| Home | Search | Emissions | Pollutants | About the Database |
Phillips 66 (2538), Lake Charles
Causal Factor: Equipment Failure
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 80241 2006-06-30 | FLARE-South Flare (EP-31) | Cause: Incident due to combustion of sour gases at the flare which were diverted from the South Flare Gas Recovery system. The SFGR compressors were operating at reduced gas compression volumes as a result of the presence of excess steam in th Followup: No Information Provided Notes: As soon as the problem was resolved the compressors resumed operating at full capacity and the release ended. Emissions didn't exceed permit limits and no reportable quantities were exceeded, therefore the notification was made as courtesy only. | Sulfur Dioxide: 639.0 pounds |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-12-09 | Spill | Cause: Loading arm failed while loading diesel onto dock Followup: No Notes: Loading was shut down and loading arm secured. Procedure to test loading arm pressure has been reinstated. | |
| 84330 2005-12-05 | FLARE (South Flare Are B EP-31) | Cause: The South Flare Gas Recovery Compressor was shutdown in an attempt to get the GRP compressor to run. Followup: No Notes: Compressor started back as soon as possible. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,780.0 pounds |
| 84329 2005-12-05 | FLARE (Area A North Flare) | Cause: The Gas Recovery Plant COmpressor malfunctioned, resulting in a release of Sour Gas to the North Flare. Followup: No Notes: Shutdown of SFGR. The high temps experienced were a result of a surge of has flow from another process unit. This has stream flow rate was corrected and the GRP compressor returned to its normal status. | Sulfur Dioxide: 3,080.0 pounds |
| 83599 2005-11-02 | FLARE-(Area A South Flare Gas Reciovert C-1430) | Cause: South Flare Gas Recovery Compressor was Shut down due to nipple failure. Followup: No Notes: Emissions didn't exceed permit limits, and no reportable quantities were exceeded, therefore this notification was made as a courtesy only. Compressor was shut down. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1.0 pounds |
| 83574 2005-11-01 | FLARE (Area A South Flare EP-31) | Cause: Export Compressor shutdown. Followup: No Notes: Release over reportable quantities. Operators shut down export compressor. Incident unpreventable due to compressor spillback problems. | Sulfur Dioxide: 702.0 pounds |
| 83522 2005-10-29 | FLARE (North Flare Area A EP-64) | Cause: Incident due to an upset at the No. 2 Coker Unit. A suction strainer on compressor C-3301 had plugged an caused the compressor to shutdown. The gazes normally handled by the compressor were rerouted and the release ended. Followup: No Notes: Incident determined to be unpreventable as the plugging of the compressor strainer could not be foreseen. | Sulfur Dioxide: 30,400.0 pounds |
| 83518 2005-10-29 | FLARE (Area B-South Flare EP-31) | Cause: Incident due to shutdown of the SOuth Flare GAs Recovery System. the SFGR System compressors were shutdown as a result of a compressor upset condition in the Has Recovery Plant. Followup: No Notes: Once normal operation of the Gas Recovery Plant was restored, the SFGR compressors were restarted and the release ended. Permit limits not exceeded for the period of the release. The incident was determine dto be unpreventable as the compressor upset | Sulfur Dioxide: 2,200.0 pounds |
| 82372 2005-09-21 | FLARE (Area A South Flare EP-31) | Cause: release due to a loss of 2 compressors located at the South Flare location that became inoperative due to high oxygen levels in the compressor's suction. Followup: No Notes: Incident Secured by purging the lines on the date of notification. emissions didn't exceed reportable quantities, therefore the notification shall serve as a courtesy call. No further action required | Sulfur Dioxide: 300.0 pounds |
| 81725 2005-08-28 | FLARE (South Flare EP-31) | Cause: The incident occurred due to the impaired capability of the South Flare Gas Recovery System. The impairment in the gas recovery system was caused by high inlet temperature resulting from high blowdown system temperature. Followup: No Notes: Facility took immediate corrective action to make the necessary adjustments and return the SFGR system to normal operation. The letter states that no reportable quantities were exceeded and the notification was made as a courtesy only. | Sulfur Dioxide: 341.0 pounds |
