Runaway: Explosion at T2 Laboratories

On December 19, 2007, a runaway chemical reaction during the production of a gasoline additive destroyed T2 Laboratories in Jacksonville, Florida, killing four people and injuring 32 others. The blast, equivalent to about 1400 pounds of TNT, damaged buildings and injured office workers hundreds of feet away.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Chemical
• Safety
• Board
• reactive
• explosion
• blast
• MMT
• MCMT
• gasoline
• runaway
• reactor
• cooling
• OSHA
• PSM
• EPA
• RMP
• relief
• process
• hazard
• education
• AIChE
• ABET
• undergraduate
• recommendation
• Jacksonville
• Florida
• sodium
• alkali
• metal
• organometallic
• metalation
• methylcyclopentadiene
• diglyme

[bishop1029]

gunfuego

it had the equivalent. its called a rupture disk. basically a metal disk set to rupture when the pressure reaches a certain point. its not a valve but the function is the same.

[gunfuego]

why didn't the tank have blow off valve that is for the correct pressures?

[fw12345fw]

2:38

[KillerBeeKiller]

I was at home about 6 miles from T2 when this happened. It rattled my garage door, windows and the dishes in the kitchen. My wife and I knew something happened but we thought it was one of those power plants out there.

[liquid49286]

the surveilance video was mind blowing. What a blast

[KellieWhyIt]

my dad owned this place

[owowjohn]

home town, i felt the blast from my house on other side of town

[hp1741a]

Reccomendations to OSHA and EPA were included in past CSB reports on reactive accidents - and have been only partially implemented. See section 7.1 of the T2 Laboratories investigation final report (on the CSB website). I guess CSB thinks their existing guidance on regulation is sufficient.

Unrecognized reactive hazards have repeatedly caused serious accidents (as here). Apparently CSB's reccomendations are an attempt to expose ChemE students to the basics of reactive hazard identification.

[arseniodeoliveira]

Specific Root Cause Analysis should be provide in this video yo make it more usefull.

[drbillcorcoran]

Why are the recommendations not directed toward OSHA and EPA and intended to improve the way OSHA and EPA regulate?