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Motiva Enterprises (2719), Convent
Causal Factor: Process Upset
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| No LDEQ Reported 2007-10-14 | Tail Gas Treatment Unit | Cause: upset occurs at Amine Regeneration Units leads to SO2 increase at tail gas treating units Followup: No Notes: Under investigation - no remedial actions specified | |
| 99010 2007-08-28 | HGU WWTU Flare EPN 85D-105 | Cause: upset of natural gas flow to the flare results in a pilot outage Followup: No Notes: Under investigation - no remedial actions specified | |
| 111370 2008-12-11 | Tail Gas Treating Unit 3 (77H-101) Tail Gas Treating Unit 4 (78H-101) Flare No 3 (19G-301) | Cause: Upset of the ebulated-bed residuum hydrocracker (H-oil Unit) with a series of fluctuating alarms. While responding to the alarms, operators noticed a fire on the compressor turbine casing and immediately responded to extinguish the fire. The primary cause of this event was a H-Oil unit malfunctioning local level controller on the sour oil seal pot causing the drain valve to remain open and lose reference gas pressure across the seal oil pot. Followup: Yes Notes: FIRE. Operations began to reduce production by reducing charge rates on units and to troubleshoot H-Oil recycle compressor and fin fan malfunctions. Immediate action was taken to begin the process of stabilizing, slowing down and shutting down the H-Oil unit and other units as necessary. Affirmative defense letter. Motiva inspected and completed insrumentation checks on the level control for thesour oil seal pots the level control drain valve and the level gauge. A faulty high-level switch was found and replaced. COR will schedulean operation's monitoring cycle to ensure proper sour oil seal pots level. COR will also add a level control loop for the sour oil seal pots levels during the next maintenance outage. | Hydrogen Sulfide: 103.0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide: 2,895.0 pounds Seal Oil: 791.0 pounds |
| No LDEQ Reported 2008-11-02 | VPS-2 Atmospheric Heater (83H-101) | Cause: Atmospheric Tower Naphtha Recycle Pump tripped causing a unit upset Followup: No Notes: Affirmative defense letter. | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2008-10-19 | VPS-2 Atmospheric Heater (83H-101) | Cause: see notes. Loss of off gas from unit's Off Gas Scrubber Followup: No Notes: Affirmative defense letter | |
| 109302 2008-09-18 | Tail Gas Treating Unit 2 (76H-101) | Cause: upset in the Amine Regeneration Units Followup: Yes Notes: | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2008-06-06 | Tail Gas Treating Unit No 4 (78H-101) | Cause: upset in the Amine Regeneration Units Followup: No Notes: Affirmative defense letter. | >RQ |
| No LDEQ Reported 2008-01-06 | Tail Gas Treating Unit 4 (78H-101) | Cause: upset in the Amine Regeneration Units Followup: No Notes: Affirmative defense letter. | |
| 116576 2009-07-14 | FCCU | Cause: "While performing Instrument Protective Function trip checks on the FCCU [fluid catalytic cracking unit), a pressure control valve tripped open. This caused low air flow to the FCCU regenerator, which resulted in the unit to shutdown [sic]." Caused exceedance of the hourly CO emission rate limit.
No DEQ report in this file--follow-up only. Followup: Yes Notes: IPF trip checks halted, opened pressure valve manually closed, FCCU operation stabilized to reduce CO emissions below the permitted limit. | |
| 112489 2009-01-31 | cooling water tower exhaust | Cause: Upset in the refinery's cooling water systems resulting in the apparent exceedance of the VOC emission rate limit due to mechanical failure within a set of heat exchangers which resulted in releasing VOCs into the cooling water system.
No DEQ report in this file, follow-up letter only. Followup: No Notes: VOCs stripped in the cooling water tower and emitted to the atmosphere in cooling tower exhaust, samples taken at the battery limits of multiple units until source was identified, isolated heat exchangers to minimize hydrocarbon carryover across cooling water system | |
| 112352 2009-01-28 | Valve | Cause: An upset of the refinery's evulated-bed residuum hydrocracker (H-Oil Unit)cause the emitting of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from flaring of hydrogen and hydrocarbons. A valve failure most likely caused the incident. Followup: Yes Notes: Operations took action to begin the process of stabilizing, slowing down and shutting down the H-Oil Unit, as necessary. | Sulfur Dioxide: 6,250.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 15.0 pounds |
| 127630 2010-11-14 | FLARE: Flare #3 [19G-301] | Cause: Followup Letter: Initiating cause was a collapsed oil filter in the lube oil system. Refinery letter states that this was likely caused by water contamination. A unit charge pump tripped causing a unit upset, warranting the controlled shutdown of the H-Oil unit (Ebulated-bed residum hydrocracker), causing sour hydrogen depressurizing to be sent to the flare gas recover system, resulting in SO2 and H2S to be released. Problem occurred in Flare #1 #2 and #3. FLARE.
