Like rhinestones falling from the sky
For those of you who didn't hear - On March 10, there was an explosion on the 6th floor of Choppin Hall (I work on the 4th, for reference). One of my friends, Rider, was at the center of it and hospitalized. We just received an email with the full story of what happened, so that speculation would stop. I'm going to copy-paste the whole email here. I'm also leaving this entry public so that I can show people who aren't necessarily on my LJ friendlist. ♥
Let me fill you in on the accident that occurred on the sixth floor on Thursday, March 10 around 2:50 PM.
My graduate student, Rider Barnum, was carrying a pressurized stainless steel 1 liter cylinder with a pressure gauge and valve assemblies from Choppin 616 to 604 when the gas mixture inside the tank exploded outside of room 604.
Rider was carrying the cylinder by the pressure gauge which partially blew apart, cutting the palm of his left hand, releasing some hot gases burning him, and putting some metal fragments into his hand. The bottom valve assembly on the tank blew out completely and the hot pressurized gas mixture blew the tank completely out of his hand and flashed part of his long sleeve cotton shirt away, particularly on the lower part of his left arm. Some of the small metal fragments that ended up in his hand may have come from the bottom valve assembly.
There was no active fire aside from the initial detonation, although the smoke from his shirt set off the fire alarm.
Rider’s burns initially looked horrible due to the black soot deposited on his arm and hand. The paramedics and those of us who saw his blackened lower arm and palm initially thought there were third degree burns and that it was a lot worse than it turned out.
Rider was taken to Baton Rouge General mid-city where they have an excellent burn unit. But the doctors only found first and second degree burns after cleaning the black soot off his arm and hand. The doctors did not consider it serious enough to call in any burn specialists.
Rider did have bits of shrapnel (stainless steel) embedded in his hand and they performed a 30 min minor operation to remove the larger pieces and to repair the laceration on his palm. There was no nerve or tendon damage. Rider was then sent home to rest and recover.
Due to the second degree burns he will probably be out for a couple of weeks but is expected to make a full recovery. I’m in contact and hear that he is healing well and wants to get back to work as soon as the doctors allow.
We believe that there was an accidental mixing of hydrogen and oxygen gas in the tank. The detonation could have been triggered by the compressive heating that took place on recharging the tank and the overall pressure present. The tank was labeled as containing oxygen and had a partial pressure of gas already in it. Rider recharged it without releasing the existing gas and flushing the tank out.
There are two possibilities where the mistake occurred:
1) The tank, which was labeled O2, actually had a partial pressure of H2 in it.
2) The tank had O2 in it, but Rider accidentally filled it with H2. The main H2 tank in Choppin 616 is right next to the O2 tank.
More investigation is needed to determine exactly what happened.
In the future we will always release any existing gas in one of these cylinders and never recharge a partially pressurized tank. This will ensure that this type of mixing never occurs again. We normally only put pure gases in these tanks, which pose no explosion hazard.
We have also hung large signs on the main H2 and O2 tanks in Choppin 616 to ensure that the proper gas is used in the future.
So long story short, gas mixture. And the end result? Black soot made his arm look worse than it really was. He's lucky. 2nd degree burns and a few weeks until full recovery is pretty damn good for being at the center of a hydrogen gas explosion...
Let me fill you in on the accident that occurred on the sixth floor on Thursday, March 10 around 2:50 PM.
My graduate student, Rider Barnum, was carrying a pressurized stainless steel 1 liter cylinder with a pressure gauge and valve assemblies from Choppin 616 to 604 when the gas mixture inside the tank exploded outside of room 604.
Rider was carrying the cylinder by the pressure gauge which partially blew apart, cutting the palm of his left hand, releasing some hot gases burning him, and putting some metal fragments into his hand. The bottom valve assembly on the tank blew out completely and the hot pressurized gas mixture blew the tank completely out of his hand and flashed part of his long sleeve cotton shirt away, particularly on the lower part of his left arm. Some of the small metal fragments that ended up in his hand may have come from the bottom valve assembly.
There was no active fire aside from the initial detonation, although the smoke from his shirt set off the fire alarm.
Rider’s burns initially looked horrible due to the black soot deposited on his arm and hand. The paramedics and those of us who saw his blackened lower arm and palm initially thought there were third degree burns and that it was a lot worse than it turned out.
Rider was taken to Baton Rouge General mid-city where they have an excellent burn unit. But the doctors only found first and second degree burns after cleaning the black soot off his arm and hand. The doctors did not consider it serious enough to call in any burn specialists.
Rider did have bits of shrapnel (stainless steel) embedded in his hand and they performed a 30 min minor operation to remove the larger pieces and to repair the laceration on his palm. There was no nerve or tendon damage. Rider was then sent home to rest and recover.
Due to the second degree burns he will probably be out for a couple of weeks but is expected to make a full recovery. I’m in contact and hear that he is healing well and wants to get back to work as soon as the doctors allow.
We believe that there was an accidental mixing of hydrogen and oxygen gas in the tank. The detonation could have been triggered by the compressive heating that took place on recharging the tank and the overall pressure present. The tank was labeled as containing oxygen and had a partial pressure of gas already in it. Rider recharged it without releasing the existing gas and flushing the tank out.
There are two possibilities where the mistake occurred:
1) The tank, which was labeled O2, actually had a partial pressure of H2 in it.
2) The tank had O2 in it, but Rider accidentally filled it with H2. The main H2 tank in Choppin 616 is right next to the O2 tank.
More investigation is needed to determine exactly what happened.
In the future we will always release any existing gas in one of these cylinders and never recharge a partially pressurized tank. This will ensure that this type of mixing never occurs again. We normally only put pure gases in these tanks, which pose no explosion hazard.
We have also hung large signs on the main H2 and O2 tanks in Choppin 616 to ensure that the proper gas is used in the future.
So long story short, gas mixture. And the end result? Black soot made his arm look worse than it really was. He's lucky. 2nd degree burns and a few weeks until full recovery is pretty damn good for being at the center of a hydrogen gas explosion...