Fire at oil refinery due to hydrocracking reactor failure
Event description
Last night, residents near the Tube oil refinery woke up to a glowing sky and the sound of sirens. There was a fire in the hydrocracking unit designed to produce gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel from the residual products of oil refining (petroleum residue, tar). The unit operates under the high pressure of hydrogen, up to 300 atm. The greater the pressure, the higher quality and more useful materials are produced. In the hydrocracking unit, a great amount of heat is released as hydrogen saturates the molecules formed during cracking. To equalize the temperature, cold hydrogen-containing gas is pumped into the reactor. However, last night the flow of cooling gas was deliberately reduced. "At 1:34 a.m., rescuers were informed that the installation filter had depressurized. The reactor overheated and hydrogen leaked. When mixed with the air, an explosive gas was formed and ignited," the company's press release explains. The fire has been extinguished, work is currently underway to cool and protect the damaged facilities, and a special task team has been formed to handle the aftermath. An excess of the maximum permissible concentration of hazardous substances in the air was recorded near the Tube terminal. The operation of the hydrocracking unit, hydrogen production unit, and sulfur production unit are temporarily suspended. The overall operation of the refinery has not been disrupted. Tube shareholders are seriously concerned about the damage to expensive production facilities.