Risks of Fire and Explosion Associated With the Increasing Use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE—PEER-REVIEWED
Risks of Fire and Explosion Associated With the Increasing Use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas S. M. Tauseef • Tasneem Abbasi • S. A. Abbasi
Submitted: 17 March 2010 / in revised form: 5 May 2010 / Published online: 9 June 2010 ASM International 2010
Abstract Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been in use as household fuel all over the world for several decades. Until the late 1980s, its use in the developing world was largely confined to the economically well-off strata of the society but it has since spread over a much larger catchment. The increasing use of LPG has enhanced and generalized the risk of a ‘‘boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion’’ (BLEVE). This is evidenced from the reports which appear now and then of a LPG cylinder having exploded in a household, some workshop, or on a bus or a train. In fact some very major tragedies have been triggered by such explosions which also set off fires and cause secondary accidents. This paper describes what BLEVEs are and how can they be controlled. The paper focuses on hazards of BLEVE in large installations which deal with LPG, and other pressure-liquefied gases and discusses the nature, mechanism, and means of control of BLEVEs. Keywords Pressure-liquefied gas BLEVE Explosion Superheat Control
What Is BLEVE? The boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) is among the most fearsome of accidents that can occur wherever a pressure-liquefied gas (PLG) exists. If a container with a PLG suffers structural failure—be it due to creep, fatigue, or fire-induced or any other form of
S. M. Tauseef T. Abbasi S. A. Abbasi (&) Center for Pollution Control and Environmental Engineering, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry 605 014, India e-mail: [email protected]
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failure—it may lead to a sudden depressurization of the container. As a result, the PLG will suddenly be transformed into a fluid which is ‘‘superheated’’ with respect to the precipitously lowered pressure. Depending on the nature of the chemical, quantity of superheated liquid present, and the mechanism of the container failure, such a situation can lead to instantaneous and violent vaporization of the contents, causing a ‘‘boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion’’—a BLEVE.
Illustrative Case Studies Some of the biggest process industry disasters have involved BLEVEs. Indeed the second largest process industry disaster in terms of fatalities—next only to the Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984—involved a succession of BLEVEs. The resulting explosions and fires destroyed an entire refinery at San Jaun Ixhaautepec, Maxico city, killing over 600 persons. We present below illustrative examples of accidents in which BLEVEs, accompanied by fires, were the cause of major catastrophes. Illustrative case studies are also presented where BLEVEs occurred in small household-scale LPG cylinders. These BLEVEs invariably lead to fires which caused as much, and often greater, damage than the explosion itself. Feyzin, France 4, January 1996: The episode at Feyzin is a tragic examp
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