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Motiva Enterprises (2719), Convent
Releases of Carbon Monoxide
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 83531 2005-10-29 | HTU-2 Fire and Release from recycle Compressor | Cause: At approximately 10:25 am on 10/29/05, there was a small fire on 14C-201 recycle compressor on HTU-2. A small fire was ignited by lube oil escaping the seals on the turbine outboard bearing cap onto the turbine case which was in full operation during the leak. It appears that the lube oil reservoir overfilled which impeded flow through the lube oil return line back to the reservoir. Followup: No Notes: The fire was immediately extinguished by operations using a fixed fire monitor. Due to the fire the hydrogen system on the unit had to be depressured to the flare resulting in flaring for several minutes. The unit was depressured for repair. Incident is under investigation using Triangle of Prevention program. Mitigations are likely to be a combination of engineering, i.e. different technology for measuring levels and revising procedure No reportable quantities were exceeded. | 31.3 pounds |
| 80414 2005-07-08 | Pump 14P-305 | Cause: At approximately 7:35 pm smoke was observed coming from the HTU-2 area. Unit operations personnel subsequently discovered a fire on pump 14P-305 originating from the pump's outboard seal. Followup: No Notes: The event was localized in the refinery. Pump was isolated from associated process units so as not to affect unit operations. No reportable quantities were exceeded. | 1.1 pounds |
| 88564 2006-06-13 | flare #2 | Cause: piece of instrument air tubing failed causing a bypass control valve around a steam generator to close. Flow through the intermediate cycle gas oil circuit stopped, causing de-ethanizer tower to slump, increasing concentration of light material in the de-butanizer tower feed, increased pressure, causing flaring event Followup: No Notes: "unit charge rate and riser temperature were reduced immediately following the loss of heat medium into the de-ethanizer reboiler to minimize the loading to the debutanizer tower. The bypass around 2PDC-142 was opened to re-establish flow to the de-ethanizer reboiler." | 328.6 pounds |
| 100801 2007-11-06 | Steam Boiler EPN 31F-810 Tail Gas Treatment Unit No. 4 Incinerator Stack EPN 78H-101 VPS-2 Atmospheric Tower Feed Heater EPN 83H-101 | Cause: The seal on a diesel circulation pump on VPS-2 (a crude distillation unit) failed as a reslut of a suspected bearing problem. This seal failure caused the release of approximately 434 bbls of untreated (sour) diesel, which ignited, resulting in a fire. Followup: Yes Notes: Motiva has slowed down production throughout the refinery until investigations are complete. Inspected, repaired, and rebuilt the pump as necessary. W/r/t pump seal failure, rotating equipmt and other personnel will complete the investigation and implement necessary changes to monitoring, inspection, and maintenance procedures | 91.0 pounds |
| 100454 2007-10-23 | Fuel oil pump 70P-384 | Cause: While conducting evening rounds on the H-Oil unit, operations personnel noticed a fire on the seal of the fuel oil pump 70P-384. A leaking seal on the pump and high process temperatures resulted in the fire. Followup: No Notes: The pump was isolated from the process to cease fuel oil leakage. Approximately 22 gallons of fuel oil was released during the incident with 20 gallons being contained on the unit slab and the remainder being combusted. Operations personnel quickly responded with a fire extinguisher and extingushed the fire. Other operations personnel ceased operation of the pump and isolated it from the process. Motiva quickly activated the Emergency Response Plan. Motiva will continue to inspect pumps and associated process equipment during normal operational rounds for abnormal operation and for environmentally unfriendly and unsafe conditions. | 0.0 pounds |
| 98053 2007-07-23 | Tank 20D-12 (EIQ 20D-12) | Cause: While conducting demolition activities on the tank 20D-I2 floating roof, a fire began due to cutting of the roof with acetylene torches where residual hydrocarbon remained in the floating roof pontoon. Followup: No Notes: Motiva will inspect pontoons and other difficult to access areas that may contain hydrocarbon, and remove any material present prior to resuming demolition activiti | |
