Features
Sri Lanka’s gas tragedy: the untold story
By Deshai Botheju, Ph.D.
M.Sc.Tech.(Norway), M.Sc., B.Sc.Eng. (1st Hons., UoM), AIChE, AMIE(SL)
deshaibotheju@acses.org
Recent explosions and gas leak accidents related to domestic LP gas cylinders have created an environment of fear, anxiety, and social unrest throughout the country. More than 400 explosions and gas leak incidents have been reported during the first week of December 2021. In addition, a large number of observations have been made with respect to leaking gas cylinder valves.
The reported accidents and incidents can be divided into four major categories: (a) Sudden gas explosions inside houses and building, (b) Sudden explosions associated with the gas cooker, (c) Major gas leaks and resulting damages associated with the regulator and the hoses, (d) Minor gas leaks from the cylinder valve, regulator, or the hoses. The number of accidents reported during a single week has far exceeded the typical gas-related accidents happening within a typical year. Something must have gone terribly wrong for Sri Lankan LP gas consumers. Unconfirmed reports now indicate potential deaths, associated with some of these gas explosion accidents.
What is LPG?
Liquefied Petroleum Gas, abbreviated LPG, is an energy carrier derived during crude oil refining or natural gas processing. In petroleum industry terminology these are called gas condensates and are byproducts often generated during the production of liquid fuels (gasoline, diesel, and kerosene) or natural gas (methane). The key components of typical LP gas are propane (an alkane gas containing three carbon atoms – C3H8) and butane (an alkane gas containing four carbon atoms – C4H10). In addition, small amounts of propylene, methane, pentane and other minor constituents can be present. LP gases do not originally have a clearly recognizable distinct odour. Therefore, in order to identify any gas leaks, methyl mercaptan (CH3SH), or a similar odour generating component, is added to LP gas before commercial use. Table 1 provides a useful comparison between propane and butane, with respect to key physical or chemical properties.
Depending on the refinery process, or intended use, LP gas can have a widely varying propane and butane composition. Under normal atmospheric pressure, butane has a higher boiling point of minus 0.5 degrees Celsius (-0.5) compared to propane’s minus 42 degrees Celsius (-42) boiling point. That means in colder climates, where the ambient temperature could go below 0 degrees Celsius, the LP gas must mostly contain propane in order to use that as a fuel gas (otherwise it wouldn’t flow as a gas, as butane would remain in the cylinder as a liquid). Therefore, the butane content is greatly reduced in LP gas used in colder climate countries, typically less than five percent of the volume. For tropical countries, like Sri Lanka, having a high butane content is just fine, as the year-round temperature is almost always above zero degrees Celsius (except for some rare occasions in locations at higher altitudes). Further, butane is a much safer gas to use. This is due to its much lower vapour pressure (31 pound per square inch) compared to that of propane (124.5 psi). Therefore, the containment integrity requirements shall be much stricter for propane use, compared to butane. (figure I)
Composition changes and pressure effects
Unlike compressed gas cylinders, LP gas cylinders are not filled with 100 percent gas. Instead, a new cylinder would contain the liquids, hence the name LP gas, to about 85 percent volume. Only the remaining 15 percent ullage volume (the volume left empty in a tank for the liquid to expand) contains actual gas. These two phases (liquid and gas) are in equilibrium. The pressure within this gas filled ullage is the equilibrium pressure of the corresponding liquid mixture (of propane and butane). This equilibrium pressure can be predicted based on the ambient temperature and the composition of the liquid phase. Table 2 provides the values of these equilibrium pressures (in pounds per square inch gauge or psig) for different propane-butane mixtures at the temperature of 32 degrees Celsius (which is quite close to the typical ambient temperature in Sri Lanka). (Figure II)
As can be seen from Table 2, at 32 oC temperature, a mixture of 80 percent butane and 20 percent propane has an equilibrium pressure of 53.6 psig. This was the composition used in Sri Lanka for a long time. All appliances (including gas cookers), pressure regulators, hoses, hose connectors, gas cylinder valves and cylinders have been accustomed to this pressure condition. In other words, our consumer gas utility system has been calibrated at this pressure condition. Nevertheless, gas cylinders themselves are manufactured to tolerate a much higher pressure.
