An Investigation of Fire and Explosion Accident In the Drainage System Related to Process Industries

The study of fire and explosion in the process industries has been a significant scope in the oil and gas business. In this work, oil liquid samples have been collected from a drainage system of one of a refinery in Malaysia. The liquid sample is analyzed experimentally to indicate the hydrocarbon components via Gas Chromatography (GC). The GC analysis shows that the liquid sample contains large numbers of hydrocarbon components (CH-) from C7 to C25. The heat of combustion of the sample is measured using the bomb calorimeter and found equal to 45,745 J/g. The flash point is measured using closed-cup method and the ignition point is measured using the tester. The flash point and the ignition point were 86^oC and 200^oC respectively. The flammability limit of each component contained in the liquid sample was obtained from relevant literatures. The upper flammability limit and the lower flammability limit are obtained using Le Chatelier's correlation. Furthermore, calculation of pool evaporation rate, evaporation rate due to solar radiation, and the damage due to overpressure are obtained and discussed in this paper. For the gas sample, the compositions were obtained experimentally using the GC. The GC experiments have been conducted at different temperatures to know the compositions and at which temperature will vaporize. The GC experiments were conducted at different temperatures (28^oC, 30^oC, 35^oC, 40^oC, and 45^oC. The components were detected were pentane (C5), hexane (C6), heptane (C7) and octane (C8). The aim of the study was to investigate the root causes of the fire incident in the drainage system and to provide engineering approaches to prevent from the likelihood of the similar case recurrence. The result of this study may contribute to minimizing the loss of properties, business and life due to fire or explosion.