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Marathon Ashland Petroleum (3165), Garyville
LDEQ Accident Report
| Accident # | 152171 |
| State Police # | 13-04960 |
| Accident Date | 2013-11-06 |
| Report Date | 2013-11-12 |
| Follow-up Date | 2014-01-13 |
| Follow-up: | Yes |
Pollutants Released
| Pollutant | Duration | Point Source | Greenhouse Gas | Criteria Pollutant | Ozone forming chemical | Amount of Release |
| Sulfur Dioxide | 2h | North Ground Flare, Heaters on Unit 243, Unit 43, and Unit 59 | NO | YES | NO | 15,961.8 pounds |
| Hydrogen Sulfide | 2h | North Ground Flare, Heaters on Unit 243, Unit 43, and Unit 59 | NO | NO | NO | 5.0 pounds |
| NOx | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare, Heaters on Unit 243, Unit 43, and Unit 59 | NO | NO | YES | 6.0 pounds |
| Carbon Monoxide | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | YES | NO | 32.4 pounds |
| Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 51.9 pounds |
| Methane | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | YES | NO | YES | 20.5 pounds |
| Ethane | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 5.8 pounds |
| Ethylene | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 0.3 pounds |
| Propane | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 11.2 pounds |
| Propylene | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 1.8 pounds |
| n-Butane | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | NO | 12.3 pounds |
| Isobutane | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 4.8 pounds |
| 1-Butene | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 1.0 pounds |
| Isobutylene | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 0.5 pounds |
| T-butene2 | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | NO | 0.3 pounds |
| Pentane | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | YES | 19.4 pounds |
| Carbon Dioxide | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | YES | NO | NO | 1.4 pounds |
| Nitrogen | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | NO | 3.3 pounds |
| Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs) | 1h 5m | North Ground Flare | NO | NO | NO | 2.1 pounds |
Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity
Cause of Problem: Human Factors
According to the the 60-day report, the Triconix safety control system inadvertently tripped the Unit 247 Amine Unit Lean Amine Pumps. The pump shutdown caused lean amine to stop circulating to the Fuel Gas Treaters which caused high H2S-laden fuel gas to be sent to the Unit 243 Fuel Gas Drum. In addition, untreated fuel gas was sent to the Unit 43 Fuel Gas Mix Drum. The Fuel Fuel Gas Mix Drums were supplying fuel ga to 26 different process heaters and boilers with the refinery during the incident. As a result, each heater and boiler experienced an increase in SO2 emissions above the maximum allowable permitted lbs/hr rate. In addition, the Unit 247 Flash Drum overfilled into the vapor line to the Unit 210 Compressor Suction Drum, thus causing the compressor to temporarily shut down which resulted in venting to the North Ground Flare.
Discharge Preventable - Yes
The wrong version of a software system was selected. However, it should be noted that neither the software developer nor MPC was aware of the error that would occur if the wrong version of the software was selected. It was later found in the January 13th update that an internal amine circulation line was left open causing Lean Regenerator levels to drop rapidly. To prevent the unit from tripping due low leels the board operator increased Rich Amine flow rapidly. This caused the amine regenerator to become upset. At the same time a M2S analyzer, the board operator was unaware of increased H2S in the fuel gas system and not take corrective actions. A Root Cause investigation was conducted to determined the cause of the incident. Two Root cause were found. 1) A Human Performance Difficulty/ team Performance/ Misunderstood communication: the 519 operator thought the board operator meant to close the spillback instead of the lean internal circulation.2)Equipment Difficulty/ Design/ Problelm not anticipated/ Equipment environment not consider: Steam trap system malfunction due to new Fuel Gas Project tie in.
Notes/Remedial Actions
The refinery Air Monitoring Team was dispatched inside and outside the refinery fenceline. All SO2 and H2S readings were non-detect except for one 4ppm SO2 reading on Marathon Avenue in the refinery. No elevated ambient air monitoring readings from MPCs four ambient air monitoring stations were detected during the event. Operations re-started the Unit 247 lean amine pumps and re-established amine circulation to the Amine Treaters. This recirculation brought the H2S amounts in the fuel down to acceptable levels. The reportable quantity for sulfur dioxide was exceeded during the event. In addition, the permitted SO2 and the NSPS Subpart J/Ja SO2 limit for the emission sources was exceeded for multiple hours. The opacity limits for the above listed heaters and boilers were exceeded. Report was unable to be uploaded. Recommendations made for the Root cause were:1) Human Performance- Revise the Unit 19 Start up procedure with more detailing events on when to the internal lean circulation line while starting up Unit 25 with the appropriate line terminology, label lines accordingly, and retrain operators with the revision. 2) Equitment Difficulty- Evaluate the design of the existing steam tracing for the analyzer, and recommend proper mitigation.
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