If the butane-propane composition is suddenly changed to 50 % butane and 50 % propane, now the increased propane content leads to a much higher equilibrium pressure of 89.4 psig. It is obvious that this is a very significant pressure increase from the previous condition.
Containment integrity
Increased propane content leads to a significant increase in gas pressure inside the cylinder. This is because propane has a much higher equilibrium vapour pressure compared to butane (see Table 1). Now, the whole utility system on the part of the customers faces a containment integrity problem. In other words, gas leaks are likely to happen from many of the system components. Table 3 elaborates potential impacts of this pressure increase on different system components. Figure 1 further illustrates potential leak sources and pathways associated with the gas cylinder valve. (Figures III and IV)
What happens during a gas leak?
Propane and butane are flammable and combustible gases, when mixed with air (or oxygen). Within the approximate volume percentages of 2 to 10 percent (within LEL- Lower explosive limit and UEL – Upper explosive limit), these gases can create an explosive gas mixture when exposed to air; see Table 1. Outside of this volume percentage range, the gas would not ignite. However, at higher gas concentrations, the gas cloud can still pose an asphyxiation hazard to humans as it displaces breathable oxygen in air.
Even a minor gas leak in the cylinder valve, regulator, or any other component (see Table 3 and Figure 1) can lead to the accumulation of the gas inside a building, over several hours. Note that both propane and butane gases are higher in density compared to air (heavier than air; see specific gravity values shown in Table 1). Which means, when a gas leak occurs the explosive gas cloud accumulates close to ground level (rather than moving upward and dissipating). This situation is more likely to occur at night when doors and windows are closed, with consequently little or no ventilation. If the leaked cloud of gas reaches the concentration of LEL within that surrounding (for example a kitchen), then it is a bomb waiting to be triggered at any time. The only thing required is a small spark, which may occur when an electrical switch makes contact (on or off), or even due to static electricity present in the atmosphere, or due to an actual flame such as lighting a match. At that moment, an explosive combustion reaction occurs within the flammable gas cloud and the energy released is transmitted as a pressure wave accompanied often by a fireball. This is a typical atmospheric gas cloud explosion. Secondary damage can occur due to projectiles (broken glass for example), prolonged fires, collapsing roofs and walls.
Change management failure
Changing an existing LP gas composition without a detailed safety assessment is an act of sheer negligence bordering on absurdity. It’s a fundamental process engineering principle to follow a comprehensive Management of Change (MoC) protocol before making this kind of, or even far less consequential, change to a product, process, or an operating procedure. Even a Process Engineering Trainee can explain this to production management. As part of an MoC process, it is absolutely necessary to conduct a dedicated risk assessment or a standard safety study such as ‘HAZards and Operability’ (HAZOP). Had such HAZOP been conducted in this case, many of the problems we have indicated in Table 3 could have been identified in advance, avoiding calamity in consequence.
Cost factor and energy contents
The heat energy contents of propane and butane are respectively 49.58 and 47.39 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg). However, the density of liquid propane and butane are 0.51 and 0.58 kilograms per litre (kg/L) respectively. That means due to the lower density of propane compared to butane, propane has a slightly lower energy content when based on volume (25.3 and 27.5 MJ/L respectively). Propane burns with a slightly higher flame temperature compared to butane (1980 vs 1970 oC). In certain gas burners, propane could burn with slightly higher efficiency compared to butane (with less deposition of carbon).
If calculated based on the heat energy content delivered (measured by BTU-British Thermal Units), propane is often a cheaper energy commodity compared to butane in the world energy market. Therefore, an LP gas mixture rich in propane can be cheaper. LP gases with more propane are also easier to procure. While per BTU price is cheaper, if calculated based on metric ton price, one can be misled to believe that propane is more expensive than butane. This becomes a false assumption if all gas pricing and market economics are based on the value of BTUs (energy) delivered to the customer (customer is made to pay for the heat energy content delivered to them, and not for the weight of the gas). Also note that the exact price of a certain LPG shipment can be very different from the typical spot prices prevailing in the world energy market.
