Missed LA Bhopal: The 2015 Torrance, CA Exxon Refinery Explosion: A Nice Process Based Animation of the Failure. [View all]

When I was a kid, in a bit of irony during my personal revolt against the internal combustion engine (which failed ultimately) I used to bicycle down Crenshaw Blvd in Torrance California on my way to work where there was a huge Exxon oil refinery which I knew had a huge amount, ton scale I believe, of hydrofluoric acid (HF), a cracking catalyst, that has terrifying properties.

(I once had to kick a bunch of guys working for me out of the lab and suit up in heavy PPE to clean up a spill they'd caused as a result of a deviation, of about 10 or 15 grams of liquid HF in a hood. It was the scariest incident in my career but no one was injured because remediation equipment was readily available in the lab.)

In 2017, there was a huge explosion at the refinery (which has since been sold by Exxon) leading to a 80,000 pound chunk of metal landing close to the HF tank. Had the tank ruptured it would have created a Bhopal like situation in Torrance and beyond. (See the second video below.)

There's a nice animation video of interest to chemical engineering types to explain what happened. Here it is:

A news item referring to the explosion:



There is no such thing as risk free energy technology, but some technologies are worse than others. I personally have no use for dangerous fossil fuels, because their use in normal situations is deadly, never mind their risks in abnormal situations.

I trust you're enjoying the weekend.