| Home | Search | Emissions | Pollutants | About the Database |
ExxonMobil Refinery (2638), Baton Rouge
Causal Factor: Process Upset
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-07-25 | FLARE- No17 & 19 | Cause: the sulfur plant shut down causing refinery upset and causing flaring from No17 and No18. Followup: No Notes: significant rate reductions were made to refinery units that send hydrogen sulfide to SRLA to reduce flaring. | Sulfur Dioxide: 35,257.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 1,405.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 53.0 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 9.0 pounds Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs): 4.0 pounds |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-04-30 | FLARE- GLA-3x compressor | Cause: the MEA scrubber on No. 2 Light Ends Unit experienced an operational upset due to a high level in the MEA scrubber to overhead drum; GLA-3x compressor shut down causing the RGCU to become overloaded and a gas leakage which flared Followup: No Notes: operations attempted to restart GLA-3x and then reduced rates to the FCCU to eliminate flaring; a new alarm was added that is more visible and will alert the controller of increased level in the interstage drum; other items identified by the ongoing investigation will be evaluated and implemented; flaring occurred from 3:20 PM to 4:40 PM on April 30th; the Wet Gas Scrubber exceeded its regulatory limit of 500 PPM of carbon monoxide from 4-6PM; the carbon monoxide concentration increased to 639 PPM fhe hour from 1-2 on May 1st | Sulfur Dioxide: 5,903.0 pounds Carbon Monoxide: 4,308.0 pounds Propylene: 195.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 167.0 pounds Highly Reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs): 136.0 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 29.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 16.0 pounds |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-03-26 | None Reported | Cause: leaking saftey valve Followup: No Notes: Leaking safety valve-below Reportable Quantities; the report stated that the event was monitored by the LDAR program and is not reportable. | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-01-24 | No.3 Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit | Cause: fresh caustic being blocked away from the WGS when the No.3 fluid catalytic cracking unit, PCLA-3, was shutdown for squa Followup: No Notes: Fresh caustic was lined up to the system to bring sulfur dioxide emissions down. | Sulfur Dioxide: 3,476.0 pounds |
| 100569 2007-10-27 | FLARE-Flare #5,20 FLARE-Flare #5,20,23,24 | Cause: Safety valve lifted and did not reseat after depressure Followup: No Notes: Measures were taken to reduce the operating pressure on unit. Safety valve was taken out of service and will be evaluated for proper set pressure. | Nitrogen Oxide: 56.0 pounds Methane: 20.0 pounds |
| 100015 2007-10-06 | FLARE-Flare #17 | Cause: Safety valve released to flare due to overpressure Followup: No Notes: Valve outlet line removed from service and D-105 was opened to relieve pressure | Sulfur Dioxide: 6,963.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 52.0 pounds |
| 99362 2007-09-12 | safety valve release | Cause: overpressure pressure in safety valve caused it to lift Followup: No Notes: The pressure control valve outlet on the outlet of the reactor was opened to lower the reactor pressure. Safety valve was taken out of service after second incident. Unit alarms will be reset and procedures evaluated to prevent further releases. | Flammable Vapor: 11,001.0 pounds |
| 99170 2007-09-05 | None Reported | Cause: safety valve released to flare Followup: No Notes: no information given | |
| 98081 2007-07-24 | None Reported | Cause: Hydrocracker safety valve leak Followup: No Notes: Release permitted under ExxonMobil's Leak Detection and Repair program(LDAR) | |
| 97184 2007-06-18 | None Reported | Cause: safety valve release Followup: No Notes: no information given | |
