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Mechanical Seal Failure and Explosion in a Chemical Blending Vessel

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Explosion in a Chemical Blending Vessel Due To Unrecognized Explosion Hazard

APTECH was retained to investigate the cause of an explosion in a blending vessel in a chemical processing facility. The explosion destroyed the plant and caused fatalities and injuries among the plant workers and first responders. At the time, the vessel was mixing together powdered sodium hydrosulfite, aluminum powder and potassium carbonate. Several hours before the explosion, the mixture began bubbling and producing heat and hydrogen sulfite fumes. Sodium hydrosulfite is known to react exothermically with water at room temperature. APTECH analyzed the unique explosion chemistry of the mixture of water, sodium hydrosulfite, aluminum and potassium carbonate. We determined that the aluminum powder acted as a high energy fuel which magnified the explosion energy release by several hundred percent. APTECH also determined that the vessel manufacturer, who advertised that their product could blend a wide variety of chemicals, had incorrectly used a water-cooled seal instead of a dry-running seal. Eliminating the risk of a water leak would have prevented the explosion. APTECH provided expert testimony during depositions, covering both the mechanical seal and explosion chemistry issues.

Satish Almaula		Plant failure and root cause analysis; process and design engineering analysis; process technology development and testing; plant engineering, operations, maintenance and safety management; plant and process control system management.

Kimble Clark, Ph.D.		Failure analysis, heat transfer & thermodynamics, process plant equipment failures & explosions, fuel science, combustion, industrial fires and explosions.

Richard Schreiber, P.E.		Machinery and mechanical device failure analysis, mechanical testing, combustion and heat transfer, industrial fires and explosions, gas appliances.

Eric Sullivan, P.E.		Metallurgy, welding, failure analysis, fire and explosion investigations, equipment, piping.

Steven Kohan, Ph.D.		Chemical engineering, refinery processes, toxic fume generation.