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[Art Montemayor]

On the morning of April 11, 2003, one worker was killed at the D.D. Williamson food additive plant in Louisville, Kentucky, when a process vessel became overpressurized and failed catastrophically. The failure caused a release of aqueous ammonia as well as extensive damage to the plant, which manufactures caramel coloring.

An alert and sharp engineer, M. J. Cronin, on another engineering forum has identified the following website as a source for the official government investigative report on this incident. I believe this is the type of safety information that should be mandatory reading and studying for all chemical engineers. It should be very rich in Key Learnings about pressure vessels and proper relief device protection. You can download the Adobe Script document (56 pages) by right clicking on the hyperlink to the report.

The Website is:

http://www.csb.gov/c.../info.cfm?ID=36

Art Montemayor
Spring, TX