Jump to content

Blowdown stack

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by GreenC bot (talk | contribs) at 17:11, 28 January 2017 (Reformat 2 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.1). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

A blowdown stack is a chimney or vertical stack that is used to vent the pressure of components of a chemical, refinery or other process if there is a process problem or emergency. A blowdown stack can be used to complement a flare stack or as an alternative. The purpose is to prevent 'loss of containment' of volatile liquids and gases.

The failure of the blowdown stack to contain hydrocarbons vented from a raffinate splitter led to a catastrophic explosion at the Texas City Refinery (BP) in 2005.[1]

References

  1. ^ "BP agrees to pay record $50.6m fine for Texas explosion". BBC News. October 7, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2010.

"Chemical Safety Board's Preliminary Findings in BP Texas City Refinery Accident: Refinery Ablaze - 15 dead". Archived from the original on 2013-04-08. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) (362 kb) System Failure Case Studies. NASA. January 2008, Volume 2, Special Issue. Retrieved October 9, 2012