Shell Oil Company

Year Submitted: 2003

Process: Leak Detection & Repair

Industry: Petroleum Refining

Wastes Reduced: VOC Emissions

Location: Deer Park TX

No. of employees: 2400

Contact: Charles Bland, Eric Lookofsky

Phone: (713) 246-7895, (713) 246-7318

Description:

Shell Oil is implementing a facility wide Enhanced Leak Detection and Repair (ELDAR) program for monitoring fugitive emissions at the Deer Park Manufacturing Complex. The ELDAR program is a voluntary air emission reduction project that is aimed at exceeding current federal and state fugitive emission monitoring requirements. The program will include reducing the leak definition on most sources from 10,000 ppmv to 500 ppmv and the monitoring of all accessible flanges. When complete, the program will include over 300,000 components.

P2 Application:

We believe that Shell is the first company to use the punched-hole identification tags (like those used for hotel room keys). These tags allow increased data accuracy and validation when compared to bar codes in retail application. Unlike bar codes, these tags are not affected by sun, paint, grease and rain. The datalogger has an electronic link to the hydrocarbon analyzer so that no manual data entry is required. Furthermore, the datalogger performs several field calculations for the technicians.

Environmental Benefits:

The ELDAR program has already lowered TRI releases by 1,200,000 pounds due to this program.

Details of Reductions

Additional Information :

These reductions should be reflected in corresponding increases of materials left for production and marketing. Furthermore, ELDAR is a form of preventive maintenance that reduces unit downtime while improving overall environmental performance

Source: TCEQ