LA Bucket Brigade : Refinery Accident Database

About the Database

ExxonMobil Chemical Plant (286), Baton Rouge

Releases of Methane

LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date	Point Source(s)	Notes	Amount of Release
92930 2006-12-28	#4 Mox Boiler	Cause: Their #4 Mox boiler has a mechanically operated valve that opens at high pressure. High pressure in the line caused it to open, but they do not know what caused the high pressure yet. Followup: Notes: It was determined that Ethane, Methane, and Propylene were the chemicals involved in the fire. They believe they exceeded the RQ for VOC's.
86795 2006-03-09	Methane relief valve on POX heat-up-gun header Exchanger	Cause: Followup: No Notes: On 3/2706 they disocvered they had an on-going release of methane. A meter indicated the release started on 3/9/06. Methane was released at 3120 lbs/day. Methane was released at 3120 pounds per day.	56,810.8 pounds
110176 2008-10-17	Furnace stack	Cause: Feed upset caused smoking furnace stack. Followup: No Notes: Furnace stack was smoking creating opacity issues. Exxon said this is a permit deviation. A feed upset caused the problem.Exxon says no RQ exceedences. Amount of methane and smoke released is unknown.
109283 2008-09-17	EPLA West Unit	Cause: ExxonMobil is starting up the EPLA West Unit. Followup: No Notes: Says this is permitted activity. Exxon was starting up their EPLA West ethylene unit on 9.17/08. They said flaring may occur through midday 9/18/08. No other information given.
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.	368.0 pounds
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.	141.0 pounds
135902 2011-12-14	PV vents in tank field on OXO vapor recovery system	Cause: OXO vapor recovery system compressors malfunctioned causing an increase in the system pressure which resulted in tank vents opening to the atmosphere. Discharge check valve was leaking through causing the system to circulate and decrease the compressor's effectiveness. In combination with another event (11-07738) from the preceding 24 hours the RQ for flammable vapor was exceeded. Followup: No Notes: Inconsistency in reported quantities released. Initital SPOC verbal notification listed release of 403 lbs of Methane to the atmosphere through PV vents. This release occurred when a OXO vapor recovery system compressor tripped off which lead to the tank vents being opened. A spare compressor was used to reduce system pressure. The check valve was replaced, and the compressor internal cooler has been cleaned.	46.5 pounds
135246 2011-11-11	KD-14 charge gas drier bypass line	Cause: A line leak was discovered on the KD-14 charge gas dier bypass line. 107 lbs of charge gas was released as a result of a line leak on the KD-14 charge gas drier bypass line. Followup: No Notes: Area monitoring was conducted and monitoring results repeatedly indicated low levels of hydrocarbon present at the leak site but at concentrations below the limit of detection at the BRCP fence line. A clamp has been placed on the line to isolate the leak. Prior to the permanent clamp being installed, a temporary clamp was installed on the line. Area monitoring was conducted. A permanent clamp was installed on the line on November 11.	15.0 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.	2,564.0 pounds
142193 2012-08-18	transfer line from "D" furnance to EPLA-W	Cause: On August 18, 2012 at 20:27, a leak was discovered on a transfer line from "D" furnance to the "light end unit" EPLA-W. Followup: No Notes: The line was isolated and secured.	6.9 pounds
146614 2013-02-10	convention tube on C furnace	Cause: On February 10, 2013, a release of uncombusted ethylene (6.7 pounds), propylene (0.2 pounds), butadiene (0.2 pounds), butadiene (0.2 pounds), benzene (0.2 pounds), and other gases in smaller amounts (hydrogen, methane, and ethane). The incident began at 1000 hours and ended at 1045 hours. The release was caused due to a leaking tube in a steam cracking furnace (furnace C), which caused feed to enter the furnace. It was stated that most of the gases combusted inside the furnace. Some did not combust inside. The feed was stopped and the leaking tube later filled with water to prevent feed from entering that tube. Followup: No Notes: The leaking tube was filled with water to prevent feed from entering tube. The tube was reported to stay in this condiction until a more feasible time to replace or repair the tube and would not affect the operation of the furnace.