Catastrophic failure of a liquid carbon dioxide storage vessel

Abstract

Abstract This article describes the catastrophic failure of a liquid CO 2 storage vessel and the chain of events that contributed to this incident. This incident happened in Procter & Gamble GmbH's citrus process in Worms, Germany. Three fatalities, over $20 million in property damage, and three month's lost production resulted. Initially less than one‐fifth of the storage vessel was available for examination. The force of the explosion had propelled most of the vessel into the nearby Rhein River. The unavailability of the other parts of the vessel seriously hampered the incident investigation and prevented correct determination of the basic cause of the failure. Later recovery and inspection of additional parts of the tank allowed the investigation team to determine the correct basic cause. The results of the inspections conducted on other liquid CO 2 vessels are covered. These inspections resulted in most of these vessels being removed from service. Other actions taken to prevent similar incidents include: Elimination of the use of carbon dioxide in many non‐critical applications. Development and adoption of specific Company design requirements for liquid CO 2 storage systems into standard Design Practices.