thecyclohexane formed a flammable mixture and subsequently found a source of ignition. Atabout 16:53 hours there was a massive vapour cloud explosion, which caused extensivedamage and started numerous fires on the site.

Eighteen fatalities occurred in the control room as a result of the windows shattering andthe collapse of the roof. No one escaped from the control room.

The fires burned for several days and after ten days those that still raged werehampering the rescue work.

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CASE STUDY 2

National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) at Panipat.

The Panipat tragedy: what went wrong?

Liquid ammonia burst out at the high pressure of 23 kg per sq cm, vaporising withinseconds to form suffocating clouds of deadly gas. This hit and choked to deatheleven persons and injured ten even as their colleagues sprung into action to diffusethe gas with water sprays.

Liquid ammonia hit workers Coughing and choking, with lungs bursting, scrambledfor fresh air.

It is a Freak accident? This was the first major incident in any of the NFL plants. Whenworking on the ammonia pipelines. It was admitted to down to earth that for such work"Need to take extra precautions to ensure that workers other than those doing thehazardous task, are not present in the vicinity,"

CASE STUDY 3

The Chlorine Gas Leak at Jamshedpur

People of Jamshedpur were caught unaware when they were exposed to a dense, palegreen, pungent and poisonous gas, Chlorine. This gas had leaked from an unusedcylinder lying in the Tata Motors water treatment plant for the past 10 years. By the nextday, around 150 to 200 people had been hospitalised. The affected people also includedcompany employees and their family members. So far no deaths have been reported.

Later, in a statement, Tata Motors claimed that the chlorine leak has been plugged andabout 60 to 70 residents who reported breathing difficulty were admitted to the TataMotors hospital in Jamshedpur. The Chief Minister of Jharkahnd, Madhu Koda, allegedthat negligence by Tata Motors had led to the leakage of chlorine gas.

.As we know Chlorine gas has strong oxidising properties. Its toxicity irritates therespiratory system. Severe exposure to the gas may cause pulmonary edema within 30to 60 minutes and die. There is no available prophylactic or post exposure therapy forchlorine.

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CASE STUDY 4

SPIC ammonia unit shut due to leakage problem

Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) at Tuticorin has been shut downdue to a leakage in the pipeline. When the repair works were going on, a fatal accidentoccurred on October 1, company sources told Business Line.

Sources said that after the southern grid failure last month, technical problems arose inSPIC's plant, causing a leakage in the pipeline. The plant has been shut down sinceSeptember 27.

While trying to do the repair work, Mr Thiraviyaraj, Joint Manager (Operations) slippedand fell. The gas mask he was wearing came off and he died of asphyxiation, it is learnt.

It is understood that it would take at least another 10 days to restart the plant.

None of the senior officials of the company was available for comment, and therefore, noestimate of the value of loss in production is readily available.

Only last year, the Tuticorin plant of SPIC had been shut down between May 1 and June

22 for a "routine turnaround maintenance", which caused a loss of production of 1.03lakh tonnes of urea.

CONCLUSIONS

We learn best through our own experiences in different phases of our life.

Mistakes could be catastrophic in a chemical plant, but it is a great opportunity to learnand design a safer plant in the future.

We must learn from previous incidents and develop new procedures, practices and

management systems.These incidents have much learning which reveal many hidden facts about safety andprovide efficient tools for prevention of similar incidents in the future.

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MAJOR CHEMICAL DISASTERS IN INDIA

Origin of accident Year Date Location Products involved

Number of

Deaths InjuredEvacuated

Explosion (warehouse) 1992 29.04 New Delhi Chemicals 43 20

Fire at a chemical store 1994 13.11 New Delhi Toxiccloud (chemicals) 500

Leakage 1984 03.12 Bhopal* Methyl isocyanate 2800 50 000 200 000

Leakage 1989 05.05BritanniaChowk

Chlorine - 200 ..

Leakage 1989 17.01 Bhatinda Ammonia - 500 ..

Leakage 1987 24.06 Bhopal Ammonia 200 000

leakage (transportaccident)

1997 21.01 Bhopal Ammonia 400

Leakage from a pipeline 1991 00.12 Calcutta Chlorine. 200

Leakage in an Ice Factory 1990 00.07 Lucknow Ammonia gas 200

Release 1985 14.05 Cochin Hexacyclo-pentadiene - 200 ..

Transport accident 1994 00.01ThaneDistrict

Chlorine gas 4 298

Transport accident 1991 00.01NewBombay

Ammonia gas 1 150

Transport accident 1995 00.12Maharashtra

Ammonia gas 2 000

1985 India Chlorine 1 150 -

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Case Study on Major Chemical Disasters