Dangers to Communities posed by Oil/Gas Refineries

[Bob]

The purpose of this thread is to educate and explain some key dangers about OIL and GAS refineries..

If they are located near communities, there is a disaster in the rafters, just waiting for an opportunity.. That opportunity can happen quite easily due to the nature of the refining process.

It's not a 'sensationalist' thread topic. It's real. It's something one would not expect to be present around a major interstate highway, or in a local neighborhood community.

This article comes from the Denver Post, and is hitting the news services:
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/1...neighborhoods/

The issue is with the gas called Hydrogen Cyanide, that same gas used in "exterminations".

It is coming from a SunCor refinery, at levels that the EPS considers hazardous.

There is a major interstate highway running past the refinery. The gas is emitted at low enough ground elevations, that it can be carried into the community and roadway, exposing thousands and thousands of drivers. And most certainly employees and residents and guests in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Hydrogen cyanide is lighter than air, but the winds in the area contain downdrafts, and seldom are just 'quiet and still'. Downdrafts are frequent and whip around the towers, piping, and platforms. The "stacks" are supposed to put the toxins out of ground level exposure, but they don't due to the winds and downdrafts.

The most deadliest gases are supposed to be "flared" off, a burning flame - the color of the flame usually indicates what type of gas is being flared. Flares in themselves emit many dangerous pollutants when the most toxic gas is burnt off.

The article:

Suncor oil refinery spews 8.5 tons a year of cyanide gas over low-income north Denver neighborhoods, state records show

Environmental attorneys and residents petition EPA and CDPHE to at least require disclosure of the hydrogen cyanide emissions

CDPHE air quality control officials in January approved a change to Suncor’s air pollution permit that exempts the company from a federal requirement to disclose hydrogen cyanide emissions.

The officials set an emissions limit of 12.8 tons a year — higher than the 8.5 tons Suncor reported it emits — for the purpose of letting Suncor use a legal loophole that lets companies with permitted limits avoid disclosure of those emissions, a state document shows.

This CDPHE action overrode objections by Adams County Commissioners, who raised health concerns and said transparency is vital for emergency crews to be able to respond to potential hazards.

“It’s absurd to think state health officials would even consider granting permits to pollute more. The state health officials are completely failing to protect these neighborhoods.

And they are disregarding the cumulative impact of the many pollutants in the area,” Cross Community Coalition director Candi Cdebaca said.

Hydrogen Cyanide BLOCKS the cells ability to exchange CO2 and absorb Oxygen. One suffocates to death with sufficient hydrogen cyanide gas being breathed in.

Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless gas smelling faintly of almonds that at high exposure levels attacks the brain and heart, causing rapid breathing, convulsions and loss of consciousness, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Lower level exposures are linked to breathing trouble, headaches and enlarged thyroid glands. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established under the 1997 global Chemical Weapons Convention, classifies hydrogen cyanide as a chemical weapon.

Upwind of Denver, in Commerce City, Suncor emits the hydrogen cyanide from a fuel catalytic cracking unit that is part of the company’s crude oil processing. These units break down hydrocarbons to produce the gas and diesel that Suncor sells, a main source of fuels in Colorado and the region.

Suncor’s refinery is not the only refinery that emits hydrogen cyanide. The EPA has not set a federal limit for hydrogen cyanide, so fossil fuels companies have not been focused on reducing those emissions.

“Everyone who lives near Suncor, as well as Suncor employees, have been breathing hydrogen cyanide. If the state is going to set a limit for hydrogen cyanide, it needs to set a limit that protects public health,” said Earthjustice attorney Joel Minor, who filed the petition on behalf of north Denver residents.

“And we have these laws requiring disclosure for a reason,” he said. “People do have a right to know what they are breathing.”

EPA in its regulation of the nation’s oil refineries has focused instead on carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen sulfide and other pollutants.

As a result, data on hydrogen cyanide is limited.

CDPHE relied on data Suncor collected in 2015 to calculate hydrogen cyanide air concentrations around the refinery at 5 parts per billion, more than seven times higher than the EPA’s 0.7 ppb risk threshold, records show.