| 80427 2005-07-10 | FLARE (North Flare EP-64) | Cause: Release due to shutdown of the #4HDS, #5HDS, and C-3301 Wet Gas Compressor. Followup: Notes: Operations took immediate corrective action to minimize emissions by curing unit charge rates, The unit rates were reduced until equipment could be repaired and brought back online. Incident determined to be unpreventable. Refinery indicated that the | Sulfur Dioxide: 13,200.0 pounds |
| 80086 2005-06-24 | Y-5 Cooling Tower | Cause: Incident due to leaking exchanger. The root of the cause of the exchanger leak is currently being investigated. Followup: No Notes: Facility initially identified a sheen on Y-5 Cooling Tower and the company's environmental monitoring contractors detected 10, 000 ppm or greater VOC vapor concentration on water to Y-5 Cooling Tower. A comprehensive research was immediately initiated | Volatile Organic Compounds: 43,313.0 pounds Benzene: 57.0 pounds |
| 79470 2005-05-31 | FLARE (South Flare EP-31) | Cause: South Flare Gas Recovery Compressors shutdown. Followup: No Notes: Release ended as soon as the compressor was restarted. Emissions were not in excess of permit limits and no reportable quantities were exceeded, therefore the notice was made as a courtesy only. | Sulfur Dioxide: 8.0 pounds |
| 79328 2005-05-24 | FLARE (South Flare EP-31) | Cause: This incident resulted due to combustion of excess vent gases from he South Flare Gas recovery System. Followup: No Notes: Emissions not in excess of permit limits and no reportable quantities were exceeded. The notice was sent as courtesy. | Sulfur Dioxide: 360.0 pounds |
| 78633 2005-04-29 | FLARE (South Flare EP-31) | Cause: Momentary loss of pilot gas to the South Flare, causing the pilots to go out. Instrumentation didn't show any flow to the flare at the time. Therefore there may not have been a release Followup: No Notes: No process gasses going to the flare at the time of this event. Only a small amount of sweep gas was present into he system and any VOC emissions would have been well below reportable quantity. Notification made as courtesy only. | |
| 78175 2005-04-12 | Y-2 Cooling Tower (Ep-152) | Cause: The release occurred over a 3 day period due to leaking exchangers. The exchangers are in CatPoly depropanizer overhead service. Followup: No Notes: Once the leaking exchangers were pinpointed through sampling efforts, the Depropanizer Tower was shutdown and blocked in to stop the leak and make repairs to the exchangers. The incident was found to be unpreventable as the leas was not foreseen (a rou | Hydrocarbon: 2,930.0 pounds |
| 77849 2005-03-28 | FLARE (North EP-64) | Cause: Compressor C-1202 shut down due to mechanical problems. As a result they had to shur down No. 4 and 5 and 5 HDS Units. Had to depressor the unit to flare to sweep the reactors. The shutdown was caused by burned-out motor leads at the Followup: No Notes: Corrective action was taken immediately to replace the damaged electrical components and return the compressor to service. This incumbent was found to be unpreventable as the equipment failure could not be anticipated. No reportable quantities were exce | Sulfur Dioxide: 445.0 pounds |
| 77765 2005-03-22 | FLARE (North Flare) | Cause: No. 4/5 HDS Recycle Compressor, C-1202, motor tripped off-line. Could not reset the motor to restart the compressor and proceeded to shutdown both units. Per the emergency shutdown , they removed the charge from each unit and purges Followup: No Notes: Shutdown both HDS units immediately. Removing the charge from the reactor sections stops H2S production. | Sulfur Dioxide: 542.0 pounds |
| 76759 2005-02-04 | Excel- Sulfur Plant (EP-11) | Cause: while calibrating the Amine Acid Gas Flow Meter the main air flow decreased when the Amine Acid Gas Meter indicated zero flow. Analyzer stabilization was put on manual and air demand analyzer wasn't, which caused the thermal Oxidizer Followup: No Notes: Added air. No excess emissions above permit limits, therefore the notification as made as a courtesy. Incident investigation is underway which will generate the necessary actions to prevent reoccurrence. | Hydrogen Sulfide: 86.0 pounds |
| 75949 2005-01-02 | Y-1 Cooling Tower (EP-152) | Cause: The incident involved a release of hydrocarbons from the Y-1Cooling Tower due to leaking exchangers. Followup: No Notes: Upon discovery of release, the facility procedures to identify the leak source based on hydrocarbon sampling of cooling water retune lines and further sampling of specific exchangers. Operations personnel took immediate steps to isolate the leaking e | |