Safety culture issue
Every organisation has a certain safety culture. Without going into detailed academic definitions of the safety culture concept, we can still try to understand different characteristics of good (positive) safety cultures in comparison to bad (negative) safety cultures.
In a good safety culture Management of Change protocols are always followed; when an accident or an incident occurs, it will always be investigated to the fullest extent and all lessons to be earned are extracted; transparency and honesty are always maintained; instead of finger pointing, their own faults are admitted; no attempts are made at concealing information; safety is always given priority over marginal economic gains. In contrast, the complete opposite of these is to be expected of an organisation with a negative safety culture.
Investigation and compensation
Any investigation into the recent series of unfortunate gas related accidents in Sri Lanka must not stop at merely identifying plausible physical causes. Such investigation must definitely look deeper into related organisational factors, and make necessary recommendations to bring about much needed organisational reforms in the form of enhancing safety culture. In addition, more systematic safety management requirements and stricter regulatory reforms must be recommended to avoid repetition of this kind of ‘organizationally rooted accidents’. Failing to do so may lead to greater disasters of higher magnitude in future. Prompt compensation to those who faced harm must be a priority. Even more urgent is to recall every single gas cylinder delivered with hazardous pressure conditions, irrespective of whether the gas has been used or not. As explained before, LP gas cylinders will retain the same high pressure condition until the last drop of liquid is vaporised. Therefore, unused as well as almost fully used gas cylinders will pose the same level of leaking hazard.
(Facts presented in this article are based on information available on the public domain. The analyses and opinions are based on the author’s experience in the industry, and do not reflect the opinions of any institution.)
Features
Consider international offers on their merits
by Jehan Perera
Four months after coming to power, the NPP government is facing growing criticism from those in the opposition and also scepticism regarding its ability to make policies necessary to revive the country and its economy. The catchy stories in the media are invariably in relation to some mishap or shortcoming in the past of government leaders. Some of these relate to the inexperience of the new decisionmakers, many of them having spent their lives in academia rather than in politics or public administration. The criticisms that ring true to the masses of people relate to the economic difficulties they continue to experience in full force. Those who contributed to the economic catastrophe of 2022 by their own actions over the past decades have little credibility to criticise.
The promise of an uncorrupt government made at the presidential and general elections continues to keep popular support on the side of the government. There is a continuing belief that the government is sincere about keeping corruption under control and dealing with past abuses. But there is also disappointment that the promises the NPP made about renegotiating the IMF agreement and reducing its burden on the masses of people are not being realised in the short term. The gap between the rich and the poor continues to be very large with those who are owners of rice mills, hotels and stocks getting massive profits while those on fixed incomes and subsistence farmers eking out a living.
The basic problem for the government is that it inherited an economy that had been made to collapse by irresponsible governments of the past. The agreements that the previous government signed with the IMF and international bondholders reflected Sri Lanka’s weak bargaining position. This was why Sri Lanka only got a 20 percent reduction in its debt, whereas other countries got 50 percent reductions. The NPP government cannot extricate itself from the situation. The hope that a generous benefactor will extricate us from the difficult economic situation we are in underpins the unrealistic expectations that accompanied President Anura Kumara Dissanayake during his two state visits to India and China.
CAUTIONARY TALES
Nearly two centuries ago, in 1848, one of Britain’s 19th-century Prime Ministers, Lord Palmerston, declared “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests is our duty to follow.” His speech was meant to explain and defend Britain’s foreign policy, emphasising that the country’s decisions were guided by its strategic interests rather than fixed loyalties to other nations or ideologies. It justified Britain’s controversial alliances and interventions, such as supporting liberal revolutions in Europe while maintaining colonial dominance elsewhere. This explains the inconsistent use of legal and moral standards by the international community that we see in the world today.