In Colorado, the only other apparent source of hydrogen cyanide pollution is a Goodrich Corporation plant in Pueblo where workers make aircraft parts. State records show this plant disclosing emissions of 942 pounds a year of hydrogen cyanide.

[Bob]

California residents in Torrance experienced a similar situation a few years back:
PUBLISHED: March 31, 2016 at 11:05 pm | UPDATED: September 6, 2017

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2016/03/...obil-refinery/

Again, the "regulators" seem to be somehow way too lenient with what they allow residents, and motorists to breath in.. Although EPA standards prohibit such violations, these 'regulators' appear to have a soft spot to allow for poisons to be gleefully put into the air from the local "commerce" industry - the refinery..

This refinery is from Exxon-Mobil

Regulators appear poised to sign off on a proposed agreement Saturday allowing ExxonMobil’s Torrance refinery to exceed pollution limits as it resumes gasoline manufacturing, angering some residents who wonder why the agency is bothering with a public hearing at all.

Moreover, even basic questions about the refinery restart — such as when it will occur and by how much emission limits will be exceeded — remain unavailable.

ExxonMobil officials did not answer those questions sent to them via email, while South Coast Air Quality Management District officials were unavailable Thursday.

AQMD officials have indicated they will provide a calculation of the excess emissions at the hearing set for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Torrance City Hall, 3031 Torrance Blvd.

The refinery has sat largely idle since the February 2015 explosion that state and federal investigators contend was caused by ExxonMobil’s deliberate failure to fix equipment for almost a decade even though the company knew it could cause a life-threatening explosion.

The blast literally rocked the community, sent plumes of industrial debris showering on neighborhoods and sent pump prices soaring statewide.

But some residents are angry that the purpose of the meeting is to discuss a mutually agreed upon stipulated order by the AQMD and ExxonMobil allowing the company to move ahead with its dirtier-than-usual start-up of refinery operations.

Doing so will violate about 10 AQMD rules designed to minimize pollution, said Torrance resident Maureen Mauk.

“This means that the community has the choice between unsafe operations (such as explosions), or excess air pollution that is harmful to people’s health, neither of which is acceptable,” she said via email. “The Hearing Board should order ExxonMobil to cease and desist startup.

“Furthermore, a citizens petition identified additional deficiencies, including lack of transparency on emissions calculations, which could underestimate them,” Mauk wrote.

The word "pollution" is non-descriptive. That is one of the problems.. Hydrogen Cyanide also comes out of the Exxon-Mobil refinery in Torrance. It's kept quiet, and as with the SunCor refinery in Commerce City, Denver, Colorado, the plant officials and the 'regulatory' agency don't want to let the people KNOW what the toxins are that are being released, which they are breathing.

Jim Tarr, owner of Rolling Hills Estates-based Stone Lions Environmental Corp.., which evaluates toxic exposure problems from refineries and similar facilities, said the lack of information provided to the public makes it virtually impossible to evaluate the excess emissions from the refinery during the start-up.

He called the hearing a “farce.”

“It is totally inappropriate, totally irresponsible to do that without first talking to residents of the community,” he said. “The start-up as designed by ExxonMobil and, apparently by the staff of the AQMD, is going to have a negative health impact on the people in the community. They have little or no concern for the health of the people who live around that refinery.”

Tarr said he was most concerned about the amount of hydrogen cyanide — the same poison the Nazis used to kill people in gas chambers during World War II — that will be released during the start-up.

That issue isn’t even mentioned in the proposed order, he noted.

How many people are living around industry that releases hydrogen cyanide into the environment, and why is that not being published by the 'regulators'?

[Valerie Villars]

Colorado generally seems pretty environmentally progressive and I hope the residents don't take this issue sitting down. Whether it is resolved in a people friendly way or not is probably going to come down to how crooked the politicians and regulatory boards involved are or are not.

[Bob]

April 2015, a Citgo refinery was malfunctioning.

Citgo personnel had discovered that a stack at the plant was emitting more hydrogen cyanide than its air permit allowed.

For two months, as Citgo later reported to TCEQ, the plant released more than 50,000 pounds of hydrogen cyanide into the air. (TCEQ - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)

Exposure to the chemical at high levels can be very toxic to animal and human health.

