Archive for the ‘Biofuels’ Category

Fire at a Biodiesel Facility

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

A month ago, I wrote about fire in a biodiesel facility - the last one for 2010. https://risk-safety.com/risksafetynewsite/another-biodiesel-firehopfully-the-last-one-for-2010/ Four days into 2011, a fire was reported at a biodiesel plant in Indiana. A boiler used to heat oil which in turn in used to warm biodiesel caught on fire.  To read more click below: http://tinyurl.com/BiodieselFire-Jan11

Another Biodiesel Fire…hopfully the last one for 2010!

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Readers of this blog are familiar with the biofuel incident trend that I have written about in previous posts. https://risk-safety.com/risksafetynewsite/category/biofuels/ Based on what I have researched, the incident frequency of a fire/explosion in biodiesel plant is 10 weeks, i.e. every two and half months there is a fire or explosion in a biodiesel ...

Biodiesel Accident Trend Continues in 2010

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

In a number of my previous blog posts, I have emphasized the disturbing trend of fires and explosions in the biodiesel and biofuel industry. Based on the statistics, the biodiesel industry in the US is experiencing an incident every two-and-a-half months, i.e. approx. 10 weeks. The last biodiesel incident I wrote about was in Dec. ...

Biodiesel Incidents Trend

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Based on incident data in biodiesel facilities, I had written that the biodiesel industry in the US is experiencing an incident every two-and-a-half months, i.e. approx. 10 weeks. Here are incidents following my May 2009 blog post on biodiesel incident frequency. 1.       15 July 2009, Chicago: An explosion at a biodiesel plant ...

Top Five Risk and Safety Blog Posts for 2009

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

I would like to wish readers and the growing list of subscribers of risk and safety blog a prosperous 2010. It has been a year since I started writing the blog. Here are top five blog posts for 2009: 1. Biofuel Safety: Is it time for Bio-PSM? 2. Lithium Battery Fires: Why Your ...

Florida Biodiesel Fire: The Trend Continues

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Last Thursday (September 24, 2009) a fire was reported in a biodisel plant near Osceola County in Florida. The biodiesel plant was owned by New Eden Energy. There were no fatalities or injuries. Earlier, I had pointed out the need for safety in biofuel plants. Based on incident data I reviewed, ...

Green Safety: Manage Risks Arising from Green Technologies

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Green is "In". Consumers, retail stores, and corporate policies are all going green. But just because you have a green technology does not mean you have ZERO risks. Let me give you a couple of examples. Biofuel Industry As I have pointed out in an earlier post (Fires and Explosions in Biofuel Industry) biofuel ...

Explosion at Biodiesel Plant – July 2009

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

The biodiesel and biofuel industry is demonstrating a disturbing trend of unsafe operations. The biodiesel industry is experiencing one fire/explosion incident EVERY two-and-a-half months. Last Friday, there was an explosion at a biodiesel plant in Chicago injuring two workers. The following video from NBC provides details of the incident. http://tinyurl.com/lmpug7 According to the video, the explosion ...

Fires and Explosions in Biodiesel and Ethanol Facilities

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

In an earlier post, I talked about safety in biofuel plants. Today, I would like to share couple of Google Maps (Source: John Astad of Combustible Dust Policy Institute) that graphically display incidents in biodiesel and ethanol plants. Biodiesel Fires and Explosions Map (click to view) According to the map, there were  ...

Biodiesel: Trends and Opportunities

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

A couple of years ago I did a presentation for the Houston AIChE chapter on biodiesel market trends and commercial opportunities. Below is a link. http://www.slideshare.net/sanjeev_saraf/biodiesel-srs-2007