| 94023 2007-02-17 | safety valve release | Cause: safety valve release Followup: No Notes: unit feedrate was reduced until the faulty indicator could be repaired. | Hydrogen: 1,679.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 1,640.0 pounds Ammonia: 81.0 pounds Benzene: 40.0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds: 10,527.0 pounds Flammable Vapor: 10,527.0 pounds Methane: 1,589.0 pounds |
| 111541 2008-12-19 | NIG | Cause: 2 units tripped off and caused an emergency vent to air. Followup: No Notes: The LDEQ notes that the odors of H2S may have been perceived off site as this is an abnormal situation. This release of unspecified material is BRQ. | |
| 111420 2008-12-15 | Opelousas Natural Gas header | Cause: An atmospheric safety valve was lifted on the Opelousas Natural Gas header at the Baton Rouge Refinery. The pressure of this header is maintained via a control valve which lets down high pressure natural gas to a low pressure natural gas header. The control valve that connected the high and low pressure headers failed and remained in an open position, resulting in increased pressures in the low pressure header. As the pressure increased, the controller called for the start of a booster compressor. Neither of the two booster compressors started immediately, resulting in the lifting of the low pressure header safety valve, resulting in the release. Followup: No Notes: The energy booster compressor was started and pressure control was swapped to a separate control valve. This release exceeded the flammable vapor RQ. | Flammable Vapor: 2,951.5 pounds |
| 111454 2008-12-14 | flare #17 | Cause: Flaring at #17 flare. Followup: No Notes: Official letter from Exxon missing. | |
| 110037 2008-10-13 | Flare | Cause: An Emergency Isolation Valve (EIV) on the suction to GLA-2X compressor at the Catalytic Cracking unit unexpectedly closed. As a result, gases that normally feed the compressor were sent to the Refinery Gas Compression Unit as capacity allowed, and the remainder was flared. The flares burned for 14 minutes while unit personnel investigated the source of the flare. When the EV was found in the closed position, the controller immediately opened it to resume flow to the compressor and stop the flaring. Followup: No Notes: The flares burned for 14 minutes while unit personnel investigated the source of the flare. When the EV was found in the closed position, the controller immediately opened it to resume flow to the compressor and stop the flaring. Feed rates to the Cat unit were reduced from 117 to 104 KBD. The EIV was reopened to resume flow to the compressor. This release exceeded the RQ for SO2. | Sulfur Dioxide: 627.0 pounds |
| 109228 2008-09-16 | PSV | Cause: Pipestill #7 seed valve was closed and caused a process upset. 1600 pounds of flammable gases through the PSV Followup: No Notes: Release is BRQ. | |
| 108842 2008-09-09 | NIG | Cause: According to the verbal report, Exxon lost their primary control device on the Sulfur Recovery Unit so they diverted to the secondary control device. They reduced rates to minimize flaring amounts. Followup: Yes Notes: LABB only has access to the SPOC verbal reports. These initial reports estimate that both sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were released above reportable quantity. Material went offsite. LABB only has access to the SPOC verbal report. | Sulfur Dioxide: 500.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 100.0 pounds |
| 109154 2008-09-04 | None Reported | Cause: Process Upset- valve overpressured and release chemicals Followup: No Notes: release valve was blocked to stop release and maintenance was performed on valve before returning it to operation. | |
| 108376 2008-08-26 | Leak-valve was leaking tail gas | Cause: Process upset-air operated valve leaking tail gas back into valve Followup: No Notes: The air operated valve was hand tightened to ensure closure, the valve lineup was restored to norma | Hydrogen Sulfide: 101.0 pounds |
| 107711 2008-08-02 | flare gas compressor | Cause: Flare gas compressor tripped off. Back up compressor started back up which stopped the other from flaring. This in turn secured the incident Followup: Notes: No additional information given. | Sulfur Dioxide: 500.0 pounds |
