Examples of gas explosions

with propagation
 Examples of gas
explosions with
propagation
E-learning module
S. EGAN, HSE/PTS

Contents
Examples of gas phase explosion with propagation :
2000 France
2005 France
2008 USA
2011 Russia
Blow-back and flame speed
Preventing blow-back

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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1
 FLAME ARRESTOR

France 2000 FLARE

FURNACE

• Normal process
• Continuous fractional distillation
• Packed distillation column
• Feeding 70 % w/w HCN in water at middle 100 % HCN
• Taking off 40 % w/w HCN in water at
bottom 70 % HCN
• Distilling pure HCN at the top
• Off gas goes to flare stack via flame
arrestor

40 % HCN

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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France 2000 FLAME ARRESTOR

FLARE FURNACE
• Incident FURNACE

• Difficulty to distil because of polymers in

column
• Clean-out by distilling water to < 5 % ANALYSER
HCN in water
100 % HCN
• Stripping residual HCN by blowing air
• Explosion of line above knock-out pot 70 % HCN

• No injuries, slight damage WATER

• Confinement of personnel
AIR

40 % HCN

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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2
 France 2000
FURNACE
• Explanation FURNACE
• Concentration HCN in water 1.2 % w/w
• Solubility : means 5.6 % v/v HCN in air
• LEL of HCN = 5.4 % v/v in air ANALYSER
• Analyser only read 0 to 1 % HCN
• No flame arrestor in line to furnace of
steam boiler
WATER

• Lessons AIR

• No error on the part of the operator!

• Property data not understood?

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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2005 France

PRODUCER USER

• Pipeline and history

• 3600 m X DN200 carbon steel pipeline from producer to client factory
• 1961-1975 supply of recovered hydrogen chloride
• 1975-1981 not used
• 1981-2001 supply of chlorine at 5.3 bar gauge and 25-30 C (electrical heating of pipe)
• 2001 maintenance with entry of about 240 kg water from user’s side
• 2001-2005 supply of chlorine as before

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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3
 2005 France
3400 m 70 m 110 m

PRODUCER USER

• Accident of May 2005

• Pipeline decompressed to 0.25 bar gauge for maintenance
• 18th May cable to temperature probe on user side is cut : no action taken
• 21st May pipeline explodes in four places near to user
• No injuries but fragments of several kg projected up to 150 m
• After the accident 2500 to 3000 kg of a solid deposit is found inside the pipeline

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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France 2005
• Explanation
• Pipe was never cleaned between its construction in 1961 and accident of 2005
• Entry of water in 2001 led to formation of FeCl3 6 H2O (solid at 25-30 C)
• Broken cable to temperature probe led to false low temperature reading
• Heating came full on so skin temperature reached 90 C
• At 90 C FeCl3 6 H2O melted to give acidic solution of FeCl3
• Hydrogen was generated by corrosion of steel
• Solid deposit was thermally unstable (300 J/g T 150 C)
• Formation of local hotspot at 200 C led to ignition of hydrogen-chlorine mixture
• Transition from deflagration to detonation regime leading to rupture in several places

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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 France 2005
• Learning lessons
• Explosion of chlorine pipelines due to presence of hydrogen is common
• Ignition of hydrogen / chlorine mixtures is very easy : even UV light is enough
• We need to analyse the risks during transitory phases just as much as normal
running

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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2008 USA

• Normal Process
• Recovered sulphuric acid, containing organics, stored under air
• Off gas goes to scrubber then diluted with nitrogen and sent to thermal oxidiser
• Incident
• Oxygen analyser taken out of service for repairs
• Soon afterwards : explosion of seal pot

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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 2008 USA

• Explanation
• Nitrogen control valve closed so O2 > Minimum Oxygen Concentration
• At some point concentration of organics > Lower Explosive Limit (LEL)
• Ignition in thermal oxidiser
• Flame blew back along the line causing explosion of the seal pot
• Lesson
• Temporary modification led to unacceptable risk
Examples of gas explosions with propagation
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Russia 2011

• Normal Process
• Cellulose acetate / acetone at 55 C fed to spinning cells
• Spinning cabinet heated to 70 C
• Air washed with water to recover acetone
• Cellulose acetate fibres collected
Examples of gas explosions with propagation
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 RUPTURE DISC

Russia 2011
EXTINGUISHING AGENT

• Incident
• Rupture disc blows – suction is lost
• Extinguishing agent released
• Safe shutdown of process
• No injuries or damage
Examples of gas explosions with propagation
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Russia 2011
• Explanation
• Concentration of acetone is 4 to 10 % v/v in air
• Explosive limits 2.6 to 12.8 % v/v
• Air in system is within explosive limits all the time the process is running
• Normally spinner oil (96 % water and 4 % paraffin oil) is used to clean
spinning cells
• A process operator used DWF1222 (flash point = 70 °C) instead
• She left a cloth contaminated with DWF1222 in a spinning cell
• After two days the cloth caught fire and caused ignition of acetone
vapours in the air

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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 Russia 2011

• Lessons
• DWF1222 on its own does not catch fire at 70 °C : a spark is required
• But DWF on a cloth will catch fire at this temperature given time
• The mechanism is slow oxidation with high contact area and low heat
losses

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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Blow back and flame speed

0.0 bar
-0.1 bar

• Normal process
• Off gas containing methane is fed to a treatment system (torch, thermal oxidiser etc.)
• Normal concentration of methane = 1 % v/v
• Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) = 5 % v/v
• Speed of the off gases flowing in the pipe is 10 m/s
• Fundamental burning velocity of methane = 0.4 m/s

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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 > +2 bar
Blow back and flame speed

0.0 bar
-0.1 bar

• Upset situation
• Methane concentration reaches LEL (5 % v/v)
• Will the flame blow back from the torch or oxidiser etc. ?
• Yes because of pressure peak (> 2 bar) generated at the entry to the oxidiser

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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Preventing blow back

• Standard system for prevention of blow-back

• Analyser for flammable gas concentration
• Block valve which closes if concentration exceeds 50 % LEL
• Flame arrestor

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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9
 Preventing blow back

• What happens if the concentration reaches 100 % LEL but the

valve stays open?
• Typical flame arrestor will only hold for some minutes before getting hot
• Flame will eventually be transmitted back to process system

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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Preventing blow back

• Would the gas analyser & block valve with no flame arrestor be
adequate?
• Typical time to detect and close the valve 1 minute
• But flame will blow back in a few seconds
• So typically analyser + block valve + flame arrestor = 1 safeguard

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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 Preventing blow back

• Can we put the flame arrestor nearer to the block valve?

• Yes, but flame will accelerate to sonic speed in pipeline
• So flame arrestor must be specified for detonation regime

Examples of gas explosions with propagation

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