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Accident # | 15660 |
PDF Available | ![]() |
State Police # | 14-02515 |
Accident Date | 2014-06-07 |
Report Date | 2014-06-12 |
Follow-up Date | 0000-00-00 |
Follow-up: | No |
Pollutant | Duration | Point Source | Greenhouse Gas | Criteria Pollutant | Ozone forming chemical | Amount of Release |
Sulfur Dioxide | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | YES | NO | 3,873.0 pounds |
NOx | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 22.1 pounds |
Carbon Monoxide | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | YES | NO | 113.9 pounds |
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 40.1 pounds |
Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs) | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | NO | 5.5 pounds |
Hydrogen Sulfide | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | NO | 0.4 pounds |
Methane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | YES | NO | YES | 8.2 pounds |
Ethane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 23.8 pounds |
Ethylene | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 9.5 pounds |
Propane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 36.9 pounds |
Propylene | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 141.2 pounds |
n-Butane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | NO | 10.2 pounds |
Isobutane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 27.7 pounds |
1-Butene | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 22.3 pounds |
T-butene2 | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | NO | 9.1 pounds |
Pentene Plus | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | NO | 22.1 pounds |
Hexane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | NO | 2.7 pounds |
Pentane | 3h 7m | FCCU wet gas compressor first stage | NO | NO | YES | 3.7 pounds |
Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity
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.
The results of the root cause analysis will determine whether the accident was preventable.
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.
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