'No way to prevent' potential chemical plant explosion near Houston, Arkema CEO says - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote]Arkema's CEO said Wednesday that there is "no way to prevent" a possible explosion at the company's Crosby, Texas, facility, which has been heavily flooded as a result of Hurricane Harvey. “We have an unprecedented 6 feet of water at the plant,” Arkema President and CEO Rich Rowe said in comments made Wednesday. “We have lost primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. "As a result, we have lost critical refrigeration of the materials on site that could now explode and cause a subsequent intense fire. The high water and lack of power leave us with no way to prevent it," he said. Rowe added: "We have evacuated our personnel for their own safety. The federal, state and local authorities were contacted a few days ago, and we are working very closely with them to manage this matter. They have ordered the surrounding community to be evacuated, too."[/quote] [url]http://abcnews.go.com/US/risk-chemical-plant-explosion-houston-prompts-evacuation-harvey/story?id=49521170[/url] The rain may be over for Houston, but problems are still showing up. Lot of other petrochemical plants have been shut down along the Texas coast. Chemicals seeping into the flood water was something some were concerned about that hasen't seemed to be much of an issue thankfully. Seems like this plant is a ticking time bomb though.

Texas can't seem to catch a break when it comes to major accidents and their chemical industry, and after such a large natural disaster too. It reminds me of the West fertilizer factory explosion back in 2013. What are the chances of this repeating with Arkema's Crosby facility?

I went ahead and looked up what they make there. Organic peroxides. Yeah, that's a lively bunch of chemicals, not fun to deal with when warm and angry. Acetone peroxide, which they make alongside lots of derivatives, is a common improvised explosive, not used as a commercial or military explosive because it's too dangerous. As a general rule of thumb, anything with "peroxide" is probably not a nice compound, all the way down to the simple water analog, hydrogen peroxide, which is an absolute nightmare at any high concentration. Getting their people out is definitely the right call. If there's too much of it to safely evac, and you can't keep it cool and docile, just get your people and whatever assets you can out. Not much they could do to stop it from blowing up anyways.

At least they seem to be prepared for it this time.

[QUOTE=croguy;52631591]Texas can't seem to catch a break when it comes to major accidents and their chemical industry, and after such a large natural disaster too. It reminds me of the West fertilizer factory explosion back in 2013. What are the chances of this repeating with Arkema's Crosby facility?[/QUOTE] From their site: [quote]The Crosby, TX plant produces liquid organic peroxides that are used primarily in the production of plastic resins, polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC and polyester reinforced fiberglass, and acrylic resins. Many consumer products that we use everyday, ranging from automobiles and food packaging, to health and cleaning products, owe their beginnings to organic peroxides. Here are some examples: Solid surface countertops Acrylic-based paints and coatings for automotive, industrial and architectural applications Key components in the enhancement of hoses, gaskets, and headlights assemblies for the automotive industry Expandable polystyrene cups and plates PVC for pipes, packaging, siding Visit the Luperox® product website for more information.[/quote] [url]http://www.arkema-americas.com/en/arkema-americas/united-states/crosby-tx/[/url]

There's another chemical plant there that can create soft foam for mattresses. Is it the same plant?

So if this explodes, would it pollute the waters much or is it purely an air issue?

