An explosion and fire occurred on April 12 at Agrium Inc.’s Redwater #1 ammonia plant in Alberta. The incident occurred at about 1:35 p.m. as employees were restarting the ammonia plant after a scheduled 10-day maintenance shutdown. Local reports said the explosion reportedly ignited hydrogen gas, causing a fire that was extinguished by fire and rescue crews in about 30-35 minutes.
No injuries were reported as a result of the explosion and fire. Peter Stenzel, Agrium’s general manager, Canadian Nitrogen Operations, told Green Markets that five employees were in the building at the time of the incident. The Redwater plant has 500 total employees, as well as 100 contractors. The incident prompted a general alarm at the facility, Stenzel said, and as a result all employees moved to “safe rooms” while emergency response crews brought the fire under control.
Stenzel said there is no estimate yet on how much damage the plant sustained, but the fire and explosion appeared to be limited to one compressor deck. Stenzel described it as a small area, but did not want to speculate on how long the plant would be down as a result of the incident. He said the extent of the damage would be assessed in the coming days after the site is secured “to make sure it’s safe.”
Redwater #1 is the smaller swing ammonia plant at the site. It has the capability to produce 260,000 mt of ammonia annually, but only runs seasonally to meet demand. Redwater #2, the larger ammonia plant at the site, has capacity of more than 700,000 mt/year. Cindy Andrews, community relations specialist at Agrium, said only Redwater #1 was impacted by the explosion and fire, while Redwater #2 continues operation.
The Redwater facility has total annual production capacity of 2.2 million mt of finished fertilizer products. In addition to ammonia, it produces 700,000 mt/y of urea, 650,000 mt/y of MAP, and 330,000 mt/y of ammonium sulfate.
Agrium said the cause of the explosion remains under investigation, and it is working with the appropriate regulatory agencies, including Alberta Occupational Health and Safety.
“Agrium is committed to protecting the quality of the environment in which it operates and ensuring the health and safety of our employees, customers and the public impacted by our operations,” the company said in an April 13 statement.