Damage to the pipe connecting the delivery side of the bottom pump to the delivery side of the feed pump caused vacuum distillate and then vacuum residue at a temperature of approximately 350 °C to leak in the area of the top withdrawal pump and cooling/rinsing tank and then to catch fire.
There were no injuries.
The material damage amounts to around €2-3 million. Amongst other things, the cooling/rinsing tank, pumps and numerous pipes, items of process measuring and control equipment and the steel structure were severely damaged by the fire and need to be replaced.

Timeline of the incident:
– At around 8.55 a.m., three employees of a partner company left their place of work near the scene of the subsequent fire and met by a furnace.
– The employees of the partner company looked again in the direction of the facility and noticed leaking product and, immediately afterwards, flames.
– At the same time, members of site staff were working on the periodic replacement of the bottom withdrawal pump of a column. At 8.58 a.m., a reserve pump was started up. At 8.59 a.m., an alarm on the process control system signalled ‘pressure low’ on the delivery side of the bottom withdrawal pump. Immediately afterwards, an alarm signalled a falling level in the column and a decrease in the quantity delivered to a ‘90-degree pipe’.
– Site staff in the measuring station noticed flames in the area of the vacuum distillation unit on a surveillance camera and informed other colleagues on site.
– The shift leader on site alerted the plant fire service at approximately 9.01 a.m. and informed colleagues in the plant by radio that a fire had been reported in the area of the top withdrawal pump. Shortly after, an emergency shutdown of the plant was implemented.
– The plant fire service was dispatched and started extinguishing the fire; back-up was then requested from part-time firefighters.
– At 10.17 a.m., the fire was under control and by 10.31 a.m. it had been extinguished.