Oil Disasters Disasters
The effects of the explosion were felt several miles away. Senator Troy Brown [D-Napoleonville], who was at his home five miles from the plant when the blast occurred, said, "For about a good two to three seconds, it felt like an earthquake". A shelter-in-place order was issued to residences and businesses within a two-mile (3.2 km) radius of the plant.
The Williams Olefins Plant explosion occurred on June 13, 2013 at a petrochemical plant located in Geismar, an unincorporated and largely industrial area 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Two workers were killed and 114 injured. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) launched investigations to determine how and why the heat exchanger failed. The Chemical Safety Board concluded that a standby heat exchanger had filled with hydrocarbon. This heat exchanger was isolated from its pressure relief; shortly after the heat exchanger was heated with hot water, the hydrocarbon flashed to vapor, ruptured the heat exchanger, and exploded.
The Williams Olefins Plant was established in 1968 by Allied Chemical and transferred to Williams Olefins following a merger with Union Texas Petroleum in September 1999.
The plant produces ethylene, propylene and other products through steam cracking of ethane and propane. This process uses high temperatures to break long-chain hydrocarbons into shorter-chain olefins. The ethane is diluted with steam and briefly heated in a furnace without the presence of oxygen. Typical reaction temperatures are very high, at around 1,560 °F (850 °C), but the reaction is only allowed to take place very briefly. After the cracking temperature has been reached, the gas is quickly quenched in the heat exchanger to stop the reaction. The plant produces 40,000 tons (36,000 tonnes) of propylene and 650,000 tons (590,000 tonnes) of ethylene every year for use in the plastics industry.
The explosion was the first major incident in the plant's history, although there had been numerous leaks of flammable gases in recent years. On December 18, 2012 workers discovered "a visible leak" of propylene gas. According to a report submitted by Williams Olefins to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), 514 pounds (233 kg) of propylene gas escaped. Williams Olefins said, "Piping corrosion under insulation is believed to be a significant factor in this incident. This was a small isolated corrosion location that had not been previously found". The Times-Picayune of New Orleans reported that there had been leaks of 100 pounds (45 kg) each of ethylene and volatile organic compounds in 2010, 93 pounds (42 kg) of benzene in 2009, and 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) of propylene in 2008. More details
