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Valero (1238), Meraux

LDEQ Accident Report

Accident #102619
State Police #08-00512
Accident Date2008-01-21
Report Date 2008-05-06
Follow-up Date 0000-00-00
Follow-up: No Information Provided

Pollutants Released

Pollutant Duration Point Source Greenhouse Gas Criteria Pollutant Ozone forming chemical Amount of Release
Sulfur Dioxide8 daysFLARE- pressure relief valves in the #2 SRU complex / North and South FlaresNOYESNO38,400.0 pounds
Hydrogen Sulfide8 daysFLARE- pressure relief valves in the #2 SRU complex / North and South FlaresNONONOBRQ

Accident Classified As:

Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure

leaking pressure relief valves in the #2 SRU complex.

Discharge Preventable - No

Notes/Remedial Actions

This incident was not preventable because the PRV malfunctions were not predictable events, as recognized by NSPS for flares that exempt PRV leakage. Also, permitted emission rates at both the North and South flares are based on estimated provided by a refinery-wide survey. not on monitoring data. NOTE: In the report Murphy acknowledges the flow to the North Flare could not be reliably ascertained (no reason given why it couldn't be), the quantity can only be estimated. It was estimated that ave sulfur dioxide emissions from this incident were 200 pounds per hour at the North Flare. They claim that MOUSA is currently on the process of developing an advanced flow monitoring system for both flares. I cam up with the total amount of sulfur di