Alon cuts rates at Texas refinery after malfunction of sulfur recovery unit

By ROSE MARTON-VITALE

Alon said a malfunction of a sulfur recovery unit at its refinery in Big Springs, Texas, resulted in reduced charge rates at several processing units to minimize emissions, a filing to environmental regulators said.

The report didn't say whether the units had been returned to normal rates, but said emissions associated with the event ended within four hours of starting.

The filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said operations followed acid gas shedding procedures to minimize emissions and reduced charge rates at the refinery's diesel hydrotreater unit as well as key gasoline producing fluid catalytic cracking units. A sour water stripper was taken out of service and steam was vented as necessary to safety flare devices.

An Alon representative wasn't immediately available to comment.

Alon's Big Spring refinery is a sour crude oil cracking facility capable of processing 70,000 bpd of crude oil. Its production of clean gasoline, ULSD fuel, jet fuel and other petrochemical products is delivered by major third party pipelines to various locations in the Southwest and Mid Continent.

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