Storage Tank Failures

Two people were injured in a crash involving a pickup and a semi hauling liquid sulfur on the Lewiston Hill Friday afternoon.  It happened at about 1:00 p.m. Idaho State Police said Kurtis Scheffer, 37, of Blaine, WA was southbound in a semi on the inside lane when, William Slemp, 43, of Lewiston came in from behind in a Toyota pickup on the outside lane to pass.  ISP said Slemp looked off to the left and drifted into the driver’s side of the semi. The pickup collided with the first tank on the trailer, and then Slemp jerked the wheel to the left. The vehicle rolled once coming to rest in an upright position.  Slemp and his 12-year-old son were extricated from the pickup and transported to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. ISP at the scene said both suffered head injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.  There was minor damage to the semi but no sulfur spilled.

A sulfur dioxide release left 29 workers with injuries this morning.  According to Polk County officials, the leak happened at the Mosaic facility on Highway 60 in Mulberry just before 8 a.m.  A company spokeswoman says the plant routinely admits sulfur dioxide, but weather conditions this morning caused the noxious cloud to hug the ground instead of drifting away.  Sulfur inhalation can cause respiratory problems and nose and throat irritation, and 18 contractors had to be hospitalized with varying degrees of those symptoms.  One person was admitted in serious condition.  As of 9 a.m., the sulfur cloud had dissipated and the scene cleared.

At least 2,500 residents were forced to evacuate after a toxic spill in a chemical plant in western Pennsylvania on Saturday.  A corrosive liquid overflowed from a tank at a chemical plant, evaporating into a dense toxic cloud which moved close to the ground in parts of Petrolia, Pennsylvania.  The liquid known as oleum, which resembles sulphuric acid, leaked from a tank at the Indspec Chemical Corp. plant in Petrolia, said plant manager Dave Dorko.  Authorities evacuated 2,500 people within the spill’s range and took them to shelters in nearby towns.  Three residents were taken to the Butler Memorial Hospital, officials said.  The state Department of Environmental Protection said authorities were concerned about the potential for respiratory damage and skin burns. Red Cross officials said they expected to shelter only 50 to 100 people overnight

Nearby plant workers and residents across the Mississippi River in White Castle sheltered in place Thursday when a valve at the PCS Nitrogen plant in Geismar leaked sulfuric acid, State Police said.  Roads near the plant and in White Castle were blocked for several hours while officials observed the cloud of sulfuric acid vapors produced by the leak, State Police Sgt. Markus Smith said.  The release “didn’t have  a significant impact and there were no reported injuries,” Smith said.  “It sounded worse than it was,” he said.  Nevertheless, the offices of Homeland Security in Ascension and Iberville parishes issued the sheltering in place warnings to plant workers and White Castle residents.  Sheltering in place means people need to stay inside their homes and businesses, turn off their air conditioners and close their doors and windows, said State Police Trooper Russell Graham, public information officer for Troop A.  Law enforcement officers blocked roads in Ascension Parish leading to the plant and in White Castle until the sulfuric acid cloud dissipated, Graham said.  PCS officials reported a weld broke in the storage tank, causing the acid to leak into the atmosphere, Graham said.  “The tank was leaking 30 to 50 gallons a minute,” Graham said. “They have slowed the leak down to about 10 gallons a minute.”  Graham said water trucks sprayed a curtain of water on top of the cloud to keep it down until the emergency was over.   Workers pumped acid out of the leaking, 700-ton capacity tank until it was empty and the emergency was ended, officials said.

An employee working on a filter at Decas Cranberry's water treatment plant was exposed to sulfuric acid Wednesday morning and rushed to the hospital.  At 1 p.m. Wednesday, Decas Cranberry Company President and CEO Jeff Carlson said hazmat officials were still on the scene, but the employee had been treated and released from the hospital "without any permanent injury".  Police received a 911 call at 7:57 a.m. that a chemical spill had occurred at the company.  Carlson estimated between three and five gallons of sulfuric acid, which is used to clean the treatment's filtration system, spilled and affected the employee's eyes.  "We have safety procedures in place and our employees use full equipment when handling anything hazardous," Carlson said.  "The employee was able to get to a nearby wash station and wash his eyes out immediately which is very important. His skin was not burned, but the fumes came in contact with his eyes. After the fire department is done with their work, we'll assess what happened, why it happened and determine if changes need to be made," he said.  The Fire Department said further details would be available after 2 p.m.