Two and a half years later, TCEQ is still deciding whether to punish the company at all, and is even considering a request from Citgo to simply amend its air permit to retroactively bless the pollution.

Citgo owns and operates two large refineries in Corpus Christi. This area is called "refinery row".

Sitting at the edge of Nueces Bay, the 890-acre contains expanses of steel, towering stacks and massive storage tanks.

Every hour, they together churn through more than 6,500 barrels of crude oil, spitting out, among other products, gasoline.

According to state data, they’re also some of the biggest polluters in Texas.

Hand slapping?

From 2012 to 2017, the plants released more pollution than allowed by their permits 66 times, including the April incident, according to public data.

TCEQ fined the company in only four cases and initially issued just $82,400 in fines.

In three of those cases, however, Citgo unleashed its legal department on TCEQ.

In all four cases, TCEQ reduced fines because of “good faith” efforts and timely payments.

Eventually, Citgo paid just $42,500 — a little more than a dollar per pound of pollution — for all four cases.

(source material from Grist.org)

[Rawhide68]

Outragous! First to come in mind when I hear Denver, is Denver airport and all it's "conspiracy theories". what's happening?

[Bob]

And we think California has 'strict' air pollution laws in place? Apparently some refineries are able to skirt past regulator's oversight..

from FracTracker.org

Refineries and petrochemical industry in the Bay Area’s refinery corridor are responsible for the majority of the risk-driving point source emissions in this region.

• The Chevron Richmond refinery has the largest refining capacity and emits the most hazardous air pollutants (HAPs).
• The Tesoro refinery in Martinez and the Shell refinery in Martinez emit the most HAPs per barrel of oil (based on refining capacity).
• The Valero refinery in Benicia, the Tesoro refinery in Martinez, and the Shell refinery in Martinez emit the most criteria air pollutants (CAPs).

"If refineries increase their capacity and process more crude, the emissions of these various pollutants will invariably increase.

"New emissions rules need to prioritize ambient air quality and hold the Air District and elected officials accountable for policies that increase risk.

Overview of the Bay Area’s Refinery Corridor

"The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is revising the rules for facilities that emit a variety of hazardous pollutants into the air.

"The current draft of the new rules could actually increase the amount polluters are allowed to emit.

"The communities at risk are speaking out to support policies that would reduce the amount of air pollutants rather than increase the limits. In support of these communities, the FracTracker Alliance has focused on analyzing the sources of air pollutants in the region.

"The East Bay Oil Refinery Corridor is located along the North Shore of the East Bay, stretching from Richmond, CA east to Antioch, CA. The region has been named a “sacrifice zone” for the heavy concentration of petrochemical industrial sites.

"In addition to the five refineries along the north coast, these communities host a variety of other heavy industries and waste sites.

"The locations of these facilities have been mapped previously by the FracTracker Alliance, here. In the report we found that people of color, specifically African Americans, are disproportionately represented in the community demographics.

" Novel results indicate that Hispanic students may be disproportionately impacted by the presence of the petrochemical industry. In this post, we continue the analysis of risk in the region by providing an analysis of the contributions to air pollution from these facilities."

The current rules allow an INCREASE in amount of pollution - same as in Colorado at the SunCor refinery.. INCREASE not decrease.. And in Colorado, no mentioning to the public WHAT is in the pollution affecting the communities..

Apparently Hydrogen Cyanide releases are HIDDEN from public scrutiny.

[Bob]

In the old days, an oil refinery used thermal cracking - a way to split apart the various components present within Crude Oil.. That process required continual monitoring of pressures and temperatures, and required that the cracking system, very similar to a "distiller" be built to accept the various substances.

Here is what the original cracking system looked like:

Relatively simple, the crude is heated, and the "cracking tower" (right side of image) allows for different weight "products" to be siphoned off.

different hydrocarbons have different boiling points, which means they can be separated by distillation. Since the lighter liquid elements are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher value products using complex and energy intensive processes.

It though is a bit more complicated than the simple illustration above.

Different types of crude have different constituent substances which make up the "oil".. Salts, metals (such as toxic mercury), acids, sulfurs, waxes are all different components that have to be dealt with before the distillation process can happen. Those steps are called pre-treatment steps. Any substances cleaned out of the "crude oil" then need to be dealt with - they are normally considered as pollutants.

