Port Arthur Pyrolysis Tower Collapse - 1

[MJCronin]

Fire yesterday causes tower to collapse at BASF TotalEnergies Petrochemicals refinery in Port Arthur, TEXAS !

The fire broke out Tuesday at about 10:45 a.m. in the pyrolysis gasoline unit at the refinery

No one was reported injured and all employees have been accounted for.

https://www.12newsnow.com/article/n...cals/502-598b9639-b37f-4323-af66-e67f28b6fa8c

https://fox4beaumont.com/news/local/reports-of-fire-at-basf-total-energies-petrochemicals

MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

 

[SWComposites]

so what chemical is now going to have a worldwide shortage to further bugger up supply chain?

 

[waross]

so what chemical is now going to have a worldwide shortage to further bugger up supply chain?

The fire broke out Tuesday at about 10:45 a.m. in the pyrolysis gasoline unit at the refinery

I am going to take a wild guess and say gasoline? grin
I could be wrong. The gasoline fire may have taken out a different part of the process.

--------------------
Ohm's law
Not just a good idea;
It's the LAW!

 

[TugboatEng]

Google says pyrolysis towers are used to process biomass into oil. There is a recent diesel replacement fuel called R99 that is bio-based. I assume this is going to impact that fuel. My fleet has been required to run R99 since January 1st.

 

[JStephen]

It seems really odd to me that it would collapse in that way. I wonder if this wasn't a partial-vacuum problem as well?

 

[TugboatEng]

Pyrolysis is done in the absence of oxygen. Vacuum pyrolysis is one method.

Edit: that was a coincidental autocorrect error.

 

[TGS4]

Internal fires occasionally happen during a shutdown - either catalyst that has not been properly deactivated, or residue that catches fire after the introduction of air. The internal temperature may have been 1500°F or more - and the self-weight combined with any slight wind would cause a buckling failure like that.