| 91101 2006-10-04 | Area A- North Flare EP64 | Cause: RV leakage Followup: No Information Provided Notes: Relief Valve is being changed to prevent further leakage to the flare. HAZMAT#0606201 | Sulfur Dioxide: 3,026.0 pounds |
| 85529 2006-02-01 | Excel Paralubes SRU (EP-111) Failed check valve South Flare (EP-31) West Flare (EP-110) | Cause: Loss of containment occurred due to the structural failure of check valve on the discharge of Heater H-11001, which allowed a hydrocarbon release to the atmosphere. The hydrocarbons ignited causing significant damage to the process piping and insturmentation associated with the heater Followup: Yes Notes: root cause failure analysis is being conducted. Its results will be used to develop actions that will preclude a recurrence of this event. | Sulfur Dioxide: 140.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 1,200.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 4,260.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 900.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 154.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 27,600.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 3,000.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 7.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 3,000.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 2.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 68.0 pounds |
| 84930 2006-01-04 | South Flare, Compressor C-1430 | Cause: C-1430 had a release valve which was leaking in the reverse direction. This caused an increase in the flare gas to the South Flare header. Followup: No Notes: A DCS alarm to indicate run status of C-1430 is proposed. | Sulfur Dioxide: 5,880.0 pounds |
| 100875 2007-11-08 | North Flare | Cause: relief valve lifted Followup: No Notes: No information given | Sulfur Dioxide: 6,517.0 pounds |
| 100243 2007-10-17 | Sulfuric Acid Plant duct | Cause: hole developed in duct work Followup: No Notes: No information given | Sulfur Dioxide: 34.0 pounds |
| 100164 2007-10-13 | Tank 73 | Cause: internal floating roof on Tank 73 Followup: No Notes: No information given | Hydrogen Sulfide: 1.0 pounds |
| 99137 2007-09-03 | Pig trap | Cause: see notes Followup: No Notes: Report states that closure hatch on pig trap failed | Crude Oil: 6.0 gallons |
| 98135 2007-07-26 | Sulfur Recovery Unit | Cause: Hydrocarbons were entrained into feed and a loss of containment occurred. Followup: No Notes: Incident is related to 07-4185, occurred within 24h of each other, and have the same root cause. Units producing sour water/acid gas rates were reduced and feed was shifted to #4/5 SRU and NaSH plant. #2 SRU was shut do | Sulfur Dioxide: 930.0 pounds |
| 98116 2007-07-25 | Sulfur Recovery Unit | Cause: Hydrocarbons were entrained into feed and a loss of containment occurred. Followup: No Notes: #1 SRU feed was redirected to #2 SRU, #1 SRU was shut down for repai | Sulfur Dioxide: 2,269.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 142.0 pounds |
| 97863 2007-07-14 | Flange at East Manifold in Area A | Cause: Overpressure of dock line caused leak Followup: No Notes: No information given | Gas Oil: 5.0 gallons |
| 97829 2007-07-13 | North Flare | Cause: see notes Followup: No Notes: a root cause failure analysis will be completed to determine the cause of the equipment failure. Once emissions were noticed, unit was shut dow | Sulfur Dioxide: 21,950.0 pounds Carbon Monoxide: 2,191.0 pounds Nitric Oxide: 403.0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds: 829.0 pounds |
| 97272 2007-06-20 | Sulfur Recovery Unit | Cause: Gas header tripped due to loss of fuel gas Followup: No Notes: No information given | Sulfur Dioxide: 386.0 pounds |
| 92923 2006-12-29 | North Flare | Cause: wet gas compressor tripped and shut down Followup: No Notes: Facility is conducting root cause failure analysis to prevent future recurrence and ensure extra insulation on the bus is adequate during shutdowns | Carbon Monoxide: 1,302.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 27,964.0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds: 492.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 239.0 pounds |
| 110208 2008-10-19 | Slurry Pump Bypass Valve | Cause: slurry oil leaked around bypass on control valve Followup: No Notes: HYDRCHEM responded and performed cleanup | Slurry Oil: 25.0 gallons |