| 107172 2008-07-12 | Hydrocracker unit safety valve | Cause: Safety valve lifted on the hydrocracker unit and went to flare. Followup: No Notes: The compressor was unloaded and pressure was brought down. | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2008-05-23 | D-24B, the 24 Flare Knocokut Drum | Cause: Personnel discovered processed waste water leaking into a storm water sewer. The unauthorized discharge was a result of water within a Phenex drum at PCLA overfilling into the flare system causing D-24B, the Flare Knockout drum, to carry over into D-24A Seal drum which then carried over into the storm water sewer. Processed waste water is not permitted to enter a storm water sewer. Followup: No Notes: PCLA controller made adjustments to operations in order to reduce the level in the Phenex drum. Also, the Gas Collector started P-24 pump which lowered the level in D-24B, and the WCLA controller diverted the 3/4 separators to tanks 21 and 22. Exxon is currently evaluating how best to detect and prevent this incident in the future. The duration of this incident is an estimated 5 hours and 30 minutes, but since the actual start time is unknown, the time could be slightly longer The pounds released is unknown, and no information provided if this release is RQ. | |
| 105542-105544 2008-05-11 | safety valve release/ FLARE-Flare 17,23 | Cause: process upset/under investigation Followup: Yes Notes: In response to the suspected exchanger tube leak, the unit was shut down per appropriate procedures. Safety valve inlet line was cleaned and replaced. | Hydrocarbon: 2,814.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 2,000.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 241.0 pounds Nitric Oxide: 11.0 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 2.0 pounds Butene: 2.0 pounds Propylene: 1.0 pounds Hydrogen: 3,408.0 pounds Ammonia: 134.0 pounds Methane: 3,871.0 pounds Ethane: 1,261.0 pounds |
| 103871 2008-03-12 | FCCU Stack | Cause: The FCCU stack was experiencing a spike in Nitrogen oxide emissions and to keep it in compliance they had to increase the ammonia injection for nitrogen oxide control. This had been going on for the past 2 days and possible excess ammonia i forming ammoniaum sulfate which might have caused the opacity problem. Followup: No Notes: A complaint was made about the excess particulate emissions from the calcraker scrubber stack as evidenced by opacity for the past couple of days. ExxonMobil Refinery state that they were not aware of any operational problems. On 3/12 they informed the LDEQ about the FCCU stack and that this had been going on for the past 2 days. The scrubber stack will undergo internal repairs and will be retested son. The stack test was to be conducted with the normal ammonia injection for nitrogen oxide control. | |
| 102960/102918 2008-02-08 | FLARE-Flare 5,17,19 | Cause: Process Upset-recycle gas compressor shut down due to process upset./Other-high pressure in the refinery gas collection system due too a high volume of vent gas from other refinery units. Followup: No Notes: Process upset conditions at the catalytic cracking unit were resolved and recycle gas compressor was restarted to stop flaring. When the high pressure burner line overpressured, efforts were made to reduce the amount of gas sent to HPBL and increase gas amount taken by Enterg | Hydrocarbon: 159.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 1.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 445.0 pounds Nitric Oxide: 48.0 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 8.0 pounds Butene: 6.0 pounds Ethylene: 6.0 pounds Propylene: 15.0 pounds |
| 102815 2008-02-03 | None Reported | Cause: Process Upset Followup: No Notes: written notification from Exxon Mobile surrounding the safety valve release incident stating that after further evaluation no reportable quantities were exceeded. | |
| 102441 2008-01-18 | None Reported | Cause: Process Upset Followup: No Notes: written notification from Exxon Mobile surrounding the safety valve release incident stating that after further evaluation no reportable quantities were exceeded. | |
| 111757 2008-01-04 | No Information Given | Cause: Flaring incident. No further information given. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. Flaring incident. No further information given. | |
