Synthron Chemical Explosion
Accident Description
Accident: Synthron Chemical Explosion
Location: Location: Morganton, NC
Accident Occured On: 01/31/2006 | Final Report Released On: 07/31/2007
Accident Type: Reactive Incident
Investigation Status: The CSB's final report was issued at a news conference in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 31, 2007
One worker was fatally burned and about a dozen others were injured when a powerful explosion devastated the Synthron Inc. chemical manufacturing facility. CSB investigators believe the explosion was related to the process inside a 1500-gallon batch reactor at the plant, which contained butyl acrylate along with the flammable solvents toluene and cyclohexane.