At an industrial waste treatment site, fire broke out at 2 am, generating a sizeable and potentially toxic smoke cloud (presence of cyanides, cadmium, mercury, etc.). Fire-fighters, on the scene at 2:25 am, were unable to enter the facility for[...]
The summary of this accident has not yet been translated. In the meantime, please refer to the French summary : Sur un poste de dépotage wagon non confiné, 50 kg de trichlorure de phosphore fuient sur un raccord du bras[...]
At 12:27 am, an employee attempted to replace a manometer placed on a tap downstream of a pump that was moving propylene from a storage capacity to the depropanizer (i.e. a tower that separates propane from the remainder of product[...]
The summary of this accident has not yet been translated. In the meantime, please refer to the French summary : Une fuite de pantènes nitriles (PN) a lieu dans un atelier d'adiponitrile dans lequel le 3ème réacteur a été by-passé[...]
A fire, perceptible over a radius exceeding 30 km, followed by 2 explosions occurred around 9:15 pm in a catalytic reforming unit, at its hydroprocessing operation intended to remove sulphur from the catalyst load. The refinery's fire-fighting team, with assistance[...]
Nitrous vapours (NOx) were released during the emergency shutdown of an adipic acid production unit protected by a programmable controller and comprised of 4 reactors in a low-pressure state. The NOx by-product suctioned by a compressor was transformed into nitric[...]
Within a warehouse composed of 8 storage units rented by 4 different operators, fire broke out in bales of cellulose wadding stored in one of the units, while another occupied by the same operator was used as a workshop for[...]
In a distillery, a 5,000-m³ tank containing 1,000 m³ of ethanol at 96% concentration exploded when lightning struck and then ignited. The raised roof fell into the reservoir, which remained intact. However, the tank foot valve cracked upon impact. An[...]
At 10.40 pm, during a styrene/acrylonitrile copolymerisation reaction in a plastics manufacturing plant, the operator in the control room detected an abnormal temperature increase to 125 °C on one of the 75-m³ reactors. The visual display screen in the control[...]
A leak occurred on the lower drainage pipe of a 16-m³ tank containing 10.3 m³ of sulphuric acid. The tank operating under 2 bar of pressure was feeding a tanning workshop. Further downstream, plant effluent was neutralised using lime milk[...]
