Experimental study on the suppression of gas explosion using the gas–solid suppressant of CO2/ABC powder

Gas explosion is the leading accident in underground coal mining in China. Using the self-improved 20 L spherical experimental system, the impacts of 8% CO₂, ABC powder at various concentrations and mixture of them on the suppression of mine gas explosion were investigated. The results indicate that cooperative synergism exists between ABC powder and CO₂. Their combination has a better effect than each of the two components acting alone, especially for the gas of larger concentration. When 0.25 g/L ABC powder was mixed with 8% CO₂, the explosion limits were reduced by about 55%, the time to reach the peak explosion pressure was prolonged 3.56 times on average. Meanwhile, the maximum explosion pressure declined on an average of 59.4% and the maximum explosion overpressure rising rate decreased on an average of 91.1%. A combination of 0.20 g/L ABC powder and 8% CO₂ completely suppressed 11% gas explosion. The explosion suppression mechanism of CO₂ and ABC powder were probed theoretically. CO₂ plays a key part in the whole explosion processes, and it can effectively suppress the forward reaction between gas and oxygen. While it is during the middle-later period of explosion processes that ABC powder plays a critical role. The particles decomposed from heated ABC powder such as nitrogen and phosphor will react with free radicals rapidly. Besides, atoms as N, P are capable of participating in chain reaction and reacting with active groups, significantly suppressing the gas explosion.     

Synergistic inhibition of aluminum dust explosion by gas–solid inhibitors

The inhibition mechanism of gas-solid inhibitors on Al dust explosion was investigated experimentally in a closed cuboid chamber. The variation of parameters concerning flame propagation characteristic and explosion severity used to reflect the synergistic inhibition effect of gas-solid inhibitors on Al dust explosion were elucidated. The results showed that flame propagation velocity and explosion overpressure were inhibited with the increase of gas-solid inhibitors. The inhibition curves of gas-solid inhibitors within the experimental range were further obtained. The reason concerning the SEEP phenomenon was revealed through the GC-MS analysis. The combustion of ammonia enhanced the explosion overpressure when solid inhibitors performed at low concentration. The gas-phase product could be regarded as the inert gas as long as enough amount of inhibitors were added. To comprehend the inhibition mechanism of gas-solid inhibitors, X-ray diffraction was applied to figure out the crystal structure of explosion residue. The results indicated that both physical and chemical inhibition effects were imposed on Al dust explosion by gas-solid inhibitors, including endothermic decomposition, dilution of oxidizer, coverage of Al dust, and scavenger of free radicals. The results of this study will provide a scientific basis for the design of inhibition technology for the dust explosion.     

CNG cylinder burst in a bus during gas filling – Lesson learned

An accident leading to bursting of a compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinder fitted to a passenger bus in India resulted one person died and four persons injured. This paper presents the incident, the human factor involved, safety issues and lesson learned.     

Numerical investigation and analysis of indoor gas explosion: A case study of “6·13” major gas explosion accident in Hubei Province,China

Taking the ' 6·13 ′ major gas explosion accident in Shiyan, Hubei Province, China as an example, three problems were studied in this work: (1)The determination of the volume of natural gas involved in the explosion; (2)The propagation process of shock wave inside the building and the damage evolution process of the accident-related building; (3)The overpressure and fragment injury to the person outside the building. Through the numerical simulation in ANSYS/LS-DYNA software, the volume of natural gas involved in the explosion is determined to be 10240 × 1400 × 400 cm (length × width × height) from three perspectives: the damage to the building, the distribution of overpressure inside the building, and the TNT equivalent of the explosion energy. The simulation results are in good line with the accident, which verifies the effectiveness of the scheme and the accuracy of the numerical model. Based on the reasonable filling scheme, the propagation process of shock waves inside the building, the damage evolution process of the building, and the injury ranges of overpressure and fragments outside the building are analyzed. It can be found that the propagation of shock waves in confined space is complex and variable. The explosion shock waves are first reflected and superimposed in the watercourse, resulting in pressure rise. At about 8ms, the shock waves rushed into the first-floor space of the building, and the maximum overpressure was about 0.56 MPa. At about 50 ms, the shock waves rushed into the second-floor space, and the maximum overpressure was about 0.139 MPa. The first and second-floor slabs and infilled walls were almost completely destroyed. The interior walls of the infilled walls are mainly collapsed, and the exterior walls are ejection around the building as the center. The peak displacement and peak velocity of the interior walls of each floor are about 15% of the exterior walls. The fragments which cause fragment injury mainly come from the retaining wall above the watercourse, the maximum velocity is about 89 m/s, and the maximum displacement is 8.9 m. The safety distance of fragment injury is about 8.8 m, while the safety distance of overpressure injury is about 4.6 m. The lethal distance of fragment injury is greater than that of overpressure injury. Compared with the distance between different damage levels of overpressure injury, the difference in fragment injury is small. Therefore, the safety assessment at the engineering level only needs to consider the safety distance of fragment injury. This study can provide suggestions for evaluating the damage of natural gas cloud explosions in confined spaces and is helpful for accident investigation and safety protection.     