| 107264 2008-07-16 | Area D Tank Farm | Cause: Seal failure on P-486 resulted in loss of containment of sour naptha Followup: No Notes: INCIDENT EXCEEDS RQ. Pump suction and discharge were blocked in when operators were alerted to event from an adjacent operating area | Sour Naphtha: 210.0 gallons Benzene: 8.0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds: 93.0 pounds |
| 106325 2008-06-10 | No. 7 HDS Unit | Cause: leaking plug on HDS cited as cause of release Followup: No Notes: Letter states that emissions were BRQ. | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2008-04-11 | Dock 1 - light oil manifold | Cause: see notes Followup: No Notes: Booms and pads deployed to capture the Oil. Drops released during annual pressure test designed to expose flaws and weaknesses in lines and joints. | |
| 110380 2007-07-05 | Y-1 Cooling Tower in Area C | Cause: leak in exchangers X-447/18 in the FCCU Vapor Recovery Unit Followup: No Notes: DEQ report states that emission was BRQ | Volatile Organic Compounds: 1,475.0 pounds |
| 116265 2009-07-05 | West Flare | Cause: A 2A fuse blew which caused the five control valves in the Hydro-cracker unit to fail closed. The safety system worked as designed, and dumped the reactor pressure to the flare. Followup: No Notes: No information given | |
| 115990 2009-06-25 | West Flare | Cause: Wet gas compressor tripped on low lube oil pressure. Report makes note that lube oil pressure should be verified by operators prior to switching pumps to prevent unit shutdown. Followup: No Notes: Modify anti-surge controller pressure transmitter set-points to allow restart or alert operation that pressure is reading top of scale. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,707.0 pounds |
| 113432 2009-03-16 | Outfall 006 | Cause: Control valve malfunctioned which caused an overflow of the EQ sump in Area A and B. Followup: No Notes: Overflow led to a ditch which releases to Bayou Verdine via Outfall 006. Water had no visible oil present and had a pH of 7. Samples were taken according to NPDES parameters and will be reported accordingly. | |
| 111853 2009-01-07 | North Flare | Cause: A net gas compressor shut down due to high vibrations, this resulted in a high volume of material being sent to the north flare. Followup: Yes Notes: No information given | |
| 125333 2010-08-01 | D-2302 sight glass | Cause: Sight glass covering a drain ruptured while operator was draining water off of vessel [D-2302] in Tank Farm [Area D], glass rupture caused release of propane-propylene (VOCs). Followup: No Notes: "Replacing sight glass with spool piece on D-2302. All propane-propylene bullet sight glasses will be replaced with spool pieces" | Propane/Propylene Mix: 4,365.0 pounds |
| 124631 2010-07-02 | Tote tank | Cause: Leaking valve on tote tank containing sodium hypochlorite (bleach)--spilled into stormwater pond. Followup: No Notes: Spilled material treated in the wastewater treatment system prior to discharge, vacuum truck used to remove remaining material from tank to prevent further leakage. LDEQ verbal and field report only. No refinery letter. | Sodium Hydrochlorite: 60.0 gallons |
| 122272 2010-03-21 | A4X45003--sump relief valve | Cause: API sump relief valve (A4X45003) leaked, allowing gases high in H2S to bypass the scrubber on the Area B - API flare, allowing for elevated H2S levels released from the flare. Followup: No Notes: Verified elevated emissions | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,300.0 pounds |
| 131210 2011-05-11 | flare | Cause: Flare went out. No further information given. Followup: No Notes: No information given regarding amount released. LDEQ and SPOC reports only; no refinery letter. | |
| 138385 2012-03-28 | #4 SRU | Cause: Due to a shutdown of the #1 SRU, additional amine gas was sent to the #4 SRU, resulting in elevated sulfur dioxide emissions. This caused a flare. Followup: No Notes: The flare was less than the RQ in SO2 and the notice was a courtesy notification | |
| 137276 2012-02-17 | FLARE: SRU Stack No.1 and No.2 | Cause: Excess hydrocarbons in the feed composition to the No.1/No.2 SRU caused the reducing gas generators (RGGs) to shutdown. SO2 was released. Followup: No Notes: Air monitoring was conducted. | Sulfur Dioxide: 2,623.0 pounds |
| 153015 2013-12-25 | caustic scrubber pump | Cause: Sulfur Dioxide was released from the facility's API/CPI flare due to the unexpected failure of a pump on the caustic scrubber system due to low temperatures. Followup: No Notes: Refinery personnel reestablished circulation through the scrubber using steam to heat the pump and associated piping. Causal factor could also be Equipment design if the currently used equipment is not able to support the low temperatures that are occurring. | |
