Ethylene is Explosive
A Rare but Real Problem in Fruit Ripening.
There have been accidents in ripening rooms involving ethylene application. All systems have become safer, but since the invention of Catalytic Generators’ ethylene systems, there are less ripening accidents.
Safety is one of out top priorities, and our goal here is to simply inform others of the dangers of ethylene, so here is a collection of explosions that have occurred in the last 50 years.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those killed and injured.
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2018 - India
Three workers killed in gas cylinder blast at banana ripening plant.
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2013 - Sidon, Lebanon
One man was killed and 14 others were injured in an explosion at a plant used to treat bananas. The explosion resulted from a reaction between chemicals used at the plant.
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1999 - Los Angeles, CA
An ethylene cylinder, believed to be empty, was left open in a ripening room. This report later determined that the cylinder was not empty, and it continued to release ethylene into the room. The result was an ethylene level that exceeded the LEL of 27,000 ppm, and something, likely from a door opening, caused a spark, which ignited the explosion.
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1997 - Athens, Greece
An explosion took place on March 19, 1997 in the Athens Central Fruit Market. Two people were killed as a result of leaking ethylene cylinders in banana ripening rooms.
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1987 - Camarillo, CA
Fire officials believe the tomato packing supervisor was simply changing ethylene cylinders when this explosion occurred.
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1978 - Fort Pierce, FL
Fortunately, this explosion did not kill anyone…they were on their lunch break. But part of the Farmer’s Market was demolished.
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1976 - Lantana, FL
The fire marshal said “it’s an absolute miracle that no one was killed” in this blast caused by cylinders of ethylene gas.
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1973 - Naples, FL
This explosion shows that just a spark will ignite high levels of ethylene, and that extreme care must be taken to ensure that the ethylene system used cannot release explosive amounts.