"The mix of water and dross caused a chemical reaction..."

 

The proper collection, storage, disposal, and transportation of aluminium droww generated by our plants is done on a daily basis with no incidents. But, on occasion it can go horribly wrong. Here is a recent incident highlighting the importance of following the industry’s best practices toward safety when handling and processing aluminium dross:

Crews from local county and the neighboring state spent much of Wednesday afternoon and evening at a Falls Township facility for a hazmat call.

Firefighters were first dispatched to the facility on (address omitted) formerly the (company name omitted) property, around 1:30 p.m. for a report of fumes inside a building.

Fire Marshal said the call was upgraded to add several fire companies and the (local) County and (bordering city in another state) hazmat teams.

Workers inside the facility operated by (company name omitted), a metal recycling company, sprayed a dust cloud of aluminum dross, a byproduct of aluminum smelter plants, with water. The mix of water and dross caused a chemical reaction that filled the facility with potentially dangerous fumes, fire marshal said.

No injuries were reported, but higher-than-normal levels of fumes remained in parts of the facility into Wednesday evening, the fire marshal said.

Fire marshall explained the fumes were being cleared and crews would check on the levels Thursday morning.

Six fire departments responded, along with the county and (nearby city in another state) hazmat unit. EMS, the local Rescue Squad, and nearby Emergency Squads also responded.

We are grateful no one was injured in this incident. We do not know how much aluminum dross was sprayed with water. But, from the amount of hydrogen gas generated we assume it the mass or volume of dross was significant. We are thankful that the fire department knew what to do. We assume that they smothered the dross with an inert material. Never, ever put water onto dross. Horrific results can occur. We have posted numerous incident in the past where dross in containers ignited. The responding fire fighters lack the education and awareness on hot to safely extinguish a dross fire and place water onto the smoldering pile. An explosion resulted and the fireman died.

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