LA Bucket Brigade : Refinery Accident Database

Motiva Enterprises, LLC, Norco

Releases of Flammable Gas

LDEQ Incident Number Incident Date	Point Source(s)	Notes	Amount of Release
84612 2005-12-15	Hydrogen and hydrocracker units	Cause: unexpected piping failure on an exchanger led to a release of Hydrogen and a subsequent shutdown of the units Followup: Yes Notes: doing more data calculations for follow up
84593 2005-12-15	St. Rose Flare	Cause: on 12 15, the flare pilot regulator failed, and the pilot fuel gas dropped below normal; during the failure, the pilot went out due to high winds; the flare continued to remain lit with the continuous sweep gas flow and was visibl Followup: No Notes: Follow up to a verbal notification on 12 15 05. Motiva claims that this was not preventable because of an unexpected equiParticulate Matterent failure.	48.0 pounds
82376 2005-09-22	Coker Unit	Cause: Relief valve on the coker drum opened venting pollutant to atmosphere Followup: No Notes: Release occurred at 0418 hours. No information given concerning causes, pollutants released, et	3,809.0 pounds
80320 2005-07-06	Coker, HCU, West Op Ground flares	Cause: power failures due to weather (Tropical Storm Cindy) caused various releases from Motiva sources; led to total loss of electrical instrument air compressors and the loss of several steam Boilers that caused the shutdown of the HCU and RCCU process units. A voltage sag caused the Coker processor to shut down which resulted in a flaring event Followup: No Notes: Motiva claims that this was not preventable because of the unforeseeable weather conditions.	39,743.0 pounds
76388 2005-01-23	Hydrocracker unit	Cause: causes flameout at flare that allowed VOC to be released Followup: No Notes: following up from verbal notification on 01 23 05; data gathering to perform calculations
76386 2005-01-21	Hydrocracker unit Hydrocracker unit, HCU Flare (EPN #4-84	Cause: No information given Followup: Yes Notes: data gathering and calculations
87192 2006-04-14	Unspecified light olefin line	Cause: a bleeder valve was left open permitting hydrocarbons to escape to the soil Followup: No Notes: investigation findings dispersed throughout operations via shift mtgs. Operator found to be at fault was individually met with and reprimanded	7.0 pounds
85556 2006-02-02	Alkylation Unit Utililty Column PV-1108	Cause: an employee performing sandblasting discovers a hydrocarbon leak on the vessel Followup: No Notes: Letter states that Butylene was released, but it is not listed in follow-up report as one of the pollutants emitted. REMEDIAL ACTIONS - permanent repairs made to column, sandblasting contracts must now have sandblasting quality control systems in place;Motiva Coordinators perform audits of sandblasting work areas to assure the QC systems are being implemented	6,722.0 pounds
85967 2007-07-05	DU-5 Unit	Cause: piping failure on the crude column overhead line results in leak Followup: No Notes: Overhead piping will be replaced during next unit turnaround in October 2006	60,583.0 pounds
96958 2007-06-10	relief valve at RCCU	Cause: Depropanizer column relief valve (RV-7207) at the Residual Catalytic Cracking Unit relieved prematurely below its set pressure "It was noted that there was a noise associated with the RV piping at the time of the release"--one complaint received releases were well above reportable quantities Followup: Yes Notes: valve isolated to stop release, "employed proper mitigation steps for alternate relief protection to prevent further environmental impact," valve removed, set off for repair, reinstalled	85,445.0 pounds
96791 2007-06-05	HCU flare	Cause: control valve 755 failed prematurely--had to send H2S gas to flare reportable quantity for flammable gas exceeded Followup: Yes Notes: closed instrument air supply line to cause valve to go into fail-safe open position, repaired faulty instrument air filter and re-established instrument airflow to valve instrument air supply filter and parts of controller replaced to prevent recurrence	3,671.6 pounds
107061 2008-07-09	Hydrocracker Unit Rectifier Absorber Column (PV-822)	Cause: a pressure swing at the the HCU caused relief valve to open to atmosphere. HCU was in process of being started post-turnarou Followup: No Notes: Motiva has modified a low level alarm on the Hcu High Pressure Separator to mitigate the pressure swings on the Rectifier Absorber Column	63.0 pounds
121839 2010-03-02	FLARE: RCCU Flare	Cause: Refinery letter states that "the main air blower for Motiva's RCCU unit tripped unexpectedly which..resulted in an emergency shut down of the RCCU and RGHT units." Upon start up of RCCU, it is suspected the RCCU flare pilot was unlit causing release to air of Ethylene, Propylene, 1,3=Butadiene, VOC, Flammable Gas, HRVOC. HEAVY FLARING ALSO OCCURRED AT SHELL CHEMICAL LP but will be included in a separate report (GO-1 flare). Follow-up report states that "Motiva WAS NOT ABLE TO DETERMINE THE ULTIMATE CAUSE of the loss of the pilot flame, but that gas pressure being set above the design pressure or severe weather conditions may have contributed to the loss of pilot flame. FLARE. Followup: Yes Notes: RQ. Reportable quantities were exceeded during this incident. "All released materials were dispersed naturally in the atmosphere from the RCCU flare stack." Release was stopped by the re-lighting of the flare. Also flare pilot flame-out alarm was placed back into service and refresher training provided to all operations personnel on the importance of maintaining flare pilot flames. LDEQ report states that according to "LDEQ Enforcement Division, this incident is being included in an Enforcement Action being drafted by the LDEQ Enforcement Division."	33,872.9 pounds
121572 2010-02-17	FLARE - HCU Elevated Flare [EPN4-84], Relief Valve [RV1178 & RV1204]	Cause: Loss of electrical breaker powering most of the large motors in the hydrocracking unit caused two columns to "release to atmosphere;" RV-1178 on the Rectified Absorber Column for 30secs, RV-1204 on the Caustic Water Wash column "momentarily." FLARE. Followup: Yes Notes: BRQ. Refinery Follow-up Letter states "final calculations confirm that no reportable quantities were exceeded as a result of this release." Breaker loss discovered & repaired, operations returned to normal.
129239 2011-02-13	HCU relief valve (RV-1178)	Cause: Release caused by a loss of separation in the High Pressure Separator which caused a relief valve to release. HCU relief valve (RV-1178) relieved to atmosphere due to a loss of product separation in PV-816 (HCU High Pressure Seperator). Rectified Absorber Column (PV-822) pressure built and was relieved by opening to the atmosphere. Followup: Notes: BRQ. Letter is predated by several months and appears to be a form. Data is accurate to the event and signed on the 17th of february.
136422 2012-01-09	FLARE: HCU flare (EPN-4-84)	Cause: The HIC on the low pressure separator (PV-817) was opened to the HCU flare (EPN-4-84) because an atmospheric relief valve (RV-4297) on the rectified absorber column (PV-822) at the Hydrocracking Unit relieved prior to its set point. Hydrocracker Flaring Followup: No Notes: RV-4297 was isolated and repaired. Flaring stopped once the unit was stabilized.