| 97658 2007-07-08 | HTU-1 Kerosene Reboiler (EPN 3F 404) | Cause: an unexpected heater tube rupture resulted in a fire at HTU-1 Followup: No Notes: Motiva is thoroughly inspecting the heater and other affected equipment and will make necessary repairs prior to restarting the heater and process unit. Will re-evaluate inspection frequencies, preventive maintenance frequencies, operating limits and associated procedures, and make necessary changes to help prevent recurrenc | 47.0 pounds |
| 07-BB011-3196 2007-04-08 | HGU Torvex Incinerator (EPN 79J-904) | Cause: a temp. swing triggered a temperature alarm and an operator responded to the alarm by making adjustments to the operation of the unit Followup: No Notes: Motiva will incorporate control valve set point guidance into supporting documentation for operators to prevent swings in incinerator burner outlet temp. from triggering the low temp. alarm; Implement a troubleshooting guide to assist operators with operating the control valve when it is believed to be sticking. | 161.0 pounds |
| 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. | |
| 08-BB011-3302 2008-05-02 | Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit Wet Gas Scrubber (EPN 2F-903) | Cause: malfunctioning FCCU WGS continuous emissions monitoring system analyzer Followup: No Notes: Affirmative defense letter. | |
| 105047 2008-04-24 | Process Unit: Catalytic Reformer Unit | Cause: line leak developed due to internal corrosion Followup: No Notes: Motiva Pressure Equipment Integrity Group has been tasked with evaluating this line and making recommendations that will reduce the likelihood of a recurrence. | 113.0 pounds |
| 102537 2008-01-23 | TORVEX Incinerator EPN 79J-904 | Cause: failure of an antifriction ball bearing in the blower results in shutdown of the incinerator. Followup: No Notes: Rotating equipmt and other supporting engineering personnel will complete the investigation of the failure and implement necessary changes to monitoring inspection and maintenance procedures | 9,204.0 pounds |
| No LDEQ Reported 2009-12-08 | FCCU wet gas scrubber | Cause: Sudden temperature drop due to severe thunderstorm upset Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit, sending it into partial-burn mode, resulting in increased emissions. Followup: Yes Notes: "Immediate and appropriate action was taken by operations to address the situation by slowing down and/or shutting down multiple units throughout the refinery." Will modify procedures, train operations, field test oxygen analyzers on the FCCU to verify accurate readings. | 215,800.0 pounds |
| 119917 2009-12-08 | no information given | Cause: Alarm system indicated CO emissions were above permitted per hour levels.
No further info--hazmat report only in this file. Followup: No Notes: No information given. Verbal report only, no letter from Motiva. | |
| 119481 2009-11-12 | BACT box and FCCU | Cause: Exceeded minimum hourly average in BACT box for O2--excess CO emissions during shutdown of Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit due to mechanical problems with recycle feed pump. (CO not mentioned in follow-up letter but is noted in DEQ report).
SEE ALSO incident 119480 from the previous day--looks like it was an ongoing problem.
No RQs exceeded. Followup: Yes Notes: no information given | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2009-11-11 | FCCU wet gas scrubber | Cause: Mechanical problems with recycle feed pump, had to shut the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit down to make repairs, resulting in increased CO emissions.
File contains no DEQ report--hazmat and follow-up only; wrong DEQ and state police #s seem to have been written on top of the follow-up. Followup: Yes Notes: Tried to minimize CO emissions during event, will modify startup and shutdown procedures, will update current standard alarm and add an additional critical alarm to monitor the amount of CO exiting the stack. Operations will be trained on both the procedure modifications & the alarm updates. | 1,701.0 pounds |
| 119480 2009-11-11 | FCCU wet gas scrubber | Cause: Exceedance of CO maximum of emission rate limit due to shutdown of Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit Wet Gas Scrubber Stack because of mechanical problems with the recycle feed pump.
Exceeded RQ for CO but no amount given.
