Catastrophic Explosion in the CO2 Removal Unit of an Ammonia Plant

摘要

This Incident occurred at 13:57 hours, 4 August 2010. The corrosion in the 32" semi lean amine (a-MDEA) line to CO2 absorber tower was the main cause of the incident. But also several sub reasons cause the corrosion, and subsequently the explosion of synthesis gas that occurred due to back flow from the tower. The mal-function of control valve near the position of line rupture, the short length of stainless steel reducer and line, the welding operation after the amine leakage started from the line, deleting the check valve in the line of 32" to the CO2 absorber in detail engineering steps of the project by sub contractors were some of the contributing factors which intensified the incident. The production was stopped 50 days for the maintenance. This incident had lots of lessons for learning in the role of process safety considerations in detail design and operation of ammonia plants.