| 120247 2009-12-17 | flare | Cause: Flaring occurred. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2009-11-27 | No Information Given | Cause: Unit instability. Followup: No Notes: Company letter missing. RQ not exceeded. Unit will be shut down. | |
| 119723 2009-11-27 | No information given. | Cause: Unit instability caused a unit upset which resulted in the release. Followup: No Notes: Release is BRQ. Unit will be shut down. | |
| 117870 2009-09-11 | FLARE | Cause: Safety release flaring. No further information provided. Followup: No Notes: Release is BRQ. No further information provided. | |
| 117813 2009-09-07 | No Information Given | Cause: PCLA unit in the F201 furnace was upset. Followup: No Notes: Release is BRQ. LABB only has access to LDEQ and SPOC reports. | Carbon Monoxide: 489.0 pounds |
| 116294 2009-07-07 | flare system | Cause: Safety valve lifted in the plant which caused 6 different flares to ignite. Followup: No Notes: This release estimate exceeds RQs. The incident was secured. LABB only has access to the SPOC verbal report, and all of these quantities are the initial estimates. | Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): 5,000.0 pounds Ethylene: 100.0 pounds Propylene: 100.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 500.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 100.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 1,000.0 pounds |
| 115216 2009-05-22 | No Information Given | Cause: The PV vent is venting due to high pressure and a safety valve release. Followup: No Notes: The SPOc verbal report indicates that this release occurred on 05/24/09, but the refinery report states that the report occurred on 05/22/09. This release is BRQ. | |
| 114479 2009-04-27 | FLARE | Cause: Flaring occurred when compressor tripped off line. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. Restarted compressor. No LDEQ report or follow up. | |
| 114483 2009-04-26 | safety valve on coker drum safety vavle on coker drum | Cause: Safety valve release on coker drum. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. Material rerouted to another drum. | |
| 113795 2009-03-30 | No Information Given | Cause: Safety valve lifted on tank. Pressure dropped. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. | |
| 113150 2009-03-05 | #20 flare | Cause: Flaring occurred at #20 flare. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. | |
| 113020 2009-02-26 | #100 tank | Cause: Pressure venting on tank #100 on vapor recovery system. Followup: No Notes: RQ not exceeded. | |
| 112835 2009-02-17 | Safety Valve | Cause: Safety valve release due to over-pressure. Followup: No Notes: Rates cut to relieve pressure. Release is BRQ. | |
| 128351 2010-12-27 | Flares #17 and #19 | Cause: The alkylation unit was being shutdown and a compressor at the hydrocracker unit was starting up, this helped the flare gas recover unit to receive higher than normal hydrocarbon vapor rates. This exceeded the vapor recovery system capacity leading to temporary flaring of flare #17 and #19, and the leaking of sulfur dioxide. Followup: No Notes: "Unit operations were adjusted to end the flaring." "Increased monitoring will be conducted on gas vent rates to prevent recurrence" | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,127.0 pounds |
| 128094 2010-12-10 | FLARE | Cause: Upset in light ends unit caused high pressure, had to flare. FLARE. Followup: No Notes: BRQ. LDEQ report states that this incident was below reportable quantities. No information given. LDEQ report only. No refinery letter included. | Sulfur Dioxide: 500.0 pounds |
| 126604 2010-09-23 | FLARE; D-10 Safety | Cause: LDEQ states a safety mechanism that keeps a D-10 from over pressurizing a jet drum malfunctioned and prematurely lifted. It released an unknown amount of flare gas containing like hydrocarbons. Followup: No Notes: Facility staff isolated the gas as soon as it was noticed, and blocked it in. This release was Below Reportable Quantities [BRQ]. This incident was the second time in two days a safety valve prematurely lifted releasing hydrocarbons. | |
