Event
- Event ID
- 837
- Quality
- Description
- At a water sports center, a 35-liter container of caustic soda (NaOH) spilled down an aluminum metal staircase leading to a technical room housing other chemicals and electrical cabinets. Hydrogen was released from the reaction of the soda with the aluminum. Emergency services fearing further escalation by pollution of a pit containing a lift pump connected to a shipyard and a neutralisation system. Absorbents were poured onto the spill.
- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Unignited Hydrogen Release
- Nature of the consequences
- Leak No Ignition (No additional details provided)
- Macro-region
- Europe
- Country
- France
- Date
- Main component involved?
- N.A.
- How was it involved?
- N.A.
- Initiating cause
- N.A.
- Root causes
- Root CAUSE analysis
- Spilling of substance is usually attributed to a human error. However, the prevention of spilling is resposniility of effective procedures.
Facility
- Application
- Other
- Sub-application
- nautical center
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
- aluminium metal staircase
- Location type
- Confined
- Location description
- Harbour Or Waterborne
- Operational condition
- Description of the facility/unit/process/substances
- The reaction between caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and aluminum is a highly exothermic process that produces sodium aluminate and hydrogen gas:
(2Al + 2NaOH + 2H2O -> 2NaAlO2 + 3H2).
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
Event Nature
- Release type
- Gas-liquid-solid mixture
- Involved substances (% vol)
- NaHO,
Al,
H2 - Actual pressure (MPa)
- n.a.
- Design pressure (MPa)
- n.a.
- Presumed ignition source
- No ignition
References
- Reference & weblink
ARIA data base <br />
event no. 27407
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- ARIA