In a modern refinery, there are various catalysts used to facilitate "cracking" or the separation or re-assembling (called reforming) of the organic constituents from Crude Oil using LESS energy.. A catalyst can be a specific "activated metal substance", such as platinum coatings on ceramic beads (most noted in the automobile's catalytic converter) to convert carbon monoxide (CO, or carbon-oxygen) into CO2 (carbon dioxide).

Here is an example where the carbon (from the crude oil) is combined with hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen in the refinery:

Methane (from the cracking operation), plus oxygen from air or water, plus nitrogen/hydrogen (nitrogen from the air) "ammonia", the catalyst.. out comes hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and excess water..

A bit more detailed illustration here:

Above is the typical FCC (Fluid Catalytic Converter) "cracker" .. The magic stuff is the catalysts used in the system, the elevated temperatures, and gases mixed and remixed and re-catalyzed..

These refineries need to reduce their Hydrogen Cyanide emissions to zero.

These refineries are "petrochemical factories".. Based on the starting point, the "crude" oil substances are manipulated, re-shaped and reformed into thousands and thousands of chemicals.

These numerous other chemicals evoked during the numerous catalysts and separation operations.. result in very high profit final products, and substances called "building blocks" used in other complex synthesis - methanol is one of those building blocks, also highly deadly to living things.

The toxicity of the substances overall that exist in a refinery processing Crude Oil, are literally "off the chart" for potential and actual pollution dangers. Crude by itself is koolaid in comparison to what goes on and what is separated and what is released into the air (and potentially water), with a refinery. There is no way to guarantee complete safety.. that is a big issue.

[amor]

Can't they capture those exiting pollutants and make saleable chemicals out of them instead of letting them escape their profit margins?

[Bob]

Posted by amor (here)
Can't they capture those exiting pollutants and make saleable chemicals out of them instead of letting them escape their profit margins?

That's a very good question. If they don't see an economic advantage such as the cost to capture verses simply "tossing it", my best guess is they will toss it. Unless there is a regulatory agency riding reign on them, that isn't turning a "blind eye", a polluter most certainly will continue to pollute..

There are no ethics in the "corporation" - those ethics come from the people running it.. and unless those people specifically are educated on the damages that their organization can produce and IS producing, it never gets handled until a disaster appears that can't be hidden.

[Bob]

What happens when an aircraft or motor vessel travels through a methane cloud?

The engine stops because the methane-air mixture is not the same as the normal fuel air mixture.

If it is a plane it crashes if it doesn't have enough altitude to recover.

If it is a vessel on the water, a large methane bubble release from the seafloor could not only stop the engine(s), it could possibly asphyxiate the crew and/or sink the vessel.

So here is the current refinery news:

The helicopter was high enough to do an engine failure recovery

LINDEN, N.J. (AP) — Authorities say two people aboard a helicopter escaped injury when it was forced to make an emergency landing at a gas refinery in northern New Jersey.

The 2001 Robinson R44 helicopter was not damaged in the incident, which occurred around 9 a.m. Friday in Linden. Authorities say the pilot reported the helicopter's engine had failed, but further details were not immediately available.

Authorities have not released the names of the people were on board the helicopter. They say the pilot was able to bring the helicopter down next to some oil silos at the refinery.

The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident.

[Bob]

(In the above post, Methane is produced, or processed in the 'gas' refinery, where separation of complex gases coming from "production" wells can additionally happen. Propane, ethane, butane and so forth can be extracted from a complex well-head gas)..

A hidden, un-reported methane release which a plane or helicopter can fly through can result in a disaster...

About the cyanide tho..

April 19th a few days ago, an explosion at the Valero Refinery, Texas City, TX...

Refinery officials REFUSE to say what the cause is, or what is being emitted.. (hmmm...)

Valero's refinery:

Valero Energy Corp. is investigating the cause of a fire that broke out on Apr. 19 at its 260,000-b/d Texas City, Tex., refinery.

The fire, which occurred at about 5:00 p.m. CST, was fully contained as of 7:22 p.m. CST, with all personnel accounted for and air monitoring already under way, Lillian Riojas, Valero’s director of media relations and communications, said in an e-mailed statement.

