Chevron Phillips shuts two polyethylene units at Cedar Bayou, Texas

10-Apr-14

Chevron Phillips Chemical has shut two polyethylene units at its Cedar Bayou Plant in Texas, according to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, as reported by Platts. The units were shut on Tuesday, but the incident was not reported until Wednesday because of technical difficulties with the system, Chevron Phillips Chemical said in the report. The shutdown is set to last through noon on Friday. A power failure at a substation resulted in units PEU-1796 and PEU-1799 going down, with visible flaring from the depressurizing process, according to the filing. Estimates in the filing show that one flare released 4,052 lb of carbon monoxide, 1,328 lb of ethylene and 2,063 lb of pentane, along with other chemicals. The other flare released 3,873 lb of carbon monoxide, 1,875 lb of butane, along with lesser amounts of other chemicals. "Operations proceeded with a controlled safe shutdown of the unit reactors per standard operating procedures," Chevron Phillips Chemical said in the report. The Cedar Bayou plant produces 820 mln lb/year of high density polyethylene, 617 mln lb/year of low density polyethylene and 420 mln lb/year of linear low density polyethylene.