Hydrogen Blast Hits Mo. School, Hurts 4

Janese Silvey
-

Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

June 28--Four people were injured, one critically, after hydrogen from a 2,000-pound tank exploded on the third floor of Schweitzer Hall on the University of Missouri campus.

The Columbia Fire Department responded to the building at 503 S. College Ave. at 2:20 p.m. for a report of a structure fire. When they arrived, they saw signs of an explosion, Capt. Eric Hartman said.

"It looks like a bomb went off in the lab," Hartman said, quoting a firefighter exiting the building.

Nearly 20 third-story windows on the northwest side of the building are broken out, but Hartman said the building is structurally sound. Fire crews were able to contain the small fire within minutes.

Columbia fire officials say one person is in critical condition and three have minor or moderate injuries from shrapnel cuts and burns. Authorities weren't yet sure whether those injured were faculty or students.

Those inside the lab were working on an experiment using bacteria that thrives in hydrogen-rich environments, Hartman said.

"The explosion, which is still being investigated, is believed to have been caused by a spontaneous combustion of gases including hydrogen and nitrogen that were being used in a research experiment," the MU News Bureau wrote in a statement.

The lab belongs to Professor Judy Wall, MU spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken confirmed this afternoon. Wall was in her office across from the lab and was not injured in the blast.

A man who answered Wall's home telephone number said she was not there and asked that the reporter not bother her at this time.

Schweitzer Hall is home to the Department of Biochemistry, which is part of the School of Medicine and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

Built in 1912, the building is named after Paul Schweitzer, the first full-time professor of Chemistry and the chairman of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, according to the MU website.

 

Wow. 2000lbs of hydrogen. Cant believe nobody was killed. Wonder how they got that tank on the third floor to begin with?

 

A large, 1 ton, high pressure cylinder of Hydrogen gas? or a 2000psig cylinder?...
You know how the media get things right the first time...

That would have been an expensive lab since everything in it would have been (or should have been?) Class 1, Div 1 Group B. $$$$$
Someone probably shut down the lab vent hoods in an ordinary non-classified lab and the stuff started collecting in high places.

She probably should have had her lab outside under a TENT with a BIG vent hole in the roof!!! (think teepee)
(of course, that's probably where they'll put her now!

My bet is "a" commercial 2000psig bottle of H2 leaked out, collected in some high spots and blew up..
That would be about right for the destruction described.
A stout old bldg, with lots of glass windows probably saved the structure.

 

I don't know how big a 1 ton Hydrogen cylinder is. I do know a 1 ton Chlorine cylinder is about 8' x 2.5'. Keith

 

I am sure it was a 2000 psig bottle but the mass could have been anything, even down to a few oz. The lab most likely was already plumbed with gas for burners so would as had the correct rating but even then if you are careless or make a mistake you can make things go boom.

 

Hydrogen is lighter than air. Fill the tank on the ground and let it float up to the third floor!

 

Yeah, 2000 PSI. The volume of gas could not have been more than 250 cubic feet.

And there's no way that the tank itself exploded.

 

Spontaneous combustion? Yea, we had a few of those incidents happen in high school engineering class. Usually involving rockets, propane, butane, paint thinner, etc... anything to entertain a high school enginner's inquisitive and otherwise under-utilized mind.

 

H2 is some unusual stuff.. It has one of the widest explosibility ranges from 4% in air to ~95% in air.
The slightest amount of static electricity, even Ultraviolet light (intense sunlight, welding arc flash)can set off a hydrogen mixture.
Some of the old physics books show a lab demonstration where a tiny jet of oxygen will burn like a candle flame in an atmosphere of pure H2 and vice-versa.

Our lab at work has several gas chromatographs with FID's (flame ionizing detectors) fueled with H2 from six-pack assemblies on casters made up of 6 ordinary large 250cuft industrial gas bottles of H2. The sixpacks are then manifolded outside for easy changeout.
The labs have explosibility detectors with alarms in both ends of the labs, plus 24hr a day work going on.
The HVAC units are a once-through type system as the room air goes up the fume hoods . This changes the air every few minutes.

 

Dang, that is so obvious I dont know why I didnt think of it.

 

You're welcome! That's why I'm here after-all.

 

I bet it was a 2000 psi cylinder. and probably a valve leaked off or it was stored improperly. It could have also been hydrogen embrittlement of the steel used in the tank.

 

I went to school there, glad no one was fatally hurt. About 40 min north of me.

Heres the local newspaper article.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/...hweitzer-hall/

 

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/ne...aspx?id=475894

 

Look in the dead center of the 1st picture and you'll see at least TWO yellow hi pressure gas cylinders. THere appears to be at least another one visible underneath the bench in the foreground.)
They look like SMALL H2 cylinders... Still 2000+Psig though...

There is an analytical instrument on the bench that sure looks like a GC.
GC's always need cylinders of various gases to operate and calibrate. A small blue cyl is on the near side. (Helium, N2 or possibly Argon used as a carrier gas)

The ceiling tiles, light fixtures and various A/C ducts were blasted downward as if the leaking H2 gas penetrated the drop ceiling tiles and collected against the impervious concrete above, where it ignited and blew downwards.
This is about right for the amount of H2 that probably leaked out of a small cylinder.
A "ton" of H2 leaking into that lab would have LEVELED it and everything else!