Learning of the root factors of incidents potentially impacting the biofuel supply chains from some 100 significant cases

Carine Riviere (1) , Guy Marlair (1) , Alexis Vignes (1)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques

A biofuel is most often defined as a liquid or gaseous fuel used for transport purposes that can be produced from biomass substrates or bioresources. There are numerous potential supply chains for the production of biofuels, depending on feedstock, conventional or advanced processes, and final end use. AH stakeholders involved in the promotion of more sustainable biofuels highly welcomed the area of industrialization of so called 2nd génération type of biofuels. However existing facilities producing 1st génération biofuels, i.e. bioethanol from sugar based or cereal plants and biodiesel from vegetable oils and fats, hâve sharply increased in number in récent years, allowing for a reasonable survey of safety issues from incidents. Hazards hâve been identified throughout the entire supply chain from crop production until end use: thèse hazards are mostly linked to physical and chemical properties of products (feedstock, Chemicals used at the conversion step, biofuels and their by-products...) as well as to some equipment. Incidents involve fire and explosion scénarios, equipment ruptures, steam release, derailment with leakage associated or not with fires and explosions, and environment contamination.

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]

Carine Riviere, Guy Marlair, Alexis Vignes. Learning of the root factors of incidents potentially impacting the biofuel supply chains from some 100 significant cases. 13. International Symposium on Loss Prevention and Safety Promotion in the Process Industry, Jun 2010, Bruges, Belgium. pp.35-42. ⟨ineris-00973565⟩