Systems thinking in a gas explosion accident – lessons learned from Taiwan

On July 31, 2014, at around 23:57, several huge explosions occurred that lasted for 2 h in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. As a result of a gas leak from a ruptured underground pipeline, the catastrophic incident destroyed more than 6 km of roads, killed 32 people, injured 321 people, and damaged 3259 buildings. Pipeline explosions have been reported as a repeatedly occurring problem, indicating that (1) complex systems are difficult to manage and control, and (2) humans are unable to effectively learn from experiences of accidents. Initial analyses results reveal that root causes of this incident were a combination of a series of complex chain reactions, which eventually led to propylene leakage and explosion. This is a systematic problem, which can hardly be investigated or analyzed by traditional research approaches. Based on the investigation reports and “systems thinking” method, this study develops causal loop diagrams for the Kaohsiung gas explosion to explore the root causes of the disaster. The research results indicate that (1) this pipeline explosion incident was the result of the chain reactions and was the output of a complex system; (2) the mental model of “production first” and “experience gap” were the root causes of the disaster; and (3) to achieve a higher safety standard, continuous education to improve the mental model of “safety first and safety over production” are essential. The findings of this study may contribute toward the improvement of the standard operating procedure for disaster management and preventing similar incidents in the future.     

HAZOP – Local approach in the Mexican oil & gas industry

HAZOP (Hazard and Operability) studies began about 40 years ago, when the Process Industry and complexity of its operations start to massively grow in different parts of the world. HAZOP has been successfully applied in Process Systems hazard identification by operators, design engineers and consulting firms. Nevertheless, after a few decades since its first applications, HAZOP studies are not truly standard in worldwide industrial practice. It is common to find differences in its execution and results format. The aim of this paper is to show that in the Mexican case at National level in the oil and gas industry, there exist an explicit acceptance risk criteria, thus impacting the risk scenarios prioritizing process. Although HAZOP studies in the Mexican oil & gas industry, based on PEMEX corporate standard has precise acceptance criteria, it is not a significant difference in HAZOP applied elsewhere, but has the advantage of being fully transparent in terms of what a local industry is willing to accept as the level of risk acceptance criteria, also helps to gain an understanding of the degree of HAZOP applications in the Mexican oil & gas sector. Contrary to this in HAZOP ISO standard, risk acceptance criteria is not specified and it only mentions that HAZOP can consider scenarios ranking. The paper concludes indicating major implications of risk ranking in HAZOP, whether before or after safeguards identification.     

The Bhopal gas tragedy: could it have happened in a developed country?

The Bhopal gas tragedy occurred in December 1984 wherein approximately 41 tonnes of deadly MIC was released in the dead of night. It caused the death of over 3000 people and continued life-long misery for over 300,000 with certain genetic defects passed on to the next generation. It happened in a plant operated by a multinational, Union Carbide Corporation, in a developing country, India. The tragedy has changed the chemical process industry (CPI) forever. The results have been new legislation with better enforcement, enhancement in process safety, development of inherently safer plants, harsher court judgements, pro-active media and NGOs, rights-conscious public, and a CPI management willing to invest in safety related equipment and training. These have already resulted in savings of several hundred lives and over a billion dollars in accident damages [Kletz, T. (1998a). Process plants: a handbook of inherently safer designs. London: Taylor & Francis. Sutton, I. Chemical Engineering, 106(5), (1999). 114]. However, thousands did not have to die for the world to realise the disaster potential of CPI. The question that still remains is whether such an accident could have happened in a developed country. The answer is ‘yes’, as a number of major accidents in the developed countries since 1984, such as the Piper Alpha oil platform fire (1988, 167 killed), the Zeebrugge ferry disaster (1987, 167 killed), Phillips petroleum fire and explosion (1989, 23 killed), the Challenger disaster (1986, 7 killed), Esso Australia Longford explosion (1998, 2 killed) have demonstrated. One or more of the following are the primary reasons for such disasters: The indifferent attitude of the management towards safety, the lax enforcement of the existing regulations by the regulatory bodies as well as unusual delays in the judicial systems. Such conditions can happen regardless of the level of development in a country. Hence, the Bhopal gas tragedy could have happened in a developed country too, albeit with a lower probability. This paper is concerned with the possibility and not with the probability value. It also points out that further significant advances in process safety will occur with fundamental research into the causes of accidents and with a move towards inherently safer design.     

