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Louisiana Refinery Accident Database

Chalmette Refining (1376), Chalmette

LDEQ Accident Report

Pollutants Released

Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity

Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure

On Thursday, October 2 2014, at approximately 01:47 hours, Waste Gas Compressor K-406 tripped an overspeed and routed all gas to the flare gas recovery (FGR) system. The FGR system was unable to handle the excess gas and flaring occurred intermittently for 25 minutes until K-406 could be restarted. While investigating the cause of the K-406 compressor trip, another overspeed trip occurred at approximately 23:42 hours on October 2, 2014. All waste gas was routed again to the FGR system which was unable to recover the excess gas and intermittent flaring occurred for approximately 22.06 hours after several attempts to restart the compressor failed. During this time Waste Gas Compressor K-402 was also down for repairs after a mechanical failure had previously occurred. With both waste gas compressors down there was no ability to recover any of the waste gas to relieve some of the flow to the FGR system. Investigation of the accident determined that the cause of the K-406 trip was a sticking butterfly valve which regulates the fuel gas flow to the compressor. Personnel conducted extensive analysis and troubleshooting on K-406 to determine potential causes for the compressor trip. The initial compressor trip was reported under LDEQ # 159284, however the emissions for both events were reported under 159191.

Discharge Preventable - No

Chalmette Refining had no indication nor could have prevented the butterfly valve from malfunctioning. There had been no previous failures of the throttling valves on compressors at Chalmette Refining and this type of equipment is not recommended to be part of an equipment strategy development or preventative maintenance schedule.

Notes/Remedial Actions

Flow rates to the flare system were minimized as much as possible throughout the refinery until Waste Gas Compressor K-406 could be returned to service. After K-406 was returned to service the FGR system also returned to normal operation and flaring ceased. Once it was determined that the butterfly valve was the leading root cause the valve was lubricated and returned to service. Chalmette Refining is developing an equipment procedure to add the butterfly valve as a potential failure scenario and conduct annual preventative maintenance on the valve to prevent any future recurrences.