When Sri Lanka engages with other countries it is important that we keep Lord Parlmerston’s dictum in mind. Over the past three decades there has been a noticeable shift in the practices of countries that have claimed to believe in the rule of law and universal human rights. There was a long period after the end of the second world war when the powerful countries of the world that had emerged victors in that war gave leadership to liberal values of human rights, democracy and justice in their engagements in the international arena. Together they set up institutions such as the United Nations, international covenants on human rights and the International Court of Justice, among others. But today we see this liberal international order in tatters with happenings in countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Palestine reflecting the predatory behaviour of the strong against the weak.
According to international scholars such as Prof Oliver Richmond of the UK, the Liberal International Order (LIO) is losing its grip as global power shifts toward an emerging Authoritarian International Order (AIO). In his writings, he highlights how the LIO’s failures to resolve key conflicts have exposed its weaknesses. The prolonged failures like the Cyprus peace talks and the breakdown of the Oslo Accords in Israel-Palestine have highlighted the limits of a system driven more by Western dominance than equitable solutions. The rise of powers like China and Russia, who openly prioritise state sovereignty and power over liberal values, marks the shift to a multipolar AIO in which every country tries to get the maximum advantage for itself even at the cost to others.
Prof. Richmond warns that neither the liberal or authoritarian international orders, as implemented, are equipped to deliver lasting peace, as both are driven by geopolitical interests rather than a commitment to justice or equality. He argues that human rights, development, pluralism and democracy as the outcome of peacemaking and political reform that the Liberal International Order once held out as its vision is more just and sustainable for ordinary people than the geopolitical balancing, and authoritarian conflict management which is now crudely pushed forward by the proponents of the Authoritarian International Order. Without a new approach that prioritises fairness and sustainability, the world risks further division and instability.
NOT GENEROSITY
Following upon the stately receptions accorded to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in India and China, there is much anticipation that Sri Lanka is on the verge of receiving massive support from these countries that will give a turbo-boost to Sri Lanka’s development efforts. In the aftermath of India’s unprecedented economic support of USD 4 billion at the height of the economic crisis in 2022, the promise of as much as USD 10 billion in economic investment from China reported by the media offers much hope. India and China are two economic giants that are in Sri Lanka’s neighbourhood who could do much to transform the economy of Sri Lanka to reach take-off into self-sustaining and rapid economic development. This accompanies the shift of economic power in the world towards Asia at this time.
Both India and China are keen that Sri Lanka should be in their orbit or minimise its position in the other’s orbit. They each have strong rivalries and misgivings about each other, especially regarding security issues. They have had border disputes that led to military confrontations. The Authoritarian International Order that Prof Oliver Richmond has written about would influence their behaviour towards one another as well as towards third countries such as Sri Lanka. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake appears to have been aware of this problem when he visited India and China. In both countries he pledged that Sri Lanka would do nothing that would be injurious to their security interests.
Lord Palmerston’s old dictum that countries act on permanent interests rather than permanent friendships is important to bear in mind when foreign governments make inroads into third countries. Sri Lanka needs to protect its own interests rather than believe that foreign countries are going an extra step to help it due to shared political ideology, age-old friendships or common culture or religion. Sri Lanka, its leaders and citizens, need to look at each and every offer of foreign assistance in a realistic manner. Each offer should be assessed on its own merits and not as part of a larger package in which generosity is imagined to be the sole or main motivating factor of the foreign country.
For Sri Lanka to emerge stronger, it needs to evaluate every offer of foreign assistance with a clear-eyed focus on its own national interests, ensuring that the benefits align with the long-term well-being of its people. Pragmatism, and hard headed analysis, must guide the country’s engagement with the world. This would be best done in in a bipartisan manner at the highest level, without being distracted by partisan party politics and narrow political and personal self-interest which has been our failure over time with a few exceptions.
Features
Mirage…doing it in the Seychelles
We didn’t see them in action here, during the festive season, and neither did they usher in the New Year, in our part of the world. And, since they were missing in action, music lovers were wondering what had happened to their favourite group!
Yes, of course, we did miss the music of Mirage but they were not idling; they were busy entertaining the folks in the Seychelles.
In fact, they are still there and are expected to return to base towards the latter part of February.
