“Flaws in CNG conversion”
I came across the letter from my friend Mr. Mansoor on the above subject published in your newspaper on 31st December. I feel I must reply to this as he has found a large number of reasons for the recent CNG explosions. Blaming a lot of people does not help, as the real reason for these explosions cannot be identified by wholesale blaming of everyone. I would like to list the reasons Mr. Mansoor has identified: -- illegal conversion workshops; unskilled workers; cutting corners to cut costs; poor workmanship; faulty and unauthorised cylinders etc. Allow me to examine each of these reasons one by one: -- an illegal workshop does not necessarily mean an unsafe workshop. And vice versa just because a workshop has been authorised does not mean it is safe. Mere permission from a government body, which is easy to get, will not solve the problem. If shoddy workmanship or poor equipment is used, an authorised workshop can also use it. Unskilled workers may cause problems in proper operation of CNG conversion. It may not function at all, but the most unsafe aspect of it will be leakage from the large number of connections which has to be made. That may leak, they may come apart but they will not explode. I dare to suggest that poor workmanship or unskilled workers cannot lead to an explosion. The worst that can happen will be gas leaking everywhere. Mr. Mansoor then hit on the real reason, faulty and unauthorised cylinders. If we examine all the explosions that had taken place either during refuelling or in an accident, it is always the exploding cylinder which causes the greatest damage. High-pressure gas at 3,000 pounds per square inch inside the cylinders has a large amount of energy and failure of the cylinder will cause parts of the cylinder to fly in all directions. In addition the gas can catch fire. In an accident the high-pressure pipelines and equipment can also be damaged but this will cause leakage only and possibly a fire but not an explosion. Thus the sole cause of an explosion is the cylinder and nothing else. Poor workmanship cannot affect the cylinder, unauthorised workshops cannot affect the cylinder. The most that can happen is leakage of gas from the cylinders but not an explosion. The explosions can only take place if the cylinders are damaged by an external blow or have been manufactured incorrectly. All cylinders meant for high-pressure gas has to be manufactured and tested as per Gas Cylinder Rules. For import, the specification of the cylinders has to be approved by the Inspector of Explosives, or otherwise they cannot be cleared from Customs. If poor cylinders made by shoddy companies are being imported, it is the Inspector of Explosives who is responsible for not having enforced the gas cylinder rules. Having spent many years in the gas business, I recall that every cylinder imported or put to use had to be approved by the inspector of explosives. In addition, the cylinders have to be tested periodically as per gas cylinder rules. The question now is how do these cylinders get inside Bangladesh. If import of defective cylinders or unsuitable cylinders is stopped, these explosions will also stop. With one proviso: if the cylinders are locally manufactured by welding pipes, or using cylinders meant for oxygen, which operates at 2,000 lbs per square inch instead of CNG which operates at 3,000 lbs a square inch, it will obviously explode. If somebody is found to have installed oxygen cylinders for CNG, legal action should be taken against those people. If there is an expulsion and the cylinder is found to be defective or for oxygen, the conversion workshop should be charged for murder or manslaughter. This is the only way we can stop CNG cylinders exploding.
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