LA Bucket Brigade : Refinery Accident Database

About the Database

Placid Refining (2366), Port Allen

Releases in 2012

LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date	Point Source/Release	Cause	Notes
144778 2012-11-17	Point Source(s): Tank 15 Pollutant(s): Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) - 200 pounds	Cause of Problem: Process Upset The temperature in Tank 15, which stores Heavy Slurry/No. 6 fuel oil, increased to nearly 220 degrees Fahrenheit, which increased the pressure inside the tank, overwhelming the vapor control line and causing the pressure relief device to open resulting in uncontrolled emissions.	On November 17, 2012 at 7:15 Placid's terminal operators discovered the vacuum breaker relieving from the tank. TANK 15 is controlled by the facilities enclosed vapor combustor (Source ID 1-91) during normal operations therefore no emissions are authorized directly from the Source. In the report, they classify this as a single point of contact incident. Tank 15 steam coils, which are used to keep its heavy contents from becoming solid, were removed from service and additional adjustments were made to cool the product rundown in the operating unit to decrease Tank 15 temperature. 7.5 hours later, the breaker closed and the venting stopped.
No LDEQ Number Available 2012-11-09	Point Source(s): NIG Pollutant(s): Sheen - BRQ	Cause of Problem: No Information Given The sheen did not emanate from Placid facilities. This is just a courtesy notification to the National Response Center, U.S. Coast Guard, & LDEQ/LSP.	On November 9, 2012, Placid Refining Company LLC (Placid) employees noticed a visible sheen on the Mississippi River near Placid's North doc; at mile 231.8, right descending bank. Placid personnel conducted an exhaustive review of all Placid dock facilities and found no evidence of any spill or leaks. Placid also took the precaution of activating its primary OSRO to assist in the investigation. The OSROs response was timely and all equipment was operational.
144086 2012-10-20	Point Source(s): pump Pollutant(s): Hydrocarbon - BRQ	Cause of Problem: No Information Given Placid experienced a small pump seal fire in Placid's Vacuum unit that was quickly extinguished. The affected unit was being taken offline to check the mechanical and electrical integrity of the unit. The unit was brought back online on October 21, 2012.
142956 2012-09-13	Point Source(s): hose on recirculation pump at Tank 18 Pollutant(s): #6 Oil - 126 gallons	Cause of Problem: Piping or Tubing A hose ruptured on a recirculation pump at Tank 18 spilling approximately 3 barrels of No. 6 Fuel Oil into SPCC Secondary Containment. The root cause was hose failure.	Hoses will be placed and secured on saddles to prevent contact with other structural component in the area. Booms and absorbent materials were used to contain the spill. The contaminated soil and No. 6 Fuel Oil was removed and placed into a roll-off box. All waste generated will be disposed of in accordance with State and Federal Regulations. Although the report did not indicate whether the release was a reportable quantity or below reportable quantity, 3 barrels of oil is above the reportable quantity.
142779 2012-08-31	Point Source(s): Tank No. 946 Pollutant(s): Benzene - BRQ Chlorobenzene - BRQ Chloroform - BRQ Ethylene dichloride - BRQ Ethylbenzene - BRQ Dichloromethane - BRQ Naphthalene - BRQ Phenol - BRQ Diethyl phthalate - BRQ perchloroethylene - BRQ Toluene - BRQ 1,1,1-trichloroethane - BRQ Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate - BRQ 2,4-Dimethylphenol - BRQ Dibutyl phthalate - BRQ 2,3,4,5,6-Pentachlorophenol - BRQ Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) - BRQ	Cause of Problem: Weather Due to excess rainfall associated with Hurricane Isaac on August 31, 2012, Placid diverted excess storm water from a permitted wastewater tank No. 940 to an unpermitted out of service clean open top tank No. 946. Approximately 4,200 barrels of water was transferred to prevent an overflow of tank No. 940 an/or tank No. 17, Placid's two permitted wastewater tanks. Placid's process units were in hot circulation mode and feed was removed from the process units due to the storm. The suction line used to transfer the water from tank No. 940 to tank No. 946 was located in the middle of the tank to minimize carryover of sludge or floating oil.	The water was transferred back from tank No, 946 to tank No. 940 on September 5, 2012. Movement of storm water into tank No. 946 was necessary to prevent a bypass condition in the Refinery waste water plant and to prevent potential adverse environmental impact and.or severe property damage. Placid's current LPDES permit provides for prohibition of bypass where feasible retention of untreated wastes is an alternative. Stormwater was diverted to a wastewater tank and therefore the pollutant becomes wastewater rather than stormwater. An attached document provides water emission calculations for Tank 946 and shows a total of 5.88 lbs/day daily emissions for total VOC released. No emissions were reportable quantity.
