Sharing an incident. Anyone want to chip in on recommendatio ns? J

General lab exhaust through the fume hood. Some equipment exhausted with localized flex duct but not the oven.

Adjacent areas complained of strong alcohol odor.

“….. intent to prepare a batch of fine particulate size aluminum oxide via the sol gel process. The components wer e an organometallic (aluminum sec- butoxide), a solvent (2-propanol) and water. =A0 1.5l of 2-propanol was placed in a porcelain-lined steel container. 4.5kg o f aluminum sec-butoxide was added to the solvent while mixing. After these components were thoroughly mixed, 1.1l of water was added resulting in the formation of AlOH particles from the organic precursor. =A0At this point, t he composition was a viscous slurry. In order to reduce the solvent content, t he container was placed on a hot plate inside the fume hood. The composition w as heated (temperature unknown but estimated to be 70-80=B0C) for approximatel y 4 hours.=A0 At the end of this period, most of the solvent had evaporated, le aving a slightly moist “cake”. In order to remove the remaining solve nt, the container was taken to room xxxxx and placed in a convection oven. I partially covered the container with a lid to allow venting and to prevent any swirling debris from contaminating the material. Oven temperature was set a t 130=B0C and the general exhaust in this room was turned on. My intent was t o let the material dry overnight and I left for the day. When I returned the following day, I checked the oven and it was apparent that there had been a n accident at some point after I left.=A0 I later learned that there had been a small explosion and fire. I believe the fire was confined to the oven and w as extinguished by covering the container with the lid.=A0 The oven door was b ent when it swung open and contacted the control enclosure but no other damage is apparent. In the past, I have used these same procedures and equipment to m ake similar compositions without incident….”

Regards,

Perry

________ _______________________
Perry D. Cooper, MS, HEM, CCHO
Manager - HSE - JHU

The Johns Hopkins University
Health, Safety & Environment
www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hse< /a>

Homewood Campus Safety Office
3400 N. Charles Street

G04 Wyma n Park Bldg
Baltimore, MD 21218
Office: 410-516-2345
Fax: 410-516-4314
www.jhu.edu/safety
_______________________________

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