LA Bucket Brigade : Refinery Accident Database

About the Database

Shell Facility (3462), St. Rose

Releases in 2008

LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date	Point Source/Release	Cause	Notes
No LDEQ Number Available 2008-09-20	Point Source(s): 5-77 (St. Rose Flare) Pollutant(s): Carbon Monoxide - 585 pounds Hexane - 1 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 107 pounds Particulate Matter - 20 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 75 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 386 pounds	Cause of Problem: Process Upset Loss of steam pressure when a tube failed in the boiler resulting in flaring	The boiler tube failure could not be predicted. Shut the process unit down until boiler repairs could be completed. The incident will be investigated and appropriate corrective actions will be implemented to prevent reoccurrence
108339 2008-08-25	Point Source(s): 5-77 (St. Rose Flare) Pollutant(s): Benzene - 2 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 339 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 62 pounds Particulate Matter - 12 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 12 pounds Toluene - 4 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 229 pounds Xylene - 5 pounds n-Hexane - 5 pounds	Cause of Problem: Other Lost power to controls for crude column overhead fans and Uninterruptable Power Supply backup ran out of batteries. Fans shut down leading to necessity of shutdown of the unit and flaring	The process unit was stablized until an electrician could resote control power to the fans. Once power was restored the equipment was restarted and the unit safely returned to normal conditions. The incident will be investigated and any appropriate corrective actions will be implemented to prevent reoccurrence. Report said it was preventable but did not say why or how. The cover letter/narrative (referencing the verbal notification) mentioned that naphtha and smoke were released, but these were not mentioned elsewhere in the report
No LDEQ Number Available 2008-07-17	Point Source(s): 5-77 (St. Rose Flare) Pollutant(s): Carbon Monoxide - 8 pounds Hexane - 0 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 1 pounds Particulate Matter - 0 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 4 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 5 pounds	Cause of Problem: Process Upset A bearing failed on the vent gas compressor for the vacuum unit.	The bearing failure was not predictiable. The compressor was shut down and a valve to the St. Rose flare was opened to lower and control the seal drum pressure. The compressor was replaced with a spare and the unit was returned to normal operating conditions. The spare will be replaced with the repaired compressor during the next unit outage
104689 2008-04-13	Point Source(s): 5-77 (St. Rose Flare) Pollutant(s): Benzene - 0 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 113 pounds Ethylbenzene - BRQ Nitrogen Oxide - 21 pounds Particulate Matter - 4 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 1 pounds Toluene - 0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 17 pounds Xylene - 0 pounds n-Hexane - 1 pounds	Cause of Problem: Other Power interruption caused by fire at Entergy substation feeding the plant. Lead to shutdown of plant and flaring.	The power interruption from Entergy was not foreseeable and the equipment was restarted once power was returned. The incident will be reviewed with Entergy and any appropriate corrective actions will be implemented to prevent reoccurrence
104565 2008-04-08	Point Source(s): 5-77 (St. Rose Flare) Pollutant(s): Benzene - 0 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 27 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 5 pounds Particulate Matter - 1 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 3 pounds Toluene - 0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 13 pounds Xylene - 0 pounds n-Hexane - 1 pounds	Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures Maintenance activities on the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) led to an interuption in power due to a loose connection in the UPS. Several pieces of equipment shut down and there was flaring	The incident occurred during routine maintenance activity on the UPS and the loose connection in the UPS was not expected. The equipment was restarted once power was returned. The incident will be investigated and corrective actions will be implemented appropriately to prevent reoccurence
103295 2008-02-21	Point Source(s): Storm Water Outfall 002 (unanticipated bypass) Pollutant(s): Stormwater - 22,000 gallons	Cause of Problem: Weather During a storm operations personnel were unable to open the storm water outfall 002 due to unsafe condition of the platform which provides access to the control valve causing 22,000 gallons of storm water to overflow	Platform was tagged with a "Do Not Use Tag" prior to the storm for integrity concerns & to protect the operator. The gate valves could not be opened during the storm resulting in a bypass of a portion of water treatment facility (outfall 002). The platform has been inspected and repaired. Sample data will be reported with the February Discharge Monitoring Report.
102066 2008-01-03	Point Source(s): 5-77 (St. Rose Flare) Pollutant(s): Benzene - 0 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 73 pounds Ethylbenzene - 0 pounds Hexane - 1 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 13 pounds Particulate Matter - 3 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 3 pounds Toluene - 1 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 40 pounds Xylene - 1 pounds	Cause of Problem: Power Failure Power failure lead to unit shutdown, resulting in a unit upset and flaring	Power failure was caused by Entergy and was unplanned. All heavy product lines were flushed with a diesel driven flush pump. Incident will be reviewed with Entergy to discuss what happened and what can be done to prevent recurrence.