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    Case Study Submission - 1

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    sanyukta

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    Case Study Submission - 1

    Uploaded by

    sanyukta
    17 views2 pages

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    CASE STUDY SUBMISSION - 1

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    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as pdf or txt
    17 views2 pages

    Case Study Submission - 1

    Uploaded by

    sanyukta

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Name: Sanyukta Shinde

    College: Thadomal Shahani Engineering College

    PROJECT CASE STUDY SUBMISSION – 1


    BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

    • How did the Bhopal Gas Tragedy happen?


    Ans: During the month of December, in Bhopal a highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC)
    vapors burst from the Union Carbide pesticide plant. Around 2000 people died immediately
    and approximately 300,000 people were injured. MIC was a major component for the
    production of the pesticide by Sevin by the Union Carbide factory at Bhopal. This incident we
    now refer is also known as “Hiroshima of the Chemical Industry” and is one of the terrible
    commercial industrial disasters. It is described as low probability-high consequence accident.
    The vociferous outcome of the accident was a progressive effect of the seven reasons
    mentioned below:
    1. Large release of chemical from the plant
    2. Release of colorless, odorless MIC, which is highly toxic
    3. Heavily populated areas adjacent to the plant
    4. Calm weather conditions, bringing the vapor cloud down
    5. Leak occurs at night when people are sleeping
    6. Failure or late warnings
    7. Unqualified and unaware people working at the plant

    • Cause of Bhopal Gas Tragedy


    Ans: As per the source’s methyl isocyanate got mixed with water used for cooling the plant.
    The mixture led to generation of volumes of gases, which put tremendous pressure on Tank.
    The tank cover gave way to building gaseous pressure releasing tonnes of the poisonous gas,
    which diffused over large area. The pipes were not well maintained. All the contents of the
    tank were released within a period of about two hours. The water had entered the tank because
    of a sequence of events. The tank had been maintained badly. When cleaning work was done,
    water entered the tank. Approximately 5 lakh people were exposed to the leakage of methyl
    isocyanate gas.

    • What would have eliminated this tragedy to take place?


    Ans: The Bhopal tragedy was a long overdue wake up call to the chemical industry, which
    changed the chemical industry foe the better and also many lessons were learned which helped
    raise safety awareness within the chemical industry. Below are some points that needed to be
    eliminated:
    1. Storage of toxic substances was reorganized after the tragedy; one cannot be too careful
    when handling such toxic material especially those that are routinely handled in
    chemical industry.
    Name: Sanyukta Shinde
    College: Thadomal Shahani Engineering College

    2. Inherent design safety, should have been incorporated into facilities handling these
    materials and dispersion mechanisms should be always be present and functional.

    3. There should always be a limit to the amount of toxic material one can store, process
    design that needs to take into consideration and try to minimize it.

    4. It should be taken into consideration that a safety valve should only open when the
    pressure rise inside the vessel threatens its integrity but not with any minor pressure
    deviation. Nevertheless, when the risk of an excessive in temperature, in the case of
    highly exothermic or runaway reactions, a compromise needs to be made so as when
    the venting starts.

    5. It is crucial to have strict procedures for disabling any safety equipment and try to keep
    it to minimum.

    6. Regular and effective maintenance is important in any plant and immediate action
    should be taken when anything unusual is detected.

    7. A simple safety device called slip line would have been installed into pipes to serve as
    a watertight seal and blocks the flow of water, which was not installed in Bhopal plant.

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