Which company’s liquid chlorine facility is fully enclosed? Let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of fully enclosed liquid chlorine plants

This issue has been discussed earlier; the ideal situation is that in the event of a chlorine leak, all of the leaked chlorine is absorbed, ensuring that none of it escapes and thus maintaining the safety of the surrounding environment. The specific implementation of this requirement is that, according to the regulations set by the Safety Supervision Bureau and safety science, chlorine liquid handling facilities must abandon the previous framework-style building design; high walls must be constructed, gates installed, and the facilities made airtight. But will this ensure safety? ------Obviously, this approach does not guarantee the prevention of gas dispersion, nor does it ensure that all the leaked chlorine will be absorbed.

The key issue is that what might originally be a leak incident with minimal risk and easy to control can turn into a major accident with severe consequences and out of control, just like the chlorine leak incident in Chongqing that year

There are now frameworks in place for storing liquid chlorine, and a robust ventilation system is required to ensure good sealing; however, I still feel that such sealing measures actually hinder emergency response efforts. The capabilities of both humans and machines are limited

It’s not difficult to ensure complete sealing of chlorine storage areas and vaporization rooms; basically, no one operates inside them. In the event of an accident, since there’s no one inside, the absorption system can be activated remotely. I think such requirements are reasonable. During design, it is necessary to calculate the amount of gasification; a fan is selected based on this amount, and in principle this approach can prevent the leakage of chlorine gas.

I think it depends on whether the accident is under control? I think the current design can basically meet the requirements for accident handling, so I believe both enclosed and semi-enclosed factories will work. Under normal circumstances, major accidents do not occur. There is no other facility in the whole country that has experienced an accident like the one at Chongqing Tianyuan Chemical Plant; moreover, that accident was caused by improper methods used during the subsequent handling process. Whether it is fully enclosed or semi-enclosed, someone has to enter to handle an accident. In a fully enclosed facility, the concentration of substances in the confined space is high, which may cause greater harm to people compared to a semi-enclosed facility, but environmental pollution is less severe ； However, in terms of normal daily operations, trace amounts of chlorine in confined spaces do not spread easily; being in such an environment for an extended period may pose a greater risk to humans.

It is a completely enclosed factory; in the event of a leak, when the concentration of chlorine gas in that enclosed space is high, the yellow-green-colored gas reduces visibility to such an extent that it’s practically impossible to see anything. Moreover, dealing with an accident in such a factory filled with high concentrations of chlorine gas is an extremely dangerous task. Even if you are wearing a air respirator, it remains very risky – the slightest leak in the mask can be fatal! Even though I have spent a long time on the front line, know the situation there very well, and am skilled at self-rescue, I simply cannot imagine what kind of secondary accidents might occur in such a situation.

I conducted surprise on-site inspections to check the wearing of protective equipment by the fire teams; each group consisted of three members, who were required to put on gas masks and air respirators as quickly as possible. The result was that the compliance rate for wearing these two types of protective equipment was zero – none of them were able to provide effective protection. During the rescue operations following the explosion in Binhai New Area, Tianjin, I saw that some firefighters were not wearing their personal protective equipment properly, which really made me worry about their safety. Not to mention the fact that journalists on site fail to wear proper safety equipment – it’s simply treating their own safety as a joke! Perhaps these journalists are brave, but they are indeed ignorant as well; the directors at the television stations are also ignorant and lack professional skills and competence. At the very least, they should advise those on site to take precautions for their own safety, and at least they should apply technical adjustments to those footage shots that clearly show a lack of safety awareness, or add subtitles to provide the public with accurate information!

Everyone has their own focus of attention; different focuses lead to seeing different problems.

What we are designing now is that the factory doors are equipped with self-closing devices, keeping them in a closed state. Mechanical ventilation is provided; normal air exchange can be achieved through this system, with exhaust vents installed in multiple locations. The exhaust capacity is greater than the maximum vaporization rate calculated, ensuring that chlorine does not leak out. In the event of a leakage, the transfer pump can be activated remotely to create negative pressure and draw air away from the area affected by the leak. All other systems are shut down urgently, so no one needs to be on site to handle the situation. In my opinion, this design is quite reasonable.

The best designs, the most perfect plans, and the most advanced equipment – if they have not withstood the test of time, do not necessarily mean they yield the best results