About 2,700 litres of sulphuric acid was spilt at the YIT factory in Ylivieska in Finland on Thursday.  Rescuers said the spill had been caused by human error when filling a tanker lorry.  Some of the acid seeped into the storm drain, but factory workers and firefighters managed to stop it from flowing into the town's water supply.  The fire brigade pumped out some of the acid from the ground and the drain and neutralised the rest with cream of lime.

A gas leak at Richmond's wastewater-treatment plant forced an evacuation of the plant at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday and sent seven people to area hospitals as a precaution.  "We're taking this very seriously," said Robert C. Steidel, deputy director of the city's Department of Public Utilities and one of the first people to respond.  Police said 11 people apparently were affected by the leak of sulfur dioxide gas.  The plant south of the James River near Ancarrow's Landing treats up to 70 million gallons of wastewater a day.  Steidel said the four workers who were on duty at the time detected the leak, immediately evacuated the plant and were treated with oxygen.  Sulfur dioxide can be fatal if inhaled in large quantities, according to medical Web sites.  Four people in the area of the landing who apparently had been fishing were treated at the scene and released. Two other bystanders, an ambulance authority worker and the four plant employees were taken to area hospitals to be examined.  Steidel said the gas is piped from railroad tank cars into a chamber within the plant, where it is injected into water. That mixture is then added to wastewater to rid the water of chlorine before it is discharged into the James River.  The leak apparently occurred in the mixing chamber, which automatically becomes sealed off and airtight when a leak occurs. About 8:40 p.m., hazardous-materials teams determined that the leak had ceased and allowed utilities personnel to re-enter.

OAKEY Abattoir's 700 workers were evacuated yesterday after more than 800 litres of sulphuric acid spilt on site.  Emergency service crews, including a 8specialised Hazardous Chemical Unit, responded quickly to the potentially deadly situation after receiving the call at 9.38am.  All roads surrounding the abattoir were blocked.  Luckily, no-one was injured.  Oakey Abattoir plant manager Bob Bradford said the 800 litres of acid had leaked from a tank located outside the rendering building.  Initially, it was feared 2000 litres had been spilt, however Mr Bradford said the tank only held 2000 litres and that it had been in use for quite some time before the accident occurred.  Mr Bradford said the steel tank had a concrete bunded area around it which contained the spill.  "The tank was reasonably new, actually, as we had replaced the old one recently," he said.  "We're in the process of pumping the fluid from the bunded area to other vessels and then once that is done, the tank will be inspected to find out why it had sprung a leak."  The inspection will be carried out today.  Staff was evacuated and kept outside for 50 minutes before returning to "business as usual".  "We haven't evacuated the plant for anything like this before," Mr Bradford said.  "Everything went as planned, the bunded area worked perfectly and we took the right precautions of evacuating people."

August 4, 2008

Houston, Texas

Valero Energy Corp said production at its 130,000 barrel per day Houston refinery was temporarily reduced after an incident that heavily damaged a sulfur loading tank on Monday morning.  The Houston Fire Department said the tank, which contained sulfur dioxide, ruptured, leading to a shelter-in-place order to nearby residents in Houston's Manchester neighborhood. The shelter order was lifted about two hours after the incident.  A total of five workers -- three contract employees from the refinery and two contractors from nearby facilities -- were taken to hospitals following the incident with breathing problems.  All had been released by mid-afternoon, the company said.  Earlier Valero said four workers were taken to hospitals.  Small homes in the Manchester neighborhood are across local streets from the refinery, which is at the west end of the Houston Ship Channel.  Local television station KHOU-TV showed video of a smoldering tank with a large hole in a portion of its roof at the refinery in a Monday morning news report. Debris could be seen on the ground near the tank.

A sulfuric acid spill at the Chevron refinery this morning has caused no injuries or adverse effects to surrounding areas, the company said.  A leak in a pipeline containing the chemical was discovered around 8:10 a.m. and involved about 1,000 pounds of the liquid, said Chevron spokesman Walt Gill.  Because the sulfuric acid was in liquid and not vapor form, there was no harmful odor emitted, Gill said. Crews have been dispatched to clean up the spill.  Even though the spill did not cause any significant damage or harm, Gill said, the volume of the spill required the company to report it to county and state authorities.