Without revealing further information surrounding the incident, Valero did confirm it had contacted local authorities and was cooperating with appropriate regulatory agencies and other key stakeholder groups.

The operator disclosed no details regarding the refinery’s current operating status or the fire’s impact to the equipment and overall production at the site.

Does Valero's refinery have a FCC (Fluid Catalytic Cracker) ? Yup.. Every FCC system will generate cyanide based on the starting point oil.. Higher Nitrogen containing crudes going into the system generally results in MORE cyanide being produced by the reaction (Methane plus Ammonia, plus Oxygen (with catalyst) yields hydrogen cyanide plus excess water)..

What happens when the cyanides contact the plumbing of the system? It corrodes, meaning holes and weak spots happen when the system is pressurized. And an explosion can happen. Where are the most explosions from a refinery? The primary boiler (the coker) when it is restarted, if not cleaned properly, contains highly explosive compounds on the walls and plumbing.. heating it back up causes a burst/explosion.. And the FCC unit, where the cyanides exit from the main catalyst system and into the distillation tower..

The coker explosion is hazardous to personnel and the resulting fire can destroy a lot of piping through creating heat weakness or soft spots.. The fire can spread.. Micro-fine Black Soot is common. The resultant gases are usually not cyanide containing, but can contain sulfur dioxide, which is a toxic asphyxiation producer. (lungs flood, airways swell, when inhaled). The second explosion location can release numerous toxins, including cyanides, ammonia, methane, hydrogen, ethanes, vinyl compounds, pentanes, gasoline, carbon monoxide and so forth.. An EPA nightmare from the FCC unit having an explosion in other words..

The plant dates to 1908, originally built to process 1,500 barrels per day of Oklahoma crude oil.

The refinery has gone through continuous upgrades and expansions since then, including major upgrades from 1955 to 1970 when the total throughput of the refinery was increased from 40,000 to 130,000 barrels per day.

In 1996, gas oil hydrotreater and residual oil solvent extraction units were commissioned along with significant revamps to the fluid catalytic cracking unit and the No. 3 crude unit.

Since acquiring the refinery in 1997, Valero has invested more than $750 million in expansions and upgrades at Texas City. Most recently, the plant completed a major expansion consisting of a new delayed coker and a gasoline desulfurization unit.

Background on Cyanide Metal Destruction/damage in a FCC system:

Cyanide corrosion causes costly upsets
Refinery cyanides cause considerable corrosion, hydrogen blistering and waste water treatment problems.

The majority of refinery cyanides are formed in the reactor of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units.

All of the gas from the reactor, including the cyanide, is carried overhead into the distillation column, where water is injected into the overhead stream 'to control' corrosion problems.

The resulting sour water is separated from the hydrocarbon products at various stages in the system.

At this point free cyanide can contribute to 3 possible scenarios:

(1) Free cyanide may be deposited in the wet gas stream as corrosion products. The formation of these corrosion products may also destabilize the iron sulphide layer causing it to flake off as free iron sulphide.
(2) Some free cyanide may be removed from the wet gas stream with the condensing water or water wash. Once in the water phase, the cyanide is transported with the water stream causing many forms of corrosion.
(3) If the free cyanide is not removed, it will be collected by the amine system and form heat stable salts. These heat stable salts will affect the efficiency of the amine system and cause corrosion and amine issues.

Currently, the selection of the crude charge is driven primarily by cost and opportunity.

As a result, there is an increase of refinery sour crudes containing higher amounts of nitrogen, at larger throughputs, and more severe processing conditions.

This increases cyanide corrosion and hydrogen blistering.

In addition, significant concentrations of cyanides are also found in the waste water from coker units of the refinery.

[Bob]

Superior Wisconsin - Refinery Explosion and Fire

Authorities in Superior say the explosion at the Husky Energy oil refinery happened at about 10 a.m. Thursday. Superior Fire Chief Steve Panger says six people were taken to hospitals in Duluth, Minnesota. He doesn’t know the extent of their injuries. Others were walking wounded. There are no known fatalities.

A contractor who was inside the building told WDIO television that the explosion sounded like “a sonic boom” that happened when crews were working on shutting the plant down for repairs.