| 126578 2010-09-22 | FLARE | Cause: The LDEQ report states that a safety valve prematurely lifted due to a malfunction, but also states that an investigation by facility staff is ongoing at this time. Followup: No Notes: Escaped hydrocarbon vapors were sent to the flare. Refinery letter provides no additional details, except that release was determined to be Below Reportable Quantities [BRQ]. | |
| 125914 2010-08-24 | flares # 17 and 19 | Cause: An upset on the process unit caused flaring. Followup: No Notes: No further information provided, | |
| 124487 2010-06-26 | Tank #100 pressure vacuum vent | Cause: Tank #100 pressure vacuum vent blew releasing benzene. Followup: No Notes: ExxonMobil lowered the pressure to close the vent. LABB only has access to the LDEQ incident report. This release was BRQ. | |
| 124285 2010-06-18 | FLARE: vapor recovery system | Cause: All cooling towers are over temperature limit and will be flaring at the coker unit. Followup: No Notes: Feed rates reduced to stop temporary flaring. 1,039 pounds of SO2 were released through the flare which is RQ. LABB only has access to the LDEQ incident report. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,039.0 pounds |
| 123218 2010-05-03 | Powerformer tower | Cause: Atmospheric safety valve lifted on the Powerformer tower due to operational issues with gas compressor that supply material to different refining units. Followup: No Notes: Relieving the pressure on the tower did not reseat the valve. Operators suited up and isolated the valve when it reseated stopping the release. Procedures for removing the compressors from service will be altered to prevent a similar occurrence. This release exceeded the RQ for flammable vapors. | Benzene: 8.0 pounds Flammable Vapor: 4,350.0 pounds |
| 120862 2010-01-19 | sulfur recovery unit | Cause: Sulfur Recovery Unit process upset. No further details provided. Followup: No Notes: Release is BRQ. | |
| 120697 2010-01-10 | Coker unit | Cause: Coker unit had pressure release valve blow briefly into blowout drum. Followup: No Notes: Release was secured and BRQ. | |
| 135756 2011-12-06 | Flare: #19 due to safety valve release on storage tank D-50 | Cause: Flare #19 flared as a result of a safety valve lifting on the propane storage tank D-50. Followup: No Notes: No information given. | |
| 133778 2011-09-03 | Safety Valve | Cause: A level controller went bad on a hot separator, causing a safety valve to release. The root cause of this event was a plugged level instrument that resulted in high unit pressures. Followup: Notes: Upon discovery of the venting, the level instrument controls were bypassed. This allowed unit pressures to return to normal which ended the release. | Hydrogen: 18.0 pounds Gas Mixture: 2.0 pounds |
| 130442 2011-04-05 | Unspecified furnace | Cause: Hydrogen released when a furnace had a pipe go through a temperature swing. Tied to T130054 incident. Furnace shutdown was on f-901 furnace. Followup: No Notes: No Information Given regarding remedial actions. | |
| 130070 2011-03-20 | FLARE: ICN unit/R-800 reactor | Cause: During unit start-up there was a system pressure relief via flare causing a release of sulfur dioxide. Followup: No Notes: This release was BRQ. No additional information given. | Sulfur Dioxide: 2.0 pounds |
| 129962 2011-03-17 | FLARE: Power former unit | Cause: During start-up of power former unit, sulfur dioxide went to the flare to relieve pressure in the system. Followup: No Notes: This release was BRQ. Due to the low hydrogen sulfide content of the material flared, less than one pound of sulfur dioxide was emitted. Initial report included 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1.0 pounds |
| 129066 2011-02-05 | FLARE: Unspecified flare | Cause: 2 units were shutdown and caused flaring. Two light end PCLAs. Sulfur Dioxide was released. Followup: No Notes: There is no information given regarding remedial actions. | Sulfur Dioxide: 286.0 pounds |
| 128902 2011-01-28 | FLARE: #4 Unit | Cause: As the #4 unit was starting up, it had a unit swing. To relieve the pressure, flaring took place.
During the same 24 hours, the Powdered Catalyst Unit (PCLA) also underwent startup operations. Difficulties with compressor GLA-2X during startup resulted in additional flaring. As a result of this flaring, 1616 pounds of sulfur dioxide was released.