A tanker loaded with sulfuric acid and bleach burns on US 412 Monday morning. Emergency responders shut down the busy highway both directions while fighting the blaze.  The driver of the truck said he was hauling the chemicals on US 412 near the Keystone Dam, when a tire on his truck blew out.  "I just know that I was suddenly in the rail," he said.  Doug Stevens, the operations manager for the chemical company involved, said bleach could have a reaction to sulfuric acid, but said there was little danger to the firefighters or general public from the smoke released from the fire.  Sand Springs Fire Chief Mark Joslin said there was concern about spraying water on the sulfuric acid. That could produce a violent chemical reaction. That, combined with the potential for runoff of the dangerous chemicals into the lake, played into firefighters' decisions to let the fire burn itself out.  The blaze sparked several grass fires, as well.  Emergency workers shut down US 412 for hours while fighting the blaze. As of press time, there was no word on when it would be re-opened.

South Elgin, Illinois

One man was injured and dozens of firefighters were tied up for several hours Tuesday after an industrial accident spilled an estimated 40 gallons of sulfuric acid in a Custom Aluminum Products building at 410 Division St.  Capt. Burt Lancaster of the South Elgin & Countryside Fire Protection District said a 58-year-old male employee sustained second-degree burns on his arms when the acid began leaking from a pipe about 10:45 a.m. The man, whose name had not been released, was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, where he was reported to be "in good shape," Lancaster said.  Fire Chief Joe Cluchey said that when firefighters arrived, they found employees working to shut off the spill, but "we also noted product still being released from some of the dispensing equipment. Employees confirmed that this product was sulfuric acid."   Cluchey said 15 workers were evacuated from the anodizing factory, which is one of a complex of seven adjoining buildings operated by Custom Aluminum and the affiliated company Casco Industries. However, when testing revealed the outside air was not dangerously contaminated with fumes, work was allowed to continue in the other six buildings.  The chief said Custom Aluminum managers believed they were able to shut down the leak by shutting down an air compressor. But help from six other fire departments was called to get enough trained hazardous-materials technicians to enter the building, make sure the leaking had stopped, and make sure no liquid acid was leaking into any drains or areas outside the building. One crew of technicians entered the factory wearing impermeable plastic suits and positive-pressure breathing gear, while another crew, similarly equipped, waited outside in case anyone in the first crew collapsed.  Misting fans and tent-like shelters were set up to cool off the heavily encumbered technicians as a cloudless sun beat down through the 90-degree air.  About 1 p.m., the spill was declared to be contained, and a crew from Hazchem Environmental Corp., a private cleanup contractor hired by Custom Aluminum, had arrived to remove the acid and complete repairs.  South Elgin firefighters were assisted by technicians, ambulances and/or standby fire engines from the Elgin, West Dundee and Hanover Park fire departments, plus the Hampshire, Pingree Grove & Countryside, and Rutland-Dundee Townships fire protection districts.

A pipe that carries sulfuric acid at an oil refinery of Nippon Oil Corp. in Kurashiki was discovered early Monday to be partially broken, resulting in a leakage of the high-concentration liquid, police said.  An employee at the Mizushima oil refinery noticed the leak at about 2:40 a.m. and contacted the local fire department.  It is believed that up to about 1,000 liters of the acid leaked from the five-centimeter-diameter pipe, and there are fears some of the liquid might have spilled into the Seto Inland Sea.  No damage has been reported so far, but the Mizushima Coast Guard Office ordered surveillance vessels to the area to investigate possible damages.  According to the refinery, highly concentrated sulfuric acid used to produce gasoline was sent via the pipe to a factory from a tank about a kilometer from the refinery.

July 10, 2008

A roll over accident on an I-75 exit ramp had environmental clean up crews busy this morning.  A semi carry sulfuric acid tipped over when it tried to take the exit ramp from State Route 65 to 75.  A small amount of the acid leaked out in the crash.  The State Highway Patrol says that the ramp had to be closed for a short time so that the spill could be cleaned up, but only a small amount is said to have gotten out.

