Explosion and Fire in Oil Refinery Heavy Oil Desulfurization System
A fire in an oil refineryThe fire broke out together with an explosion noise from the heavy oil direct desulfurization system of the height of about 20 m. The fire burned a part of the system installed in the site in a range of the radius of about 30 m, and was extinguished after about 10 hours. In the oil refinery, the heavy oil supply was stopped, waiting for the complete burning-off of the hydrogen and the heavy oil of about 1,000 kl left in the system. The fire station dispatched 27 fire engines for chemical fire, and extinguished the fire by pouring nitrogen in the piping system. According to the oil refinery, a plurality of gas detectors sensed abnormality in the area including the high-temperature and high-pressure separation tank to separate heavy oil from gas in a part of the system before the explosion. The fire broke out while the staff started to check the system. The police has an opinion on the possibility that hydrogen gas leaked from the pipe in a vicinity of the cooler of the desulfurization system.
Event Date
April 15, 2002
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Causes
Cause Comments
The immediate cause is the leak of hydrogen from the high pressure part of the plant, followed by ignition and consequent burning of all the other available fuels. Root cause unknown.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
desulfurization plant of a refinery
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Pre-event Summary
.
Event Nature
Emergency Action
The fire station dispatched 27 fire engines for chemical fire, and extinguished the fire by pouring nitrogen in the piping system, the fire was extinguished after about 10 hours. In the oil refinery, the heavy oil supply was stopped, waiting that the heavy oil of about 1,000 kill left in the system and hydrogen was completely burned off
Release Type
Release Substance
Ignition Source
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
Journal of Japan Society for Safety Engineering, Vol.42(2), p.117(2003).
Publicly available at:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/safety/42/2/_contents
(accessed May 2020)