Incident analysis of the “Pajaritos” petrochemical complex

Abstract

On April 20th, 2016, an explosion occurred in the “Pajaritos” petrochemical plant, in Coatzacoalcos, México. The accident caused 32 deaths and almost 100 workers were seriously injured. At present, there is no official information about the cause of the accident and the existent reports are confidential. This paper proposes an explanation of what happened at the petrochemical plant facilities by considering the testimony of several witnesses and the process simulation. The strategy includes three steps: 1) the process simulation via Aspen Plus® software; 2) The hazardous process streams identification through the process stream index (PSI); and 3) The consequences description using the TNT method, ALOHA® and ANSYS FLUENT. The results agreed with the testimony of witnesses and indicated the level of environmental damage and the unavailable prioritization of process safety over the production and management systems. This indicates that these accidents are recurrent as a consequence of a low safety culture in developing countries.