142056 2012-08-12	Point Source(s): #1 Incinerator Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - BRQ	Cause of Problem: Start Up, Shut Down Notification made that Placid's #1 Incinerator was emitting higher than permitted sulfur dioxide emissions during the start up of the #2 Sulfur Plant.	Refinery rates were being increased from a recent turnaround and excess emissions continued occasionally throughout the early morning before comping back below the 250 ppm concentration permit limit. Placid calculated the excess emissions that occurred during the #2 Sulfur Plant startup and determined that they were less than the established RQ. The sulfur plant was operating at less than 50% of its design load during the incident. Placid will ensure any excess emissions are accounted for in other applicable reports.
141998 2012-08-11	Point Source(s): #2 Incinerator Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - BRQ	Cause of Problem: Start Up, Shut Down A notification was made that Placid's #2 Incinerator was emitting higher than permitted sulfur dioxide emissions during the start-up of the #3 Sulfur plant.	Placid calculated the excess emissions that occurred during the #3 Sulfur Plant startup and confirmed that they were less than the established RQ. Placid will ensure any excess emissions are accounted for in other applicable reports.
141718 2012-08-01	Point Source(s): No information provided No information given Pollutant(s): Hydrogen Sulfide - 100 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - BRQ	Cause of Problem: Piping or Tubing There was leak in a line that was being taken out of service for a turnaround, causing the facility to experience an exceedance of its 12-hour average for hydrogen sulfide.	No remedial actions were stated. The State Police Hazmat report identifies sulfur dioxide as the released chemical, but does not mention hydrogen sulfide. The LDEQ report identifies hydrogen sulfide as the released chemical, but does not mention sulfur dioxide. No explanation is given for this discrepancy. The report also states that the RQ for H2S is 500 lbs, which is presumably why they state that the 100 lbs released was below the reportable quantity. Notification made that #1 Incinerator was emitting higher than permitted sulfur dioxide emissions. Placid's engineering department determined less than the established RQ was actually released from this event. Placid will ensure any excess emissions are accounted for in other applicable reports. SPOC report states material did go offsite.
137263 2012-02-16	Point Source(s): SRU incinerator #1 Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 407 pounds Nitrogen - BRQ Hydrogen - BRQ Carbon Monoxide - BRQ Carbon Dioxide - BRQ Vapor - BRQ Hydrogen Sulfide - BRQ Carbon Disulfide - BRQ Carbonyl Sulfide - BRQ	Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures A plugged quench tower in TGTU #1 that operated in conjunction with SRU #2 had to be taken out of service for cleaning resulting in a TGTU bypass which caused an increase in SO2 emissions from the SRU incinerator #1 on SRU#3.	The maintenance cleaning activity on the plugged Quench Tower was performed quickly as possible and reduced acid gas production by reducing processing unit charge rates and shifting the maximum acid gas load possible to the SRU #3. Operator training is being conducted to prevent the initial incident earlier in the week. Offsite air monitoring occurred throughout the duration of the incident.Additional operator training and any findings or corrective actions that stem from the formal Root Cause Analysis
137233 2012-02-15	Point Source(s): Amines process unit Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 3,960 pounds	Cause of Problem: Process Upset A process unit upset caused liquid carryover to the amine treatment unit reducing the H2S scrubbing capacity and a valve was inadvertently left open allowing untreated fuel gas (high H2S) gas to mix with the refinery's fuel gas system.	The valve was closed and fresh amine was added to restore treatment capacity
137201 2012-02-14	Point Source(s): SRU #2 Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 900 pounds	Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure The #2 Sulfur Recovery Unit shut down and the product was being incinerated rather than converted.	No mention of remedial actions mentioned in the report. The Incident Report from the refinery is missing from the file. No refinery letters.
No LDEQ Number Available 2012-02-03	Point Source(s): #1 Incinerator Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 3,695 pounds	Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures The Sulfur Plant was shutdown during thte turnaround to replace the catalyst as it was no longer active.	No additional steps were taken as this activity is part of Placid Refining's standard procedure for shutting down the Sulfur Plant for scheduled maintenance. Residual sulfur must be removed from the reactor beds to prevent the beds from plugging or solidifying. If the reactor beds are not swept of the residual sulfur it makes it more hazardous to remove the old catalyst. Note, that even if the catalyst was not being replaced it is likely that the catalyst would have plugged if the sweeping procedure was not performed and we would not be able to get proper flow through the Sulfur Plant during start up.
136758 2012-01-27	Point Source(s): Incinerator #1 Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 511 pounds Acid gas - 458 pounds	Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures According to the Inspections Division, "At the time of the incident Placid was in the process of shutting down processing unit operations for turnaround maintenance. The only unit online at the time producing acid gas was the disel hydro treating unit; the Sulfur Plant No.2 shut down unexpectedly. Placid had already shut down Sulfur Plant No.3 and had to send the acid gas stream and the sour water stripper off gas to the flare while restarting Sulfur Plant No.2".	Both LDEQ and State Police Report included. At 0319, same day, the acid gas was returned back to the sulfur plant and taken out of the flare, according to both the LDEQ and State Police reports. Placid will check electronic and communication systems to ensure that they are functioning properly and perform general maintenance to the operating equipment. Currently writing a Preventative Maintenance and Operational Plan for the sulfur plants as required by Settlement Tracking No. SA-MM-11-0021. reviewing Standard Operating Procedures SOPs and maintenance schedules to ensure work practices are in place to assist in the minimization of Sulfur recovery Units SRU incidents.
No LDEQ Number Available 2012-01-26	Point Source(s): Reactor beds in the Sulfur Plant Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 5,047 pounds	Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures The Sulfur plant was shutdown during the turnaround to replace the catalyst as it was no longer active. Residual sulfur was removed from the reactor beds to prevent the beds from plugging or solidifying. The statement includes a line that says the catalyst was not being replaced anyways. There is a contradiction.	This was a planned shutdown and a variance was issued by LDEQ Office of Environmental Service. There is no LDEQ report and no SPOC report attached to this file. Residual sulfur must be removed from the reactor beds to prevent the beds from plugging or solidifying. If the reactor beds were not swept of the residual sulfur it makes it more hazardous to remove the old catalyst. Note, that even if the catalyst was not being replaced it is likely that the catalyst would have plugged if the sweeping procedure was not preformed and we would not be able to get proper flow through the Sulfur Plant during start up. Placid's procedure for sweeping the reactor beds is the standard procedure for preparing an SRU for shutdown.
No LDEQ Number Available 2012-01-19	Point Source(s): SRU #2 Pollutant(s): Sulfur Dioxide - 1,177 pounds	Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure There was excess SO2 emissions as a result of a plugged quench column. The plugged column was drained frequently to prevent further operational problems but required a temporary bypass of the tail gas treating unit #2 (TGTU 2), which treats gas from the SRU3 and sends it to the Sulfur recovery unit incinerator no. 2 (SRUI2).	To minimize excess emissions the maximum load possible was shifted to SRU 2 and acid gas production was reduced, feed to the SRU plants, by reducing FCCU and Diesel Hydro-treating processing rates during this period to minimize the load on SRU3. The column was drained frequently due to the timing of the planned turnaround versus longer TGTU2 outage that would have resulted in more overall SO2 emissions and a reportable quantity exceedance. Notification states that the discharges was in exceedance of the SO2 permit level that spanned a 7 day period. Also exceeded the maximum lb/hr permit level (4.25) for the source.
136500 2012-01-13	Point Source(s): Tank 15 Pollutant(s): #6 Oil - BRQ Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) - 1,000 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 10 pounds	Cause of Problem: Instrument Failure According to the Courtesy Notification of release from Tank 15 thay is ongoing, "the fixed roof tank over pressured and caused a bulge in the roof. Several holes developed along the seams allowing the tank to vent emissions to the atmosphere instead of the vapor combuster". Venting fumes directly to the atmosphere.	"The tank is storing heavy No.6 oil and a plan to repair or take the tank out of service for repairs is being developed and will be implemented as soon as practical",according to the refinery report. Tank is cooled and emptied. The tank will be cleaned in 30 days and repairs will be made but due to the heavy contents, this may last 6 months conservatively. SPOC states that emissions for VOCs were less than 1000 lbs and less than 10 lbs for H2S. Follow-up letter states that a discharge was in excess of of permit levels and will cause a deviation that will last longer than 7 days, but there is no indication of which pollutant they might be referring to. Tank 15 must be cleaned to repair the tears on the roof. This operation requires a completely sealed tank, therefore, breathing emissions are now going to the atmosphere and will continue until the tank is de-inventoried. Unsure of how long it will take to clean and repair the tank due to heavy storage contents, and conservatively assumes it will take at least six months to complete.