Mirage left for the Seychelles in mid-December and went into action at the Lo Brizan pub/restaurant, Hilton Seychelles, from 18th December, onwards, performing six nights a week – 8.30 pm till 11.30 pm.
Tourists, mainly from Russia, and locals, as well, patronize this outlet.
The group’s repertoire, at the Lo Brizan, is made up of songs, not only in English, but also Russian, Italian, German and the language spoken in the Seychelles, Creole.
Both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve were celebrated with much gaiety at the Lo Brizan, with the 31st night celebrations going on till 2.30 am.
On a normal night at the Lo Brizan, only Mirage is featured, but for the two big nights (24th December and 31st December) the band had the company of a DJ – DJ Kasper.
DJ Kasper is a Sri Lankan (Isuru is his real name), and he is based in the Seychelles, and has his own setup, called Sound House.
Mirage made the lead up to the dawning of 2025 extra special with a medley of songs that brought nostalgia to the crowd present and, after ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ it was music that had everyone gyrating on the dance floor.
The next special event that will feature Mirage in a big way will be Valentine’s Night on 14th February.
The group is scheduled to leave for Colombo on 18th February.
This is the group’s second stint in the Seychelles. They were there in December 2023.
Features
Educational reforms: Seeing through the global labour market
by Mahendran Thiruvarangan
Reforming Sri Lanka’s education system in ways that cater to global needs appears to be a central focus of the new government. This pronouncement first appeared in the NPP’s election manifesto with reference to vocational education. Later, in October 2024, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that our education system should be rebuilt in alignment with global demands. Prime Minister and Minister of Education Harini Amarasuriya mentioned in a speech in December 2024 that building a skilled workforce capable of meeting the needs of both local and global labour markets is a key objective of the government’s development vision.
While it may be important that we reflect upon how our education system facilitates (or does not facilitate) our school-leavers and graduates to secure jobs and contribute meaningfully to the national and global economies, it is equally necessary to unpack the lauded terms ‘global’ and ‘global job market’ and discuss the hegemonies and exclusions they produce as regards both education and employment.
Two Visions of the Global
‘Global’ as a frame or vision is invoked in two contrasting ways in contemporary political discourses. One points to the creation of a borderless world which facilitates the transmission of capital across national borders. Such a world, despite its promise of prosperity and progress, is haunted by the many tragedies that the global south has seen as a result of the precarity created by the free flow of transnational capital. The Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 and the fires that burnt down garment factories in Bangladesh in 2012 are just two examples. These disasters are attributable to the workings of the global labour market and the logic and mechanisms that it deploys to create divisions within the global labour force along racial, gendered and national lines. Within this system that creates boundless profits for the wealthy, the global south and its working classes, especially women and subalterns, are pushed into experiencing extreme forms of vulnerability.
In juxtaposition to this cataclysmic view of the global, those with a commitment to social justice and internationalism frame the global as an ideal that strives for a world built around solidarities and a radical imagination of liberation and equality. This world is united by a shared desire to eliminate all forms of oppression, both locally and globally.
Our conversations on education seem to be animated by these two varying visions of the global. On the one hand, there is an increased push by governments, international financial organizations, donor agencies and a section of the academia for our universities to produce a globalized labour force for the private sector that will subserviently meet the demands of transnational capital. On the other side, the glaring inequalities that we see in our communities and countries call for a revitalization of the education system which includes cultivating a critical consciousness and creative abilities that kindle imaginaries of togetherness and resistance among students, workers and citizens. As socio-economic inequalities fuelled by neoliberalism are widening in both Sri Lanka and most countries in the global south, there is an urgent need to bring to the front and centre this second vision of the global in our deliberations on educational reforms.
Global Job Market vs Global Crises
The global labour market is a neoliberal idea which forces education systems all across the world to produce and supply a docile labour force that can help global capitalism advance its exploitative, neocolonial agendas. The imperatives of this market are designed to ensure that the world remains a place of deep inequalities and only a limited number of people have access to jobs that can guarantee basic comforts and facilities such as housing, healthcare, transportation and electricity. Thus, one has to be skeptical of educational policies informed by the thinking and rationales that govern the global labour market.
