Valero boiler malfunctions, bringing release of gases

A boiler shut down at the Valero Refinery near Delaware City this morning, resulting in a huge cloud of smoke and flame that emitted gases into the atmosphere.

The incident occurred about 8:30 a.m. at the plant at 4550 Wrangle Hill Road.

Sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide and hydrogen sulfide were released to the atmosphere, according to a filing with the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Valero spokesman Pat Covert said the plant lost one of the boilers in the steam producing unit that runs the refinery process.

That was following by a the shutdown of a second boiler.

The yellowish-green cloud lasted about 45 minutes as the process unit cooled down.

Along with the cloud, a sulfur odor was detected, he said.

“We monitored around the community and we weren’t taking any negative readings in the community,” he said.

Capt. William P. McDaniel II, operations supervisor for air and waste management enforcement in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, said there had been few citizens’ odor complaints.

“They were taking numerous calls about the smoke,” he said.

Covert said that things were stable as of about 1 p.m.

“As soon as we’re able to get the steam production on line we will be starting the boilers,” he said.

According to the U.S. Energy Department, Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. refinery, can produce 190,200 barrels of crude oil a day. The refinery mostly handles heavy, high-sulfur, harder-to-process crude oils sold at a discount compared with the lighter crudes handled at Conoco-Philips' Trainer, Pa., refinery and at Sunoco's Marcus Hook, Philadelphia and Eagle Point, N.J., complexes.3
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