Currently, 20 injured are reported.

Buildings were shaken a mile away.

The refinery, which dates back to the early 1950s, has a processing capacity of around 50,000 barrels per day and a storage capacity of 3.6 million barrels of crude and products.

It processes both heavy crude from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta and lighter North Dakota Bakken crude.

Image of a toxic leak from the tank

[Bob]

State of Emergency - Evacuation orders, Superior Wisconsin Refinery Fire update - National Guard on Standby Alert

April 26, 2018 05:37 PM

The Superior Fire Department and other agencies responded to an explosion at the Husky Refinery near Duluth Thursday morning. While the fire was put out, it reignited after noon, and authorities have put a mandatory evacuation in place.

Because of the fire, Douglas County declared a state of emergency. The city also declared a state of emergency.

Due to heavy smoke in the area, there is a public evacuation 10 miles south of refinery, and 3 miles east and west, and 1 mile north of refinery. Those evacuating the area should go to Four Corners Elementary School at 4465 E County Road B in Superior. Area schools were evacuated as well.

Superior Mayor Jim Paine said the evacuation could spread to the whole city, which has a population of 27,000 people. He said an additional 10,000 to 15,000 people in rural areas could be evacuated. The evacuation is expected to last however long the fire is active, which could continue overnight.

ref: http://kstp.com/news/emergency-situa...inery/4882234/

National Guard on Standby

As seen below the fire has exploded to much larger proportions

[DeDukshyn]

Calgary had a little one, until it exploded and burned up about 20 years ago. A whole swath of housing and trailer court had to be relocated (owners bought out by the city) as the land was so contaminated it was a massive cancer risk -- still no housing in that area as I imagine the soil is still heavily contaminated.

I actually drove right by it after the main explosion on my way home from work ... the giant black mushroom cloud was incredible!]

A bit of video of the event ...

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=6P_8z_Wfw5s

[Bob]

Toxins emitted into the Environment in Superior Wisconsin

The burning Asphalt fire is emitting in the minimum, carbon soot (nanoparticles dangerous with inhalation), carbon monoxide (deadly), carbon disulfide (deadly), hydrogen sulfide (extremely deadly in small amounts), benzenes (deadly and carcinogenic), oxides of sulfur (sulfur dioxide - deadly and asphyxiation and pneumonia risk), cyanides (deadly), potential mercury compounds (carcinogenic, brain damage, nerve damage, carcinogenic), assorted Acids, 'coal tars' (carcinogenic, and deadly if ingested), heavy metals besides mercury...

This is a dangerous and potentially very deadly situation for the residents of Superior Wisconsin. Do not inhale the smoke. The chemicals are worrying authorities from the smoke hitting the community.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=MHL9UW1wwkk

Dangerous HydroFluoric Acid *(HF) potentially can be emitted, and that has officials on high alert. HF erodes organic tissue very rapidly, as well as cutting through glass as if it were butter.. HF is used in an upgrading process, to increase the value of the gasoline, making it more "performance" oriented.

[Bob]

As described in earlier posts in the thread, there is an extreme danger with the Fluid Catalytic Cracker unit. Husky's technical contractors were shutting down the cracking unit when apparently an explosion then blew a hole in a nearby Asphalt tank (shown leaking in a post above).

A coker or a catalytic cracker's "reactor" (where catalysts and hydrocarbon fuels are combined in a "reaction") can explode when the temperatures are increased or decreased.. It is a lot like the constituents inside a bullet's explosive "cap" (where the hammer strikes highly unstable mercury fulminate and there is an explosion which ensues rapidly igniting the powder in the cartridge)... The explosive compounds are highly unstable..

Apparently that instability explosion is what happened. Nitrogen can combine in the catalyst system and form an explosive "azide" - this type of explosion has happened before. Azides are horribly sensitive - the nitrogen bond to the carbon (in the hydrocarbon fuel) is very weak. We have heard of nitrogen based explosives before - such as nitroglycerine..http://www.ecu.edu/cs-admin/oehs/env...-sensitive.cfm

Most refineries have a coker and a fluid catalytic cracker "reactor" system..

