Flixborough: the Disaster and Its Aftermath
CHAPTER 42 FLIXBOROUGH: THE DISASTER AND ITS AFTERMATH J. E. S. Venart Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada If we do not understand the past we cannot make proper sense of the present or the future. 42.1 BACKGROUND On June 1, 1974, a fire and massive explosion occurred at the Nypro (UK) Ltd. works near Flixborough, North Lincolnshire (Fig. 42.1). An accidental release of cyclohexane at 0.96 MPa and between 150 to 155ЊC resulted in an unconfined vapor cloud explosion (UVCE) that caused 28 fatalities, the destruction of the plant, severe injury to inhabitants, and sig- FIGURE 42.1 Map of the Humber River and surroundings. The plant location is in- dicated by the arrow. 42.1 42.2 CHAPTER FORTY-TWO nificant damage to many buildings in the surrounding countryside (Secretary of State for Employment, 1975). The plant was located on the east bank of the River Trent, a tributary of the Humber, about 50 km west of the fishing port of Grimsby. On the west bank of the river, opposite the NYPRO site, was the village of Amcotts; the village of Flixborough was on a small rise to the East; the town of Scunthorpe was southeast of the location. All suffered major distress though no loss of life. The catastrophe was initiated in section 25A of the process stream (Fig. 42.2) during start-up while the cyclohexane feedstock, inerted with nitrogen, was under hot recycle through the reactor train, R1 to R6. Only about one-third of the 70 kg/s full production flow was recirculating at the time.
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