Chemical Safety Board - Paper Example

There was a massive explosion at the T2 Laboratories located in Jacksonville in December 2007. The explosion was reported to have resulted from a chemical reaction. The chemical reaction was caused, according to a draft report by CSB investigators, by a poor reactor cooling system. The report concluded that T2 never recognized all the probable dangers of the process involved in the production of gasoline additives (Csb.gov, 2018). The massive explosion ended up killing 4 of the T2 employees and injuring 32 more. The explosion launched debris from the laboratory over a mile away in addition to creating damage to buildings that were within a mile.

Methylcyclopentadienyl Manganese Tricarbonyl (MCMT)

The explosion that occurred at the T2 facility happened when the company was producing a batch of MCMT. Both the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and OSHA set exposure limits for MCMT (Theis, 2014). MCMT is very toxic when it comes into contact with the skin, and by inhalation and if swallowed. When there are incidents involving MCMT fires, firefighters need to be extremely cautious and aware of their surroundings. The CSB found out that T2 manufactured and sold MCMT under the trade name Ecotane (Theis, 2014).

This is extremely important for firefighters, considering the chemical that they were fighting did not have proper labels and would have resulted in a delay in response to gather proper information. Other information that firefighters need to be informative about right away, is if there is any spillage of the chemical, it needs to be contained and prevented from entering any drains or waterways. MCMT itself is a combustible chemical and is a fire hazard when exposed to heat or a flame (Theis, 2014).

When heating MCMT, the reaction may cause the chemical to expand or decompose, which can lead to a violent rupture of containers. In the case of T2 Laboratories and the explosion that occurred, while the last batch of MCMT was being mixed, it resulted in a dangerous expansion of this chemical. This happened too fast resulting in the fatal explosion at the facility.

Exothermic Reaction

The production of MCMT at the T2 laboratories involved heating and cooling of the batch to different temperatures. The diglyme solvent and sodium being used created a heat producing reaction, or what was called an exothermic reaction (Walker, 2015). When operators shut off the heating element to the reactor, but the heat to the batch continued to rise. When the heat continued to rise, operators had to fill an outer jacket with cooled water to cool down the reaction.

According to the CSB investigation, on the day of the accident, the operator attempted to cool down the reaction as he normally did but there was a malfunction with the cooling system (Walker, 2015). Due to inability to control the reaction, temperature and pressure began to rise uncontrollably in what was known as a runaway chemical reaction which resulted in the fatal explosion.

Prevention Mechanisms

The CSB assessed possible grounds for the runaway reaction. They included: contamination within the reactor, incorrect quantities of raw materials, inadequate cooling, excessive heat, and contaminated raw materials. The CSB found that inadequate cooling could be the only probable reason for the explosion, with most witnesses attesting to this finding. The plant operator had reported a problem with the cooling system a few moments before an explosion occurred. The cooling system required design redundancy. This made it vulnerable to failures such as an indication of wrong temperatures. An interview with an employee showed that the T2 laboratories allowed the cooling system to fail by failing to conduct preventive maintenance.

The CSB carried tests inside a sealed cell and found out that a double exothermic reaction had occurred. One of them happened at 350 degrees Fahrenheit while another occurred at a temperature of 390 degrees Fahrenheit. The subsequent reaction happened between diglyme solvent and sodium (Csb.gov, 2018). Using the information provided, a relief of overpressure could not have stopped the reactor from failing. The explosion could have been prevented during the initial reaction by mitigating at a low pressure and allowing boiling and venting of the diglyme solvent and MCPD thus getting rid of the heat.

Conclusion

In the case of T2 laboratories and based on the CSBs investigation the process for cooling the reactor was not sufficient enough for the load of product that T2 was producing. Ultimately because of the insufficient cooling of the product, it was the only reasonable cause that the CSB could determine from the investigation that caused the fatal explosion that occurred on December 17th. Other factors that supported the CSBs investigation, was there witness statements that they collected concerning the facility that involved different deficiencies in the system. Because the company and owner knew that when MCMT was being produced, and that it always involved a need for being cooled down supplementary, that the company would have looked into providing a bigger and better solution to cooling down the reactions.

References

Csb.gov. (2018). T2 Laboratories Inc. Reactive chemical explosion - Investigations | the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. [online] Available at: http://www.csb.gov/t2-laboratories-inc-reactive-chemical-explosion/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2018].Theis, A. (2014). Case study: T2 Laboratories explosion. Journal of loss prevention in the process industries, 30, pp.296-300.Walker, D. (2015). Chemical reactions. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media.