[QUOTE=gman003-main;52631634]I went ahead and looked up what they make there. Organic peroxides. Yeah, that's a lively bunch of chemicals, not fun to deal with when warm and angry. Acetone peroxide, which they make alongside lots of derivatives, is a common improvised explosive, not used as a commercial or military explosive because it's too dangerous. As a general rule of thumb, anything with "peroxide" is probably not a nice compound, all the way down to the simple water analog, hydrogen peroxide, which is an absolute nightmare at any high concentration. Getting their people out is definitely the right call. If there's too much of it to safely evac, and you can't keep it cool and docile, just get your people and whatever assets you can out. Not much they could do to stop it from blowing up anyways.[/QUOTE] high test peroxide will make anything with any carbon in it flammable. people have used it to make steel burn. [editline]31st August 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Megadave;52632375]So if this explodes, would it pollute the waters much or is it purely an air issue?[/QUOTE] if it was just hydrogen peroxide, no. it'll just degrade into plain old water and oxygen within a few weeks. this here is an organic peroxide, which runs the gamut from mostly benign other than being explosive such as diacetyl peroxide (which degrades into water, oxygen, and vinegar) or a horribly carcinogenic mess like methyl ethyl ketone peroxide (which degrades into a slow and painful death) [editline]31st August 2017[/editline] organic peroxides in particular are nasty, inorganic peroxides typically are just heavy oxidizers, whereas organics are often shock and temperature sensitive explosives as well as being strong oxidizers, meaning that if the exothermic reaction that happens just by existing isn't controlled ie by refrigeration they'll just blow up on their own with no provocation.

The Crosby plant has exploded, twice. [url]https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-harvey/harvey-danger-major-chemical-plant-near-houston-likely-explode-facility-n797581[/url] [editline]31st August 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=butre;52632450]]organic peroxides in particular are nasty, inorganic peroxides typically are just heavy oxidizers, whereas organics are often shock and temperature sensitive explosives as well as being strong oxidizers, meaning that if the exothermic reaction that happens just by existing isn't controlled ie by refrigeration they'll just blow up on their own with no provocation.[/QUOTE] Adding on to this, organic peroxides are a major lab hazard as they will form from most ethers, crystallize, and detonate when the flask containing the [expected] ether is opened, bumped, or just looked at funny. For further reading: [url]https://ehs.berkeley.edu/lessons-learned/lesson-learned-peroxide-explosion-injures-campus-researcher[/url]

fucking hell texas, like every major chemical explosion thats happened in the US is there. i hope nobody was killed or gets injured by this [editline]31st August 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=croguy;52631591]Texas can't seem to catch a break when it comes to major accidents and their chemical industry, and after such a large natural disaster too. It reminds me of the West fertilizer factory explosion back in 2013. What are the chances of this repeating with Arkema's Crosby facility?[/QUOTE] well at least nothing surrounding it can possibly catch on fire from burning debris

Organic peroxides are nasty stuff. Even the peroxide curing agent used in epoxy resins is explosive when it's not in a highly diluted solution.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52633142]fucking hell texas, like every major chemical explosion thats happened in the US is there. i hope nobody was killed or gets injured by this [/QUOTE] Unfortunately we have to add some semblance of bad news.. [media]https://twitter.com/HCSOTexas/status/903182119966527488[/media] [media]https://twitter.com/HCSOTexas/status/903203581607768064[/media] There area is mentioned to be evacuated however, so there probably won't be any more casualties to this event.

[QUOTE=Sableye;52633142]fucking hell texas, like every major chemical explosion thats happened in the US is there.[/QUOTE] That's because any major chemical plant in the US, is in Texas. Texas makes a lot of petrochemicals. A lot.

They were saying on the news this morning that some firefighters were affected by the fumes, too. I thought I read that the company had requested that they just allow the plant to burn and not put themselves at risk coming near it. Were they just there to cordon it off?

The plant is currently burning uncontrollably. [url]https://www.click2houston.com/news/company-explosion-risk-at-flooded-crosby-plant-real-but-not-imminent[/url]

Damn. Just, damn.

[quote]"We have been working closely with public officials to manage the implications of this situation, and have communicated with the public the potential for product to explode and cause an intense fire. Organic peroxides are extremely flammable and, as agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out.[/quote] It seems like they're handling this very well.

[QUOTE=OvB;52638377]The plant is currently burning uncontrollably. [url]https://www.click2houston.com/news/company-explosion-risk-at-flooded-crosby-plant-real-but-not-imminent[/url][/QUOTE] The story's been updated and apparently the fire has been put out. For now. Unless all of the peroxides have had their tantrum and cooked off, the party could start back up anytime until temperature control is reestablished.