re: Explosion at Exxon refinery in CA

Interesting "event". Can't wait to hear exactly what happened. I believe this unit is just a piece of environmental equipment. It's designed to take the SOX and NOX out of the flue gas on the tail end of the CO burner/boiler train. Similar to the catalytic converter on your car. Usually a pretty tame piece of equipment compared to the rest of the Cat Cracker unit. The "wierd ash" they are reporting is just catalyst that didn't get recovered in the Regenerator/Reactor train. Pretty harmless unless it gets in your eyes. And then it's just abrasive, like sand, as opposed to being acidic or caustic. Definitely not toxic. I've waded through dunes of the stuff after a major catalyst leak. I know the pictures make it look like a massive hydrocarbon explosion, but that casing is probably only rated for a couple of pounds of pressure. It's not like a round pressure vessel. Large flat sided boxes do not make good pressure vessels.