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Accident # | 134190 |
State Police # | 11-05968 |
Accident Date | 2011-09-26 |
Report Date | 2011-09-29 |
Follow-up Date | 2011-11-03 |
Follow-up: | Yes |
Pollutant | Duration | Point Source | Greenhouse Gas | Criteria Pollutant | Ozone forming chemical | Amount of Release |
Carbon Monoxide | 1 d 23 h 10 m | 8-84 RCCU Elevated flare | NO | YES | NO | 2,874.5 pounds |
Nitric Oxide | 1 d 23 h 10 m | 8-84 RCCU Elevated flare | NO | YES | NO | 528.3 pounds |
Particulate Matter | 1 d 23 h 10 m | 8-84 RCCU Elevated flare | NO | YES | NO | 99.4 pounds |
Sulfur Dioxide | 1 d 23 h 10 m | 8-84 RCCU Elevated flare | NO | YES | NO | 91.2 pounds |
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | 1 d 23 h 10 m | 8-84 RCCU Elevated flare | NO | NO | YES | 1,396.2 pounds |
Carbon Monoxide | 11 h | GO-1 Elevated Flare | NO | YES | NO | 4,909.8 pounds |
Nitric Oxide | 11 h | GO-1 Elevated Flare | NO | YES | NO | 902.3 pounds |
Particulate Matter | 11 h | GO-1 Elevated Flare | NO | YES | NO | 169.9 pounds |
Sulfur Dioxide | 11 h | GO-1 Elevated Flare | NO | YES | NO | 29,547.2 pounds |
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | 11 h | GO-1 Elevated Flare | NO | NO | YES | 1,328.6 pounds |
Hexane | 11 h | GO-1 Elevated Flare | NO | NO | NO | 123.3 pounds |
Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity
On 9/26/11, Motiva's RCCU Process Unit identified smoke exiting the insulation on the process unit's reactor stripper overhead piping, indicating a leak of hydrocarbon. Consequently, the RCCU process unit had to divert feed causing flaring to occur at the RCCU Flare (EPN 8-89). The process unit safely diverted feed and continued to maintain catalyst circulation in order to avoid additional flaring. All operational and safety procedures were following at this time. Immediately after stabilizing the unit, insulation was removed from the overhead piping to determine the source of the leak. the leak was identified as a set of flanges on the reactor stripper overhead piping. Attempts were made to re-torque the flanges and stop the leak. However, the re-torquing efforts were unsuccessful and a decision was made to fabricate and install a blade clamp to permanently stop the leak. As of 9/28/11, the blade clamp was installed and the leak on the overhead piping had stopped. The RCCU had been restarted following all operational and safety procedures and remained at steady operation. the RGHT had not been restarted at that time. On 9/26/11 Motiva Enterprises LLC RCCU unit was shut down to do some maintenance work. Flaring occurred at the GO-1 Elevated Flare (EPN 9-84) as a result of the restart of Motiva's RCCU Unit. Untreated dry gas from the RCCU is flared during the restart of the RCCU at the GO-1 Elevated flare before the dry gas can be introduced to GO-1 as a feed.
The incident was not preventable by Motiva. The system is routinely inspected and no issues indicating imminent failure had been identified prior to failure. The incident was also not preventable by Shell Chemical. Shell cannot accept the quality of the dry gas as unit feed during a RCCU startup.
The RCCU diverted feed and continued to maintain catalyst circulation in order to avoid additional flaring and stabilize the unit. Operations worked to identify the source of the leak and made preparations for repair. The flanges associated with the leak source were re-torqued in an attempt to stop the leak. A box clamp was fabricated and installed to encapsulate and stop the leak. Maximum lb/hr limits were exceeded for sulfur dioxide and VOC's, because the incident release was spread out across close to 3 days no reportable quantities were exceeded. Two follow up letters were received.
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