SEE ALSO incident 119481 from the next day--looks like it was an ongoing problem. Followup: Yes Notes: no information given | |
| 117144 2009-08-07 | flare no. 2 and wet gas scrubber | Cause: Regenerated Catalyst Slide Valve (RCSV) of the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) changed position without a corresponding command from the control system causing trip of the gas turbine driving the Wet Gas Compressor because of high exhaust temperature--overpressure control valve opened to flare.
Exceeded RQ's. Followup: Yes Notes: "Took immediate action to begin the process of stabilizing, slowing down, and diverting feed from the FCCU riser." Circuit board replaced, cleaned the servo and will replace it when spare arrives. | 11,369.0 pounds |
| 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. | |
| 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. | |
| 144564 2012-11-13 | Flare 1-4, TGTU-1,3,4 Incinerator, HTU-1 HSR Reboiler, Boiler #1, Boiler #2, Boiler (EQT0037) Flare 1-4, TGTU- 1,2,3,5 Incinerator, Flare 1-4 | Cause: This incident involved an upset of the refinery due to a loss of power to the site from our energy supplier's system. Several operating units were affected by the power loss which caused emissions of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from the release and combustion of hydrocarbons at the Motiva Enterprises LLC (Motiva) - Convent Refinery. Followup: Yes Notes: Immediately, the operating units were stabilized to reduce the impact from the emissions. Several operating units were shutdown and remaining online units followed the emergency procedure for steam load shedding to minimize emissions. Exceeded the 500-pound (lb) reportable quantity (RQ) for sulfur dioxide (SO2). SO2 maximum lb/hr emission limits were exceeded at Tail Gas Treating Units 1, 3, and 4, the Flare CAP, and at combustion devices (i.e. heaters) burning refinery fuel gas. Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) maximum lb/hr emission rates were exceeded at Tail Gas Treating Units 1, 2, 3, and 5, and at the Flare CAP. The maximum lb/hr emission rates of NOx, CO, VOC, and PM were experienced at the Flare CAP. Lastly, the maximum opacity limit as required by LAC 33:III.1101.B for SRU No. 4 TGTU Incinerator Stack was also exceeded at the time of the incident. | 1,116.2 pounds |
| 150490 2013-08-19 | pump 4G-559 | Cause: On August 19, 2013, a fire was experienced on pump 4G-559 due to a seal failure. HTU-1's recycle compressor tripped on high K.O. drum level. A decision was made to slowdown, stabilize, and shutdown. Part of the activities to slowdown included putting the CRU unit on hydrogen circulation; therefore, operations shutdown the CRU charge pumps, 4G-501/559. Shortly after the pumps were stopped, 4G-559 failed, and a seal fire occurred.
After thorough investigation, the cause of the seal fire was determined to be the failure of a check valve on the discharge of 4G-559. When the charge pumps were stopped, the downstream hydrogen pushed the naptha in the line backwards through the discharge line. the check valve in the discharge line did not operate as designed and the naptha and hydrogen entered 4G-559 causing it to spin in reverse. This caused friction, heat, and vibration significant enough for the pump to seize. Under these conditions, a seal fire is expected. Followup: Yes Notes: The units were brought down in order to stabilize the situation. The materials involved in the fire were largely combusted, as were the materials routed to the flare; they were then dispersed naturally into the air. All residual unburned materials from the pump seal fire were captured by the unit secondary containment system and recycled back into the refinery's recovered oil system. A second check valve has been installed on the discharge line to provide an additional factor of safety against the potential failure of a single check valve. | 7,514.7 pounds |
| 146649 2013-02-13 | FCCU WGS | Cause: Due to a rupture on a seal SO2 was released to air.
The incident began at Motiva's Convent Refinery on February 13, 2013 at approximately 23:00, when the FCCU's Electric Quench Turbine experienced a trip. The FCCU experienced an upset which resulted in increased carbon monoxide emissions from the Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit Wet Gas Scrubber Stack (FCCU WGS.) The excess emissions ceased when the FCCU stabilized. Followup: Yes Notes: Pressure controller that opened and caused flaring closed at 00:25...Flaring continues, stable... No high H2S releasing to flare at this time... 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. |
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