SPA–fuzzy method based real-time risk assessment for major hazard installations storing flammable gas

For monitoring and control of major hazard installations storing flammable gas, the risk based warning/early-warning is very important. A set-pair analysis (SPA) based fuzzy assessment method (SPA–fuzzy) is proposed for the real-time risk assessment in this paper. Based on principle of SPA and fuzzy logic theory, the likelihood of accident occurrence and the consequence of the accident can be assessed, and the risk value or risk degree can be evaluated. The method takes advantage of the data acquired from the real-time safety monitoring system, so that the varying of the risk can be revealed during an accident developing. The risk assessment simulation of VCE accident caused by gas leaked from LPG tank is performed. It is shown that SPA–fuzzy method has the same risk value as that assessed by normal fuzzy method.     

Are micro reactors inherently safe? An investigation of gas phase explosion propagation limits on ethene mixtures

A method for the determination of safety properties for micro reactors and micro structured components is presented. Micro structured reactors are not inherently safe but the range of safe operating conditions of micro reactors are extended since the explosion region is reduced. The λ/3 rule was demonstrated to be applicable to micro scale tubes for stoichiometric mixtures of ethane–oxygen and ethane–nitrous oxide. Furthermore first results from an investigation concerning detonation propagation through a micro reactor of non-ideal geometry are shown. Initial pressure investigated is ranging from low pressure up to 100 kPa.     

Leak detection of hydrogen–natural gas mixtures in pipes using the characteristics method of specified time intervals

This paper presents a technique for detection and location of leaks in a single pipe, by means of transient analysis, of hydrogen–natural gas mixtures flows. The method uses transient pressure waves initiated by the sudden closure of a downstream shut-off valve. The presence of a leak in a pipe partially reflects these pressure waves and allows for the location of the leak. Pressure waves are governed by two coupled non-linear, hyperbolic partial differential equations with pressure dependent coefficients. The fluid pressure and velocity are considered as two principal dependent variables. To determine the leak location, the mathematical formulation has been solved by the characteristics method of specified time intervals. The computed results describe the influence of the leak on pressure time-history and the effect of hydrogen mass fraction in the mixture on the leak discharge behaviour. It was found that transient pressure is much important in the case of hydrogen than that in the case of natural gas.     

The role of standardization in safety management – A case study of a major oil & gas company

This article discusses the strengths and weaknesses of various kinds of standardization, when applied to the field of safety management. Recently, there are signs that organizations operating in high risk environments take further steps towards standardization. On the positive side, standardization has the potential to enhance the predictability of normal operations as well as facilitating the transfer of lessons learnt across organizational contexts. On the negative side, standardization is by definition a strategy for dealing with known hazards and accident scenarios. We discuss how too strong an emphasis on standardization can involve unintended negative consequences for organizations’ crisis-handling capabilities.     

Quantitative risk analysis of toxic gas release caused poisoning—A CFD and dose–response model combined approach

Some major toxic gas release accidents demonstrate the urgent need of a systematic risk analysis method for individuals exposed to toxic gases. A CFD numerical simulation and dose–response model combined approach has been proposed for quantitative analysis of acute toxic gas exposure threats. This method contains four steps: firstly, set up a CFD model and monitor points; secondly, solve CFD equations and predict the real-time concentration field of toxic gas releases and dispersions; thirdly, calculate the toxic dose according to gas concentration and exposure time; lastly, estimate expected fatalities using dose–response model. A case study of hydrogen sulfide releases from a gas gathering station has been carried out using a three dimension FLUENT model. Acute exposure fatalities have been evaluated firstly with a simplified ideal model which assumes workers stay at original exposure location without moving. Then a comparison has been made with a more realistic model which assumes workers start evacuating according to a prearranged course as soon as hydrogen sulfide detection system alarms. These two models represent the worst and best emergency response effects, respectively, and the analysis results demonstrate significant differences. Results indicate that the CFD and dose–response combined approach is a good way for estimating fatalities of individuals exposed to accidental toxic gas releases.     

