john torrison president
   
  • Club Home
  • Club Members
  • Listen with Bill
    • Bill's History
  • Turntable
    • TT History
  • The FlipSide
  • Picturesque!
  • Skips Corner
  • Gulliver's Travels
  • The Club Pub
    • Sucks News
  • Harv's Corner

The Club PUBlication 04/29/2019

4/29/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Husky refinery explosion in Wis. prompts recommendation to review use of hydrogen fluoride 
​

After Husky Energy incident led to evacuation, panel asks EPA to revisit guidelines. 
​
By Mike Hughlett Star Tribune
 
APRIL 26, 2019 — 7:10PM
Picture
Picture
The Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior, Wis., suffered major damage during a fire and explosions on April 26, 2018.

​Prompted by the Husky refinery explosion in Superior, Wis., federal chemical safety investigators are advocating a review of the oil refining industry's use of hydrogen fluoride, a highly toxic chemical.

The fiery accident a year ago this week led to an evacuation of large parts of Superior, as public-safety officials feared a release of hydrogen fluoride. In the end, storage tanks full of the chemical were never breached.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board this week said it "strongly encourages" the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review whether refineries' risk-management plans are sufficient to prevent "catastrophic releases" of hydrogen fluoride.

The letter also asks the EPA to determine if there are "commercially viable" alternatives to using hydrofluoric acid in the oil refining process. The Chemical Safety Board essentially wants the EPA to review and update the agency's 1993 study on the hazards of hydrogen fluoride, which was done at the behest of Congress.

Accidents involving hydrogen fluoride are rare. But the chemical can cause severe burns and, in a worst-case scenario, create a deadly gas cloud.

Hydrofluoric acid, which is hydrogen fluoride dissolved in water, is used as a catalyst to boost octane in gasoline at about half of the nation's refineries. The other half use sulfuric acid for the same purpose — which poses its own hazards but doesn't vaporize as fast hydrofluoric acid.

Marathon Petroleum's refinery in St. Paul Park uses hydrofluoric acid; Flint Hills Resources' oil refinery in Rosemount uses sulfuric acid.

The Chemical Safety Board's request to the EPA came after its investigations of the conflagration at Husky Energy's refinery and a 2015 explosion at the former Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, Calif.

"In the course of our investigations … we have become aware of community concerns about the use of hydrofluoric acid at these refineries and the adequacy of their risk management programs to protect against the release of this hazardous substance," the Chemical Safety Board wrote to the EPA.

The EPA said it is reviewing the letter.

The Chemical Safety Board is an independent agency that investigates chemical accidents and makes recommendations to companies and regulatory agencies, including the EPA.

The 2015 explosion at the Torrance refinery spewed debris that nearly hit two tanks containing modified hydrofluoric acid, the Chemical Safety Board concluded. At the Superior refinery, which Calgary, Alberta-based Husky Energy bought in 2017, an explosion hurled shrapnel into a tank containing asphalt, which leaked and ignited.

The Superior refinery's hydrofluoric acid tank was closer to the explosion point than its asphalt tank, the Chemical Safety Board found.
​
Husky Energy announced early this month that it will spend more than $400 million to rebuild the refinery, but it declined to stop using hydrogen fluoride. The company said it's not commercially viable to switch from hydrofluoric acid to sulfuric acid or any new octane-boosting technologies.





Mike Hughlett covers energy and other topics for the Star Tribune, where he has worked since 2010. Before that he was a reporter at newspapers in Chicago, St. Paul, New Orleans and Duluth.


[email protected] 612-673-7003
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018

    RSS Feed