Arkema chemical plant faces explosion risk after Harvey floodwaters

[herding cats]

Source: Houston Chronicle

Flood waters from Hurricane Harvey created an emergency situation that could trigger explosions at the Arkema chemical plant northeast of Houston in Crosby.

Late Monday night, the facility lost power from both its primary supply and its backup generators due to flooding. Employees moved highly volatile organic peroxides into back-up containers to keep them cool. If this class of chemical gets too hot, it can cause fires or explosions.

"At this time, while we do not believe there is any imminent danger, the potential for a chemical reaction leading to a fire and/or explosion withing the site confines is real," Arkema spokeswoman Janet Smith said on Tuesday.

The Crosby Fire Department evacuated one employee last night and the rest of the staff was evacuated Tuesday afternoon when the refrigeration in some of the back-up containers also started to fail. The French specialty chemical company produces organic peroxides at the plant.

Read more: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Arkema-chemical-plant-faces-explosion-risk-after-12159448.php

[Ligyron]

1. Peroxides rocket fuel?

[Dustlawyer]

5. I don't know about rocket fuel or not, but I know that stuff will make a fertilizer plant look like

a firecracker!

In 2005, after hurricane Rita the guy in charge of emptying the huge golf ball looking temporary storage tanks of this stuff left town with his family without draining them. These tanks are normally used while processing the chemical and not meant for long term storage. The union leaders I was dealing with said the fire department had to shoot water on them continuously because our temperatures were 103-105 all week. If they had blown it would have made a 15 miles radius crater and destroyed Beaumont, Port Arthur and several other small towns!

[marylandblue]

7. Yes, some peroxides are used as rocket fuel

And it's really nasty stuff

[C Moon]

2. Is this the plant people were complaining about yesterday? Odors and such?

[groundloop]

3. I don't believe that was limited to just one plant

There are a LOT of petrochemical plants in the Houston area, especially on the east side. From what I've read many of them were doing emergency shutdowns, which is a real upset to the normal processes and will release a lot of chemicals into the air.

[herding cats]

4. No, those are petrochemical plants down on the east end of Houston. nt

[NNadir]

6. This plant produces cumeme peroxide, a key intermediate in the synthesis of acetone and phenol.

Acetone of course is nail polish remover (and is also used as an industrial solvent and for the production of isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.

Phenol is utilized in medicinal preparations and is a key intermediate for many industrial compounds, including many pharmaceuticals.

Cumeme itself is a component of high octane aviation and automotive fuel.

Ideally the peroxides will slowly decay into acetone and phenol, and although this reaction is exothermic, we should hope it will not become a runaway reaction. I'm sure the area around the plant has been evacuated.

[Igel]

8. Thanks.

The tv station my wife's got on in the background billed it as an "ammonia" plant and they had to keep the chemicals cooled to prevent problems.

Knowing how they usually make ammonia, this made no sense.

Organic peroxides ... That makes sense.

[roamer65]

9. A chemical Fukushima Daiichi.

Great...