Firefighters worked yesterday morning to contain a spill of sulfuric acid at the Maryland Chemical Co. on Childs Street in South Baltimore.  A Fire Department spokesman said a contract worker was injured when some of the chemical spilled on his hands.  Chief Kevin Cartwright said the worker, whose age and identity were not available, was taken to a hospital.  He said the man had been trying to repair a 4,000-gallon tank when it ruptured about 9:30 a.m.  Most of the spill was contained by a berm set up for that purpose, and Cartwright said there are "no concerns environmentally."  The Fire Department contained the spill by 11 a.m.

July 2, 2008

Rochester, Minnesota

A tank carrying approximately 175 gallons of sulfuric acid fell off the back of a semi truck on Highway 54 near Grant Avenue in Portage County this morning.  Authorities closed the highway between Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids to clean up the spill. The road was still closed at noon. Hazardous materials teams from the Whiting Fire Department and Waupaca county were dispatched to the scene.  The tank was laying in the center median of the highway, and some of the acid pooled in a nearby ditch.  According to Lt. Dan Kontos of the Portage County Sheriff’s Department, the truck was leaving the So-White building on 54 when it turned west and the tank fell.  “There was a vapor cloud when I arrived on the scene,” Kontos said. “I could smell it as soon as I got out of my truck.”  Authorities will set up a series of booms and dikes to keep the chemical from penetrating the ground and reaching the ground water. The next step will be to apply soda ash to neutralize then remove the tank, Kontos said.  “Conditions are good right now because the wind is out,” said Plover Fire Chief Tim Kluck. “At this time we aren’t evacuating the nearby businesses.”  The chemical is used to clean concrete and can be harmful if inhaled, Kluck said.
The state Department of Natural Resources, the Portage County Sheriff’s Department, the Plover Police Department and the Wisconsin State Patrol also responded.

Kiev, 14 June: Sulphur dioxide leaked out at [chemical plant] Stirol Concern in Horlivka, Donetsk Region, at 0600 [0300 gmt] today during the launch after repairs of a facility to manufacture sulphuric acid, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency has learned from the press service of the territorial directorate of the state mining inspectorate in Donetsk Region.  A chemical cloud covered the territory of the state-owned coal mine Shakhta Oleksandr-Zakhid.  The press service said that 17 mine workers had complained they felt bad and had undergone a medical examination.  A total of 15 mine workers have been diagnosed as having poisoning and admitted to hospital.

A derailment of 28 cars on a Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) freight train near Northfield resulted in a leak of sulfuric acid.  Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said the derailment occurred near a residential area at about 2 a.m. Monday.  No injuries were reported from the derailment and no evacuations had been ordered as of 6 a.m.  The acid was leaking slowly from only one tanker car.
Twenty-eight of 104 cars on the train left the track.  Emergency crews poured lime on the spilled acid to neutralize it and built an earthen dam to contain it.  An environmental crew also monitored air quality and tested the soil.  Workers planned to pump out the tanker and remove the sulfuric acid in trucks.  The railroad didn't know how much sulfuric acid spilled or exactly how much the tanker contained, but the tanker held up to 14,000 gallons. A second derailed car holding sulfuric acid did not leak.

Follow-up

Car positioning appears to be what caused a 28-car train derailment in Northfield, according to a railroad official.  “The derailment at Northfield on March 31 was determined to have been caused by the way the various train cars were placed or positioned in the train makeup — the way the loaded cars and empty cars were positioned in the train,” said Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific.  The 104-car train headed southbound on its way to North Platte, Neb., derailed north of Greenvale Avenue around 2 a.m. March 31, causing a tanker to leak about 655 gallons of sulfuric acid. There were no injuries nor evacuations, although Davis said he was checking to see if any residents had filed claims with the railroad of suffering poor health as a result of the derailment.  Other than the tanker that was half full with sulfuric acid and another tanker that held peanut oil, the rest of the train’s cars were either empty or carrying stick lumber, Davis said immediately after the derailment.  Davis said Friday in an e-mail that the railroad is running simulations to determine exactly how the makeup of the cars contributed to the wreck. Once they have that information, Davis said, they’ll review it with all employees to ensure proper loading and empty car placement. Federal law also requires that the railroad file a report on its findings to the Federal Railroad Administration.  “An example of how train makeup can contribute to a derailment — if there are too many empty cars in front of heavy-loaded cars as the train is coming to a stop, the heavy cars’ weight will ‘push’ an empty car off the track,” Davis said.  The FRA’s report on the derailment is pending, according to its Web site. At the time of the derailment, FRA spokesman Steven Kulm said it would be months before its investigators would complete their report.

