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Valero (26003), Norco
Releases of Nitrogen Oxide
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 82697 2005-10-01 | Wet Gas Compressor | Cause: Wet gas compressor tripped due to sudden loss of lube oil pressure. Gas processed by compressor was directed to flare. Followup: Yes Notes: Still under investigation - no procedures or preventative measures identified. | 18.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 50.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 57.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 80.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 463.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 18.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 14.0 pounds |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) | Cause: Followup: Yes Notes: Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. | 42.0 pounds |
| 100919 2007-11-09 | EQT 013 and EQT 007 EQT 013 and EQT 007 (Flares #1, 2) | Cause: The Wet Gas Compressor tripped on low oil pressure. Followup: Yes Notes: The incident involved releases on two separate days, 11/09/07 and 11/12/07, but were assigned the same incident Report # by SPOC. | 11.0 pounds |
| 100919 2007-11-09 | EQT 013 and EQT 007 EQT 013 and EQT 007 (Flares #1, 2) | Cause: The Wet Gas Compressor tripped on low oil pressure. Followup: Yes Notes: The incident involved releases on two separate days, 11/09/07 and 11/12/07, but were assigned the same incident Report # by SPOC. | 11.0 pounds |
| 100919 2007-11-09 | EQT 013 and EQT 007 EQT 013 and EQT 007 (Flares #1, 2) | Cause: The Wet Gas Compressor tripped on low oil pressure. Followup: Yes Notes: The incident involved releases on two separate days, 11/09/07 and 11/12/07, but were assigned the same incident Report # by SPOC. | 23.0 pounds |
| 102102 2008-01-06 | Coker Wet Gas Compressor Flares 1 and 2 | Cause: failure of WGC Followup: No Notes: DEQ report states that there have been many WGC failures, enough that they have made repeated calls to the facility urging them to repair the unit to prevent recurrence of such events. According to report, Valero has repaired the WGC. | 35.0 pounds |
| 102086 2008-01-03 | Flares 1 and 2 | Cause: Guardian over speed device malfunction causes WGC to trip Followup: No Notes: Emissions minimized by immediately restarting WGC. A series of follow-up reports reveal that Valero did not know age or maintenance history of WGC upon purchase of facility from Orion. Valero has now replaced major components of WGC and plans to replacethe guardian over speed device next. | 30.0 pounds |
| 128357 2010-12-27 | FLARE: flare #1 & #2 | Cause: Wet gas compressor (WGC) in the delayed coking unit malfunctioned resulting in SO2 emissions to Flares #1 and #2. A level indicator on the coker tower HCGO tray malfunctioned. FLARE. Followup: Yes Notes: RQ. Reportable quantities for sulfur dioxide were exceeded. See Root Cause Analysis for more information. DLEQ report, Refinery letter, and follow-up letter all included in file. | 39.0 pounds |
| 122114 2010-03-14 | pump connected to tank 80-1 | Cause: Portable diesel-powered transfer pump caught fire. Releases include Acetaldehyde 0.0284 lbs and Acrolein 0.0034 lbs. FIRE. Followup: No Notes: ERT extinguished fire in 20 mins. | 163.4 pounds |
| 131415 2011-05-20 | 30, 3700, and1600 Unit Thermal Oxiders, Flares 1 and 2 1600 TOX and Flares 1 and 2 Flares 1 and 2 | Cause: Due to multiple equipment high levels during startup of the Gasoline Desulfurizing Unit (GDU), hydrocarbons were introduced into the refinery's sulfur dioxide removal system and to the Sulfur Recovery Units (SRU) feeds resulting in unit upsets. Sulfur dioxide levels at the 1600, 3700 and 30 Unit Thermal Oxidizers were elevated from 3:24 pm on 5/20/11 until 8:00 am on 5/21/11. This caused smoking from the 1600 TOX stack from approximately 3:55 until 4:10 and the unit was shut down during this time. The 3700 and 30 Unit TOXs were also shutdown at approximately 3:40 and 4:13 respectively. Additionally, these process upsets also impacted the refinery's fluid catalytic cracking unit resulting in flaring for portions of this incident. Followup: Yes Notes: Valero did not show their limit for SO2, CO, NOx, PM, and VOC in the Thermal Oxidizer and flarecap. No limit was shown for Benzene in the Thermal Oxidizer. No limit was shown for H2S and Propylene in the flarecap. Accurate estimates could not be made. All values are below the total emitted and may be grossly deflated. During the event Valero received an odor complaint and took action to prevent and minimize any public nuisance. Field monitoring did not reveal any detectable quantities of VOCs or sulfur dioxide. Operational moves were made to the sulfur recover plants to shutdown the thermal oxidizers safely. Operators maximized steam to the refinery flares to mitigate visible emissions. During the incident fence-line monitoring was conducted by Valero and there were no detectable concentrations found. The following corrective actions were identified to prevent recurrence of this incident: (1) Modify the startup procedure for the GDU to ensure a shift supervisor monitors the unit radio channel (2) Include in the SRU standing orders that amine upsets be communicated to the shift supervisor and the shift superintendent (3) Modify GDU SOP's to amplify actions required for the amine system (4) Configure a separate console to receive all GDU alarms (5) Implement alarm management to allow high priority alarms to be flagged (6) Consider installing an auto shut off on the amine absorbers bottoms plant wide (7) Consider installing a bypass on the feed to untreated gasoline storage to improve feed control to the GDU during start up (8) Train the SRU operators on the rich DEA flash drum weir configurations. The hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide permitted rates and reportable quantities were exceeded. There were released of nitric oxide, benzene, and VOCs released above reportable quantities. Opacity and visible emission limits were exceeded for flares 1 and 2 and the GRP007 SRU/TOCAP-SRU TO/CAP. The SRU sulfur dioxode concentration limit (250 ppm/ 12 h) for 30 and 1600 Unit TOXs and the EP and WP Fuel Gas hydrogen sulfide (162 ppm/3 h) were also exceeded. | 1,215.0 pounds |
| 140250 2012-06-05 | wet gas compressor | Cause: The wet gas compressor in the delayed coking unit malfunctioned resulting in excess H2S and SO2 emissions at Flares 1 and 2. Followup: No Notes: Gas from the coker was combusted in flare 1 and flare 2 and the resulting combustion byproducts rapidly dispersed. Emissions were minimized by restarting the wet gas compressor. The incident is still under investigation. No procedures or preventative measures have been identified at this time. | 10.0 pounds |
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