philadelphia refinery explosion case study

Case Study: Philadelphia Refinery Explosion and Fire Bookmark File PDF Refinery Fire Incident A Case Study Of A Multiple Refinery fire at Feyzin. The CSB report says an estimated 3,271 pounds of hydrofluoric acid was released into the atmosphere, while the refinery’s water spray system contained about 1,968 pounds of HF, which was detected by the refinery’s own air monitors. “We are all very fortunate that there were no fatalities or serious injuries as a result of this catastrophic incident,” said the Chemical Safety Board’s interim executive, Kristen Kulinowski. Swallowing just a small amount of HF or getting small splashes on the skin can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The project is funded by The William Penn Foundation. Philadelphia, PA, October 16, 2019 - Today, the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released a factual update into the June 21, 2019, explosion and fire at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refinery in Philadelphia. * Adapted from the concept in the book, The Challenger Launch Decision by Diane Vaughn. Chevron incident did not apply to the Philadelphia refinery. 1. “The board remains concerned that the next time there is a major explosion at a refinery that uses HF for alkylation, workers and those living nearby will not be so lucky,” Kulinowski said. “There’s no place to evacuate to, and there would be no time,” she said. A major producer of HF, the chemical company Honeywell, says that refineries have a history of operating alkylation units safely “through plant design, operating practices and safety equipment.”, “The alkylation community has developed best practices in accordance with the American Petroleum Institute standards,” the company said in a statement. Mike Wilson, national director for occupational and environmental health at the BlueGreen Alliance, said that lack of oversight has meant refineries are not sufficiently required to invest in maintaining and improving safety. The Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery was — until last year — the largest and oldest gasoline refinery on the East Coast.The week it was sold began with … Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations across Pennsylvania. “PES understood the CSB as noting that it had previously investigated other refinery incidents that resulted from corrosion,” Smith said in a statement. The ruptured pipe contained 1.74% nickel and 0.84% copper. Just two months before the South Philadelphia explosion, . // CaseCase Study: Philadelphia Refinery Explosion and FireRefinery Fire Incident A CaseIn The Near Future There Will Be Suspects In The Balongan Refinery Fire Incident A Case Study Of A MultipleCase Study: The Richmond, Chevron Refinery FireRefinery Fire Incident A Case Study “I think in the case of refrigeration, the HF is being converted into other substances that don’t carry the same risk,” Horowitz said. B . Ron Koopman is a physicist and an expert on chemical safety who worked as a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 36 years. Acces PDF Refinery Fire Incident A Case Study Of A Multiple Bookmark File PDF Refinery … In the case of the PES explosion and fire, a worker at the plant told the Philadelphia Inquirer that's what saved the surrounding community from an HF release. Scott Lauermann, a spokesman with API, said the industry’s top priority is protecting the health and safety of employees and communities. . Case Study: Philadelphia Refinery Explosion and Fire Page 2/12. [1] The refinery's closure leaves a complicated legacy and an opportunity to reposition Philadelphia's industrial engine for the twenty-first century. It’s also used at the Monroe Energy plant in Trainer, Delaware County and PBF’s Paulsboro refinery in Paulsboro, N.J. City, state and federal officials say none of the air monitors in or around the facilities, or the air samples collected by Philadelphia’s health department, detected the chemical, often referred to as hydrofluoric acid or HF. Michael Karlovich, a spokesman for the company, said the plant has never had an off-site release of HF since the acquisition, nor have any workers been exposed. The letter referenced the 2015 Torrance, Calif., explosion, as well as a 2018 explosion and fire at the Husky refinery in Superior, Wis. Safe Operation of Hydrofluoric Acid Alkylation Units, WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor. However, other standards — like pipe maintenance and composition — are set by industry groups, and refineries generally police themselves. In 1995, however, those standards were updated, specifying that pipes should be no more than 0.4% each nickel and copper. On June 21, 2019, the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery in South Philadelphia experienced a major industrial accident. “This kind of variable corrosion rate isn’t an issue in all parts of the refinery,” she said. “The CSB continually points out that the most obvious causes of a major incident, such as a corroded pipe, are not what actually caused the incident,” Wilson said. PES chief executive officer Mark Smith said the company is “committed to working with the CSB to make certain that it understands the agency’s concerns.” But he said the CSB recommendations from the Chevron incident did not apply to the Philadelphia refinery. The EPA's last study of them was in 1993. . Several state and federal agencies continue to investigate what happened at the PES plant, but the conclusions could take months. CME444 Simulation Integrated Process Plant 2020/04, Xiamen University Malaysia.Credits to. Found insideThe volume's contributors demonstrate that implementation of a range of prevention strategies-presented in an essential package of interventions and policies-could achieve a convergence in death and disability rates that would avert more ... 4th January 1966 Case Study: The Richmond, Chevron Refinery Fire Chemical Page 2/6 Koopman says so far, it’s pure luck that there haven’t been more fatalities from HF releases. The largest explosion sent a 38,000-pound vessel — about the same weight as a firetruck — nearly half a mile through the air across the Schuylkill River, where it landed on the waterway’s banks, near the company’s tank farm. In March 2009, HF leaked from the same alkylation unit that blew up in June and poisoned four contract workers at the plant, which at the time was owned and operated by Sunoco. This didn’t need to happen.”. “In addition to oversight from multiple government agencies, refineries also adhere to strict operational standards designed to further mitigate risk and assure safe operations, including API’s recommended practice on the safe operation of HF alkylation units, which is the global safety protocol for these facilities,” Lauermann said. At the time of incident, MS pumping was going on from Refinery to Terminal at the rate of approx.800 KL/hr., length of the line is approx. Found insideMajority of this book centers around Three Mile Island's accident, evacuation of employees, causes, political crisis aftermath at State and Federal levels, NRC (US Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and business community response, and the ... At DEP's request, Sunoco has halted work on a section of line. But Daniel Horowitz, a former managing director at the Chemical Safety Board, says the other industrial uses don’t store as much on site, and they’re not in such close proximity to highly flammable hydrocarbons. The refinery is now owned by PBF. See the preliminary Cause Map diagram below. In this regard, the present study introduces two crisis cases that highlight how multiple organizations coped with the same crisis in a competitive business … Case Study: … THE INCIDENT An incident took place in Process … We need to gain a clearer understanding of the causes involved. As noted by the CSB, inspection data for representative monitoring locations on the relevant piping segment did not indicate a problem.”. The company is also developing a new technology, called ISOALKY, which could be used in newly built refineries, or those plants that are expanding. The Chemical Safety Board report says the faulty pipe that led to the explosion and fire was installed in 1973 and was grandfathered when new standards were put in place in 1995. The sites may be at risk for leaching a class of toxic chemicals known as PFAS into drinking water supplies. Monroe Energy spokesman Adam Gattuso says the company is committed to operating the refinery in a safe and responsible manner. Again, take note of how quickly the incident developed. “It seems like there’s no way out of it,” he said. Koopman conducted the definitive experiment on the release of hydrogen fluoride back in 1986. Now some are questioning whether that was a good decision. Wilson noted that until the CSB report is complete, he couldn’t say whether Philadelphia Energy Solutions faced a similar issue with regard to safety culture. The American Petroleum Institute also provides guidance through its recommended Safe Operation of Hydrofluoric Acid Alkylation Units. There’s also a safety system in place known as “rapid acid transfer” that quickly drains an impacted tank of HF into an empty vessel a safe distance away. One new cell was added to the existing cooling tower. In the pre-dawn hours of June 21, explosions at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery in South Philadelphia shook houses, sent giant orange fireballs into the air and jolted nearby residents. The case studies included are: Abbeystead Explosion (23/5/1984) Albright and . A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University. For this reason, previous CSB recommendations are not directly relevant to this incident. The pipes in the refinery’s alkylation unit are monitored at specific spots — known as “condition monitoring locations,” or CMLs — to measure for thickness. The Obama administration toughened risk management rules, but Trump’s EPA says it wants to roll back some of the new provisions, including the requirement that industry assesses the use of safer alternatives. “And having two young kids in the house, you wake up and go, ‘What’s going on and what do I do about it?’ So, it’s a little nerve-wracking.”. PBF acquired the plant in 2010. She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. And it basically kills from the outside. Found insideTopics covered in this book include inherent safety, safety studies, human factors and design. Learn the lessons from past accidents to make sure they don’t happen again. The letter referenced the 2015 Torrance, California, explosion as well as an explosion and fire on April 26, 2018, at the Husky refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. Found inside – Page 45At least 200 members of the Philadelphia Fire Department and the Gulf Refinery Fire Brigade responded to the 11 alarms required ... 6 fuel oil to an electric power generating plant. ... See the more detailed Case Study on pages 98–99. Kulinowski said it was lucky those pieces did not hit any parts of the operation that could have caused even further damage. Philadelphia's PES refinery was the largest on the east coast and one of the oldest in the world, operating continuously from the 1860's until its catastrophic explosion in 2019. All Rights Reserved. To begin our understanding of the incident, we will begin the Cause Map diagram, a visual representation of cause-and-effect relationships, with the problem outline. Hayati, an engineer, said the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance is pushing to ban HF, but industry opposes the effort. . Case Study: Philadelphia Refinery Explosion and Fire Case Study on Fire incident at Process Cooling Tower A. The Use and Storage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) at Bayer CropScience also evaluates the analyses on alternative production methods for MIC and carbamate pesticides preformed by Bayer and the previous owners of the facility. Found inside – Page 19These large fires are given below : Houston , Tex . , cottonseed oil plant $ 625,000 New York City , Equitable building ... N. J. , furniture store 500,000 Halifax , N. S. , sugar refinery . .1,000,000 Philadelphia , millinery factory . It is critical to begin the review and build it out from there. Two other large pieces, one 23,000 pounds and another 15,500 pounds, landed in the refinery. 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