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Hydrocrackers convert heavy feeds to lighter, more valuable products (mainly gasoline and diesel) using a bifunctional catalyst at high pressure and temperature in the presence of excess hydrogen. The main hydrocracking reactions are cracking and hydrogenation. The higher the temperature, the faster the reaction rate. The catalyst is split into multiple fixed beds and cool hydrogen gas is injected between the beds to control bed temperatures and reaction rate. During hydrocracking activities, an abnormal operation of the upstream pretreat section resulted in organic nitrogen slip to the 3 hydrocracking reactors, temporarily poisoning the catalyst. The control board operator gradually increased the catalyst bed inlet temperatures to drive off the nitrogen. A few hours later, reactor #3 effluent piping ruptured and the escaping reaction mixture auto ignited causing an explosion and fire.
Ask yourself and your crew:
- How can something like this happen here (e.g. on our site)?
- What safety measures (i.e. procedures, controls/barriers) do we have in place to mitigate the risk?
- How do we know the risk controls/barriers are working?
- What improvements or changes should we make to the procedures, controls/barriers or the way we work?
Original content courtesy of IChemE Safety Centre
