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Marathon Ashland Petroleum (3165), Garyville

LDEQ Accident Report

Accident #15660
State Police #14-02515
Accident Date2014-06-07
Report Date 2014-06-12
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 Dioxide3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNOYESNO3,873.0 pounds
NOx3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES22.1 pounds
Carbon Monoxide3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNOYESNO113.9 pounds
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES40.1 pounds
Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs)3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONONO5.5 pounds
Hydrogen Sulfide3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONONO0.4 pounds
Methane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageYESNOYES8.2 pounds
Ethane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES23.8 pounds
Ethylene3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES9.5 pounds
Propane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES36.9 pounds
Propylene3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES141.2 pounds
n-Butane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONONO10.2 pounds
Isobutane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES27.7 pounds
1-Butene3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES22.3 pounds
T-butene23h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONONO9.1 pounds
Pentene Plus3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONONO22.1 pounds
Hexane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONONO2.7 pounds
Pentane3h 7mFCCU wet gas compressor first stageNONOYES3.7 pounds

Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity

Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure

A loose wire in a satellite building caused the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) wet gas compressor first stage spillback to open, which led to high fractionator pressure. The safety instrumented system (SIS) tripped the FCC unit on high fractionator pressure. During the FCC unit startup, the debutanizer pressured up and had to be vented to flare due to lack of heat in the upstream stripper reboiler (heating medium is BPA from the fractionator) which sent ethane to the debutanizer. The flaring event due to the FCCU Shutdown began on June 7, 2014 at 14:37 hours and stopped on June 7, 2014 at 15.48 hours for a duration of 70 minutes. The flare event due to the FCCU startup began on June 7, 2014 at 18:21 hours and stopped on June 7, 2014 at 20:18 hours for a duration of 117 minutes. The total duration of the flaring was 187 minutes.

Discharge Preventable - Under Investigation

The results of the root cause analysis will determine whether the accident was preventable.

Notes/Remedial Actions

The SIS system reacted as designed to shutdown the FCCU due to the opening of the compressor spillback valve. During FCCU startup the operating procedure was followed to minimize emissions to the extent possible. An incident investigation will result in recommendation items designed to prevent the recurrence of this event.