There exists a huge disconnect between the expectations of the global labour market and the stark realities that characterize the current global moment which demand the attention of those involved in educational endeavours. The genocide in Gaza, the rise of right-wing populism in many parts of the world, the growing income inequalities within many countries, the alarming rates at which our environment is being denuded and the hostility women and sexual minorities face all across the world are some deeply worrying incidents and trends that we are watching today.
The reforms thrust upon our education systems by donor agencies, such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank tend to align with a neoliberal vision. They do not situate education and employment in relation to these economic and political crises that affect millions of people across the world today; nor do they have any interest in creating an understanding among students about the histories of these crises and how the failures of our education systems have contributed to the current global disarray.
Neoliberal Educational Reforms
Neoliberal donors are focused primarily on making our educational institutions meet the conditionalities of the global labour market. They push governments to privatize education and universities to introduce fee-levying academic programmes. Their goal is to turn education into a marketable commodity and education systems into profit-making sites. Rather than striving for an education that creates local and global solidarities for change, these donors lay emphasis on creating technologies that can link countries and continents in ways that can support the onward march of extractive capital. A good example in this regard is Sri Lanka’s educational reforms since the 2000s which have given a central place to the teaching of English and Information Technology. These two areas were marketed as qualifications necessary for graduates to survive in a job market dominated by transnational capitalist conglomerates.
Similarly, the current moves to remove critical content from the curricula and replace them with ‘soft skills’ such as leadership, ethics and morality, communication and public speaking as pre-requisites for employment is geared towards producing a corporate-attired, global, English-speaking class of entrepreneurs and those who assist them unquestioningly in their neoliberal pursuits. Such courses, while universalizing colonial values and ways of thinking, isolate skills from criticality, technology from politics, and employment from action and activism.
Creating disciplinary hierarchies, neoliberal reforms privilege hard sciences, technology education, management and accounting and the English language. As a result, in many countries the Humanities and Social Sciences are defunded and denigrated as disciplines without any use value. There have been attempts to remove courses with a focus on literatures and languages from the general curriculum at universities. In some settings, academics who teach these disciplines are faced with the threat of losing their jobs.
In Sri Lanka, degree programmes in English Language Teaching are presented as lucrative, whereas literature programmes and local languages are branded as disciplines that will not yield any monetary benefits to the learner. If Arts, Literatures and Humanities have any value within this system, their role is reduced to providing entertainment for those with material comforts. The classical Roman poet Horace said that poetry should both instruct and delight simultaneously.
The neoliberal labour market drives a wedge into this twinned goal, framing arts and literature in narrow terms as pleasure generating industries. It seeks to erase the role creative, affective labour plays in bringing about social change. This is why governments should be able to see through and, when necessary, see past the global labour market in rejuvenating our education system.
The Way-forward for the NPP Government
The NPP government, which won the elections with the promise of change, should not allow the neoliberal conditionalities of the global labour market to overdetermine its educational reforms. The economic crisis that led to the people’s uprising of 2022 and the NPP’s electoral victories was caused mainly by the country’s descent into neoliberalism. If the government is serious about taking the country out of the current crisis, it must fight neoliberalism head-on at all fronts, including within the education sector. Being indecisive and sending out confusing signals, such as commitment to social justice on the one hand and statements in support of the edicts and expectations of the global job market on the other, will weaken the education system further. This ambiguity results in part from the severe pressure exerted by donor agencies on whom the education sector of Sri Lanka and many other countries rely on for funding.
Identifying its budget priorities rightly, the new government should increase spending on state education and create and support educational pursuits that help students resist the hegemonies of global capital. There should be increased support for the Humanities and Social Sciences and increased encouragement for universities to re-frame degree programmes in natural sciences in ways that that help students explore technologies and remedies that minimize socio-economic inequalities and support ecologically viable development initiatives. Overall, the reform process should be approached with a new, liberationist outlook focused on egalitarian social transformation.
(Mahendran Thiruvarangan is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Linguistics & English at the University of Jaffna)
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