Marion den Hollander explained just what did happen in Moerdijk on the 3rd of June 2014. At the annual meeting of NPT on 25 May the Principal Technical Safety Engineer of Shell gave a frank exposé of the history of the explosion at the SMPO plant.
She explained in detail the combined effect of several factors that caused the explosion. One of the factors was that during the catalyst preconditioning a reaction occurred between the catalyst and the flush liquid, causing a runaway reaction. This reaction had not been tested in the Runaway Hazard (RHA) experimental program, because the flush liquid was considered inert to the catalyst.
One of the lessons drawn from this accident was:
Development and design teams must allow others, from outside, to help review the experimental program, the design and the procedures.
Thanks are due to Jan Harmsen for bringing this to our attention.
