LA Bucket Brigade : Refinery Accident Database

Marathon Ashland Petroleum (3165), Garyville

LDEQ Accident Report

Accident #	157090
State Police #	14-02857
Accident Date	2014-06-27
Report Date	2014-07-02
Follow-up Date	2014-08-26
Follow-up:	Yes

Pollutants Released

Pollutant	Duration	Point Source	Greenhouse Gas	Criteria Pollutant	Ozone forming chemical	Amount of Release
Sulfur Dioxide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	8,994.0 pounds
Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	246.0 pounds
Methane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	YES	NO	YES	415.8 pounds
Ethane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	112.1 pounds
Ethylene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	5.3 pounds
Acetylene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	0.3 pounds
Propane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	397.7 pounds
Propylene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	84.7 pounds
n-Butane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	807.2 pounds
Isobutane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	324.0 pounds
Butene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	193.6 pounds
Pentene Plus	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	719.8 pounds
Carbon Dioxide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	YES	NO	NO	2,158.5 pounds
Carbon Monoxide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	171.5 pounds
Hydrogen	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	50.2 pounds
Nitrogen	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	105,957.5 pounds
Hydrogen Sulfide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	10.6 pounds
NOx	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	669.9 pounds
Particulate Matter 10	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	266.0 pounds
Particulate Matter 2.5	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	266.0 pounds
Methane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	YES	NO	YES	415.8 pounds
Ethane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	112.1 pounds
Ethylene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	5.3 pounds
Acetylene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	0.3 pounds
Propane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	397.7 pounds
Propylene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	84.7 pounds
n-Butane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	807.2 pounds
Isobutane	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	324.0 pounds
Butene	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	193.6 pounds
Pentene Plus	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	719.8 pounds
Carbon Dioxide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	YES	NO	NO	2,158.5 pounds
Carbon Monoxide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	171.5 pounds
Hydrogen	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	50.2 pounds
Nitrogen	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	105,957.5 pounds
Hydrogen Sulfide	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	NO	10.6 pounds
NOx	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	NO	YES	669.9 pounds
Particulate Matter 10	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	266.0 pounds
Particulate Matter 2.5	216h	Unit 25 FCCU wet gas compressor shutdown	NO	YES	NO	266.0 pounds

Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity

Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure

The wet gas compressor (WGC) suction flow and discharge pressure dropped suddenly, causing the WGC spillback valve to open 100%. The fractionator overhead pressure increased when the WGC spillback opened up. The high fractionator pressure SIS trip point was reached (36 psi), which tripped the unit. Fuel gas was routed to the fractionator overhead accumulator, which was being vented to the flare to keep pressure on the reactor to prevent O2 from the regen from backing into the reactor. No offsite impacts were observed by the air monitoring team. The reportable quantities for Sulfur Dioxide, HRVOCs and VOCs were exceeded. Update: cooling coil in Alkyl Unit Vent Gas Absorber (27-1107) failed.

Discharge Preventable - Yes

The root causes were identified as NO Procedure/Preventative Maintenance for Equipment Needs Improvement.

Notes/Remedial Actions

The SIS system reacted as designed to shutdown the FCCU due to the opening of the compressor spillback valve. An incident investigation will result in recommendation items designed to prevent recurrence of this event. Update: The root causes were identified as 1) cooling coil in Alkyl Unit Vent Gas Absorber (27-1107) failed. Cause of failure is unknown. Root Cause #1: Cannot be determined until the Alkyl Unit Shutdown. Recommendation: Inspect the cooling coil in the Alkyl Unit Vent Gas Absorber (27-1107) and determine cause of failure. Based on the cause of failure, recommendations will be generated to prevent recurrence. [Complete by December 15, 2016] 2) Quaterly PMs on cooling coil in Alkyl Vent Gas Absorber failed to identify the coil was leaking. Root Cause #1: No Procedure. Recommendations: Create Operations procedure for performing the quarterly leak testing on the cooling coil in the alkyl Vent Gas Absorber. Include a step that requires operators to verify proper documentation of test result in PM work order closure. [Complete by November 18, 2014]. Root Cause #2 Preventive/Predictive Maintenance Needs Improvement. Indetify flouride sample locations for discovering a leak in Alkyl Vent Gas Absorber cooling coil [Complete by November 18, 2014].

Louisiana Refinery Accident Database

Marathon Ashland Petroleum (3165), Garyville

LDEQ Accident Report

Pollutants Released

Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure

Discharge Preventable - Yes

Notes/Remedial Actions