Chinese tanker truck carrying more than 30 metric tons of sulphuric acid has crashed in southwest China, spilling its load into a river and causing "serious pollution," state media said on Wednesday.  The accident occurred on Tuesday, the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, when the truck ran into the guard rail on a highway linking Anning and Chuxiong in the mountainous province of Yunnan, Xinhua news agency said.  "Some of the sulphuric acid has flown into a roadside river and has caused serious pollution. Many fish were killed," Xinhua said.  No human casualties were reported, but up to 1,000 vehicles were stranded along a section of the highway, it said.  "The government has sent for another truck to load the sulphuric acid still in the truck," Xinhua said. It did not say if the spill had affected any drinking water supplies.

No one was injured when a rail car carrying sulfuric acid came off the tracks at GAC Chemical Corp. and released a small amount of the chemical.  The accident occurred while GAC was taking delivery of four or five carloads of sulfuric acid that came in on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. The car derailed due to human error, he said, and came to a rest leaning at a 45-degree angle.   The car's connection to the rest of the train prevented the rail car from tipping completely over.  Once the crane arrived, Dittmeier said the tipped car was hoisted and loaded onto an empty car, so it would remain upright. The process took between two and three hours, he said, to give GAC personnel time to inspect the tracks and rail car for any damages. Dittmeier said there appeared to be no damage to either. Then, the crane was used again to reset the car onto the track.  When the car was being transferred the last time, the repositioning caused it to "burp," according to Dittmeier. This caused about 10 gallons of sulfuric acid to spill onto the top of the railcar, a problem that was easily contained.

A truck spilled 550 gallons of chemicals in Fraser this afternoon, closing Masonic Boulevard, between Groesbeck Highway and Utica Roads.   Local businesses were evacuated and crews conducted a total cleanup of the area.  Fraser Public Safety officers responded to a call around 3:30 p.m. Friday of a vacuum truck containing about 550 gallons of sulfuric and nitric acid developing a leak near one of its valves.  The Clinton Township hazardous materials team arrived on the scene and determined all of the truck's contents had emptied, some of which ran off the road and into a nearby sewer and drain.  No one was injured in the incident.  

Update December 14, 2007 - European Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) presents experts' report on oil spill in Kerch Strait.  It concluded that the sunken sulphur did not pose an immediate acute risk to the environment but recommended that the sunken ships with sulphur on board be salvaged so that the sulphur can be appropriately processed.

A road train carrying three trailers of sulphuric acid overturned near Hughenden, in central north Queensland.  The Flinders Highway was closed after the eastbound road train crashed about 30km east of Hughenden.  Police said the road train was passing a truck and sedan travelling in the opposite direction when its third trailer veered into a ditch before swerving across the road and overturning.  None of the sulphuric acid was spilt in the accident and there were no other environmental concerns.  No one was injured in the accident.

A woman crashes into a tank causing an acid spill near Taft.  A hazmat crew was called out after the vehicle had put a four inch gash into the side of a tank carrying sulfuric acid.  The acid was coming out at a slow rate, but did cause a small puddle.  Hazmat determined there was no immediate threat so now it's up to the owner of the land to clean up the mess.  Sulfuric acid is often used in water that farmers use to irrigate.

Louisiana Highway 520 in Claiborne Parish was shut down this morning after a truck hauling sulfuric acid wrecked.  The spill occurred about 1 a.m., half a mile south of the Louisiana 161 intersection in the north part of the parish, State Police said.  There were no homes in the immediate vicinity of the wreck and no one was evacuated, State Police said.

A section of U. S. Highway 59 was shut down due to a hazardous chemical spill.  An 18 wheeler that was carrying about 40,000 pounds of sulfur, crashed into a stalled vehicle on US 59 in Timpson around 7:30 p. m. Monday.  The truck caught on fire and spilled its load all over the highway.  The initial danger was pretty high because of the fumes bein