Characteristics of direct causes and human factors in major gas explosion accidents in Chinese coal mines: Case study spanning the years 1980–2010

Major accidents from gas explosions have a high rate of occurrence in Chinese coal mines. The frequency of major gas explosion accidents between the years 1980–2000, and the years 2001–2010 was reviewed. Case studies were also compared. The study of direct causes indicates that during the period 2001–2010 the proportion of accidents caused by deliberate violation was reduced by 31.13% compared with data from 1980 to 2000. However the proportion of accidents caused by mismanagement rose by 32.38% during this period. Direct causes of high occurrence rate accidents include deliberate violations such as illegal blasting, conducting maintenance with the power on, and mismanagement behaviors such as chaotic electromechanical management and chaotic ventilation management. The study of environmental characteristics shows that the proportion of accidents occurring in the heading faces increased by 27.18%. The study of human factors indicates that deliberate violation behaviors showed a high utility–high cost factor. Mismanagement behaviors showed strong correlation with responsibility awareness and weak correlation with technological ability.     

Low-dose irradiation by electron beam for the treatment of high-SOx flue gas on a semi-pilot scale—Consideration of by-product quality and approach to clean technology

Attention has been focused on the treatment of lignite-fired flue gas in order to use lignite in an environmentally friendly way – (i) low-CO₂ emission, (ii) production of a valuable by-product, (iii) no discharge of wastewater, (iv) direct removal of SO₃ (strong toxicity), and (v) treatment of high SO₂ concentration. Based on these criteria, electron beam irradiation with ammonia injection was tested on a semi-pilot scale: 800 Nm³ h^?1 flow rate, 5500 ppm SO₂, 70 ppm NO_x, 22% flue gas moisture, and 75–80 °C at the reactor outlet.As an energy-saving measure, a low dose (5 kGy) of irradiation was applied: the problem lay in the by-product quality. It is considered that (NH₄)₂SO₃ and NH₄HSO₃ produced by thermal reactions are oxidized to form (NH₄)₂SO₄ (fertilizer) by an electron beam. However, not all reactions were complete because the by-product contained small amounts of H₂SO₄ and NH₂SO₃NH₄ (herbicide), so a vegetable pot test was performed to study the by-product quality: no adverse effect was observed. It is inferred from the pot test that slightly acidic soil may protect vegetables from disease and a small amount of NH₂SO₃NH₄ probably affects woody species and not herbaceous species.It is concluded that the electron beam system is noted as a multi-component pollution control process (removal of NO_x, SO₃, SO₂ and dioxins) and this system will contribute to environmentally friendly use of lignite as well as agricultural productivity via fertilizer supply.     

Inhibiting effects of gas–particle mixtures containing CO2, Mg(OH)2 particles,and NH4H2PO4 particles on methane explosion in a 20-L closed vessel

The main risk factors from methane explosion are the associated shock waves, flames, and harmful gases. Inert gases and inhibiting powders are commonly used to prevent and mitigate the damage caused by an explosion. In this study, three inhibitors (inert gas with 8.0 vol% CO₂, 0.25 g/L Mg(OH)₂ particles, and 0.25 g/L NH₄H₂PO₄ particles) were prepared. Their inhibiting effects on methane explosions with various concentrations of methane were tested in a nearly spherical 20-L explosion vessel. Both single-component inhibitors and gas–particle mixtures can substantially suppress methane explosions with varying degrees of success. However, various inhibitors exhibited distinct reaction mechanisms for methane gas, which indicated that their inhibiting effects for methane explosion varied. To alleviate amplitude, the ranking of single-component inhibitors for both explosion pressure (P_ex) and the rate of explosion pressure rise [(dP/dt)_ex] was as follows: CO₂, NH₄H₂PO₄ particles, and Mg(OH)₂ particles. In order of decreasing amplitude, the ranking of gas‒particle mixtures for both P_ex and (dP/dt)_ex was as follows: CO₂–NH₄H₂PO₄ mixture, CO₂‒Mg(OH)₂ mixture, and pure CO₂. Overall, the optimal suppression effect was observed in the system with the CO₂–NH₄H₂PO₄ mixture, which exhibited an eminent synergistic effect on methane explosions. The amplitudes of P_ex with methane concentrations of 7.0, 9.5, and 11.0 vol% decreased by 37.1%, 42.5%, and 98.6%, respectively, when using the CO₂–NH₄H₂PO₄ mixture. In addition, an antagonistic effect was observed with CO₂‒Mg(OH)₂ mixtures because MgO, which was generated by the thermal decomposition of Mg(OH)₂, can chemically react with water vapor and CO₂ to produce basic magnesium carbonate (xMgCO₃·yMg(OH)₂·zH₂O), thereby reducing the CO₂ concentration in a reaction system. This research revealed the inhibiting effects of gas‒particle mixtures (including CO₂, Mg(OH)₂ particles, and NH₄H₂PO₄ particles) on methane explosions and provided primary experimental data.