Husky refused to identify what caused the explosion, however another facility nearby provided this understanding:

The company (Husky), in an earlier statement, said emergency crews were on site responding to a fire, and that all workers had been accounted for.

Local media said an explosion "rocked" the refinery just after 10 am local time Thursday. The Duluth News Tribune reported on its website that a "black plume of acrid smoke" moved across Superior after the blast.

Market sources said the refinery had recently begun a turnaround on a crude unit and gasoline-making fluid catalytic cracking unit.

Enbridge said the explosion and fire happened across the street from its terminal in Superior. (Enbridge is a pipeline company that transports crude across the Country).

Possibly you have heard of Enbridge pipeline before - they are an owner of a portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).. One branch called "SandPiper" terminates at Superior..

hmmm

http://www.enbridge.com/media-center...g=en&year=2016
https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/0...ge-spill-texas
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/...tion/88204138/

Analysis of the Shell Cracker blast - https://www.ogj.com/articles/print/v...use-cited.html

A Shell commission working with outside specialists cited the buildup of brown red gum deposits in the cracker's cold box as the cause of the explosion.

They concluded the gum was formed by nitrogen oxide contamination of noncondensable gases in the unit's catalytic cracker-used since 1982 as makeup load.

When NOx comes in the presence of 1-3 butadiene or cyclopentadiene, formation of unstable gums can occur, Shell noted. It was shown that such deposits can ignite spontaneously below ambient temperatures.

Investigators concluded that might have served as a detonator...

[Dennis Leahy]

Posted by Bob (here)
Toxins emitted into the Environment in Superior Wisconsin

The burning Asphalt fire is emitting ...

(about 6:00pm) Plume of black smoke looks like it is at least a mile long. I could also see flames in the smoke, possibly from the second tank that caught fire. (Superior, WI is "across the bridge" from where I live.) If the wind shifts, I may be evacuating tonight.

Locally, they have no way to fight the fire, and said they will probably let it burn itself out - which may take days. "Experts" are flying in from Texas, and the Superior fire department seems to be counting on the experts to perform some miracle. Astounding that the oil companies and refineries are allowed to create a situation that no one around for a thousand miles can deal with.

Update: on my second trip out to look, (about 7:00pm), the fire was out. I don't know if they put it out (when they said they couldn't) or if it burned all the fuel quickly. Much less visible smoke now.

{edit, to add security cam photo}

This photo is from a security camera, supposedly the first of the two major explosions:

You can see a person on the ground near the center of the image.

[Bob]

Although the fire at the Superior Wisconsin Husky Refinery is currently out, there is a shelter in place warning in effect:

Firefighters are still laying down foam blankets and trying to cool down the asphalt.

For those reasons, authorities are telling people who evacuated the area not to come back yet. The evacuation order may be lifted later Thursday night. The first time the fire was out was earlier this morning. It flared back up later. It is possible it could still flare back up, and that is the reason for the caution.

There is still toxic smoke in the area.

Updated: April 26, 2018 08:41 PM

The City of Duluth and St. Louis County officials have issued a Shelter in Place Advisory for the western portion of Duluth. Authorities say this is a precautionary measure based on the National Weather Services information.

The advisory applies to the Fond du Lac neighborhood east to the Ore Docks in West Duluth, to the top of the hill.

The National Weather Service says winds could shift over the next few hours and result in some residual smoke plumes entering the western neighborhoods.

Residents with health concerns are advised to close windows and doors and stay inside. Residual smoke from the refinery fire could cause respiratory problems. City officials will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates throughout the evening until this situation is resolved.

ref: http://www.wdio.com/news/shelter-in-...108/?cat=10335

-- update--

Shelter in place still in effect at 11:30 Central time.

Additional toxins in the smoke, potentially Hydro-Fluoric Acid (a most dangerous acid which dissolves organic materials, glass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkylation_unit HF (the chemical abbreviation for the acid) is used to convert the isobutanes into high octane gasoline. HF works with the products from the FCCU (Fluidic Catalytic Cracking Unit). All indications seem to point that something went dangerously wrong with the FFCU's reactor section.

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/0...lties-updates/

Firefighters were able to isolate a dangerous hydrofluoric acid tank, and they used foam blankets to suppress vapors. The second fire was put out at about 6:42 p.m., but there is still a re-ignition threat Thursday night.

