UpdateDuPont shuts unit at Beaumont, Texas, site due to freeze

09 January 2010 00:06  [Source: ICIS news]

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HOUSTON (ICIS news)--DuPont shut down a unit at its Beaumont Works site in Texas due to freezing weather, the US producer said on Friday in a filing with state regulators.

The filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) said the shutdown was initiated at about 3:00 hours Houston time (9:00 GMT) on Friday, but the unit has since begun the restart process.

DuPont did not specify which unit was down at the site, which makes aniline. As policy, DuPont does not comment on the day-to-day operations of its plants.

However, DuPont had warned on Tuesday in another regulatory filing it might have to shut the ammonia oxidation process unit at its Beaumont facility "due to incoming freezing weather".

The DuPont filing for its Beaumont facility was one of the latest as frigid weather disrupts chemical operations near Houston and along the Texas Gulf coast.

Other companies reporting weather-related disruptions include Rohm and Haas, a Dow Chemical subsidiary. In a regulatory filing, Rohm and Haas said that freezing conditions at Deer Park, Texas, led to high pressure in an ammonia surge drum, causing the relief device to lift.

Delek Refining told regulators that, due to cold weather, its No 9 boiler shut down at its 60,000 bbl/day refinery in Tyler, Texas. The company started immediately to restart the boiler.

Temperatures plunged to 26° Fahrenheit (-3° Celsius) in Houston on Friday morning, according to the US National Weather Service. With winds dropping, temperatures are projected to fall further over the weekend. Lows the next three nights in Houston are projected at 20°, 22° and 27°.

Friday’s daytime high was listed at 32°, and as of 15:00 hours Houston time, the city had yet to break the freezing mark. Saturday’s high is projected to break through at 41°.

Among other chemical producers in the region, Huntsman took down its Port Neches facility in Texas on Friday because of a cold weather-related problem with the pumps that furnish boiler feed water, a source said.

The plant produces ethylene, ethylene oxide (EO), ethylene glycol (EG), diethylene glycol (DEG), triethylene glycol (TEG), methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), propylene, propylene oxide (PO) and propylene glycol.

The problem with the pumps had been repaired, and start-up procedures were about to begin, the source said. But with even lower temperatures scheduled over the weekend, Huntsman was closely monitoring the plant.

Likewise, the methyl isocyanate (MIC) process at DuPont's site in La Porte, Texas, interlocked at about 6:00 hours Houston time on Friday due to a pluggage from cold weather, the company said in a filing with the TCEQ. DuPont said it expects the process to start up at roughly 18:00 hours later in the day.

Meanwhile, a source with US producer Dow Chemical said the company’s crisis team was closely watching the weather to maintain freeze protection.

“Twenty-degree weather can be tough for plants in the Gulf coast region to handle, so we’re getting daily updates and monitoring closely for cold spots and freezing lines,” he said.

“Because of the weather forecast for this weekend, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone had a plant that had to be brought down and restarted early next week,” he added.

The Dow source said there had been no disruptions so far for that company.

Other chemical sites on the Texas Gulf coast had earlier said that they might have to shut down operations due to cold weather.

Flint Hills Resources (FHR) said it began preparations on Wednesday at its Port Arthur light olefins unit in Texas, according to a filing with the TCEQ.

The company said it would purge and clear equipment in Port Arthur that might contain water as a freeze protection measure, the filing said.

(Additional reporting by Al Greenwood and Gene Lockard)

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By: Ben DuBose
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