Howell Hydrocarbons & Chemicals

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Chemical Storage and Delivery

Industry: Petroleum Refining

Wastes Reduced: Processing Chemicals & Gasoline

Substance: Leaks & Spills

Equipment: Dry Disconnects

Location: Channelview TX

No. of employees: 50

Contact: George Freda

Phone: (281) 457-2768

Description:

In the past, when Howell transferred chemicals from storage tanks to tanker trucks or vice versa they had a lot of leakage, both gaseous and liquid. In order to reduce releases of chemicals when transferring, Howell placed dry disconnects at all transfer points.

P2 Application:

Dry disconnects have drip-free designs that minimize leakage and reduce exposure to fluids or vapors during fluid transfer. When leaks or releases occurred in the past they were captured and washed down a drain to the wastewater treatment system. Due to the wide range of chemicals processed at Howell, dry disconnects with special Viton® gaskets were selected rather than the standard rubber gaskets.

Environmental Benefits:

Dry disconnects reduce employee exposure to hydrocarbons and chemicals. The reduction in chemical releases has reduced the amount of time for clean up and the volumes of wastewater treatment from clean up water. While releases during transfer of chemicals are highly variable and hard to measure Howell estimates that dry disconnects have reduced leaks to only a few pounds a year.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

The primary savings of this project come from increased employee safety and health. Clean up and lowering the amounts of lost chemicals has reduced treatment costs. Releases represent a loss of product or feedstock; therefore, a reduction in leaks produces a direct increase in the volume of product available for sale or the volume of feedstock available for processing.

Source: TCEQ