(146b) Tennessee Operations Coal Gasification Event, Oct. 4, 2017

Eastman operates a world scale chemicals from coal facility at the Tennessee Operations site in Kingsport, TN. The facility processes approximately 1300 tons of coal per day conducting a partial oxidation of the feed to create syngas. After removal of undesirable components from the syngas it is used to make more than 1 billion pounds of product per year consisting of acetic anhydride, methyl acetate, and methanol. On Oct. 4^th, 2017 an process upset occurred causing two explosions in the facility resulting in significant equipment damage but no serious injuries to personnel. The subsequent incident investigation identified the causes of the process upset and the lessons from the event have provided insight being applied in risk assessments throughout Eastman. This presentation will document the results of the investigation, the details of how the event occurred, present video captured during the event and pictures of the damage the event caused, and provide key lessons learned by Eastman.