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Valero (26003), Norco
Releases in 2006
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source/Release | Cause | Notes |
| 92855 2006-12-27 | Point Source(s): Coker unit Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 2,280 pounds | Cause of Problem: Other Process safety valve associated with the wet gas compressor in the Coker Unit lifted and diverted gas to the refinery flare system Reason that process safety valve lifted is Under Investigation. | SO2 released from flares and dispersed. Emissions were minimized by first isolating the PSV and then resealing it. |
| 92784 2006-12-20 | Point Source(s): Transformer T-2, millisecond catalytic cracking unit Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - BRQ | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Transformer T-2, which supplies 480 volt power to certain pieces of equipment in the millisecond catalytic cracking unit (MSCCU), had an internal short circuit. This in turn caused unstable operations in the MSCCU resulting in flaring. | Restored power to the MSCCU and stabilized operations |
| 92308 2006-11-28 | Point Source(s): Thermal oxidizer Pollutant(s):Hydrogen Sulfide - BRQ | Cause of Problem: Other Thermal oxidizer had lost the flame and there was a possibility of Hydrogen Sulfide exceedance. After review, found BRQ. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 91842 2006-11-03 | Point Source(s): Thermal oxidizer stack Pollutant(s):Hydrogen Sulfide - 629 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 1,315 pounds | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Incline mixer for the sulfer recover units' tail gas treating unit malfunctioned. Led to higher Hydrogen Sulfide gas concentrations being send to the TOX causing it to trip. Also, the temperature in the TOX dropped due to both the TOX trip and loss ofheat from the incline mixer. Precise cause of failure is Under Investigation | Restarted the TOX ASAP so that any residual H2S could be combusted. Restarted the TGU as soon as practical to minimize SO2 emissions. |
| No LDEQ Number Available 2006-10-06 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Start Up, Shut Down emissions associated with startup and shutdown of several West Plant sources as a part of a planned outage. | |
| 91199 2006-10-06 | Point Source(s): Flare 1, flare 2, thermal oxidizer Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 0 pounds | Cause of Problem: Under Investigation Under Investigation | Combustion products were rapidly dispersed. There was no apparent offsite impact from the unit shut down. |
| 90110 2006-08-20 | Point Source(s): Uninterruptable power supply in East Plant motor control building went out causing electrical system to go into fail safe mode. Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 0 pounds | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Uninterruptable power supply in East Plant motor control building No. 8 failed and caused the electrical system to go into fail safe mode. Electrical equipment assocaited with boilers shut down resulting in loss of steam pressure throughout the refinery. In turn, other process units shut down. Excess gas from shutting down units was directed to refinery flare system | Restarted critical equipmt as quickly as possible to return to normal operation. |
| 89296 2006-07-17 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures MSCC fractionator overhead receiver started venting to flare as result of the unit being shut down for a mechanical repair to the hot stripper side valve. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 89015 2006-07-02 | Point Source(s): Flare 1, flare 2 Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 800 pounds | Cause of Problem: No Information Given No information given | |
| 88169 2006-05-26 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Start Up, Shut Down Starting up units on west plant and there was a chance that some flaring might occur. Start up was without incident. | According to letter, |
| 88077 2006-05-23 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: No Information Given No information given | St. Charles refinery worker notices odor and calls in incident. |
| 88153 2006-05-23 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Other see notes. Flange fire in our CCR unit. Quickly extinguished. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 87993 2006-05-20 | Point Source(s): GHT flaring (fire) KHT flaring (fire) NHT flaring (fire) DHT liquid burnoff Coker flaring (fire) Coker flaring (SD) Pollutant(s):Carbon Monoxide - 108 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 50 pounds Particulate Matter - 1 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 19 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 4,663 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 12 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 123 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 57 pounds Particulate Matter - 1 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 22 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 1,429 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 4 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 172 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 80 pounds Particulate Matter - 1 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 31 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 2,686 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 7 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 145 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 463 pounds Particulate Matter - 58 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 6 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 705 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 2 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 38 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 18 pounds Particulate Matter - 0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 7 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 1,954 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 5 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 30 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 14 pounds Particulate Matter - 0 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 5 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 796 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 2 pounds Carbon Monoxide - 91 pounds Nitrogen Oxide - 42 pounds Particulate Matter - 1 pounds Volatile Organic Compounds - 16 pounds Sulfur Dioxide - 2,367 pounds Hydrogen Sulfide - 6 pounds | Cause of Problem: Under Investigation | Emissions were minimized by shutting down the affected units and the fire was extinguished. |
