Lessons from an explosion accident in Linyuan Petrochemical Park of Taiwan: From the perspectives of process safety management

Abstract This study examines a tragic explosion at Linyuan Petrochemical Park in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, resulting in two fatalities, two severe injuries, and significant financial losses. Taiwan's Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) investigation attributed the incident to a ruptured Ethyl Propyl Diene Monomer (EPDM) rubber hose during catalyst changeover, releasing flammable liquids and triggering a violent vapor cloud explosion. Because of lacking process safety information (PSI), the plant manager failed to identify the risk of incompatibility between EPDM rubber and olefin and failed to replace the EPDM hose with a compatible material or select a carbon steel pipe timely. By not carefully considering the impact of facility siting in the process hazard analysis, TASCO also was unaware that the control room was too close to the process area. As a result, the control room was destroyed at the onset of the accident. Inadequate Management of Change (MOC) impeded the hazard identification for the catalyst changeover procedure, thereby failing to identify defects in this operating procedure. Finally, a false level alarm caused the operator to partially close the control valve downstream of the hose, indirectly leading to the pipe rupture, and this highlights a lack of Mechanical Integrity (MI) in this plant.