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May 28, 2024

Federal investigators find Optima Belle, Clearon safety failures set up fatal 2020 Kanawha County chemical site explosion

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Pictured is the aftermath of a fatal 2020 explosion at Optima Belle LLC's facility in Belle. Federal regulators released a report Thursday finding Optima Belle and Clearon contributed to the incident through ineffective process safety management systems and failure to follow industry guidance.

Federal regulators say two Kanawha County companies’ safety failures enabled a fatal 2020 explosion at a Belle chemical facility.

In its final investigation report on the explosion that killed an Optima Belle LLC employee at the company’s facility, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Optima Belle and South Charleston-based specialty chemical maker Clearon Corp. contributed to the incident through ineffective process safety management systems and failure to follow industry guidance.

The release of the report Thursday afternoon from the board, known as the CSB, comes as Optima Belle plans a return to full operational status at the facility with new equipment. West Virginia environmental regulators have indicated they’ll approve that move.

The explosion occurred at roughly 10 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2020, while Optima Belle was drying out a chlorinated isocyanurate compound on behalf of Clearon. The blast killed John Gillenwater, 42, of Hurricane. Two other Optima Belle employees were evaluated for respiratory irritation and one Kanawha County resident reported a minor leg injury, according to the CSB.

The compound underwent an unanticipated decomposition reaction, emitting gases that increased the dryer internal pressure above its design pressure before the dryer exploded, the CSB said in its 129-page report.

Clearon gave Optima Belle process safety information for the dehydration process but lacked effective process knowledge management practices, the CSB found, noting the result was Optima Belle inadequately understanding process hazards.

The CSB determined Clearon’s safety data sheet for the compound in the double-cone dryer when it exploded, sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate, was insufficient, not accurately showing the temperatures at which the compound could decompose.

Clearon knew the temperatures at which the compound could decompose to be far lower than the listed decomposition temperature of 240 to 250 degrees Celsius based on studies in the 1970s and 1980s, according to the CSB.

The safety data sheet stated that hazardous reactions “Will not occur” despite Clearon knowledge the compound can undergo a hazardous decomposition reaction, the CSB said.

Optima Belle could have used more robustly vetted information to better inform its hazards analysis and prevent the incident, the CSB observed.

Clearon found that a June 2022 Clearon safety data sheet for sodium dichloroisocynurate dihydrate still falls short of clearly communicating known hazards of the material.

Optima Belle didn’t adequately seek additional information that could have led to an effective hazards assessment, the CSB determined.

Optima Belle’s heating and cooling systems couldn’t prevent a CDB-56 decomposition as designed, according to the CSB.

CDB-56 is the trade name for sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate. Optima Belle, a toll manufacturer, was dehydrating CDB-56 to make sodium dichloroisocyanurate without water on behalf of Clearon through a contractual agreement with tolling outsourcing partner Richman Chemical Inc., per the CSB.

Clearon submitted a toll manufacturing inquiry to Richman Chemical for the dehydration of CDB-56 to make sodium dichloroisocyanurate, trade named CDB-63, in August 2020, according to the CSB.

Richman Chemical asked Clearon if an alternate drying technology like the rotary double-cone dryer that exploded was acceptable and identified Optima Belle as a possible service provider that had double cone dryers constructed of corrosion-resistant material, the CSB said.

In November 2020, Optima Belle said “it appears we can stay in the safe range with a few adjustments to our normal operating procedures” after reviewing a decomposition report for CDB-63, according to the CSB’s report.

Clearon’s and Optima Belle’s failure to follow industry guidance included not evaluating the technology change from an atmospheric fluidized bed dryer to a pressure-rated rotary dryer and insufficient mutual involvement in the process hazard analysis, the report found.

The CSB found Pennsylvania-based Richman Chemical could have ensured that Optima Belle and Clearon were adhering to tolling industry good practices.

Neither sodium dichloroisocyanurate nor sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate are covered under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Rule, which provides a list of regulated substances under the Clean Air Act. Neither substance is covered under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Process Safety Management standard containing requirements for managing hazards linked to processes using highly hazardous chemicals.

Had the substances been covered by those regulations, Clearon, Optima Belle and Richman Chemical would have been required to implement a safety management system that included provisions for process safety information containing reactivity data, the CSB noted. That might have led Optima Belle and Clearon to better analyze reactivity hazards stemming from sodium dichloroisocyanurate dihydrate, the CSB concluded.

The CSB recommended Optima Belle develop and implement a written thermal and reactive hazards evaluation and management program and a process safety management system consistent with industry guidance publications.

The agency recommended Clearon update its CDB-56 safety data sheet and develop and implement a comprehensive process knowledge management program or evaluate and revise existing process safety management procedures.

Metal debris and dryer fragments sailed offsite and within the facility following the blast, striking a methanol pipe that subsequently caught fire, the report noted. Optima Belle’s estimated property damage from the incident is $33.1 million, according to the CSB.

Local authorities issued a shelter-in-place order for a 2-mile radius of the site for more than four hours.

Clearon, Georgia-based Optima Belle affiliate Optima Chemical and Richman Chemical did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Last month, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced it intends to approve a modification to Optima Belle’s air quality permit for the 901 W. Dupont Ave. facility that includes a new chemical process, new equipment and new hazardous air pollutants.

Optima’s application identifies equipment damaged in the 2020 explosion that needs to be removed from the permit since it is no longer operable and has been removed from a processing area, according to a DEP engineering evaluation.

The new equipment will be used in the same fashion as the equipment that was removed, per the engineering evaluation. The equipment will allow the site to be more flexible in production. Optima is installing equipment that will be devoted to mostly production of Glypure, a material used in skin care products.

The Division of Air Quality said written comments or requests for a public meeting must be received by 5 p.m. Monday. A public meeting may be held if Division of Air Quality Director Laura Crowder determines the agency has received significant public interest in writing or otherwise deems it appropriate.

Comments may be sent to Jonathan Carney, WV Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street SE, Charleston, WV, 25304. Carney can also be reached at 304-926-0499, Ext. 41247, or [email protected].

The draft permit, application and engineering evaluation are available through the DEP’s Application Xtender database accessible at https://dep.wv.gov/daq/permitting/Pages/NSR-Permit -Applications.aspx.

The CSB’s report can be found at https://www.csb.gov/assets/1/6/optima_report_for_publication.pdf.

Home to “Chemical Valley,” the common nickname for the Kanawha Valley’s high concentration of chemical facilities, West Virginia has been the focus of more completed CSB investigations than any other state except Texas since 2006.

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Mike Tony covers energy and the environment. He can be reached at 304-348-1236 or [email protected]. Follow @Mike__Tony on Twitter.

Environment and Energy Reporter