Final Followup Letter: Incident due to an upset of the refinery's ebulated-bed residuum hydrocracker (H-Oil Unit). Followup: Yes Notes: RQ. Refinery letter states that incident released nearly 5000 pounds above the required limit for SO2. Efforts were made to contain the depressured sour hydrogen within the Flare gas recovery system and to treat the sour gas prior to being sent to the flare system, however the sour gas streams were still combusted to the flare. The excess emissions ceased once Convent refinery resumed stable operations and shutdown the process units. Remedial Actions included replacing paper filter and air-operated relay which was not responding. Final Followup Letter: Reduced the speed of the reactor ebbulating pump to prevent catalyst from carrying over the top of the reactor. The air operated relay was replaced. Lab results concluded that the filter collapse was indeed a result of water intrusion which swelled the individual fibers of the fiberglass cellulose lube oil filter leading to its collapse. Motiva is changing the filter type from a fiberglass cellulose filter to a synthetic polyester material filter which is not prone to fiber swelling. Field investigation identified that steam was leaking from the turbine shaft seal area down the shaft of the turbine driver and into the bearing housing, contaminating the lube oil. The turbine steam ejector was adjusted to draw the leaking steam away from the turbine shaft and direct it to a downstream gland condenser. A pressure gauge was installed on the gland condenser piping to allow operators to monitor the seal vacuum pressure. | Sulfur Dioxide: 5,486.0 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide: 12.0 pounds |
| 126983 2010-10-10 | No Information Given | Cause: "Greater than 500 lbs of sulfur dioxide is estimated to have been released because the sulfur recovery unit tripped." Refinery letter later states that detailed calculations performed since the incident reveal that no RQ were exceeded. Followup: No Notes: BRQ. Refinery letter states that no reportable quantities were exceeded. No remedial actions mentioned. | |
| 130690 2011-04-21 | Sulfur Unit (SRU-4); TGTU No 4 | Cause: State police report states that an unplanned shutdown occurred due to an upset in the sulfur unit, causing a release in sulfur dioxide. The incident originated with the unit re-start of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) which then affected the processes of the Amine Recovery Unit (ARU). Followup: No Notes: Operations modified the start-up procedure to better diagnose a buildup of backpressure from downstream. | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,467.0 pounds |
| 130936 2011-04-15 | TGTU-4 Incinerator FCCU WGS | Cause: The incident began at Motiva's Convent Refinery on 4/15/11 when the refinery's Boiler # 4 shutdown due to an internal tube failure. With the loss of the boiler, the refinery transitioned to steam curtailment and several units were forced to reduce charge rates. As units were being reduced, the excess fuel gas not being utilized was routed to the refinery flare gas system (flares #1 and #2). The opacity limit was exceeded due to the lack of steam available in the refinery to affectively control the smoke while flaring the excess fuel gas. Also during the transition, the FCCU experienced an upset which caused hydrocarbon to under carry from under the high pressure fuel gas knock out drum into the amine acid gas header. The amine acid gas header feeds the Tail Gas Treating Units in the Sulfur Recovery Plant. As the amine acid gas (and the entrained hydrocarbon carried under from the FCCU) was combused in the TGTU-4 Incinerator, the sulfur dioxide and opacity released through the stack was above permitted limits. The excess emissions ceased when the FCCU was stabilized. Followup: No Notes: Report notes that Motiva exceeded their emission standards for opacity limit and the maximum limits of sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide in lbs/hr. Motiva states that they exceed the 500 pound reportable quantity for sulfur dioxide.This report does not say the duration of the release or the amount of pollutants that were released. Report was found during a written notification process. | Sulfur Dioxide: 500.0 pounds |
| 128963 2011-02-01 | Pressure Swing Adsorber Refinery Heaters | Cause: Flaring due to unplanned shutdown of Pressue Swing Adsorber (PSA) system. Oxygen analyzer on VPS-2 Atm Heater went into alarm due to composition change in fuel gas caused by PSA's startup. Additionally, a malfunctioning pressure controller within the Amine regeneration Unit caused the kick back valve on the amine pump. Followup: Yes Notes: BRQ. No information given. | |
| 144557 2012-11-09 | Flare 4 | Cause: The flammable gas is not being combusted because the flare pilot has been extinguished... Attempting to relight the pilot... As soon as they do they do they will call back... Product is still releasing... They have put the flare back into the recovery system to minimize the amount of H2S released... It is being managed and is under control... They will call back once the pilot is back on...