Combined, these two sources release 1,716 pounds of sulfur dioxide. However, in a follow-up letter dated March 21, 2011, ExxonMobil stated that 2,063 lbs of sulfur dioxide were released. Followup: Yes Notes: This release is RQ. To end the Light Ends Flaring, pressures on the 4 West Rerun and 4 West Splitter towers were reduced. To end the PCLA flaring, compressor GLA-2X was started. To prevent recurrence, procedures will be reviewed for the Light Ends area startups following unplanned downtimes. Additionally, startup procedures for the GLA-2X compressor will be reviewed. | Sulfur Dioxide: 2,063.0 pounds Nitrous Oxide: 3.9 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 0.7 pounds Hydrocarbon: 51.8 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 0.3 pounds Propylene: 5.0 pounds Methane/Ethane Mixture: 1.0 pounds Carbon Dioxide: 15.5 pounds Methane: 0.0 pounds |
| 138086 2012-03-19 | LELA-S compressor C-351 Safety Valve | Cause: The LELA-S compressor C-351 tripped, venting flammable vapor to the atmosphere through a safety valve. Followup: No Notes: The situation was secured, and the gas vented. ExxonMobil initially reported releasing over a 1000 lbs of flammable vapor, but they report a release of 157 lbs of flammable vapor in the written report. | Flammable Vapor: 157.0 pounds |
| 136880 2012-02-01 | Flare #17 | Cause: The Alkylation Unit lost a cooling tower pump (P-451B), which resulted in the D-301 safety valve lifting and venting to flare #17 for 8 minutes. Followup: No Notes: ExxonMobil later determined that no reportable quantities were exceeded. | Hydrogen Sulfide: 0.1 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 23.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 1.0 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 0.2 pounds |
| 136547 2012-01-16 | FLARE: Flare #17 and #23 | Cause: The Feed Prep unit experienced an upset which resulted in flaring of SO2 from flares #17 and #23. Followup: No Notes: No information given regarding remedial actions taken. Initial notification of a release of an estimated 500 lbs of sulfur dioxide. | Sulfur Dioxide: 94.0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide: 6.5 pounds Nitrogen Dioxide: 1.1 pounds |
| 152611 2013-11-27 | Sulfur Complex | Cause: On November 27, the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery Sulfur Complex experienced an operational upset as a result of hydrocarbon carry over from the Sour Water Stripper #1 (SWS #1) in the feed to the SRLA unit. Since emissions in the tail gas routed to the vent increased, the tail gas was diverted from the vent to the incinerators to minimize overall environmental impact. Immediately upon the upset, feed to the Sulfur Complex was reduced by cutting unit production rates from other operating units within the Refinery. Air monitoring was conducted every four hours for the duration of the incident.
The SWS #1 is preceded by a coalescer that separates water from hydrocarbon. The hydrocarbon is drawn off the top of the drum and the water from the bottom of the drum is routed to the SWS #1 for further separation. The level instrument can be verified in the field by a site glass; however, the site glass was fouled, preventing the water/oil interface from being visible in the site glass.
The Reportable Quantity for Sulfur Dioxide was exceeded. Followup: Yes Notes: Tail gas was diverted to the incinerators to minimize environmental impact. Feed to the Sulfur Complex was reduced by cutting unit production other operating units within the Refinery. Confirmed level instrument operations on SWS #1 coalescer. ExxonMobil will replace SWS #1 coalescer site glasses with fouling resistant gauges. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,057.0 pounds |
| 150804 2013-09-03 | No Information Given | Cause: On September 3, ExxonMobil Refinery was in the process of prepping equipment. Flared some C4 and C5 for a few minutes. Some seal oil got into the flare system causing a lazy flame. LDEQ report mentions a release of seal oil to the flare stack causing a lazy flame. Followup: No Notes: Due to prompt incident response to mitigate the event duration, no reportable quantities were exceeded. | |
| 156455 2014-06-01 | Frac Tank | Cause: On 6/1/2014 ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery was draining a frac tank and some hydrocarbon was spilled onto the soil. Draining was stopped upon discovery. Followup: No Notes: Draining was stopped upon discovery of spill. | Hydrocarbon: 5.1 gallons |
Connect With Us: