Hurricane Harvey: Two explosions at Arkema chemical plant near Houston, injuries reported

[Dalia]

Trucks make their way through flood waters on a main road leading to the Arkema Inc. chemical plant in Crosby, Texas © Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Published time: 31 Aug, 2017

Houston, injuries reported

Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas has confirmed that two explosions have occurred at the site. People have been taken to the hospital, according to emergency workers, cited by local media.


“At approximately 2 a.m. CDT, we were notified by the Harris County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of two explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas,” Arkema wrote in a statement.

The statement goes on to say that although the plant followed hurricane preparation protocol, “unprecedented flooding overwhelmed our primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. As a result, we lost critical refrigeration of the products on site. Some of our organic peroxides products burn if not stored at low temperature.”



Chemicals at plant near Houston degrading, explosion inevitable – CEO

“Organic peroxides are extremely flammable and, as agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out,” the statement reads.

An Arkema spokesperson stated late Wednesday that a fire at the site was inevitable.

“The fire will happen. It will resemble a gasoline fire. It will be explosive and intense in nature... as the temperature rises, the natural state of these materials will decompose. A white smoke will result, and that will catch fire. So the fire is imminent. The question is when,” spokesperson Janet Smith said.

A sheriff’s deputy was among those taken to the hospital after inhaling fumes, according to a tweet from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Nine other deputies drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution.

Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the county fire marshal’s office, said it is unclear whether all residents obeyed the evacuation order for the 1.5 mile radius of the plant, adding that the office has received an unconfirmed report of a woman who may still be in the evacuation zone.

Arkema says it is working “closely with federal, state and local authorities to manage the situation.”

The plant makes organic peroxides used in the production of plastic resins, polystyrene, paints, and other

Hurricane Harvey: Two explosions at Arkema chemical plant near Houston, injuries reported

 

[EverCurious]

As I understand it the chemicals they're making are peroxides and they required refrigeration to remain stable. Power went out, fridges heated up, and there wasn't much anyone could do about it. It seems that it'll burn out rapidly and not cause any lasting issues.

 

[Dalia]

The Crosby site manufactures organic peroxides, a compound used in the manufacture of plastics. The chemicals must be refrigerated, but electricity was cut by the torrential rains of Harvey storm and the backup generators were drowned. "Currently we have 1.80 meters of water in the plant. We lost the emergency power supply and two emergency power sources, "said Kenneth Rowe, CEO of the Arkema plant. "As a result, we have lost the essential refrigeration capabilities of the materials on the site that could now explode and cause an intense fire," he added.
"The hazardous products have been moved from their refrigerated hangars to containers refrigerated by diesel engines, but again the rise in water cut off the engines," explained Arkema. The explosion seemed inevitable. "The fire will happen. It will look like a fire triggered by gasoline: it will be explosive and intense, "said spokesman Janet Smith to the Associated Press.

 

[martybegan]

Most failures follow a cascade pathway. No one thing usually causes a failure. here they lost main power, the generators flooded, and even trucks brought in to refrigerate this stuff got their engines flooded out.

This stuff decomposes and burns pretty rapidly, once the burn-off is done, cleanup hazards should be mostly physical, not chemical.

 

[EverCurious]

Just for the record I've read that there was some... asshattery around this situation - someone had posted some "information" on a media site purporting to be an employee of the plant and it was later found that the person was not associated with the plant.

I've not been sleeping well this evening so I haven't been able to entirely sort fact from fiction yet, but I do believe the part I posted about peroxides is fact - and I'd say @Marybegan has the correct story of what went wrong, as well as the assessment that it will essentially just make a stinky cloud and go away. The 1 1/2 mile radius evacuation, the "stopped work 2 weeks ago," that "the building is rated for a cat 5 hurricane," parts I have not been able to verify yet.

 

[martybegan]

Just for the record I've read that there was some... asshattery around this situation - someone had posted some "information" on a media site purporting to be an employee of the plant and it was later found that the person was not associated with the plant.

I've not been sleeping well this evening so I haven't been able to entirely sort fact from fiction yet, but I do believe the part I posted about peroxides is fact - and I'd say @Marybegan has the correct story of what went wrong, as well as the assessment that it will essentially just make a stinky cloud and go away. The 1 1/2 mile radius evacuation, the "stopped work 2 weeks ago," that "the building is rated for a cat 5 hurricane," parts I have not been able to verify yet.

What will happen, just like any other disaster, is that standards for backup power for facilities like this will be reviewed, and the simple fix of "raise the damn emergency generators" will probably be put into place.

 

[EverCurious]

Just for the record I've read that there was some... asshattery around this situation - someone had posted some "information" on a media site purporting to be an employee of the plant and it was later found that the person was not associated with the plant.

I've not been sleeping well this evening so I haven't been able to entirely sort fact from fiction yet, but I do believe the part I posted about peroxides is fact - and I'd say @Marybegan has the correct story of what went wrong, as well as the assessment that it will essentially just make a stinky cloud and go away. The 1 1/2 mile radius evacuation, the "stopped work 2 weeks ago," that "the building is rated for a cat 5 hurricane," parts I have not been able to verify yet.

What will happen, just like any other disaster, is that standards for backup power for facilities like this will be reviewed, and the simple fix of "raise the damn emergency generators" will probably be put into place.

HA yea I can see it. Like in Alaska they put the water heaters on a stilt platform so that if they [freeze and] burst the electronics don't go out and open the nat gas valve to fill your garage/utility closet, or like we have to tie water heaters to the wall due to earthquakes for a similar nat gas reason (albeit a bit more immediately explosive in the latter when the pilot light is still functioning heh)

 

[jillian]

As I understand it the chemicals they're making are peroxides and they required refrigeration to remain stable. Power went out, fridges heated up, and there wasn't much anyone could do about it. It seems that it'll burn out rapidly and not cause any lasting issues.

apparently there was a chemical they could have put into their supplies that would have kept it stable but they chose not to use it because they'd have lost the stock.

how much you want to bet that they weren't insured for the value of the product if they intentionally put in the chemical but are insured for the explosions and fires and whomever is injured or killed

 

[EverCurious]

As I understand it the chemicals they're making are peroxides and they required refrigeration to remain stable. Power went out, fridges heated up, and there wasn't much anyone could do about it. It seems that it'll burn out rapidly and not cause any lasting issues.

apparently there was a chemical they could have put into their supplies that would have kept it stable but they chose not to use it because they'd have lost the stock.

how much you want to bet that they weren't insured for the value of the product if they intentionally put in the chemical but are insured for the explosions and fires and whomever is injured or killed

Do you hear yourself? Do you really think that X gallons chemical stabilizer is cheaper than the cost of an exploded chemical plant? I'm thinking not.

 

[EverCurious]

Additional note to above - Patent EP0853082A1 - Organic peroxide stabilization with oximes

The preferred amount of oxime is a concentration of 0.2 to 5.0% by weight of the peroxydicarbonate or other organic peroxide present. When the oxime is added as a solution, the amount of the solution to use is adjusted according to the amount of oxime present in the solution. The exact amount will vary and depend on the organic peroxide compound, and on the conditions to which the peroxide composition is to be exposed.

That's not a hell of a lot of stuff needed to be added which just makes it even less likely to have been more expensive than replacing the building. I suspect it wasn't added because it ruins the peroxide for whatever purpose they were using it for, rather than whatever conspiracy theory you've been reading Jillian.

 

[martybegan]

As I understand it the chemicals they're making are peroxides and they required refrigeration to remain stable. Power went out, fridges heated up, and there wasn't much anyone could do about it. It seems that it'll burn out rapidly and not cause any lasting issues.

apparently there was a chemical they could have put into their supplies that would have kept it stable but they chose not to use it because they'd have lost the stock.

how much you want to bet that they weren't insured for the value of the product if they intentionally put in the chemical but are insured for the explosions and fires and whomever is injured or killed

And your source for this is?