Flare pilot outage on Flare 4 Followup: No Notes: On the SPOC report, 300 lbs of Hydrogen sulfide was initially reported as being released; in their 7 day letter they reported that they didn't exceed the Reportable quantity of 100 lbs for hydrogen sulfide. The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 5000-lb Reportable Quanity (RQ) for flammable gas and the 100-lb Reportable Quantity (RQ) hydrogen sulfide (H2S). However, after further calculation, the total flammable gas emissions from this incident were not above the reportable Quantity. Additionally, the total hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions did not exceed the reportable quantity. | |
| 144085 2012-10-20 | Sulfur Recovery Unit and Tail Gas Treating Unit | Cause: On October 20, 2012, Motiva Convent Refinery reported a potential sulfur dioxide (SO2) release which occurred at the facility due to an upset on the Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) and Tail Gas Treating Unit (TGTU). The upset was caused by a trip on one of the unit's heaters causing elevated SO2 emissions. Followup: No Notes: The incident was initially reported as an exceedance of the 500 lb Reportable Quantity (RQ) for Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). However, after further calculation, the total SO2 emissions from this incident were not above the permitted limit. | |
| 137390 2012-02-21 | FLARE: Unspecified flare | Cause: There was an unexpected swing in the feed to the VPS-1 Unit causing an upset and flaring. Followup: No Notes: There is no information given regarding remedial actions taken. | |
| 136871 2012-01-31 | Unspecified SRU | Cause: There was an upset on the SRU caused by an unexpected swing in the acid gas feed to the sulfur unit causing excess SO2 emissions. Followup: No Notes: The leak was secured and they went back to normal operation. | Sulfur Dioxide: 151.0 pounds |
| 148118 2013-04-16 | TGTU-3 | Cause: On April 16, 2013, Motiva Enterprises, LLC Convent Refinery (Motiva) reported a potential Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) release which occurred at the facility due to an operational upset on Motiva's Tail Gas Treating Unit 3 (TGTU-3). The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 500-lb reportable quantity (RQ) for SO2. However, the toal SO2 emissions from this incident were not above the RQ. Followup: No Notes: | |
| 147317 2013-03-14 | H-Oil Unit | Cause: Reactor effluent released to air due to unknown causes. An upset on the H-Oil unit resulted in H2S being released.
On March 14, 2013, Motiva Enterprises, LLC Convent Refinery (Motiva) reported a potential Hydrogen Sulfide release which occurred at the facility due to an operational upset on Motiva's H-Oil Unit. The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 100-pound reportable quantity for H2S. After further calculation, the total H2S emissions from this incident were not above the RQ. Followup: No Notes: | |
| 147188 2013-03-07 | Tail Gas Treater Unit | Cause: On March 7, 2013, Motiva Enterprises, LLC Convent Refinery (Motiva) reported a potential sulfur dioxide release which occurred at the facility due to an operational upset on Motiva's Tail Gas Treatment Unit No.5 (TGTU-5). The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 500 pound reportable quantity for sulfur dioxide. However, after further calculation, the total sulfur dioixde emissions from this incident were not above the RQ. A LADEQ report records that the sulfur dioxide released from the tail gas treater unit was due to an operational upset. Followup: No Notes: | |
| 146167 2013-01-22 | FCCU unit | Cause: On January 22, 2013, Motiva Convent Refinery Reported a potential sulfur dioxide (SO2) release which occured at the facility due to operational upset on the FCCU unit. Followup: No Notes: Initially reported sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide released to air during the upset. The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 500-lb Reportable Quaantity (RQ) for sulfur dioxide (SO2). However, after further calculation, the total SO2 emissions from this incident were not above the RQ. | |
| 146107 2013-01-18 | H-oil unit | Cause: Operational upset on the H-Oil unit. Followup: No Notes: The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 500-lb Reportable Quantity (RQ) for sulfur dioxide (SO2). However, after further calculation, the total SO2 emissions from this incident were not above the RQ. | |
| 160316 2014-11-29 | Tail Gas Treatment Unit No 4 | Cause: On November 29, 2014, Motiva Enterprises reported a potential sulfur dioxide release which occurred at the facility due to an operational upset on Motiva's Tail Gas Treatment Unit No 4 (TGTU-4). Motiva's Sulfur Recovery unit #1 tripped and diverted gas to the TGTU-4. There was too much feed to one unit to burn effectively and gas was routed to the incinerator stack. The incident was initially reported as a potential exceedance of the 500-lb Reportable Quantity (RQ) for sulfur dioxide (SO2). However, after further calculation, the total SO2 emissions from this incident were not above the RQ. Followup: No Notes: |
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