Material & Energy Balances Safety Modules

About these Modules

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board referred to in the safety modules is an independent federal agency that is tasked with investigating the major causes of chemical accidents. They provide recommendations on safety improvements and provide lessons learned in hope to protect the community and environment from future incidents. This set of modules was developed for a course on Material and Energy Balances. University of Michigan Professor Bryan Goldsmith was lead editor.

It is suggested that these modules are given around the time that topics such as Flammability & Ignition and Flame & Detonation is taught (end of Chapter 9 in Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, 4th edition by Felder, Rousseau, and Bullard).

These modules are also linked to related equipment articles on the Visual Encyclopedia of Chemical Engineering Equipment to help students better understand the equipment involved in the incidents.

Please click on the the file type under the module you want to view. Word documents are editable by students whereas the PDFs would have to be printed.


Module 1: CAPECO Explosion

Class Tested by University of Michigan Material and Energy Balances Course
Description: Overfilling of storage tank with a flammable liquid
Location: Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Date: October 23, 2009
File Type: MEB-Mod1: Word Doc, MEB-Mod1: PDF


Module 2: Acetone Drum Explosion

Class Tested by University of Michigan Material and Energy Balances Course
Description: Calculate the flammability limits of one teaspoon of acetone in an inverted drum
Location: N/A
Date: N/A
File Type: MEB-Mod2: Word Doc, MEB-Mod2: PDF