| 87975 2006-05-19 | Point Source(s): Coker wet gas compressor trip from high level in the interstage drum Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 5,600 pounds | Cause of Problem: Process Upset Wet gas compressor tripped due to a high level in the suction drum Gas processed by the compressor was directed to the refinery flare system | SO2 released from flares and dispersed. Emissions were minimized by cutting coker charge rates, emptying the liquid level to the interstage drum, and restarting the coker WGC. Flaring of gases stopped upon startup of the coker WGC. |
| No LDEQ Number Available 2006-05-07 | Point Source(s): Reduced crude exchangers Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 1,980 pounds | Cause of Problem: Piping or Tubing Old boulder feed water preheat line was inadvertently lined up to the reduced crude exchangers. Water was carried from the exchangers to the crude columns. As result, the crude column and the overhead accumulators overpressured and vented to the flare. | Locked out and tagged the boiler water feed valves upstream of the reduced crude exchangers. Demolish the old boiler feed water line. |
| 87595 2006-05-02 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Seal or Gasket Primary seal failed, secondary seal was still intact. Odor was reported. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 87053 2006-04-07 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Piping or Tubing Millisecond catalytic cracking unit developed a small leak on the reactor inlet line. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 86961 2006-04-04 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Other see notes. Experiencing power dips from Entergy due to a fire at another facility. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 86848 2006-03-30 | Point Source(s): Vacuum jet tower receiver Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 1,200 pounds | Cause of Problem: Instrument Failure Vacuum tower jet receiver pressured up causing the liquid level in the seal legs to backup and create a higher discharge pressure on the vacuum ring pumps. The increased pressure at the jet receiver resulted in the drum PSV lifting to the flare. The increased pressure on the discharge of the ring pumps cause al 3 pumps to trip on high amps. The ring pumps were drained and restarted at which time the flaring stopped. Exact cause of incident unknown. | Emissions were minimized by roperations reducing charge to the unit. The overhead receiver was drained, the ring pumps were de-inventoried to start up level, and the ring pumps were restarted to reestablish the vacuum on the vac tower and stop the flaring of gases. |
| 86947 2006-03-29 | Point Source(s): Millisecond catalytic cracking unit off gas treatment system Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 3,200 pounds | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Due to a problem with off gas treatment system, the off gas did not meet the specification for feedstock use. Therefore, the gas was diverted to the flare while we corrected the problem with the treatment system By visual observation, they discovered that there was another source of gas in the flare. A process safety valve had lifted on the HP overhead receiver for the off gas system The PSV did not reseat automatically. | Emissions reduced by making adjustments to the MSCCU to reduce the quantity of off gas produced. |
| No LDEQ Number Available 2006-02-21 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Off-gas amine treater was encountering problems that led to a flaring event. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 85824 2006-02-14 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Other Coker D drum had developed a crack that allowed vapors to be released into the atmosphere. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 85406 2006-01-26 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Wet gas compressor was encountering problems that could possibly lead to a flaring event. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| No LDEQ Number Available 2006-01-22 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Wet gas compressor was encountering problems that could possibly lead to a flaring event. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 85926 2006-01-20 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure Off-gas amine treater was encountering problems that led to a flaring event. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
| 85294 2006-01-20 | Point Source(s): Uninterrupted power supply system Pollutant(s):Sulfur Dioxide - 4,600 pounds | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure UPS system failed causing the power at the DCS consoles to be lost. Resulted in flaring of gases at Flares 1 and 2. | Emissions were minimized by reestablishing power to the West Plant DCS consolves and reestablishing normal operation as soon as possible. |
| 84906 2006-01-02 | Point Source(s): None Reported Pollutant(s): | Cause of Problem: Equipment Failure # 2 Debutanizer was encountering problems that may have lead to a flaring event. | Letter states that emissions were BRQ. |
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