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ExxonMobil Refinery (2638), Baton Rouge

LDEQ Accident Report

Accident #111426
State Police #08-07907
Accident Date2008-12-15
Report Date 2008-12-22
Follow-up Date 0000-00-00
Follow-up: No

Pollutants Released

Pollutant Duration Point Source Greenhouse Gas Criteria Pollutant Ozone forming chemical Amount of Release
Sulfur Dioxide29munspecified flareNOYESNO107.0 pounds
Sulfur DioxideNIGPCLA Furnace F-301NOYESNO421.0 pounds

Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity

Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure

The refinery PCLA furnace F-301 developed holes in it which caused a release of 421 pounds of sulfur dioxide/day. On the same day, a flaring incident released 107 pounds of sulfur dioxide. Combined, these two sources released 528 pound of sulfur dioxide which is above RQ. The flaring incident occurred due to the depressurizing of the Alky unit for mechanical work after an unexpected shutdown. The unit was depressured after shutdown. This was an unplanned shutdown, which resulted in more light hydrocarbon loading for the vapor recovery system. The vapor recovery system was subsequently overloaded, resulting in a flaring incident. This incident was caused by a process upset.

Discharge Preventable - Yes

No further information provided.

Notes/Remedial Actions

Additional cooling tower cells started and rebalanced operations to reduced gas sent to the vapor recovery system. SO2 was leaked at a rate of 421 pounds per day from the furnace failure, but no information given as to the duration of the incident. Combined with the flare SO2 release, this incident surpasses the 500 pound RQ for SO2.