No doubt residents in the community and surrounding community have no clue what dangerous substances are so close to them, what can happen during a fire with smoke. Today's disaster typifies the dangers of having refineries anywhere near communities.

[onawah]

Can anyone tell us how the dangers of pollution from coal mines compares to oil and gas refineries?

I grew up in Denver in the 50s and 60s and it was lovely then; you could see the Rockies clearly from town.
I flew over the Denver area in the 80s, and it was as smoggy as the L.A. basin, if not worse, and the Rockies were invisible.

If things continue on in this way, we will have to wear face masks the way the Chinese do.
This is progress?

[Bob]

Officials pulled the evacuation order for Superior on Friday morning near 6am. Duluth's "shelter in place" warning was also pulled.

Environmental agencies are monitoring for particulates.

The black smoke was the type of smoke which contains the hazardous substances, released into the Communities around the Refinery that is eliciting the continued concerns -

Health officials have not been available for comment

An explosion and asphalt fire at a Wisconsin oil refinery sent huge plumes of smoke into the air that pollution experts said almost certainly contained large amounts of toxins, posing a serious health risk to those living downwind.

Asphalt is a petroleum product that when burned emits chemicals in gaseous form and small particles {nanoparticles} that can linger long after the smoke dissipates, said Wilma Subra, a chemist with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network who has examined past refinery accidents.

The gases include so-called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, which can cause symptoms ranging from dizziness, breathing problems and nausea to liver damage and cancer, depending on the level and length of exposure, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Also present in asphalt smoke are microscopic particles of chemicals that stick together as visible smoke. {the clumping of the nanoparticles results in larger particles that finally become visible}

Those particles carry cancer-causing benzene and other contaminants that can lodge deep in the lungs when inhaled.

From there, they can pass directly into a person’s bloodstream, said Neil Carman, a former refinery inspector for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, now with the Sierra Club.

“Anybody breathing that stuff should be very concerned about what’s getting into deep tissue, into the bloodstream,” Carman said. “When you see that kind of smoke, it means you’re getting a lot of unburned hydrocarbons. ... Those particles are loaded with carcinogens.”

Officials ordered an evacuation of a wide area around the Husky Energy refinery to reduce the public’s exposure to the plume. The fire Thursday was later put out, and residents were told they could return to their homes. But then authorities announced the evacuation order would remain and be re-evaluated throughout the night.

Government agencies planned to conduct air monitoring tests to gauge the hazard, refinery manager Kollin Schade said during an evening press conference.

The duration and extent of the toxic hazard depends on a variety of factors, such as wind direction and speed, proximity to the refinery and weather events that can trap pollution close to the ground, said Elena Craft, senior health scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund.

Federal officials did not immediately respond to questions about the health risks from the smoke. A spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services referred questions to local officials in Douglas County, who could not be reached for comment.

ref: https://apnews.com/0f4d70467f0c4ffe9...es-health-risk

In other words, the "event" of concern, the emission of the toxins has not completely subsided.

The smoke particles are sub-micron nano-particles, and become VISIBLE when they clump together. They need TIME to fully dissipate.

Science article on nanoparticle "smoke" - https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0611105311.htm

Nanoparticles in polluted air, smoke & nanotechnology products have serious impact on health

RESULT: chronic inhalation of air contaminated with single walled carbon nanotubes -

"The result was clear and convincing: all types of nanoparticles in both the TCD and US study were causing an identical response in human cells and in the lungs of mice, manifesting in the specific transformation of the amino acid arginine into the molecule called citrulline which can lead to the development of autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.

"In the transformation to citrulline, human proteins which incorporate this modified amino acid as building blocks, can no longer function properly and are subject to destruction and elimination by the bodily defense system. Once programmed to get rid of citrullinated proteins, the immune system can start attacking its own tissues and organs, thereby causing the autoimmune processes which may result in rheumatoid arthritis.

The "disaster" is NOT over in other words, for the people breathing the air, even if the "fire" is out. The nanoparticles have to dissipate for it to be considered "safe" once again..

(How can anyone be safe around a refinery though?)