Waste Transfer Explosion

Yesterday, one person was killed and three hospitalized in Guthrie, KY when an explosion occurred at a metal treatment facility (see here and here). The explosion happened during the transfer of waste from the facility into a transport vehicle that apparently already contained used cooking oil. While the incident remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshall and the Kentucky Environmental Cabinet, WKDZRadio.com provides an interesting (and detailed) description of the cause of the incident:

“The Kentucky State Fire Marshall and the Kentucky Environmental Cabinet are investigating the explosion and at this time authorities believe that for some reason an organic fat such as cooking oil became mixed with the alkaline wastewater in the tank which resulted in an exothermic saponification reaction.

“This reaction reportedly raised the temperature inside the tank causing the water portion of the solution to boil and raising the pressure inside it to a point beyond its designed strength resulting in the failure of the tank seam.”

The picture accompanying that article shows some superficial damage to the building adjacent to the damaged pump truck. That relatively minor damage would indicate that the ‘exploding’ tank was a plastic tank, which are not designed to contain much in the way of pressure. Flying pieces of the tank and the liquid inside could certainly cause the injuries described in the three articles.

Since the contents of the tank ‘exploded’ they were certainly an ‘extremely hazardous substance’ under the definition {40 CFR 1604.2) in the Chemical Safety Board’s ‘Reporting of Accidental Releases’ rule. Since a death was involved, this was a reportable accident under that rule.