LA Bucket Brigade : Refinery Accident Database

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ExxonMobil Chemical Plant (286), Baton Rouge

Releases of Carbon Monoxide

LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date	Point Source(s)	Notes	Amount of Release
91179 2006-10-06	Oxo high-pressure process unit	Cause: There is a Syn Gas leak from the Oxo high-pressure process unit... A piping leak was in the line... It resulted in a momentary flash fire that was put out instantly. Followup: No Notes: The leak was isolated and the gas was sent to flare as they are depressurizing the unit for shut down to make repairs. It was initially released to air, but as they depressurize the unit it goes to flare. The pressure has been reduced and now they have a very small residual leak. No RQs were exceeded.
94916 2007-03-27	Flare	Cause: They had a failure on a control valve, causing a safety valve release to the flare. The failure was due to a system overpressure. Followup: Notes: The flaring has stopped. The control valve is being repaired.	1.0 pounds
107433 2008-07-22	H furnace	Cause: Three events occurred within 24 hours of one another at the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Chemical Plant. Two are reported in this report (LDEQ #107433), the other is reported separately (LDEQ #107421). In this incident (107433), a furnace tube leaked into convection section of H-furnace and caught fire. The tube leak occurred as a result of the incident described in report #107421. At approximately 5:56 PM on July 21, 2008, the charge gas compressor at the Olefins unit shut down when several processing cards in the gas turbine control system failed. When the compressor shut down, four furnaces automatically shut down and the gas in the furnaces was evacuated to the flare system. One of the remaining three furnaces was subsequently shut down while the remaining two furnaces continued to operated at 50% rates in order to maintain stable unit operations, which resulted in additional flaring for the duration of the event. The high rate of gas to the flare system resulted in the #25 flare smoking for 2 hours and 17 minutes. When the Olefins unit shut down, steam was introduced into the furnaces to displace the hydrocarbon feed to reduce flaring emissions. At 12:20 PM on July 22, 2008, while the H furnace was in the process of starting up, a leak was discovered in the convection section of the furnace. To stop the leak, water was introduced into the leaking pass of the furnace to displace the hydrocarbon feed. It is believed that the leak developed when steam was introduced into the furnace. Tube leaked into convection section of H-furnace and caught fire. Followup: Yes Notes: This incident is the result of the incident #107421 (see comments under that incident). Immediately after the incident began, five of the seven furnaces at the Olefins unit were shut down. Excess gas was sent to flare system. Water was introduced into the leaking furnace pass to displace the feed and prevent uncombusted hydrocarbons from leaking into the atmosphere. Concerning subsequent preventative actions, the failed processing cards were replaced. The H furnace was taken out of service to be inspected for leak location and repairs will be completed as necessary. Used water in the tube to eliminate the burning material. Flammable gass consisted of mainly Butane.	1.0 pounds
104822 2008-04-16	Reactor (R1C)	Cause: A reactor (R1C) has a "bamer blind" leak. Followup: No Notes: Incident was ongoing. Attempting repair at time of report. Feel they will exceed RQ at time of report.
104364 2008-03-30	ECE 22	Cause: Valve packing bleq out on E C E 22 on the neo acids unit. Followup: No Notes: Monitoring the situation closely and spraying water on it. They feel the amount will exceed the RQ of 1000 lbs.
112825 2009-02-17	EPLA-W Compressor, flares #10, 25, and 26 Flares #10, 25, and 26	Cause: A fire resulted in a compressor shut down and material being flared from 10:30 pm - 11 pm. Around 10:30 pm the charge gas compressor (EPLA-W compressor) for the Olefins Maintrain furnaces tripped due to failed overspeed wiring. This occurred because of a small leak of lube oil from the steam driver which caught fire. This fire was small but close to the wiring which malfunctioned. Followup: No Notes: This incident is linked to incident #112824. The effluent gases were diverted to flares before the compressor could be repaired. Start up began around 8:45 pm on 2/18/09. Flaring during shut down through start up resulted in exceedances of RQs for ethylene, propylene, butadiene, nitric oxide, and sulfur dioxide. Also they had three compliance excursions from smoking of flares #10, #25, and #26. This was a non preventable incident from a malfunction. They are looking into preventing lube oil leaking and collecting near compressor wiring.	4.0 pounds
121936 2010-03-05	Knock-out drum D-28	Cause: Vent on a drum popped open. Root cause was high liquid level in the drum and vent valve relieved as per design. Followup: Notes: During normal operations, the acid gas is incinerated at furnaces F-5 and F-6. Before going to the incinerators, the liquid is removed from the steam at a knock out drum, D-28. The cause of the high liquid level is under investigation. Upon completion of this investigation, this event will be reviewed with all operating personnel and investigation recommendations will be tracked and steqarded to ensure completion. SPOC report said 126 of hydrogen sulfide were released, Exxon's report says 76.3 lbs were released. The D-28 liquid level was drained, per procedure, which allowed the vent valve to re-set in the closed position.	86.7 pounds
135181 2011-11-09	compressor KC-01	Cause: A combination release occurred due to a cracked pipe in the thermo well of the ethylene production unit. Followup: Yes Notes: An engineered clamp is being fabricated and will be installed to isolate the leak. Estimated 72 hours to install clamp and secure leak. Individually this event did not exceed the RQ for HRVOC, but in combination with another incident (#11-07037) the RQ for HRVOC was exceeded on Friday, November 11. Approximately 122 pounds of HRVOC's were released. On November 11, 2011 at approximately 13:51 Derek Reese stated the ongoing release subsided to 4.25 lbs/hr and was now below RQ. (still ongoing on report date 11/16/11) Area monitoring and LDEQ monitoring on the fenceline (including grab sample) did not detect anything. LDEQ did pick up .25ppb of Benzene. A total of 108 pounds per day of charge gas is being released as a result of this event. Cumulative emissions which include the total emissions from the incident and complete response, will be included in the follow-up report.	13.0 pounds
144446 2012-11-05	valve of reactor KR-01B	Cause: A leak was discovered on the outlet valve of reactor KR-01B at the Escornez unit. Followup: No Notes: LDEQ initially reports that hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and xylene were released, but later reports that only approximately 4 pounds of flammable vapor were released as a result of this event.
146536 2013-02-07	Cogeneration unit	Cause: On February 7, 2013, ExxonMobil experienced an uncontrolled leak of carbon monoxide for three minutes from a cogeneration unit. At the time of the incident, the facility was unable to determine the amount of the release, but wanted to report within one hour in the event the CO permit was exceeded. The release was caused by the malfunction of a control on the cogeneration unit, which developed a decrease in operating rate and insufficient combustion. The malfunction occurred while the turbines were being cleaned of carbon deposits. A written notification dated February 14, 2013, was received by LDEQ from the facility, which indicated that after further evaluation, no reportable quantities were exceeded. Followup: No Notes: