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- Title
Fire in a powder drier.
- Authors
Turney, R. D.
- Abstract
In the early hours of the morning the drier on a chlorinated polymer plant was found to be on fire. Concerns about the probable presence of hydrogen chlorine in the smoke formed by the thermal decomposition of the product in the drier led to the declaration of 'Operation Cloudburst' (involving the mobilization of external emergency services). The cause of the fire was established as being the prolonged heating of a stagnant pocket of product during a drier start-up such that its critical temperature, at which it would exotherm, was reduced below the actual temperature within the drier. The exact root cause of this unusually long and intense heating period at start-up was not established with certainty but it could be explained by the defects within the main drier temperature control loop, which were found after the fire. It was not possible to establish whether these loop defects contributed to or were caused by the fire, hence the uncertainty over the true root cause. Although the fire damage to the plant would have been fairly easily repairable, Prohibition Notices served by the Health and Safety Executive precluded a restart until the root cause had been found and eliminated. It quickly became apparent that the investigation and likely actions arising to permit a restart would not have been completed before the date on which the plant was scheduled for closure. Accordingly a business decision was taken that no steps would be taken to restart the plant.
- Subjects
PLANT shutdowns; FACTORIES; DEINDUSTRIALIZATION; TEMPERATURE; AUTOMATIC control systems; HEAT; THERMODYNAMICS; COMBUSTION; HIGH temperatures
- Publication
Loss Prevention Bulletin, 2007, Vol 197, Issue 1, p15
- ISSN
0260-9576
- Publication type
Article