| 152968 2013-12-20 | 4/5 SRU | Cause: The thermal oxidizer on the unit lost the flame when the when the combustion air blower shut down. Followup: No Notes: | |
| 148023 2013-04-08 | Tank-77 | Cause: A plug from a previous repair on the roof of Tank-77 failed. The tank was full; the gasoline pool on the roof grew until the roof was landed on 4/9/13, and estimated to be 14 ft. in diameter at that time. Followup: No Notes: Notified SPOC on 4/10/13. The gasoline was drained off and 500 lbs were recovered; an estimated 5800 lbs evaporated between 4/8/13-4/9/13. Based on the composition, an estimated 44 lbs of benzene and 285 lbs of xylene evaporated. Tank-77 taken out of service to repair roof. Engineering calculations estimate 5,800 lbs of VOCs, 44 lbs of Benzene, and 285 lbs of Xylene gases were released, which exceeds the reportable quantity for these compounds. | Gasoline: 5,800.0 pounds Benzene: 44.0 pounds Xylene: 285.0 pounds |
| 146063 2013-01-16 | external floating roof of Tank-7 tank-7 roof drain | Cause: External floating roof check valve failed, slowing tank contents on top of the roof. The incident resulted from a mechanical failure of a check valve.
Tank material (gasoline/oil/water mix) got on top of floating roof allowing mixture to spill to ground via roof drain. Estimated 2bbls of oil to ground into secondary containment. Followup: Notes: s13-22018 due to a damaged floating roof, gasoline released to containment. A notification was made regarding a release from the external floating roof of Tank-7 located in Area D Tank Farm. An estimated 2 barrels of a gasoline, oil, and water mixture was spilled to the ground through the roof drain within secondary containment. Evaporative losses from spill contained benzene and potentially H2S. Immediate area monitoring non-detect for H2S but detected for benzene. ESH personnel remediated the spill. Blocked roof drain to limit mixture spilling to ground. Drained material from roof but due to slow drain and rain, pump to be put roof top and pump material off floating roof. An estimated 7752 lbs of volatile organic carbons were released to the air exceeding the reportable quantity for VOCs. Fenceline monitoring was conducted for VOCs and Benzene and no offsite impact occurred. Material was cleaned up without any offsite impacts. Investigation will provide more specific cause(s) and any appropriate actions to prevent reoccurrence. | Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): 7,752.0 pounds Benzene: 1.0 pounds Gas Mixture: 63.0 gallons |
| 157528 2014-07-18 | C-3301 Wet Gas Compressor | Cause: The wet gas compressor shut down due to high amps, emitting Sulfur dioxide from the flare. Followup: No Notes: Unit rates were cut to minimize flaring, and work on the compressor started immediately to get it running and back in service. Began cutting rates and working the electrical issue. Restarted C-3301 Wet Gas Compressor. | Sulfur Dioxide: 2,995.0 pounds |
| 156201 2014-05-25 | Sour Crude Recycle Hydrogen Compressor (C-3702) | Cause: The Sour Crude Recycle Hydrogen Compressor (C-3702) has a failure of the rheostat, which is a component that controls the DC current to the compressor motor. This component failure caused the compressor to shut down. This was not operator error, according to facility reports. Shut down of the compressor resulted in flaring at the Area A North Flare. Followup: No Notes: Rates were immediately reduced to stabilize the units and reduce flare. Permit levels were exceeded for the North Flare EQT0539. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,246.0 pounds |
| 153631 2014-02-03 | T-38 Flare (EQT 240) of Area D | Cause: An unknown quantity of H2S was released from a flare to the atmosphere due to a pilot flame outage. The source was identified as the T-38 Flare (EQT 240) of Area D, Permit 2626-V9. The flare is equipped with an automatic shut-off valve on the flare piping at the time of the flame outage the valve closed as the intended design, and thus only the material in the flare piping was released. Followup: No Notes: The flare pilots were out for approximately 20 minutes. Engineering calculations determined that the amounts of H2S and VOC release during the outage was less than the reportable quantity. There is no mention of what caused the pilot outage. |
Connect With Us: